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Heat. Heat. N. [Music] [Music] [Music] Good evening and welcome to the Township of Clark Council meeting. It's Monday, August 18th, 7:30 p.m. Roll call, please. >> Council member Hoff, here.
>> Council member Hund, >> here. >> Council member Maserella is absent. Council member Maniti, >> here. Council member Okconor >> here. >> Council member Tol >> here. >> Council President Smith, >> ask everyone to please uh rise for the pledge of allegiance and a moment of
silence and a special moment of silence for uh Thomas Lewis who we uh recently lost who is a board of ed member and a lifelong resident of Clark. Thank you. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the
republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. 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 union county local source and tap into Clark by posting such annual meeting schedule on the bulletin board and town hall reserved for such announcements the official website of the township and the proper filing of said notice formal action may be taken at this meeting.
>> Great. Thank you. I'd like a motion to suspend the regular order of business. A >> move. >> Thank you, council member Tolk. I get a second. >> Second. >> Thank you, council member Okconor. All in favor? >> Any opposed? All right. We're going to announce the winners of the Clark through the lens photo contest. Mayor
Albanesey's please take the main podium. >> Thank you, Mr. President. I'd like to ask um Michelle Ruiz from Eric Carey to come up and join me. Um Michelle and I happen to work together at Kerry and it's really a
pleasure um to see you here tonight and to also we want to thank Carrie because um we have some gifts for our award winners in our photo contest. So, we had a photo contest um for everyday pictures
in Clark that represented people, nature, and wildlife. And we had 50 entrance. It was really a tough decision to come up with the finalists, but what we'd like to do is give out the awards tonight. So, our first
Okay. Our first award winner for third place is John Sarderetti. John, would you come up? >> Thank you very much. >> Congratulations. >> Congratulations. >> Thanks. So, uh, wait, we're going to take a
picture, but before we do, we want to say that John took a picture of a blue jay at Jackson Pond. Beautiful work. And I think what we're going to do is stand over here. We'll take a picture together. You stand in the middle, John. Thanks so much.
Sean. >> Okay, our second place award winner is Lan Gee. I hope I am saying that correctly. And she took a misty morning picker picture at Oakidge Park. So, would you come up?
I'll present the certificate and take a picture of that. And Michelle is giving me a big prize. And why don't we have your husband come up? We can take some pictures. [Applause]
Okay, our first prize winner is Erin Simse. He's not here tonight. I'll meet with him separately, but um he took a picture of the bald eagle at Jackson Pond. So
really tremendous picture. So once again, we want to thank Carrie for participating in this community event, Michelle. >> And um thank you so much [Applause]
Thank you. Uh you're more than welcome to stay or you can leave. I'll uh wait a second or two. >> Great. Thank you. Beautiful pictures. Thank you. Okay. I'd like a motion to resume the regular order of business.
>> A move. >> Thank you, Council Member Tol. Get a second. Thank Councilman Hun. Thank you. All in favor? >> Any opposed? All right. Uh, I have to make a motion to go into private. Can I get someone for that motion? >> I move.
>> Uh, let me see. Councilwoman Hoff and then second was Councilman Okconor. All in favor? >> I post. All right. We have to go into private for a few minutes. Uh so please um stay comfortable and we'll be back shortly. Thank you. [Music]
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Hey. [Music] regular order of business. >> Thank you, Councilman Tol and then second, Councilman Hun. All in favor? Any opposed? Okay, now we're going to move to U. Mayor and Township officers.
Uh all the reports given this evening are available in the clerk's office and our township website. Mayor Albanese. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Um as was mentioned earlier, uh we have some sad news as we have lost a devoted leader,
educator, and friend to Mr. Tom Lewis who passed away this past week. During this more than 20 years of service on the board of education, he brought vision, integrity, compassion, love, and joy to his role and help shape policies and
programs that will continue to impact our schools for years to come. Uh his leadership, wisdom, and steady presence made him a pillar in our community and an inspiration to all who had the privilege to work alongside him and to be his friend.
on beh on behalf of myself, the township council, all our municipal employees, we extend our deepest consol condolences to Tom's wife Karen and his two sons, Tom and Dave, and his family, friends, and colleagues.
