##VIDEO ID:4zdgzrjBoMI## [Music] hello and welcome to Woodbridge the best town around my name is John McCormack I'm the mayor of this great town and we're here today to honor the trouble choir of uh Woodbridge High School which is uh the national Woodbridge High School's choir program is nationally recognized every year they seem to come out with first place finishes and outstanding solos and sportsmanship Awards and all kinds of things it's under the direction of Lisa Romero the reason we're here tonight is because at the Hispanic heritage festival in September on Main Street right in front of town hall here the choir spent a couple hours performing uh gu Hispanic songs and it was all under the direction of councilwoman bet the Jesus who put that helped us basically ran the event with our help uh and with and put the whole Hispanic heritage festival together which ran in conjunction with the Main Street St James Street Fair I'd like to introduce the council who's here to your far left Debbie mean fifth award Council woman covering Colonia ver Patel fourth W councilman covering menle Park Terrace Island Greg farara councilman in large hoe Bower second word councilman covering Ford sopon casby Sharon mola first word council woman covering Woodbridge proper and Warren Cory Spiller the only one appropriately dressed in pink on a night that we should have all worn our pink shirts but we just forgot to put the memo out uh Council vice president Corey Spiller Third Ward covering avanel and poor reading and the star of tonight's show other than the choir members councilwoman lbth the Jesus who is at large um and I'd like to ask lth to come up now and take over the show and uh tell us all about the performance the choir did and and everything you want to talk about and then we'll give a proclamation well I think it's important to recognize that Hispanic Heritage Month is a national holiday um it became a national holiday um under President um Johnson in the 1960s and for me when I got elected and or appointed to wridge Township it was important for me to make it um a celebration in our Township recognizing the Hispanic community that lives here in Woodbridge and I wanted to recognize the Woodbridge High School choir because since we've been celebrating Hispanic heritage festival um since 2015 they have always said yes to performing at it and school starts usually like the first week in September and we always try to do the festival anywhere from September 15th through October 15th and in three short weeks they're ready to perform a Spanish song song in Spanish even those that don't speak Spanish fluently s perfectly when they perform and it's my way of saying thank you for representing an always being willing to celebrate um the Hispanic community and taking I believe is a large task in making sure that they're ready and prepared to go in three short weeks that says a lot about um director Romero it says a lot about those students involved in the choir because they're dedicating themselves to learning the songs and to performing it and they sound beautifully every single time that they come on stage so I just want to say that I'm grateful for your presence there that I count on you for years to come whether I'm standing here or not that I think that you guys should be something um that you should continue to practice and undertake because I think it's important um for us to celebrate each other um you know it it's hard for the schools to do anything big because again school starts in September and Hispanic heritage celebrated September 15th to October 15th so there's not a lot of time to get anything big and and huge in the classrooms because they are just starting school so that says again a lot and and you guys should be really proud and your parents should feel really proud of you because you have managed in 3 weeks to speak fluent Spanish even though you're singing it you have managed that so I personally just want to say thank you and I wanted to recognize you and for everyone to to recognize the work that you do we've had had you know choirs from IMS perform and you know the goal is always to have any choir from any of our schools say that they would like to do it but um sometimes I feel people are intimidated by the short amount of time that they have to get ready um and I again I'm so grateful that Woodbridge High School choir is not intimidated to take on a foreign language and perform in front of a crowd of people on Main Street you guys sounded beautifully and I'm [Applause] grateful just want to correct one thing councilwoman Elizabeth said she said if in the ensuing years whether we're standing here or not we're all going to be standing here a long time a long time I'd like to call up Lisa Romero and ask her to say a few words about this wonderful group of students and maybe what some of your recent accomplishments some of the competitions you're heading to this year go ahead take it away you got a commercial for your your terrific choir go ahead umk I just wanted to thank you so much um all of you for having us here um we really enjoy performing for our community um Woodbridge High School has six different choirs and trebble choir performs a lot for the community and the other choirs as well so it's really nice to to be recognized and um these these students are really deserving of that so thank you so much much for for having us tonight um yeah commercial I don't know I mean this this group um treble choir we meet um every other day for an hour and a half um it's made up of all grades and um it is audition so the students do have to audition to be accepted into the to the choir um our competition trip this year is in Bristol Connecticut it's in May so wish us luck on that and um I just yeah I just feel really lucky that we're able to be such a big part