to >> discuss it >> discuss it with you. >> Yeah. And I talked about it with him and he's like they're waiting for one last >> Okay. >> correspondence from Gene Eddie who's the lawyer for the um the outfit. So >> Okay. Okay. >> Can we get a go?
>> Let's see how the conversation goes. All right. >> Welcome to the Bridgewater Township Council meeting. Uh notice of the notice of the meeting. In compliance with the Open Public Meetings Act of New Jersey, adequate notice of this meeting was provided on December 5th, 2025 by
sending written notice and electronic notice to the Courier News and the Breeze, posting on the website and the bulletin board in the municipal building and filing with the township clerk. May I have a roll call, please? >> Councilman Bucko, >> here. >> Councilwoman Isla,
>> here. Councilman Kersh, >> here. >> Councilman Ring, >> good evening. Here. >> President Gger, >> here. We'll now stand for the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the
republic for it stands one nationy for all. >> Next on the agenda is the minutes for approval. Has everyone had a chance to review them? Are there any comments or concerns, corrections?
Are the minutes approved? >> All in Go ahead. Did you have a comment? >> I was making a motion to approve them. >> Second. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I >> opposed. The minutes are approved. We will now go on go to the township
council reports. And I thought I would start first since I'm always making somebody else start first. So, I thought I'd make myself start first for a change, too. Um, I just want to remind everyone that on May 2nd, we are having a township wide yard sale. So, my husband, if you're watching this, just
remember that. Um, I attended the Five Generals tour. I highly, highly, highly recommend that. Um, I also this afternoon attended the swearing in of Judge Michael D. Lorettto, who and I
have this up here if anyone wants to look at it. Um, he is a resident of Bridgewwater. He was sworn in as a superior court judge today in the county courthouse. Um, and he comes from a long line of very distinguished Bridgewater
jurists, including Graham T. Ross and Judge Armstrong. And I I think there might have been one other, but no, it goes so far back that there's not too many people alive that would remember who else it was. But um Bridgewwater does have a reputation for having very good judges appointed to the Superior
Court bench. Um uh I wanted to update everybody. The committee um board and alliance appointments that are the council's responsibility should be complete by tonight. So, yay. took a long time, but we're getting it done. That does leave a
series of appointments that will be the mayor's appointments with the advice and consent of council. Um, I am putting together and have actually put together uh several lists for the mayor to review, but I haven't given them to the mayor yet. And I want to let the public
um be aware of a couple things about those appointments. Um, first of all, I'm trying to recommend one appointment per person. um rather than having you know the same people serve on two or three um committees, I'd like to get more people involved and I think I want
to give the people who are on the committees um time to dedicate to the committees. Secondly, um I can only recommend people who have filled out an application. So if you haven't filled out an application, I can't make a recommendation to the mayor to appoint
you. Um with respect to the open committees, okay, there's the health advisory board. There are two open spots. I have three recommendations, three people who applied. Um, it would be nice if there was at least one more name that I could present to the mayor
to consider. The library advisory board, there are four openings. I have five recommendations. So, if anyone else is interested in, get your application in. Um, I think there are applications outside right right outside the uh right
outside the door. um the park board and I've talked to the mayor about this. Um the mayor has suggested that we might want to combine the park board and the recreation board because there there is a lot of crossover. But with respect to the park board right now there's five openings. I
have six recommendations. So again if anybody else wants to apply um with respect to the recreation board there are five openings and I only have three applicants. So, if anybody's interested in um serving on the recreation board, that
would be a welcome um application. With respect to the history advisory board, there are four openings and there were no applicants. Um and this is our 250th year anniversary. This would be a really good year to join. So, um I have reached out
to um Christine Rose. She's a former council woman. I think everybody knows she's sort of like Mrs. History along with Jane, how do you say her last name? >> Jane Gandalf. >> Jane Gandalf. Um, so again, she will she may be making some uh recommendations,
but if you know anyone that is interested in history and would be willing to serve on that board, have them fill out an application. The Shade Tree Commission uh has four openings. Again, there were only two applicants, so we're looking for more applicants. and the Veterans Advisory
Board. There's three openings and there were no applicants. And I'm sure we've got a fair number of veterans in town who could probably help us make recommendations as to how we in this community could better serve our veterans. Um, with respect to my fun
fact, I always give a fun historical fact for those of you who are new. At the last council meeting, I told you about the Van Horn house, the historical house at 941 East Main Street. And I told you that the owner, Philip Van
Horn, in 1777 in the middle of the Revolution hosted British General K Wallace for breakfast. What I didn't know and what I learned on the five generals tour was that um that breakfast
that General Cornwallis ate had actually been prepared for a Continental Army general who was literally running out the back window of the house in his skiibbies to escape as General Cornwallis was coming in the front door.
So Cornwallis ate his breakfast. Later that night, um, Mrs. Van Horn prepared dinner for General Cornwallis, who had to leave in a hurry because there was a the Continental Army was coming in. And
so Cornwallis's dinner ended up being um eaten by a Continental general. And I thought that was really kind of cute. Um, and that is it for my report. How about you, Councilman Ring? I never pick on you. Second,
>> thank you. I do not have a lot, but I do have a couple things. um since our last council meeting has spent uh significant time reviewing budgets and and meeting with the administration related to the budgets. And then uh somewhat related to
that, one of the items uh quite a bit of conversation and meetings over the last week is a project that former councilman Cordella had been working on uh last year and uh relates to a project that the county of Somerset is undertaking
that is going to require all the vast majority of police, fire, and EMS in Somerset County to purchase new radios uh in order to be able to comm communicate after January 1st and uh continuing some discussion. I know the administration's working on some grants
and stuff, but just to put in perspective just for Bridgewater Township, uh it is a cost of $3.2 million and every town in Somerset County is facing a similar situation with the county changing their radio
system. So, more to come on that I'm sure. Uh just also a point of clarification for you council president related to the committees there are some committees that you're appointed to and because you're appointed to that committee you also then automatically
become a representative on other some of them are interwoven so it it can't just be a straight one committee per person if that makes sense. >> Oh yeah no I know what you're talking about. Yeah, in that respect, right? It cannot >> there are somewhere by work >> where you have to if you are
>> you are the you are the open space committee member on the planning board >> you're almost like a liaison but yes >> yes so just wanted to point that out thank you >> okay councilman bucko pick on you next >> uh thank you very much um u I just want
to um highlight that uh our uh fellow councilman ring was uh honored by the scouting America recently Um he's too modest to mention that himself, but uh congratulations. Um >> congratulations. Congratulations. >> Thank you.
>> Uh our um uh yesterday, uh excuse me. Uh yesterday I uh attended a meeting of the Somerset County Community Development Committee of which I am um one of Bridgewater's um uh members to. Um what this committee does is
uh reviews the requests for community development block grants from the municipal municipalities uh and uh qualified organizations within the county and Somerset County is uh the only county in New Jersey to use a
community-based decision-making process. So this committee is uh comprised of elected officials from the municipalities in the county along with some appointed officials and community members and uh together this uh this committee uh makes the recommendations
of of who uh what organization should receive the grants and then makes that recommendation to the county commissioners for final approval. Uh there is um you know certainly uh money available through community block
grants for uh organizations uh and municipalities to do uh improvements for for their uh community. So um I believe in the the future we will um be looking into whether or not uh Bridgewater can
qualify for uh any of those. Um, I also attended the Heritage Trails Association's Five Generals bus tour. Uh, it was a very uh fun experience and a very educational experience uh going uh from house to house uh throughout
Somerset County and just experiencing uh the locations where uh the Revolutionary War unfolded. And um uh as we uh celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of Declaration of the
Declaration of Independence this year, um I would uh encourage uh everyone to attend any any such uh events in the future, which I'm I'm sure we will bring to the public's attention as they uh as
they uh become available. Uh opening day for the Somerset Patriots was this past Friday. Um, if you're a uh a baseball fan, uh it's a great experience, a great um affordable outing for uh for your
family. I would definitely encourage uh encourage you to check out a game. If you're a fan of the uh the Yankees, it's the uh DA affiliate of the minor league uh team, so you can watch who might be the future stars of of your favorite team. If you're not a fan of the
Yankees, you could watch what you hope will not become the future stars and and hatewatch. Uh uh a really great game. Um this Saturday is the opening day for the Bridgewater Youth Baseball and Softball. Uh it's at Prince Rogers Field and all
of the uh youth baseball, softball, and t-ball teams come together, have a parade, and there's a there's a nice opening ceremony and some special guests will uh are always there. Uh and finally um the uh uh the finance committee met
uh and met and met over the uh weeks since our uh previous council meeting. Uh the output of uh of that uh I believe will be presented this evening the the budget. I would like to take the opportunity to thank uh the township
administrator Papis uh and the uh um uh the the whole finance team that uh put in the work to uh get uh the budget um on time. Uh and
we uh uh we will uh continue that process tonight. Thank you, >> Councilwoman Isla. >> Sure. Good evening, everyone. Um, I wanted to wish everyone a happy Easter and a happy Passover. And April is also
recognized as as you can see, uh, we have a lot of community members in the room. It's recognized as seek awareness and appreciation month. and to celebrate the history, culture, and contributions of the Sik SE community. Um, this month really highlights the values of uh,
equality, service, and justice. Um, so I'm very happy to see a lot of the community members in the room today. Um, I also had a very productive week so far. On Monday, I attended the regional health commission meeting. Um we continued our work on the public health
coordination uh the emergency preparedness for our upcoming FIFA upcoming America 250 planning there might be popup events. So we discussed um uh how to plan for that and then also some regional data sharing. So um
including the bird flu, including vaccination rates, we're we're trying to keep on top of that. And then we also had some good news on receiving some grants as well. Um, and if you're not aware, it's also National Public Health Awareness Week, which leads me to our
planning board meeting on Tuesday, where we continued focusing on uh, one of our applications for affordable housing. So, this is one of four, and it was a very productive meeting. Um, the applicant came in very prepared for um, a a small
housing unit for um, folks with hearing impairment. So, it was um very well thought out, aligned with our master plan, and they also uh respected our our ask from the planning board as well as the resident that showed up that's
that's a neighbor. Um, so I thought it was a very uh productive planning board meeting. Um, and then we did continue work on the finance and budget committee as Andrew uh as council uh vice um president uh Andrew Buckham already
mentioned. Uh the last week we actually on Tuesday met with the health insurance experts. So thank you for that. Uh it was really interesting learning about how the public versus private sectors are very different. Uh I'm from the private sector. We don't have to deal
with unions typically. So it's very important to understand the differentiations there as well as uh considerations on um the the budget impact. And then, you know, tonight we'll introduce the budget. Uh families like mine, seniors, small businesses,
you know, we we feel every change in our tax bill. So, I really appreciate again the CFO uh the team's uh effort in explaining everything to us, all the numbers, sharing your perspectives every week. Uh we like um it was already
mentioned we you know our goal is to really make sure that everyone in the public is informed as we were and that you know our tax dollars are being managed responsibly. So um you know really appreciate the whole team for that and uh that's all for me today.
>> Councilman Kersh. >> Thank you. Two very brief reports um both of which have been alluded to uh have been involved in several budget conversations. I'm not sure if Councilman Bucko drew the short straw and that's why he was talking to me. Um I know that's the way we typically uh
have to operate because uh you know we do we can only have conversations two at a time. >> No, the reason is because the two of you are the toughest but the two toughies. >> What whatever the reason was. Um and I do want to express uh appreciation uh to
Councilman Bucko for for jumping in and and and becoming a subject matter expert quickly. uh we will have hopefully uh you know a robust conversation from the deis including the public on our thinking on the 2026 budget um uh but
you you know the the issue is that conversations can only happen two at a time until we're on this deis uh and then we can discuss it as a group uh the other I wanted to mention um you know history has been mentioned a couple of times on the deis tonight um at an earlier meeting I had acknowledged that
I am I I've joined the board of trustees of the Washington campground ground association responsible for the Middlebrook encampment property uh and particularly the um uh the uh ceremony that occurs each year on July 4th. Uh some ideas are
uh circulating around uh and it is our expectation and and anticipation uh of really making this um 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence meaningful for the full community. really um uh combining all of our resources on the town side, on the
campground association side to really make sure uh that that we have as as as big of an impact as possible leading into next year, 2027 being the 250th anniversary uh of um the raising of the first American flag on that property. So
um you know, everybody knows 2026 is a big anniversary. Well, around here 2027 will be as well. And that's my report. Maybe you could get someone from that group to apply for the history. >> Well, there are a couple on there that you mentioned.
>> Okay. I >> I'll work on them. >> Thank you. Uh, okay. Next, we have the mayor's report. >> Thank you. Just a couple of uh items on behalf of the mayor. Um, want to draw account the public's attention to one of the items on the agenda, which is the
proposed award of contract for the Middle Brook pump station. This has been a project that uh we have been working on for quite some time. I certainly want to thank Mr. Gova and other people within our engineering and public works uh departments for their efforts
bringing us to this point. Um the other item that I want to mention is the last meeting there was a member of the public uh who came uh a resident of Washington Valley Road who came expressing some concerns about a drainage uh uh issue
that they were experiencing. Uh earlier today Mr. Gova, Mr. Burr and Mr. Shimp visited the site. Uh I was given a report and uh uh some additional research is needed to see what um appropriate response uh might be from
the township. >> This is the the property that the county may have an easement and we have an easement. Correct. >> Yeah. And and it's not as clear-cut uh as that at this point from what I understand and we'll certainly learn
more and we'll keep you posted. Um, I think that's all. I'll have more to say later. Thank you. >> Okay. Next on the agenda, we have a proclamation. Um, and I do want to give a little uh intro with that. The this is
a proclamation relating to the American Lung Cancer Screening Initiative in New Jersey. I'm very very proud to say that the Bridgewater Raritin students who are most of whom I believe are here tonight have formed the very first organization
in New Jersey. Um and we have a proclamation here which I think we should all read. I'll start and we'll just go down the line and read. So, proclamation of the Bridgewater Township Council of Bridgewater, New Jersey, supporting the
first responders and veterans lung cancer screening access and commending the founding students of New Jerseyy's first high school chapter of the American Lung Cancer Screening Initiative,
ALCSI. Whereas lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer related death in the state of New Jersey exceeding mortality from breast correct and prostate cancers combined and council if you want to pick
up. Do you have a copy of the proclamation? We all should. So I'm on the second whereas >> yes I do. uh whereas lowd dose computed tomography screening has been demonstrated to
reduce lung cancer mortality in high-risisk populations by approximately 20% when performed in accordance with evidence-based guidelines. And whereas firefighters, law enforcement officers, emergency medical services personnel,
and veterans face elevated occupational risks of lung cancer due to exposure to smoke, diesel exhaust, hazardous materials, and other carcinogens. and >> ring the first responders. Whereas said legislation would establish
a coordinated education, outreach, and referral program within the New Jersey Department of Health to ensure that first responders and veterans are aware of their eligibility for screening and are able to access LDCT services through
existing health care pathways. And whereas the founding students of New Jerseyy's first high school chapter of the American Lung Cancer Screening Initiative authored the policy brief and legislative concept for this bill. Let
me repeat that. That's the new the founding students of New Jerseys first high school in Bridgewater Raritin chapter of the American Lung Cancer Screening Initiative authored the policy brief and legislative concept for this
bill built a statewide coalition of over 40 organizations and secured endorsement from the Professional Firefighters Association of New Jersey and Councilman Buckco. Whereas the township of Bridgewater takes pride in supporting
its students and advocating for policies that protect the health and safety of first responders and veterans who live in and serve the community. Now therefore, be it resolved by the township council of the township of Bridgewater that is here but that it hereby expresses its strong support for
first responders and veterans uh lung cancer screening access act and urges its swift passage by the New Jersey legislature and saw that the township council hereby commends the founding of students of New Jerseyy's first high school chapter of the American lung
cancer screening initiative for their exceptional leadership, research, and advocacy in developing and advancing this legislation on behalf of New Jerseyy's first responders and veterans. And >> oh yes, I'm glad you're reading it because we'll read all the names, right?