His legacy will live on in the lives he touched and the community he helped build. Okay, moving on. Um, referring back to thinking of the schools, um, I did want to mention to
the community, um, that we have a Clark school district bond referendum special election on September 16th, 2025. And I really encourage the citizens of Clark in order to maintain our school facilities.
I hope that you'll vote yes on September 16th, 2025 for the school's bond proposal referendum. Um the board of education and their financial advisors have structured the bond so that there will be no tax impact budgeted school funding. So in other words, the debt
payments will be equal to the previous bond debt payments which will be replaced with the new bonds to cover the needed capital improvements necessary to maintain our two grammar schools, the middle school and our high school. Um specifically new phone systems,
playground equipment, and various capital needs. most important, passing this bond, the school will be able to maintain uh to obtain state aid for 40% of um certain of the expenses that are going to be
incurred. So, I encourage you to go on the school's website and take a look at um there's a video that they have and also some flyers regarding uh what will be purchased and the project breakdown.
So, again, that's on September 16th. So, please come out and vote. And um for the month of July, I'd like to give a police update on motor vehicle stops.
We had 249 stops, 25 raider details this past July, and um 10 traffic enforcement stops. And that concludes my report for now. I'll have some comments later on in the meeting. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor
Albanesey's council member Hoff. >> Thank you. Um to echo the mayor from the board of education was going to repeat about the bond referendum. So I think that was a great explanation. There's information on their website and it is tax neutral. So hopefully everyone comes out and shows a strong support on
September 16th for the library. Um this is incredible to me. The library had over 13,219 visitors for the month of July and recorded 26,033 website and social media visits. They are doing so many things which again are
available on their social media channels and on their website, but they're doing um in September adult computer training workshops. They have uh registration is required. So if you're interested um they're having a resume building workshop on September 11th. The Friends of the Library book puzzle jewelry sale
is Sunday. um excuse me, Saturday, September 27th, they're doing a book sale and puzzle sale. Um and then additional events that are occurring for the month include a scavenger hunt, an escape room challenge, cider and donuts, uh raffle prizes, pumpkin painting and crafts, and more are things that are
coming up in the future. And on Thursday, September 25th, they are doing a fall into fun at the library and uh open house. So that is Thursday, September 25th from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
And that concludes my remarks for the moment. Thank you. >> Thank you, Council Member Hun. >> Thank you, Mr. President. I have tonight's or I should say July's Clark Police Department report which saw a total of 2,137 calls for service
including but not limited to 147 ambulance requests, 96 alarm calls, three arrival calls for mental health requests, two attempted burglary, 70 fire department requests, six fraud/identity
thefts, five motor vehicle and residential lockouts. 83 motor vehicle accidents, 25 shoplifting and thefts, and 209 911 calls, and 1,199
miscellaneous calls. There were a total of 20 adult arrests during the month, including but not limited to three for warrants, 13 for shoplifting, three for DUI, and one for unlawful talking,
excuse me, unlawful taking. Um the youth a bureau report will be handed out in for September. So there's no youth report this month. And that concludes my report. >> Thank you, Council Member Meniti.
