Good evening and welcome to the township of our council meeting. It's Monday, April 20th, 7:30 p.m. Roll call, please. >> Council member Hoff, >> here. >> Council member Hund is absent. Council member Maserella >> here. >> Council member Maniti is absent. Council
member Okconor >> here. >> Council member Tol >> here. >> Council President Smith >> here. Can you please stand for the pledge of allegiance and a moment of silence? To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Okay. Thank you. This meeting is in compliance with the open public meetings act as adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by mailing the annual schedule of meetings to the star ledger, the leader
and uni county local source by posting such annual meeting schedule on the bulletin board and town hall reserved for such am announcements. The official website of the township www.ourclark.com hourclark.com in compliance with public laws of 2025 chapter 72 effective March
1st, 2026 and the proper filing of said notice. Formal action may be taken at this meeting. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh we'll move on to communications from the mayor and reports of township officers. Do you want me to give you a minute, Mayor Bono? Uh, Mayor Albanesey's
let Jess go or >> I will go over be going over the um items on the agenda and then make comments later on in the meeting. Um, so I don't know if you want me to start with the first ordinance. >> Um, no, why don't you hold off on that?
>> Okay. >> All right. So, I'll just go right to uh council member Hoff. Thank you, Council President. For the library report for the town council for April of 26, the library welcomed over 9,600 visitors and recorded 15,17
online visits. Upcoming events is Saturday, May 2nd from 10 to 3:00 p.m., the Friends of the Library Book and Puzzle Sale. On May 6th at 3:30 or Thursday, May 7th at 6:30, paint a pot, plant a flower for kids. Unique
Creatures Take Your Child to the Library Day is rescheduled for Saturday, May 9th, and Unraveled, which is knitting and crochet night, is taking place Tuesday, May 19th from 7 to 8:30. Um, in another series of the American 250
event, the American Revolution in Elizabeth and Vicinity is taking place on Thursday, May 21st. And as always, all of these events are located on the library um site and all of their social media channels. So they're doing a ton of things. Encourage strongly people to
come out and see what's going on. Um on behalf of Councilman Hund, I'm doing the police report. So for March 2026 saw a total of 1,938 calls. 604 of them came in through 911 for services included but
including but not limited to 137 ambulance requests, 49 alarm calls, 36 fire department responses, 81 motor vehicle accidents, 31 shoplifting and thefts, five fraud and identity thefts, and there was a total of 21 adult
arrests, including but not limited to one warrant, 17 shoplifting, and one terroristic threat. The Youth Aid Bureau handled a total of 11 cases, including but not limited to one harassment, one terroristic threat, and one receiving of stolen property. And the detective
bureau handled 23 new cases. 24 were cleared with nine summones and warrants being issued, some of which were from prior months. The detective bureau collected, 1900 in firearms, and the records bureau collected $1,474 in discovery OPRA fees and alarm fines.
And that includes my report. Thank you very much. >> Thank you, Council Member Maserella. >> Yes. Thank you, Council President. This is my DPW report for this evening. Electronic drop off will be April 25th at from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in the
DPW yard behind this building. And um Clark Township ID is required. Um, we do not plan on having any mulch available this year. So, please make note of that. Spring cleanup is
continuous through April week of April 26th. Please leave your debris one f foot um from the curb to the start of the de debris. This will allow the rain water to pass by your piles uh and it
helps keep debris off the catch basins and um minimize the the ability to cause any backups um or flooding. Uh branch pickup begins May 25th.
Branches should only be placed in the roadway after May 17th. Um no plastic bags um in leaf and grass bags. They are not permitted. We recycle the grass um
clipping and and logs um or any grinding materials would not be permitted as well. And um bulky uh for your bulky play uh please place your items curbside separate from your household garbage.
Please check www and uhclark.com to guide you with the acceptable items. And please make a note of this. Electronic items are not placed for bulky pickup.
Appliance and metal pickup appointments are required the week before your schedule pickup date. Um, we pick up every Monday. You can schedule your appointment online. Make a note of that, please. Refrigerators and freezers must
have the doors removed by law before putting them out. Grass pickup begins May 5th. Um, grass clippings need to be placed in the paper bags and placed curbside for
pickup. DPO is ma DPW is making available outside the gate a 16in long free pieces of wood for the taking. If the bin is empty, we will replenishment replenish it as it becomes available. No
log splitters or chainsaws, please. and any other further information or any schedules that you might need, please uh go on to dbuwourclark.com for additional information. Thank you. That's the extent of my report. >> Thank you, Council Member Okconor.
>> Thank you. Thank you. From the finance committee tonight, we'll be amending the 2026 municipal budget. I believe the mayor andor VA will have some comments on that. And then with regard to the Clark volunteer emergency squad, uh new uh the new powerlift stretcher for our
second ambulance has been received and installed and serving the patients. With regard to call volume, March had 124 calls with four mutual aid calls. This does not include any calls that they were dispatched on and canceled on. Total hours responding to calls is
approximately 802 man hours, but of course, this does not include any hours the members were on duty but not on calls. Year-to- date call volume is 382. With regard to membership, the squad is seeking individuals with unique skills to serve on our various committees as
associate members. Areas we seek support in include finance, fundraising, building and grounds, and social media. Anyone interested can email the squad at www.arclock.org. In addition, the squad is also accepting individuals over the age of 18 that are
interested in joining as drivers. Free CPR and driver training will be provided. Please find an application at www.ourclark.org. With regard to service to the community, the squad hosted two blood drives in March. The second district meeting of the EMS Council of New Jersey was also
hosted by the squad March 23rd and EMS week will be celebrated the week of May 17th through May 23rd. Events will be shared shortly. Submitted respectfully, Lorie Sheldon, treasure trustee. I'm sorry. Thank you. That concludes my report.
>> Hey, thank you, Council Member Tol. >> Thank you, Mr. President. From the Environmental Commission, this Saturday, April the 25th, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, the ROI Valley River Cleanup will be held. We ask all those who have not set pre-engagements with regards to
soccer, with regards to little league, and many other things that the people of the residents of Clark are involved in. We ask you to if you can allocate some time to meet at the Winfield Park Dam in Winfield Park where a tutorial will be given, instructions of how to go out and
perform a cleanup, and uh some refreshments will be served. If you are available, we ask you to come out. We're going to be picking up recyclables like this that get caught in the off the recycle bins and get washed down into the waterwork ways. So, we ask you to please join us if you have some time. Mother Earth needs your assistance. Rowy
River Valley Rowy River Cleanup is this Saturday, April the 25th. Please come out and join us. They greatly appreciate your time and and helping clean up Mother Earth. Thank you. >> Great. Thank you. Uh from the pool and recreation department, registration for the Clark Community Pool is now taking
place. You can register online or in person. Uh their swim lessons, diving lessons, and swim team applications are also available online. Uh summer rec camp registrations are also taking place as we speak. Uh it's very popular, so
please sign up your children now. Uh there's over 1,000 kids who attend uh each summer. And then looking ahead to next month, there's three uh big events. The senior bus trip to Atlantic City is Wednesday, May 6th. The first bus is already full and there's a few seats
left on a second bus. Uh the Key Club is sponsoring the senior prom for our Clark senior citizens May 1st in the high school cafeteria, but you must register in advance. If you're interested in a fun night, please contact the recck department. And lastly, the more
Memorial Day parade will be on Monday, May 25th, kicking off at 9:00 am. Uh we ask that uh if you're home, please come on out, line the streets, uh Westfield A uh from the gas stations, um the dry
cleaners down there all the way to ALJ High School. And there'll be a lot of uh entertainment during the parade and there'll be a ceremony here at the school. And that's all I have from the pool and wreck. And now I'm going to go to Mayor Albanesey's.
>> Thank you, Mr. President. Um, tonight, uh, we have an ordinance, several ordinances. The first one is for adoption to amend the, um, section related to human resources within the Department of Administration.
