Thank you. >> Good evening. Welcome to Bedminster Township Committee. This is our regularly scheduled township committee meeting of July 20, 2026. Recognize that we have a full complemented township committee here
in town hall and via Zoom. So attending in person, Committeeman Hickeyi, Committee woman, completing woman Fernandez, and joining by Zoom on the disabled list,
>> the neverending disabled list. >> We'll see you in uh December, November. >> Hope hopefully. That's my goal. Oh lord. >> Ms. 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 Curry News Somerville Burnsville News Whippony and to all subscribers and post on the Township of Bedminster official website at www.bedminsternj.gov
and at the township mal building on January 6, 2026. >> 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. This is the time of the meeting that we open up the microphone up here or the Zoom session for public comment. Any member of the public wishing to make a
statement, ask a question, now is your time to do so. As we've been saying for several months, maybe uh maybe certainly more than a year, you entitled to ask questions, make comments, three minute limit.
You're not entitled to an answer. You're not entitled to a dialogue with the township committee unless one of many members engages. And if you get an answer, you're not guaranteed of getting an answer. You're going to >> night
>> life. Mr. Ravi, come on up. Once again, name and street for the record. You don't have to give us your street number. >> Steve Ravi, Water Ridge Road. >> Got that one right this.
>> Okay, you got that. >> So guys, what I want to do is just uh give some clarification regarding my comments from two weeks ago when I was here. Um, I just got to begin with I got the feeling that people thought that I had a complete disdain for wealthy
people. Um, and so just to make it clear, some of my best friends are wealthy people. So I don't have a problem with wealthy people at all. Uh, luckily for me, these people don't expect me to pay their real estate taxes though as well. But but seriously, um, if you've worked extremely hard or
you've had a great creative idea and you've accumulated some wealth, I think that's fantastic. That's great. More power to you. Um, but I do have what issue I do have is with people that scam the farmland assessment act and expect
their less fortunate neighbors to pay their real estate taxes. That's that's what I do have an an issue with. Um, but also um I'm going to remember this time to put my glasses on so I can read what's on this paper here. I also agree with the point that uh
Mayor Jacobs uh made during the in the Somerset review that it's not the town's responsibility to amend the Foreign Land Assessment Act. Okay, that responsibility rests with the legislators. I get that and and I understand. Um, but the points that I
did bring up during the meeting and provide the next day in an email to Miss Ray are things that we can do to protect ourselves from people that are taking a shot at scamming the Farmland Assessment Act. And these actions either fall within or are not against the Farmland
Assessment Act. So, none of these things get us in any kind of trouble with the folks down in Trenton or anything like that. They're just things we can do to protect ourselves. Okay. Um and so basically they simply provide notice of
form to formal assessment applicants that there are going to be some new things coming down the pipe that were passed last January. I things like the required the amount of sales of products is going to be increasing. The fines for basically making false statements on
your application they're going to be increasing. I would think that some of the people that are that are taking advantage of or just that using the Farm Line Assessment Act would appreciate getting a heads up from the town saying, "Guess what? I would have liked to have
known that things were coming down the pike that way. I could have upped the my $1,2 that I of corn that I sold to $1,92 that I sold." That kind of thing. So, I don't think it's going to be upsetting anybody. I think they're going to say, "Great. Thanks for letting me know.
