Good evening and welcome to the township of Clark special council meeting. It's Thursday, June 25th, 7:30 p.m. Roll call, please. >> Council member Hoff >> here. Council member Hun >> here. >> Council member Maniti >> here. >> Council member Okconor >> here. >> Council member Tol here.
>> Council President Smith >> here. >> And Council Member Maserella is absent. >> Can you please stand for the pledge of allegiance and a moment of silence? Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. This meeting is in compliance with the open public meetings act chapter 231 PL1975 as adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by sending written advanced notice of at least 48
hours to the star ledger the leader and union county local source by posting such meeting agenda on the bulletin board and town hall reserved for such announcements as well as the official website of the township our clark com in compliance with PL 2025 chapter
72 effective March 1st 2026 and the proper filing of said notice formal action may be taken at this meeting. >> Great. Thank you. At this time we're going to move to communications from the mayor, Mayor Albanese. >> Uh thank you Mr. President. First, I just want to explain obviously we're
having a special meeting this evening and the reason for that is um at our last well, we've been waiting for a Department of Transportation grant to come through. It's finally come through $322,825 and that's to be used for road
construction of Westfield Avenue. and um going to repeat what I said at the last meeting. Uh when we introduced a bond ordinance for uh 2,675,000 of purchases, included in that was the
paving of $450,000 for road construction to resurface Westfield Avenue from Brandt Avenue to Raridan Road. And it's really critical because of the location of that road that we do this work at the end of August. but be most important
before school starts. So, in order to get everything um put in place, um we wanted to advertise the introduced ordinance. Tonight, we're going to have the hearing on that ordinance. Okay. I'm going to going before I go into the agenda, I want to just mention
a couple of things. Again, these are things that I've mentioned at our last meeting. Um on July 4th, a couple of activities that will be going on in town include uh the reading of the Declaration of Independence, which is done every year, and this is at Abraham Clark's um grave site uh behind Merchant
and Tro Dver's um museum in Rawway, uh where they have a cemetery. So that will be from 9 to 10:00 a.m. Um at 10:00 a.m. uh I believe that's going to be the start time for the um memorial service
uh for patrolman William Wat. As I mentioned um patrolman Wat was shot and killed in the line of duty uh at a robbery which um Brian Tol, our councilman uh and historian uh described in detail at our
last meeting. So, if you can make that, that would be um wonderful. Family will be there and they greatly appreciate it. July 4th, we're one of the few towns that's going to be having fireworks on July 4th on the day, assuming we don't
get rained out, which we hope we won't. Um if it is canled that day, there will be a rain date of July 5th. Um, for various security reasons, the area on the field where people normally sit and
watch the um, uh, fireworks won't be open until 5:00 p.m. So, the street will be open on Westfield Avenue. People can walk up and down, bring their chairs, and then we will open up the grassy area at 5:00 p.m. The uh, we will have a flag raising to celebrate the 250th
anniversary of the country. And at 8:30 p.m. we'll we'll conduct the ceremony and then the fireworks will commence. This past Tuesday our ALJ high school had their graduation the beautiful event
and it was well um planned to be outside because obviously if it's inside not many people can uh attend as as being on the outside. It's and it's also a beautiful setting to be on that field. So, congratulations to all the graduates
and to all the students moving up um this school year. On July 19th, Union County is going to be hosting an official um FIFA World Cup final watch party on Sunday at Oakidge
Park in Clark. Um this event will feature the match broadcast, massive outdoor screen, live music, food stands, and familyfriendly entertainment. So just um there will be restrictions on parking in the neighborhood in the area.
Uh we will permit we're going to probably have parking at the pool for pool members uh who wish to attend from the township or who are uh members of the pool. And um stay tuned for more information on that if you're interested.
Okay. During tonight's meeting, we have the hearing as I mentioned on the bond ordinance for various uh appropriations. 2,675,000. I'll uh go through again what the items are that are covered included in that
ordinance. 88,000 will be used for various road constructions and resurfering resurfacing and that's separate from Westfield Avenue 450,000 for Westfield Avenue as I mentioned um 1,146,000
for new our new communication and signal system equipment for use by the fire department consisting of radio equipment upgrades, fire hoses and rescue equipment. 65,000 for new communication and signal systems equipment consisting of radio
upgrades um for use by the police department. $36,000 renovation of the former pistol range area building behind the police department for use as a municipal storage and offices and also renovation
of the little league um field field restrooms is included in that amount. And finally, we have $170,000 for roof repairs at the municipal building.
Moving on to our consent agenda items. The first two resolutions um relate to um bonds. Well, not not bonds, excuse me, grants that we are applying for.
