##VIDEO ID:W97p9pUzlgU## with the open public meetings Act of New Jersey adequate notice of this meeting was provided on December 10th 2024 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 Madam clerk when we have the roll call please councilman kush here councilman codilla here councilman pedroo here councilman ring president Nogales yes uh councilman r could I ask you to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance please flag the United States of America to the it stands Nation indivisible jice for all thank you um minutes for approval we have minutes for December 19th and January 2nd the uh there was a modification to the January 2nd minutes has everyone had an opportunity to aine on those if so may I have a motion on December 19th and January 2nd please motion to approve those minutes thank you second please I'll second Howard all thank you all those in favor I I the minutes are approved moving to council reports we're going to start with Mr ring thank you sir uh very brief report tonight um earlier this evening I attended the township uh EMS advisory committee meeting um regarding the future of EMS and Bridgewater and then the only other item um and I may get in trouble for this but I would be extremely remiss if I did not um extend a happy birthday to Mr Corsini today we sing no there's you know appreciated there's I need to sing my family has a tradition I we sing to each if it's good for the nor Gallas it's good for me but I ithk you appreci I did have two telephone conversations with him today and I forgot to wish him a happy birthday so your wife is tomorrow so yes was that it Tim that's it yes uh Allan would you go next please okay uh other than wishing Chris a happy birthday I do not have anything to report at this meeting an excellent report thank you uh Philip thank you sir we did had the first uh Somerset Regional Center partnership meeting which Mr papus and I were in attendance I can report back that absolutely nothing of eventful happened at that meeting uh I do have a couple questions as followup is there any is there any news on the Drone situation have you does the administration know anything of new no the only thing that I'm aware of is the uh what I was informed that the FAA had issued some sort of a more moratorium that I believe expires tomorrow a 30-day um moratorium and I don't know don't have any more information other than that okay I um if it's helpful oh I unrelated it to this but I attended a meeting today where uh a representative of the FBI gave a very brief update that not sure I could summarize it because I'm not really sure what the update was but uh there are also um reports that the new Administration will release the report next week okay well there you go um also um is there any update on the water situation and the the odor and I know that um I know that NJ American Water released a report that there was a chemical leak out of a company in Branchburg and they associate that with the water but then there was really nothing else that followed up are we aware of is there is the water like is it is the situation back to normal or what's the status of the water um I all I've heard and periodically the New Jersey American water does send um written communication uh last I can recall is that they indicated that they thought things were uh pretty much back to normal uh we have not gotten uh any complaints from anyone in town recently um I could certainly follow up and see if they have anything new but last report that I received they said that they thought the issue had been addressed obviously like like every other resident in Bridgewater I followed that situation closely I thought um I wasn't very pleased with the way it was handled I think information was wasn't provided very quickly we were told in vague terms that the water was passing minimal NJ DP standards where whatever that is I doubt the njd P test for Every chemical Under the Sun uh so they they test what they have to test and there was obviously a concern going on that people were U obviously worried about uh I know the suet County initially reported to that site to the I guess the the the leak site in Branchburg from what I read the Somerset County unit reported there when they were aware of it I don't know why that information wasn't then passed on to to the America to the water company like it just seems like like the dots weren't connected or if there were the public wasn't informed um just uh I just feel like the whole the whole thing and the wasn't really handled expeditiously or information wasn't really provided enough to the public um I don't know what we can do about it but I certainly wasn't happy about about that and uh the last thing I want to want to say is uh I guess we do have a new president well I guess the president again being sworn in Donald Trump on on Monday uh congratulations to president Trump I wish him well the next four years and uh look forward to the upcoming Administration thank you councilman kers please yes thank you um so we back on January 7 the planning board met and reorganized uh with Marcio vesio continuing as as the chair I heard two cases the either the third or fourth uh uh hearing for Chick-fil-A it was the case was completed uh and was approved with uh with conditions there was considerable discussion about uh traffic impacts and safely getting people on and off that property when I state that property I'm referring specifically to uh what was the Ruby Tuesday uh over by the um uh the plaza with the Wegman and the Home Depot uh and then also approved uh what I'll just simply uh refer to as compliance matters related to OS uh a very interesting company operating over on miltown road across uh from the park uh they have um uh some some some some really cutting a Cutting Edge uh technology uh designed to improve air quality quality uh and they are based here in Bridgewater uh from from there uh later that same evening uh I uh attended um uh a um reception for uh the swearing in of our newest uh Board of Ed member Jeremy Lee which allows me to then tell the broader story that the Board of Education also reorganized on January 7th uh swore in its uh its members reelected uh Jen logren who's here with us AJ Joi and the previously mentioned Jeremy Lee sworn in for the first time Steve singer was named president for the year Emily kry uh will be the vice president uh and then uh the zoning board met and reorganized last night Jeff fous will continue as the chair uh and they had two cases two residential cases an addition on Middle Road uh and then a um uh a rebuild of a fire damaged home on Corel dve uh interesting uh situation and illustration of really the Bridgewater spirit this room was largely filled with people for that meeting or ordinarily when a room is filled for for a a land use uh board uh meeting that may not be the best of situations uh this was essentially the entire Sunset Lake Community coming out in support of that family uh and their efforts to rebuild their home uh coming up January 28th the Starbucks application uh is back there were concerns about uh traffic in and out of their um uh proposed drive-thru uh and then finally I'll just uh mention that we are in dog and cat license season so uh the humans have until January 31st to register their dogs and their cats uh and certainly you wouldn't