##VIDEO ID:5NF3k6vcupQ## think okay it is now 12:00 um Happy New Year and welcome to the West Windsor Township Council 2025 reorganization meeting okay I'm now going to take a roll call vote gas here Jers here Mandel here Weiss here Whitfield here okay this meeting was atically noticed on December 27th 20124 to the times in the Princeton packet filed with the municipal clerk posted that the municipal bill building and on the township website please stand for the salute to the flag we're going to begin by taking nominations for Council officers for 2025 I nominate Andrea Mandel for council president okay do I have a second second are there any further nominations okay motion to close nominations so moved second second roll call Vote gaas Yes G yes Mandel yes whiss I abstain Whitfield yes okay roll call vote for um adri Mell yes okay thank you I'm gonna take a roll call vote for Andrea Mandel as council president Jers yes oh I'm sorry gas yes Jers yes Mandel yes Weiss I abstain Whitfield yes okay Andrew we'd like to come down and get sworn in yes thank you I Andrew mow I Andrea do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and allegiance to the same and to the governments and to the governments established in the United States established in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and I will faithfully and I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly and justly perform all the duties perform all the duties of council president of council president according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me go so help me God congratulations thank you you gra my P um okay I'm now going to take nominations for the office of council vice president can I have nominations please I I would like to nominate Linda Jus is there a second second okay and are there any further nominations for the office of Vice President seeing none can I have a vote to close the nominations motion to close the nominations salute and a second second and vocal okay gaas yes Weiss yes Whitfield yes sorry oh sorry uh ah we changing the order here we're going to go sorry um gaas yes Jers yes twice yes Whitfield yes Mand yes and can I now have a vote to confirm the um election of Linder Jers to the office of Vice President okay we need a motion a roll call vote sorry motion do we need a motion yes we need a motion yes I I make the motion second okay gas yes Jers yes Weiss I abstain Whitfield yes Mand yes and and actually we didn't need the motion we we already made the motion on it and yes this was that was should have been just a right okay okay okay and can we now swear in Linda Jers uh left hand and right hand up for your oath I Linda Jers I Linda Jers do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and allegiance to the same and to the governments and to established in the United States established in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and I will faithfully and I will faithfully impartially and partially and justly and justly perform all the duties all the duties of the office of Vice President of the office of Vice President according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations um for we go on I'd like to recognize that we have a formal council member in the audience Miss Kristen appet um I'd like to now get nominations for affordable housing committee can I have a nomination for the afford affordable housing Committee Member yes I Martin Whitfield would like to nominate uh Sonia gas for forall housing Committee Member and I have a second second that okay there any further nominations for affordable housing Committee Member seeing none can I have a motion to close the nominations so move second roll call vote please gaas yes J yes voice yes Whitfield yes Mand yes um can I have a um vote on the um nomination of soon for the um affordable housing Committee Member please gas yes Jers yes Weiss yes Whitfield yes Mandel yes you want to swear by the way we did not agree to wear pink before we just happens so way we're gonna have to coordinate exactly I Sonia gaas I Sonia gas do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I would support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the Constitution of the state of New Jersey that will bear true faith that will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and allegiance to the same and to the governments and to the governments established in the United States established in the United States and in the state and in the state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that I will Faithfully that I would faithfully impartially and impartially and justly and justly perform all the duties perform all the duties of the office of affordable housing of the office of affordable housing committee according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations thank you thank you and now can I get a nomination for the office of emergency management council member uh I nominate Sonia gaas for Emergency Management council member can I get a second second thank you are there any further nominations for the office of emergency management Council seeing none can I have a motion to close the nominations so moved second second okay can we have a roll call vote to close nominations gas yes Jers yes Weiss yes Whitfield yes Mand yes and can we now have a vote to confirm the election of um Sonia gos to emergency management Council gas yes uh sorry yeah that's Jers yes Weiss yes Whitfield yes Mand yes and if we can I have the swearing in of Sonia gaas please I'm sorry okay I'll do it next time yeah hi I Sonia g i Sonia gas do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I would support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith that I would bear true faith and allegiance to the same and allegiance to the same and to the governments and to the governments established in the United States established in the United States and in the stat and in the state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that I will Faithfully that and that I would Faithfully partially impartially and justly and justly duy perform all the duties Emergency Management gripon of the office of emergency management representative according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations thank you like uh now I'd like the nomination for planning board class three member do I um have any nominations uh I nominate Martin Whitfield for planning board class three member can I have a second on that I second that do we have any other uh nominations for planning board seeing none then I'm going to go ahead and I'm going to um ask to um close the nominations can we have a motion to so moved second can we get a roll call gas yes Jers yes Weiss yes Whitfield yes Mandel yes thank you nominations are closed can I have a vote now on Martin Whitfield as class three planning board member gaas yes Jers yes rise yes Whitfield yes Mandel yes okay you please come forward sure all right no it's okay okay I Martin Whitfield I Martin