of of the community and that um uh and I'm very you know lucky for for these students that that are amazing and they learn like you said learn Spanish in three weeks it's a big task but they they did it so thank you so much all right all right you can call you up one at a time I see there's five of you here uh Morgan Ste NOP Sophia Rodriguez congratulations Lillian Regan congratulations Emily poita congratulations michelia ooy Stephanie menar Emily Cruz salivar oh congratulations Jana bham sand [Applause] Bernard congratulations Isabella badya not here oh she is over there I'm sorry congratulations and Allison Baldwin and jasam Musa all right usually about this time I pick somebody to come up and talk and say a few words about the team you are a team I I will ask for volunteers first before I pick somebody I know you're probably not going to have any volunteers me money mo come on up tell me about well how long you've been in the choir how it feels to be part of such a talented group tell me about your your teacher tell me about your competitions go ahead you she had a commercial now you have a commercial um so this is my first year with um trouble choir and since I've been here they've all been so welcoming and stuff um I'm really grateful um to have such wonderful peers and a director um there's so many new opportunities coming up um I'm really excited to see how our competitions go and I'm excited to um sing more pieces with my classmates so I bet you very very excited about going to Bristol Connecticut I mean Bristol Connecticut what was Iowa taken I mean Bristol Connecticut you could go to Disney World you can go to anywhere in Florida you can go California you can go to all these exciting year might be next year might be Disney all right so do you know anything about Bristol Connecticut because I don't no it's probably like 10 minutes away probably right across the GW Bridge what kind of trip is that New York state New York is you would know all right well thank you very much good job great job all right let's get to six of you and oh go ahead Cory but director Romero if you'd like to see her and her course you can show up at the Avenue of very Mer tree Ling on no Sunday November 24th from 4 to6 where thankfully she has been every year her and her great group so thank you very much all right standing for a moment of silence for all our military personnel serving please flag of the United States of America and to the repic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liy and justice for all thank you Mr Mitch requirements of the open public meeting law have been satisfied concerning the meeting the home news tribun star lger published a notice on October 6 2023 was posted on the municipal bulletin board and should be so noted in the minutes of this meeting councilman Bower here councilwoman Deus here councilman farara here councilwoman McCulla here councilwoman me here councilman Patel here councilman small vice president Spiller here and president Anderson and I get a motion to approve the minutes from October 1st 2024 motion second any questions or comments from Council all in favor eyes oppos eyes have it beginning with second reading ordinances this evening will take letter A which authorizes the acceptance of a deed for in easement for drainage improvements at 149 dunar Avenue in for going to get a motion that this ordinance be taken up on second and third reading and the public hearing be open motion second any questions or comments from Council all in favor I I oppose eyes have it the public hearing is now open on letter a letter A only hear no comment from the public can again a motion that the public hearing be closed the ordinance be adopted and sub to mayor for approval as required by law motion second any questions or comments from councel all favor I I opposed I have it letter B is also a second reading ordinances with regards to lead-based paint and Rental dwelling units and I get a motion at this ordinance be taken up on second and third reading and the public hearing be open motion second any questions or comments from Council all in favor I I oppos I have the public hearing is now open on letter b letter B only good evening council members of Staff um mayor can you expand on uh B please and exactly how is that going to impact any uh rental units within the township which we have as you know many thank you Mr Maris so um this three units or more less three units or less um it's really more of a um not not housekeeping issue mayor Mr Sim if you want to so so it's a uh it's a lead based uh lead paint inspection uh for uh rental units that are three or less uh family units whether it be single or more uh to do the inspection one on a on a building side where we going to look at it as a part of a change for the rental and the other we find anything that be turned over to the health department for further examination and uh uh remediation by state law correct and it's also completely the cost is completely covered by grants okay great yeah I mean that's cost when you say cost it's cost to the township to do the inspection is that not true or is it how do the landlord going to deal with this if they find that they have paint on an older unit that dwells three families or more they have to remediate the remediation is fairly simple um it's covering the the spots where you have the loose paint are removing it but of course you have to take the proper uh precautions when you do it yeah I was just looking at how it it be for the residents if the landlord has to come in and say excuse me I've got to get in and either vacate premises right now or sorry Mr Maris we're only going to inspect on the change of rental thank you thank you Mr Mar Mr President just one thing Mr sea don't the our health department has some pretty Hightech stuff right to