e e e e took one turn man Angel much more all right me yes all right adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by forming a copy to the curry and news straw Ledger and posting on the township website at least 48 hours prior to the meeting all in accordance with the open public meeting act this meeting will not substantially go past 10:30 can I get the roll call please Mr Kudo in attendance Mr Donnelly here Mr Foster here saon Mr Machado here Mrs po heree stand for the FL salute [Music] thank you um start with a couple proclamations I'm start with the uh Jewish American Heritage Month yeah I just wanted to say a couple things so I'm proud to stand here as an American Jew and hear this Proclamation read in the township of Berkeley Heights and did you know there's a website to explore Jewish American heritage month it's Jewish American heritag month. org you can learn stories from Latino Jewish and Asian-American Jewish perspectives you can read the Encyclopedia of Jewish Women you can learn about notable Jewish Americans you can learn about Jewish holidays and foods you can learn about arts and culture Across America and throughout the decades when we learn about people who are different from ourselves we grow in our appreciation of the salad bowl that is America is also an opportunity to look through a window to the bigger world of culture and connection learning about people who differ from ourselves breaks down the walls of prejudices and stereotyping and helps to create a more inclusive community if you don't know much about your Jewish neighbors I encourage you to visit the website thank you Susan I'm going to read the proclamation read it from here if you don't mind where the B of Berkeley Heights wishes to recognize and dedicate May 2024 as Jewish American Heritage Month throughout the township of Berk Heights whereas for centuries the perseverance Hope and unshakable Faith of the Jewish people have inspired people around the world and whereas beginning with the arrival of Jewish immigrants in the 16th century Jewish Americans have played a central role in the creation growth Freedom prosperity and strength of the United States of America and whereas for Generations the story of the Jewish people one of resilience Faith and Hope in the face of adversity Prejudice and persecution has been woven into the fabric of our country we celebrate Jewish American activists and leaders who fought for civil rights women's rights and voting rights we celebrate Jewish American scientists doctors and Engineers we celebrate Jewish Americans who have served in our military as public servants artists entertainers journalists teachers and Poets and whereas Jewish Americans have been critical part of the American story greatly impacting cultural economic and intellectual advancement of all they have shaped our nation and helped years the course of American history and whereas Jewish American Heritage mon month is the month to celebrate the contributions Jewish Americans have made to the American history society and culture for hundreds of years now therefore be resolved by the mayor and the Town Council Berkley Heights hereby recognizes and declares May 2024 as Jewish American Heritage Month sorry okay I have two more um I'm G I'm going to do that here that's okay just because I just because just because just because um than you you guys want to join me up here for this one sure that's all right okay this one is um for the um Asian-American and native Hawaiian Pacific Islander arage month whereas the township of burk which is to recognize and dedicate May 2024 as Asian American native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Heritage Month throughout the township of burky heights and whereas asian-americans native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders make our nation more vibrant through through diversity of cultures languages and religions there is no one no single story of the a HPI experience but rather a diversity of contributions that enrich Americans America's culture and society and strengthening the United States role as a global leader from laying r Ro tracks tilling fields and starting businesses to caring for our loved ones and honorably serving our nation uniform a HPI communities have helped build this country and are deeply rooted in the history of the United States whereas we also celebrate in honor the invaluable contributions of aanhpi communities have made to our nation's culture and arts law science technology Sports and public and whereas it is especially important to show support and appreciation for the Asian-American native Li Pacific Islander communities amid our nation's growing concerns over the rise of hate speech and violence directed toward these communities now therefore be resolved that the mayor and the Town Council of Township of Berkeley hereby recognize and dedicate mayor May 2024 as Asian-American native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander heritage month and honors the many contributions made by asian-americans native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders that often go unnoticed and undervalued thank you very much thank you very much take that one all right thank you sir thank you thank [Music] you for a second get kind of get in the way Steve you want to come up here with me with with your wife come on up here for a second just one down the science good right I like push her around okay it's all good okay whereas multiple spirosis and a chronic unpredictable disease of the central nervous system affecting 1 million people in wide with 200 new cases diagnosed every week in the United States alone and whereas every year since 2009 the global Ms movement comes together on May 30th to provide the public information about Ms and the raise awareness and how it affects the lives of more than 2.3 million people around the world whereas the national Multiple Sclerosis Society reports that thousands of people in New Jersey are living with MS and that disease generally strikes people in the prime of their life between ages 20 through 50 and the cause and course of the often debilitating symptoms of MS remain unknown and no cure currently exists and whereas the national MS Society has been committed to raising money for research pursuing prevention treatments and a cure and focusing on helping people affected by Ms