These are federal grants. um one for $87,645 uh to be used to replace the fire department's radio system and that is under the assistant to firefighters grant um program and we are making that
application with Congressman Tom Kaine Jr. The second one is also a grant application uh addressed to Congressman Tom Kaine Jr. coming from the assistance to firefighters grant fund and this is to replace our aging rescue pumper which is
$1,300,000. We also need to adopt the um emergency management Union County multi-jurisdictional hazard mitigation plan that's been put together by our OEM officer. Um, that's uh 20 uh I'm sorry that's
resolution 26169. 26170 relates to a joint interlocal agreement with Westfield where individuals can um just take my notes here.
They can drop off we will have an arrangement where 250 residents can drop off and dispose recyclable materials and yard debris. Next is an authorization to refund overpayment of taxes totaling $2,24320
to two residents. And next, uh, we have the tax collector requesting approval to mail estimated tax bills. So, as you recall, we do we always do this each year. We make a request to mail estimated tax bills because they have to
be sent by June 30th. Otherwise, we cannot require citizens to pay on August 1st. Hopefully, the state will file the budgets and we will get approval so that we can um mail the actual bills by June
30th. So, that usually does happen and we're optimistic about that. Finally, authorizing the payment of bills and claims and the total is $26,44350. Um, oh, one more. This relates to the ongoing um
restoration of the historic Robinson Plantation House. This is to confirm the pre-qualification of various prospective contractors. As you may recall, you have to have certain qualifications to um apply and bid on that work. That
concludes my report. >> Great. Thank you. All right, we're going to move on to ordinance appropriations and claims. >> No objections have been received in connection with the proposed ordinance. Ordinance 2620, bond ordinance to authorize the making of various public
improvements and the acquisition of new additional or replacement equipment and machinery and new communication and signal systems equipment in by and for the township of Clark in the county of Union, state of New Jersey to appropriate the sum of $2,675,000
to pay the cost thereof to appropriate a state grant to make a down payment to authorize the issuance of bonds to finance such appropri riation and to provide for the issuance of bond anticipation notes in anticipation of the issuance of such bonds.
>> Great. Thank you. At this time, I'll open the meeting uh to the public hearing on this ordinance. If anyone like to come forward of five minutes of duration, please state your name and town you reside in. Is your mic on? Uh, >> got it. Okay. >> Thought it was a plug.
>> Mike Schulman, Clark, New Jersey. the bond ordinance somewhere upwards of a little over $2 million that is in essence going to be borrowed and I'm all for making sure our
town has the things it needs. We need to make sure we have improvements and those improvements uh due to their expenses and their costs uh we don't have the budget on hand to do it right. we can't go into our surplus. We didn't budget
for it through our general tax levy. So, we have to now take out these bonds. My question, and it's not in the ordinance and it's not in the notes, is what is the effect going to be on the taxpayer? What is the rate that these
bonds are going to be at? Uh what is this going to look like down the line? because the end of the day, this is going to be a cost that the taxpayers are going to have to deal with and they're like myself probably very happy to make sure that Clark has updated
equipment and new roads and all of that. But I think the other part of that question is well, what is the actual cost to the taxpayer? It's simply not in any of the literature provided tonight. Uh the other question I had is as it relates this ordinance uh to two of the
consent agenda items about grants that the township is seeking. If those grants are obtained or is it anticipated that that money then goes toward the overall cost in this bond? It appears that some of the uh things that the bondest was to
cover with the fire department are also things that these grants potentially will cover if we get them. Is that something that is anticipated that we get and is it going to offset the overall cost of the township through the bonds? Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Scholman.
Anyone else want to come up on this ordinance? All right. Uh motion to close the public hearing. >> Some move. >> Thank you, Council Member Tol. Second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Council Member Okconor. All in favor? >> Any opposed? This time I need a motion
to adopt the ordinance. >> Thank you, Council Member Hoff. I get a second. Second, please. >> Thank you, Council Member Hund. Uh any discussion, Jim? >> Yeah, I'll start and then Jim can fill in anything that I miss. Um
the bonds the they're it's a bond ordinance but we will be purchasing notes. We we will be accepting bids for notes. We do not know the interest rate on the notes until we sell them. Um so that that answers that question. The
interest would be paid next year. It would be in next year's budget. The interest would be in next year's budget. It that doesn't affect this year's budget. Um we generally our goal uh is to maintain debt at a certain
level here in the township and each year do our best effort to keep that amount level. So sometimes it goes up, sometimes it goes down and uh we do want to keep that level. If we get grants, then we won't have to pay the out of
pocket. We're not going to buy it twice, but we do need the permission. We cannot purchase anything without this bond ordinance to purchase those those items of equipment. I don't know was there anything else you want to add to that? >> Yeah. So, you know, just to, you know,
clarify the amount that we're requesting from the federal government as part of the grant. If we do get it, we'll reduce the amount of money that we're um out of the 1 million 146 because that's part of that is for those radios.