want to create any stress for them that might impact their napping schedule so get your dog and cat licenses completed and that's my report thank you uh my report and I welcome everyone to the first regular meeting of 2025 and if you're keeping track there are 25 Council meetings until Christmas mark your calendars uh Jersey Central Power continues to install Smart electric meters in their service area I have been advised that they are using a sub subcontractor by the name of Wellington exclusively at one point in the past I thought there would be a combination of jcpnl and Wellington but it's now Wellington only uh doing the installation so the person who shows up at your home will probably be in a white van it will say Wellington on the side and there should be no reason for Wellington employees to enter your home I continue to receive very negative verbal road condition feedback from residents using Country Club Meadow and Van Holton especially for school access the issue is the PSENG gas line replacement project the trenches in many cases have settled causing ruts in other cases Pat patches were raised in anticipation of settling that did not happen I've have been reminded that the town has invested millions of dollars in road work Tom janov and engineer Bill Burr continue to work with psng to confirm that not only how what they're going to do to fix the major ruts uh but to confirm the dates in spring when the effective roads will be repaved curb to curb at psng expenses at the request of SJP management that's the office uh complex next to ethon on Route 22 uh mayor MCH administrator papis Deputy Administrator Stevens and I uh had a tour of several SJP buildings it's no secret SJP opposes Redevelopment of the ethicon site and it is confirmed as of yesterday that they will intervene in the township Redevelopment effort for the former eacon property more to follow on that is that issue uh but speaking of the former ethicon property the property you will recall back in November we we declared it as in need of Redevelopment the state of New Jersey gets to aine on these issues and on December 26th mayor mench received a letter from the commissioner of the Department of community fairs that they agreed with the property in question and that it is consistent with the state objective for redevelopment the municipal Alliance committee meeting in January was cancelled as the council rep reorganization date prevented seating of membership the meeting will resume uh on on February 5th I have been discussing the stop sign at the uh talamini and country club uh intersection with director of Municipal Services Genova the location has had several accidents over the last couple of years including one fatality uh Mr janova has asked the road project committee to evaluate the issue and at their meeting earlier this week uh the group decided on a dual approach uh the first is to replace the talamini stop sign with a larger one which is often seen in in Summerville uh the sign has been ordered the second part will take a little longer and involve a street light installation at that T intersection uh it's been deed overly dark and that may have been a contributing factor that is my report uh mayor's report please Mr papus thank you um Mr nalis I was going to report about the psng uh uh gas main replacement on those roads thank you for um summarizing what here to serve said yes um the um the primary item that I'd like to address the council with is um a subject that um concerns affordable housing um we um as you know have a number of municipally owned Parcels in town uh one of them uh is on Route 202 206 number of years ago it had been purchased with affordable housing trust funds and um the uh uh Council has received today a draft ordinance prepared by Mr corini's office U I think Mr savvo particularly or specifically prepared it I have a hard copy of a memo that he prepared that is uh distributed here hard copy and as well as via email earlier um we are uh recommending that the council consider an ordinance introduction that would permit the uh transfer of that property uh to a uh uh private uh concern that has extensive experience in constructing small affordable housing uh units and um we would ask for your consideration as I said I I distributed copies through Miss Kanga uh earlier today and would be happy to answer any questions any questions uh I think this is a very worthy project and I would suggest that you prepare it for uh introduction at the next meeting and well prepared uh thank you yes okay uh that concludes list of reports we now move on for proclamations number seven there are none uh moving to item eight presentations there are none and now we're at item number nine meeting open to the public members of the public wishing to to address the Council on any matter will be allowed 2 minutes to speak unless there are unusual circumstances may I have a motion to open to publicly oh moved can we have a second second second all those in favor I all right we're now open come on up if you wish to there's a sign-in sheet for you please give us your name and address and tell us what you're what you're interested in uh thanks everyone uh it's my first meeting here and uh didn't bring anything prepared uh but uh two stories I wanted to tell you first of all to hopefully brighten up uh the start of the new year for you guys your name Manish Patel 41 Schaefer Road Bridge Water New Jersey uh is that your first or last name m Manish is my first name Manish thank you sir and I've been here 21 years and loved every second of it and my kids loved it graduated from the high school and uh hopefully continue to do well based on what they got out of it um Story number one is a couple years ago we were supposed to relocate to uh Massachusetts to Boston and uh it seemed like a good idea at the time uh but circumstances in life changed that direction and uh we ended up staying here but even when we were thinking thinking of uh it happening we said what do we do afterwards cuz we didn't want to live in Massachusetts forever we said we want to come back to New Jersey where do we want to live we wanted to come back to Bridgewater right um and so that's that's how much this town means to us uh personally uh you know we keep talking about well you know kids are gone time to downsize time to move to something else somewhere else and quite honestly uh we love New Jersey and of course we love Bridgewater where else can you ski surf hike uh and uh do many other things within an hour's Drive um and fly anywhere in the world of course too Second Story is a friend's story his son lost his wallet at the Bridgewater Mall teenager typical of course right uh everything in it ID uh cards all kinds of things uh a Good Samaritan found it turned it into the bridgew police department bridgew police department looked them up called up the Hillsboro Police Department dropped it off there Hillsboro Police Department returned it to the kid within 2 days so you know these are great stories right about that that make me want to stay here in Bridgewater uh and that's why I'm here tonight normally I'm not able to but uh I appreciate you having this meeting appreciate all of you always showing up uh rain or shine I guess and snow um but you know I I my main thing that I uh want to ask about and it's really an