detect this correct I saw it uh one of our not this past health fair but one before that it was demonstrated so absolutely state-ofthe-art stuff not terribly intrusive to families when you're in the house that kind of thing yes very true thank you thank you Council are there any other comments from the public on this ordinance here and know the comments going to get a motion about the public here and be closed the ordance be confidence ad the mayor for approval as required by law second any questions or comments from councel all in favor I I oppos eyes have it letters C D and E are three first reading ordinances can I get a motion that these ordinance be passed on first reading published in the home Tribune on October 25th 2024 with notice of public hearing to be held on November 12 2024 at 6: p.m. motion second any questions or comments from councel all favor I I oppose eyes hav it finally you have 37 resolutions before you listed as 1 through 37 can I get a motion by consent to approve motion second any questions or comments Mr Ming from number 37 so noted any other comments all in favor I I oppose eyes have thank you thank you Mr Mitch we now go to the public portion of the tonight's meeting When approaching in the microphone please state your name and what section of the township or state you live in you'll have a onetime opportunity speak up to 5 minutes what's again Tom Maris fors New Jersey god it feels like I haven't even have not been here in a while but uh I'm going to try to limit it to three questions um there's something going on right now in fact patch just posted it that currently at Woodbridge High School the vice principal there has been suspended um there's more to come on that there's allegations and I'd say that there are allegations that he has inappropriately posted things on his own podcast sent inappropriate things to children in school and uh you know I have to look at this is is this another case of Dei rushing to get somebody in to f fill a spot that turns out to be a bad apple I know that's a tough question and I'm not sure how you can even comment on it because it's still with the school board to take whatever action they need to take so there may be legal prohibits from you answering but I'll pose the questions nonetheless and I want the public to know that that person has been suspended not fired but there was suspended as far as I know with pay that's one question uh there's this rumor going around which we trying to quash today that there's real concern about safety at our evening sporting events especially the football or anything else and that some of these were going to be eliminated from what I found out that is not true if anything the township the school board and our Police Department have stepped up to beef up security so that people are being no backpacks no bottles bring into the U to the event and actually even taking screening and anybody that may object to that I would simply say to them stay home because you're in a safer environment and our Township is doing what it needs to do to make sure when you or your family are there you're safe um there's an odor in actually going to make it for a very bad odor over in casby which may be part from the dredging that's going on over there and the amount of soil that's being dredged out and put on the the side but I know there have been a lot of complaints people are getting headaches they're getting sick from it I wonder if the township can adjust that and then finally unfortunately it appears that we're going to have a lot of closing with the Walmart which may affect I think three stores within our community which will put a real impact on employment and also people's ability to get medications that they need are you looking into that and what might we do to offset that thank you thank you Mr Maris um so your questions uh mayor Mr s Luca if uh you want to elaborate on anything that after I say uh questions one and two um thank you for um bringing it up it's been said before um that's a school district matter um by all means you're more than welcome to go to a school board meeting which you have done uh Faithfully in the past and ask those questions um that's all I can offer you um as far as the odor I have not heard of anything I don't know if anybody else mayor uh there is a company down there that has an issue with odors the D is involved that's not anything to do with dredging that I know of we have not heard of anything related to dredging ERS if that's the case we'll follow up on that too since we already have the D engaged on the first case we saved your seat so we'll follow up on the dredging to see if that's accurate thank you I did hear there there's a company too that was processing something but whatever it may be I know definitely they definitely have an odor problem and we're all over that I don't know about the dredging but we'll ask okay and um I I have not heard anything about walart nothing lucky I'm sorry I didn't I have not we have not heard anything about Walmart po closing that's no it's it's all in the news now there's 1,200 stores nationwide and at least three of them are named that would affect woodor did you say Walmart or Walgreens I'm sorry my Miss Miss n w Greens Greens we don't need three Walmarts trust me W greens I'm sorry for the misnomer anyway let's address that um no we we haven't and um just real quick to your second Point uh we talked about the school district I'm not speaking as Council vice president or Council I'm speaking as a parent I've had two to go through Colony High School I've got my freshman boy in there and whatever they want to do to enhance security and safety for the patrons and the children I'm all for but totally agree thank you sir uh thank you Mr Maris are there any other comments for the public this evening let me