>> Great. Thank you. Uh roll call, please. >> Council member Hoff, >> yes. >> Council member Hund, >> yes. >> Council member Maniti, >> yes. >> Council member Okconor, >> yes. >> Council member Tol, >> yes. >> Council President Smith, >> yes. >> Ordinance adopted. >> Great. Thank you.
Okay, we're going to move to payment of claims. Councilman Okconor. >> Thank you. I have reviewed the bills received and encumbered through June 23rd totaling $26,443.50 and recommend the council approve them as part of the consent agenda. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right, we're going to
move to uh 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 NJSA10 col4-12A and the code of the township of Clark. Each person
addressing the council shall 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 statements or questions from a member of the public, the council president at his discretion may choose to respond or not respond.
So, if anyone would like to come forward on any agenda items, please do so. And again, just state your name and the town you reside in. >> Good evening, John Greavves Clark. Um, I just had some questions about uh number
two and three about the FEMA grant submission. It says that you're submitting a request to Thomas King Jr., through the congress person that we have. But isn't the process you would just directly apply to FEMA? I don't see
how the Congress person necessarily plays a role in that. They can sort of maybe facilitate something, but the application actually has to go to FEMA. It's it's not something that the congressman himself controls. It's a a separate organization. So, um, what
basically what is it that the congressperson is doing in this case considering that it would just be FEMA directly applied to normally? >> All right. Thank you. >> Anyone else on agenda items? >> Good evening, Julia Collins, Clark. Um,
my question was regarding the Westfield Conservation Center. At one time, the Conservation Center was open to all Union County residents for certain disposal of certain items. Recently on social media, it was brought up that one
or two residents from Clark went to the Westfield Conservation Center and they were turned away. Um, the mayor has brought up some of the Do you have a list or an area? I know some of the areas at the conservation
center in Westfield are not open to Union County residents, only to Westfield residents. Will we have a list of areas that we can dispose of items at the conservation center? >> We we'll give you an answer at the end
if you have any other questions. >> No. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Seeing no one coming forward like a motion to close this portion. >> Thank you, Council Member Connor. And thank you, Council Member Hun. All in favor? >> Any opposed?
Jim, you want to answer >> on the grants and then on the conservation center? >> Yes. So, um, the grants are, you know, they are through FEMA, but they are supported by, you know, Congressman Tom Kaine. No different than when he
supported the sewers in um, Rowway or the emergency response center in Scotch Plains. So, he we put in the application and he also supports it through the process. Without the congressional support, it's not going to go through.
He also included two letters that are part of your package that everybody's seen supporting that our application to um FEMA. So that's the process. As for the Westfield um conservation center, we you know they closed it down a while ago
to county residents. Um I had a discussion with the business administrator over there probably started I don't know two months ago and we went back and forth on you know having some type of shared service as we also discussed we also had a
conversation with them of potentially using them as our branch drop off from the township because we're running out of space over in the DPW yards since they're doing all the dredging. So, as part of that discussion, we're working through a deal to permit our residents
to drop off um you know, mattresses because that's a big one in town that we don't take mattresses. They take mattresses. Um offcycle uh metal drop off, offcycle bulky pickup or bulky drop off, they will take those things off cycle. We don't take them at
the yard cuz we don't store anything here. We pick up bulky, we take them to the incinerator. You know, we pick up um branches, we put them here, they mulch them, and then they take them out. We don't have the space. So, this will afford the residents some additional options to get rid of um bulky waste on
offcycle times. >> Great. Thank you for the explanation. Anyone else have any questions? All right. Uh we're going to move uh the consent agenda resolutions being the mayor summarized them all. I'm going to ask for a motion on two through eight.
>> Thank you. Council member Tolk I get a second. I'll second. >> Thank you. Council member Maniti. Any discussion? Anyone else have any questions on that? >> Okay. Roll call, please. >> Council member Hoff, yes. Council member Hund, >> yes. >> Council member Maniti, >> yes.
>> Council member Okconor, >> yes. >> Council member Tol, yes. >> Council President Smith, >> yes. All right. When you're ready, we'll move to number nine. Resolutions >> authorizing the township of Clark to confirm the pre-qualification of various
prospective contractors for the roof restoration, including supplemental restoration at the historic Robinson Plantation House. And to finalize the plans and specification for this work, issue the bid packages to the pre-qualified contractors and the
township clerk to receive bids. >> Okay. Get a motion. >> So moved. Thank you, Council Member Tol. A second. Thank you, Council Member Huff. Any discussion or questions? >> I just have a quick >> Go ahead, Councilman Tol. >> Appreciate the township supporting the
historical society. And you got to realize this was built in 1690. It's not a normal house. You need specific, specialized people in the state of New Jersey or in the Northeast that are directly
professional and trained in this type of architectural design and repair. Again, thanks to the BA and our mayor for supporting Clark history, especially during the 250th anniversary of this great country we live in. Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh, roll call, please.
