##VIDEO ID:VLgCOpOuGw8## get to call this meeting to order at 6 o' notice this is a regular meeting of the township of Washington in ordance with the requirements of New Jersey uh statutes regarding open public meetings notice this meeting was legally advertised in The Courier Post in the South Jersey Times and post on the bulletin board in the Miss building fire exits are located through the double doors to your left and right please silence all mobile devices this meeting is being a videotaped anyone does not wish to see on television may be excused this will be shown on on comc Channel 9 every week Sunday at 9:00 p.m. Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. Friday at 10: p.m. and Saturday at 10 p.m. and we'll continue until the next meeting this meeting is also being live stream you can check that out on our YouTube channel at WT Productions under live under the agenda which on the Township's official website please stand for the pledge of allegiance aliance to the flag United States jice roll call please Mr Bennett here Mr Brown here Mr Del here Mr jorz Mr deell here mayor Burns here Mr Russo Mr Wright here before we get started tonight I'm just G to kind of switch the agenda up a little bit we're gonna have uh update on what's happening with the yard ways we know we have a lot of residents that are asking about that so we're gonna have Brian and Frank come up and give us a little bit of what's Happening hopefully we'll have more information on our website we'll putting out more videos about as well but if they can come up and give us some information that'd be great no you can hear you there okay no better hello there we go okay so uh my name is Brian mcaffrey this is Frank aluro we're both supervisors with the municipal services department and wanted to come and give a little bit of update on um a minor change to the way trash is picked up in the coming months so before I get into that and I'll do this briefly uh I want to get into a little bit of the reasoning why some things are changing uh the last time we went out to bid for our trash contract um three years ago we only had one bidder and that's not good for getting a competitive bid so when this contract was um in its last year the administration um LED mostly by uh Joe ruso but collectively everyone on the board and people in our department uh got together and we wanted to make our bid spec a lot more competitive uh because obviously multiple bids will mean better price for the taxpayer uh with that Joe worked with the Department of Community Affairs um we got involved with a uh consultant in the um refuse collection business and tailored a spec that would make it attractive to bring in multiple bits um so that's why things are a little different if we would have left things status quo we were looking at approximately a 70% annual increase in trash collection fees um and we didn't have a lot of people interested in bidding on the contract the way it was so that's a little bit of background on why things are changing but the one we're going to talk about now briefly is yard waste um in the off months which are going to be November through April um you're going to have to schedule a yard waste pickup if you have branches grass things of that nature this year we're starting it on October 1st because we want a month to to work out all the bugs with the system to make sure it's working properly that Suburban who's our new hauler is getting the requests for pickup and the requests for pickup are are this simple I'm going to do it on my phone right now you open up um there's a link on our website and it brings you directly to schedule yard waste collection drop- down box number one has five days you click on your trash day you punch in your address I'm going to put my address in so it's F if you're a fast typer it'll be even faster uh Yorktown Road and schedule confirmed thanks your request has been scheduled it's that simple it's it's not a hard process for for the residents who are not very computer savvy we understand that that's you know a challenge for some people some people don't even have internet what have you you can call that number is also on our website Suburban number 973 227 7020 you call you tell them your trash day your address and they'll be there to pick it up and again this is only going to be in the winter months fall and winter months uh November through April and it was something that was recommended to make the bid speec more attractive um this is not going to affect your loose leaf collection that still is going to be as it always has been um which is the day after your trash weather permitting we'll come around with the leaf vac and we'll pick up uh your leaves as we have been for many years so that's it in a nutshell um it's very simple again would that take 10 seconds um we know it's an inconvenience uh to some people but when you're up against an increase as much as we were looking at you have to find creative ways to bring these costs down and uh we did it with the guidance of professionals um you know and we think that the the less than one minute inconvenience for what it brought back in savings was well worth it and my personal opinion obviously I don't know this yet because we're not doing it is that this will make the yard waste pick up more efficient like we've had problems in the past where yard waste was missed now they're going to have a list and we're going to have a list and we're going to know where everything is they're going to know where everything is and we think that's going to help make this a lot more efficient so um you know there's some other changes that that were made uh Frank knows a little bit he can speak on those changes with the bulk pickup and and things of that nature where they're limiting how much uh bulk pickup we can do but as far as the yard waste goes that's the change November through April you got to schedule it so anybody Brian I know a couple people ask me how soon can they put that request in can they do it three days five days prior and how late can they do it 48 Hours it has to be 48 hours prior to the scheduled pickup day so I mean if I don't know I cut my own grass I know when I'm going to cut my own grass because I got to fit it in around the sports schedules right so if you're going to cut your grass on like I'm I'm in Whitman Square my pickup day is Monday if I know I'm cutting my grass on Wednesday I can schedule Wednesday go on the thing put in my my address and my day and it's done it's it has to be 48 hours prior to your pickup day yes you got it yes