And, um, I'm just going to divert for a few minutes on, uh, what happened at our last meeting. The council introduced this ordinance to create a new personnel department. Um the department has nine different positions. U Mr. Michael
Schulman asked qu various questions and in summary he asked if we needed to hire nine people in the human resource department and he said something's missing in this. And both I and our business administrator Mr. Ali here both
clearly explained why we created the personnel department which I will summarize once again. However, before I do, I need to say while Mr. Schulman comes to these meetings frequently and states his concerns regarding um
transparency, he certainly is not transparent in his communications. uh specifically he posted a video on Stronger Clark playing a recording from the council meeting of what he said at the meeting expressing his concerns
and um as I said when he completed that I said well you know he was right and I pointed out to him however instead of including that explanation and information his post leads folks to believe that nine people are being hired he knew that
wasn't the case but still posted the misleading ing information. Anyhow, if this is how Mr. Schulman operates while he's running for office, I I wonder how transparent he's going to be if elected. I wouldn't expect much. For the benefit of those watching this
meeting, uh let me explain again what is being done and why we're doing it. The township obtains general liability including cyber security insurance through the mutual excess liability joint insurance fund. Again, what I'm
telling you is what is was played at the last meeting as part of their program. Critical aspects related to human resources and needed to be managed. The specific aspects that need to be covered in addition to maintaining personal rec
records include the following areas uh which Mr. Olver cited. Identifying employment an employment attorney or advisor having personnel and procedure manual including various requirements, conscientious employee protection act
notice, an employee handbook, a model civil rights resolutions, various managerial and supervisory training, training for all other personnel, and having the mutual excess liability employment practices hotline hotline available to all of our
employees. So why are we putting all these procedures in place? First of all, by complying with these requirements and best practices, any liability related to employment practice or cyber security
will result in a $20,000 deductible and a 20% co-ayment with a cap of $50,000. So if we do all these things, those are the benefits. However, if we do not put these policies in place, our deductible will be
$100,000, not $20,000, and 20% co-ayment for any amount above $100,000, an unlimited liability, no cap. Since we need to comply with these requirements I mentioned, we made a
decision to have all the required items documented and maintained by one person working in human resources. In the past, we had various people doing bits and pieces. Now we have one person who sees the whole picture and gathers
all the daters data that's required from all the departments for all the courses taken, testing done etc. By having the personnel duties performed by one person, we have a formal process. We have the ability to make sure that we comply with our insurance provers
requirements. It's nice to write a fancy handbook and say you're going to do these things, but we also have to carry them out. Um, so we need to make sure that data is consolidated and documented. As we centralized the duties and created the new position, we were required to set up a human resources
department consist consisting consistent with civil service that was clearly explained at the meeting and that includes all the various titles and job descriptions that are listed in this ordinance. As we noted, civil service is behind the times in certain areas. The
one person that we have fulfilling this position, you can tell by the even the description of the job. It's a keyboarding clerk three. What is keyboarding? That is not even something that exists today. So, our goal here is to save the township from a liability
risk control perspective. And that's why we're doing this. It has nothing to do with what Mike Schulman said. We're not implementing best practice controls to protect the township and we are going to save tax
dollars as well. Thank you. >> Do you want to do your summary on the consent agenda resolutions? >> Um before I do that, I'll I'll give you the um information on the other ordinances that we have. >> Okay. >> Um first one is the sale of certain
properties. We have two undersized lots that we need to sell. They're on the corner of Broadway and Grand Street. And these properties can only be sold to in private sale to adjacent property owners because they're undersized lots. And this is in accordance with statute
4812-135B. There's a minimum bid for the two pieces. One is 25,000 for one lot and 35,000 for the other lot which adjoins the property on the corner. In addition, the purchaser will have to cover the costs and expenses for the
sale, which shall not exceed $6,500. Bids must be submitted 20 days after the date of the advertisement of the sale, no later than 10:00 a.m. on the that uh 20 days thereafter. The sale is then subject to council approval. The next
ordinance is an amendment um to the motion picture ordinance. We've done this several times. Um, we hope this is the last time we need to do it. As you know, um, the the staff has done a lot of work on this, so we we do want to put it forth
to the council and um and and make and make the changes necessary. There aren't many film ready towns, but we should we we will be one of them. So, in addition to changing various regulations, they also modified the fees. That was one of
the bigger changes that they made. And um so I hope that council will approve that. As far as resolutions, resolution four authorizes the advertisement for the sale of the municipal lots that I just mentioned in the ordinance 26-14.
Uh resolution five relates to emergency temporary appropriations for the current fund and for the pool. Uh, as you know, we're on a temporary budget and until the final budget is adopted. Um, and due to timing, some funds are needed earlier
in the year. So, this emergency temporary budget will cover those costs and they're all outlined in the resolution for in detail. Uh resolution six authorizes the health officer to enter into an agreement with Rutgers University for comprehensive
tuberculosis services and um that's for our residents and that amount shall not exceed $2,300. Uh resolution seven u we have two employees David D. Roza who's our registar of vital statistics and Gail
PNO is the deputy registar and they uh their term of office is up. We are reappointing them uh with your approval on May 4th, 2026 and uh that will be for another term of office. Resolution 8 authorizes the tax
collector to adjust taxes of a permanently disabled veteran for 100% and the details are in the resolution. Uh resolution nine, two sewer balance adjustments. One is an increase of $140 and one is a credit of $325.
Uh resolution 10 authorizes two refunds for overpayments of sewer fees. One for $140. Uh that was a duplicate payment and the other one is an overpayment of $15443. Resolution 11 enables the budget to be read by title of the lines versus every
item in the budget. So the copy of if you need a copy of the budget, you can email the clerk, they'll email it to you. It's also available on the website. Resolution 12 is for the public hearing on the budget which we'll have this evening which we have discussed. Uh
resolution 13 calls for an amendment to the budget. Uh we need to make two adjustments. Um one is related to LOAP which is the um pension plan uh for the firefighters and um to make sure that the trust equals the appropriation.
And then the second adjustment related to a transaction that was duplicated in the prior year that needed to be corrected. The net difference um is being adjusted through the surplus. So in summary um the budget that Councilman Okconor presented and that I also
presented at the last meeting um will stay the same in terms of the tax levy to the citizens. And that is um pretty much my summary. I'm happy to answer any questions as we proceed. Okay, thank you for the summary of all
the ordinances and resolutions. All right, madame clerk, we're going to move on to ordinances, appropriations, and claims and a public hearing on proposed ordinances. >> Thank you, Mr. President. For the record, no objections have been received in connection with the proposed ordinances. Ordinance 26-13, an
ordinance to amend chapter 48, section 48-5 of the code of the township of Clark, entitled employee policy and procedure manual. Thank you. At this time, I'll open a public hearing on this ordinance and this ordinance only. If anyone would like to come forward and ask questions
on this ordinance, please do so. You have five minutes of duration. Please state your name and the town you reside in. >> Good evening. Uh John Grie from Clerk. Um I guess the question I had is um the
HR department and this compliance that you're having there. You say that this is because of the joint insurance fund requirements they're added, but why is that happening now? And why is it seeming that Clark is sort of um an outlier? because it doesn't seem a lot
of other towns have HR departments like this. And can you comment on whether or not that's related to some of the legal issues because it seems that this happened right after uh we had to tap the joint insurance fund to cover the costs of attorneys to defend them uh to
defend the police director, the former mayor and um the other police officers involved in that suit that happened in in January. Mhm. I'm sure um our BA will have some comments. Well, first of all, I'll say that we're very fortunate to
have our own um we have a lot of focus on cyber security in this town. uh compared to most towns. Most small towns our size or I'll say we're even there there are very small towns and
there are towns our size 15 to 25,000 people and very few of them have the type of cyber security attention that we're paying because we want our deductible to be as low as possible. Now we could have done it last year and this is something that's been evolving. Um,
in the town where I work, we're fighting for the same thing. We want to make that deductible as low as possible because there have been a lot of cyber security attacks or errors made by townships. You can read about them in the paper. Some of them are in, you know, Middle Sex
County, all all throughout the state where they've sent out money. So, that's a driving force in it. And, um, why not do it? If we can limit any liability, we would want to do that. So, I don't know if you want to add to that, Jim. We can't do it soon enough is what I'm saying.