Whitfield do Solly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and allegiance to the same and to the government and to the government established in the United States established in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully and partially and partially and justly just perform all the duties perform the duties of the office of planning board class three office planning board class three according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability so help me gone so help me congratulations okay thank you now we're going to move on to the appointment of liaison for the various boards and committees can I have a nomination for the board of recreation Commissioners liaison I would like to nominate dance second thank you other any further nominations for Board of recreation Commissioners leaon seeing none I'd like to close have a motion to close nominations so moved second roll call please gas yes Jers yes Weiss yes Whitfield yes Mando yes thank you and then can I have a um roll call on confirming the nomination of Dan Weiss as Board of recreation commissioners leaz gas yes Weiss yes Whitfield yes oh I'm sorry gaas I'll get you says gaas yes Jers yes Weiss yes Whitfield yes Vandal yes new roll call jees and that's right our new roll call okay okay can I get a n congratulations to Dan can I get a nomination for uh the Environmental commission liaison I nominate Andrea mandal to the environmental commission liaison position can I get a second second are there any further nominations if not then I will close uh ask for a motion to close nomination so moved second roll call please garas yes Jers yes Weiss yes Whitfield yes Mandel yes thank you um then I'd like to have the human relations councila on nominations please I would like to nominate Martin Whitfield as the lison to the human relations Council can I get a second second okay are there any other nominations for human relations Council leaon seeing none can I have a motion to close the nomination so moved second roll call please Bas yes Jers yes Weiss yes Whitfield yes mandal and may I have a roll call vote on to confirm gaas confirm yes Jers yes Weiss yes Whitfield yes Mand yesk and I would like to now move to parking authority liaison can I have a nomination for that please I would like to nominate Sonia gaas to be the parking authority leaz thank you second second are are there any other nominations seeing none I'd like to um see if anybody wants to move to close nominations please moved second second roll call please gaas yes Jers yes Weiss yes Whitfield yes Mand yes and moving on to Shad tree commission we have to do a roll call vote to confirm sorry haven't done this in a while um can I have a roll call vote to confirm Sun um for the parking authority lat on okay gas yes Jers yes wh yes Whitfield yes Mandel yes okay uh moving to Shad stre commission leaon yes I would like to nominate Linda Jers as the ladies on for the Shay Tre commission can I have a second second than you are there any other nominations for shade tree commission liaison hearing none can we have a motion to close the nominations salute second call gaas yes chers yes Weiss yes Whitfield yes mandal yes and now can I have a motion to confirm the election okay gawa yes Jers yes Weiss yes Whitfield yes Mand okay and last we have the nomination for School Board liaison can I have a nomination for that um I would like to nominate Dan Weise okay second thank you are there any other nominations U seeing none can I have a motion to close nominations Sal second thank you gas yes Jers yes Weiss yes Whitfield yes mandelle and can I have a motion to confirm the election gaas yes Jers yes voice yes Whitfield yes Mandel yes yes oh right what um we're going to do right now is we're adding a little to the agenda um we're going to ask um everybody on the council to make a um short comment um about um you know for our reorganization meeting so uh let's just go through through that I'm going to ask Linda if you'd like to speak first on we're going for um oh me yeah oh oh yeah first I look forward to um working with all my fellow council members the mayor the staff um I've known many of you for for several years and congratulations Andrea you and I have been president vice president flipflop um always working very very hard and and uh being inclusive of everyone so um congratulations on being back at the helm here as president I'm looking forward uh to working with you um so welcome everyone and I want to wish you all a very happy and healthy New Year we start off 2025 uh with continuing under our nonpartisan fauler Act form of government I look forward to all of us working together on issues in order to build consensus and to move forward to create an even more vibrant and inclusive community here in West Windsor one of the big issues coming up this year includes determining our obligations under state law for the fourth round of affordable housing the fourth round is a 10-year period from 2025 to 2035 a council's next business meeting on January 27th which is the one after this afternoon uh there will be discussion on this topic and a binding resolution on agenda which is required to be approved no later than January 31st this binding resolution will cover and provide backup information on the present and prospective need numbers that the township has calculated for the fourth round based on the state's formula there's also a state requirement for municipalities to adopt a housing element and fair share plan by June 30th so the clock is ticking for decisions to be made I've asked that the administration post the deadlines and other pertinent information with regards to affordable housing on our Municipal website and update as needed this is a complicated issue and having more information on our website will help our residents understand the details and the process moving forward in late February the council will receive the 2025 Municipal and capital budgets from the mayor and administration special budget meetings with various department heads presenting will be publicly held and public comments taken uh these meetings are broadcast Live on YouTube and later rebroadcast there many of the top budget issues especially ones that we hear from residents will be discussed we are all aware of safety issues for pedestrians and bicyclists and aim each year to continue to budget funds for crosswalk flashing beacons improve lighting sidewalk connections and repairs Replacements and extensions of bicycle Lanes speeding issues around town are also being worked on in conjunction with our police department and residents in various neighborhoods while also speaking about Public Safety matters many of us are deeply concerned about the deadly and destructive wildfires which continue to burn in Southern California here in West Windsor we continue to plan for the challenges of our explosive growth emergency calls as expected go up and discussions are taking place about how to best uh address these needs I want to