We changes this afternoon. Recording in progress. We are live. Welcome to the Bedminister Township Committee. This is our regular Lee scheduled meeting for March 16, 2026.
Recognize that we have a full complement of township committee in attendance here in person. Committee Committeeman Rosen, Committeeman Hickey, Committee Moreski, and attending via the Azou, Committeewoman Fernandez.
Miss Ray, may we please have the open public meetings acted. >> 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 post on the Township of Bedminster's official website at
www.bedminsterj.go. gov and at the township municipal 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. a pretty short agenda for today's meeting. Um, this is the time of the meeting that we open up the microphone
or the uh Zoom session for public comment. Any member of the public wishing to ask a question, make a statement as your opportunity to do so. As we've said in the past, are not guaranteed of a dialogue with the
township committee unless any committee member chooses to engage. Not guaranteed of getting an answer and certainly not guaranteed of getting an answer. You >> like >> like I'm seeing none online there. >> None online. Anyone in person?
Seeing none, let's proceed with the rest of the meeting. We have one set of meeting minutes to review and approve. That's February 17, 2026 Township Committee meeting comments.
>> I'll abstain. >> You will abstain. Say none. Take a motion to approve the February 17, 2026 minutes. So moved. >> Second. All in favor? >> I I >> Thank you.
>> Now, Robin, I do see that we have the March 2nd minutes in the book, but they're not on the agenda. >> It says February 17th. >> Oh, that was for March 2nd. >> Look at that. It was March 2nd. >> Okay, we're going to we're going to turn that around. >> Yes.
>> In the book, we have the March 2nd meeting minutes. >> And that was the approval was supposed to be for March 2nd. for March 2nd. >> Something on the agenda, you know. >> Yeah. You got it. >> Oh, >> okay. So, I'll take a >> Mr. Human
>> motion to approve the March 2nd, 2026 meeting. >> So, moved again. Sad moved and second. >> Still abstaining. >> Still abstaining. >> All in favor? >> We have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Permits and raffles. Uh,
first social fair permit to benefit mainstream on April 7th from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at 5:45 Electric Cross Road. Social fair permit to benefit New Jersey Turf Grass Foundation on May 4, 2026 from 8 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. at
Fiddler's Over Country Club. A social fair permit to benefit the center for great expectations on June 29, 2026 from 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at Cleveland's Elbow. A social fair permit to benefit Lamington Presbyterian Church
on May 15, 2026 from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. at Lamington Presbyterian Church. ASL fair permit to benefit Children's Miracle Network on June 22, 2026 from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at Fidler's Elbow. An off- premise 50/50 raffle to
benefit Mainstream on June 13, 2026 from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the USCT. One schoolhouse has Lane Bedminster. That's over at Hamilton Farm Golf Club and off premise 50 raffle that benefit
the Willow School on May 18, 2026 at 2 PM at Hamilton Golf Club. Questions or comments regarding those permiss raffles? >> Seeing none, take a motion to approve. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor? I
>> Thank you. monthly report by subcommittee chair Minimman Rosie. >> Uh thank you, mayor. Um the registration for the garden plots opened last week and as of this morning there are 115
plots that have been registered for. Construction still is pending. Um I know that DPW has moved some dirt piles from there, but the contractors have not resumed. Um, no start date as of yet, TBD.