Okay. Um, so, so that's that's that piece. And then, um, I also recommended that our tax accessor tax assessor sharpen his pencil and dig in, verify information that's on the applications. Okay. This is all within
the farm line assessment act. It's actually one of the things that's a responsibility of the municipality is to dig in to make sure the information that's on the application is true and to basically ask questions. I.e. why is it this guy's brother-in-law is always the
one buying a thousand $2 of corn from this guy every every year that's on his application. Those types of things. Our tax assessor can investigate that and say, "Well, no, this is bogus." And the point that that wasn't made, you know, last what was reported is that
I wanted farmers to be to have their applications denied. That's not what what I said. And I did say and I said with good cause start denying applicants. So I'm not just saying willy-nilly if you make a billion dollars you get denied. If you make, you
know, $10, you get denied. I'm saying if you if you have stuff on there that's incorrect or it appears that you've been trying to deceive people, you're going to get denied. It's that's simple as that. I I think that's a fair ask and I think the people in the township of
Fedinister would appreciate that kind of protection that they get from folks in the town. So, um, you know, that's that's kind of basically the gest of what I wanted to talk to and and I realized that, you know, it's uh, you
know, Robin was nice and Robin again got I sent her the email that stuff that I talked about and the next morning she got back to me with the response from the town. And so, thank you again for being Johnny on the spot. I really or Jane on the spot, whatever. Um but uh
but again, you know, she said it's the state's responsibility and the township governing body. So I think this falls within the township governing body thing. And again, I'm not asking anybody to do anything that's against the farmland assessment act. I'm just saying
everybody knows there's some cheating going on and I think it would be behoove everybody in the town to say guess what we're gonna we're gonna basically put a sharper eye on this and make sure that we're protecting the massive middle class that we have. And uh again I also
think that the 341 farmers that we have in Bedminster would appreciate getting a heads up as well. And um that's kind of what I have for today. you know, we just want to make sure that people taking advantage of the farm line assessment act are in fact farmers, not
just WB people. >> Okay. >> So, thank you guys very much. >> Thank you, Mr. >> Robin. When are um tax bills uh going out? >> They've been delayed by three weeks. >> They've been delayed. >> So, I know we were at the I'll talk about this a little later. When we're at the library board, library asked if it
was too late to get the uh >> No, it's not. I responded to Marie. We'll take her. >> So, I mean, to Mr. Versabi's point about uh putting some notice or update on new legislation or if it's regulations. I'm not sure which one. Um I mean I have no
issued putting something into saying that there's been an update. There's been some revisions to the uh thresholds to get into the farmland assessment. >> Would they not get something automatically then because farmland? I
think so. Every time that they It's probably going to be on an amended application they have to fill out. >> Yeah, I would. Every year they have to just so you know. >> Okay. >> So, they're all getting noticed this year with the applications that everything's going electronic at the state level. So, it'll be a whole different
>> Yeah. So, they'll they'll get their notification from the state. Um but once again, I mean, if it's going out, we can throw that in there. Just a reminder. >> Um also to uh one of the other comments from Mr. Ravi,
we are actually prohibited from directing our tax assessor. Our tax assessor, while he's an employee of Bedminster in his performance of his duties,
ostensibly, he reports to the county tax board. So, we can't say do this, do that. I don't even know that we can sharpen your >> We can't even set his hours. We could mandate the amount of hours he has to work, but we can't say when he has to
work. He is an independent person that, as you indicated, mayor, reports to the state, and we do not have the ability to influence him with respect to any type of assessments, residential, farmland, or otherwise. And I've worked with Mr.
Kerwin for many many years and known of his services in many many communities and he's very well respected and works very hard and diligent reviewing all applications. So no no just hold on. So, to the extent there's um some issues that you want to
raise, the Somerset County Tax Board, that may be the appropriate venue on putting pressure not just on our tax assessor, but on assessors throughout Srite County. So, that's the county tax
board. I don't have contact information for >> I do, >> but Robin Ray, >> I'll send it to you. >> Mr. as you said, Jane. Jane on the spot. >> Charles Eer. >> That's funny. >> He's a Bminster resident. >> That's right.
