Good evening. Welcome to the Bedminister Township Committee. This is our regular scheduled November 17, 2025 meeting. Recognize that we have a quorum of township committee here in attendance. Committeewoman
Moreski, Committeeman Hickey, and Committeeman Rosen. Committeewoman uh Fernandez, I believe, has an excused absence. And Miss Ray, may we please have the open public meetings act statement?
>> Yes, Mayor. Adequate notice of this meeting of the township committee was sent to the Courier News Somerville, Burnersville News, Whippony, and to all subscribers and posted the Township Newsville building on January 7th, 2025. >> Great. Thank you. Please join me in standing for the pledge of allegiance.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Okay, this is the time of the meeting
that we open up the microphone or the Zoom session or the telephone for public comments. any member of uh public wishing to make a statement, ask a question as your opportunity to do so. As we have started saying this year, um
you are not guaranteed of an answer. You're not guaranteed of a dialogue unless one potential committee members seeks to engage. And if you get an answer, you're certainly not guaranteed of getting the answer you like.
We'll start with uh public in the room. No, no comments from anyone in the room. If you are participating via Zoom, wish to make a public comment, take your cursor down to the bottom of the screen, click on reactions, click on raise hand,
and Miss Ray will put you into queue for comment. >> We have one person online, mayor, but I do not see a raised hand. And we'll give it a few more seconds. Seeing no reaction from the uh
participant on Zoom, we will proceed with the rest of the meeting. Um before we proceed with the rest of the meeting, um we'll recognize that we went through an election and uh Bill Rosen, congratulations. >> Thank you.
>> And same to uh Committee Woman Fernandez. And once again, as we've done before, we thank everyone um including those who may not have won for their commitment in running for public office. I also want to give a uh
comment and and certainly a congratulations to Somerset County Commissioners Melanie Morano and Liz Grainer uh who we've worked with. Um they may not be in the same party as us, but we have a u long relationship of
working with Somerset County Commissioners and want to congratulate Melanie and Liz on re-election. One set of meeting minutes to review and approve. November 3, 2025 township committee meeting at 7 o'clock. Uh there's no executive session meeting
minutes to approve. So um any comments that need to go to Robin on those minutes? Seeing none, take a motion to approve the November 3, 2025 township committee meeting minutes. >> So moved. Second.
>> All in favor? >> I I >> Thank you. >> Permits and raffles. One social fair permit to benefit the friends of the Jacob's Vanderve House on November 29, 2025 from 700 p.m. to 900 p.m. at the
Jacobus Vanderver House at River Road Park. Who do I want to turn to to address the social fair permit? Robin. >> Sure. Mayor, um the uh Jacobus Band of
your house is commissioned, the new commission is um keeping with traditions and brought back colonial Christmas and is offering a cocktail party to kick off the holiday um and a fundraiser at the township house and museum.
>> Okay. And for information concerning the cocktail party, they can find that on >> everything is on the township website and on a new website that um Mayor Park, former Mayor Parker actually put together for us and um >> saw that he did that while I believe he
did that while he was in the meeting. >> In the meeting >> he did. >> He did. >> Okay. So this is uh once again revenues um from the cocktail party are dedicated to the operation of the JBH house. So
it's not a cocktail party for the township township committee. It's not our holiday fund party holiday party fund. >> This is for uh the revenues once again um going to the operation and facilities at the CHO vanir house. Uh, any
questions or comments for Robin or for our liaison, Renee Moreski? Um, about the cocktail party and the social fair permit. >> $75 per person. >> Get your tickets. >> Get your tickets.
See? No comments. Take a motion to approve the socialare permit for November 29, 2025 for the friends. Well, it's not the friends. >> Oh, no. >> Oh, I got tired. I got to fix this. I got to fix this. It's not the France.
This is the Jacobus Vanderver. The benefit is really for the Jacobus. Correct house. >> Old habits. >> Correct. I saw >> Old Habits. With that change, take a motion to approve the social fair
permit. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Next uh next up is the straw vote for the 2025 mayor. Um I did get a call from the Burnsville News saying um who's
going to be mayor for next year and I said it's a good question. Um I don't know. So uh what we do is we run a straw poll. This is not official but this uh gives whoever is going to be the mayor for the next year the opportunity uh to start filling in committees and start
getting ready for uh 2026. So, Miss Ray, I will turn it over to you to run the um straw poll. >> Okay. Well, we have uh four out of the five members here today of the uh township committee. So, do I have a motion for um mayor?
