Yeah. Well, someone else got folks, so that job's overtaken. It is 7:01. Welcome to the Bedminister Township Committee. This is our regular scheduled meeting for May 19, 2025. Recognize that we have the
full attendance by the Bed Bedminster Township Committee here in person. Miss Ray, will you please have the open public meetings act statement? Uh, yes, mayor. Adequate notice of this meeting of the township committee was sent to
the career news Somerville Burnsville News Whippony and to all subscribers and posted the township municipal 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. Hey, now is the time of the of our meeting that we open up the uh microphone over here or your Zoom or
your telephone for public comment. There's no one raising their hand here in person. Uh see there's our attorney and our police chief. Uh there's someone up there who I uh don't know. Um so I have a Beth
Cardella online, but I don't have I don't see a hand raised. So if you're participating via Zoom and you wish to make a public um comment, take your cursor down to the bottom, click on reactions, click on raise hand, and Ms. will put you into queue for public comment. Seeing none, let's proceed. We
have two sets of meeting minutes to approve. That's the May five regular township committee meeting and the May 5 executive session. Comments for questions that have not otherwise been provided to Ms.
Ray. Seeing none, take a motion to approve the minutes. So moved. All in favor? I. Thank you. We have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight permits and raffles. Run through
them real quick. Fireworks permit for a fire fireworks permit for a fireworks display scheduled for June 7, 2025 at the Hamilton Farmer Golf Club. A fireworks permit for a fireworks display scheduled for July 2nd, 2025 at Hamilton
Farm Golf Club. Social fair permit to benefit center for great expectations on July 15, 2025 from 12:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. located at Fiddler's Elbow Country Club. an on premise 5050 raffle to
benefit Freedom House LLC on July 14, 2025 from 9 a.m. to 700 p.m. at Fiddlers of O Country Club. An onremise merchandise raffle to benefit Freedom House on July 14, 2025 from 9:00 a.m. to
7:00 p.m. located Fithers of O Country Club. An on premise 5050 raffle to benefit Autism New Jersey, Inc. on September 8, 2025 from 11:00 a.m. to 900 p.m. located at Fiddler's Elbow Country Club. an on premise merchandise raffle
at Benfish bottles in New Jersey on September 8, 2025 from 11:00 a.m. to 900 p.m. at Fidel's 12 Country Club and a special use permit for the Township of Bedminster Farmers Market requesting signs be posted for an extended period
of time to promote the farmers market May through December 2025. So let's um let's take the first two which are the fireworks permits um separately and then we'll take uh the rest of them al together. Uh so for the fireworks
permit Robin and Chief Bernardo I assume everything's uh been reviewed f by fire. All arrangements are uh approved. Uh yes uh Steve Dill did tell me that everything has been reviewed and is in um satisfactory condition to him. I know
Chief Bernardo is on the line if he wants to weigh in. Uh, no issues, mayor. They're fine. Okay. So, any um questions from the township committee? Seeing none, take a motion to approve fireworks permits for June 7th
and July 2nd at Hamilton Farm. So moved. All in favor? I. And for the rest of them, for the uh remainder of the permits and raffles, take a motion to approve unless there's any questions or comments. Thought you'd want to do
the social affair permit, but I mean the special needs by yourself, but okay. I tried. Get the signs up. Get the signs up. I'm sure we're going to cover the farmers market a little bit later. Thank you, Doug. Second. All in favor? I Thank
you. All right, we are moving right along. Monthly report discussion by subcommittee chair, committeewoman Fernandez. Okay, thank you woman Moreski. Thank you, mayor. Good evening, everyone. Um, just want to
let everybody know that the Salem Oak Tree plaque has come in. Thank you, Don March and Robin Ray. The plaque is beautiful. Um, and Whit had picked out a nice stone to put that on. So, we'll get that uh affixed and it'll be pretty. Um,
EC is planning a moth night this year. Um, it's going to be either June 27th or 28th. I think probably the 28th, which is a Saturday. We will get you more information as we get a little closer. But if you remember, moth night was the
night where we go out to a River Road Park, throw a sheet on a car, dump a bunch of beer on the sheet, and uh as it's getting dark, the sheet just loads up with moths and other bugs, too. So, be prepared. But the moths were gorgeous. And a couple years ago, there
was a young girl there who was like the moth whisperer. She had the most beautiful moss that just landed on her, and she was so fascinated. It was so much fun just to watch her be fascinated with the moth. So, we'll get that information out and hopefully everybody will be able to join us. That's great.