>> Thank you, Council President. In July, the Clark Fire Department responded to 97 calls, bringing the total calls for the year to 378. Incidents included, but are not limited to. There was two fire related calls, 28
for rescue and emergency management, 10 for hazardous conditions, 18 for services and good intent calls, 30 related to false alarms, eight for severe weather and natural disaster. Um, last month our community faced several storms and I would like to extend my
heartfelt thanks to the Clark Fire Department as well as the police department, Emergency Management, and Department of Public Works for their vital roles during these recent weather events. Their dedication and hard work were instrumental in keeping our towns safe. The full report is available in the clerk's office. This concludes my
report. Thank you. >> Thank you, Council Member Okconor. >> Thank you very much. From the finance committee, the township continues to be able to meet its current obligations. Thank you very much, Jim, and your team. And then from the Clark Volunteer Emergency Squad, in July, the squad
added one new probationary member. The squad currently has ambulance 515 out for remounting and the county has lent us an ambulance to be available should ambulance 514 go out of service. The expected date of return is mid August. Please check for recent fund drive
request and support as best you can. The call volume is as follows. July EMS had 125 calls with three mutual aid calls. This does not include any calls that were dispatched or canceled on. Total hours responding to calls is approximately 805 manh hours. This does
not include any hours the members were on duty but not on calls. And year-to- date call volume is 797 calls. With regard to membership, for those who would like to assist the squad but may not have the time to do the EMT training, we are accepting applications for people who are interested in becoming drivers for the ambulance must
be 18 years of age or older with a clear driving record. Anyone interested can email the squad at www.rclark.org or membership atclark emms.org. And with regard to servicing in the community, the squad hosted four blood drives in July and is looking to expand the number
each month as the need for blood is increasing. Due to urgent need for blood at this time, there will be a blood drive every Tuesday at the squad from 1:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. in August. Please consider donating. The squad provided coverage at the 4th of July fireworks respectfully submitted. Lorie Sheldon,
trustee. Thank you. >> Thank you, Council Member Tol. Thank you, Mr. President. From the Clark Environmental Committee, the Environmental Committee will conduct the annual fall reservoir cleanup on Saturday, October the 18th, 2025 from
9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. All participants are welcome to join us in front of the circular driveway at the Brewer Municipal Building and where the reservoir will be attacked to pick up these offensive inflatables that get washed into the waterway and we go out and help mother nature do a cleanup. So, our only time in the year that we are
actually able to go out and assist and we like to help mother nature always. So, you're all invited. I'll be talking more about this in September, but Saturday the October the 18th from the desk of Mark Hayden, the chairman of the departmental cleanup. Rain date is Sunday the 19th. If you're able to join us, please come. I know you have people
have a lot of things going on with the fall leagues, the sports, the soccer. If you have a few minutes or an hour or so to come in and help Clark's environmental needs, you're needed to come and help us clean the rescue. Thank you, Mr. President. Great. Thank you from the recreation
pool. Uh I just want to congratulate Ralph and his staff for another successful summer wreck program. Uh keeping the kids safe and having a fun environment. The Clark Community Pool closes on Labor Day. Uh the day after,
which is Tuesday, September 2nd from 12 to 2:00 p.m. You can bring your dog to the pool for a doggy dip in the baby pool. And Ralph does ask that there's friendly dogs only. And the fall book with all the fall and winter wreck
programs will be coming out next week. And registration will begin the last week of August online. And if you have any questions, you can always stop in the wreck office or contact Ralph at 732-4288400. And that's the end of my report. Okay.
When you're ready, we'll move on to ordinance appropriations and claims. >> Thank you, Mr. Mr. President, uh, we have one ordinance for public hearing and for the record, there have been no objections received in connection with the proposed ordinance. Ordinance 25-25
is an ordinance of the township of Clark County of Union, New Jersey, adopting the amended and restated Westfield Avenue redevelopment plan for the property identified as block 91, lot 21, also known as 81 Westfield Avenue, block
105, lots 1.01, 01 uh also known as 56 Westfield Avenue. BL lot 2.01 is also known as 52 Westfield Avenue and 26.01 is also known as Broadway near the
intersection of Joseph Street, Clark, New Jersey, as shown on the official tax map of the Township of Clark, having been designated as an area in need of condemnation redevelopment. >> Right. Thank you. At this time, I'll open the meeting for public hearing. If anyone would like to come forward on
this ordinance, please do so. State your name and the town you live in. You'll have five minutes in duration. Just on this agenda, on this ordinance, if you have any questions. Okay. Seeing no one, I'd like to close the public hearing.