Further resolved that the township clerk is hereby authorized and directed to transmit certified copies of this resolution to Governor Mikey Cheryl, Senator Andrew Wicker, Senator Douglas Steinhard, Assemblyman Roy Freeman,
Assemblywoman uh Mitchell Drillis, Assembly Man John Deo, Assemblyman Eric Peterson, and the founding students of New Jerseyy's first high school chapter of the American Lung Cancer screening initiative also known
as ALCSI including Krishna Dala Pali who's the president of Singh who's the vice president Kush Dave who's the communications director Annayia Ashar who's the events director Elona Saitev
who's the deputy events director and Costa Badri who's the policy director congratulations everyone time. And we don't have Suzanne here to take a picture, but I'm going to see if if can someone lend their um cell phone so we
can take a picture with the students? Would all the members of the student organization come up? I back. Watch the wire. Thank you. The students get a copy
like to put a seal. >> Yeah. So, we'll uh we'll be mailing you uh the proclamation. Okay. It'll be in a nice you'll you'll see Grace fixes it up really nice for us. Um, I'm going to ask
for a um consent from my fellow council um members to open to skip through um number eight for the moment to open the meeting up to public comment solely for those people at this point that would like to make a comment with respect to
the proclamation. so that the students and their parents and anyone else who was here tonight just for that purpose don't have to sit through what will probably be a very long um presentation and conversation. So, can I have a motion to open the meeting up for the
public for that limited purpose for now? >> I'll make that motion. >> Can I have a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Okay. So um members of the public wishing to address the council on any matter relating to the proclamation we just passed will have three minutes to
speak which may be extended in the discretion of the council president. An additional minute may be allotted for responses to comments from the deis and I do believe the uh president the president of the student organization would like to speak and I would just say
you write your name and your address uh on the form over there and then when you stand at the podium if you would state your name um you don't have to state your address but if you would just mention that you are a resident of Bridgewater or not I would appreciate it.
Okay. Yes, you're very efficient. Very very efficient. Um, >> good evening all. Um, my name is Krishna Dalapali and I am from Bridgewater. Uh, first off, thank you council pres council president Gger and members of
the township council. Uh, currently I'm a junior at Bridgewater High School and today I'm here with my team, my vice president of Nit Singh and my communications director Kush Dave. they've been by my side through this entire journey. Uh first off, I just want to say a couple thank yous. I I
want to give a special thanks to Council President Guyger. Um you were the one that really uh helped push this forward and um you really thought taught me a lot about wordsmithing. Um I really appreciated that. And uh secondly, uh
Councilman Ring, uh you both were the first members of the council who agreed to meet with me and I. You listened, you asked hard questions, and you believed in us. Councilman Ring, um, as someone who who served on rescue squad, you understand the risks that first responders face every day. You also
offered to connect us with Bridgewwater's fire chiefs, and we will absolutely take you up on that. Thank you both for being champions from the very beginning. I also wanted to thank Mayor Moch and his office uh for upgrading this act from a resolution to
a proclamation. I understand that it's a rare honor and I'm ever the more grateful for it. Bridgewwater is my hometown. I moved here when I was just a few years old. I started in prek and I've grown up here. I go to school here. And tonight, Bridgewwater becomes the first municipality in New Jersey to
support this legislation. That really matters. When I walk into the legislative offices in Trenton, when I sit across from state officers or senators or assemblymen, I can now say that my own hometown supports this bill where said yes. That
changes the conversation. It proves that this isn't just a student project, but rather a community priority. And tonight is a major step forward, but it's not the finish line. This bill still needs to get out of committee. It needs to pass the Senate, pass the Assembly, and get signed by Governor Cheryl. There
will be more hearings, more calls, more and more waiting. But tonight, because of you, we have proof that this bill matters. And that momentum will carry us all the way to the governor's desk. So, here's what I want you to think about. A few months ago, I was a student reading policy briefs in my bedroom. Tonight,
I'm standing here because Bridgewwater believed in me. And imagine what the next student with a big idea could do if they knew that their hometown was behind them. Thank you for being first. I just want to mention that Krishna did amazing work. Uh responded to my emails
right away. Drafted the he was responsible for the first draft of the proclamation. Um did a PowerPoint all the students did a PowerPoint presentation for Councilman Ring and I that was very impressive. Um, we were very very impressed and I was
determined to get this done to for Bridgewater to be the first town to uh have this proclamation. >> This is one of our board of education members. >> Thank you. Yes. Uh Steven Singer uh 11 Kelly Court Bridgewater New Jersey. Uh
and I am uh the liaison to the uh to the uh town council from the Bridgewater Radaran Board of Education. Uh I want to start by uh thanking the council members uh for their active support of our students uh not just in their words but clearly in their deeds and uh it is
truly uh truly great I'm truly grateful for that. Uh but moreover I mean how impressive are our students? They never cease to amaze. Um you know I I appreciate you bringing this to our attention. Uh I will certainly be be bringing it to our
our board of eds attention. uh these children are saving are changing our lives. Uh they're making the world a better place and they're leading the way and it is so exciting to see. So I just want to congratulate you three again. Um as well as the other members who could
not be here. Uh I am excited to see what you guys do in the future and uh I really appreciate both your support and your recognition of our students. Thank you. >> Thank you Mr. Singer for coming tonight. Hi all uh esteemed members of the council. My name is Anne Singh and I'm a
junior at Bjaren High School. I'm also the vice president of our team. It's an honor to be here today with all of you. I would like to take a moment to reflect on this significant occasion. I never imagined we would achieve so much so quickly. When Krishna first approached
me about this opportunity, I was unsure of how I could uh contribute. But over time, I began to understand uh how meaningful this work is and how the difference between uh the difference of consistent effort can be. I still remember when Christian and I were
running around our school going from classroom to classroom trying to find an adviser for a club. At the time, it felt like a small step, but looking back at it now, that was just the beginning of everything we've built. Throughout this journey, Krishna's dedication helped me
see the bigger picture. His his ambition inspired me to take a more active role in helping our community. As the vice president, I focused on the outreach, connecting with local organizations, first responders, uh, and community members to spread awareness, uh, and
bringing more people into our mission. Through these efforts, we were able to build, support, and expand the impact of what we're working towards. I also want to sincerely thank everyone who supported us along the way, this council, our community, and everyone who believed in us and believed in what we
were trying to accomplish. Your support is what made this possible. Thank you so much for your time. >> Thank you. Good evening, uh, Council President Guyger and the other members of the Bridgewater Council. My name is Kush Dave. I am the communications and web
master for uh, the Bridgewwater American Lung Cancer Screening Initiative and I'd just like to add my thank you for this amazing opportunity. Uh, as web master communications, I mainly handle kind of our outreach as well as public view. So, I've worked extensively on getting our
website up, which should be up within the next couple of days, um, as well as handling a lot of the outreach. To date, we've reached out to over 80 different organizations across New Jersey, which include fire departments, fire unions, as well as other EMS, and as well as
townships such as you guys. So, thank you guys for being first. Obviously, on top of that, um, from this, we've got a lot of success. As mentioned, we have support in the New Jersey Senate and this has already fully been introduced on overall. Thank you all for this opportunity and we hope to see what we
can do in the next few months. Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh, Council Vice President, if I if I could, um, as uh, somebody whose uh, family has has been impacted by lung cancer, I'd like to uh, thank you for
your efforts uh, in um, improving early detection because early detection really is the the key to um, key to uh, you know, the better chance at uh, at beating what is what is unfortunately a
a very common uh disease. Thank you. >> Did everybody sign in by the way? >> That's right. >> Okay. >> Good evening members of the council. My name is Dr. Madu Dalapali and I'm here tonight not just as a resident of Bridgewater but as a very proud parent.
My son Krishna Dalapali along with his fellow students from the Bridgewater Ritan High School chapter of the American lung cancer screening initiative has been working on something that is truly vital. They have developed
a legislative concept called the first responders and veterans lung cancer screening access act. Many of us know that lung cancer is a leading cause of cause of cancer of for death in uh New Jersey. But what these
students have discovered is even more alarming. Our first responders, the firefighters, police officers, and EMTs who protect us face significantly higher risk of lung cancer due to their occupational exposure to smoke and hazardous
materials. Yet, despite the fact that early screening can reduce mortality by 20%, many of our heroes and veterans simply don't have clear access to these lifesaving tests. Krishna and his team
didn't just identify a problem. They built a statewide coalition of over 80 organizations from firefighter unions to veteran groups to support a solution. Their proposal aims to create a
statewide coordinated program for education and outreach ensuring those at highest risk are aware of their eligibility and can easily find screening centers. Seeing Krishna lead this initiative with such compassion and
analytical rigor has been one of my proudest moments as a parent. I want to thank this council for standing behind our students and supporting this proclamation. By supporting this act, you are helping to protect the very
people who spend their lives protecting us. Thank you. And I want to mention too um there's no cost involved to getting the test. Most of most insurance companies do cover the test. Um, and in the long run, it will save a lot of money in terms of health
care costs because if you detect it earlier, obviously the treatment is much easier, it's much less expensive, and it saves lives. Um, is there anyone else that would like to address the proclamation? Hearing none, I'm going to make a motion to close this portion of the open public
meetings for now. Can I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I Okay. and council president just for clarification we we intend to go to the presentation and introduction of the 2026 budget and then come back for
broaderbased uh public comment correct >> that's correct yes so that brings us to the presentation and introduction of the 2026 municipal budget and I believe we have some esteemed members of our
administration here tonight in that regard so do we do the do we uh we don't we vote on the introduction. We do the presentation first. Yeah. >> Okay. So, >> okay. Council President, I'm going to start things off. >> Okay. >> I want to thank on behalf of the mayor
and the administration, certainly our finance team, uh Sarah Hman, our acting CFO and director of finance, and Anie Sylvia, who is our deputy CFO and treasurer for their invaluable efforts uh to bring us to this point. I also
want to thank the members of the finance committee whom has spent a considerable amount of time with us having weekly meetings for many many weeks now and for your input and your uh consideration. Certainly other members of the council
that we've had a chance to to meet with to brief uh you on what has been put together. So uh what we have here is a PowerPoint presentation that we'll go through pretty hopefully pretty quickly that will give you all an overview uh
that is members of the public and uh uh if the council whatever council's uh determination is if a public if the budget is introduced then certainly it would then be made available for the public for review prior to any uh public
hearing. I just want to add to that this was very much a bipartisan endeavor. Um I met with the administration at least three or four times. I had many many conversations with individual council members and the township administrator
sat down with me for about three and a half hours um and literally went over it line by line, every single line. So um it really has been a truly bipartisan effort. I don't know that it's that
we're all 100% happy with it, but I think we we feel that we worked very hard together and hopefully we can we can come up with a a budget that meets the needs of the town, the residents as best as possible. >> So, >> Sarah, I think it's the the floor is
yours unless anybody >> I'm going to continue. >> Go ahead. >> So, uh if I could have Mike, if you could go to the next slide. Uh the uh proposed budget for this year is $54.9 million. The budget in 2025 was 51.5 which makes
the uh proposed increase 3.375 million. Next slide please. The increases which we'll get into are all outside of the township's control. Next, next slide. So question is that people have what are we paying for in
the budget? So these are some of the uh broad areas of programs that we support. Recreation program uh we all know that we have a very active and thriving recreation program. Give you an idea of statistics the number of participants
approximately 1,000 in our youth basketball program over 800 in our soccer program. uh approximately 100 in the wrestling program and about 200 give or take from a variety of other programs uh beyond
those three specific uh areas. Road improvements uh the township for a number of years now for five years has had a very aggressive and successful road improvement program and that is something that the administration hopes that that can continue in some form this
year. We have a senior center and programming there for uh township seniors. Over the last several years, we've had success in improving the facility uh interior through a grant that we received that improved the uh uh
restroom facilities uh with touchless uh fixtures, similar touchless doors, entrance doors. We uh re repaired or resurfaced, I should say, the entire parking lot and the uh the staff there
who do an amazing job continue to expand programs for our seniors this year and hopefully beyond. Public works vehicles. Uh one of the things that is very critical for the success of a public works department is to have vehicles and equipment that the
tools needed to carry out their responsibilities. And there are a number of uh vehicles that we're hoping would be considered for u purchase this year. Uh several uh sing a two axle dump
trucks trailer for an excavator that is used for our sewer utility. A used garbage truck, a used uh uh front end loader, a backhoe, some open landscape trailers, and some lawnmowers and other
equipment. again important for the maintenance of our uh roads and our parks. I think we have like 19 parks in uh technology infrastructure of course uh more and more uh private sector but certainly the public sector
uh information technology is important not just for the convenience of the general public but for the efficiency of our township staff. uh and that is something that is uh very very critical. We've been fortunate to uh not have uh
any of the breaches that other entities have experienced and we certainly want to stay ahead of that curve. Next slide, please. Improvements to safety. Public safety is important. It's one of the critical functions of municipal government. And
in this budget, as Councilman Ring discussed earlier, there will be a need to begin to address uh the needs for replacement of radios for our first responders. Uh this municipal complex is uh 15 or 20 years old and the security
system both for the uh building access as well as other security features need to be upgraded to ensure that this facility remains safe for the general public. and for our employees. Police department has weapons that
periodically need to be replaced. Some are um to the point where they need to be replaced. In some instances, there is a protocol to replace certain weapons on a scheduled basis and this budget includes some of that. And as I said,