That's great. Thank you. I'm sure you might be going out. I I'm switching it up. I know. Now, a couple quick updates. Thank you, mayor. Uh the board of health met last Thursday, heard four applications, all of a very routine nature. They also sponsored a CPR AED class earlier this
month which was very well attended. 27 signed up and 23 showed up. So that was a good showing. And finally, the county health department will be attending the farmers market several times over the course of the upcoming season to meet residents and hand out information. They are always a welcome addition to our
market. Um and also mayor, I've had the community development block grant committee. Uh committeewoman Fernandez and I are the Bedminster representatives to that committee. We just wrapped up our work uh for this season. Um that committee, by the way, manages the prioritization and distribution of grant
money that is sourced from HUD. I know I say this every year, but when you hear the stories behind many of the applications, your heart goes out to these folks. These are the people who manage a lot with very limited resources and they assist the disabled, women in need, individuals and group homes, just
to name a few. And just a shout out, Kim Coward and her team from the county do a great job administering that program and getting input from all the stakeholders across the county, which is not an easy job, but they deserve a big shout out to all they do. That's all I have. Mayor, great. Thank you, Committeeman
Stevenson. Mayor BPW, we obviously continue to work on roads. Uh continue to groom ball fields, baseball, soccer, lacrosse North town storm water basin is being
installed over on Apple and that was leaning bridge to replace cars specifically to let you know that banners.
Yeah. Sorry, do we have any update on the um on the pump station? I'll try to get an update for you. Okay, thank you. Um and from my end um I think we've mentioned farmers market. So um
lovely teal Johnson teal shirts that were selected for the farmers market volunteers. It does look like Miami. Thank you very much. Um, but yes, that was the consensus of the uh
farmers market committee for color our fashion committee on the farmers market. Consensus unilateral with that little with that little orange uh you know circle around it. Definitely
looks like Miami colors. Um, so this Saturday, May 24th, yes, it's already here. Labor Labor Day, Memorial Day. We've been Can't rush Can't rush the season back that quickly. Um, so we have more
vendors than ever. Um, we're probably going to have an expanded parking area as committee memores is showing right now. Not sure if the camera is picking it up, but the red,
whites, and blue, that's not teal. No teal on this. Uh, this is the farmers market bag giveaway that we'll be handing out certainly on May 24th and for the next several um, markets
until supplies run out. So get out there, get your bag, come visit us all at the farmers market and um wishing everyone a great farmers market season for the volunteers and the safe ones
that no one gets learn over um for our patrons and for all the vendors as well. So looking forward to seeing everyone out there Saturday 9 to 1:00. and Colin, when's our last farmers
market day? Uh, December 6th, 7th or 8th, somewhere around there. Yeah. So, um, it'll be colder. Yes. Yeah. So, uh, once again, thanks. Thank you to everyone on the farmers market committee and to Neil Nash Buono from our, uh, rec
department for organizing another great year. Lanius board. Uh, we did have a lany board meeting. Um, uh, we approved the AT&T application for a generator. Uh, the only variance
really at issue, uh, was it might be eating up a few, um, parking spots at the, uh, the property on 206, but it was approved incident. any late traveling by I see is that while the parking lot is
97% full there's still little corners up in the north and the south uh where there's still some extra space. So um right now the indications that the five spaces that will be eaten up by the generator and the um diesel tank will
not be immediately needed by AT&T. We'll see if that ever changes. Um the other thing that was discussed at the land use board meeting was the introduction or really the presentation of a draft
housing element and fair share plan uh that was put together by our uh planner Frank Banish. The official hearing by the planning board for the housing element and fair share plan will be June