And on the uh wreck front, um the um Easter egg hunt is a couple weeks away on April 4th. And on another note, I has the opportunity to attend a um water rescue training session at the fire department last week. It was held
in conjunction with uh with uh Martinsville and Peepac Gladstone. And I just thought it was a fascinating look at the drill, at all the equipment involved in water rescue. And it really was an eye openener and the training and
the drills they go through for what the real life rescues are are very intense and it was a very impressive uh session. >> Was that here? >> That was here. Yeah, it was at um at our our department. >> Oh, cool. That's great. So 115. So, um, registration for the garden opened up
just what was >> last week. Last week >> was a week old. >> Yeah, >> it's a week old. So, that's 115. Uh, how you doing on assembling those VGO gardens? >> Good. They're uh doing it pretty much
every day. They're about two guys does eight a day. >> Okay. >> So, they're getting >> you going to you have Do you have 115 yet? >> No. What are you doing on Saturday, Mayor? Done. Those those little nuts and bolts
together. >> Yeah. >> Um the weather with this rain, what's um is that going to set you back? >> The Well, it did set us back with, you know, the the winter. at uh I need to
still get the compost from Burnersville so we can mix the soil that we took from down there. We're going to mix it at our shop. >> So the screens this soil that was screened. >> Oh, it's back here. >> We picked We took it all Friday. >> Okay.
>> We had a window. We did. >> So you grab the screen soil. You bring it here. >> The shop. >> Blend it with >> leaf mulch. >> Yep. And then we're going to as we need it >> then into the VGO gardens. Okay. >> Um and
what are are we going to have a grand opening day or something like that? >> You're looking we had a we had a groundbreaking >> we had a groundbreaking Neil's going to do a kickoff meeting with all of the um with the garden advisory committee to
all those who have purchased um lots big big meeting. So, if we're going to do I don't want to say ribbon cutting, but something akin to a ribbon cutting. I would like to invite uh the county commissioners um
to that. So, you know, everyone gets a certainly one of uh Melanie Morano and some others who were uh helpful in pushing the grant through. >> What kind of dates? >> We'll take care of it.
>> Okay. And registration remains open. So, did you did you put in for a garden plot? >> I do not have the time to do a garden plot. I love the garden, but I do not have them.
>> You'll take care of what you want. >> So, so Bill, I'm not sure when you guys are meeting next, but it, you know, that's something that we could put together. Um, even if it's just super quick, bring the county commissioners in, do a little ribbon cutting, say thank you, and get out. I
>> think our next meeting uh is is first week in April. >> Okay. Of in April. Okay. All right. Thank you, Committeewoman Fernandez. >> Thank you, Mayor. I have no updates as
of right now. >> Any updates? >> I have nothing, but I have a JVH meeting on this Wednesday and a historic pres on the 19th. And I expect at my next meeting, I'll have plenty of stuff to tell you. >> Okay.
>> Command Hickey. Thank you, Mayor. Good evening, everybody. uh board of health will not have a meeting this month because they have no application. So I have no report on that. However, the board of ed there was a meeting last Thursday. I attended I think that was half the audience along with Jake from the Burton News who was the other half
of the audience. Um just quick couple highlights. The board introduced their 2026 2027 budget indicated that school taxes will increase 6.77% over last year. Just a reminder, last year's school taxes accounted for 51% of
the total property tax here in Bedminister. This year's school budget totals 22.98 million, up 1.3 million from 21.68 million last year. The reasons cited for the increase include health care costs
up 25 to 27%, increased transportation costs to get the kids to Burner's High, a $710,000 true-up with Bernard's High from the 2023 24 school year, and special education cost driven by IEPs,
individualized education programs. Budget was introduced, but the public hearing for the budget will be held on April 30th at 7 p.m. at the school. So I'd encourage anyone interested to please attend that meeting. I know I will be there with questions in hand. >> So for example, one of the questions is
can there be an explanation of what that true means? My recollection uh committee and I were discussing that this morning. um that was only a couple years ago that there was an audit done of our expenses and we actually saw a reduction
>> in the tuition fees uh to send our students to uh Bernard's high. So this trueup seems it seems counter to what that audit revealed just >> 222 >> just a couple years ago. >> Okay.