>> It's because of cyber security. >> That's one of the pieces that is goes with this. Yes. >> It's like a major part because it seems like it's like >> you won't get that deductible unless you do both. >> Okay. >> Yeah. So, I'm not going to repeat
everything the mayor said. So, you've you've heard it, right? So, the reason again we're doing this is a a risk aspect, right? So as I explained the job was being done by four different people right and the regulatory aspects of
human resources between FMLA pensions um you know payroll requirements background checks it was all being done by different people right now by doing this and it doesn't cost the township an additional dollar and this was one of
the plans and as we discussed two and a half years ago So when we put in gov pilot, we automated things. The whole idea was to free up resources to do more valuable things. So you keep saying that we're doing this. So if you have any
questions, feel free to call the Mel executive director, right? Joe Herbish at 20118817632, right? That's his number. So if you have, you know, you continue to make false accusations that we're doing this
because of the Mel, because of the GIF, you and Mr. Sherman keep doing this. It's absolutely categorically false. >> So the GIF didn't change any terms or anything like that recently. >> Again, I I don't know how how many times this is why I threw you out of my office
that time because you just don't understand. How many different ways can I say absolutely not the GIF had zero input of putting together this department? >> Okay. I think that's actually the first time that you said that categorically like
>> absolutely not. I said it last question has been directly posed like that and I don't think you gave me an answer like that. >> At the last meeting when Mr. Shman said that I said absolutely not. It had nothing to do with the GIF. And like I said, call you could call Joe and ask
him, right? You could do a little bit of leg work if you really think this is such a big issue. One of the reasons why you're not running for council because no one actually understands what you're doing. You continue on a hop on the same exact items all of the time. I'm sure you're going to come up with pilots at
the end of the meeting. I can't wait for that one. >> Okay. Um I mean, I've always come up here respectful. Even when I was in your office, I was respectful. You threw me out there. You're showing a lot of disrespect here. I'm asking reasonable questions about things that concern many
hundreds of thousands of dollars of town money. I'm just asking I don't know why five minutes once a month is so hard to handle. Um if you have trouble handling that, I I don't know why you're in the position, but um I'm being respectful.
I'm asking questions that are important. I'm I'm not really sorry, but it's unfortunate that you react so negatively to that. Um, Mr. Council President, if I may add to what has already been said, um, specifically with respect to ordinance
26-13, uh, that is an amendment to the existing employee personnel policy and manual. It is not anything new. It is an existing manual that is simply being updated.
uh some of this discussion that was just had dealt with the uh division of human resources uh which was an ordinance that was adopted at la the last meeting and I may leave the mayor was just simply uh following up on a comment that was made
by the public. It was not I believe an intention to discuss this ordinance. This ordinance is about the personnel policy. the prior ordinance about the human uh resources department that was already adopted. Um is that correct
madam chair? Uh madam secretary >> that's correct. Okay. >> Thank you for clarifying. Anyone else like >> so so with that in mind if Mr. Gre wants to come up and say anything about the personnel policy manual that is I think
appropriate be to avoid any kind of misunderstanding. Just to be clear, um my question was essentially is this change a result of the GIF and the reasons uh partic because of potential legal issues. That's what it was and the
manual from what I understood was being updated in compliance with that and that's why I was asking that. So that's where how it relates to the ordinance. The the GIF provides all municipalities that are members of the GIF and the uh municipal excess liability insurance fund model
ordinances. They update the ordinance periodically or update the model periodically across the board and encourage all municipalities to adopt the amended model ordinance to take advantage of the deductibles that
were described before. >> Yeah. And I my question was is are they asking this because of some of the problems that we had? >> And the answer to that is no. It's an amendment made to the GIF model
that applies to all municipalities. It updates things like family leave act. >> So other municipalities are passing the same ordinance probably or at least having it proposed. >> Yes%. Okay. All right. Thank you. If you look at the ordinance, um there's dates in there and I believe it started
2005 and like every two or three years there was an update or an amendment uh which we approved. Um and I think the last one was 2020 23 or 24 and now we have this one. Anyone else had to come forward on this ordinance? Hi, I'm Fogerty Clark, New Jersey. I
live off Lake Avenue. Um, regarding this ordinance, uh, I'm more directly addressing Mr. Greavves's uh quizzical claims based on lack of preparation and lack of understanding. Uh he's engaged in
gaslighting the public on this one. >> Can you keep the com the comments just to this ordinance? If it's anything else, you come up at the end on the public. >> I will take care of that later then. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> All right. A motion to close this portion. Thank you, Councilman Tol. Can
I get a second? Thank you, Councilman Maserella. All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? I need a motion to adopt the ordinance. >> Thank you, Councilman Okconor. Get a second. >> I'll second it. >> Thank you, Council Member Maserella. Any further discussion or questions?
>> Okay. Roll call, please. >> Council member Hoff, >> yes. >> Council member Maserella, >> yes. >> Council member Okconor, >> yes. >> Council member Tol, >> yes. >> Council President Smith, >> yes. Ordinance adopted.
The next ordinance is 26-14, an ordinance authorizing the sale of certain land in the township of Clark, shown as block 129, lots 11 and 14 on the township tax map, at the intersection of Broadway and Grand
Street to be sold at private sale in accordance with NJSA4A12-13B5. >> Thank you. Again, I'll open the meeting on this ordinance for the public hearing on this ordinance. If anyone would like to come forward, please state your name, town you reside in. You have 5 minutes or duration. Right. Seeing no, I'd like a motion to
close the public hearing. Thank you, Council Member Tol. Okay, get a second. Second. >> Thank you, Council Member Hoff. All in favor? >> Any opposed? >> Right. Can I get a motion to adopt the ordinance? >> Thank you, Council Member Tol and get a second. >> I'll second that, please. >> Thank you, Council Member Okconor. Uh,
any discussion or questions? It's pretty self-explanatory. Roll call, please. >> Council member Hoff, >> yes. >> Council member Maserella, >> yes. >> Council member Okconor, >> yes. >> Council member Tol, >> yes. >> Council President Smith, >> yes.
>> Ordinance adopted. >> Okay, we move on to introduction of proposed ordinances. We have one ordinance for introduction 26-15, an ordinance to amend various sections of chapter 358 entitled motion pictures of the code of the township of Clark.
>> Thank you. Could I get a motion? >> I'll move it. >> Thank you, Council Member Maserella. I get a second. I'll >> second. >> Thank you, Council Member Hoff. Uh, any discussion or questions? I think the mayor summarized it. So, if there are none, roll call, please. >> Council member Hoff,
>> yes. Council member Maserella, >> yes. >> Council member Okconor, >> yes. >> Council member Tol, >> yes. >> Council President Smith, >> yes. >> Public hearing on this ordinance will be May 4th. >> I move to payment of claims. Councilman Okconor.
>> Thank you. I have reviewed the bills encumbered through April 13th totaling 291,692.58. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right. Now we're going to move to the citizens hearing on the agenda. I'll open the meeting to the public. Uh
public comment portion of the meeting is to allow the public to bring to the council's attention their concerns or comments in accordance with NJSA 10 col4-12A and the code of the township of clerk. Each person addressing the council should give their name and town in which they reside to the clerk. All remarks
shall be addressed to the council as a body and shall not exceed 5 minutes in duration. At the conclusion of statements or questions from a member of the public, the council president, his or her discretion, may choose to respond or not to respond. Again, this is just on agenda items only. If anyone would
like to come forward and again agenda items that don't have its own public hearing, so evening Sheldon Gertell, resident of Clark, thank you for allowing me to speak. It's my first time here. I'm relatively new to Clark. I
moved in town around 8 months ago. >> Can you lower the mic a little bit and just speak a little more? Thank you. >> Thank you. >> I moved in town around 8 months ago to an apartment complex called Hillrest Village.