live their lives to the best live their best lives and whereas the tach burkas recognizes the importance of finding the cause and cure of Ms and expresses appreciation for the dedication the national multiple sceris Society has shown towards creating a world free of Ms now therefore be resolve that the mayor and the Town Council the township of Berk Heights to by here do hereby Proclaim May 30th 2024 as multiple sclerosis awareness day and joins the states and Nations around the world in supporting the fight and gets multiple sclerosis and I hope someday they can fin the he think we're getting close here you go lady thank you very much thank you very much yeah and we'll say we learned about it from the agenda and with ter as to what what what triggered a recognition of it's it's actually Ms World Ms day on that date something started in 2009 so whatever triggered it we appreciate it oh sorry back thank you thanks TR than you want to say something guys say say thank you it to the regular agenda so thank you mayor ATT of Council on the town of breley heights for recognizing Asian-American native wine and Pacific Islander heritage month and the contributions of our diverse Community um we are but two residents uh of this larger Asian diaspora in this town and so we accept this Proclamation on behalf of the many residents who make berly Heights their own uh we want to announce that later this month um date and location to be determined uh we are planning a screening of the film photographic Justice the Corky Lee Story um Cory Lee which who was a personal friend of ours who fortunately passed away during Co was an activist and photojournalist who documented the Asian-American experience for over five decades this film is a documentary about his amazing life and we encourage everyone to learn about him and to watch this film this week is the 155th anniversary of golden spike day the day the tracks for the Transcontinental Railroad joined in Utah and actually we're going there tomorrow corki discovered at a very young age and this became his mission uh help found his mission that the famous photograph of this event that we all see in the history books did not include any of the many Chinese railro workers who who helped build this jum railroad so he sought to enact Justice for those real workers by recreating the photograph of their descendants and during the 145th anniversary and the 150th he was there to shoot the picture because he passed um our friend who's also he's going to be taking the photograph uh on Friday so um so we would like to encourage all the residents in town and we kind to sign an announcement uh mple channels and we had the screening so people can learn about his amazing life thank you thank you very much okay thank you uh next on the agenda is conference session but I think that was old okay okay uh the regular agenda y all right that's me so I move that the minutes of the regular meeting of the township Council held on February 20th March 5th March 11th March 26th and April 16th as distributed be accepted and approved Mr Kudo yes Mr donelly yes Mr Foster yes Mr M yes this pop yes okay hearing on agenda items only three minutes per resident comments are welcomed during the public comment period during this meeting on any agenda item however if an ordinance is listed for its own public hearing on the agenda please hold your comments for that particular public hearing to make your comment the speaker must come forward to the microphone and state his or her name and address for the record each speaker is limited to 3 minutes the council president will keep time please properly yield on the floor when time is called and return to your seat your cooperation and adherence to these Rules of Order will ensure an orderly and respectful meeting a second Mr Kudo yes Mrs an Mr buer Mr Machado yes Mrs Co yes okay show they get to the [Laughter] microphone anybody anyway see nobody motion close make motion make a motion to close Mr Kudo yes Mr Mr buer Mr Machado yes yes so I move resolution one appr the bill list dated May 7th 2024 in the amount of $364 29353 second Mr Cuda yes Mr Donell yes Mr Fuster yes Mr Machado Mrs pop yes okay move resolution number two appointing L is acting qualif purchasing agent second any discussion last Mr Cudo yes Mr Donell no Mr pler yes Mrs zillis I Mr ma yes Mrs po yes uh move resolution three uh awarding Perpetual Engineering Services contract to PSNS for sewer collection system close circuit TV CCTV inspection program in the amount not to exceed 98,3 second discussion Mr Cuda yes Mr Donell yes Mr Foster yes Mr Machado yes this yes I move resolution number four resolution awarding a bid to Alli Construction Group Inc for the provision of construction to replace the existing sand filter number two and the main influent pumps for the waste water treatment plant in amount not to exceed 4 M 8985 subject to the approval of New Jersey infrastructure Bank NJ Bank a second um any discussion Mr Cuda yes Mr Donnelly Mr bler Mr Machado yes M po yes I move resolution five appointing Andrew Kudo any relation no no relation Andrew Kudo to the active roster of the Berkeley Heights Fire department I'll second that any discussion just thank you again for anyone's service to our fire department yeah thank the guy uh he actually played soccer with his son so I know he's a really good kid so he'll do really good there great Co Mr Kudo yes Mr Donell Mr poer Mr Machado yes yes I moveed that the township official reports be accepted and approved to give them first I'm sorry cutting us right out he don't hear we just gave them a week ago so there's probably not much yeah I I'll Takei it off real quick um I attended the senior Fair it was well attended it was good event and unluckily I missed the open house of the fire department I regret that but that's about it for my reports well I have the exact same report as Manny so thanks Manny for saying that okay um all right I'm up uh okay next Beauty on here something I don't know what's happen here um the Fall Festival for L tell Lord is going to be held October 19th from 12 to 4 you'll be hearing that from now until October 18th um I want to say uh Happy Teachers week I want to thank all the teachers especially you for taking care of the kids and uh and learning them good for us learn them good we didn't learn you so good that was a long time ago in