>> It's a and there'll be another one next year and the year after I was sold. And did they give you any What's >> just additional expenses that were not factored in that were not build to us? >> Wow. I mean, that's a that's a big miss
>> for several years. >> Be 700 probably next year and seven the next. So, I'd be curious to see if that's if those extra expenses were expenses that were previously borne by um Bedminster
Town by the Bedminster Board of Ed in the past or is are these new expenses that um never made it and did anyone from the school um I won't say bought it, but did they um corroborate the
validity of those uh additional expenses? So, we will find out. >> Yeah. Questions. >> Yep. Absolutely. >> Okay. >> I have no other updates. Um, we have library this week, so I'm sure we'll report after that, but that's about it.
>> Okay. um farmers market. We had a farmers market meeting last week and as of last Tuesday we had received over 60 >> 60 applications
uh township committees I mean township committ market advisory committee >> same thing >> uh went through a fair amount of review of um once again consideration of our existing vendors and then
consideration of the new applicants. Um, right now I think if numbers hold true, we'll be somewhere about 30 vendors at a minimum per market day, which is probably up four vendors um per day from
uh last year and applications um continue to come in. So there may be additional of vendors coming in and it's um here we are in March and they're just um really a month well
two months away. >> It's going to come fast. >> Two months away. So it'll it'll be here be here soon. Um March 9th um I attended an OEM meeting emergency management. Um just essentially running through some
uh background of what we've done and getting ready for uh next year's tabletop drill. Um Robin, anything else from the OEM meeting or or chief? Am I just glossing over too quickly? Oh, I mean he did talk about the um
everybody was very responsive with the uh request for numbers and um to counties for the last. >> Yeah. So, just once again, I thank Brian Wild for taking on this position and he's doing a great job. Um and the fact that he served in that position with Montlair um with the Montlair Fire
Department for years means uh we got sort of a leg up on all the details of the FEMA submissions. Um March 5, Lannis board, the planning board approved um lights at AT&T. This is their new
office building. New office building. They're where they are currently located on 206. >> They came in with an application uh to essentially change the light fixtures um which will provide some dimming uh
during the overnight hours. Currently, they are on full blast in the parking lot um the entire overnight. Uh this will allow dimming to 50%. Um and that application was approved. And then last week,
uh, we heard the, uh, second hearing for the Somerset airport applying for additional lot coverage, including some paved areas and um, additional
um, hanger space. The variance that was um, pursued was to go to 10.6 6% lot coverage where 10% um is the maximum allowed and uh the
planning board determined that uh variance was um reasonable and that application was approved. As of now there are no hearings scheduled for April.
That may change, but um it does look like there's a slew of applications coming through in May and June. So that's the land use OEM land use. Okay,
Miss Ray. >> Sure. Um so we had a a new phone system installed here at the township uh by Quick Copper. Um it after a couple um kinks we've we're up and running. Everything's worked out quite well and I
think we're all getting used to the new system. You'll see that we no longer have the voice up front of our former administrator right now. We have an AI script, but we're switching over to me shortly. >> And um the new system actually is going to save us about $10,000 annually. So
that was a big fine for uh Elliot and it so kudos to him for that. every every penny helps. Um, Mayor, you and I attended the Somerset County Shared meeting. I'm sure you'll talk about that later at the end, so I'll pass over that. Um, we had a Crossroads Park bid
opening on February 24th, um, where um, we received three bids. They were rejected at the March 2nd meeting. The bid was reposted on March 4th. And the rebid opening is scheduled for March 3, I'm sorry, March 31st at 11:00 a.m.
That's the rebid for Crossroads uh park bid opening. Municipal budget. We have our next meeting coming up on March 9th. Uh attended a GIF suburban municipal joint insurance fund meeting and um new this week will be um announced the
elected official training session where if you all take the class, we get 250 off of our premium including myself. also could be a savings of $1,500. So, and every year you guys have been great and we get our discount. So, I'll send out the information shortly. Somerset
Hills Public Safety Committee meeting, we have that coming up this week. >> Um, live golf meeting, we continue to have our bimonthly meetings with between the Bever team and live organizers. And I completed the um CDBG grant which goes to the county. It's due Thursday, March
19th, um for new ADA automatic control door systems for the front and rear municipal building. That concludes 94 >> for the Crossroads Park bid opening. How many bid packages were picked up? >> I do not know yet. >> Okay, Jason, do you know?