>> Thank you, Councilman Tol. Thank you, Councilman Hun. All in favor? >> Any opposed? All right. All right. At this time, I'd like a motion to adopt the ordinance. >> Thank you, Council Member Tolk. I get a second. I'll second. >> Uh, thank you, Council Member Hoff. Uh,
Jim, you have anything to add on this? >> As we've discussed in the, you know, last three meetings really, it is, um, the area where the old AMP food town was and including now the new property of
the citizens bank. uh you know we um put the area in for condemnation area needed the redevelopment in the event that we need to step in and deal with um moving the process forward. Uh from what I understand there are negotiations in
you know being finalized. So it probably won't get to that. However, we still will have that leverage in the event that we do need to use it. Um the again as we discussed the the goal is primarily to revi revitalize and the
underutilized um property. It would be a density of 63 units per acre with a maximum of 140 dwelling units allowed. Um is a minimum of 15%
must be a set aside for affordable housing. Um and it's not age restricted. the um you know this again helps us reach our housing provision uh required by the Mount Laurel and the you know the COA
process that we just went through. Uh overall the parking would be approximately 1.7 parking spaces per unit. Um and then the non-residential is going to require one parking space per
400 square ft. Uh the one of the concerns uh that came out of uh this process is you know the additional traffic on Westfield Avenue. There will not be a curb cut on Westfield Avenue. So, um, you know, to
to avoid having the additional traffic entering, uh, Westfield Avenue and, you know, it's really it's just going to be more of a walkable uh, mixeduse corridor and it's going to be our, you know, centerpiece at least in that area with
the property going in across the street to, you know, affordable housing, apartments, and, uh, retail. I don't know if anybody has any other questions. You have any questions for the Yay. >> Okay. 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.
>> Okay. Now, we're going to move on to introduction of proposed ordinances. Number two. First ordinance for introduction is 25-26 an ordinance to amend chapter 248 entitled peddling and soliciting section
248-4B13 of the code of the township of Clark. >> I get a motion that >> Thank you, Councilman Hung. I get a second. >> I'll second. >> Thank you, Council Member Okconor. Any discussion? Jim, you have anything to add? You know, this is just an administrative change to uh the
fingerprinting process to comply with the new state um process for Identico. Uh you know, so it's uh it's just formalizing the process from the state that we have to adopt. >> Great. Thank you. Anyone else any
questions? Okay. Roll call, please. >> Council member Hoff, >> yes. >> Council member Hund, >> yes. >> Council member, >> yes. >> Council member Okconor, >> yes. Council member Tol. >> Yes. >> Council President Smith. >> Yes. >> The public hearing on this ordinance
will be September 15th. >> Next is ordinance 25-27, an ordinance to amend chapter 347 entitled vehicles and traffic section 36A entitled left turns of the code of the township of Clark.
>> Can I get a motion? >> Move, Mr. President. >> Thank you, Council Member Tul. Get a second. >> Second, please. >> Thank you, Council Member Hun. Any discussion or questions up here? Jim, you have anything to add? >> Yeah, this is just formalizing the requirements as approved or as required by the planning board. I mean, it's
primarily for Manny's, um, Hackinack, Meridian, Exxon, Bagel Supreme, and Hyde's Golf Course. >> Great. Thank you for the explanation. 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. >> Public hearing on this ordinance is September 15th. Next is ordinance 25-28 and ordinance amending chapter 3
entitled administration of government article 6 entitled township clerk section 3-14 of the code of the township of clerk. >> I get a motion. >> A motion. >> Thank you council member Hoff. I get a second.
>> No move. Thank you, council member Tol. Any discussion? Jim, do you have anything? >> Yeah, I mean the reason for this is to establish a deputy clerk position in our office. Uh so we we will be appointing a you know someone as a deputy clerk and
we just didn't have it as part of our ordinance. >> Great. Thank you. 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. >> Public hearing on this ordinance will be September 15th. >> Okay. Payment of claims. Councilman Okconor. >> Thank you. I have reviewed the bills for the month totaling $449,346.25. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right. Now, we're going
to move to the citizens hearing on the agenda. I'm going to open the meeting to the public on the agenda items. 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 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 or duration. At the conclusion of the statements or questions for a member of the public, the council president his or
her discretion may choose to respond or not respond. So if anyone would like to come forward on agenda items, uh you have five minutes or duration. Please come up to the podium. >> Good evening. Ellen Mulligan, Wendell Place in Clark. Uh have some questions
on um resolution number 16 authorizing an emergency appropriation to finance the remediation of the damage to the storm sewer uh near the Robinson's Branch Reservoir. Can you tell me where the location of that would be of that particular storm sewer?
>> Do you have any other questions or is that the only one? >> No, I have another question about number. >> Why don't you ask all your questions and we'll address the answers at the end. >> Okay. Um number 17 um doing um stream cleaning and wall
rebuilding and 38 window place outfall construction and the amount of 966,300. um is that located on county property and um I understand that that area has been eroded immensely and needs to be
repaired, but I just assumed it was on county property and was wondering why Clark is paying for it. >> Right. Any other questions? >> No. >> Okay. Uh you can have a seat. We'll address them. See if anyone else has to come forward. >> All right.