Galaxy yeah exactly exactly um I also want to point out that every year on May 15th police officers morial date honors and pays tribute to police officers and law enforcement officers who have lost their lives or been disabled in line of duty while protecting their communities it is estimated that there are currently 800,000 Law Enforcement Officers serving in 19,000 different United States law enforcement agencies on average 163 of you officers lose their lives while in the line of duty every year and many others get injured or permanently disabled uh police office Memorial Day honors all local federal state tribal and Military Officers who have fallen while serving the community and the country uh this observ has is sponsored by the paternal Order of Police that's all I got thank you very much Susan now bill first oh Bill I'm sorry well uh that's a perfect segue for me um for those of you who don't know I'm currently training to become an auxiliary police officer for the city of planfield and so that is why there are times when I miss some of the community events here in our town but I will be graduating May 23rd and I will be part of the ex early police officer association with uh the city of planfield which I'm very excited about so I just wanted to apologize for any of those events that I may have missed uh uh I've been diligently going every Tuesday Thursday and Saturday and of course this evening there was a conflict and I chose to be here obviously um but nevertheless I mean uh it's been hardcore it's just around the corner May 23rd is when I actually graduate and uh and then I'll be able to attend more of the uh community events once I graduate thank you so I'm gonna just pick you back on you for a second you know we are volunteers and we all have lives outside of this so I don't want you to ever feel like if you can't make something that anyone's judging appreciate yeah um so I just have one quick thing planning board met what went nuts was that like the gong all right so the planning board met uh last Wednesday and harbor Consultants uh presented their findings of the preliminary investigation of the area consisting of block 702 Lots 4 uh which is 458 Springfield 6 which is 230 Sherman Avenue and 16 Springfield Avenue um which is benham's garage it's identified on the official tax map so the planning board determined that and recommend and they're recommending to Town Council that the area meets the criteria set forth in the local Redevelopment Housing law and should be designated as an area in need of non-c condemnation Redevelopment pursuant to the lrhl so we will be receiving a resolution here on Council from the planning board okay and that's it that's all I have right thank you um oh now okay so now I move that the township official reports be accepted and approved second Mr Kudo sure Mr Donell yes Mr berer yes Mr Machado yes Mrs poke yes okay um nothing to report except I'd like to request that any council members who should be conflicted out of a vote for personal reasons recuse themselves appropriately going forward thank you you know it's funny because I was curious about that I didn't you know I didn't know what was was going on with that vote because I know you've shown nothing but the professionalism you've done this before it's not something you want to do so I was a little curious about that but because the vote there was no discussion I didn't think I should say anything but now that you said something you know I was a little curious about the right thing to do and every council person before this has done so if they're conflicted for A Private Matter so can I myself then right now sure the last time around we voted for a CFO and I had a lot of concerns I asked a lot of questions my questions never got answered even to this day after the vote's done I still don't have those answers and you know quite honestly it's like you know you're giv the cheese to the mess you know it's just like you're making something the CFO when quite honestly you didn't have to make that person the CFO because we had a little lull the last time when we didn't have a CFO and then this is the same thing it's like there's absolutely no oversight whatsoever when you make her the qpa so she could purchase she could be the finance person she could be the M she do whatever she wants so that's my reasoning there's nothing personal that's my reason it's absolutely personal what questions did you ask me that I didn't answer because I've received no questions from you I sent and a whole less of questions I have received no questions from you here's what I'm going to say about because it is with great regret that I'm compelled to publicly address the inappropriate unethical and corrupt behavior of councilman Donnelly tonight the people of this town particularly the people who elected him should know that instead of using his position to improve our town and their place in it he has only abused his position position to benefit himself since last year we have stood by while he and his wife have publicly lied about myself mayor Dean the Berkeley Heights Police Department and other departments at Town Hall spread conspiracy theories threaten me with black mail and engage in other activities such as harassing various Township employees not only inappropriate of a council person but of a human being I have not stood up to denounce these activities to date because quite frankly the donelles have children in our community but I also will never stand idly by for indefinite periods of time without defending myself or others I care for or work with if they are being terribly wronged enough is enough since 2023 councilman donelly and his wife have become increasingly frustrated iate and threatened and threatening because I refused to tell my staff to change change decisions they made regarding a personal neighbor dispute the Donal have continued to pressure my staff to make decisions or give them information that would personally benefit them in this dispute the councilman and his wife had tried to pressure me as the township administrator to make my staff change their mind on rulings to benefit them they've also tried on multiple occasions to inappropriately influence the Berkeley Heights Police Department have sent highly inappropriate text messages to some of them and called others of them inappropriate names at Council meetings