for he yeah that's like a dad joke that was a j good good evening I'd like to call the meeting to order it is 6:03 p.m. this is a regular meeting of the township of Washington accordance with the requirements of the New Jersey statutes regarding open public meetings notice of this meeting was legally advertised in the South Jersey Times as well as posted on the bulleon 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 this will be shown on Channel 9 every week Sunday at 9:00 p.m. Wednesday at 700 p.m. Friday at 10: p.m. and Saturday at 10 p.m. we continue until the next meeting meeting is being live streamed on YouTube it can be viewed at a link on our website please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance Pledge of Allegiance to the flag the United States of America to the Republic for which it stands a nation under invisible justice for all please be seated roll call Mr Delia here Mr debella here Mr Bennett here Mr Brown here Mr jurkus pres mayor Burns here Mr Mr here before we get started with our presentations um I would like to have a moment of silence since our last meeting um assemblyman Don Donald the chico passed away as well as Mary Duffield who is the founder of our Duffield farmers market so please bow your head in silence for a minute thank you we're going to move on to our presentations first we're going to recognize the retirement of firefighter Mike Parker Don [Music] if I could have Chief dogas uh come up here with me please and Mike and his family that's good Chief in 1998 into 1999 the V commission uh hired a district Fire Chief and then subsequently hired several career firefighters many who are now approaching retirement as Mike has done uh Mike has been a fireman in this Township for close to 40 years starting off as a volunteer fireman with Whitman Square fire company and then in 1999 being hired to the career staff served in many different positions from line officer um retiring as a career firefighter he's helped train and forged the fire department in a positive direction uh I've had the the pleasure of serving along with him through many times throughout um his career as a firefighter and as always we appreciate all of our emergency services for the accomplishments that they have earned throughout their time with the emergency services please Fire EMS so Mike on behalf of uh Council and the mayor we' like to present you with a certificate of achievement for your retirement thank you um over there take the picture Happ next we want to recognize uh the tuci family and Danny Dana's Party Reynolds for their toy drive efforts during the holidays okay for the tuci family the mayor and the Council of Washington Township commend you and sincerely thank you for your outstanding effort in collecting toys help righten the holiday season for many childrens's uh really really appreciate it know it's a lot of work uh and I think and I always say this giving back to the community is the most important thing that you need to do and the more people we get involved in it it makes a difference in making people who are in need uh make it possible and we do appreciate you guys doing this today okay uh for the Dana's uh party rold the mayor and Council of Township of Washington command you and your sir thanks for your outstanding effort in collecting toys to help Brighton again the holiday season for so many children and again same thing again it's great to get back to the community makes a difference makes a difference to the people that you don't even know that you made made it uh important to them that for that day and again we do thank you and we also thank P his crew for the toys too okay and have a great day [Applause] [Music] IND that was SE [Applause] you next we want to Proclaim February for Black History Month would Pastor Brown please come up how are you Pastor Brown on behalf of Washington Township mayor and Council it is with great honor and profound respect that we PR present this proclamation to you in celebration of Black History Month may this Proclamation serve as a symbol of our Collective appreciation for your inspiring leadership your ability to foster a sense of community and your tireless efforts in making positive differences in the lives of those around you as we reflect on the achievements and struggles of the past let us be inspired by your example to continue working towards a future of equality Justice and Unity thank you for being a guided light in our community and may your continued Endeavors be blessed with success [Applause] I get a picture absolutely [Applause] we're also going to Proclaim um in recognation recognition of American Heart Association American Heart month whereas card cardiovascular diseases are the nation's leading cause of death and costliest disease with direct and indirect costs to in the United States estimated to be $36.6 billion and whereas 801,000 people in United States die each year from heart disease stroke or other cardiovascular diseases or about one in every three deaths in America and whereas about 92.1 million Americans adults living with some form of cardiovascular disease or the after effects of a stroke and whereas American Heart Association 2024 impact goal seeks to advance cardiovascular health for all including identifying and removing barriers to Health Care access and quality where whereas about 80% of cardiovascular diseases may be prevented through everyday Healthy Living steps including physical activity good nutrition not smoking maintaining healthy weight and controlling blood pressure cholesterol and blood glucose levels and whereas the American Heart Association encourages residents to help save lives by calling 911 if Sy occur become trained in CPR and promoting comprehensive automated external defi programs in their communities whereas the American Heart Association is celebrating February 24th as American Heart month and promoting educational awareness by encouraging anyone to learn warning signs of heart attack and stroke now therefore be a proclaimed the mayor and Council of town Washington here recognize the importance of the ongoing fight against heart disease and hereby proclaim the month of February 2024 American heart health month I'm not presented this to anybody my dad had a heart transplant 18 years ago um unfortunately he passed two years ago and I'm going to give this to my mom when I get home but um he lived 16 years with a heart transplant so get checked um and take care of yourself so our last presentation is going to be for the fire budget um I'm going to call Ed edgman and chief doggus before I get to them I just want to congratulate everybody who got recognized tonight if you notice the theme um Pastor uh Tui I what's your first name Nick uh D's party reyolds and uh firefighter all serve all serve our community all serve our town and we're grateful for your service you I mean it's just um very giving thank [Applause] you thank you mayor and councel is this on I assume um I first and foremost I I deeply appreciate you giving us the opportunity to speak tonight uh we have a very important day coming up uh this Saturday the 17th from 2 o'clock till 9:00 p.m is our annual fire district elections and our budget um I'd like to just highlight a few things of what the fire department did in the past year and I'm going to let commissioner etman speak um specifically about the budget a little bit about your firefighters here in Washington Township uh we are a combination system which means we have both career and volunteer firefighters we have 28 full-time career firefighters and 84 volunteer firefighters we operate out of six stations and not only do we cover Washington Township we provide automatic Aid and mutual Aid to nine other jurisdictions we cover just over 12 miles of the Atlantic City Expressway and a few miles of the north South Freeway we just don't do fire calls and fire alarm systems uh we respond to Cardiac Arrest calls all of our vehicles are equipped with aeds and it's appropriate especially a day like today um and our men and women um some of them in this this room on and off duty have saved lives because of some of the equipment and the training they received