sir or more yes it's a minimum of 48 hours but you know if you're again let's say you cut your grass on Tuesday and your pickup's Monday when you're done cutting the grass on Tuesday you can go on and schedule for the following Monday your trash day correct yes it'll always be that's why they want your what zone the way it's labeled is Zone one 2 3 four and five which is trash day Monday Zone one Tuesday zone two so yes it'll always be on your regular trash day sure no no they you have to schedule any kind of yard Wass pickup any any any of those prown paper bags that you bag in sticks in a can grass in a can all that stuff is what has to be scheduled mhm just yard waste the regular obviously the regular trash is is you know um going to stay as it is there's no scheduling necessary this is just yard waste okay anybody have any questions up there anyone in the audience Frank you have anything you want to add thanks uh good evening mayor council uh just to follow up uh as far as debris from construction projects uh fences sheds decks roofs um that will be the responsibility of the homeowner uh to remove privately um and you you can actually dispose of that the glosser County Solid Waste complex in sboro um that number is at 856 478 6045 um they do charge a small fee so it's recommend that you call ahead of time uh for what you have uh bulk items uh like Brian was saying uh will be picked up with your trash but it's limited to three items per week um there's really no other change on the collection day um obviously you could put your trash out after 6:00 p.m. the night before uh rolls of carpet not buy a contract trctor um have to be in 4ot lengths uh less than 50 lbs and they're limited to six rolls per week um as far as Full House cleanouts from sale or renovation will not be collected by the township uh that'll be the responsibility of the owner at the time of disposal um and that's pretty much all I had to add to that thank you guys correct y um our yard Recycling yard located at um number three McLure Drive is open every weekend Saturday 8 to 2 that's an option as well if you have a lot of stuff if you miss a a schedule or something like that if you have a pickup truck you can always bring any yard waste to the yard at three mouer Drive 8 to2 every Saturday unless it falls on Christmas thanks you know well not Thanksgiving but Christmas New Year uh otherwise it's open every weekend so that's that's another option so thank you guys all right more questions thank you guys next we'll move on to you know we talked before about having some new businesses that have opened and we've had quite a few that have opened since our last meeting and we have a couple here with us tonight we actually have I think we have sher's Kitchen in with us right right and we have B this is open so we're going to have to come up I also left some menus on on there uh Marino cafe or Cafe Marino couldn't be here tonight he's working but please they're just going to give us a couple minutes about their business so please shop local I've eaten at all these places as all of us have they're phenomenal so please try them here in town but come up and give us a little bit about your business tell us please yeah uh good uh evening major and councel uh we are excited to announce the grand opening uh our restaurant it's called BME Factory and F my name is Vu and my wife is Van uh we invite you uh to join us at uh Washington Center shop at uh 4:15 8 harb Road and unit uh 20 uh at uh bmme Factory and F we separate uh traditional vietnami Pine uh our manufacture is a BME you enjoy the crisy buet fill with your choice beef uh real pork uh vegetable and tofu on um mme day include a pickle and fat her and uh F uh dye into our delicious noodle soup uh your choice can be uh beef noodle soup chicken noodle soup and uh for uh veterian and you option you can have a tofu and uh vegetable and uh we also offer uh B including fesh refes o tea and Rich vietnami GP coffee uh start your meal you can try out app time they include a spring roll with the cream or spring roll with a barbecue pop as well as crispy egg roll and um don't forget to save your room for desserve we have the chisu cake and chocolate cake uh we uh warmly welcome all customer and look forward to share you our C with vietnami food with you and uh we can wait to see you at B fact thank you now we have sher's kitchen up and tell us little about their restaurant that just opened here in town good evening the uh the mayor and the council members nice to be here and I welcome everybody uh we just open our rest restaurant we did the grand opening on uh September 14th yeah and uh we are glad that you are there yeah and uh we had the African restaurant open we cater we do all those stuff we do the uh small shops we do the meat pie uh peer soup pepper nail um goat meat we have H several like uh tilila pepper soup we have uh um beans assorted um meat we have rice white rice jolof rice uh fried rice we have uh what do you call it oxtail o uh we have different type of uh uh sweet uh fried salted fish we have we call it I mean like uh What uh spish yeah African spinach that you're going to enjoy and uh we have a like uh Fufu we call it Fufu in Africa we have those ones too so we are very happy to be part of the uh business community in Washington Township and we also have African African store that will sell African foods yeah in B yeah so that one was opened like 4 years ago in Washington Township as well and uh we've been a lot of customers have been coming and for your help I mean with your help and everything we thank God for everything and we look forward to see see everybody there thank you so much again we be in all these places so all right now we're goingon to move on our presentations Chief we're gonna move on our presentations right thank you yeah yeah hold it up [Music] so first is this still on yeah so first we um have a very special presentation tonight today we're going to give our community caretaking award and we're going to present it to a Mr Vinnie Carbone congratulations just going to read this and I'm going to hand it over to the chief whereas the community caretaking recognizes individuals who go above and beyond in their dedications and service to commitment to making our community a safer and more welcoming place for all whereas Vinnie Carbone has been an invaluable asset to the high school's maintenance department for outstanding for over 31 years contributing to the safety and well-being of both students and staff whereas Vinnie Vinnie's genuine concern for the School Community