>> All right, Chief Bernardo, can we have the uh community policing report? >> Uh yeah, good evening. Uh, Wednesday, just a reminder, we'll be hosting a pizza with the cop event at the library from 6 pm to 8:00 pm. So, we encourage
people to come and stop by, get a slice of pizza, and uh hang out with our uh officers. And that's all I got. Mayor, >> that's this Wednesday. You're up. >> Yes, this Wednesday. >> We have library.
>> Yeah, we do have library boards. >> Stop by and get pizza. >> You'll be there. All right, great. More pizza. >> All right, good. Yes, >> it's budget season. We go through a lot of things. >> Moving on. Introduction of ordinances.
We have none. We do have a public hearing of or of an ordinance. This is ordinance number 2026003. This ordinance amends chapter 4 entitled general licensing section 4-3 entitled
filming of the revised general ordinances the tension with Bedminster. Take a motion to open the public hearing for ordinance number 2026003. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Thank you.
>> Hey Robin, we've talked about this before. >> We did >> talk about it one more time since now in public hearings. >> Sure. Um it's just a um 2004 we adopted the original. This is an amendment. Um the New Jersey Film Commission is uh
standardizing uh the ordinances that have been approved by all the municipalities to make sure we're not gouging any of the film companies to make us a welcoming um welcome state to film it. So there were some, as I explained, some
municipalities in North Jersey that were charging exorbitant prices. And this just sets the tone, puts us all on a level playing field. Any comments or questions from the township committee regarding the film readiness
ordinance? And John, is this the same ordinance that you guys have passed in Bernard's or or you are remending? >> I I think it's similar, but I have to be candid. Uh they're stock ordinances and I didn't have any real input in either
the Bernards or Bedminster ordinance. They're basically templates. >> Yeah, I'm going to assume that they're the same. They're all coming out of uh Trenton. So there's no further questions, comments from the tent committee, we'll open up um the microphone for public
comment on the film readiness ordinance. >> Seeing none, >> seeing none, take a motion to close the public hearing on ordinance number 2026003. So move, second. >> All in favor? >> I.
>> Thank you. And I will take a motion to approve ordinance number 2026003. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Call vote, please. Committeeman Nikki. >> I. >> Committeewoman Moreski. >> I.
>> Committing woman Fernandez. >> I. >> Committeeman Rosen. >> I. >> And Mayor Jacobs. >> I. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Robin, what's what's the next step? Do we we've approved the ordinance? Do we then have to send it down to um DCA? >> I do. I have to send it to the film
commission and um they're going to go ahead and uh check the box for us and we're back on the film. >> So, we're back on the list of film readiness. >> Everything else has been done, the photos, everything. We did that two years ago. >> Okay. >> So, this is the final step.
>> We have two items on the consent agenda. These are items of a routine nature and member of the tent committee may pull one or both of them offer individual consideration >> or take a motion to approve the items on the consent agenda. >> So moved.
>> Second. >> Roll call vote, please. Committee Hickey. >> I. >> Committeewoman Moreski. >> Hi. >> Committ Fernandez. >> Hi. >> Committeeman Rosen. >> Hi. >> And Mayor Jacobs. >> Hi. Thank you. >> The one resolution that's is up for
individual consideration is resolution 20262. This resolution authorizes the township's chief financial officer to submit an application for consideration to the state of New Jersey local finance board for a 2026 municipal budget cap
waiver. Now this is something that is routine. >> It is >> uh but Robin want you to just uh give an explanation. explain um what's going on. Uh Bedminister Township C the shared court actually and Bedminister
Township's portion of the shared court budget went up which we feel is a a burden to us. It's a shared service and we're hoping that they will approve um removing that from our um cap so that we can put it outside cap. So that's what
this will do. We may not use it, but we wanted to be prepared. >> Right. >> Questions, comments from township committee. >> Seeing none, take a motion to approve resolution 2026 062.