ask or request uh for hopefully future consideration discussion um uh Mr pedosa mentioned uh I think you did mention the new business opening up uh on miltown road uh or it was uh it was you I couldn't tell well was it was it was my coming um not not that new um I I I well I mean they had their ribbon cutting probably last summer okay and it's it's a OS a like Victor n oos and we're going to see obviously a Chick-fil-A uh and then I heard something about a Starbucks asking for something too uh I read something there as well all well and good and the question I guess I have is uh and the reason that Bridgewater is so great New Jersey is so great is a reason that most people don't like which is high taxes um I consider you know the comparison of Bridgewater to Oklahoma a comparison of Costco to Walmart uh you go to Costco for Value pretty sure most people here have a membership uh you go there because of the quality of what they give you uh and it may not always be uh the least expensive choice but it's going to be the best value right you go to Walmart you're going to get price you're also going to get what you pay for and that's what I always tell people that complain about their taxes in New Jersey and so I'm not going to complain about the taxes about that what I am going to ask though is like what are additional activities that are occurring to either attract uh retain businesses uh because I don't know what the Fallout is of uh the J&J ethicon changes uh closings whatever they calling it uh and also of course we lost copi um to a neb you know Northern neighbor not even like you know they moved to North Carolina or something so you know and I'm here as a citizen you guys have my info you know I'm more than happy if there's like a community group a Citizens group that's here to help you guys on trying to attract business what can we say to people um you know that we have relationships uh that would you know be of benefit to come to Bridgewater you know like Trenton used to be you know uh Trenton makes it the world you know and and that sort of saying saying how do we get our Netflix how do we get our Lion's gate uh and that's and Wrigley and that sort of thing what what are the things we can do and you know I don't need answers now but Mr papis maybe you can share the economic development information with him uh you know after the me give them your business card or something do you see Mr prus we do have an economic development committee uh that works to help uh assist and identify activities and that sounds like something you would be interested in so it would be thank you and uh of course i' I've gotten more involved canvasing and campaigning uh and of course I always hear about taxes taxes taxes and of course living here long enough everyone complains about taxes uh but a lot of the people who complain about it you know also have a second home at the shore so a lot of contradictions there but at the same time what can we do to make sure Bridgewater you know maintains its standard uh remains competitive with the surrounding towns uh and of course you know with what standards New Jersey has set for uh for everybody and thank you for your continued residence in Bridgewater thanks right next please come forward ah Miss Geyer our frequent flyer good evening yes I am a frequent flyer my name is Joan G Gyer um good evening to the members of the council to Grace I'm going to try n niguana okay um members of the audience and those watching on video um it's my understanding that you are going to be addressing some really important issues regarding the affordable housing um with respect to the January 31st well you're going to be addressing those issues uh on January 30th in two weeks um and with respect to the upcoming deadline on January 31st relating to that so I just wanted to put on the record some questions that um I have and I think probably other members of the public have and I want to make it very clear that I'm pretty sure your your intent is to answer those questions next week um or in the next meeting because they can't really be answered quite yet um so those questions are the following um I think we all know that the state's requirement is that bridgew add 474 affordable housing units over the next 10 years um by 2035 um and Bridgewater now has two weeks left to provide the state with its own calculations in other words to challenge those calculations um as to how the state's formula should be fairly and correctly applied to bridge waterer so the questions are and again I want to emphasize that I think you're going to be answering them um who is in charge of providing the state with Bridgewater's own calculations to determine the number of units that the town should add by 2035 what progress has been made how prepared is the town to submit its calculations to the state by January 31st it's only 2 weeks from now do we have an estimate of how many units the town believes the number should be um in the past Bridgewater has successfully challenged the state's formula based on criteria that was wrongfully included in their formula such as considering roads and Green Acres um as land available uh for required units are there any similar problems with the state's current calculation and if so what are they um thank you very much thank you Miss Geer uh Miss Geer had spoken to me about this issue earlier and she asked me if I was concerned I'm going to tell you what I what I wrote to her I said uh I as a resident and as a councilman I'm very concerned about the affordable housing requirement being forced on the town by the courts however I need you all to be patient until the meeting on the 30th when the council will formally reply via resolution rest assured that this topic has the full attention of the council the administration and our affordable housing consultant who was engaged early last year uh is there anything either Mr corini or Mr papus would like to add related to this topic we continue to work on it especially Alex Fisher from my office um it's a it's a multi-year project for us um involving many different facets and we will you know whatever resources are available will be made available so the only thing I would point out is uh there miss Geer and other people U have uh been given the impression that the figure that you quoted that was produced by the Department of Community Affairs is an identified number for each municipali or Bridgewater uh that that's not the case they have undertaken a calculation which they were required to under the legislation that was passed uh but it is not a requirement it is a calculation that they have made uh identifying what they believe to be uh developable land and have a rather complicated uh formula to determine a number of units so we will U address that uh in two weeks in detail and if I may add that at least one of the locations identified by State uh is in the reservoir on Chimney Rock Road so there'll probably be a house boat up there uh but seriously uh we are taking this very very seriously we will be prepared to respond on the meeting of the 30th um and that's as much as I want to add at this point we get a couple house boats there couple that's right we can rent pontoon boats yeah we can make Mr is there anyone else who wishes to address the account Mr President just just one one other comment on this