has made him a trusted and respected figure always ready to lend a helping hand and ensure the safety of all of those around him Vinnie's positive attitude dedication and work ethic have made a lasting impact embodying the spirit and service and care that strengthens our community Vinnie Carbone and his family have Deep Roots here as lifelong residents of the Whitman Square neighborhood showcasing their commitment to our community in numerous ways over the years there for I Lorie Burns as mayor and on behalf of the 2024 Wasington Township council do hereby recognize and honor Vinnie Carbone with the community caretaking award for exceptional dedication compassion and outstanding service to our school and Community his contributions are an inspiration to all of us and serve as a testament to the power and kindness hard work and the positive impact one person can have on all of us I'm going to turn this over to Chief because Chief gari is the one who recommended you for this and he has some things he'd like to say vny congratulations on receiving the 2024 Community caretaking award I wish you I wish you worked for us at the police station maybe we can work on a transfer so this award says in grateful appreciation for 15 year I'm sorry 32 years of dedicated service and unwavering commitment to our Washington Township Schools and Community Vinnie Carbone 2024 Community caretaking award congratulations [Applause] Eagles fan a I can't blame thatone come w [Applause] one more [Applause] thank you markise you're see you thank you Tom I'll see you that's right we have Anthony Medina for fixing the sign and Frank um Alexander for tri we did have a bunch of I think Peter forgot to remind didn't have to leave they could have stay rest it doesn't say B do you need me try I know mayor mayor yeah go for it oh wait what no we don't need hi nice to meet you Lor Burns of course trying to steal from the police who are back here I know we're all trying to steal I know I know he say he says he's reti so if he does I think this is I think this is who he was talking about when he said he had a great he's going right away we'll take care thank you thank you for coming appreciate you okay he need I don't know who he's talking to next we're gonna ask Anthony media to come up that right Medina Medina Medina Medina just make sure I pronounce it every D was sign redone you caus a whole fury on the internet our next Community award I want to extend my sincere appreciation to Anthony media for his dedicated efforts in fixing the twin Ponzi sign for his development your hard work and commitment to maintaining and improving our community do not go unnoticed it's people like you who take pride in where you live in Washington Township that make us Washington Township it makes us a wonderful place to call home thank you Anthony and we are here on behalf of myself and Council to present you with this certification in recognition of your dedicated efforts and invaluable contribution to restoring the Twin Pond East development sign your commitment to enhancing your neighborhood is greatly appreciated and truly makes a difference thank you yes no go over there away from the hold you have anything else next we'd like to ask Frank Alexander and the board of directors directors for the Tri State memorial fund to come [Music] up this isn't you go over there sorry we would like to extend our deepest gratitude to the founder and executive director of the Tri State veterans memorial fund and its board and Advisory Board of Directors your dedication to honoring and service and sacrifice of our veterans is truly inspiring we want to thank you for your vision and your commitment their legacy will be remembered forever because of you guys we also want to congratulate you on your first annual 5K run and walk at Washington Lake Park that you had in August you had really good weather for that was a great success and I think I believe your next one's next August August 9th of next year so we'll have a link up that you guys can sign up and run his veterans uh 5K your hard work dedication and commitment to honoring our veterans is TR truly inspiring and we just want to thank you for choosing Washington Township to hold your special event and we look forward to supporting many many more of them in the future thank [Applause] you for sh [Music] so that con concludes our ceremonial portion do we okay we have one more business going to tell us about his new business here in town please take public portion so we say public portion come up in this house okay all right real quick one more thing okay I was at the school board meeting last night and Kevin who's our cameraman was honored by the board for uh staff worker support staff worker of the year at the high school um he does a lot over there that's his main job he just doesn't work for us but Kevin we appreciate all the work you do here uh for the municipality uh and also for the school and thank you we're doing a great job thank you Kevin okay moving on moving on to the bill list can I get a motion to approve the bill list for September 25th 2024 motion second roll call please Mr Bennett yes Mr Brown yes Mr Delia yes Mr derella yes moving on the minutes can I get a motion to approve the regular minutes from August 14th 2024 motion second roll call please Mr Bennett yes Mr Brown yes Mr Delia yes Mr devella yes mov be on ordinances I believe we're going to take one we're going to we're going to table one ordinance is that correct okay uh ordinance 14 is going to be tabled at this point is there any of ordinances anybody needed to table any questions need a motion yeah I need a motion to table ordinance 14 please motion to T second just all in favor right roll call all favor roll call please Mr Benet yes Mr Brown yes Mr Delia yes Mr de yes now cler could you please read the ordinances ordinance 11 2024 ordinance amending chapter 92 of the code of Township of Washington entitled fire prevention this ordinance is up for adoption after public hearing can I get a motion to open uh the public for ordinance 11-22 24 motion second all in favor I I anyone from the public motion to speak about this ordinance seeing n a motion to close to the public please second all in favor I motion carries sorry motion to adopt ordinance 11 2024 second all in favor I I oh we have the roll call roll call Mr Bennett yes Mr Brown yes Mr Delia yes Mr deell yes not feeling great today ordinance 12 ordinance amending area and bulk standards Within Chapter 285 of the code of the township of Washington entitled zoning this ordinance is up for