And I'm here because it's my opinion that the management cares nothing about their tenants. And I'm saying this because recently um they allowed a smoker to move in underneath me made the
>> excuse me one second. This is this part of the meeting is only on anything on the agenda and we don't have anything on the appointments on the agenda. So if I can ask you to just hold your comments and at the end we'll have public comments. You can come up and speak about that. No, no worry. I was trying to see if we had anything on the agenda with that. We don't. So all right, we'll
have you we'll have you come back up in a couple minutes. All right. Seeing no one motion to close uh this portion. Thank you, Council Member Tolk. I get a second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Council Member Okconor. All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? All right, we're going to
move on to consent agenda resolutions. >> Uh would you like me to read them, Mr. President, or >> No, the mayor summarized them. I don't know if you want to read the opening statement. The following items. >> Sure. >> Absolutely. The following items are considered routine and non-controversial items by the township council and will
be enacted upon by one motion. There will be no separate vote on these items unless a council member so requests in which event the item will be removed from the consent agenda to be discussed and voted on following the approval of the remaining items listed on the consent agenda.
>> Okay. So, we're going to vote on number four through Tang. I got a motion to adopt the consent agenda. Thank you, Council Member Tolk. Can I get a second? >> Thank you, Council Member Hoff. Uh, roll call, please. >> Council member Hoff, >> yes. >> Council member Maserella,
>> yes. >> Council member Okconor, >> yes. >> Council member Tol, >> yes. >> Council President Smith, >> yes. >> Okay, now we'll move on to resolutions number 11. When you're ready, Madame Clerk.
Number 11 is the budget compliance resolution allowing the budget to be read by title. >> I get a motion, please. >> Move that, please. >> Thank you, Council Member Okconor. Can I get a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Council Member Maserella. Any discussion on this or questions?
All right, roll call, please. >> Just one moment. I'm sorry. >> Council member Hoff, >> yes. >> Council member Maserella, >> yes. Council member Okconor. >> Yes. >> Council member Tol. >> Yes. >> Council President Smith. >> Yes.
>> Conor. Okay. >> Next is the public hearing on the municipal budget for calendar year 2026. >> At this time, I'll open the meeting. If anyone want to come up and speak about the municipal budget, now is your time. You'll have five
minutes or duration. Please state your name and town you reside in. Hello. Uh, John Gre from Clark again. Um, so real quick, uh, first of all, there was the the number of employees that showed up on the budget seemed like it was a big increase. You said that you
were going to kind of look into that. Did we figure out what's going on there? >> Mayor, why don't you wait till he's finished with his comments and then you can answer all his questions. >> Okay. Um, so there's that and then there's um the communications budget to me seemed, you know, there's it's got a
lot of it's not exactly the amount. Um, I think it's about $450,000, but looking a little closer, it seems that there's a lot of different um things in there that sort of are kind of put together that don't always seem to be communications. And just curious
because there's a lot of IT expenses in there. Um, I guess you could loosely call that communication, but that's actually functioning basic, you know, use of the internet and communication between computers within your actual uh town. And there's like $143,000 for a
dispatch software for like the 911, I think, is from what I could tell. And I understand that's communications, but I don't see a dispatcher salary in there. Um, which seemed a little odd. Um, and like I said, you know, like Microsoft Office and things like that. I was
imagining communication was more like, um, you know, the TV35, uh, the cable thing, things with, you know, pictures and, you know, the way that you guys communicate on social media. Um, I would also like to know if there's any ideas about trying to contain the legal
budget. Um, in 2021 it was like $182,000 and this year it's $450 and it's been 400. with you last year. It was it was a lot. Um I would also, you know, I you were talking about the LOAP and kind of uh squaring off those accounts. I I
didn't know exactly what that um entailed and I was wondering if you could get a little more detail on that. And then um comes to the subject that got me thrown out of the BA's office, which was uh cell phone tower rental. Um we sold it off in uh 2023. In 2024, we
got about 600,000. Um, I got some conflicting information. Some said one day he said it was used, some one day he said it wasn't used. Um, we're seeing it again for $70,000 on the budget. My question essentially is is if
it's being used in the surplus to offset taxes, why does it keep showing back in that line item and not just stay in the surplus? Um, that's pretty much it. All right. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Grez. Excuse me one second. Mr. Greavves, you
had said TV35. That's Cranford. TV36 is Clark. >> Anyone else like to come forward on the budget? All right. Seeing no one, I'd like a motion to close the public hearing. >> Thank you, Council Member Tol. A second.
>> Second. >> Thank you, Council Member Hoff. All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Mayor Albanese, do you want to address the few questions. >> We hopefully we'll hit on everything.
Okay. Um for the headcount summary, um you can't see it, but this is what the the sheet looks like. For 2025, the total number of employees was 112. For 2026,
113. So, these are full-time employees. For the sewer, there were six in 2025 and six in 2026. Okay. And that is that answer. And that will be in the new advertisement when we
have the amendment. We'll have that sheet that has the totals on it. Okay. >> Um, no, there was a confusion about how part-times part- timerrs affect it. We just put in the full-time people. Okay.
Um for LOAP, we have a trust and um we are going to use that trust money to balance out um that that amount. Okay. That there was 1,000. It needs to be 70,000. Uh that's going into the current budget.
Um I don't know if you want to talk about communications, Jim. >> I can take that. >> Mhm. >> Find that. >> Yeah. Communications is not only communications, it's also the IT aspects of communications, right? So when I
came, the best way to handle things is to have people who are experts in it. So we we hired Nate. Nate is in that department. That's his experience. He he does all of the analysis of all the
software that we need. We does all of the um control of across all of our departments. When I started, we had three different um cyber security and IT service providers. We're down to one. So, we consolidated that under um Nate's
watch. We also have um which includes the dispatch now. So, the dispatch software is there. the dispatch headcount is in the other department because I am take Microsoft 365 as an example. It's all in one department. So
each department doesn't have their separate allocations, right? It's not like we're doing this from a P&L perspective. We're doing it from a control perspective. If this was a public company and you want to see how um successful the departments are, you would allocate it. From my perspective,
it put everything in the same place so we know what everybody's spending, especially when it comes to technology, and we're managing it all centralized. The um TV36 is in there, and you know, it's just a department that we
centralized everything in. We could have put it in administration. We could have put it in communications. The vast majority of the technology expenses are related to our TV studio. That's a lot of expenses associated with that and
running the TV studio and that's where Nate's headcount was from doing that and that's the only reason we did it. I mean it doesn't it in the end it's a zero sum game. I could take out all those expenses and blow them out and put them in each one of the departments or I could have them centralized. So I'm not
sure what the concern is other than it's good to have another concern and and try to show that the um township doesn't know what they're doing. It's absolutely, you know, the best way to do this and centralize. It's no different than when we, you know, put together the human resources department and when we
centralized um all of the IT support and got rid of all of the additional vendors. It's just consolidating, cleaning up. These things you can't do on a dime. It takes time. So, I'm not sure what the concern is, but that's the reason we're doing it. >> Okay. I'll take the one on the cell
tower. So in reviewing um you know we had a change in CFOs last year and as we were reviewing the accounts um preparing for this budget there was $70,000 200 $70,28349
left in a trust. So that was brought into income this year. None of those funds should be in the trust. The um we don't we didn't sell the cell tower. sold the um we we had them purchase from us the future rental lease rentals. Um
in 2025 we realized 500,000 and that was in that was the amount in the budget. Um I don't know if you want to take dispatch this >> I think I took dispatch. Dispatches expenses are in dispatch. I mean it's outside of the cap because that's 911
services. um you know, doesn't mean that I have to have dispatch expenses in dispatch. Again, we're not a public company. No reason to have P&L by department. I'd rather have control than P&L by department.
Thank you for the explanations. Okay. Number 13, amending the 2026 municipal budget. >> Okay, Mr. President, I'm going to read the amendment into the record so that there's uh clarity. It's a resolution amending the year 2026 municipal budget
of the township of Clark County of Union. Whereas the municipal budget for 2026 was approved on the 16th day of March 2026. And whereas the public hearing on said budget has been held as advertised. And whereas it is desired to amend set approved budget. Now
therefore, be it resolved by the Township Council of the Township of Clark, County of Union, State of New Jersey, that the following amendments to the approved budget of 2026 be made. Surplus anticipated is from 2,884,000
to 3,8,428. Uh, and that those also equal the totals of surplus. American Recovery Funds 127,42824 to 0. Uh government services other special items 2,655,489.18
to $2,528,60.94. Subtotal general revenues 9,664,7243 to9,733,7243. Total general revenues from 32,528,54.90 to 32,597,54.90. LOAP from 1,00 to 70,000. Total other operations excluded from caps
3,494,63368 to 3,56363 I'm sorry 3,563,63368. Total operations excluded from caps3,665,8144 to3,743 34,08144. Other expenses 2,87,923.76 to2,876,923.76.