>> We are still in public comment. Mayor Parker, you're you're standing up. >> You're approaching the day. Make your comment. Steve Parker, Airport Road. And on behalf of the Bedminster Republicans, of which I'm the chair at the moment, I do want to recognize
Committee Moreski for her meritorious service. And uh I will mention another name that probably hasn't been heard in these chambers in many years, but deserves to be named as well. I want to thank Gary Roupert because I believe he's the one that twisted your arm
several years ago and said, "You would be really good on the township committee." And Gary, like he was for so many other things in Bedminster, was right. You have served with heart. And I've never known anyone that has has
been so passionate about serving the people of Bedminster. And I just want to thank you for your service. >> Thank you. It's been my honor. Any further public comments? Seeing none, we'll be moving right
along. We have one set of meeting minutes to approve. That's the July 6, 2026 regular session minutes. Any comments or questions regarding those minutes that have not otherwise already been provided
to Miss Red? Seeing none, take a motion to approve the minutes of July 6. >> Second. All in favor? >> I. >> Thank you. >> We have
two permits to review and approve. First is the social fair permit to benefit Expect Miracles Foundation on October 5, 2026
from 7:30 a.m. to 400 p.m. at Fiddler's Elbow Country Club and a social fair permit to benefit the RNC Donovan Family Foundation and People Care Center at Fiddler's Elbow Country Club on September 13, 2026 from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.
at Fiddler's Elbow Country Club. Any comments, questions regarding those two permits? Seeing none, take a motion to approve. >> So move. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I >> I thank you.
>> So the reason I was hesitating on permits and raffles, what uh Miss Ray, what's the status of uh live? >> It's still moving forward. >> It's still moving forward.
They have one more meeting with the judge committee before we >> they have another meeting. Yeah, we still have a couple things they need to satisfy before I feel comfortable putting on your special use permit, your golf question permit. >> And when does that uh when does the
tournament start? >> So, our next meeting is August 3rd and it's after August 3rd. >> August well sixth would be Thursday. 7th would be the Friday. So, we're right down to the wire. >> We have their check, but they still need
to satisfy a couple things. >> Have we deposited the check? >> We have deposited the check. >> Has the check cleared? >> I don't know. I'm going to have to check with our CFO that the check was deposited. >> Okay. because when we read that the
major funding for LIV has been pulled >> or withdrawn um and I think I I've made this point clear with some of our staff and professionals make sure checks are paid with the checks are delivered and checks are
cleared. So uh and all the professionals are satisfied with the application for it's presented to us. I was expecting to hear that today. >> They're not. So that's why I'm holding on to the private view. >> Okay, that answers that. We'll go to monthly
report discussion by subcommittee chair. We'll start with um I don't know what how do we refer to bill these days? I don't know. >> Bill, I was you know I was going to go there. I thought about it briefly
>> but I decided not to. But you went there. Um, Rosen, >> thank you. >> Subcommittee report, please. >> Uh, thank you. Um, can you hear me? >> Yes. >> Okay. On the uh rec side, applications
have been mailed out to potential uh Fall Fest um vendors and and exhibitors. Fall Fest is scheduled for October 10th at River Road Park. Hopefully hopefully um I will be there. Uh if not, I I'll
have lots of people to push me around in a wheelchair. So, uh the um new dog park is getting closer. There's still a couple of um pieces of equipment that we are waiting on and to be ordered. Once
those are in, they should be um installed and a ribbon cutting date will be announced. And um family fun night is scheduled for August 27th in uh coll in collaboration uh with the recck
department and uh the police department and that's all I have. >> What is that? >> Um August 27th. >> No, what what is that? >> Family fun night. Um it is going to be I guess fun games. I don't believe there's
going to be a movie. uh food trucks. >> Mayor, I can talk about that. The police department's hosting it instead of um National Night Out because it coincided with uh the Liv Golf Tournament. We're going to have inflatables, food, a DJ, a
Dunk Tank, and um it's all free, so we hope people come out. >> Thank you, Chief. >> To be at River Road, >> uh River Road Park, August 27th, 5:00 p to 8:00m. Yes. Uh the the PD will be there. The fire department will be there. Um hopefully the squad will be
there and uh Neil's helping us out and Jason's helping us out as well. >> Who's tank? >> And and hope and hopefully uh we have a better weather night than we did last year. >> Yes, definitely. >> That's right. We got cancelled last year. Yeah, frankly.