adoption after public hearing can I get a motion to open the public for ordinance 12 moot motion second all in favor I hi anyone to publicly want to speak about this ordinance seeing none can I get a motion to close to the public motion second all in favor I motion to adopt ordinance 12 motion second roll call please Mr Bennett yes Mr Brown yes Mr Delia yes Mr Deo yes ordinance 13 ordinance of the township of Washington amending Washington Township Code chapter 260 vehicles and traffic article 10 yeah traffic regulations Section 26-28 turn pro prob and prohibit certain left turns into into and out of Harbor Place from EG Harbor Road this ORD up for adoption only public hearing and adoption will occur I'm sorry introduction only public hearing and adoption will occur on October 9th 2024 can I get a motion to introduce ordinance 13-2 roll call please Mr Bennett yes Mr Brown yes Mr Delia yes Mr debella yes table 14 uh motion 14 was tabled moving on to 15 ordinance 15 ordinance adopting the amended Redevelopment plan for the delela drive Redevelopment area in accordance with the requirements of local Redevelopment and Housing law njsa 4A call 12 A-1 this ordinance is up for adoption only okay this ordinance is for adoption only public hearing and adoption will occur on October 9 2024 can I get a motion to introduce ordinance 15-24 motion second roll call please Mr Bennet yes Mr Brown yes Mr Delia yes Mr derella yes the following resolutions of a consent agenda only and only require vote for all listed each one will be read by title if any member of the council wishes to have one removed and heard separately they need to indicate prior to the reading of the titles say anyone need anything removed or held separately Madam clerk could you please read the resolutions below resolution 228 Okay resolution adopting and mandating use of the open public records request form pursuant to njsa 471 A-5 229 resolution requesting approval of Revenue and Appropriations from the Department of Community Affairs for the 2024 body armor Grant in the amount of 5,747 and3 230 resolution requesting approval of Revenue and Appropriations from the state of New Jersey for the 2024 click or ticket Grant in the amount of $3,920 231 resolution requesting approval of of Revenue and Appropriations from the state of New Jersey for 2024 drive sober or get pulled grant program in the amount of 7,000 232 resolution requesting approval of the revenue and Appropriations from the state of New Jersey for the alcohol Ed rehab and enforcement Grant in the amount of $ 24517 233 resolution requesting approval of Revenue and Appropriations from the state of New Jersey for the NJ DP 2024 recycling tonnage Grant in the amount of 75,500 235 resolution requesting approval and revenue and Appropriations from the state of New Jersey for New Jersey Council on the on the Arts in the amount of 4,000 000 236 resolution authorizing refund of tax overpayments 237 resolution authorizing the cancellation of taxes on Township owned property located at 2 I'm sorry 2200 glbo Cross Key Road 238 resolution cancelling T taxes for a totally disabled veteran 206 Sycamore Avenue effective July 8 2024 239 resolution cancelling 50% taxes for a totally disabled veteran at 44 pristine Place effective July 29 2024 240 resolution cancelling taxes for a totally disabled veteran 32 Cyrus Court effective August 6 2024 241 resolution cancelling taxes for a totally disabled veteran five Copeland Court effective August 9th 2024 242 resolution cancelling taxes for a totally disabled veteran 49 Harford Road effective August 12 20124 two 243 resolution cancelling taxes for a totally disabled veteran 10 wooded bu effective August 27th 2024 24 4 resolution cancelling taxes for a totally disabled veteran 66 Plum Tree Drive affected September 3rd 2024 245 resolution accepting engineering inspection escrow from ingren development company LLC 4390 4,400 4430 Route 42 uh block 113 Lots 23 24 and 25 246 resolution authorizing a change order and accepting a maintenance guarantee from Paving plus LLC for 2020 cdbg White bch Road improvements project 247 resolution authorizing a change order and accepting a maintenance guarantee uh from Paving plus LLC for 2022 cdbg White Birch Road improvements project 248 resolution authorizing the agreement between the township of Washington and the police sergeants Association collective bargaining agreement affected January 1 2024 through December 31st 2027 resolution appointing Samantha Brown and amending the mayor's appointment book for the library Board of Trustees 250 resolution approving a large Gathering application for pop pops custom C charity benefit for k k fitgerald scholarship fund in Washington Lake Park 251 resolution enabling Green Acres Program with the state of New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection for the Washington Lake improvements project 252 resolution authorizing the sale by public bid of certain tax sale certificates owned by the township of Washington pursuant to njsa 54 5-44 ET I'm sorry 114 ET thank you mad clerk can I get a motion to approve resolutions r228 d24 to r252 d24 motion second roll call please Mr Bennett yes Mr Brown I with the exception of resolution 24924 I am voting yes with the resolution 2492 24 I'm abstaining Mr dapia yes Mr debella yes now moving on to Old business new business and reports will St actually councilman jurkin isn't here today so we'll start with councilman Bennett all right um coming up this weekend is the Harvest Fest at the Old Stone housee um that'll be the September 28th from 10 10: a.m. to 2 p.m uh they'll have oldtime games hay rides vendors presentations food music activities such as pumpkin picking historical trade demonstrations like a blacksmith and more please come out and support the oldstone house I am the liaison to that I'll be up in the parking lot parking people uh so come out have a fun day uh you know and participate in what we have to offer in the town second thing is I'd like to thank uh the chief for working on speeding in town uh I think we're doing like a 100 tickets a a week which is good um we have to make sure that people understand residential means residential and we need to slow down all right if they want to you go faster go out on a major artery but again in residential we need to look out for safety both of kids also with that make sure they understand that school buses when they have the blinker on that that they are uh you're stopping before that um and that's it on my end all right Council Brown I'd like to thank the uh fire department and