>> Okay. All right. Go ahead, Jim. You want to start with number I guess 16 first? >> So 16 is 16 and 17 are both um related. So 16 is authorizing us to spend money that wasn't originally part of the
budget um primarily due to the storm but you know other um aspects associated with it. And you know, so the two things that we're going or really three things that we're going to be doing is on Oakidge Road just at the bridge on the
right hand side before you get to the golf course is that uh wall that's falling in. It has been damaged. We were working with the congressman um Tom Kaine to get money. So every year they
have for you know issues that you know towns have throughout the throughout each one of the con uh congressional districts is it's um community funding. As part of the community funding we were last year we put in an application. It
was approximately $3 million to shore up a bunch of walls and you know um areas within the pumpkin patch. Uh that money was not given out last year due to sequestering and we we were hoping to get it in 2026 when they opened it up
again. Unfortunately, we got the July 14th storm which caused erosion to you know potentially um undermine the wall. So as part of that we wanted to fix that. We
had the um backup in the stream. So, we had branches, um, silt, uh, material that all came up through the pumpkin patch. So, we're going to, you know, clean that out. And finally, we are
going to be working on a retaining wall around one of the curves in the pumpkin patch. And the sewer on Wendell, I believe it's 38. I can look up the number, but I think it's 38. Um and that was uh again
it's been something that's been going on and this last storm just channeled it out. Uh the question though being part of the reservoir all of the storm sewers that flow into the reservoir are the township's responsibility. So the
irrespective of it going into the reservoir or not because the storm sewer is right out right at the curb of 38 Wendell flows across the property where we have an easement. So we have you know dozens if not you know hundreds of you
know easements throughout the town for sewers and that's just one of them. So it is our responsibility to fix. We had this discussion with the county manager um and it it was um you know it just you know progressively got worse. So this is another one of the things that we're
dealing with. You know we would wish we had you know federal funds to help us but we don't. Good news is we may be getting FEMA funds from some of this. We don't know how much or for what but that's something that we are working through the FEMA application right now.
So this way we can potentially, you know, reduce the amount, but it would be irresponsible to, you know, push this off. I mean, we could cross our fingers that we're going to make it, but if we get another storm like the, you know, the July 14th storm, you know, it it may
cause issues and undermine, you know, all of the work that we've been doing throughout the town. So that's a long-winded answer to uh, you know, to the two questions. >> Great. All right. Thank you. Anyone else
like to come forward before I close it on agenda items? All right. A motion to close this portion. >> Thank you, Councilman Tol. Can I get a second? >> Thank you, Council Member Hun. All in favor? >> Any opposed? Okay, we'll move on to resolutions.
>> Okay. The first resolution is accepting a bid for township owned real property located on block 94, lot 11 on Lionel Street. no longer needed for public use pursuant to NJSA4A12-13A and authorizing the township attorney to
prepare a deed of conveyance. >> I get a motion >> with that. >> Thank you, Council Member Okconor. Can I get a second? >> I'll second it. >> Thank you, Council Member Maniti. Any discussion? Any questions for the BA? BA, you have anything to >> Yeah, this is a property that we had
appraised uh at 215,000. We had two bids, one at 265, one at 225. Um, so we are in fact, you know, as we've discussed in the past, looking at different pieces of property that we maintain from a DPW and a um a
maintenance standpoint and, you know, looking to offload them and put them to better use and hit the tax roads. So, here is here is just another one of those properties. >> Great. Thank you. Anyone else have any questions on this? 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. >> Thank you. The next resolution is award
of contract to Frank Galbrath and Sun Excavation and Demolition for the collection and disposal of leaves in the amount of $51,000. >> Can I get a motion? I'll >> move that, please. >> Thank you, Council Member Hun. Could I get a second? >> I'll second that. >> Thank you, Council Member Hoff. You have
anything to add on this, Jim? >> Um, yeah. Other than it's $300 less than we were paying last year. Same vendor though. >> Great. Thank you. Uh, roll call, please. >> Council member Huff, >> yes. >> Council member Hund, >> yes. >> Council member Manetti, >> yes.