Total general appropriations excluded from caps 7,462,329.94 to 7,531,329.94. Total general appropriations 32,528,54.90 to 32,597,54.90. It further resolved a public hearing on the amendment will be held at the
township council chambers at 7:30 p.m. on May 4th, 2026 and advertised on the township website no later than April 24th, 2026, 10 days prior to the meeting. Be it further resolved that a certified copy of this resolution be forwarded to
the chief financial officer, the municipal auditor, and filed with the CFO in the division of local government services fast system as required. >> Thank you. Can I get a motion? >> Thank you, Council Member Okconor. Second, please.
>> I'll second it. >> Thank you, Council Member Maserella. Uh, any further discussion on this? Do you have anything you want to add? Okay. Uh, roll call, please. Council member Hoff, >> yes. >> Council member Maserella, >> yes. >> Council member Okconor, >> yes. >> Council member Tol,
>> yes. >> Council President Smith, >> yes. >> And public hearing on the amendments May 4th. >> Yes. Public hearing is on May 4th in these chambers. >> Right. Any new business on the calendar? >> There's no new business. >> All right. Now, we're going to move on
to public comments. Uh I'll open the meeting to the public. The public comment portion of the meeting is to allow the public to bring to the council's attention their concerns or comments in accordance with NJSA 10 col4-12A and the code of the township of Clark. Each person addressing the council should give their name and the
town in which they reside to the clerk. All remarks shall be addressed to the council as a body and shall not exceed 5 minutes in duration. At the conclusion of the statements or questions for a member of the public, council president has her discretion may choose to respond or not respond. So the floor is now yours. Just state your name in town
again. Now, back to our regularly scheduled program. >> Sheldon, S H L D O N, first name, last name, Gertell, G- E R T- Lel. And I have been residing in Clark the last 8 months at an apartment complex called Hillrest
Village. And I've been very disappointed with my stay there, especially of late, because I I am surprised in 2026, that there is a complex or no ordinance
forbidding smoking allowed in buildings where other residents reside. I brought this to the attention of management and they said I asked if this was allowed. They said it's allowed. So, I asked them if they could either move me
to one of the other 50 vacant apartments. They said no. Can you break Can you terminate my lease? They said no. So, I am now held hostage in an apartment where I can't even access most of it because of the plumes of cigarette
and weed smoke. And it was my hope when I contacted the town that had to be some ordinance regulating smoking within a dwelling where people live. So, I'm very disappointed that the um
property management have not has not assisted in this matter. And that's why I unequivocally would say anyone watching or listening, do not move to Hillrest Village. This is just the tip of the iceberg, but it's since it's regarding health and I have asthma that I would highly recommend not moving
there. Thank you for taking the time to listen to my comments. That is all. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Gertell. Hello, John Gre from Clark again. Um, I guess I just want to start with saying,
you know, I don't think questions are bad. I think we're allowed to ask questions and be a little bit critical of our government to see what's going on and make sure that things are going right. You know what? When I ask a question, you guys give me a straight answer. I'm not sad. I I like that. I want to see more of that. Please keep doing that. I appreciate it. Um, but
next, um, I wanted to touch on the thing that we brought up last meeting, which was the, you know, remote remote call-in from Zoom or some type of teleconferencing. Um, I guess a couple things I wanted to know is where did we get the idea that's going to cost thousands of dollars. Um,
I from what I understand the town already has a Zoom account or some type of teleconferencing that they use for the municipal courts already. So, I don't know why that would necessarily be so much more. I haven't been able to find anything that would cost thousands of dollars to make it happen. Um, they also said that this would turn it into a
circus. That is not at all my intention. I just want accessibility for more residents so people can participate. Um it can be intimidating to come in here. It can certainly be boring if you have to sit through a long uh meeting and you know sometimes there's just not enough time in the day especially with kids and
work and maybe even people with a disability or something like that. Um you also said that people other municipalities or it's not used municipal government but you know Planefield is a neighboring town and they have the call-in and people seem to like it. They use it. I've watched a few of the meetings and seems to go just
fine. Um, I think that that's a great thing. We should bring it over here. Um, speaking another thing that municipalities have is a debate or something where candidates for office can talk about their ideas and why they
should stay in their seats or maybe they should win a seat. Um, I didn't hear an answer last week or last meeting about whether or not there would be anything. Uh, Cranford has a candidates night that's not necessarily like a head-to-head debate. I don't think it necessarily needs to be something that's
adversarial or or you know mean. It's just something where um the residents of town uh the tax dollars we spent on communications a $450,000 budget some of that could be used to make sure that people are seeing all the ideas out there and make the best choice. Um, and
I I didn't hear also um in the question I asked earlier about is there a plan or is there something that we can do to sort of work on the um the legal budget which has been high for the last few years and uh I'd like to see if we can save some money there. All right. Thank
you. >> Thank you, Mr. Greavves. Good evening, Dillia Collins Clark. I'm here to uh bring about attention to this missing dog. It's been on social media. I know
it's not a council concern, but it's a concern to me and I want to get it out to the residents of the town. The dog has been missing since March 31st and the I've been in contact with the
owners and she was unable to make it tonight, but she does thank the Clark Police for putting it on their Facebook page. Uh Clark uh tap into Clark did an article. His name is Trouble and he is
in trouble. He's been lost since March 31st when he got away from his pet sitter in Garwood, excuse me, by Unami Park. The last time he has been seen is in the Pikton area of Clark off of
Central Avenue. For those that don't know it, that encompasses Pikton Street, Georgia Street, Carolina Street, and part of the area is also Boon Avenue and Dakota Street, which is across the street of Central Avenue. The owner has
put up a large uh poster in Westfield on the corner of uh Virginia Street and Central Avenue. He is a Shih Tzu multis mix neutered and microchipped. And um
I the main reason I came here is because there are residents that are not on social media and there is feeling that he was picked up. And this way if people see anyone walking a new dog in sorry
walking a new dog in the neighborhood, you know, please let the family know. Their number is listed here and they're also on social media. A lot is on Clark Neighbors. It's County Laws. >> Could you read out? Some people may not be able to see that on TV. So why don't
you read the phone number out so in case they can't see it? phone number for the family is 908-5787953 and um it's also on Union County Lost Pets page and I hope that he'll be found soon and the person that may have picked him up
get trouble home. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dillia. Uh, good evening. Name is Glenn Fogerty. Live in Clark, New Jersey. Been here for 25 years. Uh, live off of Lake Avenue. Um,
I'd like to address the ongoing circus that is this group that calls themselves Stronger Clark. Uh, true to form, Mr. Graves has left the building yet again after uh firing his shots. Um
tonight he was in rare form um pristine example of passive aggressive behavior. It prods and prods and prods and then when someone responds to his proddding and his false claims he says I'm sorry
you feel that way. Sorry. That's classic passive aggressive gaslighting behavior. Stronger Clark is basically a gaslighting operation. I call them the doing business as name of the Clark carpet baggers communist
party. Most of these people have not come from Clark. They could have easily moved to Montlair or Maplewood or some other rich Marxist enclave, but they wanted to come here and get up at meetings now every two weeks and spout
their dril like Mr. Graves. Now he wants to do it on a flyin basis using up town funds on using Zoom. You know, if if it's so hard to get here every couple of weeks, why even bother?