>> Now's your chance to get Gina. >> I I will make a motion for Lawrence Jacobs. >> Okay. Very second. >> Okay. Very good. So, I guess we'll go ahead and we'll take a um a roll call vote on that. So, that would be Committeeman Hickeyi. Oh, so we have Are there any other nominations?
>> Nope. >> Okay. So, we'll go ahead and take a roll call vote. It' be Committee Hickey. >> I, >> Committee Moreski, >> I. >> Committee uh sorry, Committeeman Wooden >> I. >> And Mayor Jacobs, >> I thank you. >> Thank you guys for your uh for your
trust and support. Thank you. Uh monthly report discussion by subcommittee chair ro. Okay, lot going on in wreck. Uh we have three teams that are going to participate in the um recreation inner
town basketball league. A third and fourth grade team, fifth and sixth grade team, seventh and eighth grade team. And once again, there are no girls teams. And on a personal uh note, for the first time in 12 years, I will not be proud sideline with the gym. Uh no call from
Neil to call me out of retirement. So my tenure is officially over as a coach. Um kindergarten, first, second, and fourth grade uh basketball clinics are going to begin on Saturday, December 6th. 10 sessions at the Bedminster School. There
are 22 currently registered for K and one and 10 registered uh for 2nd through 4th. Um we completed um several afterchool programs. Miss Gail's kids cooking after school program concluded on Tuesday, November 11th, nine
participants. Afterchool dance for grades K through four will run Wednesdays at Bedminster School until December 10th. There are six participants registered. The holiday makers workshop after school program will be held on Mondays beginning
December 1st for three weeks. And the all dry the air dry clay holiday workshop after school program will be held on Thursdays for two sessions beginning December 11th. Finally, uh the farmers market is winding down. uh three
markets left culminating on Saturday, December 6th from 10:30 to 12:30 with uh pictures with Santa. >> Yay. >> And >> hope you can make it there this year. >> You seem to missed that last uh last year. >> Pictures with Santa.
>> Yeah, I was there last year. >> No, you weren't. Santa was there. I didn't see you. >> Oh, yes. That's I I think you're right. long hair. I'm checking his calendar and I hear he might have um an elf with him this year. All right.
>> And finally, uh children to drop off their letters to Santa in the North Pole mailbox. Uh during this time as well after the market on December 6th, the North Pole mailbox will be moved to the main entrance to town hall and those who drop off a letter to Santa will receive
a letter back. And that's what's going on in Wreck. >> Great. Thank you, committee woman. Thank you, mayor. Good evening, everyone. Since Gina's not here, I'm gonna take up her time. So, real quick for uh the environmental
commission is they have, as I think I've mentioned before, settled on the uh styrofoam recycle day for January 10th from 8 to 12. That's a Saturday. It's not normally a recycling day, I don't believe in January, but we're going to try and see how we do, how much we get.
Um Whit Parker has very kindly uh volunteered to drag all this stuff down on Monday to the um to the recycling center. Yeah. So So we'll see how we'll see how he does. Everybody show up with some recycling from your Christmas packaging. >> All right.
>> Styrofoam. >> Styrofoam. Just styrofoam. >> Is he going to put in a station wagon or what? >> He has a he has a trailer that he can cover and has sides. So we're not anticipating a lot because it'll be the first one. And most of us have noticed that in our boxes and things that we've
gotten from Amazon, blah blah blah, they don't have a lot of styrofoam any longer. A lot of it is the recyclable uh cardboard and things, which is really good to see. But just in case people are getting the styrofoam and we can help out, we'll we'll try to do that.