>> As the heavens opened up just as we were uh getting started. >> Okay, great. Uh uh Chief, maybe you didn't hear. Um committee woman Moreski, she wants to know who's lined up for the dunk tank. >> Well, if it's over 100 degrees, I'll be
the first in line. I'll volunteer for that. >> Great. Good to know. Thank you, Committ Rosie. Committeewoman Fernandez. >> Thank you, Mayor. Um so today, our new employee, Anthony Zangara, started in
our DPW department. So I wanted to welcome Anthony. We're excited to have him on board in Bedminister. And just a few DPW updates. Um they've been working on the police cars and DPW equipment. Obviously cutting the grass and sidearm are mowing the sides of the roads. Thank
thankfully. Uh still working on storm cleanup from that storm, grooming the ball fields and the soccer fields, grading the dirt roads, and working on the street lights in Autumn Ridge. I noticed though, however, that on Jason's
report, there are no garden boxes being put together. So, I'm not sure. >> We still have some left. >> Still have some. Okay. I thought maybe they were completed. All right. And that's all I have for >> Thank you, Committee Morinski. >> Good evening, Mayor. Good evening,
everyone. Um, the environmental committee um h their August meeting will be cancelled, but they do want you to know that they're still working on the textile recycling. They're all excited to do that since styrofoam recycling has gone so well. Uh JVH has something
coming up this Saturday. It's a three-parter. Robin, we've got at 1:00 we've got John Cidell and I forget the other gentleman's name. >> Barry Thompson. >> Barry Thompson here at town hall at 1:00. John Cidell is one of the
gentlemen who did the archaeological dig up at the cantonment and uh he knows everything about that whole property. So it's going to be real exciting. So that'll be here and then we'll go back over to JBH for a birthday party for Henry KN and house tours, things like
that. And then at the I guess it's at the end of the day. I'm not sure the the timing, but we're having um a cannon that one of our members, one of the um >> it's actually Dupaul Herrerero. >> DuPaul. >> So, it's a cannon that looks like that
time the Revolutionary War cannon. So, it's going to be a big day. Come on out. Um everything's free except for the the lecture here in Hall. That's $25 for John and you need to sign up on community pass. Hopefully, that's working a little better than last time.
But if you have any problems, reach out to JVH or I'm sure Robin can help you too because that's going to be a great day. Um the other thing we have for down the down the rest of the year, they've already um scheduled the next educational day, school day, October
14th. It'll be the Willow School and the Bernard's Middle School. Um those are always real exciting and uh it's it's already filling up. Paula has got a good handle on that and I think that's all I
have for now. Unless you >> for now. I'm sure I'll come up with something because I always leave out something. >> But there's there's not a lot more now than this. >> We still have this half hour m hour of the meeting. I'll come up with something.
>> Okay. All right. So, um there Robin, I'm looking at a picture of the cannon and the supplemental frame. Do you have a copy we can put up on the uh screen? >> No,
>> I can't put anything up on the screen right now, >> but it's blue. >> I have a great picture. >> Get that in the paper. It's going to be exciting. >> I'm not giving it to you. So, um, so you'll have to be here on Saturday for when the cannon
is presented to Bedminister Township and >> four o'clock. >> Four o'clock. Should we get go into it now? At least a >> sure. >> A little teaser. >> Sure. >> So, um, make mention of the donor. >> Sure.