we respond to police assists we assist our partners in both the EMS and the police communities we provide numerous service assignments for our residents whether they lock themselves out of the house their cats up in the tree their iguanas up in the tree and yes we've actually had iguanas and trees that we had to pull down here in Washington Township uh dogs underneath uh decks in the backyard uh you name it we've been there we have deployed not only in Washington Township but we have specialized trained Personnel that have deployed out of state on disasters such as Hurricane Katrina 911 and some of the hurricanes and building collapses down in Florida we currently provide two staffed career pieces 247 that's something that we implemented um late last year and not only do we have those dedicated men and women providing 24-hour service but what's really important we have volunteers that put over 22,000 hours of In-House Duty Crews and what does that mean for the community these men and women come home from work after working all day some of them don't even get dressed they go right to the Firehouse they shower they change into their fire department uniforms they train and they provide in-house Staffing in case there's additional emergencies in Town some of them will actually stay overnight till 6:00 in the morning that's pretty commendable not a lot of communities do that that allows us a third piece 12 hours a day and on weekends we've reduced our response Times by almost three minutes from previous years we have a duty chief on 247 we have a very U unique junior firefighter program where a lot of our firefighters have come up through the ranks and became firefighters we have our own motor maintenance division we do our own motor maintenance repairs and we have a very aggressive and robust fire prevention and public education program where not only do we provide the fire prevention to the various children and Community groups but we also provide CPR and AED training as well with relationships with our partners through the American Red Cross we've installed now to date over 1,000 smoke alarms in homes in Washington town Township mostly the senior population we responded to over 1,200 emergency calls in 2023 conducted over 3,000 fire inspections handled 69 complaint inspections with 24 follow-up complaints we investigated 44 fires 96 permits were issued 10 planning reviews nine zoning reviews over 100 Public public education programs and countless community events and that doesn't include the Thousand hours of training that our men and women put in every day when they're on duty both career and volunteer we say minutes matter and it's true in any emergency service whether there it's a police emergency an EMS medical emergency or a fire emergency time is critical having staffed resources in the fire stations with our volunteers and our career truly does make a difference again some of them in this room on an off duty have saved lives to highlight some of the things that we have encountered we had two people in this room that had life saves of cardiac arrest we had at one of our volunteers off duty in state of Florida jump into the surf and saved the wom from drowning several firefighters in this room responded to Atlantic City Expressway April of last year where there was a serious accident where there was a man that was critically burned in the vehicle and during the extrication the car enveloped in flames and without due regard of the firefighter safety these men pulled this gentleman out and he survived it was an amazing amazing incident to see the heroism that our men and women put in day in and day out our job is dangerous we may not get fires like camon or Philadelphia but when a fire does occur we are exposed to extremely dangerous conditions we are at one of the highest risk occupations for cancer and I'm glad to see our guys retiring after 25 years without any illnesses who knows what our future holds though with the types of things that are burning in homes today we need your support we need the community support to support your fire department our men and women in this department deserve the best equipment the best training tring and the support from our community in whatever way you can give and that's by coming out this Saturday and voting in favor of our budget training equipment repairs utilities it's expensive I'm not going to lie to you like a police officer their bulletproof vest they wear expires after 5 years they have to replace them our personal protective equipment our turnout gear that we wear and fires expires after for 10 years it's not cheap it costs about $6,000 an outfit of firefighter and we don't have a choice we have to replace that gear because we have to ensure the safety of our men and women so please come out and support us um our doors are always open for our community I welcome you to come in stop in to talk to any of our volunteer career firefighters feel free to set up a ride along if you like to see what we do every day and just want to remind mind you we still have one of the lowest tax rates around in comparison with other fire districts and I'm not saying it because I'm a member here and I'm a I'm a resident but we are very fortunate I'm very proud of our department for having one of the best trained and equipped fire departments so I appreciate your help this Saturday thank [Applause] you good evening mayor and Council uh again my name is Zed um the treasurer of the board of fire Commissioners for this year and just a few highlights for the budget for everyone our budget did increase we stayed within our 2% cap uh as prescribed by the state however our budget did increase by some the not to be raised by taxation by some $338,000 um what does this mean the actual tax rate in increased from by 76 c yeah 3/4 of one penny how's that um it went from 0.176 17.6 cents to 18.2 so what does that mean to a u household that's assessed $200,000 $14 annual increase it took a uh 2, $200,000 assessed house in 2023 paid $350 annually in fire taxes in 2024 if the budget passes it'll go to $364 per year um we tried to um keep our budget to within what was absolutely needed uh because we are quite cognizant of tax rate in the township um we did our debt service did increase somewhat this year we had a new truck coming on that we just took delivery of three weeks ago and also uh three new staff cars were purchased uh this year so they were the big things going on in the budget everything else um as I made my presentation we say that 90% of our budget is for non-discretionary items okay uh only 10% goes to uh discretionary items and that includes things like training um you know um training's probably the biggest one and purchase of assets that are not bondable those two items take up most of the non disc questionary part so I'm here to answer any questions anyone has about the budget and I'm sure the chief will answer anything else about the department uh and again we hope everyone can come out and vote and support the Fire District budget this Saturday and thank you real quick question is do you also get grants of apply for Grants through we apply for Grants yes we haven't had any luck with them for the past four years five years uh yeah but now we're looking into we were writing our own grants now we're looking into having a professional Branch for us okay good idea thank you thank you Mr hman thanks Chief and just to put it in perspective uh commissioner edman talked about what that cost impact is where a house assess at $200,000 300 something dollars a year if you think about it you go out and buy a CO cup of coffee every day whether it's Dunkin Donuts WWA Starbucks you're paying more than $3 a day for a cup of coffee you're paying less in in fire protection than you are your daily cup of coffee you can use your support you want to mention where the voting absolutely so voting takes place at three of our fire stations the one on hurel grenlock road uh the Johnson Road fire station and the East Holly Road fire station um we do have an Interactive um voting map poll in location on our website and also on our social media page www. wtfd10 doccom and our budget's also