see should do it right now hi Rashida sewor um I just have a quick question in regards to the ACAA my daughter attends the acacia in what is that Port Reading and um I had told a couple of the um of the other parents about it and they were looking to get to set up their children with the transportation and one of the parents was told that they don't transport um her son attends Islam middle school so I don't know how true that is I didn't call to try and find out any additional information about it but is it that the transportation only transports from certain middle schools to Acacia yeah up mayor so try Colonia walks to Colonia um Youth Center Colonia Middle School Ford's walks to Highland Grove avanel is bust to Acacia Woodbridge can be bust if there's demand and Kennedy I'm sorry Island Middle can be bust if there's demand last year the demand ran out and we were not busing if there is a demand please get a petition quick and let me know and we'll do what we can but if I don't know for a fact that it's not but I assume you know yeah she called and she her son attends Island and she wanted him to go to the same one as my daughter but um they said that they didn't Bust from is M school it's because of the lack of demand at Island middle but if there is a demand and the principal lets us know we'd be happy to transport okay what would the demand have to be like how many parents would I don't know but a bus holds yeah I think 16 probably a half dozen okay in that neighborhood we'd be we'd probably transport five or six kids okay all right cool thank you thank you for your comments any other comments from the public tonight hi I'm Jessica mayor vivonetto back again about sequest um we've been working really hard the last couple of months to find out who's responsible for the oversight of sequest and we're now asking for someone to help us understand who's responsible for the safety of the public and the Animals we are requesting a face-to-face meeting with the members of this Council this lack of oversight and responsibility has gone on far too long without any answers or resolution perhaps you're thinking we will give up and just go away but that's not going to happen Woodbridge has an opportunity to be on the side of writing a wrong I'm not sure if you're aware but sequest is a national problem each of the locations have the same issues of neglect and death Woodbridge is part of a national campaign that excuse me that casts a dark cloud over towns that Harbor sequ quests Woodbridge is now getting national attention as a town that's supports animal cruelty when we were last here we talked with you about the fishy kisses the procedure that's illegal in New Jersey salons that are overseen by the Board of Cosmetology a member of the public submitted a complaint about the fishy kisses to the Woodbridge Health Department who then referred the complaint to the Board of Cosmetology when our attorney submitted a complaint to the Board of Cosmetology they referred her back to the health department why is there this disconnect when it comes to farm animals the farm permit was signed off on by the Woodbridge Board of Health yet we were told by the Board of Health that the Department of Agriculture is responsible and then the New Jersey Department of Agriculture passed us along to animal and plant health inspection services we filed our complaints with Jim Oxley at the Department of Fish and Wildlife with the New Jersey Department of Agri ulture the US Department of Agriculture and the animal and plant health inspection services again we are publicly requesting a meeting with you so you can hear all of the information that we have that 5 minutes can't give to you our protests continue every other week and we will urge Shoppers to avoid sequest and Woodbridge mall and shop at meno instead thank you council president yes I'd like to give her some direction and and I hope this helps her there there's a there's a few things there's a few pieces to this uh the first piece of this the the folks that oversee the animals are fish gaming Wildlife uh that's who oversees it we have a portion of it there's a small snack concession which our health department will inspect and they do it on a uh on a biannual basis or anual ual basis uh and as needed if we get complaints about the food for humans only we will also if there's an animal concern they do go out and look at the animal concern and report it back to Fish game and Wildlife we have no jurisdiction as far as the animals are concerned as far as the office of Cosmetology they were reached out they were spoken to they sent an email to the group I don't know if you were on that email but we received that email from the co uh cosmetology or the department of Cosmetology from the state saying that they do not license any uh cquest facility so they are not responsible and they're not the governing body over that so I know they do they use the word pedicure but I think I don't want to say I I think that's a more of a a gimmick than a than a real pedicure uh so that's that's a different issue but they do not over see the office of Cosmetology does not oversee the the uh cquest so I I hope that clears it up for you thank you Mr Sima uh Mr President the the U lady young lady I'm sorry to catch your name she requested to meet with Council if yourself or council president is going to put a committee together I'd be happy to sit down and listen to what thank you I would me too hello I'm Carrie asuga from Seaside down in South Jersey that was thank you for answering that question because that was my request as well to sit down regarding sequest and for those of you who don't know sequest is the interactive zoo petting zoo in the Woodbridge Center mall so I just wanted to highlight a few of the violations for example new jersey.com they had reported