12 and um you know I think we've talked about it briefly up here. Uh once the housing element and fair share plan is voted on and approved by the planning board then John it comes back to us
doesn't it? It does. I actually have within 48 hours after the land use board adopts its resolution uh approving hopefully the plan on June 12th to file with e courts the uh resolution of approval by the
land use board and the housing element and fair share plan. It then comes back to us for an endorsement on I believe it's June the six second 16th 16th and uh we we we
do a resolution adopting that. I've already given Robin a draft uh of that resolution with a few blanks to fill in once the land use board adopts it. And then I'll file that resolution with with EC court and then anyone that has the tarity to uh challenge or raise
objection to the plan has until August 30th to do so. Um so our process really should be done by uh that June uh 16th meeting um and the filing on the day thereafter. Great. And I want to thank everyone who's worked with uh with me and John
and and Frank Banish in uh getting the housing element fair share plan um in shape. Um as I've said before, we believe that Bedminster is in very good condition uh for our for addressing our
fourth round affordable housing needs. And um right now the way the uh plan reads is that we would need no additional development in Bedminster to satisfy our
fourth round obligation. Um in part this is tied to a revised version of the KO project that was approved and may be coming back. Well, it will be coming back for um a subsequent approval by the planning board. with that project and
taking advantage of credits that Fedmeer has already accumulated both on uh owner occupied for sale units as well as rental units including senior units, senior
restricted units. um that we're in good shape. And let me tell you, it was not necessarily a simple, you know, hey, we can get there. It was going over and over the new legislation, looking at our
numbers, going back to the legislation, looking at credits that we had accumulated, some credits that we hadn't accounted for. And I do want to once again thank everyone who um participated in getting that plan in shape and ready
for presentation at uh the hearing on June 12th and then hopefully back to you for endorsement. So thank you everyone. um library. We have a library board meeting this week, Wednesday. Uh
committee 59 will be attending and um I think that covers subcommittee. Am I missing something, Robin? Robin's looking. No. Yes. No. Okay, good. Uh Robin, may we please have the administrators report? Sure. Um yes,
mayor. So, just as a quick followup to our meeting, um last meeting I did follow up with um previous former mayor Rhoden on the um direct payment, answered all of her questions. Um we worked with uh Paul Ferrero and um Jason
Randolph on the DOT local aid grant application for 2026, what we're going to apply for that we spoke about during our um budget uh sessions. Community garden, we had a bid opening um last week. We had four biders for the community garden. Unfortunately, two had to be disqualified with their total
numbers were kind of math errors that were just too great. Um but we have two and um so now uh we have our engineer and our attorney now vetting those two bids and um we all the after the budget
was approved all of our departments have received their municipal budgets for these years. So, they're all going to be fiscally responsible. And um six, June 5th is the Summers Hills Public Safety Committee meeting coming up. June 12th will be our Main Street Merchants
meeting and um at the Grace Fellowship Chapel, right? Both on Thursdays in the afternoon. And then we have the Memorial Day parade coming up this Monday at 10:00 a.m. So, be there. I'll bring your sashes for you. Okay, great. So, Robin,
um, coming back to the community garden, uh, between you and John and Jason, at what point do you think we'll, uh, be considering a resolution to award the contract? Hopefully at the next meeting, if all works out, correct?
I've approved the, um, bid, so it's just in Paul's hands. Okay, great. So, um, we'll be letting the county know. Okay. And All right. So, I trying to think if
that's who was the liaison, Doug, is that you? It was Doug and Renee. Doug and Renee. Okay. So, um, be very interesting and maybe time to reconstitute the community garden advisory
committee because this is This looks like work's going to start spring 2025. Pretty exciting. It's great. Okay. Thank you, Chief Bernardo. Any update on a community policing events?