I mean, what what are we going to have a drive up window now? I'd like fries with that, Mr. Greavves. Give me a break. Uh, so now we're into baseball season and Stronger Clark is batting a giant zero
in terms of accuracy or honesty. Uh, Mr. Schulman, true to form, is not here yet again. Um, I saw a great comedy show at Crossroad Crossroads last week called the uh tax relief comedy night. That was
really funny. What was even funnier was watching Mr. Schulman in the last meeting talking about how he cared about costs and growing bureaucracy and nine people which was inaccurate being added to the payroll for human
resources role when it was his own Tamony Hall in Trenton civil service that demands this in the first place. Come off it, Mr. Schulman, the circus show is not funny anymore.
when have you ever been genuinely concerned about costs or bureaucracy as a far-left Democrat? Said no one ever. Furthermore, Mr. Graves getting up here tonight claiming to be so concerned about the cost of the
lawsuit, which people like Stronger Clark, they were the ones who caused it by calling our police department racist for years, including calling our Latino police officers racist. So they provoked the lawsuit with the help of Andy Kim
and Mike Schulman's great friend Mattie Plattkin. And then they turn around claim claiming, "I'm so concerned about the legal cost we're running up." How disingenuous and dishonest can
someone possibly be? These people are clowns. Stronger Clark are lying, disingenuous, fundamentally dishonest gaslighting clowns. And if Mr. Greavves can't show up here for two weeks out of
the month for a couple of hours and now he's claiming hardship and he wants it all on Zoom, stay home, Mr. Graves. Stay home, Mr. Showman. I'm tired of your lies. I'm tired of you shleing up here like a schllemile or a schnor,
whatever it is you are, and lying to the public because that's all you've done for three and a half, four years since you arrived in this town that you claim to like but really hate. The only thing Mike Schulman ever said when he says, "I
like Clark." And his answer, "Why?" Oh, you get to walk around with my kid. Well, you get to walk around with your kid because of the police department that you claim is racist, Mr. Schulman, and you can walk around with your kid in any town. He doesn't like Clark. He just
came to cause trouble here and to lie in front of town council and then do selectively edited videos on the Stronger Clark disinformation page. That's all I have to say tonight, but I I'm sorry. I'm I'm tired of Mr. grief
slinking up here like Dracula, like Bella Losce with his widow's peak and and throwing stones at you all and throwing stones at our town with false claims. Good night.
>> Thank you, Mr. Fogerty. >> Nancy Toascus Clark. So, I just wanted to share with you kind of my thinking of why I haven't yet called the police
department to complain about commercial vehicles parked overnight. Now, it wouldn't really be fair if you have a grouchy old neighbor like
me, maybe living on your street who complains about commercial vehicles being parked. But if you live on the other side of town or a couple blocks away and you don't have a grouchy old neighbor,
you can park your commercial vehicle there anytime you want. So, I guess I'm willing to live with commercial vehicles being parked where I can see them because why should my neighbors
have to park their commercial vehicles in their driveway when other commercial vehicles in town don't have to. It's just not fair. So, I'm just going to sit back and let
commercial vehicles park wherever they want. And I guess I won't look at them. I'll just ignore it as much as I can. I don't know. I won't say the rest of my life. But it really isn't fair for my neighbors to have to be punished
when not all the people who park illegally their commercial vehicles are not equally punished. Thank you. Thank you, Nancy. All right, seeing no one else, I'd like
a motion to close the public comments. >> So move. >> Thank you, Councilman Okconor. Second. >> Thank you, Council Member Hoff. All in favor? >> Any opposed? All right, we'll move to Mayor Council professional comments to close the meeting. Mayor Albanese.
>> Hey, I'd like to address the comments that Mr. Greavves made and he's been here, I guess, at every meeting the past few months talking about why don't we have the ability for call and participation
at our meetings. And I agree with Council President Bill Smith as he noted at our last meeting. When there's an issue of importance, residents will come out. And when there isn't, attendance is naturally low. I mean, you can count on
two hands how many people are here. Usually, it's you can count on one hand how many people are here. And it's usually the same people that come. It's also important to recognize that much of the work conducted at these meetings is um routine in nature. It's
it's regarding the business of the township. And for residents who do want their voices heard, there's a lot of different ways they can do so. They can either attend the meeting in person, submit written comments to the clerk, and have them read into the record. Um
we have the township's online reported concern system. It allows any issues that individuals have to be tracked and resolved more efficiently. It's probably a better method. Um, they can always contact me, our business administrator, Jim Olrich, or any member of the council
directly to address any personal issues. Additionally, our meetings are televised live. Not every township has a TV station. Um, we're trying our best to provide full transparency and access for residents to stay informed. So, Mr.
Greavves said in his argument at the last meeting, it's like everybody has this. It's like every every every business is operating this way, they're all having online meetings. And while that may be true in your daily life, it's not yet the standard practice for
municipal governing bodies in New Jersey today. uh only a limited number of mun municipalities have implemented consistent call-in participation. Many of those many of the towns particularly those similar in size to Clark have not done so and it is due to
the cost. We need additional programs software available. We'll have to have additional soft uh staffing requirements to handle it and also we'll need um staff available. going to have to stagger the timing of the live for um
broadcast of this because frequently um calls come in that are not appropriate and they need to be blocked by the cameramen. Um so there's like I said there's many staffing requirements and um just in general I think we have smaller towns
have a preference for maintaining um in-person governance. For example, Scotch Planes has the capability for call-in participation, but it's not widely used. In fact, um, recently Bill called the BA uh Jim called the VA there and she said she
couldn't even remember when someone called in Seville. They they had uh call-in access and they're discontinuing it. So over time as con technology evolves municipalities may revisit how meetings
are conducted but at this time based on our experience what we see in comparable towns there's no clear indication that implementing call and participation would provide meaningful benefit relative to the cost. So in summary I
agree with what uh the words that uh council president Smith said. We're not planning to implement call-in participation at this time uh as we believe the current system provides multiple effective ways for residents to engage in in local government.
Um if this is his biggest concern, I'm not too worried about how we're doing. As far as other comments, I do want to um as you reminded us, Memorial Day is coming up. Please come to the parade. We're going to have a float for the
250th anniversary. We'd like to have citizens participate in that on the 4th of July. Um we're going to raise a flag uh before the fireworks. In addition, um it was pointed out uh at
the by Tommy May at the uh board of education meeting that if you want to hear the declaration of independence read um you can go over and they'll be performing that at the um site where we
honored Abraham um uh Clark um not Clark uh who signed the Declaration of Independence. And that'll be at the grave site. that takes about an hour. So, those are some of the events we have. There's plenty of events at the library. Hopefully, you'll participate
in those. And um one last item I want to mention is um I received um Carolyn Romeo from ShopRight reached out to me and she was so excited because Shopright as you know
they collect money for the veterans and uh they sent in a application to get money for the veterans of Clark for the American Legion and the corporate office was so impressed with our American Legion and they do so many things for
the community. If you see Dave Broadwell and Vice Commander Ed Lassinski at the at the board of education meeting, they went on and on about all the great things they're doing for the community and uh all the help they gave us in terms of the veterans monuments uh last
year as well. But so they're going to have a ceremony on May 7th. if you can get down there over to Shopright a Thursday at 10 a.m. they'll be presenting them with a check for $5,000 and more important that the money than the money they're getting. It's it's
really about just honoring our veterans. And um I was glad to hear that the board of education is going to be working more closely with them to help our students really understand the importance of acknowledging these individuals and and working with the programs that they that
they have. And that concludes my report. Thank you. >> Thank you, Council Member Huff. >> Thank you very much. I would like to say um with the Clark girls softball and the little league, the parade and everything was tremendous. Um it was wonderful to
participate in it and best wishes to the teams and the coaches for a terrific season ahead. Um I would like to reinforce what was just said um a little bit earlier. It's important to bring this back to the bigger picture because we've outlined why Zoom is not a simple addition. The
level of complexity involved and the many ways the residents already have to connect with us every day. And as the mayor just said, they can reach out, report a concern, which has an accountability system built in directly to all the people that matter. Reaching out to the council members and to the mayor, which we can all attest to
happens all the time. And to your point, you know, you get satisfaction. People don't need to come to the meetings or I mean you're welcome to but I'm just saying people get things answered all the time. Our focus remains on making thoughtful decisions that best serve the community as a whole. So I want to note
that this is now the second time in as many weeks that inaccurate or incomplete information has been shared publicly particularly when it's coming from the same sources repeatedly. That kind of messaging creates confusion and does not help move the community forward.