On to Colonial Christmas. There's so much going on. So everybody get out their pens and paper. Um, starting Friday, November 28th, the tree lighting is at five o'clock. There'll be our tree lighting with our mayor giving some words. And of course, we'll have hot
chocolate, apple cider, some pretzels. Um, we'll have the Colonial Barkeeps who will be there with some authentic drinks. Um, we'll have some new kind of candles so we don't burn ourselves. Robin was really bright and got some uh battery lit ones and we can keep them
now going forward and they'll they'll be good even if it's very windy weather. Um Santa will be there from 5 to 7. He will be in the blue room just in case it's cold and we'll take pictures in there. Saturday the 29th. The program goes from
11 to 4. Santa will be there from 11 to 1. Again, we're keeping him busy this year. Um, there'll be a wreath workshop from adults for adults from at 11:00 a.m. and 2 pm. The Clover Hill Farm Clydes will be giving rag wagon rides at
12 and three. We'll have Colonial Reenactors throughout the house, including Outwaters Militia. And I'm sure if you've been to the house, you've seen those guys. They do a lot of fun things with guns and fires and stuff. And there'll be some holiday shopping. Couple um very curated vendors. So,
it'll be a lot of fun. Uh, let's see. On Saturday at night, there's a cocktail party, as Robin mentioned, from 7 to 9:00. Um, we'll have a cater. There'll be again authentic um, colonial drinks. There'll be a wine pull, so you buy a
ticket and you grab a bottle of wine that's in a bag, so you don't know what you're getting, but it's always a really good value. Uh, we'll have a bourbon tasting in case it's cold out again. uh some more boutique uh vendors and a silent auction.
On Sunday, Santa's again starts at 11:00. Um the program's 11 to 4, so he's 11 to 1. We give him some time off. Um there'll be a gingerbread workshop for the kids at 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. Um there'll be
the Hickory Tree Chorus. They'll be coming to that day singing at 1 from 1 to 3. and we'll have the Colonial Reenactors again for whoever didn't make it on Saturday and again some holiday shopping. So, it's going to be a real busy weekend. Um, everybody plan to try
and get there at least some point in time so we can introduce you to the new group of people at Jacob's Vander, show you the house and um get the uh get the mojo working again. >> And that's all we got. >> That's great. >> Wow.
>> And Robin will be so happy on December 1st. You're right. >> Hickeyi, you've uh >> you got to top that. Yeah, exactly. >> Bourbon, Santa, wine, hot chocolate. He's got basketball. I've got board of hell. >> You got septic.
>> Septic applications. >> Oh, yay. >> Yeah. And believe it or not, there's a meeting this week, but there are no septic applications. So, this is just a business meeting to adopt some minutes and resolutions. There's also a board of ed meeting this Thursday, which I plan on attending. Uh, mayor, I assume you
will cover the library board meeting we had last week. And that is all I have. Okay. Thank you. So, um, I do have a couple meetings to, uh, run through, some of which, um, Command Hickey was also in attendance. So, we're going to start with library board. So, we had our
November meeting. Um, we don't have another meeting until January. So, uh, next meeting for library board is January. Um we uh library retain the services of inform who is our very own
um HR consultant and uh in coordination with um Marie and the president chair of the uh library board. Um some recommendations were made to change
the employee handbook for the library. those changes were approved by the board, so they'll be um in place. Marie also talked about the uh the fundraiser that was run for the friends of the Clarence Dylan Public Library. Sounds like they had a great turnout for that. Uh raise some money and um some with
additional awareness of the library operations, land use. Um we did not have a land use board meeting uh since our last meeting. Uh we were scheduled to hear a uh an application for EV chargers at U
Somerset Hill Shopping Center uh the Fresh Market uh that was postponed till I believe December. >> Now it's No, no. Yeah, now it's pushed up further. >> Yeah. >> Into uh into next year. Um so other than that, we don't have anything pending
immediately on land use for >> farmers market. So compared to where we've been earlier this year, our numbers are lower. So whereas during the summer we were looking anywhere between 1,200 and and500
sort of on a weekly basis um we're around 800 but compared to where we've been in November and even October in some of the prior years this is
almost double where we've been said being the fours and the fives we're now in the eights. We've never done the eights in November. Yeah. And now we're doing that consistently. >> So, it's going strong. Um, and we are looking to do a blowout for the December 6 farmers market uh with some holiday
shopping. And so, we're sort of expanding uh the vendors. We we typically don't go for um the chachkis, so to speak. Um but we will open up uh the farmers market and uh we'll be pushing that um aggressively through
social media. A advisory uh committee man and I did attend an agricultural advisory um application earlier this uh actually it was was it last week already? Two weeks ago. >> Two weeks ago. >> Two weeks ago. So, we actually will be
um considering uh I believe do we have that resolution for today? We do have resolution uh for applying for a planning incentive grant um in conjunction with recommendations made by the a advisory um committee. Um