Uh, yes. This week, our officers are going to be going to the Child Time Daycare to do a safety presentation, and we're going to be setting up similar presentations with the other daycarees in town in the coming uh weeks. And then June 14th, uh, Officer Rivera will be at
the farmers market, um, inspecting any child seats, uh, for anybody who is interested in that service. Oh, that's great. Yeah. And that's all I got. That's great. And if um, who's ever on duty that on opening day wants to swing
on by, always a good opportunity to see Bedminster's finest at the um, at the farmers market, especially which should be a very busy day. So, it'd be great to see someone out there. Can we just get the word out, Chief?
Yeah, no problem. So, now that we've approved the budget, Robin, now is the time we actually have to start spending money that we are. So we have one, two, three,
four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11 ordinances for introduction tonight. Sean, if I'm just going to um read off the
ordinances and um we can approve them for introduction on mass. Yes, you may. Okay. So, we get a drink before we start this. It's refreshing. First is ordinance number
2025003 authorizes appropriating $5,000 for building access control upgrades. Next, ordinance number 2025004 authorizes appropriating $100,000 for facility improvements
included but not limited to the police, DPW, and town hall facilities. Chief, you may be getting um saying goodbye to some of the roof leaks um hopefully if this ordinance gets approved. Ordinance number
2025005 authorizes appropriating $46,240 for various equipment for the Benson Township Police Department. Ordinance number 2025006 authorizes appropriating $9,000 for various firefighting
equipment for the Persville Volunteer Fire Company. Ordinance number 20250007 authorizes appropriating $41,600 for various firefighting equipment for the Far Hills Bedminster Fire Department. Ordinance number
2025008 authorizes appropriating $7,564.50 for various equipment for the Parkfield's Bedminister First Aid Squad. Ordinance number 2025009 authorizes appropriating $50,000 for HVAC replacement and
upgrades for Beder Township facilities. Ordinance number 202510 authorizes appropriating $5,000 for telephone equipment upgrades for the bed of municipal offices. Ordinance number
2025011 authorizes appropriating $15,000 for repeater equipment to the bedding tenantship office of emergency management. Ordinance number 2025012 establishing requirements and regulations for residential rental
dwellings lead based paint inspections. And the last one, ordinance number 2025013, a bond ordinance appropriating $665,000 and authorizing the issuance of
$631,000 in bonds or notes of the township for the acquisition of a tanker truck for the Clark Hills Bedminster Fire Department and other various equipment. If these ordinances are approved for
introduction, the public hearing will be scheduled for our June 2nd, 2025 meeting. Then we have a motion to approve the introduction of those
ordinances 3 through 13. Second. Roll call vote, please. Mr. Stevenson. Hi. Mr. Hickey. Hi. Miss Moreski. Hi. Mr. Fernandez and Jacob. Hi. The public hearing for these ordinances will be scheduled for June
2nd, 2025, 700 p.m. here. We have no ordinances scheduled for public hearing. We have no resolutions on the consent agenda. We do have one resolution for individual consideration, which is
resolution 202504. This resolution's uh I'm sorry. This resolution um provides support for Revolution NJ to plan, encourage, develop, and coordinate the commemoration of the
250th anniversary of the founding of the United States and New Jerseyy's role in the American Revolution. Um, so this is a resolution that was forwarded to me by um Somerset County Commissioner
Melanie Morano. Um, I forward it to Robin uh for discussion at tonight's meeting. Uh, Robin, just want to quickly walk us through the uh items or what's at stake with the resolution? Sure. So, this started uh back in 2019 with an
initiative um by uh Governor Bill Murphy and um it was a way to for New Jersey to actually participate in the 250th anniversary. There's all sorts of programs and um planning that's being done on the state level and encouraged
throughout all 21 counties. Each county is participating um in various ways. Uh some county is rich in um Revolutionary War history. So all of the um historic homes hopefully will be participating in this event and
uh just telling New Jerseyy's uh tale of the American Revolution. And the resolution does um authorize Bedminster to put together a committee to develop a plan for the commemoration.