cyber security, I mentioned that earlier about information technology, uh, very very critical for the safe conduct of business and the protection of people's personal information. Next slide, please. Improvement to our parks. Uh,
over the last few years, and certainly the hope is this year, we want to continue to improve our parks. Uh, over the last few years, we've made improvements to uh, several parks, Kids Street being one of them. We we received a $75,000 grant and supplemented that
with another $75,000 township contribution to uh refresh K Street. And for those of us who were here today, even saw the public works department here uh refreshing the mulch. That's important this time of year. uh
other parks that we are hoping to improve this year. Uh we had received from the sim similar or identical grant source. Uh we have received a grant in the amount of $63,000
and we're hoping to go out to bid on basketball improvements to the Philip and David Miller Park here in this part of town. Uh we uh we have identified funds uh that we have to both improve the uh basketball facilities, lighting
and other uh components of that park that is very very heavily utilized. We're fortunate to have a very prominent local resident who is very much involved in that and is advocating and supporting the uh financially the improvement to
that that park. Other improvements that we certainly hope to have considered this year would be uh repairs to tennis and basketball courts, uh lighting at the Harry Alley Park tennis courts, sidewalk extension for the Kids Street
parking lot, installation of an ADA compliant swing set at one of our parks, uh the rehabilitation of restrooms here at the Kids Street Park, uh and the replacement of trash receptacles uh at several of our parks as well as
fencing around the Harry Alley Park basketball court. Camp Cromwell obviously is a very large uh township asset. We were fortunate to get uh uh a $4 million federal grant that Congressman Tom Kaine Jr. championed for
us. Those funds uh are u uh committed to this project. In the end of last year, the township council approved a $975,000 bond issue because this grant is reimburseable. And that uh uh again, we
plan to and uh Mr. Burr and Miss Houseman are working on a bid document to begin to move forward with a bid for the next phase of improvements to Camp Cromwell. So, more on that later. And then lastly about uh park improvements,
our B bass baseball uh complex here at Prince Rogers Road, the end of last year, we were able to find funds to improve some um uh lighting structure improvements that needed and repairs. Uh
we have proposed in this budget the second part of that both for some materials for the complex and um we are also pursuing uh perhaps grants for that facility. Next slide please. infrastructure and drainage. uh
infrastructure we mentioned earlier uh in uh several areas, roads being one of them, but um drainage and storm water management is obviously something really important and spends we spend a considerable amount of
time reviewing uh requests identifying uh problem areas and try to come up with uh uh paths to try to address these challenges. Universal drainage assessment is a grant that Mr. Burr found and we were awarded a grant to
conduct a universal drainage assessment for a high level review of the various uh drainage basins and uh trying to more uh comprehensively identify the specific uh areas where
there are challenges and a storm water infrastructure future planning uh mentioned here on this slide as well. We had also begun last year and identified and award contracts to some engineering firms to create the engineering design
for several areas again where drainage challenges exist. The Spring Run neighborhood is one. uh two drainage projects in the Brown Road and Carterette Road areas of town and certainly there are others uh that we
hear from uh residents and property owners all around and we try to uh identify funding because that's obviously critical not just for the engineering design but ultimately for any construction. In the past, we've been fortunate to get federal grants. Uh
several years ago after Ida, we received I think it was about $700,000 in a grant uh that was a match or we had to match I think 25% in addition to that to address some pretty significant uh drainage issues in different parts of town. And
we will continue to seek those uh granting um sources, grant fund sources. Next slide, please. I mentioned earlier in the presentation that there were certain costs that um I
think I mentioned that are required. In other words, things that are mandated through one avenue or another. And what we've what I've here is just a high level um listing of those that um have
impacted this budget. Healthcare $1.8 $.8 million increase over last year. PERS and PFRS, those are two pension systems for our employees. $513,000 increase from last year. $192,000 increase from last year. Snow removal.
Um, we don't have control over that in that no one can predict the snow events that we have had. And uh this is a significant cost both for employee time, overtime, salt, and contractors that we engage to uh assist
us in these snow events. And then the last one is gasoline. Uh that could be more or less. We don't know. It certainly could be more. That's what we've identified thus far. The next page or the next sheet actually gives you a greater detail on those
topics and others. Um, I mentioned healthcare fire hydrants. Uh, most people don't know that the fire hydrants that are in public rightways are uh owned by New Jersey American Water, but in New Jersey, municipalities are
charged a fee from the water company to maintain those fire hydrants. And this year, uh, there's a $70,000 increase to Bridgewater Township for those fire hydrants. It went from $811,000 to $871,000
or $881,000. Gasoline, I mentioned, pension systems, social security, of course, liability insurance, and mentioned snow removal, all totaling over $3.4 million. Next slide, please.
So 3.449 449 million the cost that I mentioned there's another box there in the blue box there's a minus sign in between the two boxes $73,872 what we are trying to convey here is that the actual net increase the bottom
of that slide's 3.375 million the increased costs are in a sense somewhat offset by $73,872 so if we did not have the increased costs that were mentioned just a moment
ago. We tried to uh tighten our belt and actually reduce the remaining portion of the budget by 773,872 from the previous year. Next slide. The um what does this mean? uh highlighting while we have a very robust
uh program for services for our community, there's no major expansion of programs uh there no unnecessary spending increases and again the budget growth and increase is driven by these uh required obligations
costdriven increases and not spending driven increase. Next slide. How what does this how does this translated to the taxpayer? Well, there is a municipal tax rate that the governing body will approve in a sense
by virtue of a budget that is ultimately adopted. How is that um applied in New Jersey? You apply you multiply the tax rate per $100 of assessed value of a property. And that's how you calculate
the municipal portion of your tax bill. So under this budget, the proposed tax rate would increase from last year's.2 2440 to.2448 2026. Next slide.
Another impact to your property taxes is the value of your property. This chart shows the uh the assessments and the average assessment of the average home in Bridgewater Township. The tax
assessor, while he is a township employee, is uh regulated by the state division of taxation. So, he's an employee. He works in our building. He's paid by the out of the municipal budget, but we do not direct his activities.
We're fortunate to have a very competent tax assessor, but um he um operates independently of any influence of the township administration or governing body. But what this chart shows is over the last five or six years the uh
identified average value of a home single family home in Bridgewater Township. And as you can see over the last number of years, especially last year from last year, it's been a significant increase in the average assessment of homes in Bridgewater about
10% year-over-year from last year. Next slide. I think this is the last one and this is a pie chart which many municipalities use to educate the public. The township of Bridgewater through our tax
collector's office collects the taxes that are reflected in the tax bill that you get, but we are the collector of not just the funds to operate the municipal government. We also collect funds for the school district. We collect funds
for the fire districts, four fire districts here and the county of Somerset. And that breakdown shows you for every dollar that you pay in property taxes, that is how it is distributed. We uh we collect it. We then uh uh send them on I think a
quarterly basis to these other entities and um um they accept the checks gratefully. Uh that concludes the presentation that uh we have for this evening. I certainly
be happy to respond to any questions that the council has. Um I again want to thank the staff in the um the council for their time and the efforts that they have put forth here. Any member of the council have any questions for me?
>> I have a question. Um, so if I live in a house in Bridgewater that was worth $600,000 last year in 2025, what did I pay in taxes?
If I live in that same house this year, regardless of what the assessed value is, you know, regardless of the fact that it may have gone up and is now assessed at 650,000, what is my tax bill, my municipal tax
bill? In other words, how much more each month am I paying for the same house regardless of whether or not the house itself went up in value? because I think that's how the average person looks at their taxes. This is what I paid last year. This is what I'm going to have to
pay this year. >> Could you use the microphone, too? I don't I don't have this the the form this the sheet here. >> I know I asked the really hardest question first. I'm sorry. >> Is the green light on? >> Green light on.
>> Okay. >> Just get closer to the mic. >> Yeah. Stand closer. >> You can move it to your seat, too. You don't have to stand. That's okay. In uh 2025, if your home was assessed at $600,000,
your municipal tax bill was $1,464, which amounts to $366 per quarter with the >> You didn't happen to break it down monthly, did you? >> Uh I
>> I know we pay them quarterly, but >> do we not have that readily available about Yeah. about $110. >> Yeah. About $110 a month. >> Yes. So, if you're uh looking at this year's new assessed value, which would amount to about $660,000
on a $600,000 home, your annual municipal taxes would be $161,568. quarterly would be $43.92 and an increase uh between years would be an annual increase of $15168
or a quarterly increase of $37.75. >> So if you take your $151 annual increase, it's $12.58 a month >> increase. Let's repeat that. >> Uh if you take your was it $158 you said
>> uh for the entire year would be $151. >> $151 divided by 12 months is $1258.3333 >> per month. >> Per month. >> And Marie put that chart together. She spent a lot of time working with
>> we make that chart available to the public. >> Absolutely. And can this PowerPoint presentation be >> It'll be on the website. >> Perfect. >> Okay. Um I I do want to also say that Councilman Bucko had provided me with a
series of questions that I did provide to him in writing and I'd just like to touch on on them if if uh you indulge me. >> Yes. I I would I would like to ask you question number one that was on the sheet. Um if we look at uh if we look at the
budget, it's a it's a kind of chunky boy. Um you'll you'll see that year-over-year there's a a increase in the uh election uh line item uh tax assessment line item,
engineering services, information technology, and vehicle maintenance line items. Uh could you uh provide the reasons for the increases? >> Sure. Uh the election u process is uh carried out in Bridgewater Township by
the township clerk's office, but uh they are um in partnership with the county county clerk's office specifically and the the uh sample ballots that are printed that we receive as voters are printed by
the county, but there's an invoice that is sent to the township. So, um, the increase that is reflected in this budget more accurately reflects the the anticipated costs. Last year,
the U costs had increased. They projected they would continue to increase, and that's why it went uh from $25,600 to $46,900. It's not not just the um sorry, not just the sample ballots, it's the vote by
mail ballots as well. No, >> no, this is just for the sample ballots, I believe. Okay. >> Yeah. >> Uh next is tax assessment. Again, the uh line item had there was an adjustment to the line item on sheet 15 of the 2025
budget. There's a line item for the quote reassessment program. Our assessor has what's called an annual assessment program that keeps the tax assessments more current townshipwide. Uh the inspections that are handled through the
assessor's office again are uh delineated or the cost of that is delineated through his office. For the 2026 budget, this function was simply combined. it was moved from one sheet to another sheet and so the actual uh cost
didn't increase per se to the township but the placement of that uh expenditure changed from one spot to actually the other expense line item in the assessor's office engineering services increased from 151,000 to 186,000
uh two reasons for the majority of those costs one was uh the u some of the administrative work conducted by township staff uh will now be uh small portion of it will now be conducted by the township engineers engineering firm
and the uh the significant other part of the increase is uh uh a permitting requirements that we're going to be seeking from the NJD about a $15,000 cost uh for that process that we are
undertaking in in 2026. the uh information technology uh went uh up uh almost $200,000 primarily because we had had the information technology expenses
separated for the police department in the police budget and for the rest of the municipal government under information technology. We combined the two. We moved the uh funding from the police to combine to the IT to uh ensure
that there was greater coordination and not any redundancy. Public works maintenance uh vehicle maintenance again uh increased costs. Uh our township uh vehicle fleet is aging and with increased costs of parts and
the uh additional repairs that are needed for aging vehicles, an increase uh was uh is requested from 234,000 to 425,000. So that is a answer response to question number one. Sir,
>> thank you. >> Uh thank you. I I just would like to follow up um on the uh information technology question. Um on sheet 20, excuse me, sheet 26 of the uh budget,
there is a line item for uh IT equipment and hardware. Um can you describe what that uh what that encompasses? >> Um I don't have that here. I can certainly provide that. I know I gave
you the the other day I gave you the rather lengthy spreadsheet. Uh I just don't have that with me, but I certainly can provide that to you. >> Sure. Sure. Um uh for for the the members of the public um uh there uh there are a number of of expenses that
the township will will need to um uh undertake to replace some aging uh computer systems. um you know this is >> servers servers were part of that correct servers. >> Yes, correct. there's there's some servers and then some uh I believe uh
workstations as well >> and the the um uh reality sometimes unfortunate reality of dealing with technology of which I I have I have some some experience um is that
you're unfortunately in a position of constantly having to upgrade it. So, you know, it it used to be the joke that you, you know, you bought a computer and by the time you got it home and opened the box, it was obsolete. That's not always the case anymore, but
there are there are uh there's a point when the hardware becomes end of life and you you can't get replacement parts anymore. Um, I uh in in in my um professional life, I at one point had to
uh look for replacement parts on eBay for some of our uh uh uh machines that we were we were still trying to uh uh keep running. Um but one of the the biggest uh drivers is is keeping in in
compliance and um and uh the the latest version of of Windows uh the operating system on on uh a majority of of PCs in the world. um
uh the the current version just won't work on uh some hardware that was sold as recently as 5 years ago. So that is something that uh absolutely uh has to be upgraded because in order to stay in
compliance for uh security u uh reasons um they they just need to be uh need to be uh upgraded. Um so um if if you could um get the the details, I I think it's important to
share that uh with with the public the you know what what actually the township is going to have to to purchase just to uh keep things going uh technology-wise. >> Sure. >> Um
I don't I don't want to step on anyone's toes if anybody else has other questions. Otherwise, I'll go to the next one. I have >> uh I do I have another question. I don't know. Councilman Kersh, you haven't had a chance. >> Well, if you want to go through you you want to bounce around and then we'll come back. If we don't ask things that you that you do, is that the the way
you'd like to proceed? >> I I don't want to monopolize the time I have. >> Well, I it's value added, so I wouldn't call it monopolized. Um just a a few thoughts. Um, you know, there were some things in in here uh that that really highlight the
challenges of of running any operation in in America, in New Jersey. Uh, you know, government, private sector, doesn't really matter. Uh, you know, certainly our snow removal costs. Uh, I think what we've also all now become experts in is the number of inches of