give a big thank you to our police officers firefighters and EMTs for their service to our community I also give a special thank you to our volunteer firefighters and fire police at the West Windsor Volunteer Fire Company number one and at the Princeton Junction Fire Company you work tirelessly and honorably to preserve lives and property not to mention saving our residents considerable tax dollars through all that we hope to accomplish this year I encourage everyone to come to our meetings make public comments or correspond with us through emails or phone calls if you want to get involved submit a volunteer form to the clerk's office for distribution and consideration our wonderful town thrives through its residents serving on many commissions committees and organizations all of us working together makes an even more Vibrant Community in which we all live and work side by side thank you thank you L um Martin would you like to go next yeah sure um happy New Year to everyone wish everyone a prosperous blessed uh year here in 2025 I want to congratulate all my Council colleagues and their roles and their positions This Year look forward to working with everyone has been a joy uh this past year in 2024 for we have a lot of work to do of course this year uh at the same point uh reiterate in what my Council colleague Linda Jas just mentioned about the fires in uh California just PR that everything is okay for the people and that we get through this as a country I know many people have literate uh have spoken about um you know references to Katrina in 2007 and in Palisades being wealthy areas and Katrina being poor areas but when we look at it from a standpoint of uh from our perspective Americans are Americans and so uffing is suffering so it's just sad to see what they're going through and just hope that they get the help that is needed and that we as a nation wrap our arms around them uh to support them so just want to wish everyone the best um who might be affected from that in the California and throughout this nation it's time for us to be more unified as always and I think we we have the opportunity to do that um here within here in the community uh the same I would say is that we need to wrap our arms around each other uh whether there are difficulties or concerns going on or not uh we do have a beautiful Township and it's been wonderful uh representation seeing the community come out um for concerns and and things that they might have issues with at the same point in time seen us come together in great times and awesome times um likewise uh for for the community so it's a blessing to be here it's a blessing to be a council member and it's a blessing to work with everyone in this Administration and as well my Council colleagues so I just want us all to have a great wonderful year and uh turn to each other for any type of help that is needed but at the same point in time acknowledge the greatness of our students the greatness of the parents in this community the greatness of our Administration our fire and our police um let's look forward um to a wonderful year and be as positive as possible thank you so very much thank you Mark Dan thank you um I would like to recognize and congratulate all members of the council for their new positions and or renewed positions um I don't think I would need to repeat what Linda said I think um she gave a really accurate view of sort of the top issues that we're going to be facing in this coming year uh and I look forward to working with all of my council members and all the public um to to roll up our sleeves and get to work and get the job done thank you thank you D Sonia um welcome everyone happy New Year um and congratulations to all my colleagues on their nominations um I look forward to working with um all of you um again I won't repeat um into everything thing that Linda and Martin um just said I think um we all Echo the the feelings um I am looking forward to one of the biggest um very important um thing that we'll be working on is the affordable housing numbers this year so I look forward to working on the committee on that front um and um hopefully we can you know um do get some good numbers down um so I look forward to working with with all of you on that and um happy Makar Santi and Lori to everyone who's celebrating this week I look forward to working with um everyone for in this coming year thank you thank you son okay I guess it's my turn um those who don't know council president always gets to speak last um good afternoon I want to thank everybody who came to the council's reorganization meeting today I'd like to thank my fellow members of council for electing me as president for this year West Windsor's Township council is an equal branch of government we have the duty to the people to make informed decisions for the good of our town and I'm proud of our Council I pledge to continue to work hard learn and work with my fellow council members to represent all of the people of West Windsor council is not just a job and when you wake up in the morning you never know what new you're going to face every day is an adventure I want to thank outgoing president Linda Jas for our excellent job guiding us through 2024 and we will continue to work together in 2025 with Linda as vice president thank you to Sonia gos Martin Whitfield and Daniel Weiss for taking on your new roles and I look forward to working together with everyone I'd like to thank mayor hont Marathi for his leadership a few years ago at another reorg I said we've never been afraid to tell each other what we really think and I never want to change that we haven't and we won't there is nothing that the council and mayor can't do if we are unified with a common goal of the betterment of West Windsor thank you to Our Town Clerk and staff and the many employees that keep our town safe and running smoothly and thank you to our many volunteers some of which I see in the audience here today uh the last year has seen many improvements toward pedestrian and bicycle safety the environment Recreation local business communicating with residents and more all while controlling tax I look forward to doing more and to taking advantage of new opportunities for West Windsor there will also be challenges as Linda has so eloquently described round four of affordable housing obligations is fast upon US inflation is still high we'll meet our challenges and seize the opportunities by working together the mayor the councel the employees volunteers and the people of West wi thank you um right now um we'd like to take a little group picture before we go into to some of our resolutions so if the council would like to get up there and we could get um yeah try the seal but usually what happens is the table in the front so what do you have to take it from there yeah do you somebody think they can do down Co we did not plan to wear pink better smile go west thank you all right um we're going to go on to um the resolutions for um our reorganization the