>> Council member Okconor, >> yes. >> Council member Tol, >> yes. >> Council President Smith, >> yes. >> Okay. Number seven is accepting the renewal service agreement with Train US
Incorporated for HVAC Equipment Services at the Clark Police Department in the amount of $20,260 and authorizing the business administrator to execute the agreement effective September 1st, 2025 to December 31st, 2026.
>> I got a motion. >> Thank you. Council member Tol. Get a second. >> Thank you. Council member Hun, Jim, you have anything? >> Um, you know, just so everybody realizes, this contract is actually 16 months, so that's why it's a bit more expensive than it was last time. And as
we've again, I'll repeat myself, but we're trying to get all of the contracts to expire on December 31st. So, we spend 3 months negotiating contracts as opposed to expiring all throughout the year. >> Great idea. Thank you. Roll call, please. >> Council member Hoff,
>> yes. >> Council member Hund, >> yes. Council member Maniti, >> yes. >> Council member Okconor, >> yes. >> Council member Tol, >> yes. >> Council me President Smith, >> yes. >> Number eight is authorizing the
execution of a right-of-way agreement between the township of Clark and Go Net Speed to permit the installation, use, and maintenance of poles within the public right ofway to provide local exchange and interex exchange services. >> I got a motion. >> A motion.
>> Thank you, Council Member Hoff. Get a second. >> I'll second that, please. >> Council member Okconor. Uh, any discussion? Jim, do you have anything? >> Just another internet provider that wants to um service the community and you know, as the you know, the former
mayor and council wanted to get additional providers throughout the town and, you know, we contacted them, a bunch of them, and at least now we got we'll have two additional uh providers competing within the town. So hopefully
you'll get better service at a much more reasonable price. >> Great. 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. Number nine is seeking approval of the director of the division of local government services for insertion of a special item of revenue in the amount of $39,57.17 for the clean communities grant.
>> I get a Thank you, Councilman Tolga. Get a second. >> I'll second it. >> Thank you, Council Member Hoff. Uh any discussion? Jim, you have anything? >> Yeah, this is just a grant that we received. We didn't have planned because we didn't know how much it was going to be. And like every other um grant that's
not uh proposed in the budget, we need to approve it to be part of the you know line item. >> Right. Thank you. 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. >> Okay. Number 10 is seeking approval of the director of the Division of Local Government Services for insertion of a special item of revenue in the amount of $16,720.86
for the National Opioid Settlement. >> Got a motion, please. >> Thank you, Council Member Hunton. Second, second, >> Thank you, Councilman Okconor. Uh, pretty self-explanatory. It's just another uh handout from the opioid settlement. Is there going to be more coming? It seems like it's a bottomless
pit. It's going to continue to come over the next >> 23 years. >> Yeah, I was just going to say I think we got 20 years left or something like that. >> Wow. >> Okay. >> Um and again, it's we work with the police department, the ambulance squad, the fire department on how to use it because it's very restrictive on, you
know, what you can use it for. You can't use it for regular budget offsets, bonds in um any interest or anything along those lines. It's, you know, primarily for, um, treatment, you know, response,
training, uh, and then equipment. So, NAN, gloves, stuff along those lines. >> That's awesome. 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. Okay. Uh, where did I see? I'm sorry. Okay. Number 11 is seeking approval of the director of division of local government services for insertion of a
special item of revenue the amount of $250,000 for the capital project grant program. >> I got a motion. I'll >> motion that. >> Thank you, Council Member Hoff. Can I get a second? >> Second, please. >> Thank you, Council Member Hun. Anything to add? Nope. >> Just added this to the budget. It was
the um county grant that we are grateful to help us out with our pump station um repairs. >> Great. Thank you. Roll call, please. >> Council member Hoff, >> yes. >> Council member Hund, >> yes. >> Council member Manetti, >> yes.