>> Yes. Okay. So, the cannon was commissioned by our municipal engineer, Paul Ferrero. Paul is a West Point graduate, proud West Point graduate,
and one of his very good friends was an artillery officer and who is semi-retired at this point. Actually, maybe not. Um, and he does Colin
laugh. He does colonial reenactments. In addition to doing reenactments, he also makes authentic colonial and revolutionary war
armaments. So, in honor of America 250, General Knox's birthday, and the opening of Crossroads Park, and celebrations at
uh Chacob's Vanderbil House, all missioned a cannon, which is a replica of the cannons that would have been employed and deployed at the Pluckman
cantonment. So, the cannons have been fabric, well, the cannon has been fabricated and the extra carriage has been fabricated. Um, the long-term plan is that they will u
reside in the barn to be constructed. Do that. >> The barn to be constructed at the Jacob's Vanderbeir house. >> It's going to be great. But in the meantime,
>> he's going in the trail. >> No. >> Is that the time? >> You need to >> I think we're going to um display it prominently and perhaps at town hall for some time until we can figure out a better place to store it. Robin, any
more color you want to throw in there? >> Well, just they're going to fire it. It >> actually would not be here this weekend. That will not be here for the uh tannon. >> Yeah. >> Should we tell Tarheel Kennels that they're going to do that? >> I think >> they not care.
>> It's kind of going to be here over there. >> The can's going to be over. >> It's just going to be a little >> You're going to have to go. >> It's not a circus. It's not that type of thing. >> Do not give him ideas. So I I won't be there for the uh
ceremony. So committed Hickeyi will be filling in the money sign. >> I am not test fire in this cabinet. That's all I can say. >> I would do it in a second. >> Do it. >> You you won't trust me. >> You may you may >> the chief will tell me no. >> Yes. Why?
>> All right. So um so that's a little bit continuum on JBH. And once again, thank you to Paul Herrero for this generous donation. Uh Paul's been giving us updates over the last several months about the status of the fabrication and where it is and um and there's a story
behind everything and yes it is blue. Um there's a reason for that and if you show up on Saturday you will find out why. >> Committee man Hickeyi. >> Wow. I just I >> how can you beat that? >> I can't stop that. >> And by the way all my committees and
commissions are on summer break. So I have nothing to report anybody. >> Okay. So, um, farmers market, I'm quickly going to go over the numbers. And I want to thank our volunteers
who for the last, uh, two Saturdays, um, went through, let's see, last two weeks ago, um, didn't really rain till about noon and then when it came down, it came down.
But we still had um a lot of folks come out even during that time period between 12 and 1. >> Uh Colin, our number I believe for that day was 1516. >> 1516. >> Yeah, that's crazy. Amazing. So most of it obviously from >> usually come before noon anyway.
>> Um this weekend we had rain starting around 10:30, 11 off and on. But not only did we have rain, we had thunder. No, we did. We have thunder. We had >> lightning. And
we still had people showing up in the thunder and the lightning and the downpours. Um we finally killed it at 12:30 when um the last round came through. Um where
Colin and I and Monet were standing. Uh it looked like the lightning struck probably no more than what two miles away mile away and we're out in the fields with your >> with with metal rods and >> yeah metal tents right
>> but even then by uh by 10 o'clock our number was 430 480 something like >> 485 by 10 o'clock >> 485 at 10 o'clock we finished the day at 735 >> correct >> 735 >> crazy I got tell Um, there are some
crazy folks, Mayor Parker being one of them, who came to the farmers market in the thunder and lightning and Steve, I'm not sure what you got, but you braved the weather to get there. So, uh, thanks for coming out. Um, so the
farmers market just continues to well this weekend. Uh, should be much better weather than leading right into the events at JBH. Uh I had a library board meeting. Uh one of the issues discussed at the library was uh perhaps dedicating
more funds to the children's resources. Uh Miss Mancini who's on the library board and rep schoolster township school had some um pretty good ideas about directing additional resources what the
um what the children's library could be doing there. So I think we're going to take that up subcommittee that's going to be work on there's an update to the library employee handbook um at our recommendation library hire and form who
does our uh human resources here. Um so there's a little bit of continuity between the handbooks and some of the policies and effects. Also the library is updating its bylaw. they've not been
updated I believe in about 30 years. Um so those are being updated and also there's some uh guidance on the collection development services somebody wants to challenge a book or request a
book and it doesn't they don't get um appropriate relief from Marie the director there's a protocol for pursuing that that plan and it's being further developed
um actually very engaged library board that we had last week. With that, Miss Ray, you're pleased to have the administrator's report. >> Yes, Mayor. I was pretty much out last week of a new grandchild.