town going go ahead here we go 2025 D r001 regular meetings for calendar year 2025 2025 D r002 legal newspapers for calendar year 2025 2025 r003 establishing procedural guidelines for the Council of West Windsor Township 2025 r004 Municipal holidays for calendar year 2025 2025 r005 cash management plan authorization for West Windsor Township 2025 r006 establishing the rate of interest charged on delinquent taxes and 6% year-end penalty 2025 r007 authorizing the cancellation of any property tax refund or delinquency less than $10 2025 r008 authorizing temporary municipal budget Appropriations for 2025 2025 D r009 appointing Janice din natal as affirmative action public agency compliance officer through December 2025 2025 D r010 authorizing the appointment of Kenneth W losier as municipal judge for a three-year term from January 1st 2025 through December 31st 2027 2025r 011 authorizing Lorraine Jones tax assessor The Authority in conjunction with special tax councel Township attorney to set adjust defend and prosecute matters on behalf of the township involving tax assessment property tax exemptions as per chapter 4 section 31e of the code of of the township of West Windsor 2025 D r012 authorizing the appointment of Joda kabari as a member of the affordable housing committee with a term to expire on January 14th 2028 2025-the the appointment of yan May Wang as a member of the human relations council with a term to expire on January 14th 2027 2025 r014 authorizing the reappointment of akun rakari as a student member of the human relations council with a turn to expire on January 14th 2027 202 5- r015 authorizing the appointment of parad PAD ramdasi as a member of the human relations council with a term to expire on January 14th 2027 202- r016 authorizing the reappointment of Helen Ranken as a member of the shade tree commission with the term to expire on January 14th 2030 202- r017 authorizing the reappointment of Michael Shu as an advisor of the shade tree commission for the term to expire on January 14th 2026 202- r018 authorizing the reappointment of Andy Lupo as a member of the parking authority with a term to expire January 14th 2030 202- r19 authorizing the reappointment of John rer as a member of the Zoning Board of adjustment with a term to expire on January 14th 20 29 2025 r020 authorizing the reappointment of Daniel Marx as a member of the Zoning Board of adjustment with a term to expire on January 14th 2029 and 2025 r021 authorizing the reappointment of Eugene fridkin as an alternate two of the Zoning Board of adjustment with a term to expire on January 14th 2027 thank you Alon does anybody wish to pull anything okay if not then can I get a motion to approve the um resolutions um I'll approve the resolutions 202- r001 through 2025 r21 can I get a second please second we call the rooll gaas yes Jers yes voice yes Whitfield yes Mando yes and now we're going to move to public comment um it's a 3 minutes uh per person please give your name and address when you get up and if anybody has signed the book um Allison syia excuse me this is still this is still re this is the reor um I'm sorry this is the reorganization so this is a public comment during the reorganization meeting if you um if you wish to which anybody can come up and if you wish to comment during the regular business meeting uh particularly on the items on the business agenda please wait for that meeting um and by the way there will be a um there will be a slight intercession between the meetings so if you want to say hello to people and if anybody wishes to leave before the business meeting that okay good thank you hi my name is Andy Bromberg 24 Providence Drive um I'm here to uh make two comments uh first of all I want to congratulate the mayor and the council members for their foresight in cancelling the fireworks display on December 8th I think that show real leadership and um thinking about the fires in La it's possible that we could have had something like that here uh thank you for um the leadership of our town for having the foresight and there's going to be a lot of challenges with growth and everything and I think we have a good team in place for for our town second point I want to make is about the nonpartisan boote um congratulations to every West Windsor independent Democrat and Republican who decided that the best interests of West Windsor is to say nonpartisan um the partisan people brought a lot of outside money outside influence and truly they weren't in the best interest of making West Windsor a much better town so congratulations on the winning of the nonpartisan vote and we continue to be become a better Township every day thank you thank you is there anybody else who wishes to make a public comment good afternoon John Church 11 Princeton Place uh first of all I'd like to congratulate all the council members on their various appointments and positions you you people do a tremendous job I don't think you get enough recognition uh perhaps at times from the from the township residency on all the hard work that you do and all the great things that you do and just speaking for the residents if I may do a terrific job and I thank you so much and pleased to continue with such fine work thank you John the second point I'd like to make is about the fires can you imagine such a catastrophe it's as if all of West Windsor and parts of neighboring towns were completely destroyed just think about that it's unbelievable I have a good friend who lives in Pasadena I called him two days ago and he wasn't sure whether his house would survive or not I I hope I can hear from him again and get the good news that his house did make it so any anyway it's almost an unbelievable thing that has happened we certainly hope and pray that nothing like that ever happens again uh so again in the meantime thank you all for your tremendous contributions and all the best for 2025 thank you thank you John would anybody else like to come up Sylvia ascarelli 27 Melville Road I'm speaking on behalf of the West Windsor bcal and pedestrian Alliance congratulations to all our council members on their new roles and thank you very much for all the reference refes you made to bicycle and pedestrian safety you'll be hearing no doubt from us many times over the next year um and we're looking forward to seeing progress on a number of um projects that have been initiated in the past year or so and there are three in uh particular I'd like to highlight we are definitely would like to see the award of a contract and the completion of the design work on the Cranberry Road sidewalk extension from vanest Park to the trolley Line Trail on Rabbit Hill Road um by the end of this fiscal year we are looking forward to the installation of those rapid flashing beacons those pedestrian yellow flashing lights near the schools that you awarded engineering contracts for earlier um in this fiscal year and we are looking for progress on the um on the dinky trail that you received a grant for several years