also the police department for their help with the 911 S or the five the new walk that they've done they used to do a different ceremony they changed it up this year beautiful uh it was a very moving event as it is uh we all know or remember where we are were on 911 and uh it's great that our emergency services are keeping um uh participating and having an event in remembrance of those who lost their lives on 911 from the library um they are having open houses um unfortunately we didn't have a council meeting prior to this but um they will be having open house this weekend September 28th for grades five four through 5 Saturday October 12th grades 6 through 12 Saturday October 19th is a makeup day for all so for September 14th and the 21st 3K through 1st uh grades two and three and then since uh I didn't mention them because we didn't have a meeting uh the makeup day for all those groups are that October 19th that's it now I'm going to jump over to Mayor mayor I apologize last meeting I skipped over you was not not done on purpose so I I I apologize for so mayor Burns please sorry I'm not offended it's okay um I just want to say congratulations to the green team we were just notified that they achieve achiev the bronze level certification by the sustainable Jersey program so that's good for them congratulations um and the other thing I want to mention is that council president and I attended the best of Gloucester County Awards on Monday night it was held at Owens park in monr Township um the C uh County likes to switch it up and go to different municipalities each year two things that we take from that was I was excited to accept once again um Washington Lake Park won for best park and the other thing that we were really excited to learn was that Washington Township won the most Awards with businesses reaching 22 of our businesses here in town won awards for best of glester County so that was great and I just want to say congratulations to all the businesses in town and now we just have to stay on top and make it 23 four or five yeah exactly yeah so that's it right anything Mr Russo is not with us today he's not feeling well we take it over to the council vice president I just have a couple things um we've attended a lot of events over the last couple weeks uh Don mentioned the 911 event one of the things they mix up this year when we walked they gave us all a list of five or six people who died that day and um that's who we walked for and it was something different to go home and and Google Google these people who passed and um you know see that you know there were kids there were parents um brothers and sisters so it kind of brought brought it a little bit more realistic than just you know going to a 911 event so it's a great job by everybody involved um me and council president Delo attended many events uh there was a breakfast for the cheerleading program uh where they got to serve and uh clean up the tables and bus it was actually a really nice event we attended the holidale school 5 k run walk uh that was a great event if you ever get a chance to participate usually this time of year every year uh it's at Washington Lake Park um St Charles had their picnic uh as well as holy family uh theirs was hosted by the Knights of Columbus and also wanted to recognize Chief um if everybody was paying attention we approved four resolutions which total almost $177,000 in Grants so great job Chief with the grants keep up the good work um thank you that's all I have all right now moving on so first of all I apologize I'm coming off a cold so I'm not my my my top my game today apologize for that uh the other thing I want to apologize Adam sailor is not making movie here in Washington Township it's not this Washington Township I AP I got excited too when people started texting me I was also very excited I did reach out the chief that is not us so unfortunately Adam s is not making a movie in this Washington Township I apologize for anyone who also thought that was what was happening congratulations to Vinnie Carbone very welld deserved it's uh so great to have people out here and Hope hopefully we have more businesses so if you're a business you know there's business in town that don't know the cherries didn't know you can do a ribbon cutting so reach out to Nicole Ludi reach out to the chamber it's really great to be there we really want to uh experience that with you we get to meet your family and your friends it's really just a great time and we also share that our social media so Nancy will share all that information and it really is great because we really want to push your business so even in the audience today we made copies of some menus we left them out there so please really try these restaurants please try these places that's how they make it is by Us shopping local so if we can continue to do that the best of it just shows I mean honestly 22 businesses out out of Gloucester County were we were the number one so I mean that really shows that your customers love you they they're happy about what you're doing and you're right next year it's got to be 23 all all the way up right so really let's continue on that uh Council vice president I took a a a a preview of Flor and Decor I'm not going to be taking Meg in there because I know what's going to happen I see a new kitchen in our bathroom in our future so I will not be taking Meg to that to that ribbon cut but I I do think that uh it's going to be a great story I mean I I was impressed yeah I am a customer theirs already again just when it comes to me by this point everyone's pretty much said everything so I won't go back but the 911 walk was really something when you look at those names and you realize you're walking for those people it really was very impactful so thank you to Chief dogas for that and everyone who worked on that same thing with the Holly Dell event another great event that we get to be at so I think that's probably the greatest part of this job is getting to these events and meeting people so and that was probably just last thing I want to close on is that we have a lot of car washes we have a lot of fundraisers if we don't know about them here at at at our level we can't promote them we we want to come if we can usually one of us will show up sometimes all of us show up but just let us know what you're having and we'll put it out there we'll try to get people to try to show up residents are great that way when you post things especially from from our level a lot of times residents want they want to help they want to come they want to