And um I already have some ideas of who we in the township building may want to consider uh if we do proceed with uh this resolution. May I add something? Yes. So, we also, if you recall, we have the um the pocket
park that's down in Pluckerman that we're working very hard to get that to fruition, the encampment park for um July of 2026 to celebrate the 250 kids.
it would be, you know, and so I, you know, Robin and I did see a early draft of the pocket park and um Encampment View
Park does not roll off the It does not. Encampment View Park, but that's what it does. But that's what it does. So from where the uh the park is located, it
will be angled. Anyone visiting that park and and looking across 2026 will look up the hill to where the encampment is actually located. Okay. Don't don't now I know
there's a lot of enthusiasm about that name. EVP EVP the EV park. Okay. Yes, it does. I think they're trying to I think the name is still open. That's the Robin Robin and I would say that the name is
is open for discussion. Yes. Yes. Maybe it can be the first job of this committee that suggest possibly. Yes. Yes. Um good idea. Encampment view park.
Okay. Um, but that's not this resolution. So, any comments or questions regarding this resolution? Seeing none, take a motion to approve resolution 202584. So, moved. Second. Roll call vote,
please. Mr. Stevenson. Hi. Mr. Hickey. Hi. Miss Moraski. Hi. M. Fernandez. And Mayor Jacobs. Hi. Thank you. And and while we're not there yet, just for consideration for me membership of that committee, um I'd like you all to consider Mayor Steve Parker, whose
ancestors go back to the militia that participated in the Battle of Lexington and Concord. Wendy Hickeyi, who's the chair of our historic preservation
committee, and Sean Bl. So, just I'm putting that out for discussion. There's no um limit in this resolution as to how many members, but I just throw that out there um for your consideration. And we can certainly um reach out to
individuals and maybe uh if you have any other ideas give them to Robin and then maybe at the next meeting we can actually um populate that committee. Okay. Take a motion to approve the bill
list pending review of individual invoices. Roll call vote please. Mr. Stevenson. Hi, Mr. Hickey. Hi, Missy. Hi, Mrs. Fernandez. Hi, and Mayor Jacobs. Hi. New business. Are there any matters that
the tent committee wants in place for discussion under new business? Seeing none, is old business. Start with utilities. Mayor, this evening I have no updates, believe it or not.
No, none. None. Water's not brown. People didn't go out there. Don't want to tenny is good, but we will have some updates in June. I can assure you. Uh, Pluckman Senior Housing is up under
executive session, so we'll skip that. Somerset Hills Public Safety Committee, as uh Robin mentioned, uh we will have a scheduled meeting in what on June 2nd or June
5th. So we'll discuss that at our next meeting. So we do have an executive session. So we will go through township committee comments. We'll adjourn to executive and then we'll come back to open session for
adjournment. So at well we go through committee comments first. Um when anyone can end us. I repeat uh Genie's feelings. Happy Memorial Day and everybody come out to the to the parade. There's always a a
really nice speaker who uh speaks down on the far hill area that it's always very moving and emotional time including the talks by the two mayors. You caught yourself there. I did. Um, but have a great day everybody and uh
that's all I have. And nothing more to add than beyond what my colleagues have already said. Thank you, Mayor Stevenson. Uh, nothing really to add. Just one thing I didn't know was the 250 year anniversary and we have done our country. Memorial Day coming up
and realize all of the heroes that have fallen for the great country stay. Great. Thank you. Uh wishing everyone uh a great Memorial Day weekend. Uh enjoy it and um if you do show up at the parade, you certainly have the
opportunity to um recognize Bedminster's War dead. And um hope to see everyone at the farmers market. at 7:33. I'll take a motion to adjourn to executive session. So
moved. Uh in favor? Thank you. We will not be taking any formal action after executive session. So you're certainly welcome to stay and see us say good night, but you don't have to. Hi, Bill.
It sounds like AI has taken over.