ago that would fill in some of the gaps that would let people walk behind the Office Buildings from Von drive to about Route One thank you thank you is there anybody else that wishes to uh come up and make a public comment seeing none I'm going to close the public comment um we will um after we adjourn we will uh return in like about 10 minutes uh for the business meeting can I get a motion to adjourn so moved second second all in favor okay and um if you wouldd like to stay here we'll be available to uh mingle a little bit and thank you be back what in 10 minutes 10 minutes yes 10 minutes e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e no I know you doing another one yeah yeah um Adam President we are live again the May hold on a second okay we've already um we've we've already done the call to order do I don't believe we have to do the roll call again for this oh separate totally separate meeting we're in a separate meeting now separate well health the health department we don't redo the flag okay let's call to order the regular business meeting of the Council of West Windsor Township for January 15 2025 may I have a roll calls please gos here Jers here Mandel here Weiss here Whitfield here okay and I go on the end um State when of adequate notice please yes we were adequately noticed for this business meeting on December 27 2024 to the times and the Princeton packet filed with the municipal clerk posted at the municipal building and on the township website thank you um I guess we could redo the salute to the flag or what do you um all right shall we do that sure proper new meeting since it is a separate business thank you and today we have a ceremonial matter um last year when the um federal government made a Muslim American heritage month we had a proclamation for the um for West Windsor also it was um it was a I believe the first for the United States and West Windsor followed suit and I'm going to read the proclamation now for 2025 whereas West Windsor is proud of its Rich cultural history um and the many people who call our town home and whereas Muslims have been part and parcel of this nation before its founding this includes Muslim explorers and settlers and whereas the state of New Jersey has proclaimed the month of January as Muslim hmer Heritage Month the Muslim Community in New Jersey is relatively large and thriving there are many Muslim private schools Halal certified restaurants and grocery stores community centers youth groups the CER to Muslims and of course mosks and the township of West Windsor is home to a significant Muslim American population who represent widely diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds West Windsor is also home to one of the largest mosques in the area the Muslim Center of Greater Princeton and West Windsor's Muslims actively engage in charitable and public service individually and institutionally the Muslim Center has served West Windsor since 1996 and many West Windsor Muslims have served in various public service and charitable roles the Muslim Community is integral part of the West Windsor community and whereas the township of West Windsor and our nation have greatly benefited for Muslim Americans especially through their rich cultures and traditions Muslims Americans share their strong family values dedication to education generosity and charitable giving Devotion to Public Service diversity in faith and Creed that add strength to our democracy and whereas Muslim Americans are strong commit contributors to economic sectors and are particularly excelled in the areas of medicine law business education politics government military service technology science and culture and arts and whereas we recognize the many contributions the Muslim American Community has made to our beloved nation state and Township and reaffirm our total rejection of anti-muslim hate and islamophobia in all forms of bigotry now therefore it be resolved on this 15th day of January 2025 by the mayor and Township Council of the township of West Windsor County of Mercer state of New Jersey that the mayor and Township Council recognized J January as Muslim American Heritage Month in perpetuity um thank thank you and um we're going to do is Tahir saath of the um Muslim uh Center is is here with us so we're going to get up and present the proclamation to him so if the council would like to uh come up in front of the microphone we can make that presentation and if somebody would take a picture for him thank you e e okay we now go into public comment uh 30 minute period 3 minute limit per person I'm opening the public comment for anybody would like to get up and speak for the uh first public comment for the regular business meeting thank you Alison Alison you want to ask the name and address and a name and address yes hi good afternoon uh my name is Michael Shu and my address is 234 Windor Court doing New Jersey hope I can someday move back to West Windsor back and report it so first of all I like to congratulate Council and also to say it's great that we're recognizing um Muslim and it's great that we did that Proclamation and also I like to thank you uh especially Linda for put putting me back as an advisor to the shade tree commission but I'm here to talk about today is is following um I'm the acting president of frenzo West Windsor open space and I'm the acting president as Al Miller as you know is a president but she'sa from her illness so I'm here today to tell everybody that the friends of West Winds are open space and submitting a Grant application to the EP Green Acres to uh construct a trail that's going to be called The Tam swamp Trail that's going to extend from p l Road to The Bu duck on road Pump Station which is approximately one mile and this Trail is going to be overlaid of the current sewage sewer line and on uh January 23rd we're going to have a public meeting to get public input on that and U approximately January 21st we're going to be posting um much of the application specific uh parts of the application that we're going to be submitting to Greenacres and our Greenacres application is due um February 5th and it's going to take Reen is anywhere three to six months uh to approve the application and fo is is doing it in consultation with the West Windsor historical society and the uh and bik committee and also um hopefully with the blessing of the township Administration so I just want to thank the township Administration for their the help today on preparing this app and if anybody has any uh questions feel free to ask however as I stated on January 1 we're going to be posting on the F's website more detail about this Grant application thank you thank you Mike and do you have um do you want to say the time for that particular meeting on the 23rd meeting which is be held in this room 7 30 thank you you anybody else would like to come up for a public comment please state your name and address good afternoon again John Church you live in Princeton Place I just had some