get their car was watch they want to come into a d and donate so anything you have going on for any organization like I said Council vice president and I went to that breakfast which was awesome um the line literally kind of wrapped around the building they had great baskets it was just a lot of fun so you can see the family and friends come too but we want to come and we want to help you get other people to come as well and help for the cost you want a basket and I actually won a basket and uh we'll talk about that later time but I was very excited about that because I never win it was a great suit so we had to give it away yeah so it wasn't wasn't I always wear so unfortunately I had to give that away all right yes all right now we're going to move on to public participation please follow the public the Corum posted it 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 the design wishes to address your comments or questions asked by the persons who spoke can I get a motion open to the public please motion second all in favor I now we're open to the public anybody in the public has anything to speak Dominic I'm sorry I I'm not quite with it today but please remind me of what what your issue was and let's see we can do to help it first of all thank you Council mayor is this one can you guys hear me yes your address please my my address is 557 heril Cross Keys Road my name is Dominic J Rota I have to put the J in because my son says when I speak on a political format have to make sure it's him not me and not him okay we understand so that being said first of all I am a new Resident but I have family members 50e Roots so I'm not a new res I'm in and out of this town all the time my concern and it's only been brought to my attention because of recent tragic the gadw brothers and the woman on 55 the gadw brothers were dear friends of ours and Friends of my nephew graduated my concern is I live on that road and I have grandchildren that live with me so when I go to the mailbox I'm dodging guys are doing 100 not 100 that's exaggerated 60 65 miles an hour so that's a concern I addressed it with chief chief did step up some patrols he's a great man he I asked him and he did delivered and I appreciate that but my other concern was now I went to the county because they're telling me it's a county road when they ride in the road they never put the light pole in front of my house where it belongs it has a meter socket but but they never put the light on so I had been calling the electric company I called the county and they told me to come to the council meeting and present it to them and then you guys have to present it to them to expedite things yeah so my concern and what my request is now I hope it's not too much is I would like the light back CU my neighbors said that they've been pursuing it and they've gotten nowhere so I'm on behalf of them I'm I'm here speaking and I'd like to see if we can sign saying hidden driveways or something of that nature where like right now I'm going through a thousands and thousands of dollars I'm expanding my driveway in front because where I'm located it really is hidden right so I figure to avoid any problems I'm going to take my steps but I'm hoping the township will help me and and do something on their end actually Barb sitting over there in the red can you just give her your your phone number too so we can reach back out to you oh have you have okay so we'll be reaching out to you are you Cindy I'm Chrissy Chrissy yeah Chrissy I think she even suggested and I'm not about that she said you made petition to lower the speed limit I don't have a problem with the speed limit I mean as long as you're doing 45 right and again I'm not here to deem anyone we have two bars right I mean them two guys that guy had five beers yeah and he wiped them out so now I have an 18-month-old and a 2-year-old we go to the mailbox we have fun and next thing you know these guys are flying yeah I mean if you don't think it can happen to you can sure so that's my concern other than that there's a great Township to live in well we we welcome you and you look too young to have grandchildren but definitely uh we'll definitely be addressing this thank you app like I said is that people need to slow down and to what you said and CH is doing a great job doing a great job and I also I think that uh I wanting to give it over to I want to give actually my flyer to the uh school for the driving kids so maybe that way they can get informed too that they need to respect their speed limit in the town thank you thank you for your time I have a question is there a number on that poll there is I do you have that number and let me I and it's supposed to be atlan City Electric that didn't put the light on Mr derazio is also helping out he made some phone calls so I do have a lot of a lot of help in it but the guy in the county said you got to go to your Council and there's a procedure that you go through and I'm just doing what I was advis you know the number or I do what's the number on the poll uh I have to go into my if you give me a minute like that gentleman I am not savy so let's see uhy derazio and took a picture of it okay you ready it's PS and Paul N is a Nancy six now I don't know if it's a zero or an o 22 correct all right thank you thank you thank you for your time I I would also suggest that we have the engineers draft off some appropriate signage and do a draft proposal that might it's on County Road it might have to go through the county right it would have yeah it might have to go but we have County representations here if he makes a note in his paperwork and he he can let them know but the hidden driveway signs may have to I think you start there first and then if it comes back then I agree with you thank you than oh what's up chicken man hello everybody how are you tonight um my name is Zachary Abrams 27 Ria and uh I just wanted to say a couple of things um the one of the things that you guys touched on was the uh the speed in obviously it's been a big thing um I know they had put a statement out uh that on Al uh there was going to be a lot of Patrol and there has definitely been you know more Patrol um but it it's like pretty bad and there's like kids out there like crazy now people are moving in with with families there's kids doing lemonade stands and I'm I'm seeing people do 50 literally 50 60 miles an hour and 25 um I don't want to get involved I I I try sometimes to like you know throw my hands at people but yeah I I don't want to get too involved with yeah that is that's that that's my