posted on there if you have any questions contact information is also on the website uh feel free to ask the polling times are 2: to 9: 2: p.m. to 900 P PM correct thanks Chief thank you Chief before I get into the minutes we'll take a one minute recess if anybody wants to leave that was here for the presentations you could do so now congratulations congratulations have a safe TR EX everybody good all right we're going to move on to the minutes can I get the following approve I skipped the bill list sorry Bill list can I get a motion to approve the bill list for February 14th 2024 motion second roll call Mr yurz yes Mr Bennett yes Mr Brown yes Mr deell yes Mr Delia yes move on to minutes I'm going to do these by consent can I get a motion to approve the following minutes uh minutes for the reorganization minutes for January 3rd 2024 motion to approve the minutes for January 14 2024 executive minutes for January 17 2024 and special meeting minutes for January 30th 2024 motion second roll call Mr Juris yes Mr Bennett yes Mr Brown yes Mr deell yes Mr delpia yes going to move on to ordinances Ordinance one is for introduction only ordinance resending ordinance 27- 2023 amending chapter 2 article 4 section 2-4a and section 2-5a the code of the township of Washington entitled Administration can I get a motion to introduce Ordinance one roll call Mr Juris yes Mr Bennett yes Mr Brown yes Mr deell yes Mr Delia yes public hearing and adoption will take place on February 28th ordinance 2 is up up for introduction only ordinance amending chapter 2 Article 4 section 2-4a section 2-5a of the code of the township Washington title Administration can I get a motion to introduce ordinance to motion roll call please Mr JZ yes Mr Bennett yes Mr Brown yes Mr deell yes Mr Delia yes public hearing and adoption will take place on February 28th 2024 going to move on to resolutions following resolutions are by consent agenda and no long require a vote for all listed each one must be read by title if any member of the council wishes to have one removed and heard separately they need to indicate it prior to the reading of titles I would like to pull out resolution 80 and do that one separate everybody's okay with that yes does anybody have any other ones they need done separately back okay resolution 80 it's a resolution resending resolution 10922 3 and authorizing revocation of assessment of tax sales certificate number 16-34 to Martino cardier so before I put to a vote just want to explain to everybody um this is a resolution was for a parts of land that a tax lean was sold on since the the sale was taken place there have been many discrepancies and misinformation of what the property is what the property was intended to be and what the property should be in the future we feel this is something that a higher authority needs to look into and decide on what it should be moving forward it is with all these concerns and this intention that this is being executed we hope that a resolution will be made to make all parties involved satisfied with that can I get a motion for resolution 80 motion second roll call please Mr YZ yes m Mr Bennett yes Mr Brown yes Mr deell abstain Mr delpia I'm going to obstain as well Okay resolution 59 resolution authorizing refund of tax overpayments resolution 60 Resolution cancelling taxes for a totally disabled veteran located at 32 cider press Lane effective September 29th 2023 resolution 61 resolution cancelling taxes for totally disabled veteran located at 6 John hanock building effective October 1st 2023 resolution 62 resolution amending resolution 49- 2024 cancelling taxes for totally disable veteran located at 17 Lansbrook Court effective October 30th 2023 resol resolution 63 resolution cancelling taxes for a totally disabled veteran located at 13 regular strive effective effective January 2nd 2024 resolution 64 resolution awarding a contract through the camon County Educational Services Cooperative to South Jersey Turf Consultants LLC for Turf application and service for the Washington Township Soccer Complex resolution 65 resolution Waring award in a bid to South State Inc for Washington Lake Park improvements 2021 Green Acres Program resolution 66 resolution approving the release of a safety and stabilization bond for Waba located at 108 AC caror Road resolution 67 resolution approving the release of a performance guarantee for Washington Health Center section number one 405 hille Cross Keys Road resolution 68 resol resolution authorizing a permanent application to New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection for the proposed tw-1 permit application resolution 69 resolution amending resolution 30 approving appointment of certain designated engineer as pools Engineers for special projects and Engineering matters resolution 70 resolution authorizing the municipal clerk to advertise request for proposals for solicitor of Township of Washington resolution 71 resolution authorizing a municipal clerk to advertise request for proposals for land use attorney to the township of Washington resolution 72 resolution appointing the municipal court judge for a term of three years resolution 73 resolution amending the mayor's appointment book resolution 74 resolution amending members to the Zoning Board of adjustment resolution 75 resolution authorizing the continue ing operation of the Green Team advisory committee resolution 76 resolution establishing a creative team a subcommittee of the sustainable Washington township Green Team advisory committee resolution 77 resolution of the township of Washington County of gler proposing assembly bill number 4 Senate bet Senate bill number 50 which proposes to overhaul the fair housing act in a way that imposes unrealistic obligations with unrealistic deadlines based upon on owner standards carried over operation uh resolution 78 resolution authorizing an emergency temporary appr appropriation of funds and res resolution 79 resolution resending resolution 272 authorizing agreement assignment of tax sale certificate number 19- 0049 to Mr Singh can I get a motion to approve resolutions 59 to resolution 79 motion roll call please Mr Jus yes Mr Bennett yes Mr Brown yes Mr Delia yes Mr Ben I'm sorry Mr yes sorry sorry I just heard my name I answer all we're gonna move to Old business and new business um I apologize I'm not on my game tonight being sick and um just getting over it so still a little foggy up top from the medicine so we're going to start with h councilman yeris thank you president I'll um happy valentine St to everyone for those of you who showed up tonight um I just wanted to piggy back on what fire chief said tonight um we were there presentent last month when we had that rain Windstorm and we got to listen and see in action our volunteers and our fireman out there at night I remember when you're at home and cozy uh situation um they respond to calls down trees on top of cars people trapped inside power lines falling down telephone polls being hit uh they put their life in danger and as the chief said most of them are volunteers and they work through the night until everyone was home safe and the storm was over um so we owe them a that a gratitude and I think the way to repay them is to vote either by mail if you has done so already or go this weekend and vote Yes on the ballot I've already voted I voted yes uh I think it's the least we can do for our firefighters to ensure their safety and to ensure the safety of our community we back our police department and I think most people will move to Washington Township because of Public Safety uh they feel safe with our police department and they feel safe with our fire department I think as Citizens uh going back to Ben Franklin times you know our firemen were the uh backbone of our community I think it's our duty to respond in kind and support them so that's what I'd like to say tonight thank you thank you councilman yurus councilman Bennett uh a couple things here as you know that I'm very conscious about speeding so as as usual we got to make sure that if it says 25 it means 25 if it means 30 it means 30 and it's important for safety wise that we are as residents and people