remarks to make about resolutions r26 027 and 028 about ameliorating the land there that may have been contaminated at various times I know I don't have the figures with me but I know the town has spent a lot of money already on cleaning up these lands uh and perhaps it would be good if we had a summary of how much has already been spent and how much in the future we would spend on doing this and as far as the Wallace Road Lot goes you know that was a bus parking school bus parking lot and I don't know whether the school buses themselves were responsible for any of the alleged contamination of that ground whether the maintenance or whatever oil changes whatever but I'm just wondering whether than not the school district should be responsible for part of the money that's involved in in cleaning up that particular area so I'm just throwing that out I have no information myself but perhaps someone can explain uh if they are contributing at all and it's not why not thank you very much thank you John would anybody else like to get up to speak for public comment hearing none I'm going to close public comment and I'm going to um switch over to Administration comments good afternoon um just want to wish everyone a Happy New Year and wish everyone um good health throughout this year um and we do have some updates and reminders and I would like to make sure that we can connect and add the uh fest meeting onto our website as well so we can get that information up um the township will be closed on Monday January 20th in honor and observance of Martin Luther King Jr day um there are no changes to trash collection for the week of January 20th and um with that the final day for real Christmas tree pickup is going to be Tuesday January 21st so please if you still have your Christmas trees please them out on the curb uh by 7 a.m. for collection on the 21st um the 2025 Public Works collection days and events calendars for document shredding dumpster days um is now out on the website the events are kind of far out so um just check the website for updates and as they get closer we will announce them the 2025 Mercer County recycling schedule and collections uh event is also now on our website and their website on um Monday January 20th 2025 uh the human relations Council will be presenting a learning reflection and service event at the quid Church from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. more information is on our website and um we will also send out other eblasts as a reminder throughout this week uh before the event uh annual dog license renewals are due by January 31st please contact the health department for more information all dogs and cats seven months of age and older must be licensed and owners are required to renew their pet license each year cat licenses expire on January 30th of each year West Windsor division of parks and rec is accepting registration for Mar martial arts classes for uh children ages 6 through 12 classes begin on February 10th 2025 to register please go to the parks and rec page the 2025 dad daughter dance is February 21st uh from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at marer Oaks golf club for registration information please also go to the Parkson Rec web page uh and from February 4th through April 15th AARP free tax service for low and moderate income adults is being held on uh Tuesdays from 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the senior center please call the senior center appointments are required their phone number is 60979 968 and that is all the updates today thank you K mayor thank you very much I'll keep it brief uh comments happy New Year um although it's January 15 this the first meeting of the year and Mike told me after today I can't say Happy New Year I have to start talking about next year so um congratulations Andrea and Linda uh for getting elected president and vice president and for all of you for various roles you do um as liazon um Linda did talk at length about affordable housing we are going to have a close session right after this meeting so I will give much more extensive comments on uh Township's approach and what a number is at before our next meeting on 27th uh when we expect to adopt a resolution outlining our number uh but um the process is long and there are new rules so and the rules keep changing so we are just watching learning and um working as hard as we can to make sure that Township is not treated uh unfairly and as Mike mentioned we working with FAS I'm very happy that FAS is very active and involved in the township again and thanks for getting involved and uh we are hoping to submit that grand application and part of that funding will be um in some form in this year's budget so that's my updated thanks thank you mayor okay now we'll go into uh council member comments Linda you want to start oh um just a couple of things um I might as well just pick up on affordable housing because I I'd like that information um to be to be posted um on a municipal website I I know recently maybe it was even last year there there was uh League of municipalities puts out a magazine which council members get um each month and so even some of those articles with like all sorts of dates and requirements you could just post that it doesn't really take a lot of Staff time to rewrite all of that um just as a general information piece I think would be useful yeah sometimes there might be some changes along the way I don't but I don't think updating the the website will will take you know too too much effort from staff's time you know it's pretty much set for the year um also flu uh flu season so um you know just always encourage everyone consider getting a flu shot covid shot talk to your doctor see what they recommend um there's information on our Municipal website under the health department on on these um you know season kind of uh you know diseases and um you know things like that that that come up uh so that's it yeah thank you Linda okay Martin I don't have any additional comments at this time okay Dan thank you madam president um a few things um earlier this year maybe it was late last year the Mercer County Improvement Authority uh announced that their recycling program which we are part of or we subscribed to will now be collecting Plastics number five um which is really an amazing very very good change um it has numerous um great impact one is um well number fives are kind of pervasive between uh yogurt containers and takeout containers and food packaging containers um I found that actually the majority of my non-recyclable waste has been plastic number five so now we can recycle those so um it will dramatically reduce the amount of uh of garbage in your trash collection which is a good thing considering coming the summer we'll be sticking to a single week trash collection schedule so um you know use this opportunity to to to rebalance um your your your trash and recycling um important to make sure that anything that goes into recycle is washed