it's important to also note that that what will happen on January 30th is in a broader is in a broader cont it's in a broader context uh which is that that over a period of many many years under the guidance of our law firm uh we have been compliant we are relatively speaking in coming to this from position of strength and that's the reason why we have not seen the type of uh extensive building and growth that has had to occur occur in some of our neighboring towns giving Warren and and Branchburg as example so you know we're we're going to address this we've been addressing this but this is this has been you know a 20 year or more Saga correct Chris it has been when we fight when we fight daily especially two individuals fight daily so okay okay thank you haven't seen you in a couple of years members my name is Curtis Kraut um I live on Adamsville Road 199 Adamsville Road um the reason I'm here this evening is because of uh I'm hopeful that maybe the board the board the the council can can maybe set some clearer ground rules for a specific topic and uh so I've been I've been at my current address for 39 years and basically I'm trying to keep my neighbors informed of the development on an adjoining property which is uh the greymark property it's the greymark track along Route 22 West uh eastbound um there's a single building on the property and there's a current application before the zoning board uh to possibly install 180,000 sqt Warehouse uh back in uh October I believe of 2022 the council passed a master plan change basically disallowing the use of uh warehousing along the uh route 2022 Carter for the M1 zones um this is an m1b Zone um and now present day we're currently 13 months into the review of an application before the zoning board uh to develop that property for a warehouse um I became aware back in late November uh that essentially there was a parallel process that's been started at the request of the council to designate the property as an area in need of Redevelopment and that process was started I guess last summer and I was totally unaware of it because I've been honestly very focused on all the delays and public meetings associated with the zoning board application I had no idea that the ainr process had been instituted by or at least initiated by you guys and um and parsed out to a contractor Michael Sullivan who is a a Redevelopment planner I believe that the township has uh uh coordinated with he produced a report and that report became the basis of the planning board to uh recommend to the council that that area be designated a an area in need of Redevelopment and in fact at the council meeting on December 5th of last year uh the council did approve that request and designated that property as an area in need of R development what brings me here tonight is that the process is at this point going down three separate paths from my point of view as a member of the public and it's really getting very difficult to to follow um the changes unless we're we in the public are are very aware of the the full process and uh potential for public input at meetings either through the planning board who will eventually make recommendations to the council regarding the ainr plan that's been authorized by the council to uh come up to develop an AI ainr plan and um so I'm assuming that the the uh the Consulting planner Michael Sullivan is going to be producing a report and the report is going to probably take a you know input from the owner of the property possibly the council members um but the public myself included um are really uh sort of at a loss in terms of understanding at what point we will have the opportunity to insert ourselves in the process and at least critique or provide input with regard to the initial draft that Mr Sullivan is presumably producing so there is no schedule that I've seen in terms of Mr Sullivan's process to develop a plan and public meetings haven't been announced and as far as I understand with the ainr process there is a different notification requirement than typically uh part of the you know planning board and zoning board meetings so I I have not seen Public Notices I guess specifically about the AI or I'm not saying that they didn't happen but I I was I was not prepared to look for them and going forward I'm asking the council if there's something that can be done uh within the Township from an administrative perspective such as that when Mr Sullivan has prepared his ainr report uh not the report but the plan which I'm assuming is what the next step is that he can post that plan on a publicly available uh uh location such as uh that's used by the planning office right now there's a subfolder that's on the network drive it's available to the public and it's labeled n a NR projects and it has basically three preliminary reports that were all generated by Mr Sullivan one for the eth con site one for this site and one for the yard way site so I'm assuming that since you approve this uh um this process to go forward and designated the that ainr is is uh to be U the foundation for this new plan I'm trying to find out at what point we can actually see a preliminary draft of this uh plan that's produced by m Mr Sullivan other than waiting for an agenda to come out the night before meeting um the the plan that Mr Sullivan put together on this property is 113 pages long and I'm going to ask Mr papis uh to provide a response for you if you want to make me let Mr Kraut finish so I can address maybe all of his questions I'm sorry till you finished and then I would try to address all of your questions questions so um I mean the I'm very knowledgeable about the project that's currently in process with the zoning board I know about the history of the pro of projects on this site and what I personally want to see and what a lot of my neighbors do or don't want to see I'm just trying to find out at what point since it's in parallel with the current zoning board application which has not yet been withdra drawn to my knowledge and it's been scheduled for February 11th which is a month from now or what little little less than a month from now what uh what opportunity are we going to get to to see Mr zulan's Sullivan's work product uh as early as possible so that we could at least read it and provide some intelligent uh feedback uh about the viability or do you know likes dislikes whatever in terms of what's going to be incorporated because far as I understand if the ainr process is is instituted which it has been for this site then once this plan is formulated then that's what's going to have to a developer will have to use to uh put put a project together and you know I'm assuming that maybe they're part of the process to some degree but the public at the moment isn't part of that process so I'm sure you know the Milestones are going to be that the ainr plan is going to get put together and um there's going to be a process for that and then I would assume subsequent to that is's actually going to be a an application that's put forth by the developer for whatever either in in agreement with what the a ainr plan specifies or not and which case I guess this can go to litigation or something like that down the road and I know that that's already in process against the township so there's at least three directions this is all going at the same