>> Council member Hoff, >> yes. >> Council member Huns, >> yes. Yes. Council member Maniti. >> Yes. >> Council member Okconor. >> Yes. >> Council member Tol. >> Yes. >> Council President Smith. >> Yes. >> Is there any new business on the calendar? >> There is no new business. >> We're going to move to public comments.
At this time, 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 NJSA104-12A and the code of the township of Clark. Each person addressing the council shall 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 from a member of the public, the council president his discretion may choose to respond or not respond. So if anyone would like to come
forward on anything, please do so. >> Good evening. John Greavves again from Clark. Um, so I when I came up here and asked about having Zoom meetings or making the council meeting accessible by Zoom so people could handle um comments
and whatnot from home because they're busy. You guys told me that it was not only too expensive, which I haven't seen any evidence to suggest that that cost that you brought up is is legitimate, but also that it was unnecessary because we had recorded meetings and
people could see what was being said um from home. But then last meeting when I came here and I asked some questions and I had to get back because uh I only had child care until 9:00. Um, it seems that the mayor thought that um,
my questions didn't need to be answered because I wasn't in the room, but that directly contradicts the idea that we should be able to see um, what's going on and that things are unnecessary because we have such good video. So, I'd like to ask these questions again,
and I think the the answer is that you guys don't really have an answer. Um, one of the questions I asked was, "What is the PR department or firm that you hired for $30,000 doing?" And I think the answer is that it hasn't done anything tangible that people in town
can see. Um, I asked why are or what are we doing about our legal fees, which have basically doubled more than doubled each year um since for the last 5 years. So from 200,000 and now it's about $450,000 each year on the budget and
that's about a million dollars over the last 5 years. I don't think you guys have a plan in place or anything. I I'm not I asked but I'm not getting an answer. So I'm assuming that there's no plan in place to deal with that. And then finally, the other question I had
was about pilots. keep getting a lot of negativity about bringing this up, but I've never gotten a real good answer as to how we're actually making up for the burden being placed on the schools. And I'm told that the schools can come to the town. If they get short on money, I go to the school, they say, "Oh, we're
fine. We don't necessarily need money." But at the same time, the school tax levy, the amount of money that has been asked of our residents, has gone up $5 million in the last three years, more than $5 million. $1.2 $2 million one year, two years ago, 1.4 the next year,
and over 2.7 this year. So to me, it seems that there is no point in which people, the schools are actually going to get money from the town or that the burden that is taken on by the 30-year tax breaks for
the developers um is going to be made up by the town or the school. It's going to be made up by the taxpayers. I think the evidence is pretty clear there. I asked these questions seeing if you guys had an answer. I didn't get it. This is all I can assume based on the evidence that I'm seeing. Um,
that's my statement. That's what I wanted to say. Please, if I'm incorrect on this, correct me. I asked yes last time and if you could answer this time, that'd be great. Thank you. >> Great. Thank you. Hello, Mike Decker, Clark, New Jersey.
Uh, I live on Prescott Turn. Um, which means the Westfield Avenue corridor is right in my neighborhood. And, uh, we have that AMP structure down the road. And I've been in town about 10 years. I I know that it's a property we're trying to repurpose. We're trying
to get the property sold off. Somebody's trying to redevelop it or whatever the case is. I understand it's a process that takes a long time. I understand that. But uh it has been abandoned as long as I've lived here. I've been here about 10 years and I walking past it recently. The building is looking rough. And now that we're in the summer months,
we got a lot of kids run, you know, out there doing stuff late at night, teens, as we all did when we were kids. I'm worried about them getting in there. I'm worried about people getting hurt. I'm wondering if we can, if we haven't already, check the structural integrity of the building, make sure that's okay.
I'm worried about making sure that kids can't get in there easily. I mean, obviously, anybody that really tries hard is going to find a way if that's what they want to do. But if we could try and tighten that up and if there's a way, maybe we can get the property be brought down until they are able to repurpose the property or that that
build that property is able to be sold off or redeveloped or whatever we're going to do with it. I'd like us to explore what our options are here just to make it a safer structure for the neighborhood because you know a lot of foot foot traffic, a lot of kids. I just don't want to see I don't want to see anybody getting hurt. >> Thank you. I appreciate it.