if it means throw it in that top rack of your dishwasher before you throw it in your can do that um because um they will discard entire truckloads of of recycle if they determine a certain percentage of it is contaminated so um don't have this full sense of just throwing you know food especially food tainted um recycling boxes and containers in you're recycling thinking you're doing a good thing because it will actually um not only risk um that item being thrown out but anything that's in the same bin so clean recycles is will actually potentially will reduce the cost of the township because our trash collection is um there's a portion of that which includes um The Tipping fee which is how much weight um and you think about 12,000 households 30,000 people here in West Winds are not um putting that in their garbage and and I can't tell you what that number will be but it's going to go down so uh this is sort of a wind went w around um as K mentioned Monday is uh Martin Luther King Day and the human relations council is presenting a really great program in the afternoon at the Liquid Church from 1 to 3 uh we have a number of really interesting speakers including both of our state um Representatives so um assemblywoman berlina Reynolds Jackson will be making remarks on civil rights likely in the context of Housing and healthare or Healthcare and voting she's still deciding on the exact topic Anthony verelli assemblyman Anthony verelli will make some comments about um civil rights in the context of um employment and labor rights we have our resident um celebrity OT Gordon who attended the March on Washington in 1963 and he'll um share his uh portfolio of pictures and his experience there we have some folks from an organization called not in our town uh Princeton it's a communitybased organization of individuals um for for social justice and we have a a representative from the New Jersey attorney general's office civil rights division who will talk about um racial Justice uh we'll have some music as well there'll be coffee and tea I'm really looking forward to it and so I encourage everybody to participate so that's on Monday this Saturday the there also food collection right ah yes thank you for reminding me yeah so um um send hunger packing West Wind Plainsboro in coordination and with support from our boy scout group 40 in support of the Mercer Street Friends food banks will be doing um a non-p perishable food collection service that day so please um try to bring an item or two or three for them as well thank you for reminding me uh this Saturday the Mercer County division on lgbtq a plus Affairs which was just created this past fall is holding a um an event in the morning um the 18th from 10 to 12 called know your rights it's uh an opportunity to help um folks to get their passport either renewed or a new passport information about how to update State documents and IDs um and general matters of concern to the community uh as well as really any other service that Mercer County provides so that's um s Saturday 10 to 12 at the Mercer County Connection which is 957 Highway 33 in Hamilton and finally um I'm holding uh open Office hours on Wednesday the 22nd although I might need to change that because there might be a conflict with one of my new Council lay is on position so stay tuned um if it's not on Wednesday the 22nd it'll be within the next week figure that SCH that typically is from 6:00 to 8 p.m. here in the municipal thank you thank you Dan uh just a note on that um a lot of the clamshell containers that you used to get that were the blown foam which are no longer allowed um in in New Jersey have now become polypropylene which is number five so if you clean those properly uh take a look on the bottom of them if you clean them properly those are now recyclable for those of us who uh do take out um and another thing is um the the sh that's doing the food collection they also have limited opportunity for some volunteer service and there's an online sign up sheet if you're interested on that one okay uh Sonia um I don't have any additional things to say thank you okay um I'll just have a little bit additional um I think affordable housing everybody's given a lot of the details so no need to do that uh Linder mentioned the um Jersey uh magazine the New Jersey League magazine I know I've been to a number I know lender's been and others been to a number of the meetings matter of fact I think there's one of those magazines has my picture in them as for uh for one of the meetings from people from different uh towns that um had gone to um uh talk about what's going on I know there's been some lawsuits that have been moving around on it it's um it's a very very hot and fast moving topic and we're going to all I know the administration staying on top of it um we have uh consultants and attorneys and everybody staying on top of that and the council is also so um we're going to be ready for for that um just another note uh on the on the trail uh I was at one of the TR meetings I think where that was first discussed so um sure it's a a very big interest to um a lot of people it would it would it'll add a um nice uh addition to our trail system in West Windsor so we look forward uh to to that and if Council people can make that meeting um on the 23rd that would that would the 2 23rd 23rd 7:30 you said it's you'll send that right and um and I think it's available by Zoom also correct so um that that would be good because we um um we expect on the 27th to have us a resolution coming to council so the more we can learn the better um and third uh a couple of people have mentioned a new right turn on red uh signs a few people have mentioned the uh decrease in the um uh speed limits I know on um say Old Trenton Road that have happened recently uh so I'd like to ask if um maybe Administration could look at putting out announcements when those kinds of changes are made uh and maybe maybe for some of those even putting them on our boards out there telling people that on this road and that road um these these changes are being made even if it's a county road if it's within West Windsor be uh so that there's not a surprise and people do want to understand that thank you okay moving right along um to the consent agenda we have bills and claims okay BS and claims I assume does anybody want anything pulled from that no um can we uh I have a motion to adopt salute second roll call gaas yes chers yes voice yes Whitfield yes thank yes thank you uh and recommendations from Council clerk okay 2025 d022 authorizing the mayor and clerk to execute a Professional Services agreement with Parker McCay PA for Township Attorney Services $75,000 202- r023 authorizing the mayor and clerk to execute a Professional Services agreement with spel Architectural Group Inc for professional architectural services for the installation of a fire suppression sprinkler system and fire alarm for the Fire EMS facility $33,750 2025 d024 approving the refund of the balance of