>> With a new grandchild, >> anything to report at the time that is is working. >> Okay. Chief Bernardo, Community Policing. Uh, the only thing I was going to talk about, we already talked about the family fun day in August. Mayor.
>> Okay. Thank you, Chief. Introduction of ordinances. We have none. Public hearing of ordinances. We have none. 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. Some or
all of them for individual consideration. No one is jumping at that opportunity. So, I'll take a motion to approve the items on the consent agenda. >> So, moved. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I.
>> Please. It'll be a roll call vote, please. My mistake. Uh, Committeeman Hickey. >> I. >> Committeewoman Moreski. >> I. >> Committeewoman. >> I. Committee Rosen. >> I. >> And Mayor Jacobs. >> I. >> Thank you. >> We have no other resolutions on for
tonight. We'll take the motion to approve the items on the bill pending review of individual invoices. >> So move. >> Second. >> We'll call vote again, please. Committeeman Hickeyi. >> I. >> Committeewoman Moreski. >> I. >> Committeewoman Fernandez. >> I.
>> Committeeman Rosen. >> I. >> And Mayor Jacobs. >> I. >> Thank you. >> New business. Any member of the township committee have anything that they want to discuss or present for new business?
Seeing none, we'll move to old business, utilities. Commander Man Hickeyi, we went through a couple storms. Um, and we had previously talked about the outage over in Courtland. I believe you've got some updates. >> Speaking of lightning,
>> yes, >> it was confirmed that the July 4th outage in Courtland was caused by a lightning strike straight to the transformer. In the exact words I got were it totally melted. >> As the great philosopher Murphy once said, if you could perceive of four
possible ways in which something can go wrong and circumvent these, a fifth way will promptly develop and the lightning was the fifth way. It had other ideas, but uh fortunately Courtland was the only development impacted. uh they had not suffered any power outages for
years. So this was a bit of a surprise to the residents. But uh again glad that they the the damage was limited only to that development and they were quickly restored. >> So that sort of explains why it was only that development because if it was anything further upstream >> the switching and the infrastructure
would have taken over and switched the power feed. So that's why it was localized just to them. Interesting. >> Okay. And how do we weather the uh the rest of the storms? And there were some outages believe today. >> Today was a motor vehicle accident up uh
near Pottersville Road, but that impact feedback flown. I did not get any reports of anybody out in Bedminster. So, and I think JCPL had crews on site almost immediately. And I think most of the customers been restored through switching. I think there were there were a handful that were not, but again, I
think that was predominantly Peback Gladstone residents. Great. Okay. Thank you. Is that it for um I have nothing else. Jason, do you have anything on utilities? >> No, we were pretty lucky with the storms we had. Bend them and burn.
>> I'll say it again. Cut the trees. >> Keep the trees away from the utilities. Some of these other towns are still rejecting tree clearing. and you see what happens. So, uh, lots of trees
in town. We all love our trees, just don't love them near the utilities. So, um, we've continued work with JCPL and promoting that to, uh, cooperation. Uh, Summerville's public safety
committee is on the agenda, but did not have a meeting. We will not have one in August. will resume those uh discussions in September. We'll go through township committee comments. Renee, I'm going to save you for last if you don't mind. Is that okay?