from even not our residents are following the speed limit for safety um also the car uh the car show for the oldstone house will be the last Saturday in April to our big event for fundraising to help the complex so make sure that you look forward to coming to that also as I always say is look out for your seniors um help them shoveling the Snows where their sidewalk or driveways uh we still have another month and a half of um winter so do get a chance and get out to help your neighbors and get to know your neighbors and help them out it's very very important thank Council vett counc Brown so last week I had the pleasure along with other members of council and the mayor to attend the night to shine what a truly magical event held at Calvary Church it's one of many that are held across the country that night um it's an event where um children with special needs come out and they're given a night for a a prom type event and well attended and thank you to the many volunteers who uh put their uh time and effort into making sure that these uh individuals had a great great moment that night also um councilman Del barell and I uh attended the recruit session uh for Washington Township the police department uh train or the 31 people show up for PT physical test uh had a good number of people uh make it through to the next phase um so hopefully we'll have some more um police offices on the street soon which we definitely need um for the fire department um again if you could get out this weekend 2 to nine at one of the three polling locations um volunteers I being one of them uh put a lot of time and effort in the training making sure that uh calls are answered not just here but wherever we're needed um and if you know anybody or if you have an interest um we're always looking for volunteers um it's a great family a lot of valuable knowledge learned in the training sessions um so I encourage if you have a desire please uh visit one of the fire stations or go on to the um website and uh you free to sign up now something from the library um on the 27th of February this is very interesting Ruckers Cooperative Extension we'll have a discussion on the positive health benefits of eating chocolate um I'll put it out on the table so anybody wants to uh take a look at it please feel free to uh tend and learn more about how chocolate is good for you and as a reminder uh we did have a recent snowstorm storm uh where we had the potential to put out everbridge messages um if you need to sign up for it please uh approach the table uh get one of the Flyers and scan the uh barcode or QR code and sign up for delivery messages from the township thank you thank you Council Brown councilman D thank you council president I'm just like council president where I actually am coming off a cold as well so I'm sorry I'm not on my game tonight uh did want to recognize night the shine event was amazing uh just just just a great event and all the volunteers thank you to Calvary Church and all the volunteers thank you the pastor and his family for putting that event on helping ANS hogi sale was this past Sunday I got to make hogies with with with mayor and uh it was a actually had we had a great time so the kids did great we didn't have as many kids this year as usual but uh it it was a lot of fun I I think I wrapped better than this ISB I saw the way you wrapped you didn't WAP better I I saw I saw I'm not for sure about that yeah I'm not so sure about that um so Peter's lucky though that we didn't start a food fight but yeah we we we actually had had a great time with the kids it really was it's it's just a lot of fun and and then then then your high school kids go out there and they sell the hogies I think they sold about 3,000 I don't don't quote me that number but I think it's about 3,000 they they sold and all that money goes to help people here in Wasington Township with which which is great we still have our are open for business anybody who's thinking about bringing a business to Washington Township please let us know we have a Tuesday meeting if you're interested in bringing something to Washington Township we have a lot of exciting things I know a lot of people are reaching out on social media they're asking about different projects that are happening I gave some timelines before I know a lot of people are asking about the sign so we'll have some announcements about what's going on with this sign uh trust me we were just as frustrated you about the way it looks and what's happening with it but there's some things that that we we just can't discuss it's illegal right now so we can't discuss that right now but we will be giving you updates on projects as they come out I know a lot of people keep reaching out about that sign um with that it that's it Council pres coun thank you Council Mr Men you have anything you need to add nothing thank you Mr Ruto Mrs mayor I think all Council said everything I wanted to say but that's okay um I think I like councilman Brown and Del barell and Bennett said um I attended the night to shine as well and helping hogies for 30th year um that program started when I was in high school and there's still people from when it started working there and it's just a fabulous Community event um that helps local families in need and it's great to see it still continuing 30 years later um I think all the community events and how we come together in times of need is one of my most favorite things about living here in Township and I just hope it continues all the way through thank you thank you Mr Mayor um I like to say I was good ni to shine like to shine also and if you get a chance you have to go um Pastor Gary and his wife do a great job hosting it um what they do is the families will bring the kids to behind the building they'll get in limousines and the fire department will bring them out escort them to the front they have a red carpet rolled out and as they come out we're there holler and cheer them on make them feel special and to see the look on those kids' faces and adults as well um puts a lot of things in perspective so if you get a chance to attend next year I highly recommend it it's right on a a Calvary Church in Township usually around the same time every year um I had the pleasure of attending the best of Washington Township award dinner on Wednesday January 31st um everybody was there the mayor council um it was a great event hosted by the chamber had over 500 people in attendance um we will continue to support our local businesses and keep them thriving um congratulations to all the businesses who are recognized that night um also I want to touch on we had a special council meeting back on Tuesday uh January 30th it was the night before uh we went to the Washington Township W Washington Township and was here in this meet in this room the purpose for this meeting was to approve a resolution to apply for Jake's law Grant if you're not familiar with Jake's law is a grant to help fund an all-inclusive playground for anyone with special needs a playground that will welcome people with wheelchairs Walkers and other assisted devices created creating sensory structures for those with autism all within a safety fence over 10% of New Jersey residents have some type of disability while one in every five of our children are enrolled in some type of special education to deal with a learning or physical disability as one parent wrote in her letter of support to me for our grant Jake's Place is not just a playground it's a Haven for children of all abilities to play learn and grow together we desire a safe inclusive environment where children with disabilities can enjoy the same recreational opportunities as their peers through accessible play structures Century Rich features and inclusive programming this Pro playground will promote social interaction physical activity and emotional well-being for all children and their families there wasn't a dry eye in this room that night uh we've had we had people speak this room was packed with parents and with kids um the reason the special meeting was needed did it was because the application for the grant was not complete prior to our last council meeting and