>> Thank you. Good evening again, Mike Schulman, Clark, New Jersey. Uh, I was not at the last meeting. Uh, but someone asked about the status of both the civil rights lawsuit and the disciplinary proceedings that are going on still. And
there was a short back and forth and at some point someone I forget which uh council person told Mr. a few that he should ask me of the status of them or or what he's allowed or not allowed to ask, which again, I don't know why my
name was brought up, but I I wanted to make some things clear. Uh there was an article in the Westfield leader uh that appeared to have more information than we got from the council meeting uh that indicated that the town had filed an appeal uh of the ruling uh from May. Uh, as of
this evening, no appeal has been filed. Uh, so I'm not sure why that was said to the Westfield leader. In fact, right now, the case is going to mandatory mediation. So, my question is, what does the town hope to gain from this mediation? Uh, what does the town uh
want to see as an outcome from this mediation? I asked this because one of the individuals named as a defendant is still serving as police director. Uh as for the disciplinary hearing, I know that Mr. Olic was quoted uh that the schedule the hearings are scheduled. Uh my question is when are they scheduled
for? Uh the hearing officer was appointed several months ago. We are well past any of the statutory timelines. My question is has the town agreed to wave these timelines. Uh and again, what does the town see as a win when it comes to those hearings? Uh the
other issue I wanted to speak about and I hope I have enough time is last meeting and I believe at one of the planning board meetings uh the issue of data centers had come up. This is I think the issue facing municipalities across our state right now. Uh the
answer I think we got last meeting was sort of wait and see and that is incredibly concerning. Uh, I don't know whether Clark can have a data center in it size-wise, populationwise, but the
fact that we are not going to lead but follow on this issue is concerning. Uh, there's really not a whole lot of benefit and extreme costs to putting these in. Environmental cost, the fact that they don't produce jobs, um, the
electricity and water that they take. Uh, and I'm not up here to say today the town should be just rubber stamping a do not develop ordinance. But I do not know why the mayor, the BA, or this council has not instructed zoning and planning to actually look into this. Hold a
hearing, do it publicly, hear from people, hear from experts, and don't wait. Because if we wait, we wind up in a situation like Kennallorth where after the plan goes in place, it's much more difficult to start trimming or creating
an ordinance. We can be proactive and always amend the ordinance instead of what we typically do is play from behind and react instead of act intelligently and with some forethought.
So, I'm asking today that the council, the BA, and the mayor instruct our zoning and planning board to actually look into this issue because we have properties like farm Jeffines, like L'Oreal and Kerry that if they ever go
out of business or leave, these are prime areas for development and we could be in that situation. Uh, I appreciate your time. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right, seeing nobody else, a motion to close this portion.
>> Thank you, Council Member Hop. Second, Council Member Hun. All in favor? >> Anybody opposed? >> Mayor, you want to uh >> Yes. >> address some of the >> start with um John Gre's comments and questions. As far as the public
relations firm, we've we did approve a an amount that could be used. We have used very little of that amount and um really they were involved in one press release so far. As far as legal fees, how can we reduce
them? Um as you know, for many years, we've had um a lot of requests for um contracts, things like that. that we had to hire special attorneys to redact those items. Uh this is what is a big
part of that's outside what I would call normal township legal fees um covering all those costs and um right now we have some litigation going on and we have to use the attorneys as
as we see fit and um protect the township. So, I don't I don't know how we can I don't know if you're saying we should like bargain a lower rate or say don't do this or that. I'm not really sure what you're getting at in terms of
your idea of reducing legal fees, the school budget. It gets back to the whole question and this is probably why I said I'd rather answer that when you're here, John, because you asked the same question many times, and that is about the structure
of pilots, why they exist, um why do townships such as why do we give them a 30-year agreement? We follow the laws here that were put in place by the state of New Jersey, mostly by the Democrats
and it's as simple as that. We follow the laws. I have been reading and researching a lot about redevelopment in New Jersey and probably about this is what I read. It's not, you know, gospel,
but that 70% of the development that has gone on in this state wouldn't have happened without that pilot program in place. There's a major um thought and implementation that there's
additional housing needed and affordable housing. Is 20% of each of these developments the right number? I don't know. But that is the law and that's what we follow and it's changed over time. Um, as far as the school budgets,
right now we're following what the law is and that is a school puts together their budget just like a township. They determine what revenue is coming in and what their expenses will be and then they charge the taxes. If they go over a
certain amount, then they need to have a referendum. But the school system here in Clark has not gone over that amount since they changed the law when when citizens voted on budgets. They have not gone over the
cap. They get the funding they need to constantly come in here and talk about money going back and forth between the two. It's just a matter of one pocket versus the other. If we take that money, that revenue from the pilot and
give it to the school and they reduce taxes, it doesn't change the township's budget. We will still then have to charge the taxpayers to build the roads, to pay for police, to pay for DPW, and function as a township and provide
recreation and all the other things that the township does. So whether it's in the right pocket or the left pocket, it all comes out to the same total and goes on the same tax bill. Whether it's listed as a school expenditure or a
township expenditure, it's a zero sum game in terms of putting that pilot money between the two. If you're complaining about all the housing that's being built, which I think think is your main problem, right? that the that the apartments are
contributing to the number of students. Um what do you suggest be done considering all these laws? Okay, we have a to comply
with round three still and round four of our housing obligation. I don't know what you don't understand about that. It's been reviewed time and time again. Um, so I think we can cons, you know, continue to go through the
same question that you asked because I know you'll come up and tell me you're curious about it and list the question. But that's my response at this time. If things change, we'll we'll we'll react to that.