>> So moved. Second. >> Roll call vote, please. Committee Hickey. >> I. >> Committing woman. >> I. >> Committeewoman Fernandez. >> I. >> Committeeman Rosen. >> I. >> And Mayor Jacobs. >> I. >> Thank you. And I'll take a motion to approve the bill as pending review of
individual invoices. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Roll call vote again, please. Committee man. >> I. >> Committeewoman Moreski. >> I. >> Committeewoman Fernandez. >> I. >> Committeeman Rosen. >> I. >> And Mayor Jacobs.
>> I. >> Thank you. Okay. New business. Any items for discussion by the township committee? New items, new business, new issues. >> Nope.
>> Nope. Nope. Nope. >> Nothing here. >> Old business. Um, utilities. Mayor, I have a couple updates. Uh, first on JCPNL, I attended an NJBPU regional meeting on JCPNL AIS last
Wednesday. Christine Gula Dovi who is the NJBPU president was president was there. The forum provided the opportunity for the municipalities to give some direct feedback to both her as well as JCPNL who has several reps there including our own Bob Flynn. One of the
items that the BPU president highlighted were penalties imposed on JCPNL for underperforming circuits. In my opinion, penalties are guard rails, but at the end of the day, they don't themselves solve the root problem, the root cause of the outages. What I shared with the
BPU president is that monies need to be applied in two general areas, infrastructure and information. From an infrastructure standpoint, the investment that was recently made here in Bedminister is a perfect example of what needs to happen. I'd like to say that aging infrastructure is like old
milk. It doesn't get any better with time and ignoring it by putting it back in the fridge doesn't solve anything. The way you resolve persistent outages is to do the hard work of root cause analysis and invest in new infrastructure to make the network more resilient, just as JCPNL has now done
here in Bedminster. The other side of the coin is investment in information resources. When there's an outage, residents need to know whether or not the outage is going to last an hour, a day, or three days, or 5 days, or a week so they can make appropriate plans. I advocated for developing a compreh
comprehensive dashboard that would expand beyond just providing ETRs, estimated time for restoration. That information would allow residents and municipal officers to better respond and direct resources appropriately. Interestingly enough, Kieran Tintel, who
is JCPNL's government affairs chief, who the mayor and I we worked with early on during the latest project with JC CPNL, he seized on the idea of a dashboard and actually repeated back to the BPU president later on in the day. So, I think hopefully they'll do something with that. Overall, it was a very positive exchange and let's see what
comes of it. uh they plan to do more of these meetings throughout the different uh localities throughout Bedmiss or to get excuse me through throughout the the state uh to get ideas and get feedback and overall it was good sessions. >> So where are they with their um I forget
it was $900 million something like that investment that they were making on system >> that is ongoing. It was paired back from the original $900 million number. I think it came down to about 200 and some odd. Um, they talked a lot about tree trimming and the $30 million I spent on
tree trimming over the last several years and I think that's great, but obviously we're the garden state. We have a lot of trees. Trees come down no matter how much trimming you do. So, you still have to make sure your network is resilient enough so that we can recover when you have a tree down. So, but you
know, some some folks were there saying cut all the trees down. Well, that's not going to happen. Especially you can't put down trees on private property, even though some advocated for that. But uh look, it's it's one of the one of the many issues that JCPNL is grappling with right now and the BPU, you know, to their to their credit is trying to get
on top of it and work with all of us. >> Yeah. You can just see go up 202. There's um there's some lines that are down. >> Well, they're they're leaning on lines. Now, the good news is most of those are cable. You see the same thing. >> Yes. Yes. >> So, um
>> they're working, but obviously there's some repairs that need to be done there. The real trouble is you see something leaning on the top line on a pole, that's an electric line. That's a primary. So, you got to be careful and report that in if you see it. >> Y >> um and then New Jersey American Water. I'm scheduled to attend a New Jersey
American Water rate briefing this Friday. So, I'll report out on that at our next meeting. Uh Jason, I don't know if you have any updates. >> That's all I have. >> All right. Thank you. As Somerset Hills Public Safety Committee, as uh Miss Ray noted, we have our call this week.