snow that falls is not necessarily uh the indicator, but you know, the temperature and how challenging it is to get to get rid of it. I mean, you know, the the big the big storm uh with the particular cold that we had, you know, we had we we had our our staff, you know, I'm looking at Tom, two weeks
later, they were still cleaning it up. Um, you know, just because of the conditions. Um, I want to speak about gas and utilities, particularly electric. I know I've said it from the deis before, so I'm not going to belabor the point. Um, but, you know, as an individual consumer, you know, I drive
by, I see the cost of gas for the the the two cars that I operate personally. uh in my family um you know I see you know 415 420 whatever it is and you know you know whatever the reasons are that's what it costs today um you know but then
I also think we're also running a a 24-hour police operation um so you you know my cars sit on the driveway and don't run run a lot of the time um our police cars uh you know it's pretty much a 24-hour operation so that's on the gas
side on the utilities side and uh you know particular ly electric and this is going to be true. I don't know if any of our board of ed members are still here. Um, you know, we don't have the option of only running 3/4 of our building. They don't have the option of shutting down 20% of their classrooms. Uh, they
have to run a full service operation. We have to run a full-ervice operation. Um, and you know, the reality is our utility costs are are exceptionally high. Uh hopefully some sort of relief is is on the horizon, but certainly what we experienced last summer, what we experienced this winter um you know
creates creates some major challenge. And then I also want to highlight the hydrant the fire hydrants. Um you know I guess for for administrator Papus my my only question is do we continue to be confident that we are being properly
build for the exact number of hydrants that are within our system? Yes. >> Okay. Because, you know, that to me is what we can control. Make sure, you know, as with the recycling, we're being charged the right the right number of of households. With the hydrants, charge the right number of hydrants. With the
street lights, charge the right number of street lights. But ultimately, what we are charged on a per street light, per hydrant, or, you know, per recycling home. Th those are numbers that are fed to us. I >> I think Sarah or Anry actually have the uh the the the amount. Just pull that
microphone towards you though. >> We're currently being charged 1,41 hydrants from New Jersey American Water. >> Okay. And though obviously we hope that we never use them, but that is a service that uh needs to be provided to to each and every residents and uh and
commercial business. Um okay. You know, the only the only overall comment that I'll make is um uh you know, we will now have the budget. We have four weeks to really dive in even deeper than we have. Um and uh you
know, certainly I will take that responsibility as I have in previous years very very seriously. Certainly listen to members of the public um uh look at the details uh and then ultimately come up with a spending plan that um that that works well for our community. Um, you know, none of us like
to pay taxes. None of us like to pay the cost of what things uh what things are today. Um, but you know, the reality is that running any sort of an operation is expensive and tends to get more so over time. So, uh, you know, I want to, you know, compliment all who have
participated uh in this so far and particularly bringing our new members of the council up to speed. My observation is they're they're up to speed quite quickly. Um they're asking uh very insightful questions and I I think over the next couple weeks we'll have some additional very very good engagement on
this budget. >> Thank you. >> Councilman Ring, do you have any? >> Uh sure. Um I think you alluded to something earlier that I have long said is true about municipal budgets. Um I
you know you made made a comment that there's things the budget's not a perfect budget or something to that effect in your mind and I think we would all say that and I think that's because each of us have different ideas on different things. Uh I think when when a budget is done it's a compromise um to
take into account different desires or different strong feelings that different folks have. Um so no budget is in in my six years sitting here I've yet to see a perfect budget. Um, and I think probably anybody that is set up here would probably say the same thing to that
degree. Um, I think for the public's view, uh, I think it's also important to note, um, the one thing that did not come out today, and I don't know if Mr. Papus or or our acting CFO has, what was the there was a total number when
beginning of the year when everyone submitted their wish lists, if you will. >> Do you remember what that total dollar amount was? Yeah, like I if every department got everything they asked for, what would our budget have been? So, another three million on top of
what's here. So, you know, it's also important to note that, you know, there's a lot of effort that went into this budget process to make sure it is a responsible budget to meet the needs of the township. And you know, this isn't just somebody asks for money. They're
getting it to the point that the administration cut 3 million from that to start. So, I think it's important to note that. And I think for the public's benefit, just if anyone is not familiar with the budget process, um there is a
line item on here where we will vote to um introduce the budget. Uh understand that introducing the budget is not approving the budget. introducing the budget is simply acknowled the council is simply acknowledging that we have
received the budget from the administration. Um and then there's 30 days where the budget will sit out there for council to review. A lot of work has gone in on the front end to try to come up with a budget the administration and council are are aligned on, but that
does not mean that over the next 30 days changes can't be made to the budget. Uh and uh I'm sure our clerk later on will announce when the public hearing is for the budget. So just understand when there's a vote taken tonight uh to introduce the budget, that does not mean
our budget is approved. That is just a formal first step in the process. So thank you. >> And council president, just one other piece uh of the process uh is that the budget also goes to Trenton. Um so while while we continue to review it um and
and get additional information uh have the benefit of another 4 weeks or so revenue projections and things Trenton is also uh division of local government services is also reviewing it and that's why we will be back here on the date
that uh our clerk sets usually about four or five weeks from now. Council, Councilwoman. >> Sure. Um, I had a question on uh just if you could um share which of the services or capital projects that our departments
requested but we deferred um I know we had some changes. So, thank you for the nice summary um because you know in case it affects our quality of life, safety, infrastructure. So, uh, roughly $575,000
of equipment was requested, but is not part of what has been proposed here tonight. Uh uh two message sign board trailers, a um uh radar traffic recording device,
polemounted speed sign, several um a um F250 Superduty vehicle, uh two uh Ford interceptors, uh some equipment for parks which can be
handled through u perhaps a bond that we could consider and two photocopy machines for two of our offices. U these particular um requests uh the administration may support if the
council wants to pursue it through perhaps floating a bond. There are some that I don't think we do. There are certain a couple of the vehicles here that uh we do not think are uh necessary for the particular department. So, you asked what was requested. I'm telling you what was requested, but the
administration does not support a couple of these specifically. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Um, couple things. I believe that part of what's in the budget and and you can argue whether or not we have discretion,
but it's about a 3% pay raise for the rank and file um public employees, which is, you know, it's it's not a huge raise, but it is, I think, consistent with um it keeps us competitive with other townships. Um, and because there
will be a loss to some of our some of our employees will not realize a 3% increase. Well, none of them will realize a a 3% gross increase because they're going to be paying taxes on that. So, the net amount is lower. And for others, it bumps them up into a
different category for health insurance, and they'll be paying contributing more to their health insurance. So, it's not really a 3% increase. Um, but I had a question about the surplus. It's my understanding that um the surplus was uh at about 500,000.
This budget will bump it up to about 1.5 million. Um and that was a particular we all have our particular pet peeves. That was a particular pet peeve of mine. I did want to see the surplus increase. We saw like this year and that was the other thing. It ties into the snow costs
where the the snow costs went up by about $700,000. I believe most of that was already spent in January and February of this year. So we we had to it's a bill. It's not even something we're putting in the budget. It's something we've we have to pay. But
if you could just comment on the surplus for a moment, I would appreciate it. >> Sarah, do you want to take that surplus? So the amount of current fund surplus that we had regenerated at the end of
last year at 1231 was 5.1 million. We're using 4 million proposed in the current fund budget. So we're going to regenerate 1.1 million last year. It's important to note we
only regenerated 131,000. That's for the current fund. >> And in that regard, I want the public to know um my position. Uh I don't know if everybody agrees with me here, but um one of the things we do not put in our
budget, we do not we we put in some anticipated grant money. grant money that we're 99.99% sure we're going to get, but we generally do not put in um anticipated grant money. And that is um the New
Jersey um municipal uh New Jersey Municipal um League of Municipalities strongly recommends that municipalities do not put anticipated grant money in their budgets. Um it's not fiscally responsible to do that. We are hoping
that we will get grant money. Um, deputy township administrator um is working on it very very hard. Mr. Field um and I also believe Mr. O'Harn is working on it as well. We may get
grant money. I am hoping that some of that will then go to additional surplus and then we may have money to put into some other areas depending on I guess some of the feedback we get from the public about where they might like to
see money go if we have it if we get it. >> Um Councilman Buckco, I think you probably have more questions. >> Uh yes. Um the uh the the total sum of the assessed taxable property values
last year was 11 billion45,942,247. What is the value uh for this year? >> It is up to 12 bill541,52,700. So if everyone sells their house, they're going to make a lot of uh lot of bank.
Uh what is the uh what is the percentage of residential properties uh for this year? >> Uh that has changed is actually gone down. In 2025 the percentage of the assessed properties that were residentially designated was
75.1% and this year it has gone down to 74.75%. So while there still is growth in the overall assessment of the homes, our non-residential properties have uh taken
a a slightly increased uh burden of the property uh tax burden. >> Okay. Okay. Um >> and I'd just like to point out Mr. Dorado had said to me that that really is really good news because in many municipalities commercial properties are
declining and to see that uh strength here is very very encouraging. >> Yes. Uh yes yes it is. Um um there's a there's an amount on the budget that is the reserve for uncollected taxes which is $3.4 million.
Can you explain how this is determined? >> Sure. Sure. That's a requirement for every municipal budget. There is a non-spending reserve account that must be raised to cover an estimated amount of taxes that may be unpaid. Uh that has
to be covered. Fortunately, in uh Bridgewater Township, uh this past year in 2025, we saw a 99.77 collection rate, which is obviously almost perfect. Uh and so what occurs
with that budget amount is if it uh is not needed that would roll over into a surplus for the following year. Okay. Just a clarification there maybe for members of the of the public particularly um just want to confirm um
we are the tax collection not just for ourselves the 11 or 12% whatever it is we are the collection for the 100% and everybody else gets paid 100 cents on the dollar even if we don't so that so that collect that uncollected even
though it's a very small amount it's not just the the relatively small Bridgewater Township tax. It's, you know, the school district, the county, you know, all the other items. So, >> take you can take that one step further. We have an item on the agenda tonight
for um a tax appeal and a refund for several thousand. um out of the uh $7,000 and change that is being refunded, Bridgewater Township only actually got $833,
but yet we have to pay the $6,700 difference. That does we don't get to collect that back from the other taxing authorities. >> Correct. And we have the staff that is in charge of submitting sending the bills and collecting. So you know you know you know we have a lot of the
expenses a lot of the a lot of the downside and not not a whole lot of upside. I mean that's just the function >> carry the risk >> that's just the function that we have that that municipalities carry >> and and that's why having uh the annual assessment program actually
has decreased the number of tax appeals which in turn would mean that there are fewer instances where a tax refund is required. We have >> we have a very low tax appeal rate. Very
low. Correct. >> Yes. >> Uh one other question that just thought might come to your mind. Uh people curious about how many of our taxpayers are delinquent. We have over 17,000
line items uh 17,000 prop distinct properties in in the township and 7 7 to 10% roughly are delinquent and um the um um you know again even with the delinquencies which requires some
followup we we are able to achieve almost 100% collection >> and some of that's not the resident's fault that can be the mortgage company's fault correct >> yeah but most of the time mortgage companies are pretty >> so most of the time it's individuals like me who are now paying their own
taxes and forget >> I'm not m naming names >> well I I unfortunately have the experience of a mortgage company that uh regularly had failed to pay oh >> pay its bills um thankfully not in Bridgewater I found a better company
when we moved here um uh one other question is what is the what is the township's outstanding debt Currently, our debt is uh $19,588,56. >> And how much will it cost to service the debt this year? >> So, this year uh principal payments are
$4.8 million and uh interest is $2.9 million. Okay. >> And if no new debt is added, how long will it take to pay everything off? >> August of 2040. Okay. Um
there are >> Could I just could I just dive into that? That was based on a s significant a significant amount of that is based on refinancing that we did uh like in the say four or five years ago when rates were particularly low. Correct.
>> We have been fortunate to uh gone go through a couple of refinancing or actually lowered interest rates on the debt that we have. Uh we did that I think a couple of years ago and uh I think I've reported previously we've had among the lowest interest rates for uh
bond anticipation notes rollover uh we'll be uh doing that again later this year uh and the the debt that mentioned is this municipal building uh there are numerous the road program that we've had for the last five years prior to this
administration there were other there was other debt that was incurred from other road and equipment purchases So it's really a compilation of many years of uh bonding from various administrations and councils. >> Does that also include the sewer utility debt?
>> Uh yes. Yes. Thank you. I wasn't sure. >> And I just want to comment which >> is an important component. >> Yes, absolutely. >> I think we're all aware. I I think everyone on the DES here is aware of the debt situation. Um that's and the question was asked specifically so that the public could you know so we could be
open and transparent with the public about it. We're aware of it. It is an area that I think we all want to work on. >> Okay. Um >> yeah. Um just one one uh followup. Uh you had mentioned a bond anticipation notes. Uh we currently have outstanding
approximately $31 million in them. Could you explain what a bond anticipation note is? >> Sure. Sure. So when the township uh goes into debt, when the governing body approves a bond ordinance, a the the cash that is initially received is a
bond anticipation note and that is a a note that temporary borrowing for one year. it can be uh rolled over a total of 10 years and within that time there is uh potentially an expectation that
either that can be paid down or at some point uh rolled into permanent financing. So bond anticipation notes or bands are uh what we will be looking for sale for later this summer and um permanent financing is just that
permanent financing. >> Okay. And just to just to be clear, the um the notes are for debt that was uh already incurred prior to this year. Correct. Okay. Um I have no further questions.