that sequest was cited more than 80 times in The Last 5 Years by different government agencies 80 citations so that's huge and the the reports like New Jersey fish and wildlife that you mentioned they have already given a 32-page violation mostly bites inadequate animal handling inadequate care of the animals for example out of 50 of the exotic animals they only had the vet records for 18 of them so they they they're not getting enough adequate care for the animals and then of course there's a risk to the children because if the animals are not held by the The Head and the tail of course they can hurt the children bite the children spread disease and if somebody's compromised at home say a child gets salmonella and they go home and there's somebody in the home that imuno compromise the disease can spread so diseases can go from animals to humans from humans to humans so it's not just about animal cruelty which we all know is happening based on 80s citations but also the possible spread of disease which is why those pedicures sequest calls calls them the fishy kisses that's why they're illegal in New Jersey because of the spread of diseases if it's a fish who's got a disease and you put your feet in the tank with the fish and they bite the skin that causes diseases to possibly go in the skin so they're illegal in New Jersey so we want them to stop in the Woodbridge mall so kids aren't putting their feet in tanks with biting Fe fish because of possible disease spreading uh n uh let's see Peta already put in a 19-page complaint we went over that already mostly due to lacks of animal handling Public Safety animal cruelty neglect death the USDA of course they also have their citations injuries bites inac inadequate handling so there's a pattern here about bites inadequate handling they don't have enough staff so we don't know if it's because they don't they don't want to pay for more staff but when visitors go there picture your child interacting with an iguana or an exotic species and there's no staff in sight no staff in sight and kids are touching the Exotic reptiles so that's why we keep coming back we just want to spread the word get the word out there keep the children safe keep diseases from spreading and stop the animal cruelty so we're requesting a meeting so thank you so much for agreeing to that we'll go over all the details but thank you for taking that next step we really appreciate it are there any other comments receiving from the public good evening uh Nicole patterer avanel so I actually wasn't going to say anything tonight I was you know and I really appreciate you agreeing to meet with us but um the idea or putting that word out there that what cquest is doing with the fish pedicures as a gimmick is really sending what is really a misnomer um because we're allowing something yes it's not a licensed Salon I think we are well aware of that but we're allowing something to happen in an aquarium in a mall that we will not allow to happen in a licensed salon and so say that's a gimmick um it's kind of um if you read about it you would iiz that's not true so just some examples um multiple documenta of health issues related to fish pedicures first being bacterial infections um one of the most serious concerns involves bacterial infections in 2011 uh UK stopped allowing people to do fish pedicures because of the bacteria that was being spread this bacteria can cause skin infections that are difficult to treat and may require long courses of antibiotics toenail loss little closer to home New York City 2018 um a woman after a fish pedicure her toenail shed completely her doctors believe that this was triggered by the fish pedicure as the fish likely caused trauma to the nail beds hepatitis and HIV concerns while there's been no documented case uh people will bleed or have open sores when they go in and put their feet in so I talked about two weeks ago when I was here there's no way that they are cleaning this water out between every Patron and how are you sanitizing a fish's mouth you are not so people are sticking their feet in a place where other people had open wounds perhaps were bleeding from this fish pedicure so there's no way to disinfect fungal infection several reports of surface about fungal infection such as athlete foot since the tanks and fish cannot be properly sanitized and outbreaks of waterborne disease again right before it was not allowed in the UK there was a cluster of infections uh reported among customers so I don't want to put that language out there that this is a gimmick people are putting their feet their bare feet into a tank of fish who are only given one meal a day so they will be hungry enough to eat skin off a Patron's feet so I just want to speak on that because I don't want that language to be out in the public that this is just something fun for your your kids to do or for you to do so if I can't go to a licensed salon and get this done by someone who's been trained in it why can't I just dip my feet in a mall aquarium thank you thank you are there any other comments this evening Mr no just to follow up thank you for your comments you as we've said unfortunately we don't have jurisdiction over cosmetology or in general in the uh the facility itself so we can only do as much as we can do thank you any other comments from the public this evening hear another comment can I a notion that public comment for should be closed motion second any questions or comments iose eyes have go into the agenda session thank you Mr Mitch president Anderson is excused we go on to my agenda uh I can't believe I'm even saying it uh item number one Abel's bar Mary holiday lighting is approaching save the date for November 24th um it is normally the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend but either the way the calendar Falls