That's on Thursday afternoon. Uh so we'll be reporting about that at our next regular scheduled TC meeting. Um we'll go through township committee comments. During those comments, I'll talk about Robin, you know, let's talk about it now. So on March 3rd, um Robin
and I attended along with um I think a fair amount of other officials and mayors and administrators from Somerset County. The Somerset County Shared Services meeting um
ran through the gamut of all the shared services that Somerset County is offering either through the county or encouraging between municipalities. Uh we are I would say we are um certainly
much further along than a lot of the other towns that were participating. Um, but there were some interesting ideas, right? Um, some of this the street sweeping, some of those options uh that we've looked at in the past. Um,
Robin, I left with about 10 minutes to go, so I'm not sure if they hit anything at the end. >> Ran through all the different department heads and what they could do for us for share services. I think one of the things that uh jumped out at me was the
printing services. We could probably take advantage of using printing services that the county offers. >> Yes. >> And that was for large scale printing large scale print jobs. >> Yeah. >> Um >> we're not taking your laminator away from you to me. But um no, I think we're we have
a lot of shared services. We're in pretty good shape. We have some big shared services. So >> yeah. So that that was good. And then um later that night I attended the uh I was invited by Merrick Ko from Bernardsville
to attend the Rotary Club of Somerset Hills. Um yes, there still is a Rotary Club and used to be called the Rotary Club of Bernardsville, but they expanded to Somerset Hills uh with the idea of of trying to bring in um the rest of the
Somerset Hills communities. um just talked generally about what we're doing, what it's like uh to run through budget session and how expensive um fire trucks are. So, we also talked about some zoning and we talked about economic
development here in uh northern Somerset County and uh they seem like a very interesting bunch and uh they certainly want to engaged uh further in Bedminster. They they um
they do a fair amount of scholarships at the high school. I think they in both Ridge and Burners High, I think they offer um several thousand dollars worth scholarships each year. So, they seem like very interesting uh community
organization. I I frankly don't know much about the Rotary Club. Um so it's nice meeting with them all and um you know maybe we'll see them particular events. With that we will go to township
committee comments. We do not have an executive session tonight. So we'll run through township committee comments and then we will adjourn for the evening. Committeewoman Fernandez, we'll start with you. >> Thank you mayor. I have no comments tonight. Have a good night.
Committee woman Moreski. >> Uh, thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to let everybody know that Debb Taglearyi is working hard on an environmental committee um anjac grant for it's only for $1,500, but they're going to if they get it, they'll apply that to the uh
invasive species project. I think I've mentioned that before. So, every little bit helps, especially now that we're in budget session. Um, so fingers crossed. And on a personal note, I just want to say thank you to everybody who's reached out
in person, by card, by email and text on um uh with their condolences to myself and my family on the passing of my dad. So, I wasn't going to do that. Um but it's real important and it's amazing
what a great little town Benminster is. And I'm so glad to be a part of it. And I'll stop. Commandment Rose. Um I have uh nothing nothing further. Mayor >> Commandment Heck. >> No further comments. Mayor, thank you.
>> No further comments at 7:35. I'll take a motion to adjourn for the evening. So moved. >> All in favor? >> I thank you and good night. Good night. >> Bye. >> Bye guys. Bye, Frank. I'm still smelling
wet bowl. >> Good night. >> Good night. >> Good night. Good night. Good night.