the deadline to submit the application was February 7th which was before this council meeting so we needed to have a meeting to approve it it was requested by our town engineer because they are the ones applying and assembling our our grant package so they requested that we had this meeting and we needed to have it by the deadline the reason why it was held on a Tuesday and not on the normal night Wednesday was we already committed to go to the best Washington Township which I me mentioned that all of us were in attendance and because we had it not not notice the public at least 48 hours prior so time was of the essence and one of the reasons why I had to get into this too is it was brought to my attention that a resident actually called us out and said we We snuck in a special meeting um for just a playground and um they want to know who was running the town because you know our engineer requested it the meeting or you know requested that we had this meeting and it was very disappointing to be honest with you um you know everything we do we try to be as transparent as possible we may be wrong on some things I have no problem somebody asking a question if we're wrong we'll admit it and and I'll be honest with you if there's something wrong we'll fix it um I'm not here to hide anything and that's why I wanted to bring this up um if anybody has any questions about this project or anything we we do all of our information phone numbers emails are all on the website feel free to call email if you go to any one of these events usually at least three of us are there please come up ask a question if we don't have the answer we'll get it for you but this was a great meeting for a great cause and it had a lot of support and I was just kind of taken back that somebody actually questioned the validity of of this meeting so I just want to put it out there that we're accessible and we have nothing to hide um reports all dogs in the township are required to be registered and vaccinated please stop in the Clark's office to register your dog for 2024 we'll be holding a free rabes clinic on Saturday March 9th from 10 to 11:30 at the Public Works garage located at two McClure Drive February is Black History Month and America heart month Happy Valentine's Day for everyone glad you came to celebrate it with us here the Washington Township Fire election will be held on Saturday February 17th from 2:00 to 9:00 you may cash your vote at Whitman Square Firehouse grenlock Firehouse or the main fire station on East Holly Municipal complex will be closed in observance of President's Day on Monday February 19th will reopen on Tuesday February 20th at 8:30 a.m. President's Day is a Federal holiday going to move on to public participation please follow the public decorum poster which has also been attached to the public agenda limit your comments to 5 minutes once you have completed your comments or questions please take a seat council president will then ask if any member of the governing body or their designate with to address your comments or questions asked by the person who just spoke can I get a motion to open to public participation second all in favor I we're now open to public participation if anybody like to speak please come up good evening everyone I give out my information may I step forward and give it out to you folks I make my CLE Tri good evening everyone my name is Michael mclusky MC c o ke y I live at 41 Saddle Brook Drive in Soul New Jersey uh the reason we're here tonight myself and the residents have been here numerous times in regards to the issue with plot 1711 lot 51 and that's considered presently an open space according to the documentation that I submitted in the last three meetings what you have in front of you tonight is a variety of items we can go over each one address each one I don't know if you have the capability of addressing all these tonight so I I don't know if I can save it so the res what is the long and short so the short is it was rescinded and it's going to go to a higher authority to determine this or where it should be moving forward it and uh our Council can comment on it but now it's out of our hands it's just people who know the law and know what it should have been what it is and what it's supposed to be and that's really not our decision understood who represents the res residents the solicitor of Washington Township or the solicitor do be of Washington Township to be clear so earlier make sure this push it up oh there we go um so to be clear earlier tonight as you may have heard uh the council voted to resend uh the tax assignment on this property so that's the first step with regard to this property is dealing with that the resolution author also authorizes my office to take whatever steps is necessary to effectuate that that action which could mean any number of things I'm not going to get into the all the legal uh possibilities with it but we're authorized to do every steps we need to to uh make make sure that the re the resending of the assignment uh is effectuated what happens after that is then kind of the next step after we make sure that's all cleared up so you know and to your question you know I represent the entire town as you know the governing body effectuates policy I effectuate their policy um so that's where we are um with regard to it now if there's additional let say question that individual residents have over the property uh or how it impacts them personally things like that those are some issues that at some point the town may be able to answer or may not depending on what the individual you know circumstances are right now our goal is to make sure that the assignment is rescinded that that is properly recorded properly taken back and um that's where we are in the process correct me if I'm wrong but both parties live in this Township here so how how do you represent the people of Washington Township you're going to resend it you said but if it goes further the second party gets legal representation is that legal representation meet with you on a daily basis or or how does it all operate I'm not a lawyer that's yeah I hope not on a daily basis but um it's if if if somebody gets a a lawyer to um challenge the actions that the council takes I represent the council in the township to respond to that um that's why that you know that's my job I understand but I'm I'm sure since and I appreciate your sentiment about you're you're going to be turning it over um what is the next step like you represent Washington Township I'm sure the other individual is going to have legal representation if when that individual finds out that that this has been rescinded possibly possibly sure right so do you go do you have discussions with his representation in other words should the residents get representation well it it's hard for me to I don't know what the response is going to be all I can say is that you know my job is to represent the governmental entity of the township of Washington you know residents individual residents just as you pointed out right there's a resident who has an interest in this property there's probably a lot of residents in this room who have interest in the property um I don't represent any of those individual interests I represent the interests of the township which in this case earlier tonight was expressed that their interest is to resend the lean and make sure that is uh rescinded back to the township so that's who I represent if individual citizens or a group of citizens feel that their interests aren't being fully covered by the town's position residents always have a right to get their own attorney and to intervene if a court lets them if it was in a court matter or to otherwise engage but the Step that is occurring here which is the only step we don't know what you know I can't tell you what's going to happen next because we're not there yet all I can say is that we've rescinded the lean we're going to make sure that that's effectuated no matter what we have to do to do that hopefully it's a simple process um but my office will make sure that that occurs and um that's where we go with it well I appreciate everyone's concern especially