Okay. As far as um discip disciplinary hearing, we were hoping to have the meetings scheduled and we are hopeful that they'll occur. However, there is a lot of material that the hearing officer needs to review that
we needed to supply thousands and thousands of emails etc. So that is in progress and we will update you as soon as we know about that. Mr. Shman regarding data centers, you made a general observation that we want to
wait, you know, wait till the last minute to do these things, wait till everything's behind us. In fact, with respect to the moped and and ebike ordinance, we were one of the first and only towns in the state to come ahead of that program.
With data centers, there's a lot of information that needs to be considered. There's pluses and minuses and many of the towns are still evolving in terms of what their opinion will be. I don't know for sure if that's the job of the zoning and planning board though. It seems more
like to me it's a master plan issue and I don't even know if people what what these townships are coming up with if it violates any master plan laws. I haven't had a chance to look into that. been focusing more on what are the pros and cons of um having a data center. My
feelings that I expressed at the last meeting were it's not likely that someone would come to Clark and want to build a data center unless you filled up the reservoir and had an extra 100 acres here. It's very difficult to even buy a home in this town. So many people want
to get into this town and there's not much for sale and there's not much land available. Most of what we're doing is redevelopment, right? Taking down what's old and putting up um something that can be more useful to the community. I think Jim's going to take some of the
other items and anything that I missed that you want to add on to, feel free to. >> Yeah. the only um on the pilots and we've discussed this also quite a few times and you've come up and made
comments about us, you know, paying these tax appeals. 100% of the tax appeals always fall on the township and we pay the school boards in the county's portion of any tax appeals. So this is
one of those instances that you know we have um some additional funds that are coming our way. The other thing is you know you add one kid to the school that doesn't increase it by 15 16 17,000 is a fixed aspect and a variable aspect to
it. And you know, if you had 20 kids in the same grade, absolutely you're going to have to hire a new teacher and you're going to have to do but if you have them dispersed throughout the school and there's classes that could accommodate them, the increased cost is minimal. So
it's not a direct correlation. Um the other thing is and I've been having um discussions with our planning board attorneys especially related to the AI data centers and the master plan
and it's his opinion that just from uh protection of being arbitrary we need to update our our master plan. We do have two zones that are permitted uh to have uh data centers and it's primarily the
you know the the corridor on Terminal Avenue and some of the area over by um where um the shopping plaza is. So yeah, but that's that's it. So those are the only two areas that we have anyway.
Neither one of those has significant vacancies. And a lot of the towns, as you see, Summit, they put in their ordinance and they pulled it because they're making changes to it because of um legal aspects of it and size aspects of what they wanted to do. So, we want to make sure we get this right instead
of playing pingpong back and forth. As for the um AM, uh they've been waiting to close on the Citizens Bank. They still haven't closed. Uh it's seems to be a bureaucratic nightmare. Um but they
baited the AM and the demolition permit's going to be issued on Monday because that's when the um baiting timeline is up. So they just got to bring in the baiting certification on Monday and the permit will be issued. So hopefully that'll be gone in the next
couple of weeks. Um I think that was Yep. I think that was it. >> Yeah. I mean you you mentioned the number of students also. I just want to mention that the population of Clark is actually lower than it used to be and there really hasn't been much change in
the number of students over the past 10 years. So yes, we don't have that many students coming to the school. It's a handful from Walnut, not coming from the restricted housing. Um we will see what happens in the future, but I did look at various other townships and it was
pretty much the same. Um, people are having children later in life, people are getting married later in life. Um, they're not having as many children. Um, perhaps that affects it. I don't know. But I haven't really seen, like I said,
I've looked at various other towns and the impact on the student population and it hasn't been that significant, nor has it been significant in Clark at this point in time. >> I do have one more thing. I was going through my list. So anonymous resident
and John Greavves have um requested 54 different Opas, right? So talking about legal expenses, um it's probably cost us somewhere between 25 and $30,000. The last one that Mr. Greavves requested as anonymous, but
also put on Facebook that he's requesting it. So I'm pretty sure that he's anonymous based on that. Um, he asked for all of the emails from the GIF and just knowing what goes on between
the GIF, contract negotiations, settlement negotiations, and having all of this going back and forth, a lot of it being attorney client privilege that they had to have two separate extensions because of the amount of time that they needed to go through all of these emails
to redact them. We haven't gotten the bill yet, but it's going to be somewhere close to $5,000 for anonymous and asking for all emails between the GIFs. So, thanks to Mr. Greavves, you know, our legal bills continue to increase. Also,
>> in addition, I know that in the past I mentioned the um I guess a few years ago you did the uh request for the tax appeals and that was very costly in terms of staff time legal and really nothing came out of it. I don't know
what you learned from that experience. No, but I I'll just make that statement. We can talk after the meeting or you can come to the next meeting. But um it's always been a question on my mind in terms of you know 17 or whatever 20
years of tax appeals. What did you learn from it? >> Just to clear it up it was um 1980 to present what's the initial request. >> Yeah I think he asked for even prior to that but we that's what we provided.