>> I had a um one other question. So 2% of the taxes that we collect goes to for the for the fire departments, correct? >> Fire districts. >> Fire districts. But they pay a lot out of that 2% they're paying most of their
own expenses. Correct. >> They pay all of their expenses except for the township covers workers comp insurance for them. >> And we pay lowap. Right. >> We we do not pay for the fire
department. Okay. So we the fire so fire districts are a completely separate government entity. uh they just had their elections they approve a budget >> the fire >> which and that budget is voted on separately by the
>> by the residents respective district. So >> the residents have voted have approved that already. >> Yeah. Bridgewater Township is divided into four districts each. So think of them four sections of Bridgewater. Each is a separate district a separate government entity with fire
commissioners. The fire commissioners are the authority having jurisdiction for fire suppression. And then what happens is you have the fire department which is a volunteer organization. The fire department operates say the fire
trucks but the fire trucks are owned by the fire district that so you have two different pieces there. The fire department is the volunteer personnel uh and then you have the fire district who owns the equipment and funds the operation. They're paying their own LOAP
>> if they have it. >> Well, they have to. >> No, it's optional. When Bridgewater when >> it when I was many years ago, like 20 years ago was an advocate for LOAP here in Bridgewater. Um, and it was something
that Bridgewater had to put on the ballot. Residents had to approve. There's restrictions on it. Some fire districts choose to do LOAP. Some have other incentive programs, >> but when they do it, they pay for it out of their budget. And LOPA, it's a it's it's not a big pension. It's a very
small pension that >> about 15 to seven. It it it started about $1,100 a year. It goes up each year based upon the cost of living. There's a provision in our township ordinance that sets that it can't be more than 1% of I think the total budget
or some wording around that. There there's restrictions on it. It's it's a very small thank you for what folks do. I think you might get about $1,700 a year now. Yeah. If you qualify >> and it's a thank you to firefighters, rescue
>> the township only funds the rescue squad, >> right? And then so I just want to be so that so that the public understands that 2% is because it sounds like a lot for just fire, but it when you when you consider that what they're they're paying their own costs. Keep in mind
you're you're buying a million-doll fire truck, providing fuel for it, equipment, you know, there's a lot to that. >> Thank you. Thank you. So, I just um had a final question just to recap uh the nice slides that you
shared already. Um just so that if if residents are still confused about the difference between the tax levy and the tax rate and how both are calculated. Um just to make sure everyone understood the the figures that you presented from
2025 to 2026 and the nice pie chart as well as the tax assessment. But yeah, if if you want to go ahead, you know, my understanding is, you know, we have to raise a total amount. Uh that's the tax levy and then that total amount needs to
be divided amongst all the properties which creates that rate that we showed >> and the tax rate is $100 times $100 of assessed value of that property. So you take the tax rate, the value of the property per $100 and that's how you that's how the the chart that Anry read
from is uh simple that's simple math. >> Yeah. So you know everyone has resources. So if you use these resources you'll be able to um calculate for your property. It it bears noting that the levy is not the same as the budget because there are other revenues uh that
come in but you know ultimately you know you essentially take the budget you subtract the various revenues you're left with the levy you then divide the levy out and that's how on a on a on a per household or on a per commercial business um every everybody pays pays their share.
>> For example, if you go apply for a building permit you're going to pay a fee that is revenue to the township that goes towards funding that department. So the township budget may be at X, but the levy is less than that. >> The levy in this proposed budget is
30,698,891. >> And there has been a desire. Again, we'll have to see exactly how this this current council views things. um you know when when there are specific uh users who get the benefit of a particular service um you know building
permits or or you know other items that are very specific to a unique individual. We try to recover the cost not more not less uh and then the general government uh operation is distributed across the full the full book so to speak.
>> Are there any further questions from anyone on the day? Just one more thing I I don't remember if it was uh if it was mentioned but the uh the bottom line number of the budget uh what is what is the the total
>> 50 just add it here >> 52.9 >> hang on >> oh 50 Sarah's got her finger on it I'm sure. Yeah, sure. >> 52 >> 52,98,8941. >> Thank you.
>> And I'm sorry, just one final comment for for the benefit of the public. Um the document that we have um which will be made available to you uh shortly. It has the the the handwritten comment 42726 auditor approved. So it bears
noting that this this budget as any introduced budget has significant rigor behind it. you know, it's not just, you know, a couple of people in finance kind of thought these were good numbers or, you know, Mr. Papis thought it was a good number or Mayor Mench, you know, this is part of a process. It is auditor
approved. Our auditor is Bob Swisser. Um, his license is noted on here. So, you know, he he and his staff uh among others have have have provided great scrutiny. We'll continue to provide that scrutiny. Um, and you know, obviously the process will continue from here. I
may add one more comment. Uh I thought I did earlier. If I didn't, I remiss. Uh Mayor Mench obviously is not here tonight and he appreciates the work that the finance staff, certainly the council and um the uh everyone else that's been involved in this and would have been
here tonight. He is in Washington DC meeting with other mayors and some cabinet officials on on uh matters that affect municipal government and uh really wanted me to uh extend on his behalf his thanks to everyone. Uh but that is why he is not here uh this
evening. >> This this tangently uh is related to the budget, but I mean it's it's it's a lot of paper and and I think I've gotten three copies of various drafts. Um, I I think that's like knocking on the door of a full ream
of paper and um, you know, I was at Staples the other day and and kind of shocked at how much copy paper now costs. Um, you know, maybe we can we can reduce the the number of copies uh uh in the future
just cut down on on our expenses and uh help the environment out a little bit and use a little bit less paper. >> There are many people on this day as I am not one of them. I apologize for that. Who are much better at reading these things on the computer. So
>> I like a hard copy. But again, thank you to the council for your um >> but maybe we could doubleside them. >> Do do we um >> before we go back to opening to the public since we've done a little bit of
Are you looking to are we looking to introduce the budget before public comment? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Okay. So, can I have a motion to introduce the budget? >> I will make that motion. >> Second. >> Second. Uh, I think we need a roll call
on that. >> Councilman Bucko, >> yes. >> Councilwoman Isla, >> yes. >> Councilman Kh, >> yes. >> Councilman Ring, >> yes. >> President Gger, >> yes. >> Um, and just the public hearing for the 2026 municipal budget is hereby set for
Thursday, May 7th, 2026 at 7:30 p.m. here in the municipal courtroom. Uh, we will make copies of the introduced budget available in the clerk's office and also on the township website. >> Wouldn't it be 7 p.m.? You said 7:30 p.m. >> Did I say 7:30?
>> My apologies. It's 7 p.m. >> Right. And I just want to clarify that. That is assuming that we have the okay from the state to go ahead. Correct, Mr. Fields? Right. If we don't have if the state has not the state has to this has to be sent
to the state, the state has 28 days to get back to us and say yes, it's okay. Um and then we can present it to the public. If we don't hear from the state, we will probably push that out another two weeks. Is that correct? >> You you have to set the public hearing
tonight, which you've done. And uh it's it's very unusual not to have a response from the state. So I anticipate that we will hear before then. Right. I just want to make that >> you we but even if for whatever reason we didn't hear from them, we can still hold the public hearing on the 7th and
defer the vote to the next meeting. >> Okay. And I think that might be the preferred way to go, but I just want to >> saves on legal legal ads and public notices. >> Okay. Um so that being the case,
we can now open the meeting to the public. Um members of the public wishing to address the council on any matter will have three minutes to speak which may be extended in the discretion of the council president. An additional minute will be allotted for responses uh to comments from the deis. Um in this
regard first of all can I have a motion to open to the public? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I >> Okay. Um and again I'm going to change I changed the rules a little bit. um write your name and your address when you get
up to speak. I'd appreciate it if you say your name. If you don't want to say your address, that's fine. It I would appreciate it though if you would say whether or not you are a resident of Bridgewater. And can I just have an idea of how many people may be speaking tonight? I'm not going to hold you to it, but it does
affect the timing on my part. Looks like we have about six people, five or six people. Um, so I'm going to I'm going to try to hold you more to the three minute and then the one minute for response time because it's quarter to 9 already and it's been a you know and we
have we have a lot of other business to conduct as well tonight. So >> clock's actually accurate. The clock's accurate and I was >> Yeah, it because of daylight savings time, right? >> Okay, go ahead. >> Uh, Lisa Balduchi, 15 Tulmore Court,
Ringo, New Jersey. I am not a resident in Bridgewwater. However, my business is in Bridgewwater. I would like to thank the current council for accepting my application for the municipal alliance and I welcome the new council members as a breath of fresh
air for the governing body in Bridgewater. My intention as the only local business owner who applied to the municipal alliance is to contribute positively to the Bridgewater community. I believe my
experience as a local business owner and my commitment to doing the things the right way even when challenged is an asset. I must however address the accuracy of comments made by a councilman at the
previous council meeting. It was stated that I and my business reol have a history of non-compliance and quote many years of problems. I take these statements very seriously and I must
respectfully but firmly challenge their accuracy. As a female independ independent business owner, I have consistently operated within the law. Whenever there have been disputes or issues, I did not
ignore them. I addressed them directly and pursued them through the appropriate legal challenge channels. On countless baseless claims, I successfully defended my business and our practices. In just
one instance, this administration attempted to the to get the alcohol and beverage commission to agree to the outrageous restrictions that would have directed directly impacted my revenue. The ABC court ruled against those
restrictions, finding they were baseless and unwarranted. This is just one example of many baseless claims by the administration and councilmen. Since 2020, again, I have been forced to defend my business against these
excessive restrictions. The characterization of my business was inaccurate, untruthful, and quite damaging. These baseless claims lend the appearance of bias against women and are
damaging to a small local business. There have been rumors that these tactics were not random. No other restaurant in Bridgewater, to my knowledge, has been singled out in such a way as my business has.
The councilman's statement is damaging, inaccurate, and offiscates the facts. If there is specific evidence verified by the court to support the councilman's statements, I request they be clearly
identified so I may address them directly. I call for this councilman to function with full transparency and support the claims he's making or apologize publicly. Short of that, these statements amount to not much more than
slander. I request that they be clearly identified so I may address them directly. In the meantime, I look forward to working on the municipal alliance and advocating for small local business and growing Bridgewwater's tax revenue.
>> Council President, I I I am the person that made uh I don't believe they're accusations. I believe they are statements of fact uh that your business was not compliant with Bridgewater Township ordinance, particularly as it related to noise. And that is what
resulted in challenges with renewing your liquor license. So I will work with Mr. Papus so that we can document each and every discussion decision and and and everything else associated with your
business. I stand by my comment 100% that your business has had a history of non-compliance. Now, for you to come here and to allege that there's somehow misogyny, sexism,
u uh um uh bias candidly is insulting to to everyone on this day as to everyone who lives in this community. You have operated a business that has not been fully compliant regardless of your gender, regardless of anything else.
Those are the facts. >> No, they >> and I will work with Mr. Papus and we will in in a short timeline issue a full memorandum explaining each and every instance where there was documented failure to be compliant by your
business. Is that satisfactory? >> No, it is not because I tell me where I was non-compliant. Non-compliant. You know, again, you have the benefit of preparing for this hearing and bringing up something that happened multiple years ago. I don't have that luxury.
Giving me the luxury of going back to my notes and working with our administrator, I will go chapter and verse on every instance where your business has been non-compliant with township ordinance, and there have been many. >> I think we we've covered this. Would you
like to you have a minute to reply? No, my business has been nothing but compliant. The problem is is when I challenge something, all of a sudden I'm non-compliant. I followed the law. >> Have you had any Have you had any noise complaints, >> sir?
>> Have there been any any excessive noise complaints after hours? >> Recently? No. >> No. At any time in the history that you've run the business? I don't the history of my business or all the business >> running your business since 2020. Have there been noise complaints of excessive
noise after hours? >> There may have been by some anonymous ones or may have been uh but am I the only business? >> Go ahead. No, I know that >> council president, I recommend uh you know there can be some discussion of this offline. I think this conversation
has gone as probably far as it should. I think it's we don't want it to go. >> If you if you wish to have a memo, I I will work with administration and our attorney to provide it. >> Mr. Pedroso. Hello. >> Hello. Good evening. Philippe Pedroso. I
did sign in. Good evening, Councilman. On March 5th, uh I stood before this council asking you to consider a different approach, self-build. Instead of approving 600 plus units of mass density housing to get to 141 affordable
ones, Bridgewater could have built exactly what we needed. We could have fulfilled our mandate without surrendering Bridgewater to overdevelopment. Let's be clear, these mass density projects are a Trojan horse. They are labeled affordable, but they deliver
urban style congestion, skyrocketing traffic, and a permanent strain on our schools and our infrastructure. Every resident in this township knows what follows: higher property taxes, lower property values, and a worse quality of life. This council has a sacred
obligation to mitigate this growth, not facilitate it. When I asserted that the administration had failed to study the feasibility of self-building, they claimed they did. So I filed an OPER request on March 9th. It took this
administration 22 business days, more than tripled the legal limit to deliver a no comment. They claim only one document exists, but they've locked it behind attorney client privilege. You don't need you don't need to be a genius to do to read between the lines. There
was no financial analysis. There was no due diligence. Tax King Mayor Mench dismissed a viable solution to to protect our township before he even looked at the numbers. This isn't just laziness. It's a pattern of lies and and
deception. For years, we have been we have been told by Tax King Mench that his 30% municipal tax increases are the result of property values. That is a lie. When values go up, a responsible leader adjusts the tax rate to fit the
budget. Instead, this mayor has used your home's value as an excuse for his high tax agenda. Look at your sewer bill up over 35% in just four years. Tax King Mayor Mench says it's a utility fee. The
truth, it's a second tax. Last year alone, $730,000 was funneled from the sewer budget into the general fund. The mayor set this up to pay for out-ofpocket expenditures and to keep his inner circle of friends
flushed with taxpayer cash. >> You have 30 seconds. Just >> is being made unaffordable by a mayor who is too lazy to explore alternatives to overdevelopment and too comfortable spending your hard-earned money on excessive growth. and his personal
childhood friends, including the township attorney sitting right here tonight. Mayor Mch calls it progress, but the taxpayers call it a betrayal. Stop the lies, stop the overdevelopment, and start representing the people who actually pay the bills in this township.
Thank you. >> Very good. >> Council President, I just want to clarify some inaccurate information that was stated very briefly. Um, I don't know if it was perhaps one of the many meetings that former Councilman Pedroso arrived late or didn't attend and let
anyone know that he would not be attending, but I can tell you that I sat on this deis last year and there was discussions about township owned land being developed and the costs associated with bringing sewer and water to the property that and that discussion led to
the tableabling of those ideas. So the administration looked at it. It was presented to this council. It was discussed and agreed it was not a viable financial option. >> Interesting to hear Philipe talk about laziness though. >> Yeah. >> The laziest guy that I know. >> And I I want to make a comment. I think
>> you you were not here at the last >> point of order. I don't I don't think we need to we need to go down that path. >> I interrupted you. >> I was just going to say point of order. I don't think we need to go down that path. >> Okay. Um I just you weren't here at the last meeting but I did I I'm going to repeat what I said at the last meeting.