neighborhood too so unfortunately one of many cut through neighborhoods in Washington Township um you know I just hopefully we can get maybe some some more people out there I know that you they put the uh the digital signs up and everything but it's like people just don't even care yeah it's unbelievable um and also right there I don't know if it was you guys or somebody else but the county they just cut that whole corner where meets teas road going to TJ and the firehouse you couldn't see there I've been I couldn't see there forever I'm I'm really excited about that that was public works yeah like like that's how I know I'm getting old I'm really excited about that um and uh I want to say I think that was it I can't remember if I had one more thing I think that's it if I have anything else I'll thank you guys thanks Zach while Leon's coming up uh just to address that um I want to speak not for the chief but basically say um there's proactive and there's reactive policing and while there's 's a lot of things going on in this town that they're addressing uh as a result of being called to different incidents I have seen an increase in the amount of patrols uh speed posts um just basically they're working hard to make sure that our residents are safe and I want to commend him as of recently the posts that he's put updating the status not only the community aspect but telling us what his officers are involved with in the form of um crime in Washington Township and listing the uh tickets or radar posts just keeping the residents informed the great Community programs but now the residents know what our police officers do on a daily basis and it's it's greatly appreciated and I've had a lot of positive feedback from the residents so thank you Chief uh good evening um I'm representing the open space committee and the environmental commission and I didn't expect to be here but if Rich Bennett would read his emails I wouldn't have to be here so I had asked him to make the following announcement that on October 12th we're going to have a nature walk in Washington Lake Park from 10 to 12 going to meet at the parking lot L A which is by the tennis courts and it's a 2hour walk and it's uh the person leading the walk is Mike Hogan who's a naturalist and can answer any question of what you see growing and surprisingly he can even tell you about things which which you cannot see so uh he can answer any question uh I would like like to mention in passing that so we'll do the up the trail and from there we'll go on we made improvements at Cedar Pond so there's a beautiful boardwalk and a bridge spanning the uh Waterway which leads to another Trail which I guess most people hadn't gone to because they would either have to walk and jeopardize their over the spillway or get to it from the dog park so now all the trails all the nine Trails will be continuous you can go from one to the next so and since I'm here uh I might mention that we had received a $115,000 grand 25% to be uh on our part and we just completed a 15 1, 157 tree uh inventory all those trees have been tagged and um the Park's in good condition and so when we accept this and when we pay for it I will post this on the op space website and we also have a document saying what the trees in the township do for the environment and basically were very lucky so they looked at 1500 trees and there were only Seven Trees which need more or less immediate looking after so uh I'll pass this around so you can see if you look at the last I have I have to I'll send it over well of the Seven Trees were they potential hazards so four have to be removed and three have to be pred back some of the limbs so the work that was done they inventoried the trees along the public public areas along all the paths The Pavilions and one of the trails the trail that we're going to be walking well surprisingly it only took them eight working days and what it includes is tagging the trees gives you the dimensions of the trees the condition of the trees whether they're in good condition I there's five different ratings and the last one of course is to be removed it tells you trees which we should keep an eye on and it gives you the environmental impact and it tells you about diseases and everything there's about 8 to 10 different criteria they look at and that's on a spreadsheet also tell us real quick about the the purple marlins and the bluebirds real quick some people may not know about that and what are we doing with the purple marlands let me speak on the bluebirds first now we've we have 16 bluebird houses up on open space properties and usually we've have in the past we've been doing this about six years originally uh each with we would call out someone who would ban the birds we haven't been doing that lately because that individual is not available uh in the past we've had I guess our best year we had about 66 bluebirds fledged uh this year I think we have about 20 one of the reasons being tree swallows have taken over some of our bluebird houses and they basically push the blue birds out take their nests throw them out destroy the eggs uh purple martins we just recently purchased a per Purple Martin house which we will we haven't uh definitely decid of the location but it'll probably be by the dog park and the beauty of the Purple Martin are that they're insect hungry so they'll get rid of a lot of the mosquito and similar insect yes I just wanted most people to know a little bit about what goes on at the environmental uh meetings and that's one of the ones that I think is very impressive with the birds and the purple martins they're very very important for our for our nature with something saying the sign what did you say he was doing he's doing what are what you guys doing together soon he's lead it I don't know you said something earlier yeah I was just like yeah he's real good at spinning a sign I see him out there every weekend um no the so the the three things I forgot two of them were having to do with uh possibly you know make money for the township um I kind of had spoken with Anthony at the last meeting afterwards and he had told me something he does and I wasn't sure if you know I kind of missed the first part of the the waste people talking but if we would be able to get like one dumpster at the I guess place where we take the bulk stuff the TVs or whatever and you know instead of driving 30 40 minutes and if you don't have a pickup truck you're not going to the dump I've been to the dump it's not nice I don't want to take my truck in there and you know so people like I would