shared court. Last week we had a meeting of the shared court. It was attended by all four municipalities participating in the shared court. Um it essentially was laying out the groundwork for the 2026 calendar year with a little bit of look
back at 2025. Um we got into some discussions about the way that the allocation of expenses and revenues are um established and we looked at once again we've always taken a um way of
making this the most equitable u allocation based upon court load uh or sorry workload for the court. And you know once again we've always willing to consider different um options. uh ticket
count is probably and still remains the most um equitable manner of dividing that. And um the praise that was
given to Robin Ray by the participating towns who extended their appreciation for the detail of how the court operates,
how the dollars come in, how expenses are um allocated across the board whether it's on capital, whether it's on um facilities management, whether it's
on administrative um employees. So the comments that we heard from, you know, I especially want to say from the folks from Peep Gladstone and Bernard's Township, um it was really great to hear that uh that everyone recognizes
um the work that Robin does and and I think it was um was one of the council women from Peep Gladstone said she's new to this, but looking at Robin's charts,
it was all clear to for how the court works and how the allocations are made. So, Robin, just um great job and thank you again for all the hard work you put in to making the uh shared court work as effectively as it does. And before uh
came to this meeting uh we had a OEM uh tabletop drill uh where Chief Bernardo uh laid out a uh incident and between Bedminster Far Hills Fire Department, Bedminster and Far Hills First Aid,
Pottersville Fire Department, uh the Police Department, DPW, uh Bedminster Administration, uh the Somerset County Department of Health. we all had to respond to um this tabletop drill that that Chief Bernardo sort of
sprung on us. Um oh and and I do want to say representatives from the Bedminster School and um it was enlightening. Uh once again, it was also reassuring to me that we certainly see that the training
that our first responders um that what they do, you can just feel that you're in the midst of true professionals from police, the fire department, first aid. They
know the role, they know the response, they know the drill. Um it's great to hear from um the others and and one of the things that uh Chief Bernardo did in his drill was you know I didn't have the room until you know that you go through what could
we do better in lessons learned from the tabletop drill and that was really a a great exercise. So, uh, Chief, thank you and thank you to all the, uh, members of the OEM, Office of Emergency Management, and our LEAPC, uh, for putting that, uh, meeting
together and for running through the tip top drill. And that's what I have from from my subcommittees. Ms. Ray, may we please have the administrators report? >> Yes, mayor. I have a little bit of redundancy just because we I kind of tend to go to a lot of your meetings as
well. Um the I attended um participated in the agricultural advisory committee meeting earlier in the month um as well as just the OEM meeting. Uh I did want to assure everyone that the little library is going to be back in its house
in um in the Knox Avenue Park. It's being uh repaired by DPW in case you've had any calls about that. Um, so that the township as well as the library keep an eye on the little free library and it's registered to the township. So
we're on it uh just in case. Much of my time this month was um wrapping up from elections um plans for uh the Chacoba Spander House uh colonial Christmas event as well as meeting with Somerset County Cultural and Heritage Commission um regarding the barn grant that was
issued to the friends and how we make that transition uh over to the municipality. Um also the uh big focus has been meeting uh almost daily with inform HR going over our um our hand our
employee handbook. It's and as well as the GIF manual. Every two years the GIF requires us to make updates to the personnel manual. Um a lot of them are just you know statutory items that come from the state but there's a lot of other policies that the GIF decides that we should adopt. So we really go page by
page. It's a 300page document and we compare it to ours and pair things down. It's a lot of work um that we'll hopefully we'll have that to you um at the next meeting in December uh for approval. We also um there's a lot of prep work as the mayor had mentioned on
the shared court meeting. We um I work with Daniela. She's great in providing me with um revenues and um some of the information that I need and we kind of package it all up and put it in a format for everybody uh to make some informed decisions. Um we have a new open um well
we've been working on open enrollment for employee benefits. We do have several employees moving on to the township benefits. Um as you know other municipalities have the state plan which is quite expensive. So, we're in a central Jersey HIP insurance fund, which is much more reasonable than the state
health plan. So, we have more people signing up. >> And and Robin, just just for an example, if uh you just want to throw that the rate increase from the state plan versus our uh Central Jersey, >> right? So, with us, we're going to be up 19% this year over last year. 19 over last year. The state if the same plan,
same type of coverage and deductibles that we have, the state plan is up 55%. over last year, >> which was I believe they were up 430 to 40% last year for the state plan. >> And we were up 17 last year.