Mr Donnelly even opposed the reappointment of our highly esteemed shared Court Judge this past January because he wasn't happy with a court administrator's DEC decisions in his own case constructing complaints of the Stellar employee of more than 30 years every person involved in this legal case is stupified by the continued conduct on becoming of a council member in this matter I repeat this all stems from a neighbor dispute as my staff and our attorneys continue to tell Mr donaly they could not do anything outside of what was appropriate ethical and legal for him to get the outcome he wanted Mr donelly and his wife told me and countless others that I owed him for supporting me after the January 23 reorganization meeting in which I was temporarily not not reappointed to my position pressuring me so I would force my staff as the boss to act differently in ways that would benefit them Mr Donnelly even went so far as to write an email that he brought to our zoning officer asking him to put his name on it and send it to his neighbor as if it was written by our zoning officer our officer outright refused I have the highest esteem for him for what he has had to endure in this matter and when Mr donaly claims I harassed him when I threw him out of town hall a few months ago he was right and I would do it again in a heartbeat if he or anyone else tries to intimidate inappropriately pressure or threaten any of my employees the pressure to engage in a quidd proquo with this elected official was mounting behind the scenes as well he went so far as to tell members of our community that if the mayor and Liza just paid us off they'd leave us alone I told him on multiple occasions that is not my job nor do I have the authority to tell any Township employees whose licenses are ultimately held to the state how to do their job and I certainly would never inappropriately interfere in an issue specifically to benefit a council person abusing their position moreover my job and always has been is to act in the best interest of the township not to side with any one council member on any issue public especially not private while myself and my staff continue to not give in the pressure councilman continues to exert to improve his own outcomes the amount of anxiety and stress this type of behavior causes on someone is massive it's a constant game of attempted gotcha one in which Our Town Hall staff has no interest in playing nor in which we have time to play the ordinate amount of taxpayer resources being used for this one councilman's personal Vendetta is shameful and Despicable Mr Donnell's unchecked irritation over his private neighbor dispute continues to escalate as does his barrage of harassment and inappropriate requests Andor demands of Township employees as well as his extremely conf conflicted votes on certain matters having to do with certain departments and Personnel such as myself tonight we will not be a silent party to this Behavior anymore this is time that this is the time that we're speaking up the work we do for to care for our residents of this town is far more important than us continuing to feel obligated to respond to this unethical and inappropriate behavior the people of this town to deserve better thank you the people of this town do deserve better and I'd say 99% of what you said is false you're so PA and I have proof of everything great that's great what I actually thank you is fact okay let's see the facts I don't see any facts you can record your own conversations I recorded as well okay good let's let's hear them I don't need to okay you go if the proof is in the uh the evidence there so thank you for that on I'm gonna move to open the citizens hearing on any item Mr Kudo yes Mr Donnelly Mr fer yes Mr Machado yes Mr Po yes Nobody seeing nobody oh no seeing somebody in a beautiful orange shirt byk thank you uh I just wanted to thank you for for having the resolution for the MS Awareness Month awareness day I'd like to say that the they've chosen the theme of the of the day to be diagnosis and uh hoping for improved diagnosis so so that people are identified more quickly I was diagnosed over 40 years ago which is pre-mri pre a whole lot of things pre any of the uh disease modifying therapies that they have now uh and so I've seen so much happen to improve and I I've see so much progress now we have the disease modifying therapies you've probably seen a bunch of them on television and uh I've been I've I was a pin cushion for 24 years with with one of the disease modifying therapies um and I'm I consider myself one of the lucky ones is that I can still get up and and walk and do things um and people who are diagnosed now have a much better chance because of the disease disas modifying therapies and I'm hopeful that in the you know in my lifetime there will be a cure there is no cure yet but but certainly they're able to control the disease far better than they were and I'm I remain hopeful so I want to thank you for for uh having the having the uh Ms awareness day and recognizing it and we'll keep on hoping for for the best thank you absolutely thank you you um before we close the citizens hearing I do want to say what we just heard it must have been very hard for uh Liza to read that it's something she has been dealing with and I know that for a fact and you are nothing but honest and truthful so I have to believe that everything you said tonight is factual I don't know the behind the scenes of town hall because I'm in the classroom but I see it in your face and I it was very brave for you to speak up for yourself when no one else is standing up for you you have to stand up for yourself and that sometimes it's the second person in that provides that level of support as well so I'm your second I do just want to clarify one thing I am not getting paid any extra money for being the acting CFO or the qpa sure is a lot of extra work a lot of extra headache but I'm doing it because somebody needs to for this town in the interim and by Frank I'm the most qualified person we don't have a plethora of full-time employees here who can take this on so app I will do it for the town until we can find someone thank you I move to close the citizens hearing second Mr Cudo yes Mrs Donell Mr Foster Mr Machado yes po yes no executive session a motion jour those in favor I the eyes have it thank you very much for coming out