rather pay a convenience where like it's a opportunity for the township to make money obviously the dumpster has a flat fee plus whatever the weight but if you guys could maybe broker deal with them since we literally just gave them the whole contract for the thing to for one dumpster and then possibly you know you say okay if you're bringing a pickup truck it's 100 bucks if you got a trailer you know it's it's 250 or something but like it's a way to generate revenue for some kind of public works also I was at the Washington Lake Park um with myg there was a bunch of games going on but I noticed the snack bar is not open yeah you know so I'm like we could maybe do something with like the co-op programs with the schools and have you know young people that are passionate about it and want to get experience to get out there and get a job one day say hey we're going to volunteer you know it's open from 3:00 to 9: every week and no matter who's at the park there's something for them you don't have to pay any kind of you know you're not paying someone a paycheck so it's literally just profit from you know selling a soda for what two bucks and it cost 25 cents at Sam's Club um good and then you could put that all into the parks budget or someone's salary I'm sure no problem and the last thing I want to talk about was I seen you had put the thing out there and I think a congressman Jeff Andrew about the Atlantic Cate electric and the smart meters and the bills and everything like that so I've been invested with this as an electrician before all this came out I padlocked my meter pan because I'm like I don't want your smart meter the guy called me because my phone number was on it I explained to him no thank you I told I called up they're still trying to do it now they're tell telling me we got to pay $15 a month for us to come out and read it so I'm like well I have a problem with that because there's a customer charge for that and on top of that the people who are reading my electric meter are also reading the gas meter and the gas companies not charging me any money now my meters are both behind locked fence but obviously most people's are out in the open everybody's having these crazy high you know prices um but I don't know you know if there's something you guys can do about that and like people that have the smart meters they still get their meter read so why do I have to pay $15 a month when I literally see the guy reading my neighbor's meter and I know they all got the smart meters it doesn't make any sense and South Jersey Gas I can call in go on their website and just give my metering i' I've been on the phone for too many times with Atlantic C Electric and excelon and and dealt with it but hopefully there's something you guys can do yeah it's a mass it's a massive issue across the state evaluated again but as right now so we don't defeated we know right will yeah but what they should be also doing is there should be a public session to come here they have they have to put out according to what the law is if they go for a rate increase and it was approved by the Board of Public Utilities and it has to go out the public yes so so that would be a great idea to have them have one of the sessions here in County Washington Township okay yeah I was going to say because I mean I know I'm not the only person with that didn't want the smart meter you know and and yeah so people I've seen people on next door and stuff they're talking about that fee but obviously like you said the bills are higher and then I there was like added charges too like after this started happening then I'm like well here's more charges and you start getting involved in charges and it's just them taking money to fund people getting solar and they're giving them a rebate or you know the wind stuff or yeah it's uh my neighbor just got yeah and I the last thing I just want to touch on is uh personally the those smart meter things the reason I don't have it is because they do produce a lot more EMF radiation and it'll go right through your wall and there's plenty education online about this um I told the guy who who was installing I said you you install these every day you should probably look into this I said I I literally sit in front of switch gears and panels and stuff all day too it's a lot of magnetic field and all kind of different things but um yeah it's it's just uh it's really no good if if your bedroom's near it it's it's no good at all and I've seen people on next door said they don't feel well personally you know so definitely and it can you know they can just remote anyone can just hack in and remotely turn your your electric off you know and with all this stuff getting hacked these days I don't I personally don't want to do that so thank you appreciate it Zack back on to concession stand so a few months back me and president over there they used to have somebody in there uh I think I had a pizza place there's just not enough traffic but I could coach soccer there and there sometimes there's parents or kids that need drinks so we actually were talking with uh Lisa and Nick who run the park about looking into doing vending machines vending machines nowadays are so more advanced where you can get sandwiches drinks coffee um so I think they were looking to see if they could fill that space where they don't have to worry about man in it maybe bring it a third party we can collect a rent and then you know we're still gener generating Revenue but then we don't have the responsibility to make sure it's filled for everything else that is something we have looked into um you could do both like I said if you if you can do some kind of thing with the co-op program at the high school or gcit you know what I'm saying I I I don't know the logistics of that but just Avenue you might be able to look down I just want to let you know we did we did look into it and we are trying to find other avenues to create Revenue so thank you yep motion motion second hi sorry uh the flea market uh the senior be having their flea market October 5th Peter got a bike there last year they got great stuff these people don't let them fool you they got really good items so please stop by there you'll have a really good time Judy does a great job with that and the last announcement is the general election will be held on Tuesday November 5th the deadline register to vote is October 15th formance can be be obtained in the clerk's office or you can register online will be October 9th 2024 at 6 p.m can I get a motion to adjourn motion all in favor we're adjourned e