it will be the Sunday before that's at the avenol firehouse so stay tuned for more information the rest of my agenda is in order just a couple announcements uh it's Halloween that time of year school 9's trunker treat will be Monday October 28th from 5: to 6:00 at the school 9 parking lot so come in your costume and the next night Port Bri councilman Smalls uh baby is par me while I find it 30 is their the port ring first aid fire and Volunteer Fire Company their trunker treat is on October 29th from 6:00 to 7:30 that's going to be located across the street from Port Reading Firehouse uh please bring a toy to donate to the Children's Hospital the rest of them uh I already said that uh no further announcements God Bless America councilman ficara just a a couple of quick announcements uh first a couple of thank yous Our Youth Services Under the direction of Jen stokel had a uh a vaping seminar uh the issues of Zap vaping last Wednesday I believe it was over at Acacia uh it it I wish it was a little bit better attended and I wish we televised it because it was very informative uh the dangers of vaping and the way that kids are uh kind of sucked into that and what some of the teachers are doing and also on the good side is the good work our police department and our health department are doing to help combat it because it's very serious it's very unhealthy and again thank you to our youth services also to our health department uh outstanding job with our health Expo this past Saturday uh besides some of the medical uh testing that was going on there were some great vendors there there was some uh healthy cooking demonstrations and it was just uh a good informative event all the way around and very well attended by the way uh a lot of medical everything from insurance to uh to ways to combat some of the flu and things that are coming our way so kudos to our health department and then I'll end on a fun thing we talked about Halloween we still have till Halloween haunted miniature golf behind our community center there's a fabulous golf course there and and um the adults are only $9 children and senior citizens like me are only $7 and the it's open Friday Saturday and Sunday Friday 4: to 10 Saturday 12: to 10 and Sunday 12: to 9:00 and it's a great family thing I I went over there with my grandkids so that's all I have Council vice president thank thank you councilman C councilman Bower thank you Council vice president agenda's in order I have a few announcements uh Forest visit committee next flea marker will be held on Sunday November 3rd from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at our public parking lot located next to the BFW on 411 new brunck Avenue Fords also all our fire are looking for a few good men and women to become volunteers uh make a difference in your community if interested call me at 732 88797 96 and I will try and I will steer you the right way God bless all our First Responders and God bless America thank you Council vice president thank you councilman B Council Smalls excused councilwoman De Jesus thank you Council vice president my agenda is in order I just have a few announcements um first police community relations I want to give a big shout out to our police Community department they did a fantastic fantastic job with ctober Fest um it was the weather was gorgeous it was the park was full of families and you know when we do events in our Township we want families to come out um and it I thought it was fantastic it was outstanding um Mike Harris and santony did a great job in getting all the vendors all the donations just putting the event together it it was a great family day at Parker press and again it was a great event and I hope that they continue doing it aside from National Night Out because I enjoy seeing all the families and my little my little girls they'll always be my little girls my 22 and my 16-year-old got to ride a horse so I mean they um they were upset with Greg cuz Greg called the 22 year-old out but they really enjoyed it they enjoyed walking around and and just partaking in everything so again great job um item number nine the baron Art Center they have two events coming up one is and I'm I'm sure I'm not going to pronounce this right but that's okay the prolet cult poetry circus big hammer magazine will release party music by Burnt Tavern hosted by Dave rosos it will be Sunday October 27th at 2 p.m. until and it's open reading and then poets Wednesday for any writers out there poets Wednesday at the baron Arts Center will meet the second Wednesday of every month um the next one will be Wednesday November 13th from 8: to 10: p.m. feature readers Dan weeks and Mike Walters and then follow by December 11th for more information please contact debah laa at 98272 3141 or just call the brand art center and I'm sure that they'll give you more information again if you're into poetry and you're writing and you want to be heard this is a great place to try it out the um Woodbridge Public Library will host the alada Spanish dance theater um remembering Paul Robinson Spain 1938 a history presentation with dance demonstrations on Sunday November 10th at 2:30 p.m. in the main library meeting room the program is free and is open to the public and Mark your Calenders for the First Central Jersey Book Festival which will be held on Saturday November 16th from 11 to 5 at Ross Street School more than 50 authors of children's teen and adult book will be available to sign their books including some local celebrities entry is free for the public all the libraries will be collecting new and gently used codes to support a codr sponsored by the rotary Rotary Club of w Bridge peran boy for local distribution again two great events if you want to be a poet or if you want to be a writer there's events that are free if you want to attend