I wanted to remind all public speakers um that it is incumbent upon every public speaker to be cooperative, courteous and respectful. And in that regard and this is just my opinion. Okay. Um I don't believe that name
calling or adhomium arguments are such however in the interest of free speech. Okay. I will avoid curtailing it. Okay. If you want to engage in name calling that's fine as long as it's reasonable. I will suggest however in my opinion it
is beneath the dignity of any person to engage in such behavior and that particularly includes a former elected official, a licensed professional and a prominent member of this community.
You have a minute to respond to anyone from the deis. >> Uh thank you council president and thank you for your comments. Uh, briefly, Councilman Ring, I would certainly challenge you to look at our attendance records. I have a hunch mine are better than yours. You missed a lot of meetings in this council for going away on
personal business matters. So I would definitely challenge that when it comes to the assertion that this governing body uh and certainly that I was not presented ever a plan any numbers or financial analysis on the possibility of us self building affordable housing is
is any assertion that that occurred is not true. The only time there was a there was a plan where there was some kind there was co-ownership or co-contributions to affordable housing but never fully funded self-owned affordable housing. And I stand by that statement. You're welcome to look at the
records that did not exist. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Good evening. Um my name is David Kitchen. I've been in the I've lived in Bridgewater for 5 years and just thank you for the opportunity to speak to you
and thank you uh council president for responding to my email the other day. I'm here on behalf of my family and several of our neighbors to raise ongoing concerns about the constant and egregious speeding on our residential road. >> Which road again?
>> Bossler Avenue. >> Yeah, Vosler. Okay. I just want to make sure I had it in my head right >> between Route 28 and 22. Um it's become a significant safety risk especially for the young families who live here. Uh we have been in communication with
the local police since 2021 since we moved in uh regarding the issue. Over that time, multiple speed studies have been conducted showing vehicles traveling at speeds of up to 65 miles per hour uh in a with a posted speed limit of 25.
People will speed past um and pass other cars uh which has happened to me while pulling into my driveway. Um, I've got neighbors here. Chris's husband, um, he says he comes up the road and he's met by two cars coming
down. So, there's illegal passing. Um, my wife has had to dodge >> passing or what they used to call in my day like drag racing. >> Well, >> I know. I know. What do they call it today? >> Um, so my wife, uh, eight months
pregnant also had to dodge out of the way of a car as well. Um, while we appreciate that some temporary measures have been implemented, such as portable speed radar signs, these have been limited in duration, typically lasting only a week.
Um, and only deployed a few times over the past 5 years. Uh, during those periods, we observed a noticeable reduction in speeding, so they do help. Um, they are effective, but then they're removed and nothing happens following it. Uh despite reaching out multiple times
to the um traffic safety unit, including emails and phone calls, um from multiple residents, uh responses have been inconsistent. At times, we've received engagement confirming, yes, we we know there's a problem, but our requests are
but but our request is for more permanent solutions, and they have have really gone unanswered. Uh we have even offered um practical support such as offering our driveway uh for a police unit to sit in there. We don't expect it every day but just now
and again and we haven't seen any for a long time. And they briefly used it but it's just the efforts haven't been continued. Um as residents we are not just concerned we're really frustrated. We are raising children and many of our
neighbors are doing the same. We have two young children now and something has to be done. The current condition conditions make it unsafe for the kids to play outside, walk or ride bikes without concern. Our neighbors uh children also cross the road to get to
the school bus and he mentions that um uh people don't stop for the school bus either. They're speeding too fast and they don't even stop. Um, we are respectfully requesting consideration of more consistent and permanent traffic calming measures,
including more consistent enforcement or patrol presence. Uh, perhaps even coordinating with Bound Brook as the road does lead down to Bound Brook. Uh, increased and more visible signage such as reduced speed ahead and more 25
mph speed limit signs along the road. uh and an installation of a permanent flashing radar speed display for both north and southbound traffic. The temporary one that's been put out there since our email conversation which was happened the next day which was fantastic has is proving to be really
effective. Um our goal is simple to make our neighborhood safer for everyone who lives here. Uh we appreciate your time and consideration and we are more than willing to work collaboratively toward a solution. So, are you finding that it
there's a bigger problem going I think it would be southbound when people are coming off of 22 as opposed to northbound? >> Both are pretty bad. 22 they're aiming to get to the lights before they change. >> Ah, >> coming off 22 where it's only a yield sign. They just keep that speed
traveling off 22 >> because I drove there the other day and I did it. I go off, you know, you're you're going 55 60, you know, 65 miles an hour and now all of a sudden you're on Bosler Avenue and I'm looking at my
speedometer and I'm not doing 25, >> you know. Um, and I and I will say that when I was canvasing and running for council, I was really surprised at the number of people that brought up speeding as an issue. So, it is on my
to-do list to um talk to the mayor about getting together with the with the traffic safety um unit. We have a traffic safety unit and see about finding ways. I think it it's a matter of buying permanent um speed trap.
They're they're a lot of them are solar operated. I don't know how much they cost, but again, this is something we we you sat here through the whole budget presentation, right? So, I don't want to put words in your mouth, but I would imagine that one of the things you would advocate for is spending more money on
these permanent speeding measurements to if they help. And the only the only question I have about it is I know in some towns it just encourages kids to drive even faster to see if you know how fast they can go. So, you have to be careful with it. But, I did want to sit
down with the police and talk about it. And I think we're I think everybody here knows the particular area you're talking about and the problem with that street and there's a couple of others that are pretty bad in town, too. So, I appreciate you coming and bringing it to our attention.
>> I don't know if anybody else here wants to comment. >> Madam President, I I think we do know how much those signs cost. Um uh looks like it's 33.74 and 53 cents. Uh would it be possible to use some of the um
capital um uh capital uh uh improvement budget towards purchasing um signs for uh for that street? >> Yes, of course. And I I would like Captain uh Thorson is here and he and I are texting each other as this
conversation is going on. So we'll we'll meet tomorrow and we'll report back to the council next time. >> It's important to note though, we can't commit to doing anything. Sure. Sure. Or 30 days >> from the capital budget. >> We do have a sign. Captain, could you come up if you don't mind since >> we're talking about more than just a
sign? We're talking about >> I understand, but I'm just trying to respond to this gentleman's >> No, no, thank you. >> Question. >> Yes, I am aware that that section of Bound Brook, well, Bridgewater, Bound Brook, there is a quite a bit of a speeding issue right there. It is a
straightaway. It's just south of 22. You get a lot of traffic. When I was in the traffic safety unit, I spent some time over there as well. From my understanding, I was told that a one of our newer speed sign trailers were placed there recently. Have you seen it? >> Yeah, a few days. And it it helps.
>> Okay. I will just from my experience, I mean, obviously I'm sympathetic to to why you're up here. Once it's there for an extended duration, it becomes part of the scenery and it has a limited effect if it's there long term. I am aware of that as well. That's just a fact of of
how those work. Um I I was texting um Mr. Papis stating that I will speak to the traffic safety unit to make sure it does get attention for sure to make sure they do show up there on a regular basis. So, it's difficult though because obviously this is a very large township
>> and it's hard to address every single speeding needs when we have limited resources. >> And you know, if there's a yield sign there, I assume we don't control that. That that's a state highway. So, we would have no authority to to put a light there. >> Coming off 22 would be the state,
>> right? >> Not our coming off 22 for sure. That's a that's a traffic safety signal. But yes, if if you're talking about the the ramp, that is not that's not our >> I think we wouldn't have the right to >> I think the comment captain is you're coming say 22 eastbound, you take the
Vasel Avenue ramp to go southbound as you go to the right. It's not a stop sign. It's a yield. So it allows you to kind of keep some of your speed momentum. So I don't know if one of the things we could do is ask the state to look at changing that yield sign to a stop sign. It would at least slow people
down a little bit more before they turn on to Vassler. >> Correct. We're not the authority figure for that. >> Yeah, >> I think the other uh we can certainly talk more about it with the police, but township engineer uh would probably be appropriate to be involved, but we probably should also uh reach out to the
burrow of Bound Brook and maybe have a conversation with them as well because the road is shared between the two municipalities. >> Half of the road. >> Yeah. And have some coordination. Uh but we'll certain Mr. uh uh kitchen. We'll certainly look into this in greater detail. >> There's there's a a similar situation
that that reoccurs on uh uh Vanir Road, which is is also a border a border street with with Raridan. Uh what would the feasibility be of um installing uh permanent traffic slowing devices such as uh uh speed bumps or rumble strips
on? >> Of course, anything is possible. uh you know we've not we've not uh installed any speed bumps we have introduced rumble strips in find uh I think that has been successful uh and we can look at that here as well but I I wouldn't
like to commit to anything specifically until we have a chance to talk with the engineer the police but certainly it is important we'll get attention >> there is a per a permanent sign permanent variable sign on on Vandervir >> yeah so
south. Does that help? >> So, I've had a similar issue. I have a seven-year-old. I pick him up from the bus stop and um they run that stop sign all the time. The bus driver gets really mad, but there's nothing we can do once they run over and they go so fast that
we are not able to capture their um license. What we've done is um in in a new development, they put up additional stop signs. So, you know, we can see if we can coordinate with the state to put up that additional stop
sign instead of the yield. But what you also need to do at the same time, people were still ignoring the new stop sign in the new development. You really need police to give them tickets. So, they learn that, you know, it's not just a stop sign, you're also going to get uh
if you if you ignore it, you're going to get all these tickets. And unfortunately it was a lot of guests that were coming to our new house uh new development but it was effective because we were literally a few feet away from it and we always stopped there. It like we learned our lesson since our guests got that
ticket. So we just have to you know kind of I think be a little creative here and work with the uh county as well as the other um other townships. But it's a problem. You know, Vandervir, Washington
Valley Road, school buses. My son still doesn't have to cross the street, but you know, in a few years he will. So, I can't imagine like if a kid was crossing the street at that time. That's that's scary. But I've seen it happen like a bunch of us saw it happen with our own eyes. So, I'm glad you brought it up.
Thank you. >> Thank you. Good evening, Tom Schaffrey, another resident of Vaselor. This is almost superolous. I'm thrilled at the response that the council has had to Mr. Kitchens. I started doing this 25 years ago, well before anybody here on the
council was here when I got no response. I started taking people to court for passing school buses on Vosler to protect my children. Um just this week car in front of my house which has a 100 foot uh frontage passed my entire
property in less than 1 second. 88 ft in 1 second is 60 m an hour. 110 ft is a 60 uh 75 miles an hour uh just today coming off the highway. Uh gentleman came off quickly uh tailgating me and then zipped across the WL line past me and the
recycle truck without any vision of what was coming up. To put it in perspective, Mr. Kitchen has two young children. There's other families on the street that have children. 36 years ago as a bicyclist, I was hit at 35 miles an hour headon by a
truck. Neurosurgeon on the trauma team was amazed that I was alive. I spent five months in rehab. I'm 6'1, 6'2, 200 lb. What would a car at 65 miles an hour do
to a young child? So, I'm urging this council to do something quickly that would be devastating to this community. Thank you. >> Thank you, sir. >> Good evening. uh and as a Troyan
resident. Um I wanted to genuinely commend the staff um and the budget team, the council members and everyone involved in working on a budget. I'm sure you're all blur eyed by now. It's
the home stretch though, so hang in there. And um I really benefited from listening to the presentation and the mindset and most of all the questions and the discussion that ensued um which
helped to bring context to a lot of the items raised and um I think were fairly straightforward in terms of the presentation. So I generally want to thank everyone for that. Having said that, I did have a couple of because I'm
freshly looking at the budget. Um I just had some observations I wanted to just share that may um continue in your discussion and reflections on the budget going forward. Um and there there may have just been gaps that you're aware of that just weren't
covered in the presentation. So I don't mean to imply that there. I just want to bring them forward. the municipal operating budget per se is is one piece of our financial picture. Uh you touched upon the debt service um the
nomenclature the fund balance or surplus or capital improvement fund whatever that's called right and um the sewer utility budget though wasn't mentioned at all and that's part again of what taxpayers are are supporting in the township. So it might be useful to just
add that to the composition to provide context um going forward. Um movement in and out of this fund balance was another point. So at different points in the conversation the fund
balance I think is being increased from last year to this year. Um, but I don't really know what an optimal target should be based on our uh fiscal health and our size. So, are we near the
target? Is there still do we still need to work on it? And then the question of course of how we're going to get to where we should be optimally. So that again a contextual question I think um the for example the responder technology
which was mentioned at the beginning of the meeting it how does that so so that's a known anticipated expense um grants might be a possibility but can't count on them until we get them.