myself and the residents are very concerned about this remaining as an open space lock 1711 lot 51 so thank you Mr puski yes appreciate it before I step away there has to be some sort of time frame I mean we can't just say well it's going to happen and happen and happen this has been going on for 26 weeks it started 8:16 of 23 and and today's 214 that's 26 weeks so how long will that process in your opinion your personal opinion will this take I don't know it could take a week it could take five months um what what do you do as the next step so I'm not trying to be difficult with you but this could end up I know but this could have litigation so I don't want to outline here in public for anybody who may have adverse interest to what the township wants to do what the possible strategies are or what the possible steps are because that would be hurting our position and putting us in a worse position so all I can tell you is that the council has acted to resend the lean my office will make sure that we take steps to make sure that occurs out the ne the next meeting or maybe the following meeting after that we might have more of an update where I can tell you and say Here's Where We Are here's what the time frame is but I can't I would not be comfortable outlining in public all of the possible eventual understand you can't do that but how do I communicate is there anyone can I communicate with everyone by via email and say where do we what is the status what is the up update on this situation can I do that well yeah I mean certainly I would assume you can always Reach Out reach out to us you said he said it could be 3 weeks four weeks before he gets any update so and I'm sure one of us reach out to you if there's any update okay that's all I mean I have residents here I don't know as I stated I'm not a legal representation of what goes on with the township uh but I I would like to have that as open space okay and remain open space thank you thank you Mr Ki thank you how we doing again folks John suvin 39 sat book drive so I'm here about the same issue and I know lawyer you're not going to get into details I I mean documentation I have here which I'm I'm trying to figure out you know back in December of 16 the township purchased the lean on this property when FTP went b or P whatever it is went bankrupt in December 2016 didn't do anything with it until April 24th where they went to the county to process it which says expedite which is two weeks after Martino took assignment of the property the lean and know got get in a legal issue but I'm curious to find out why it sat there and nothing happened until Martino wanted this property and then it was expedited and then 3 months after that then it was assigned to him on a purchase so I'm curious as I know you're not going to get into it it's legal and I'm not asking you to but my concern is a lot of stuff's going to get swept under the rug because of the relationship between the individual and the township other concern is when we originally went to the county and asked about this issue it was stated to us that it's a Washington Township issue the county has nothing to do with it so now it's in in the Township's hands right now you've all decided that we don't want to deal with this guy we don't want to deal with this issue we're going to give it to a lawyer because basically you don't want to look bad it's going to be legal issue so you're giving a guy with unlimited amount of money unlimited amount of legal representation to bury the citizens who are concerned about the land it's not right to me it should have been it should be you you the council did have they had an opinion on this they had a right to decide yes we want to leave this as open space and instead it was sold out from under our feet expedited after it was already assigned to them so I'm curious why the township would do that so you're going to piss off numerous amounts of residents to make one person happy meanwhile we discussed this you know you kept telling me there's going to be fines coming down cuz you keep removing trees off the property has the fines been issued has the fines been paid any of it as of Monday I look at my backyard which used to be a beautiful landscape now it looks like a freaking War Zone on top of that he has a machine on his side of the property dumping more debris onto the open space part of the property so when I know you're telling me could be 3 weeks could be 5 months this has been going on since July me this is all swept under the rug and push through because personally Financial reason and I mean we if it's going to just continue like this you know what what is if if just going to continue to get swept on the rug to me I think you I think this Township had the responsibility to take control of the situation when when they purchased it in December of 2016 I can't say nothing's misre under the rug if it was this resolution would it never happen tonight um minor saying a tax lean you can come tomorrow and buy tax lean if you want come go to office that's which ones we have they're available for anybody corre Martino just happened to inquire about a property next to his that he bought so inquire and we and when speaking to him when this all went down you know the T he told the T was giving him a hard time because the land that he was on right now wasn't large enough in order to get the tax break for the farm or whatever it may be and he needs more land so you're going to tell me that when he purchased that land on selener road and it's building a 4,000 ft commercial property on a residential property which nobody in the area wanted it but the mayor wanted it at that time so it went through well that's a totally different issue than what you're asking I'm saying but it's all connected if you tell me it's not you're crazy it's it's not I'm not trying to be disrespectful but if you tell me it's not connected it's crazy but you are by saying we're sweeping everything under the rug and and we're doing this behind everybody's back and this and that but okay know saying I'm being a little yeah I'm we would not have addressed the residents and Mr mosy and this resolution every meeting if sweeping under the rock we would have swept under the rock but now that you're just saying Hey listen Council doesn't want do with it we're going to give it to a lure that that's not exactly true the council what we're trying to do is the right thing the right thing I'm not a lawyer and I do believe that there are questions about whether this was open space or whether it was meant to be retained by the company that previously owned it there's a lot of questions that remain unanswered the fact is we can't sit here and based on the facts that we have make a determination so we're asking for somebody else to take a look at it with a fresh set of eyes to properly tell us whether and find more facts to whether it should be open space or not we we are taking a position um to try to do the right thing we're not hiding anything and we you know if it's open space and it's meant to be open space then it'll be open space I I get it so so don't tell us that we're trying to swipe something out on the road we're not I'm not saying I'm saying I think this I am but I showed this to you last last meeting and you you said I'm not a lawyer I I don't know but to me if you look at it it's very shame okay okay and and listen I've talked to you and I yes I understand and but to me I just don't again nothing's happening and he continues to take stuff off the property it just continues to happen yes I understand it now it's there's been punitive action taken but that's through the courts and we can't address the legal actions if you have if you have an interest you can go to the court find out when it's being scheduled but we can't comment on okay my other question would be if like I said when I go to the county and they tell me it's a washing in Township's hands right now you're saying you don't know if it's open space on the on the document like and that's the other thing too because I had an issue with trees on my property falling down that was on that property right and Township said when I come up here