I understand the desire to drive views and create open mic sound bites on a monetized Facebook page, but it's so disappointing and tiresome to me to keep seeing these shameful and intentional behaviors continuing at the expense of our community. However, it is a community that I'm confident is too
smart to keep being manipulated by this group. I want to thank Mayor Albanese and BA Oric for their thorough and factual responses tonight and it shows it's a great job for our administration. They clearly have reasons, the knowledge, and the competency in running
our town, and I'm grateful for them. Also, it's great to be critical, but man, do you need some baseline comprehension, some working knowledge of how government works to question with such an, you know, to question things so earnestly.
Case in point, asking during a township council meeting about political debates is a stunning example of ignorance. Um, please know questions that were asked and and to Mr. Fog's point, Mr. Grieves has already left our meeting and if that doesn't just secure the belief that this
is absolutely performative, I don't know what else will. Um, I continue to say we're responsible for providing information and um, and I think we take that very seriously and the transparency and the the way the mayor explains everything at the beginning of the meeting and the BA taking all the time
to explain our ordinances and consent agenda and the background information that goes into everything. I think it is such a stunning example that clearly the responsibility to provide information um is there and at some point we just can no longer be responsible for
someone's inability to comprehend. Um and that's all that I have. Thank you very much. >> Thank you, Council Member Mezerella. >> Yes. Thank you, Council President. Quick note, please come out. Uh ladies and gentlemen, support our Memorial Day
ceremony and parade and our veterans. It's very important. And um you know, lastly um as I've said, every month uh every every two weeks actually um if
you see something, hear something, or suspect something, don't hesitate at all to call our police department. They'll respond quickly and efficiently to ensure your safety. Um, be well and safe
until two weeks. Take care. >> Thank you, Council Member Okconor. >> Thank you. Um, on Saturday I was in the Popular Terrace area speaking with the residents and leaving them information regarding the residents parking. So, uh, this coming week the signs will be
installed. um they received instructions on how to get their parking permits if they have any questions. They can call me at 732 3829719. I already did receive one call. So um you know uh the people are getting the letters and they understand. So uh thank
you to the council to BA and to the mayor for um helping the people live a little bit better in their neighborhood. Um I just wanted to give you update on bad lawyers behaving badly. So it's been two weeks since our last meeting and my mom got two more letters. The first one was white. Sorry. The first one was a
white envelope. The second one was a yellow envelope. They started talking about sheriff sales, foreclosure, all those things. So, I took my own advice and just to see what they do, I went to the bank where my mother had her mortgage. I brought the letters. I spoke
to the woman. She read the letter. She said, "A lot of people have been getting letters like this. Um, you know, she didn't make me feel like I was an idiot or I was stupid for not for not understanding them or anything. Very polite, very very professional. So, she
said, "If you'd like, I'll give you the number to the main office. If you have your loan number, you can give it to um the person who answers the phone and they'll check your loan, you know, make sure it's paid off, make sure that, you know, it's in your name. There's no leans." So, I said, "Please give me the
number." So, I went to my mom's house together. we called cuz of course I can't call on her behalf. It has to be my mom. So my mom was there as well and again went through the exercise and again she knows but for the sake of you know my talking about it at this meeting
how the procedure works and if you get letters in the mail and you're not sure, don't call the number, go to the bank, go to a neighbor, go to somebody because nobody wants to get scammed. Okay? And
there's people out there that will scam you, but more importantly, there's good people out there that will help you navigate and let you understand what not to do. So, like we talked about before, town hall, go to the bank, call a neighbor, call a friend. So, again,
let's protect the people who need to be protected. And again, hey, we're all here trying to get the same thing done. We're just trying to live healthier and better lives. With that, I'll see you in two weeks. Thank you. >> Thank you, Council Member Tol. Thank you, Mr. President. For those we lost in
the last two weeks or more, Dorothy Wnak Wnjak, a resident of Clark for 53 years and a parishioner of St. John's. Gary Ufredo, Clark PD, retired. Gary was one of the 70s 80s police officers. You knew him from everywhere. He was his face was
always known. He was always there if you ever needed any help. He was a true gentleman and a caring Clark resident as well as a Clark police officer. I knew Gary from different activities in the town, but to Nancy, our deepest condolences. He was taken way too soon
and we will miss Gary. He left his legacy by just helping others. To also Oswald Dordonio, Azie, Mr. Dordonio was a Clark public works employee for over 25 years. And it's not easy being a Clark employee in any various department
or field. But working in the public works with all the swings in weather and all that, it's not easy. And Azie was there for many years. He was a friend of mine, a constituent of mine, and I will miss him. He was a really nice man who said it like it was. If you he had a problem with you, he told you what was
wrong, what he thought you were doing wrong, and then he'd tell you to either fix it or get out of here. He was a good man and we will miss him. Um, he was also a US Army veteran, Korean War, and again, 25 years of Clark Public Works. I'm going to quickly get dove into this,
Mr. President. I just need a moment of your time tonight. It was all about cyber security and security being brought up and how important it is. And I'm going to explain where I'm coming from. The township of Clark has implemented a lot of safety precautions. We have a phone now. You can't you if
you're a township councilman, you have to put a a passcode into this thing to even make a phone call. At first, when I it was done to us, I was objection. I don't want to do that. Why do I need to be bothered? Why do I need to be bothered? The problem is when it does
happen to you, when you get scammed and you get cyber breached, you want it. The last two weeks I've been living in hell with regards to my bank because somebody hacked. I got a phone. I'm driving 20 minutes south of here of Clark and I get a phone call from my bank saying, "We
need to speak to you. You've got to come in immediately." I'm like, "What happened? What's going on?" I had to drive back to the town, not go anywhere else, but go to my bank, which is Columbia Savings. And I want to say the following to our director of police, Pat Grady, to Detective McCarthy of our police department, and the management of
Columbia Savings took a lot of angst out of me because somebody hacked into my accounts. Somebody was cutting checks in five different locations in the United States. And I'm like, how'd that happen? But folks, you know what the the bottom line of the story is? You have to change
the way you do business. I'm old school. Well, guess what? that ended a week ago. Everything has to be done electronically. You cannot just take a check and mail it to somebody like the old that's how we've been doing it ever since I was a kid. But that's how is no more. Everything is done electronically.
Direct deposit, direct payment through the bank. And if you have questions, oh, I'm a little how how does that work? Very simple. Your bank will assist you. I went to Columbia Savings and the young lady, Carrie, what a great person, she sat me down and said, "Don't be afraid
of it. Here's how it works. Here's how you do it. And she showed me how to do it and you can do it, too. If you have a problem or concern, family member first. And as Councilman Okconor has brought up, is his mom being scammed or being what they call fishing. Fishing for a possible lead or possible criminal or
somebody to take and turn and steal from you. So, what I'm suggesting if you have any concerns, Clark Police, Director Grady was a godsend. And he's my next door neighbor. But I just couldn't believe it. I'm a victim. I had to call him up and say, "I'm a victim. I need your help. How do I handle this?" And he
turned me over to one of his detectives. He goes, "It happens all the time." And in fact, that my bank, Columbia Savings on Ren Road, had three other clients have the same thing happen to them. And it's like, how is this happening today? How did somebody get my check and my and
then forge my account number and forge my home address and then decide to write checks for it? Not a big checks, but enough that after a while, it's almost up to $20,000. Now the bank covers it because oh they have insurance. When I the lady told me that I was like are you crazy? You have insurance? That comes
out of my end anyway. Comes out of all of ours. So we've got to put a stop to it. And that's and the the way the police officer said it to me was the only way you can stop it is by changing your ways. Take a moment when before you cut a check and you got bills because bills come in, you got to pay them before you change your accounts. Do it
online. Do everything online. I so hesitant about doing things online, but now I have no choice. Very simple. No choice. If you have experienced anything like this, the police department is always there to help and give advice or direction for fraud, scam. I I heard all
these terms and I never really followed them. I never really listened. Now I'm listening. And I'm listening big time. And I ask and urge you if you have any questions about how to handle going from paper to electric, speak to your bank. They'll be there for you. Thank you, Madam Mr. President. Appreciate it. But
things like this, we got to talk and let the people know it happens to us, too. And it was for a week, I couldn't even cut a bill. I couldn't do anything. I'm frozen. Everything's My entire household is frozen because of it. Thank you. >> Do you owe me any money? >> I better get it soon, right? Uh,
>> police director Grady, do you have anything to say? >> He took me off the list. Just a few things before uh before we go home tonight. Um Gary Efredo, I did I did get to work with Gary for a few years uh when I first came to Clark and
uh uh prior to his retirement. So my condolences to to his to his family also. He will be missed. Uh just a couple things to cover as a reminder. Tomorrow, I'm going to get the dates right for you here. Uh tomorrow, Conrail will be starting their work on the
railroad uh Westfield Avenue over by Rawway Avenue in Westfield. That work will start tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m. There will be detours all around. Uh there will still be access to businesses. Plan accordingly. That work will continue till Saturday, uh the 25th
of April. All right? So, plan accordingly. Um I'm sure it's not going to be so pretty there. So, do your best to avoid the area. uh they do they do mention uh businesses will still have uh access right so should be no issue there uh that's my first thing for tonight
second thing is ebikes I know I stood here last year uh and spoke about ebikes as fast as the warm weather uh came came back to us this year is as fast as the complaints of these ebikes came came
back to us uh erratic dangerous driving uh back to Taton police officers uh you know it's this is a serious issue um that last year you know Captain Akaboo Captain Lot myself uh you know there was
this the decision to be made to be proactive in regards to this issue la last year uh we sent teams officers out uh to combat this issue it was very successful the only difference between last year and this year we got it
started late in the Okay, this is something that needs to be addressed uh right away. So, just as an example, uh we put together a team of officers uh two weekends ago, sent them out spec specifically target this issue. If you if you're around the
Clark Commons, um you speak to any of the ownership of those of those businesses there, this is a serious serious problem. And you know, obviously, first and foremost, we're trying to get out in front of this for safety reasons before somebody gets hurt. And the majority of these actors are all all young people are in their
teens. Uh so just one time we went out so far this year right off right out soon as the nice weather hit, they came out, we came out. Um in this particular uh weekend we issued 16 curbside warnings uh to individuals on on bikes.