So it wasn't really discussed in terms of okay how are we going to manage that and in what piece of all of this. Uh so that would be useful I think for the public to understand a little bit better the composition of revenue. So again that kind of came in and out of
discussions but it's not clear uh the proportion of grant revenue property taxes state aid etc etc. So for us to understand how big a piece of that we're carrying not the whole but you
know obviously significant piece and then it would help sort of the trend analysis. So year-over-year what parts of that calibration are are shifting in what way are we getting more grant money than we're used to less? Um can we can
we seek additional non-tax revenue to help make up any difference? Um, and so that again context, the year budget takes on a more longitudinal thing. So if we can't do something this year, how
do we start working toward next year? If something's not in an optimal balance, do we have too much debt service? Should we be worried about that? Are we okay? How can we move forward in small increments to address those things that we know about? Um
I think that and again like the uncollected tax revenue I think I may have misheard the discussion but approximately 3.4 million is allocated and then any unused is rolled over into
the fund balance or the surplus or what happens that if it's not used we talk about the it's a general fund that is like the overall main budget. >> Okay. So when you talk about the fund, you're talking general fund and I'm
getting a nod from Sarah's heads. Yes. So I am speaking accurately here. And then the regeneration is what many consider surplus. >> So >> so 3.4 million from last year 2025 budget went
>> I'll defer to Sarah or Mr. I think I think I would rather wait until you've seen the budget and you can ask more detailed questions. You know, you're you're asking questions that uh you know, obviously I didn't cover every point of the budget and you're pointing that out and nor could I, frankly. Uh
but I I think if you review the budget, I think a lot of your questions would be answered and if not then you can come to the public hearing >> and and and just to understand when you're >> how things move. I think >> when you're when you're reviewing the budget, general fund is the overall budget. a portion of the general fund is
surplus, meaning you we finish the year with extra money in the account. We roll it over as kind of a rainy day fund. God forbid something happens. And then another separate line item in the budget is capital. Capital can be comprised of two different pieces. Capital could be
paying cash for items. Capital could also be a down payment on bonding. So just to help you when you look at the budget understand those three different areas. So, thank you. That was really it. I just I appreciate >> I can answer two of your questions. Um,
when Redwana and I went to the New Jersey League of Municipalities um, seminar on budgets, they recommended that 20% of your budget be surplus. Well, that's that would be very very difficult,
right? That would be extremely difficult to achieve. I believe our bond council also recommended a similar number and again that would be very very difficult to achieve. My own personal goal um is more in the range of what it has been
traditionally in the past. It's been in the range of I I'm going to defer to Councilman Kersh but I believe between 6 and 8 million. >> We were in No, the surplus number. >> Yeah. >> You you you caught me without without >> Okay. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
Traditionally, it's been it's been better and and I think we all are aware of it and we all want to get it better. Um I think it would be very I don't know that there's too many municipalities in New Jersey that actually have that 20%. Um with respect to the grant money,
we're very hopeful that we will have more grant money. Um I think that is part of the reason why um the mayor um specifically hired u Mr. fields to be uh the deputy um administrator because he does have experience in that area. He
does have connections in that area and he is working very hard on it and I believe he is also supervising um Mr. O'Harn who's working on it too. Am I correct? >> Yeah. So, we're hoping to get more money than we have in the past, but to be fiscally responsible, we're not counting
on it. >> Absolutely. All right. Yeah. And and I I just wanted to add that in in our discussions, there were some really nice graphs that were shown. So, one of my questions was that long-term uh health of of our budget, right? So, I'm looking
at it more longitudinal data across six years, but I think it was recommended by an expert like at least the next three years to really consider three years at a time. But, you know, I'm I'm on board with you and hopefully you have more questions once you take a look at the budget. >> Thank you very much.
>> Yeah. Is there any further? Oh, okay. >> I'm so sure you didn't see me. >> That's okay. You got to put bring the mic down, though. >> Hi, my name is Joan Depala and Hi Joan. >> Hi, Joan.
>> Uh, thanks everyone for listening. I I actually have a similar situation. I can feel for those who mentioned about VA um Vasler Road. So, I live at the corner of Allen and Ash, and
>> Allen Road uh is so bad and it it's shorter. Like, I I'm not sure it might be not sure exactly how long it is, but there's been a lot of studies done on it where they saw thousands of cars go down
daily. And it's unbelievable because especially since Google, you know, thank you Google has brought everybody through this little cut through and they will not stop. it once in a while there's a kind person that sees you trying to
cross from uh on Ash Street crossing Allen Road, but most of the time they really think that they don't need to stop that you need to stop for them and they're going and it's a 25 mile zone, but they're not doing that hardly anybody. So,
I know it is really challenging to try to figure out what to do because when I heard him say about the police sitting and giving tickets, I just thought we've been through that for years and years and it doesn't work. And we've we even have uh the speeding thing
that's been up for I think it's been up over a year now that tells everybody how fast they're going and nobody cares. And I've seen people pass other people, too. It's not a double line there, but it's a narrow road and and you know, you're not
allowed to do that. So anyway, the idea that I had and I hope that you'll consider this is a crosswalk there because I do understand that we're trying not to put in speed bumps everywhere because of the emergency
vehicles and that hinders them. But a crosswalk, um, now one gentleman that I spoke to at the township, you know, I guess there's a feeling that a crosswalk could make it
worse for the pedestrians because uh I forget what exactly Oh, they they thought that the pedestrians would then just feel safe to go out into it. I I completely disagree with that. I think about Somerville, how
>> when you go down uh North Bridge, I think it is, there's a number of crosswalks and it really does make you stop and think like you can't just go racing down there because you keep coming to them. Now granted, there would only be one on Allen Road, but I think
if there was like if there was a sign on either side warning that a crosswalk is coming and that it was there, I think that that that would really lessen the speeders and just make them more aware that, oh, there are people that live in
this neighborhood and they might be trying to cross the street. And I agree with what the one gentleman said that the problem is is you do not have a ch a child does not have a chance and even an
older person anybody if they're coming like speeding and on the one side especially it's a blind spot when you're you're crossing from my neighbor Mary's side over to to my side it like curves
around there's a blind I have a cognitively impaired son that I should be able to give him a little bit more freedom, but I cannot let him cross the street because it's too dangerous and
there would just be no chance of stopping. >> You don't have sidewalks there either, right? >> No, we don't have >> Yeah. I mean, Bosler Avenue has sidewalks, but you don't you don't have that. >> Have any sidewalks. And um and it's sad, you know, because if you're walking up
the street, whether I'm going to do a walk or I'm going to a neighbor's house, like people people that are driving look at you like, "How dare you be in this street?" Like, "What are you doing here?" But uh most of the time you can't really go up onto the grass because it's
a ditch or there's mud or something. And yeah, something needs to be done. But I would like you to consider maybe a crosswalk because I I think that could help. Like we have kids coming to the bus stop and you know if if there they
become aware that hey there's a crosswalk there maybe they will slow down a little bit. >> And while you were speaking Captain Thorson took his pen out so I think he was taking some notes. So, I think that, you know, letting the police department take a look at that and provide
recommendations is would be the next step. Uh, >> yeah. >> Oh, we'd love to hear from you. >> Chief Mitsac's not going to let you come again. >> That's all right. This is this was what I handled a lot uh before I got promoted. I was in our traffic safety
unit. I've probably spent over a hundred hours on Allen Road personally. So, I love the innovation that you're thinking. You're trying to think creatively with trying to slow traffic down. Unfortunately, the MUTCD, the manual for uniform traffic control
devices, which mandates what signage can go on what road and where, you cannot place crosswalks with the sole intention to slow traffic down, just like you can't just randomly place a stop sign to slow traffic down. So, there's regulations and there's standards you
have to you have to meet. Now, if if it's regularly used and you want to cross traffic, you certainly can do that. If it's if it's for the for the sole purpose of placing that crosswalk there for for allowing traffic to pass. Now, intersections of roadways are
crosswalks. They are legal crosswalks in New Jersey. So, that is obviously you can legally cross right there if it's at Allen and Ash. But Mr. Papis and I will speak about this tomorrow as well. So you'll be on on our agenda with Vosler
A. So we will address this and and uh if you don't mind after the meeting if we if I could get your phone number and I'll I'll follow up with you. >> Sure. >> Okay. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Um just a a a suggestion maybe this is
something we we we can pursue. Um I I I believe that there's there's been um there's been research that shows that um narrowing of of roads actually causes people to slow down um because suddenly they they need to be a little bit more
attentive. Um, and you could see this in action if you're driving on 287 uh approaching um exit uh I believe it's exit 12 where suddenly there's a an an overpass over the the railroad tracks
and um uh river there that doesn't have a shoulder and everyone slams on their brakes because suddenly the road is narrower. Um you could create the optical illusion of it by painting slashed lines on the shoulder. There's Alan pretty narrow narrower than it is.
It is >> but it's it's worth looking at. >> Fair. But you know the ju just you know the the illusion of it being narrow could be enough. >> Get them to rub our neck on purpose. I guess >> good evening.
>> Oh, I might have a question. It's all right. I'll handle it. I'll handle it. Go ahead. >> You probably know it off the top of your head. >> I'll handle it. >> Um, I am here to just I didn't prepare any com Oh, my name is Carol and Joya. I live at 1402 Paleley Court and I did not
prepare any comments tonight about the budget. I was actually here tonight at 6:00 to attend the environmental commission meeting which was fabulous and I am so thankful to Jeff Fouse for opening it up to the public. he ran a wonderful meeting and I look forward to future meetings and working with them.
Um, but when I did hear your presentation on the budget, which was excellent by the way, I appreciate the transparency. I appreciate the timeliness and the detail. Um, a few things popped into my head that I didn't hear mentioned. And I don't have
specific questions about any line item. Well, maybe I do. Maybe one will. Um but um things like when you talk about buying was it $575,000 worth of equipment for the police department. I don't know if I have the
number right. It was a large number for the um rapid not rapid response but first responders. Um I don't know where those items might be considered to be purchased from, but items from China might be subject to tariffs. We're in a different world these days and I would
hope that consideration of where things are being purchased and what they might cost today versus what they cost last year and what they might cost next year is something to consider. Um it's just budgets are very hard to they're they're just fluid and there's no way to know
what's going to be going on in the world economy um next week. So keep that in mind. tariffs. Um also you had mentioned about um election and um ballots and things like that. There's something
going on right now which you know is the Save Act and it has passed the House of Representatives and if that were to pass the Senate that could cause significant costs to municipalities, counties and states and how they run their elections. Um there would be need need to be new systems and and and I don't even know
the details but just keep an eye on that one. save act could affect your election uh costs. Um then we have this little thing called inflation and uh if you were back in February, you knew it was around 2.4. Uh then it went to about three and tomorrow the CPI is
coming out and they're looking it to be closer to four, maybe even going over five at some point. Um and that has a lot to do with what's going on in a place called Iran. And I would just say just keep that in mind because what might work tonight, you might be going
into that surplus a little bit by the end of the year and that's out of your control and I understand that. But I would just encourage everyone to keep an eye on those national and international um events. And then finally the healthcare. Now, I had been to the board
of ed meeting and they talked about a 17% increase in health care costs and I didn't hear anything about our number and I was just wondering if we were around the same rate for the health care increase which would make sense but I was just curious if if you could maybe
give a snapshot. >> I said so 18%. >> You did. Okay. I missed it. I must have been writing all my other notes. >> He had a really nice slide that shows percent increase for for each of those items. What? I did run out for a second and I spoke to one of the
>> I missed that one. I missed that one. Okay, so you're right in line there. Um, but I guess that's about it. Um, again, it's nice to know that you're giving attention to the surplus. I think that's important for all the reasons we mentioned, you know, including gas. I
think this month they said there was a jump, the largest one-mon jump since 1957. So, let's just hope that things don't get worse, but just be aware and be prepared and keep doing what a great job you're doing. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> And thank you for bringing up that
inflation rate because, you know, you heard we were lucky enough to give 3% increase, but if the inflation rate is 4% and then some of us work in different sectors, not everyone gets a 3% raise, right? It's going to be very difficult
for everyone. So that's why this budget discussion is is key that we really keep things balanced for everyone. >> Yeah. I was surprised to see Jamon Jamie Diamond from JP Morgan just talking about um you know how this this war is really going to affect us in ways and
and even if it were to end tomorrow, this is going to it's got a good 12-year ripple effect. >> Yep. There's >> tariffs supply chain that doesn't end overnight. >> Right. Right. Okay. >> Madame President, just a very brief comment. You know, I share all of the same concerns that you have about the
the local and the macro. And and I've I've said it a few times. You know, I see how much it costs to fill my two the two cars that I operate with gas and then in the back of my mind is what is it costing for an entire police force? I'm paying my electric bill when it comes in and then I'm thinking what does
it cost the whole town? What does it cost the whole school district? So, I think we are mindful of that. Um, you know, we are also mindful that ultimately people are paying their electric bill, they're paying their taxes, they're pay, you know, and and there's a there's a there's a there's a
finite uh there's there's there there's there's a finite uh uh set of resources at the end. Um, and you know, you you've probably heard the phrase balance a couple times. I think you're going to hear that phrase as we continue to work through the budget is is the balancing act.
>> And that's been the case, you know, this is now my seventh year on the council. It's been the case all seven years. Even though this time, you know, a few of the faces are a little different. >> This is a very different time from other years. But also keep in mind that that um la what did you call it? People who don't pay their taxes. What did you call
it? That might go up as well because people, you know, you're you're struggling you're struggling to pay for food. So anyway, just you'll see what happens. >> Madam President, if I could just make a couple of comments. >> Sure. Of course. >> Appropo to this conversation. Um we mentioned electric bills last year. the
state board of public utilities improved a significant increase to electric um uh what electric companies could charge. So that is something that unfortunately the state BPU in instituted. Another significant uh increase to
municipalities is the the preparation and the creation of a plan and defense of affordable housing requirements. So there there are instances you've spoken of, you know, maybe federal international scenarios that could
affect costs. Um but then there are a lot of things that the state uh has imposed upon municipal governments that have increased costs to municipalities. So it's it's frustrating I think for all of us that we see events that are beyond
uh municipal government's control that we are impacted by and indirectly or directly the taxpayer property taxpayer >> right >> thank you though thank you for your >> comments I learned tonight environmental PSC is coming with another 17% in June and it's nothing you know the governor can do to stop that one and then we have
a lack of workers construction workers who are no longer around or afraid to come out so construction on this affordable housing is going to be a little more challenging as well as material costs. So, what a doom doom and doom scenario. But anyway, thank you for listening. >> The weather's getting better.
>> The weather's getting Yes, it was >> weather. Yeah. And I I just want to point out too, we we have vehicles that run on diesel, which is I think you pointed it out. >> So, yeah. So, it's not just the police, you know, our a lot of our DPW equipment runs on diesel and when that hits $6, that's
>> that's a pain point. >> Yeah. I feel like we're in good hands with you all you all. So, thank you for your hard work. >> Thank you. >> Can I have a motion to close the public comment section? >> I'll make that motion. >> Second. >> Second. >> All in favor?
>> I. >> Well, I'll let everybody leave. >> Okay. Um, so we now we have the introduction of ordinances a calendar year 2026 ordinance to exceed the municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish a cap bank. Um,
pursuant to NJSA48 col40-45-14. Um, township administrator Papus, you want to give us short explanation of that? >> Sure. And I also have a a form that I'm going to pass out. We actually created this last year for the benefit of
everyone that describes the cap bank ordinance. So something else for you to read. But um the state uh permits municipalities to go up a certain percentage. Uh in order for to exceed the cap, in order for a municipality to
do so, an ordinance has to be approved. And this can this uh bank uh of additional funding could be utilized in a in a given budget year or could be extended to a second year but the ordinance has to be adopted in order to provide that flexibility.