they said it's open space this so you're you're telling me it's open space it says it's open space but it's a matter of what the legal representation or the legal interpretation of what open space means follow through on the party that wanted it to be open space but didn't follow through with and continue to pay taxes on okay so they're bankrupt so all the questions you're asking is what we need a lawyer and a judge to determine we can't determine what the intent was what was promised when that you guys were charged premium to be there we can't tell you that we weren't there we just want somebody who's qualified to make that decision to make that decision that's that's all we want to do I I'm sorry if I'm coming off rash or whatever but no I understand a lot of emotions come in it's very frustrating too to having him continueed to do it when it's not stuff you know that's not supposed to be done we' like a fast resolution too okay I mean it's basically he's basically giving you a middle finger and yeah deal with it it's not it's not no I'm not say you are I'm but it's it's frustrating to see it looking at my backyard every day and it used to be a beautiful landscape and now I got to deal with yeah we agree I know and know I like I said I just I just would rather I get it but I'm just concerned that once it Township doesn't want not saying you don't want to deal with it and it's going to a lawyer again it's it's you're pushing in the hands of if it goes legal in someone who has unlimited resources against count of citizens who've been here their entire life well he's not going against his citizens he's going to be going against our solicitor so okay so he's going to be going against us okay Don it would really help if you look at your papers from when you made settlement look at your survey what does a survey say in the back and look at your report rep the title I had I had I didn't bring it with me I had it in when you go home and all the Neighbors when you bought the property look your survey put you back up to what does it say and you report a title you would have received that before settlement gives you Le meets and Bounds and who you're surrounded by and my question to all the residents is did your reported title tell you that you were backing up to open space owned by Washington Township it'll tell you now we've seen Maps to say Township we see maps that say to be seated Jack I don't think we should be litigating either side right now no I appreciate it I just you got to understand frustration yeah absolutely yeah I appreciate your time thank appreciate it see you just just if I if I could real quick just just in case I I I for anybody who's here in case I wasn't clear earlier the steps that the uh that the council took is that's the step that they have there's not like a you know um they did essentially what I believe most of you this room want them to do which is to take to take the step necessary to take back this assignment that's the step that they did there's not a different step that they could have taken tonight that would more effectively Advance what you're looking for that's the step that they did which was to say we're resending this and then authorizing me to take all necessary steps to make sure that's effectuated hopefully that's a simple process but no matter what the process is we're all in to get it back so there's there's um you know I can't speak is you know for many of you this is the first time you're seeing me I can't speak to what happened five years ago four years ago all I can tell you is there's nothing further that the township could do at this point tonight than what the council already did which is to take the steps necessary to get back uh that lean and to protect that property uh there may be other policy considerations down the road there may be other discussions but for tonight there's no greater action than they could take than what's here so I don't want to make it sound uh you know if I said earlier about you know it's in the attorney's hands or or anything like that I mean it is because I'm now here to fight to protect uh you know the resolution which was passed which was to get back that assignment so just in case I wasn't clear earlier if it was any anything that was UN you know if I was being confusing about it that's where we are and um you know from the timeline we'll wait and see what the response is and how that works thank you Mr M you just answered my question thank you thank you for coming up I'm that good that I can't anticipate all right anybody else hi Maria harb 43 Saddlebrook my question is when we purchased our house in December of 99 it said open space on our title what is the townships Mr Delia um you said it was purchasable for anybody how would we have even thought to purchase open space what is the Township's responsibility to tell us oh now it is purchasable so for my understanding correct me if I'm wrong is you assumed it was open space it was privately owned well my title it says open space we came here to the the recorded title didn't so when the taxes stop getting paid a lean goes against a property just as if you stop paying your house property taxes were paid that's stop being paid we're not being paid we put a lean on it Township put a lean on it you can drive around town you can find any parcel of land that's sitting there you can call Township says who owns that land if we tell you Mr Clark does whoever Mr Clark is and he's behind 20,000 his taxes you can come in Pay Mr Clark's taxes you could charge him 18% and he either has to pay you or you foreclose and take his property and correct me if I'm wrong that's the process so because it was open space and taxes were being paid all that time everybody just assumed it was being done once they went foreclosure and sto paying that's when the problem kicked in which was uh 2013 or 2012 whatever the year was that's that's what kicked in the change right but open space is all open space taxes paid by somebody exactly so I mean I I don't know but open space when we purchased our house we came here we we looked at the maps our real estate agent both you know seller and buyer uh uh agent told us it's open space so how how is someone a lay person supposed to know that you know taxes are paid or not paid I mean heck we all would have bought it a long time ago would open space but again that's why we're going to make sure we resend this make sure it gets legal action that is correct and make sure it gets back to the right information so that nothing is overlooked the other issue is it's been at this point with the council and in the township it's only tonight that it's going out of you know your hands however he's done he's desecrated that land and it's very upsetting my daughter has a big Spotlight shining in her room every night I don't know what that's about that's a whole another issue but the land the trees I mean and Township used to cut that grass so I'm just totally confused as to why they ever cut it why you know they said they stopped cutting it because it was better for the environment and the natural habitat and now it's it's mutilated that land so it it hasn't been in the Court's hand it's been here in our Township so what what's what are the consequences for that well that's going to be a legal issue as well because that's a solt SE a legal issue he did it before that and we've been dealing with that there there's two there's two separate issues that I I know from a property owner next door maybe doesn't matter but there's two separate issues so one is the the lean issue okay when but you want a lean um that just gives you the right at some point in time to potentially foreclose on the property so one issue is taking back the lean so that ultimately it's it's back uh that lean's extinguished there's still going to be then other work to deal with with the property in the future in terms of making sure titles clear the open space ISU like that but it would resin the lean so no one has their right to foreclose it and then do something with it the other issue just like any property owner um there's obviously rules about what kind of trees you can cut down what you can