We short-term custody, took into custody six juveniles. We issued uh five summones, impounded three bikes, and actually had an adult on an ebike who ditched a bike and ended up in a foot pursuit and an arrest. Um that's just weekend one. All right. So,
I'm just here to say to anybody out there listening, parents, you know, we are taking it serious. We are going to be proactive about it. So, don't, you know, don't be surprised. Uh New Jersey has changed the ebike laws. They're they are much more strict now.
We have posted them on our Facebook page. Uh they're serious. They you know Jersey has has really um come to the forefront in terms in terms of the law regarding these bikes recognizing the dangers and uh these laws are now
strict. Just this weekend we didn't have a detail out but one of our officers there was three uh ebikes uh acting extremely aggressive. They took off from the police. Obviously, we're not going to be the officers are not chasing
ebikes. Uh but one of the three must have ran out of gas or something, but he decided to walk his bike, which enabled the officer to uh you know, to catch up with him and stop him. You know, for the parents out there, this was a 15-year-old juvenile, not from Clark. Uh
he was written eight motor vehicle summones. Now, you tell me who's paying that bill, him or the parents. All right? There were serious motor vehicle violations that are going to cost a lot of money. The bike was impounded. So, it's a serious issue. I am letting you know ahead of time, we would be proactive. Uh the department is going to
be proactive on this issue and uh and be out there uh fairly regularly. Uh lastly um ma'am on on commercial vehicles you know the best thing I could I can say I I wish Captain Akaboo or uh lot were here to address it uh further but you
know any type of violation ordinance violation that you see it is best to call right you know sometimes you know the guys and the girls are out there uh they could be focused on a lot of other things you know we had a bunch of burglaries uh to motor vehicles recently all right so it's always best if you can
ju just call us don't don't feel bad about calling. Um you're not the grouchy neighbor. We get a lot of phone calls like that. So, uh the the best way to handle that really is to call because that that'll force us um to break from whatever we're doing to go over there
and uh deal with the call. So, that would be my my best advice for you tonight. Uh that that's it. Thank you. >> Thank you. Councilman Okconor, do you have anything? >> Pat, real quick. >> Yes. Um, do you have any advice for people who um find ebikes a nuisance in
their neighborhood or specifically speed? Should they call the police? Like what what should they do? I mean, do you want community involvement in this to call in like or what's when's an appropriate time to call the police if you're a uh a homeowner or a business owner and you're being harassed or you feel you're being harassed by the bikes?
>> Yeah. No, listen, like I said, it's it's a it's a serious issue. Um, you know, just like I said about the commercial vehicles, I mean, if you if you see it, you know, call us. I mean, that's the best way to get an officer, you know, to the scene. Um, you know, like I said before, the problem the problem with
these with these kids is they're taking off, right? So, you know, you know, we we don't want to put them in any more danger than they're already putting themselves into, you know? So, um, this is why we're putting these details out and we're not afraid to hide it. like, you know, you don't know when when
they're going to be out there, but they're going to be out there. But, you know, it's, you know, we're forced to do this because, you know, they're taking off, right? And that's a danger in itself. So, by putting these details out, um, it's best for us to catch them when they decide to stop at Clark Comments for a chocolate chip cookie,
you know, and that's and that's, you know, that's when we can engage better without getting somebody hurt. But yeah, by all means, uh, you you you see it even at Clark Commons, anywhere around town, large groups acting unruly. You know, give us a call. >> Thank you.
>> Thank you, councelor. You have anything to add? >> Uh, no. Mr. Council President, >> Madam Clerk, you have anything? >> No comments. Thank you. >> Business Administrator Jim Olick. A couple of things. first um you know on the smoking I'm not sure what we could
do. So I'll speak to the um attorney and see if there is anything we can do. I mean because it is private space it's not public space and you know this has been going on in for years down in Atlantic City what could be done and what cannot be done. So we will definitely look into it and um we'll
report back. I'm not saying next meeting because it may be a little bit more complicated that but we will definitely look into it. Um, you know, Brian, uh, I'm just looking at your cyber security and you haven't finished the second half. So, um, make sure you do the training. It's due by March, uh, May
31st. Um, so just just checking in. Um, and, um, you know, uh, actually for, um, director Grady, if you need another detective, uh, I'm available because we had the anonymous, um, Oprah on April
10th asking for all the communication information. I think I figured out who was asking for it. Um, that's all I have. All right. Thank you. Um, all right. In closing, and I'm not going to
be redundant with everything, but I I have a whole bunch of paperwork in front of me with comments, and I'm going to keep it real short and sweet. I I see the election coming now in November and all the Democratic stuff going out there saying, "Oh, this council is
corrupt. The pilots, they're stealing money. They're not giving it to the town. Uh they're not being transparent because they don't have Zoom. They're adding people because the HR department. I mean, enough already. Um I I don't get where you're coming from. The HR
department, we had to create it. We did it. We move someone from DPW over to run a department that this day and age needs someone specifically running that department and making sure everyone does what they're supposed to do by the
manual, by cyber security. We have to do a lot of online testing, whether it's civil rights testing, uh, bias testing, racial testing. Uh there's a lot to go on and now we have someone who can coordinate it and make sure everyone that is employed by this town
is up to date on it. As Jim said earlier, we had three, four different people trying to monitor this and we had three different cyber security uh platforms. So that's the HR department. The Zoom thing, we're not doing it. End of story. When
there's an issue like we had the cats and the reservoir, this room was filled. When things are running smooth, all you got to come and talk about are pilots and Zoom. I mean, give me a break. I guess you're going to run on Zoom because you run on pilots for the last two elections and you got killed in a
landslide. So, I guess I see HR and Zoom coming this election. I mean, I don't know what else to say where can't be any more transparent than we're being. Um, our BA answers, we're all available. You want to reach out to us, all our phone numbers are on the website. All our phone numbers are in town hall. You can
call town hall. you could email. Uh we're easy to get in touch with. So, does anyone else have anything else to say before I wrap it up? All right. Can I get a motion to close? >> Thank you, Councilman Tolk. Got a second. Second. >> Thank you, Councilman Okconor. All in favor? >> Any opposed? Okay. See you in two weeks.
Thank you.