>> Yeah. >> So, while 19% >> isn't isn't good. >> No. >> If we were participating in the state plan, that'd be >> over 50%. And that's on top of a large increase from the year before. >> So, we're also waiting on um guidance from the state. They usually start
putting out all the budget information, the budget schedule, and they tell us what expenses are within cap and outside the budget cap. So, we're really hoping that because of healthc care is such a um so burdensome to all municipalities budget-wise that they move it outside the cap this year. There's some grumblings about it. So, hopefully we'll
learn at the League of Municipalities this week. That would be huge. Um, next is uh I attended a GIF meeting and we're planning the reorg dinner already and um
I think that's pretty much it. It's been a busy week. >> So planning re so reorgs you just want to touch upon that? >> Well um sure we have it later on the new business if you want to hit it then. >> Okay we'll do it then. That's fine. >> So that concludes my report. It's been a
busy two weeks. Chief Bernardo, update on community policing. >> Just a reminder, this Wednesday at 11 o'clock at the library, we're hosting the banking internet fraud present some of their expertise and some of
these scams that they see. Um, in addition to that, uh, we're hosting a food drive some county police chiefs. Uh, you could drop off nonp perishable food and hygiene at any summer station
from today to December 31st. >> Great. Thank you. Ordinances. Introduction of ordinances. We have none. Public hearing of ordinances. We have none. Consent agenda. We have one, two, three, four,
five items on the consent agenda. These are items of a routine nature. Any member of the township committee may pull one any or all of them off for individual consideration. >> Seeing none, I'll take a motion to approve the items on the consent agenda.
>> So moved. >> Second. >> Roll call vote, please. Committeeman Hickeyi, >> I. >> Committeewoman Moreski, >> I. >> Committeeman Rosen, >> I. >> And Mayor Jacobs, >> I. >> Thank you. Okay, thank you. We have one
resolution for individual consideration which is resolution 2025173. This resolution authorizes submission of a 2027 annual planning incentive grant application to the state agricultural
development committee. And I believe we have um Beth Davidson from New Jersey Conservation Foundation. Um is she available? Uh, no she's not. >> She's not. >> She's not here, mayor. >> Okay.
>> All right. So, >> you want to talk about it? >> Why don't you start? >> Okay. Sure. So um at the uh agricultural advisory committee meeting um Beth Davidson from New Jersey Conservation Foundation um recommended to the commit
to the a committee um that we there's money available in the state um uh state agricultural development committee and um she thought it would be a good time for us to apply for the annual plan incentive grant which would help to
offset some costs uh for farmland preservation projects in 2026. >> So, this is this is relatively routine. Uh it doesn't obligate Bedminster to anything, but it just provides additional funding for agricultural
um grants that we may be pursuing later on in the year. And there are um a couple of items that are in um the hopper, so to speak. Um, so this just gives us opportunity if we make the application and we are successful, it gives us access to a greater pot of
funds uh for farmland preservation. Any further questions or comments? Seeing none, take a motion to approve resolution 2025 173. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Roll call vote, please. Committee Hickey, >> I.
>> Committeewoman Moreski, >> I. Committee Rosen >> I. >> And Mayor Jacobs >> I. >> And take a motion to approve the bill list pending review of individual invoices. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Okay. Roll call again. Roll call vote
again, please. >> Committeeman Hickeyi. >> I. >> Committeewoman Moreski. >> I. >> Committeeman Rosen. >> I. >> And Mayor Jacobs. >> Hi. >> It's rolling off my tongue now. See? >> And I'm getting used to it rolling off your tongue now.