>> Great. >> So this would be introduced tonight. This would actually be considered for the council meeting two weeks from tonight. >> Can I have a motion to introduce Well, there any comments by the council? >> Questions, comments? Okay. Motion to
introduce 11A. >> I'll second it. Roll call, please. >> Bako, >> yes. >> Councilwoman Isla, >> yes. >> Councilman Kersh, >> yes. >> Councilman Ring, >> yes. >> President Geger, >> yes.
>> Final action for this um cola ordinance is scheduled for April 23rd at 700 p.m. here in the municipal courtroom. Public inspection of this ordinance will be made available in the township website, the bulletin board, and in the clerk's office.
>> Okay. Next, we have an ordin it's another ordinance being introduced. An ordinance of the township of Bridgewater, amend chapter 182 of the Bridgewater Township Code to require snow and ice removal from private roadways serving multif family
residential developments. Um, there's been a lot of discussion on this. Does anyone have any comments or concerns or any further discussion on this before we vote to introduce it? >> Uh just the the one comment that the um
the copies that you have in front of you are are in black and white and uh unfortunately the the change tracking is is a little bit difficult to to see. But uh I I did want to leave that on just to
make clear what was what was changed. Um so if I may just just go over that. Um >> go ahead. >> Uh first item is in section one. Um the
uh new uh language replaces uh director with superintendent of public works. Uh that was a a request by the township administrator so that it aligns with the uh um uh currently used
uh nomenclature. Uh the second change is to section 9. Um it uh it changes the the um uh minimum
fine for uh violation of uh section 182. uh chapter 182 section 1.3 uh to be $1,500 and a maximum of $5,000. Um
the uh section 10 uh strikes the health officer and the department of code enforcement from the uh list of uh entities who can enforce the ordinance.
it. Can >> can I ask a question relevant to that? Sure. Uh, looking at section 9, um 1824 A and B, I'm confused.
We've got A at $1,500 and B at $500. >> Yes. Yes. Uh A is only would only apply to uh chapter 182 section 1.3 uh which is the the the new 1.3 is
defined in section uh four of the resolution uh which is the removal from private roadways servicing multifamily residential developments uh by their owners. Uh the is other than
So >> well that's that's that's for A. So so B applies to violation of any other section of uh the ordinance. >> Okay. Thank you. >> So that is the uh that is the same uh
the same fine language that is in the existing ordinance of up to $500. >> Gotcha. Thank you. which would which would apply to um failure to clear a sidewalk or uh
throwing your snow into the street. >> Can I have a motion to introduce the ordinance? >> I'll make the motion. >> I'll second. >> Roll call, please. >> Just a very brief discussion. I know we've we've talked about this a lot before. I I think just you know it needs
to be reiterated in section 8 that um as a result of this ordinance we may take these various actions including snow and ice removal but that is anticipated to be an absolute last resort. Uh we are
not intending to be in the snow and ice removal business on any private property. >> Absolutely. And um the the existing language of the ordinance uh used uh that the township shall do these
remediation uh efforts uh should the property owner fail to meet their obligations that could be interpreted as the township will uh because of the the language used. So, this this updates it
um in its entirety to be in the uh uh decision of of the township uh whether or not the um I would say the the most extreme remediation uh would take place and and in which situation.
>> Thank you. >> Any further discussion? >> No. >> Can we have a roll call, please? >> Councilman Bakov, >> yes. >> Councilwoman Isla, >> yes. Yes. Councilman Kersh. >> Yes. >> Councilman Ring. >> I will vote yes for introduction. >> President Gger.
>> Yes. >> Final action for this ordinance is scheduled for April 23rd, 2026 at 700 p.m. here in this courtroom. Public inspection of this ordinance will be on the township website, the bulletin board, and in the clerk's office.
>> Okay. Moving on to resolutions. uh a resolution to appoint to the Bridgewater Municipal Alliance, Ander Catronin. Um it turns out that we had a resignation uh of a senior citizen. It has to be filled by a senior citizen. >> Older adult.
>> Older adult. Thank you. Thank you. Because I'm an older adult. Um at any rate, um Anda has submitted uh an application and she did submit uh her resume. Um, and so I I don't know if anyone has any questions or concerns.
She's here in the audience. If not, can I have a motion to uh to uh accept this appointment? >> So moved. >> Second. >> And can I have a roll call, please? >> Councilman Bhoff, >> yes. >> Councilwoman Isla, >> yes. >> Councilman Kersh,
>> yes. >> Councilman Ring, >> yes. >> President Geger, >> yes. Congratulations. >> She gets warning. >> Uh, she gets Okay. You go to the clerk's office to get sworn in. >> Okay. Um Okay. B. Authorizing the
reduction of taxes due to approved state tax appeals and refund of the overpayment for property located at 2445 Union Avenue. The amount is $7,578.70. Councilman Ring, I did not
estimate. Um, can I have a motion >> comment real quick? Um, and I alluded to this earlier during our budget discussion, but I think it's important to reiterate. There was a successful tax appeal resulting in in the need to refund this money. Um, we are refunding
at our expense $6,74512 that was paid to either the school district or the county andor the fire district. So, you know, we're not just refunding the taxes, the $833 that were paid to us. We are refunding taxes and
and those entities get to keep that money. And I think that's important to note that there this is an impact and this is the way the law works and I've never liked it and I still don't like it, but there is a tax court ruling and we have to honor that. And I'll move 12B.
>> I share your dislike of many court rulings, >> having practiced law for many years. employers. >> Hey, don't look at me. I I only do mediation. >> Just one question about this. Uh is it is what what uh what is the nature of
this property? Is it residential, commercial, industrial? >> I was under the impression it was residential. >> I'm I'm not sure. I'm not sure. >> Stand by. >> 245 Union. >> Can I have a motion?
>> I made the motion. >> Oh, you made the motion. Did we got a second? Okay. So, roll call, please. >> Bako, >> yes. >> Woman Isla. >> Yes. >> Councilman Kersh. Yes. >> Councilman Ring. >> Yes. >> Commercial building. >> Yes. Okay. Thank you.
Did you look that up on your phone real quick? I'm impressed. >> Google Maps. >> Okay. Resolution providing for emergency temporary appropriations for the current fund 1,525,000 which brings the 2026 yeartodate
temporary appro appropriations 23,261,664. This is because we had only approved um the budget through March 31st and now we have to we're already at April 9th. We have to get through till the final budget is approved. Um any is there any
discussion? >> We need to do it. I move 12 C. >> Second. >> Uh can I have a roll call, please? >> Councilman Banko. >> Yes. >> Council Councilwoman. >> Yes. Councilman Kersh. >> Yes. >> Councilman Ring. >> Yes.
>> Ker. >> Yes. D. Authorizing the award of contract to sovereign consultants consulting inc uh 111A North Gold Drive, Ronbinsville, New Jersey 08691
for the Middlebrook sanitary sewer pumping station phase 2 improvement project for the township of Bridgewater in an amount not to exceed 2,946,000 funded through the sewer bond ordinance number 25-13.
Um would you like to give a an explanation? Thank you. >> I would. Um again, if you look at the resolution, you can see there were numerous other companies that submitted proposals. Uh this um low responsible
bid is 2.9 million. The highest was 4.4 million. Uh quite a spread. Uh but we're very confident that this uh entity will be able to do a very good job. They're known to construct similar pump stations in other parts of the state. Um and uh
we're very pleased to present this tonight. >> There any further discussion? >> I'll move the resolution 12D. >> Um I'll second it with a quick comment. I know there was some comments earlier about purchasing. This is a prime example that we are it's it's a bidding
process. We have to accept the low bid. Um, so unless >> most responsible bid >> unless there's extenduating circumstances, but yeah, I second it. We need people's toilets to flush. >> Anyway, I think you seconded it. Uh, can
I have a roll call, please? >> Councilman Bako, >> yes. >> Councilwoman Isla, >> yes. >> Councilman Kersh, >> yes. >> Councilman Ring, >> yes. >> Guyer, >> yes. Next. Resolution authorizing an additional $79,65.60 60 cents for the purchase of road salt
for the 2025 2026 winter season from the Somerset County Road and Bridge Division P. Box 3000 Somerville, New Jersey 08876 in the amount not to exceed $229,6560. And I just I had a question about that.
Is this salt that we already used that we is this a bill that we owe or is this salt that we want to have in case we have another storm? I think the vast majority is what we've already used, but we want we need to have some just in case. >> Make a suggestion we do 12 ENF on consent.
>> Okay, I'll read 12F then. Resolution authorizing an additional 121,446.25 25 cents to RJM Landscape and Design LLC of 820 821 Parsonage Hill Drive, Branchburg, New Jersey 08876 for snow
removal services in the amount not to exceed $681,446.25 for the 2025/2026 winter season. And again, it's it's all connected with these storms we've already had. But there is a, you know, while we're thinking spring, we have to
recognize that this is a 2526. So, you know, we could get snow in November, December. >> We could. >> So, >> it's happened before. >> I'll move 12 ENF on consent. >> Can I have a second? >> Second. >> Roll call, please. >> Councilman Bo,
>> yes. >> Councilwoman Isla, >> yes. Councilman Kersh, >> yes. >> Councilman Ring, >> yes. >> President Gger, >> yes. G. authorizing a fireworks display for a private event at TD Bank Ballpark on September 26, 2026. Um, do we have to
do this for every time they have fireworks? >> Yes. >> Well, we we we we do it in in mass for the Patriots. >> This is this is a non-patriots. >> Any fireworks show in the we will also have to do one Fourth of July for the
county to do the at Miltown. When when I first joined the council, we used to do these monthly for the Patriots and then we finally said just give us the schedule for the year. >> So, we haven't done it for the for the for the Patriots yet for we did >> we did it already in late 25 for the
28th. >> Oh, so then they try to >> Oh, well, thank you very much for doing that. >> Yes. >> Let's do six more. >> I I sus I I suspect there's going to be one coming for June.
>> They typically do. Okay. Um, can I have can I have a mot? Probably need um >> fireworks for when they they dawn the semiquincentennial. Yeah, >> they that's on the list. >> So, >> I've practiced saying semiquincentennial.
>> That's the spelling be word for the year. >> All getting punchy. Um, can I have a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> Second. Also. Okay. Um, council president, before you move, oh, I'm sorry. You got to do a vote.
>> Councilman Beco, >> yes. >> Councilwoman Isla, >> yes. >> Councilman Kersh, >> yes. >> Councilman Ring, >> yes. >> President Geger, >> yes. >> Uh, Council President, before you read 12H as a member of the Elks, I am going to abstain from 12H.
>> Okay. Thank you. >> So, a resolution of the township of Bridgewater authorizing a $100 fee waiver. Oh my god. for the Somerville Elks Lodge number 1036 Food Truck Festival. Oo, to be held on April 20th
at Somerville Elks, 375 Union Avenue, Bridgewater, New Jersey, 08807 to support the drug awareness program. Can I have a motion to approve? >> So moved. >> I have a second. >> Uh, can we have a roll call, please? >> Councilman Beo,
>> yes. >> Councilwoman Isla, >> yes. >> Councilman Kush, >> yes. Councilman Ring >> abstain. >> President Geger. >> Yes. And finally, a resolution of the township council of Bridgewater authorizing the waiver of vendor fees in the amount of $150 for the Afala Center
Eid celebration event to be held on April 18th at the township building. Oh, they're going to hold it here. >> Sorry. >> I have 175. >> Said 150 and my agenda says 175. >> Oh, you know what? I have I'm reading from a a prior. Okay. So 175
>> resolution also says 175. >> Yeah. >> Can I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Second. >> Uh roll call, please. >> Councilman Bakov. >> Yes. >> Woman Isla. >> Yes. Councilman Kush. >> Yes. >> Councilman Ring. >> Yes.
>> President Gger. >> Yes. Is there any discussion? Any any discussion about anything that anyone wants to bring up that we haven't I mean we we do a lot of discussion. >> I'd like to discuss a motion to adjurnn. >> No session. >> Oh, we have closed. All right. >> We have a closed session.
>> We send my motion. >> Okay. >> Has been sitting here for three hours. He's got three minutes. >> It's going to be longer than planning board today. >> Do we um >> you have to read that anticipate action. >> Okay. So, be it resolved by the
Bridgewater Township Council that this body will now hold a closed meeting to discuss litigation. When and if the matters discussed become public record, this will be made known to the public at that time. The public is excluded from said meeting and further notice thereof is dispensed with all in accordance with
sections 8 and 4A of the Open Public Meetings Act. Can I have a motion to accept to for Can I have a motion to move into close session? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Uh I think I take a roll call on this
one. >> No. >> No. >> Oh. All right. >> Because it's a resolution. >> All right. >> Thank you. >> You want me to do the vocal? >> Yes. >> Oh, okay. Councilman Becko. >> Yes. >> Councilwoman Isla. >> Yes. >> Councilman Kersh. Yes.
>> Councilman Ring. >> Yes. >> Reser. Yes, >> council president. I think it's important to note for any of the public I'm being told that we do not anticipate taking any action after closed session other than adjourning. >> Well, that's good news.
>> Well, we try to tell the public because sometimes we come out of close session and we do take action. >> Oh, yeah. No, I know what you mean. We come back in. Right. Right. Right. We are not coming back in this. >> So, some Yeah. somebody is watching at home or here they thinking >> because they wouldn't have the correct agenda
>> or they wouldn't know there's >> potential action. >> Correct. >> They can they can enjoy the pit instead of >> you can't miss it >> waiting for our stream. >> Listen, you're going to get a full attendance report for the last 5 years at the next meeting. So don't worry. >> Can
>> because I already wrote myself a note. Are we gonna have like the animal shelter animal videos up like every time we kind of have >> Mr. Ash didn't know you were coming? >> We can't We got to wait for the public and then we also start.
>> We want to confirm with the closet that we're off. >> Are we off? >> Are we off? >> Doing a good job. >> I'm going to use the men's room. Go ahead. We'll take Why don't we take >> No, there's to take a break unless
>> Mr. Ash should start immediately. >> Okay. >> Hello and goodbye, Frank. Now, if Mr. Papus, if he connects, >> if he connects, that's not feeding or
>> No, he's connecting his laptop.