remaining escrow for development plan review for various Planning and Zoning Board applicants 2025-the the township land use manager and Chief Financial Officer to execute the supplemental funding request form acquisition projects with njde Green Acres for a 1,25 85650 open space Grant 2025 d026 authorizing the mayor and clerk to execute a Professional Services agreement with act Engineers for Engineering Services for remediation of the former West Windsor Township landfill Compost Facility $215,200 2025 r027 7 authorizing the mayor and clerk to execute a Professional Services agreement with act Engineers for Engineering Services for remediation of the Wallace Road bus garage $241,700 2025 D r28 authorizing the mayor and clerk to execute a Professional Services agreement with act Engineers for remediation of soil at the Wallace Road bus garage $66,000 2025 r029 authorizing the mayor and clerk to execute a Professional Services agreement with Aurora and Associates for professional engineering and development Inspection Services $2,000 2025 r030 authorizing the mayor and clerk to execute a Professional Services agreement with geot Trek environmental and surveying LLC for professional land surveyor Services $3,000 2025r 31 authorizing the mayor and clerk to execute a Professional Services agreement with Roberts Engineering Group LLC for professional engineering and development Inspection Services $2,000 2025 r032 authorizing the mayor and clerk to execute a Professional Services agreement with Turk Consulting LLC for professional engineering and development Inspection Services $500 2025 d r033 authorizing the business administrator to execute a limited access agreement with Ellsworth advisory Services LLC in association with groundwater remediation at the for former Wallace Road bus garage 2025-the the business administrator to purchase one new 2025 Ford F450 utility crane truck for the Department of Public Works from coka Ford of Flemington New Jersey under New Jersey state contract $123,700 20 2025 D r035 authorizing the personto person transfer of the high at Place plary retail consumption hotel motel exemption liquor license number 13- 36-15 d004 to HP Princeton LLC does anybody wish to pull anything seeing no can I get a motion to approve so moved second roll call gaas yes Jers yes Weiss yes Whitfield yes M yesk you all right we have no introduction of ordinances today so we are going to go into a second public comment three minutes a person I'm going to open up second public comment seeing nobody I'm going to close the public comment and go into Council reports um the reports from committees would be from whoever was on their previous uh committee and not the new assignment unless it happens to be the same uh Dan do you have any report yes the um parking authority met last week and uh they are um finalizing the agreement obviously we passed a number of resolutions here for payment of the remediation so these of the U the bus depot among other things that's of the first steps to to move things along for that project so that's a great progress there um the fence not quite installed they really tried to get it in in December but it looks like it's scheduled for the end of this week um so we'll see that fence on on wot lot and HRC where about okay thank you Sonia um I don't have anything to report now Martin uh I don't have any report planning board meeting will be this evening 6:30 that's right thank you Linda and the shade tree commission meets the fourth Wednesday of the month so that's January 22nd at 6:30 p.m. in the municipal building um I just also want to say that if anyone wants to to meet with me they can call me email me we'll we'll talk and then we can set something up because I'm available all the time so I just want to make that clear all right thank you okay thank you Linda okay um the environmental commission did meet in uh in uh early January um there was discussion about the silver recertification or certification with with the sustainable Jersey that's going to be a really big project for them this year they've uh put a resolution together um asking for various things from Council so hopefully Council will uh cooperate um there were some discussions on lawns and alternative types of Lawns the Elliot Gordon put together a uh report on that um and there was some also discussion on uh the uh very tragic California fires that are going on now and what uh should West Windsor be looking at in terms of when we do construction Lawns trees um thing you know anything that might uh be an issue as far as um any increases in fires that might be happening now so that was brought up as a uh as a as a new topic that maybe there should be a little more discussion on and that's it for them and they will be meeting again uh first week in February um I'm sorry second week in February and uh do we have anything new from Administration in addition uh clerk anything to from the clerk no nothing nothing yeah yeah no nobody got up for yeah they're all commented out and we're going to need to go into a closed session that has been mentioned before uh on so if you want to go through Alison on the Clos session okay we'll take a motion to go into Clos session salute and a second a second okay and I just I believe you read the um you have to read the reason for closed session yes I'm going to read the um reading the recession the resolution we're not when we come back we're not voting on anything just so the public knows in case they wanted to right when we come back there'll be no action no action taken when just to close the meeting right just to close the meeting correct whereas njsa 10 col 4-12 allows for a public body to go into Clos session during a public meeting and whereas the township Council of West Windsor Township has deemed it necessary to go into the closed session to disc discuss certain matters which are Exempted from the public and whereas the regular meeting of this Township Council were reconvened and whereas the below stated subject matter shall be made available at such time as the issues discussed therein are resolved and its disclosure would not subvert any particular exemption for convening a closed session now therefore it be resolved that the township Council of the township of West Windsor will go into closed session for the following reasons as outlined in njsa 10 4-12 uh for the discussion of affordable housing okay thank you we're aour now to Mo motion to no it's not it's not adjourning yeah we've already yeah we did that so we need a motion we did we did that yeah go ahead Sonia um motioned to go into close session and Linda second so we're now I read it into the record so now we can go close roll call and then we will come back and adjourn the meeting did we do a roll call vote on that yeah we did a Voice vote we want to do a roll call though that's fine all in favor right I could do a roll call for that um gaas yes Jers yes Weiss yes Whitfield yes Mand yes oh where we going we going we're going into our f