>> I said everything last time. >> All right. Well, you're still going to get an opportunity. >> Gina, I've not counted one tier from her yet. >> I know. No, she she started. She did well >> when Steve was up there. Yeah, she did. >> So, we will start with committeeman
Rosen. Thank you, Mayor. Uh Renee, uh we haven't worked together that long on township committee, but over the years through uh Wreck and Environmental Collaborations and of course the farmers
market, it has been an absolute honor and privilege to work with you. Um, your wisdom and inspiration has meant a lot to me over the years and you are leaving a legacy that is just going to be impossible to fill. Good luck to the
person who has to do that. Again, good luck in Texas. And again, thank you. Thank you. Thank you for everything over the years. And on a personal note, as the mayor mentioned, I had round two um
to repair my retorrn patella, or as I like to say, Groundhog to SQL. Uh when I came home from uh surgery last week, um my wife and my son were unable to get me
out of the car and into the house. Uh Dave Groandike, ex-fire chief and a neighbor had stopped by and after making some calls, Sergeant Benston, Officer Mrandano, and uh Chris Croll showed up and helped uh get me in the house. And a personal
uh shout out to all of them. >> Great. Thank you, Bill. and chief. Once again, um, thanks to Sergeant Benson, Officer Masendino on, um, once again helping Bill. I know all the police
officers been doing the same. Those were the lucky two. Bill into his home and um, you know, >> even popped me in my recliner. really should have figured that out before they squeezed you into a car that sooner or later you'd have to get out of the
>> you you would have thought well it was uh past closing time and posttop and I think the last person uh wanted to get out of there so thus the hasty instructions >> or say lack of instructions. So
>> committeewoman Fernandez, >> thank you. Um, so tonight I would like to recognize a woman who has dedicated so much of her time, heart, and energy to the community we all love. Um, serving on the township committee
require is a responsibility that requires compassion, integrity, and genuine desire to serve others. And Renee has embodied those qualities since I've known her. She has always been deeply invested in our community, consistently leading with kindness, thoughtfulness, and a sincere sincere
commitment to doing what she believed was right for all of our residents. Her contributions have helped shape our township in meaningful ways, and her dedication has made a lasting difference. Renee, your passion for our community has never gone unnoticed. You've set a wonderful example what
public service should look like, and the impact you've made will be felt for years. uh you leave behind some very big shoes to fill and while we will certainly miss your presence on the committee, we're excited to see what comes next for you in Texas. I we know that I know that whatever life wherever
life takes you, you will continue to make a positive difference. Congratulations and thank you for everything. >> No, no, just a dramatic pause so that we can if Rene is crying and we can actually hear it, capture it. >> I'm writing under the desk now. Yeah. Many, many. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Mayor. >> Oh, God. Don't >> I don't get a chance to talk. >> No, >> Rene. It's been a privilege and an honor to serve with you. You know, perhaps the best way to recognize someone is to reflect on what you have learned from them. And by the way, we miss those
opportunities in life a lot. You know, someone disagrees with you or has a different perspective. Oftentimes, the easiest response is to just dismiss them. If we had a profile of personalities up here, Larry is a leader. Gina is the doer. Bill was voted most popular,
although he might share that with Gina. I'm the analytic. And you, you were the one who always brought empathy to the table. I might look at something through the lens of a spreadsheet, but you would always remind me of the human side of the equation. You brought that to every
assignment and responsibility you had, and you made a difference. Made a difference. more broadly everywhere. And that's reflected in the positive impact you've had to this town. Renee, just thank you for all your years of service and your many contributions and just being who
you are. Thank you, Renee. >> So Renee was my running mate for three campaigns. >> Three campaigns. >> It was wonderful. >> Three campaigns. Renee, you and I have been together a very long time. Two with Steve in the back.