here in Woodbridge Township and that's all that I have thank you thank you councilwoman councilwoman Mi thank you Council president last week as most of you have already heard two families in Colonia lost their homes due to a devastating fire that started in one of the houses and quickly spread to the second home thank God the families were able to escape injury but one of the families lost their three beloved animals due to the magnitude of the damage sustained to their homes both of these families lost everything leaving them homeless before the Flames were even extinguished and as the family stood there in horror and disbelief the only clothes they had left and without shoes on their feet the community of Colonia came out forced to Rally around these two families bringing them clothes gift cards meals and monetary donations I've met with these families over the past two weeks or the past week as they've dug through what was left of their homes pulling out small items like a family cookbook an old picture small things that were intact by the grace of God as if they were Treasures worth millions of dollars it just proves that the small things in life that matter to us can't be replaced they're the ones that mean the most the families wanted me to thank sorry the fames want to be sorry it's been a long week take fames wanted me to thank the community for their unweaving kindness and love and un unending support from family and friends to complete strangers you were all their light during their time of darkness and you will be their hope as they move forward to rebuild their lives I'd like to thank the wber Township fire departments that worked at the scene that day risking your own lives to put out the fire and to make sure everybody was safe thank you to the police officers and all the First Responders that were on duty that day to help oversee the activity surrounding the fires it was truly a group effort I'd also like to thank Nikki the the owner of Zero's Pizza in Colonia that quickly put a fundraiser together from her Pizzeria to help these families that she never even that donations are still being accepted for the families if you would like to donate you can make a check payable to the mayor's Woodridge Community charity fund which can be mailed to One Main Street in Woodbridge 07 07095 again thank you for everybody that came out to help these families it takes a village and our community is truly a village so thank you thank you Council nicely uh nicely given K go you know what I think that Debbie is an unsung hero because um you mobilize right away and you mobilize um everyone that you knew and went out there and helped the families and you have been with them since the beginning so um to whom much is given much is expected and I think you lead by example so I want to thank you because you do a great job not only for the colonial Community for all of Woodbridge Township when there ever there's an unfortunate event like this so thank you thank you Nic put thank you councilman pel thank you council president uh vice president my also in I have just one announcement uh this year the Indian Community is having the Diwali and New Year which is coming next uh week Diwali is actually coming on next Friday October 31st and the new year is on Saturday November 1st wishing you all a Happy Diwali and a Happy New York that's all for thank you Council um Council thank you Council vice president um my agenda is in order I just have um one announcement that on this Thursday October 24th from 5: to 7: we'll be having the police department will be funing a trump retreat at Woodbridge Mall from 5 to 7 by solar panels so come out get your kids in your costumes come out and get some candy uh and have a good time and um I would also like to reiterate what Elizabeth said that the uh cober Fest was aaz I know several of the other Council people were there there were lots of families there and that was an amazing event in downtown and Parker press is a perfect place for that and uh now that we redid Parker press we should look at doing a lot more functions there because it's it's really a great part for a lot of things to happen so um that's all I have thank you um God bless all of our servicemen and women for a successful Mission and a safe return to home thank you thank you councilwoman M call Mr Mitch thank you Mr President I will be noting letters 1 a and 1B as you approve the structure change for Highgate hotels and the transfer liquor license in islen uh this evening just one other comment with regards to the upcoming general election please be reminded that early voting starts here this Saturday at The Acacia Center 95 P reading Avenue in Woodbridge poll uh polls will be open 10:00 a.m. daily for that 9-day period till 8:00 p.m. with the exception of Sundays till 6:00 p.m. that's all I have thank Mr I know I've got a couple questions you brought it up several meetings ago uh there is uh inperson voting at school 4 and 5 during the normal hours using the door on South door thank you Administration Finance Mr simala thank I have one item on my agenda for this evening I have a tax court judgment thank you thank you sir director hubman thank you Council vice president I have number of traic thanks thank you director director dor thank you council president nothing this evening thank you thank you director director Brook thank you council president I have two items first one is the resolution to execute the final change order contract 202312 that's for inmin and Jordan Road in Colonia intersection improvements and the second one is a resolution for final change order contract number 2023-24 part fic board project thank you thank you director Brook mle uh thank you council president nothing receiving look for motion to adjourn motion second Mee have a good night thank you