do on the property and there's also a further issue with regard to um just because you own a lean on a property doesn't mean you actually own the property yet um you own a just like a bank bank can't come in and start cutting down my trees even though I owe them money um that's not what this is so one issue is the lean that's been addressed tonight the other issue is enforcement of or penalties or you know whatever is taking place on the property which as I understand it has been taking place I can tell you that unfortunately um you know we can't just go in as a Township and all of a sudden we can find him but he has a right to go to court there has to be a court hearing there has to be has an opportunity to get a lawyer and go to trial and as somebody who does that work in courts as well I can tell you it can take months and months and months so we can find them all the time potentially but there's a court process we can't just go in and force him to give us money or physically stop him and unfortunately sometimes that's what happens when you say well why does it look like nothing's happening it's not that nothing may be happening it's just that it's working its way through a process a violation you got to get time to stop the violation you got to go to court you got to do all those things so um so it's two separate issues and as I understand it the township has tried to address um what's happening on the property it may not be happening as quick as you'd like it unfortunately once the trees are gone right you can find somebody you can make them put up more trees but once the finds are trees are gone can't put those same trees back which is a shame you can't and I did mention before about a big Spotlight how do we how do we make a formal complaint about that call the zoning office call call the zoning office and hang hang around after a meeting I talk to you a minute before I go to Executive session right thank you anybody else wishing to speak there it goes Joe fernicola Goodwin Parkway I have a lot of sympathy for these people is there any possible way this can go to arbitration without extensive legal cost is there any way this can go to arbitration because there's faults on both sides I'm not an attorney I make no claims but I'm a banker and I'm familiar with title work and all that other good stuff but this is outrageous what has transpired this is over 11 years that this nonsense sense this so-called I'll call it a fee or whatever you want want to call it but this is just outrageous there's a lot of responsibility for a number of people that are responsible for this travesty and I really feel bad for these people I live on Goen Parkway and I my heart hurts for you guys because you're going to wind up having to get your own attorneys that's my opinion I'm not telling them they have to but my opinion is there's a good probability since you can't represent them they're going to have to consider maybe a class action suit I don't know but that I wanted to preface my remarks initially with that my major concern in addition to these problems the legal fees in this Township over the last I'd say 10 years are just ridiculous um I've talked with a few people here some Council people have been kind to listen to My Big Mouth I've been here for a number of years it's time to operate this place like a business all right we've got to go through every expenditure we need a cash flow analysis for this Township every year to compare it to the previous years are we going to share Services what are we going to do to cut cost I don't know what cost can be cut because I can't get numbers I get a financial statement for the township but that doesn't do me any good because receipts and dispersements show money's coming in and money's going out so I think it's incumbent upon Township to think about putting a cash flow anal is every year and having a comparison to the previous year so we the township people if they're interested because I know I am I'm G I'm living here I want to know what's going in and what's going out because our Surplus account I hear is next to nothing and i' like to know where that money went and how I mean seriously I'd like to know where expenditures are being uh you know addressed and how they're being addressed um I think I mentioned to Jack about God forbid we have a couple heavy snowstorms I don't even know if we have the money to handle all that stuff because I don't even know what our bond rating is I don't know numbers I don't have any access in numbers to say hey month of April the month of May what does it look like from to the previous year end to see where our Township lies Cashwise I think it's very good to do that because then we can have an understanding an intelligent conversation to say hey guys this is based on what I'm seeing these are some of the cuts that we need to make maybe we need to freeze government maybe there won't be any more hiring we need road work we you all know that we can't afford a bond at this time with the rates of interest mortgage rates went up over seven again so we have issues to worry about but we've got to get I guess also one of the things I'm concerned about is I don't know how many areas in this Township we can actually build on for business purposes because I'm not completely an understanding of what areas are really open space and I don't know what's available from a business standpoint that we can build and bring in bigger businesses we need we need more Revenue the residents cannot continue to support the cash flow of this Township we need big businesses we need something else to rejuvenate like I said we have to be a big business we have to operate like a business but we need numbers so we can see where we are I mean if I said to you okay what did we look like in the month of December nobody can answer that question what does our bottom line look like C could answer that well good put it on the website this is my point we don't know and I don't think that's an unreasonable request but I think from the standpoint of of going forward to address future expenditures and see where we go with this I think it's incumbent upon uh the website to put that in and everything on that website for example new businesses coming in promote everything put everything on that website that makes us look like people know what's going on oh we got three more businesses that are entertain being entertained to come into Township are you know and payment a of taxes I hope that's a dead thing I really do because that killed this Township many years ago so I just wanted to bring that up but I hope you people can resolve your issues thank you so much thank you Mr far yeah this is Colette package R CFO um I'm Colette Bish I'm the CFO for Washington Township and just to go over a little bit that all information and our financial information is on our website that is uh stated by the state that needs to have the um the budget the userfriendly budget the audit as well as the annual debt statement and right now our our debt statement or uh what our annual debt is is less than 1% of our total budget so in actuality we're doing really well um as far as our rating we are a A2 which is the one of the best for municipalities so we're doing really well there um as far as financial information um that's why we have a budget the budget is reviewed on a daily basis by me to make sure that we are meeting what we need for revenues and what we are doing for Appropriations so at some point that's what I review as well as I review it with my department head um Mr Russo with the mayor and then with Council if there's any concerns so hopefully that answers just some of the basic questions that it is reviewed all the time is that if you have any questions for further information thank you anybody else wishing to speak see none can I get a motion to close to the public all in favor I we're going to move into executive session we will now enter into the executive session which will will take approximately 60 minutes and we may take action after can I have a motion to approve resolution 81 to enter executive session roll call Mr JIS yes Mr Bennett yes Mr Brown yes Mr deell yes Mr Del yes