>> Those are great. But campaigning with you was always interesting. And one of the things that you know when we walk around and and talk to residents um and it's you you heard from the other comments uh Gina
said heart said empathy. Um, you really wear your emotions right out in front and it's been evident uh from the very beginning, even before you
were on the township committee that you always were thinking of the residents and not just thinking of the way that some of us uh might otherwise do, but thinking of impact on individuals, not
on groups, but the impact on individuals and how some decision we might make up here would impact people and you always kept that first and foremost in your uh in your review of
issues your votes from day one. Uh you know a little bit about Rene's uh background. Um, she grew up in Baskner Ridge, so she is a native of the Somerset Hills. Uh, she has a bachelor's
and a master's degree and for years um worked um with um some kids with not sure what what those learning disall
>> and doing ecquin therapy. So, at point therapy, getting these kids on a horse and walking them around, and Renee would talk about how that would just brighten up their faces that they could do that. And when they would lead the horses
around, and she could see the impact um that gave to those kids. Once again, you know, she was getting paid a lot to do that, but the joy and thought to those kids is meaningful. and it's meaningful for Renee to participate in
that. Um Renee lived in affordable housing in Bedminster for years and when she was able to um she moved to um >> Cresmon Crespon
>> Cresmon and she became the president >> of Cresmon Association. If there is a more thankless job than being on township committee, >> it's being involved in your condominium, right, Julia? >> That's being president of your
condominium association. >> Treasure now. >> And Carol >> and Maine >> and John, I told you not to do it in Maine. Oh, no. Florida. >> Florida. >> In Florida. And he did it anyway. He He should know better. >> I'm I'm learning already about
Renee uh you know I first met Renee when um it was Renee Indary and um she sat here and I sat there on the environment that was a long time ago. uh Rene's um your dedication to the environment uh
globally, nationally, and certainly here in Bedminister. We're all familiar with it. And to some extent um you know, the active environmental commission that we have today is in large part because of Rene's participation, leadership, and
guidance. Um, when Renee became, um, potential committee person, um, I put her on JBH. That was proving ground at the time. >> You thought it was a bad business.
>> The JBH >> The JBH back then uh, was a little bit different than the JBH we have today. Uh, but Robin and Robin Renee made the most of it. >> It was wonderful
>> and turned did what she could um to try to get JBH try to get the commission or the actually was the trustees at the time better in sync with um the township committee that that only went so far. Um
and but then when it was time and we've reorganized uh the board and we created the commission, you first and foremost and you've made the most out of your participation with the JBH commission and uh once again I'll say it just like
we did with the environmental commission. uh the success that I think that we've seen with JVH uh can largely be attributed to your participation uh your commitment to seeing the JVH um succeed and thrive and I think we're
seeing that I say I think we are seeing that. >> Um also want to talk about u some things that Renee and I worked on together. So this was once again before Renee was on township committee when she was uh
chair of the EC and that's the farmers market. So when I first spoke with uh Mayor Parker about putting the farmers market together and he said go ahead and run with this um my idea at the time was
okay let's bring in the environmental commission and perhaps uh agg and work together and recreation and put together. So, she was my partner in uh putting farmers market together at at the get-go. Uh and then also uh the
community garden. Uh there was a number of different avenues that uh that came in on the community garden, but once again, renewing was right there at the beginning. Um talking about what a good idea it was and and there were some many
early iterations of what it could be or what it should be. And Renee sort of weeded out some of the not great ideas. And what we have today is is really a
reflection on uh Rene's commitment to saying the community garden all the way through. Um Renee on behalf of committee flowers >> presenting them to you
>> and beautiful. >> You should get a better picture for the reporter. We thank you for your years of service to Bedminster, to Cresmont, for all the positions you've held in Bedminister.
We thank you. And um Committee, Committee Woman Moresi, it's um your comments. >> Thank you everybody. It's been an honor and a pleasure. And whoever gets my seat next is gonna have a lot of fun. I hope
they know what a great team this is, what a great town this is, and they just enjoy it and do the best they can. And I will miss everybody so much. Thank you. >> If there are no other mayor, I have one suggestion. Your your your uh Pat is
looking to take a picture. You all ought to go down in front with Renee and get a nice picture. >> Wait, you know what news? It is 7:48. I will take a motion to adjourn for the evening. We'll take photos.
>> So move. >> No. No. >> Second. Second. >> All in favor? >> I I >> Thank you and good night. >> All they ever do in burners is take pictures in front of the Daves. Right.
Right, Patricia. That's all they ever do in burners is take the pictures in front of the day as hundreds each night.