time so anything that the the council can do in terms of at least smoothing the communication channels out so that the public is aware of the work product of Mr Sullivan as early as possible so we can comment on it at public meetings it would be highly desirable uh a month or so ago MRK stopped by and we had a lengthy meeting and I did describe and went through each of the points that he raised here tonight and uh tried to summarize in detail I think uh the process and uh and that um and then he he came by guess a few weeks later and the mayor was here and he had an impromptu meeting with the mayor and I think the mayor did the same thing um but just as a emphasis um the with regard to the greymark property he Mr Crut is correct Mr Sullivan is uh drafting a report uh that report has not been completed uh he is finalizing it and would then share it with the planning board uh once it's put on a planning board agenda that has to be I think it's either 10 or 14 days uh advaned notice and that document would be available to the public and that would be noted in the planning board agendas I think Mr Kut you are on the list getting the notifications of both land use boards and I and I understand that you're busy and you don't necessarily U go through your email in detail but that that's that's what we've done to try to make the U information available to the public Beyond um uh what is required by law um and so when that is uh finalized and presented to the planning board the planning board does have a public hearing and that then members of the public would be able to provide comment and then the board would consider those comments and either act or decide not to act or modify whatever Mr Sullivan has presented and then depending upon the planning board's action would then come back to the council so um that that's that's what we described we we discussed and uh and I understand his interest in this and try to Ure sure that he's made aware of what's happening but there's no there's no scheduled date yet it would be likely at a regular planning board meeting Mr Sullivan is in fact doing the the plan or he's drafting something for the planning board to review that's the process he has to draft something based upon his expertise there are no Milestones have been established as as to when he's going to get a first draft or like that no he's working on it uh but there's no date that he's given us uh he's hoping in a few weeks could be a month um just trying to gauge time I I understand as a member of the public all I can do is poll things the lack of computer terms but uh you know I have to constantly look at Public Notices I go to the planning office I do my own research which is a lot and then uh and I still don't know the basic you know time frame and then I'm want to keep people informed I've told you all that I can and we're we're not uh withholding any information there's no date uh and when there's a date it will be on a planning board agenda and will be distributed via the email opportunity to get yes to to get insight as to when meetings will be held you will not be left out of the process and and it would not be there's no plan to have a special planning board meeting where this would be heard it would be one of the regularly scheduled meetings that have schedule's already been approved so you think it'll be a special plan no no I'm saying regular Mee regular planning board meeting and just for just for context I'm the planning board member from Council I get the agenda same as everybody else and I get the information same as anybody else so you know I have the list of dates I get the notices so whether this is ready to be heard in February or March you know I don't know you know what as soon as soon as as soon as it's available it's placed on on agenda and that's how I know about it that's how the planning board members know about it that's how the public knows about it right but you're in a better position because of the requirements that the applicant has for a zoning or planning board application to submit X number of copies for all the board members to review ahead of time and uh and the public is not aware of that until the agenda comes out which my experience has been comes out the Friday before that's about when we get our packets is the Thursday or Friday before A Tuesday meeting so I'm I'm not getting it any sooner that's when the material is available I take my responsibility as a knowledgeable member of the public to to to educate myself as early as possible because when I get in front of you guys I want to have facts and I want to be able to talk we appreciate that Mr Krauss huh we we appreciate the fact that you take this matter very seriously and that you do your homework uh and that's to be applauded uh the opportunity exists you have access to the agendas uh and and you you're not you're provided with the same opportunities that the people on this side of the of the gatar uh to understand when when meetings will be held does Mr Sullivan have office hours at the planning office so it's not possible to meet with him or discuss at Le you and I disc his schedule is you and I discussed that when we met and I said that he's a a consultant to the planning board and he will be available to the public during the public hearing and so he will be here he will U listen to questions and and comments but uh we did not uh the engagement of Mr Sullivan did not uh allow for him to have office hours for any number of members of the public to interact with him it's just it's not feasible okay okay Mr I want to thank you for your input uh but um I I think you you fully understand the opportunities that that are available to you to to understand the schedule and to participate at whatever degree uh you you wish to well but there is no schedule at this point I mean it's an in that's true but when information does become available it will be a matter of public notice okay thank you okay anyone else wishing to address the council hello Carolyn Joya 1402 py Court first of all thank you for letting the previous speaker continue on until he felt his answers or his comments were adequately addressed thank you uh secondly thank you for having this live stream because I used it tonight on my way over here I apologize for being late but there was snow on my car when I got out tonight and it slowed me down I was able to hear all of your reports and it was very helpful especially count councilman P Roo's um comment about the water which was my main concern and I understood he that he brought up um questions about why is it so hard to get information and what can we do to be more proactive about getting information instead of waiting to read about it in the patch so I want to reiterate that is my concern I'm still drinking bottle water I'm not comfortable I can still taste it and I really hope next week we'll have um or next meeting we'll have a more detailed answer as to what we're doing proactively to contact and figure out is the water okay or do we just assume it's okay um secondly and lastly um thanks to the live stream I was able to hear the rorg meeting unfortunately mayor mench is not here tonight I was going to ask him about his comments about um a number he threw out that we might need thousands of affordable housing units and I was wondering where he was um referencing