New business, the 26 2026 Betty Murk dinner reorganization meeting. Miss Ray. >> Yes. So, I gave everybody um a draft copy of the uh invitation uh to the Betty MK dinner which has to be done the
first seven days of the year. is our annual reorganization meeting and um that's when we officially elect a mayor and we have several uh governing body actions that need to be taken at the top of the uh meeting. >> Uh this year uh we have had great
reviews at the Pingry School. So we just decided we would try to go back there again but of course it's open for discussion. Um just one of the I did reach out to them. They are available. Um the other locations are Fiddler's Elbow and and Trump Nashville that could accommodate us. Um and everybody's
willing to work with us. It's just a matter of um where we would like to go. I know Penguin seemed to work out really well and the price point was great for us. So >> I thought they did a good job last year. >> Great. >> I liked it. >> Yeah, I think they they did a great job
and and you know, whatever they're feeding the kids at Pingry seems to be topnotch. Great. Well, they're happy to happy to work with us. >> I'm good at either Pingry or Fiddler's.
I mean, all of the all the venues you mentioned have been so good to us, and everybody's had a good time at all of them, but everybody seemed to really enjoy Pingri. I mean, it's a little more casual. It's a little more relaxed, and I think people really enjoyed the menu better, to tell you the truth. I hate to
say that, but um and and it was it's fun and it's it's in a part of town that a lot of people don't get a chance to see, so I think that's a good thing. >> Great. Okay. Yeah. So, off off you go. >> All right. We'll go ahead and make that official and send those invitations out.
>> The date is uh Monday, January 5th at 7 p.m. >> Old business utilities, we had a little bit of wind. We did have a little bit of wind. Uh we were fortunate only we only had one outage. Unfortunately, it was the
Somerset Hill Shopping Center because I got a call from the owner about 5:30 last night. Um it was nothing to do with all the work that's been done over the last couple years. It was something as simple as the primary lines were rubbing against one another with the wind.
and that caused a uh a fuse to blow and JCPNL came right out and basically put spacers in between the lines so they don't rub together anymore. So that problem has been solved and the shopping center was put back into operation late last night. >> So not a systemic problem, just
>> just a weird one, >> you know, the wires were too close together. Like I said, it's been it's been resolved. >> Okay. >> Um just one note for the agenda moving forward. Altise has now changed its name officially to Optimum Communications effective November 7th. So that's how we
should refer to them going forward. >> So not Altis is gone. Optimum. So they're basically naming the company after the brand that's most recognized with it or associated with it. >> We still have the same representative. >> Yes. Yes. Nothing's changed there.
>> And that's all I have. Mayor. >> Okay. Uh John, turn to you for Puckin Park. >> No. >> No. Nothing to discuss there. Somerset Hills Public Safety Committee. I believe we've had
nothing since our last meeting. >> No. >> No. Um I will be uh down at the league. I will be talking to um Paul Penna um about a resolution that the league is going to put forth uh on some of the issues we've discussed at
the Somersville Public Safety Committee. um having to do with the porting situation. So, I will find out either tomorrow or Thursday uh what the league is doing with that
resolution and if it gets adopted. We have no executive session. Um so, we will run through township committee comments and adjourn. I know Robin has an early morning to get down to the
league uh because your courses start early. >> Yep. First thing, >> Jason, you too. Oh, you know what I do want to come back to? I'm sorry. Um Jason, if you can give us a quick update on the community garden. We reached out to Boswell to reach out
to the contractor last week um to tell them they needed to be complete by November 26 and there was no reply back from the contractor to Boswell, but we stressed that we need them out of there and done and finished. So actually the DPW can get in there and start doing
their thing. >> Okay. So, I mean, certainly by getting the uh the perimeter fence up, it it now it I think the public gets a sense of what it's going to look like, how big it is, and um I mean, frankly, by putting those um outdoor those posts and the uh
the fence, it I think it looks great. I mean, it looks like >> Yeah. Yeah, that's good. And certainly, I would imagine they would be motivated to get their equipment that's still there out of there so you guys can finish it. So hopefully that gets wrapped up and we'll certainly come back
to that at our next meeting. Um so we'll go through township committee comments and then we will adjourn for the evening. Committeeman Rosen. Uh I just want to thank the uh people of Edminster for their faith and trust in
the election and I look forward to being um for my term coming up in January. Again, thanks to the uh constituents for their faith and trust and Thanksgiving is next week. Uh happy Thanksgiving everyone. >> Crazy crazy.