>> Great. Thank you council member Huff. Thank you, Council President. I wanted to congratulate all the graduates. Thrilled for the high school that they were able to get outside and for the graduating class and pleased to share um I heard from Dr. Grandandy, Dr. Grande, um that our 2026 seniors were offered
over $13 million in scholarships. So, huge congratulations to them and to the district for um all the good news that keeps coming out of it. Um, I want to just commend the the mayor's answers, um, reiterating so many things that we've talked about before. I just think at some point the time has come where
um, our obligation to keep responding to the same questions um, has to stop at some point because we can't bear the responsibility for the comprehension. I appreciate that um, our BA explained fixed costs. I think the board of education's budget is over 90% fixed and
as the mayor said, enrollment's been down um since 2015 with over two dozen students. I think wait and see is a manipulative way to interpret what we said and what our administration said. Um so, thank you to uh again to the BA and to our mayor for restating that. It
would be inappropriate to go off halfcocked at something without following the logic and the knowledge and the understanding of what's going on and what's required. And that's what responsible leadership should look like. And quite frankly, I was thrilled to be able to announce about the $13 million in scholarships because I'm the board of
education liaison and I've sat here meeting after meeting and I'm just curious when we have such a solid working relationship with the board of education and I'm the board of education liaison. I have not heard of anything and our administration can correct me if I'm wrong, but I I'm dying to know who
is asking for a member of the public to come to our meetings and speak on behalf of the board of education and what they need. I don't understand especially like I said as the educ as the board of education liaison I've not heard this. So I don't understand when we have such a good working relationship with them
and our administration does as well that a member of the public is needed to come here meeting after meeting and make make these claims and these outrageous things of what is necessary on behalf of an entity in which they're of no part. So I
encourage the um members of the community to look at all the great things that have come out of the school district for all the rankings that have come out for the great job that's been done. Um, I don't know if my fellow con council members are going to speak more about some of the um, accomplishments of
the graduating class, but I am u super proud of our administration and the school district and what they're doing and continuing to improve. And it was very nice to see such positive things coming through and uh, that is all. Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Hund.
>> Council Hoff pretty much covered as much as could be covered tonight. But no, um I all I have is congratulations to the graduating classes from elementary, middle school, and the high school. >> Thank you, Council Member Minity. >> Uh thank you, Council President. Um just
a couple of things. Uh again, I'm going to reiterate the um congratulations to all our seniors the other day. Um I had the privilege to attend that um event and it was truly truly a great event. Um my uh congratulations and uh to Tara
Oliver, the principal over at ALJ who did a tremendous job for our kids. Number one, not only getting them outside during their graduation, but um you know the time that she took to um commend them and congratulate them is truly awesome. Mrs. Pasque and Mr. Denucci the same thing. um something I
read on uh Facebook today and I don't know the resource so I'm just going to read it as is that uh I want to congratulate all our board of education all our teachers all the staff all the administration um I read that we in uh Clark have the number one middle school
number five high school and number one and number seven elementary school in the county and I think that's truly a testament of the great job by our teachers and all our academics here in Clark um and then Finally, with that is that um the other night while we were at
graduation um in the back of the brochure, they had a list of all the colleges that our children are going to attend. And if you ever get a chance to look at that, there was probably 60, 70, 80 of probably the best colleges in the country that our kids right here from Clark go to um from the University of uh
Maryland, Arizona, Florida, uh South Carolina, Boston, etc., etc. But it would be great if you guys look at that because I think it just is a testament to our children too. The hard work that they put in each and every day not only in the school but you know off the school in our community um getting
involved in our community etc. And uh you know it it was just a great great time. Um with that um I just want to uh wish everybody a very happy fourth a safe fourth and uh one thing is that uh I think it was Mr. Decker that said
there's a lot of children out because of the end of the school year. They're on these uh um bikes and ebikes and everything else. And as we're driving down the streets, just be careful of the children cutting out of driveways and behind cars and between cars and um even
in parking lots. Today I was parked at the municipal building and there was uh kids on on bikes and just as you're pulling in and out of some of the places that we attend on a regular basis just make sure that we look for our children, the safety of our children and our uh is our number one concern. With that, uh