that number from so um I thought the number was closer to the previous speakers around we're 75 over 10 years um and then you repeat what you thought mayor I he said we will have to do hundreds or thousands of affordable housing units I think it's not it's not affordable units it's there's a formula and and you there's a couple of ways of accom in it a municipality could exclusively build affordable units but then those would need to be essentially a Township expense and on Township property the other more common alternative that's chosen in most municipalities is is uh a set aside of a certain number of market rate units and I believe the formula is four to one it's usually 10% so so so you get a private developer who goes out and says I'm going to build a 100 homes I'll make 10% of them affordable housing so if you have to build 475 affordable housing and you follow a traditional Builder model you're looking at potentially 4,750 additional homes in this Township that is being mandated on us by the state didn't we have um in order to accomplish the 475 Apartments though in Bridge Water I don't think didn't we have an agreement that we're not doing apartments in Bridgewater that didn't say Apartments 4,700 these are homes residentials rental property okay all right and we have been very successful over many years going back over 30 years so we have a lot of affordable housing homes and we were we were compliant with the rules that existed right up until last part the end of last year when the court system threw everything out and said okay we're going to decide that we need and I'll use numbers that I think are 89,000 affordable homes and what we're going to do is allocate the around by town by town by town uh whether whether it it's con whether it's consistent with the way your town is don't care and they came up with 474 homes for us now between now and as I mentioned to the prior speakers uh we are working diligently between now and the 30th of this month to come up with a plan to address those state requirements we will be responding bya resolution this Council will have a resolution uh it is being prepared by a football team of people whether it's the legal staff whether it's the the planner that we hired last year for affordable housing or whether the administration there's this is like a duck with the feet underwater I mean lots of stuff are happening uh but uh come back for the 30th is the best thing I can say and I not that all will reveal but you'll never heck of a lot more on the 30th than you do today okay and that we don't have any outstanding I thought I read somewhere that was 130 that we were behind on is there also in no we're all up to date we're well ahead we're 200 ahead yeah we're okay and my last and we're very proud of that when the last round was done we were the first town to settle in Somerset County uh I I was there before judge Miller when he uh when he apped on it and project my Law Firm started in 20 in January of 2004 when Bill Savo was sworn into to sit in his chair so okay so my last comment then sorry excuse me thank you for clarifying that that thousand number I'm just going strictly on his words from the meeting um the other thing he had said is that we would um possibly pursue litigation um with the state if we couldn't come to a resolution as to what we think there's multiple municipalities that are attempting to get a restraining order against the state for the affordable housing model that came out I think that they had a ruling on that this week and it was as of yesterday I thought it was still I'm not you there's another case moving right I try to keep up but I'm not the best both right we are not alone in opposing this in whatever vehicle in whatever Arena uh we can as are many many other towns exactly and I understand I'm in the legal business I understand there are times when litigation is appropriate however as a resident how do we pay for that is that already accounted for in the budget if we were to go down that road that was my question and would would be alerted ahead of time if that does turn out to be the best solution so that was my final question you don't have to answer it right now but keep it in mind thank you thank you for sharing with us someone else wishing to address the counil yes John R colio 1110 uh Washington Valley Road Bridgewater um I gu four quick topics I want to go over one is um concept of Freedom uh environment and sustainability eight First Responders and the before mentioned we've been talking about affordable housing so first I want to go over freedom I mean I've been spending a lot of time reading Timothy Snider's book on tyranny on freedom and he's an expert on that situation studying Eastern Europe um he describes many different aspects types and characteristics of Freedom uh just this year the council reduced the amount of time that people could speak in front of the council from three minutes to two minutes so we now have a little sorry just want to clarify the council last year increased from to three said it was two minutes for this year it right and everybody so far has exceeded that the the president of the council by our bylaws decides how long the open for the public meeting it has been two minutes for a number of years last year uh Timothy changed it to three minutes I made it two minutes but but I have as I have said in fact um I I will be willing to to wait I don't want to get to the situation where I change it to a specific time and then somebody says I'm going to get up and read from Charles Dickens for two to 4 minutes and the filibuster and and then I'll get around to talking about what what I really want to talk about I I I would like and appreciate people to come up and be focused on what they want the previous gentleman uh he he spoke for 15 minutes and that was okay because he had a specific you can talk if you have if you have something that you want to share with this Council that's a content and relate it to the township I want to hear about it they want to hear about it but I I don't I don't want you to come up here and just say I can take my time and I they don't have to worry about it because their time is not important our time is important as is yours I understand your time is very valid with taking time away from your families to do Public Service I you know very appreciative of that fact um second one is um environment and sustainability um I've been doing some open open records requests and I can't see that the environmental Council environmental commission met at all this this last year is that correct Mr papis I mean nothing nothing they they they did not meet I mean that's a that's a norm and standard for every town across the state to have an environmental commission that meets and and acts upon things and I don't get to you know just sustainability I mean I you know I'm just I'm I'm pretty much you know very adamant about climate change and sustainability I'd really like you guys to get your act together on sustainability and environmental commission third one is aid for the First Responders uh going back uh historically this Council was donating $72,000 to First Aid squads in the township up until 2009 when uh uh 2010 came along we had a new member to the council um Matt MCH he cut the number down to $40,000 in 2011 they decided to raise it to $50,000 where it has been since 2011 I really think you people have to revisit that in the budget to up that aid for responders I think Tim understands where I'm coming from just to clarify um you're looking at a line item number in the budget um I can't go back very far historically but um I I don't remember if it was 2023 is um total is $50,000 the the total amount however there was a reduction because one of the organizations in the neighboring town uh stopped receiving money so there was actually a 25% increase to each each of the township based organizations still W as I reported uh at my Council reports we have a EMS advisory committee who is currently working on a number of different um things as it relates to EMS which is where your question is directed I I think going to $50,000 for the last 13 years I think you really got to revisit that number seriously um Mr Pap is that's your responsibility to determine a budget I guess in conjunction with the council the administration presents a budget and then the council reviews it and approves yeah there there are two components one is the amount of money that goes directly to the squad for for maintenance but the other is the length of award length of service award program which is money in the pocket of the individual uh Squad members well it's I don't think most of the volunteers and the rescue squads do it for for the loap money um I appreciate that uh information uh last but not least I guess we'll just touch on affordable housing on the 2nd of January uh mayor MCH came out in a very ballistic fashion talking about fighting and all the you know bad things about affordable housing granted he's uh granted he runs a law firm and he has a partner that did that was the uh lawyer who presented the hearing to the Supreme Court of New Jersey he knew earli in that day that he lost in that opinion and he still went out here and and gave a ballistic you know bombastic speech we really want to avoid litigation and fighting we really want to get to a reasonable number of affordable housing units that we should have and that's about all the same okay you're aware as I've said repeatedly on the 30th all shall be revealed so yeah okay but that's that's it I mean just uh I hear one thing from the uh the mayor and I just don't think it uh you know reflects the majority of people in the Township's uh ideas about you know the role of affording hous thank you thank you for your input anyone else wishing to address the council good evening and uh Happy New Year uh Jen lockran I live off of talamini road so I just wanted to lead sign in I'm yeah I'll do that um I just wanted to lead with uh gratitude for uh the decision to replace the stop sign and um the future uh outlook for stop light there uh I know that uh Diana and I she like ran to her phone to to go look up the the um the previous comments for Town Council so she's also very enthusiastic uh that was really what I had I did want to congratulate you um uh for taking the role of uh president and and also Mr PSO uh and appreciate you being there on Tuesday Mr kers uh the last thing I wanted to add was uh as you look at development I just hope that you consider activities recreational activities like skateboarding and bike riding particularly over at the um what's the name of the facility over on Country Club with the big path that we were talking about ethon because you know they have that that big property over there with a lot of Pathways and there's really not a lot of places for kids to ride bikes in that area so it would be great to to be able to utilize that space and I appreciate uh this time and I hope you have a good night M Mr Mr noralis I just correct something from miss lran you mentioned the intersection of talanian Country Club and I think you mentioned uh traffic light that that's not what was described what was described is there was a utility pole on the corner that a street light will be has been requested to be installed there okay yeah we not a traffic not a traffic light really happy to see that poll go though and and we do need some more light over in that corner so so we'll take what we can get thank you anyone else wishing to address the council seeing no one move to close public comment second please he second oh okay all public input I I we are closed to the public thank you uh for the uh item number 10 the uh public hearings and final action for ordinances we have none item 11 introduction of new ordinances we have none uh resolutions move moving to item 12a acknowledging the township council's review of salaries for the board of fire commissioners of districts 1 two 3 and four for the year 2025 um could I have a motion to introduce this please I will uh gladly move 12a would you like my comments now or wait no hold look okay can I have a second please a second second okay I'm we're open for comments now so you know this is we've been doing this a couple years now um it's a state requirement I scratched my head with it um just for the Public's benefit we're not approving we're acknowledging uh and I think it's also important to note the salaries in here are not set by the township they're set by the individual fire districts nor are the funds that are used to pay uh these salaries come out of Township funds they come out of fire district funds so okay uh from my perspective this is the state kicking the can for whatever reason the state uh is the organization that appin and approves the Fire Commission budgets for whatever reason they've decided that the commission salaries is something different from everything else and have tossed the ball back to the councils uh to to review it as uh as Mr Ring said say uh to give you an idea what what we're talking about here I'm going to go through the various fire commissions a fire commissioner uh number one which is uh Martinsville three of the members get $5,000 a year two of the members get $4,500 a year moving to District 2 which is Bradley Gardens they they use a different metric they have $220 per meeting for three of the members and $150 per meeting for two of them moving to District 3 which involves green null North Branch and Country Hills across the board they provide $4,000 in salary to everybody uh moving to District Four uh three of the members get $3,000 and two of the members get $2600 so we're not talking immense amounts of money one of the things I said last year that I hope that everybody gets a W2 or a1099 for this money so it can be accounted for as far as the IRS is concerned uh I have I have been told that everybody does but uh it's not our job to go back and look so so at this point uh we are we are required now what I've been told if we do not concur in the recognition of these salaries that the budget will not be approved for the fire commissions uh to be able to operate so uh we would be standing between you and and fire service and we're not going to do that uh are there any other comments otherwise I want to move to uh vote uh I just want to comment um well we don't obviously we don't set these numbers and the Fire Commission is an independent body elected by the public so um yeah and I just want to make a comment that congratulations to councilman cordilla for being on the low end of theary spectrum compared to your other fire Commissioners so anyway but I want to thank all the