>> Scheduling a meeting for uh the following weekend. It was December. I'm like, how did that happen? Um committee woman. >> Thank you, Mayor. Um real quick, just want to remind everybody about Colonial Christmas. Um, you need to sign up for
the gingerbread workshop and the holiday reef work workshops. Um, so call early, get a spot. You can, uh, sign up either on our Bedminster website. Um, and I think the Bedminster website is also going to be the bedminsternj.gov
going forward as well, but they >> bedminister.gov >> bedminister NJ bednj.gov. We all have to do it. >> Are going to be changing as well. >> So bedminsternj.gov
or bedminster us. I think it will forward to there. >> Um or if you aren't comfortable with that, just call the office 908-2127000. Um but sign up and we hope to see you there and happy Thanksgiving everybody. >> Committ Hickey.
>> Thank you, mayor. I just want to congratulate you. I think congratulations are in order. No, but seriously, thank you for agreeing again to to lead us. I I like to say you don't read the room, you lead the room, and I look forward to supporting those efforts going forward uh next year. So, thank you, mayor. >> Great. Thank you. Uh so, once again,
thank you to uh township committee for the uh support on the straw poll. Um as as committ Hickey said, um I I believe it's thank you. If I change that, um you'll be the first to know. Um I I do want to talk about um
some issues that that came out during the election and and really at this point I'm not talking about Bedminster. I think we're in great shape. I think you know everything that you know we're doing what we can for the residents uh whether it's on taxes or services.
Um what was interesting is how far the polls are off. Right. So, um, we saw everything from a 1% to 2%
um, support for now governor elect Mikey Cheryl, but the election wasn't that wasn't one or two or four or seven or 8%. So, 13% difference. Um, and then you
know hearing the the same pundits that were talking about how close the election was, they're doing sort of doing the postmortem and they're saying, "Okay, so now we look back and and it was on affordability that was this first and foremost um issue for New Jersey
residents." Um, I don't necessarily agree that was a deciding factor for the election. I I think there were other um other factors that were involved, but certainly it was it was good to see that this was perhaps
one of the um higher turnouts um across the board for the state. Once again, not necessarily um supporting the party that I support, but at the same time, I certainly think that turnout um is good for New Jersey to see those folks that
are coming out to vote. Um if affordability is is first and foremost on New Jersey residents, um we wish I certainly wish um Mikey Cheryl's success
in tackling affordability that here in the Somerset Hills and particularly in Bedminster, you know, we all drive by the AT&T, the former AT&T, a headquarters off of 2026. Um, and we also have some vacancies down
at the Crossroads Business Center. And in talking with uh the uh brokers and talking to potentially interested parties who've looked at that facility um and they said, you know, we're
looking at New Jersey, we're looking at the Bedminster campus and the opportunities of redevelopment there. And you know, we're also looking at facilities in North Carolina, Georgia, Indiana, Ohio.
um and Florida and when they make their decision about siting their facilities and we're talking large projects uh whether it's from 800,000 square feet to a million plus square feet of new
development they're not picking New Jersey and one of the reasons that's been given is cost of doing business and cost of living for employees.
Now, there's only so much we can control here locally. We can control property taxes doesn't seem to be the issue. Certainly, our municipal uh property taxes and we can control the zoning and we've certainly um demonstrated permissive zoning to encourage the uh
redevelopment of these properties. can't control the cost of doing business on a state level or the cost of living for New Jersey residents beyond property taxes that we do control here
in Bedminster. Um so we do hope that Mike Cheryl uh makes this a priority number one for her administration and that um we are willing to work with uh governor's office. We're look always willing to work with uh Somerset County
in doing what we can to put these properties back into use and to making uh Bedminster, the Somerset Hills, Somerset County, and New Jersey. Um putting it back on the map for business, economic development, and uh I
I frankly just look forward to working with um these entities in the next coming year. With that 7:43 take a motion to adjurnn. So move >> second.
>> Second. All in favor? >> I. >> Thank you and good night. >> Someday that's going to break.