thank you council president. That's all my comments for tonight. >> Thank you, Council Member Okconor. >> Thank you very much. Uh Councilwoman Hoff, well said, uh uh Mayor and BA, thank you very much for your comments tonight. We really appreciate it. Um, with regard to the high school, congratulations to all the graduates,
middle school, all those. Mr. Decker, Prescott Turn, I grew up there. My mom still lives on that street. Great place to grow up. It really is. It's phenomenal street, phenomenal people, and uh a a great location. So, um, you know, make sure you keep it keep it keep
it that way, right? Um, happy 4th of July, everybody. Um, and we'll see you at our next meeting. Thanks, >> Council Member Tol. Thank you, Mr. President. 250 years. Happy birthday, America. A lot of good accomplishments, a lot of good deeds fulfilled, and we
have more work to do. Um, first of all, I'm just going to piggyback on what the mayor said. On the 4th of July, if your schedule allows, we're meeting in front of the Abraham Clark tombstone, which is in the front of the historic Rawway
Cemetery. Now to get into the Rowway Cemetery, there's a side road off of Westfield Avenue or you can park in front of the chicken chick delight that's across the street in Rowway on St. George Avenue. It's better to park there because you get a better chance to park and then walk across the street
into the cemetery where the service will occur at 9:00. I advise you to get there about half hour earlier because parking and then walking and coming out for the quick reading of the Declaration of Independence, which is very poignant to hear it read out loud by somebody. It's
worth every moment of the 4th of July. Then that's at about 87 8:45 8:30ish. Then go over to this building. In front of this building, the police PBA125 will meet to honor the memory of patrolman Billy Wat, William Wat, which was
mentioned had lost his life by a random robbery that turned into a a killing of one of our own. And we never forget that. You never you always honor the police. You honor those who serve and those who are there on 24-hour call for
the townships and especially our town. Um, with that said, I'm just going to segue over to community block grant. You'll hear that being read out in these meetings. Community block grant. It's a Union County propo thing where they collect the money from the taxes and
they turn around and they give it back to the communities in different block grants. Well, the gentleman who ran that was named Tom Connell. I had served on the community block grant and we brought money back for the handicap access openings on the various corners of your
neighborhoods. If you see the the openings for wheelchair accessibles, the money comes from that. It goes to the senior citizen center and that all comes from the Union County Community Block Grant that each of the towns are given
money back and they have to apply and the whole process to go through. But Tom Connell did that and ran that for years. He was from Union County, a director, and he was a really nice guy and did a lot of things for Clark over the years. And we have to convey our condolences to his family uh for his sudden passing and
to Al Miller. Al Miller, if you knew if you lived in Clark a long time, you knew Al was a special officer. He had moved out a couple years ago, but Al Miller just recently passed away and he's going to be wake out tomorrow at Walter Johnson's. to his sisters, uh, our condolences. Al was a character and he
was one of those special people that made Clark a much fun, enjoyable place to live and he made sure the kids got across the street safe and made sure that the parents were driving their cars safe. He always kept a watchful eye out for your family members and to our family to our he was a part of our
community and we will never ever forget Al Miller. What a great guy. And with that said and done, I will see you at the 4th of July. we will go out and do the things we have to do to make this town safe, clean, and green. Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Mr. President. Could I just add on one thing? So, in this, this is the um
flyer. I don't know if you can see this, but we're going to put this up on our website, and it says that there's an area where you can park. I don't know how many parking spaces there are, but as Councilman Tol said, try to get there a little bit early. It's 1600 St. George
Avenue. So, there must be a parking lot there if you plan on going. Um, that will be one area where you can park in addition to what was mentioned. >> Thank you. And >> Mr. President, just one thing. I know I know the mayor said it and I know Brian talked about it. Merchants and Dvers for
those longtime clarkites. That's the Girl Scout House. So, just in case anybody wasn't sure what Merchants and Drovers was, it's the Girl Scout House. Thank you. >> Business Administrator, you have anything in closing? No comment to see. >> Great. Thank you, Madam Clerk.
>> Thank you, >> counselor. You have anything? >> No, thank you. >> All right. Just again, Fourth of July. Um, come on out to all the festivities we have at town hall. Uh, there's still time to get memberships to the Clark Community Pool. There's the schedule is loaded with many activities and events.
Uh, and it's going to be hot the next uh, couple weeks the forecast looks like. So, that's all I have. So, have a happy July 4th and we'll see you at the next meeting. Motion to adjurnn. >> Thank you. Council member Tol. Second. Council member Maniti. All in favor?
>> Any opposed? All right. Thank you.