fire Commissioners for their service to the town and certainly kind of uh reminds me and goes without saying I want to thank all the men and women who volunteer in our numerous fire departments and first a services in Bridgewater their service is invaluable uh they commit a lot of time and energy and effort to serving our community and so they deserve our gratitude in the past while he lived in eight different parts of Bridgewater uh Mr pedroo was a rescue squad uh member uh Tim is a rescue squad member Allan and I have been fire department folks so uh we we understand I think Public Service got get Michael with the game pardon got to get Michael with the game that might that might not improve Public Safety so uh You Have To Know Your Role can we have a roll call please on 12a councilman Kush yes councilman Cella since I'm listed on the list I I think I have to U yeah but I I in my opinion you do not have to recuse on this you're you're voting on a not specifically for you it's you're part of the global operation then I absolutely vote Yes okay councilman pedroso yesman ring yes president Nogales yes moving to 12b amending resolution 25-1 D 02-040 and modifying Joan Flynn as the representative and Robert Dean as the alternate for the somerset Regional animal shelter management committee appointments so moved second please second roll call councilman kers yes councilman cill yes councilman pedroso yes councilman ring yes president Nogales yes uh C uh authorizing an award of contract to roundhill risk Partners LLC of 788 Mars Turnpike site 101 Short Hills New Jersey 07078 to serve as the township risk manager for health insurance services for term of one year commencing on January 1st 2025 and that is at no cost to the township I'll move that I'll second roll call please man kers yes cill yesman pedroso yes councilman ring yes presales yes uh D is authorizing an award of contra cont ract to North American Insurance management also known as Nim doing business as irure New Jersey Partners Insurance Services LLC of 1460 Route 9 North site 310 Woodbridge New Jersey 07095 to serve as the Township's risk manager for Property and Casualty Insurance Services for a term of one year commencing on January 1st 2025 pursuant to the fair and open process as defined by njsa 19 col 44 a-207 at no cost to the township any discussion if not may I have a motion on on 12d please I'll make that motion I'll second it second any other comments roll call please councilman kers yes councilman cill yes councilman pedroso yes councilman ring yes president Galis yes he is authorizing the execution of an agreement with the soccer center located at 300 Memorial Drive Somerset New Jersey and Township Recreation Department for the spring and fall travel uh in town Junior Panthers High School Adult summer and field hockey programs soccer centers will provide the use of turf fields referees and trainers at at a cost not to exceed $153,300 the aforementioned expense will be paid through the registration fees in the soccer Recreation trust fund resulting in no operating cost to Bridgewater Township for the year 2025 I have a motion on E please make that motion second second any discussion yes I oh just would like to I guess understand why we're Contracting uh fields for the high school this is uh for the you know this is for our Recreation program and and uh we are able to through the recreation program utilize the fields some of the activities some of them here and some of them we use a Fields down there yes but this is say so in consistent with the memo here we are this agreement with the soccer center is also covers the spring and fall high school program so the the soccer team it's also referees and trainers it's more than just Fields but I guess my question is we're we're so through this agreement we're procuring fields for the high school soccer team no I think this is for the high school age as I understand this is high school age this is not necessarily the high school soccer program per se yeah any other discussion should we should correct that so it's clear yeah okay yes thank you roll callman kers yes cman Cel yes councilman pedroo yes councilman ring yes president Nogales yes f is authorizing an additional $80,000 to the Somerset County Road and Bridge division for road salt for a total contract amount not to exceed $150,000 for the 2024 and 2025 M winter season to be funded from the snow removal account so moved second please second roll call councilman kers yes councilman Cel yes councilman pedroso yes councilman ring yes president o Galis yes G is authorizing an additional $10,000 to Michael Sullivan of the firm Clark Katen hints PC Redevelopment planner for the professional service contract for the year of uh 2024 for a total not to exceed $220,000 to be funded from the legal services account this is a catchup is it not Mr papus for last year uh he was he was he's been very busy uh any comments uh could I have a motion please I'll motion motion 12g and a second please I'll second it okay any other comments roll call please on G councilman kers yes councilman cordill yes cman pedroso yes councilman ring yes president ois yes H is sorry before you do 12h I just want to go on the right I'm going to recuse myself from this as I've done in the past based upon uh being a member of the Elks and the recommendation from the state yes sir H request for waiver of an open flame fire permit fee in the amount of $60 open fee open fire pits permit fee in the amount of $60 and a special event permit fee in the amount of $100 for the Somerville Elks 375 Union Avenue Bridgewater New Jersey 08807 for the Jack kids tailgate fundraiser event on Saturday January 18th 2025 could I have a motion please I'll make that motion second second uh roll call please councilman Kush yes councilman cill yes councilman pedroso yes president Nogales yes we're now moving to uh item number 13 which is a litigation close session uh and let me get my boiler played out you Howard you need it I think I got it uh be it resolved by the Bridgewater Town Council that this body will now hold a closed meeting to discuss litigation um and and contract negotiations there are two items litigation for the waste transfer station and contract negotiation for affordable housing when and if matters discussed become public record this will be made known to the public at this time the public is excluded from meeting and further notice thereof is dispensed uh all within accordance of Section 8 and 4A of the open public meetings Act um could we have a motion to go to to close please by the way uh second a second okay uh at the conclusion of the closed session we will simply close that session there will be no further uh business to be conducted in in open in Open Session uh roll call please on close session councilman kers yes councilman cill yes councilman pedroso yes councilman ring yes pres ois yes let me make sure we're we're off e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e hey ladies and gentlemen we're back on we have closed the close session we are now at the point there is no additional business before this body and so make a motion we adjourn second second all those in favor of adjournments say I hi hi are thank you very much for your particip you know I'm texting few minutes maybe the whole time go do something nice Cho