>> Council member Okconor, >> yes. >> Council member Tol, >> yes. >> Council President Smith, >> yes. 12 is authorizing the purchase and installation of equipment by pumping services incorporated for the rehabilitation of the Sexton Village
Sewage Pumping Station through the New Jersey Wastewater Cooperative Pricing System in the amount of $249,181.90. >> We get a motion. >> I'll move that, please. >> Thank you, Council Member Hun. Get a second. >> I'll second that. >> Thank you, Council Member Hoff. Uh,
pretty self-explanatory. Okay, we got the grant in number 11 and it's being spent in number 12 for the pumping station. 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. >> Number 13 is authorizing the mayor and township clerk to execute a developers agreement with 1180 Raritton LLC, Chase Bank. We get a motion.
>> I'll move that, please. >> Thank you, Council Member Okconor. Second. Thank you, Council Member Hun. Any discussion or questions? Jim, do you have anything? >> I I mean, I have a few things to say. I mean, this is the developers agreement. There seems to be a lot of confusion about what it really does. All this does
is uh memorialize all of the approvals that went through from the planning board. There's no secret deal. There's no extra money in there. there's no other, you know, type of criteria associated with it. I mean, it it really gets into, you
know, what the affordable housing compliance is, either units or not. I mean, this one doesn't have obviously units, but then there's payments associated with it. It could, you know, what type of infrastructure and site improvements, you know, um electric charging stations, curbs, things along
those lines. uh financial performance um including bonds and escros and um you know how things how the engineers going to be paid, how the inspections are going to be paid for and then you know bonds in the event that they don't complete some of this work right and
then finally you know it's just the you know the framework the legal framework around what was approved I mean it's more of an implementation tool than you know any type of you special deal or special information or
anything that's in there. Um, and it's really uses a binding contract between the the builder and the municipality memorializing everything that's been approved. So, I mean, I just want to make sure that people understand what this is about. It's obviously it's not
for the council because the council has, you know, gone through this uh numerous times, but, you know, it's for the residents who um, you know, may be confused. um specifically for this one. Right. So, it is for the construction of the Chase
Bank. Uh approximately 300 3,368 square ft including a drive-thru. Um it's actually in the Hackinac Meridian, you know, Chili's parking lot. Um it it details where the parking needs to be, how much parking is in there. Um
you know, how the storm water needs to be maintained and the landscaping. uh the you know the construction compliance aspects of it. Uh they have to follow all of the township ordinances and the planning board resolutions and
any of the site pre um pre-approvals. So that is the traffic preapprovals, the police preapprovals, the fire preapprovals and so on. Um they're required to have a pre-construction meeting with the township engineer and the construction code official to lay
out all the ground rules. Um and then at the end they need to you know supply us with an asbuilt drawing on exactly what was done if there were any minor changes and you know before they could even get their money back from their performance
bond. Um you know there's a safety and stabilization guarantee involved. There's an engineering escrow. Um and then there's a maintenance guarantee which is for two years after that. So they got to make sure that the the trees
that they plant that the curbs, the sidewalks, any type of infrastructure changes are maintained for two years. Um and then again they have to comply with as I said the profession the board's professionals um EV chargers and they
need to pay the affordable housing fee, sewer connection fees and all taxes and escros before any of the permits will be issued. So they have to comply with all of the you know prerequisites before the um permits are there. Uh they need to
obtain permits from Union County, RVSA, New Jersey D etc. Right? So anybody who who their property um affects they need to also get those um approvals. Um, it details the insurance requirements uh
for general liability, auto liability, workers comp, and the township must be additional insured with a 60-day cancellation notice. So, we know that they're going to be cancelling if they do. Um, and then it, you know, they have to maintain the street cleanliness,
storm water maintenance. So, that's when they put, you know, the hay belts and um, uh, snow fences around, you know, different areas to make sure that you don't have leakage. access to bathrooms. Um, you know, it it says that, you know, we
can perform work if they don't perform it, right? So, if they don't follow through with all their requirements, we could actually do it. Um, and then any obligation associated with this, if they sell the property, it transfers to it automatically transfers to the new the
purchaser. And then um and then obviously an indemnification that the developer holds the township harmless for any claims and litigation. So that's again, you know, you've all read it. You know what the process is. It's again just to reiter reiterate what we are in
fact doing. >> Thank you for thank you for the detail. >> I'd like to add a little clarity. >> Council member Okconor. >> Yeah. So, um, some of the confusion was why it wasn't available for the public to see prior to us signing it. And as the attorney had stated, it was it's a
deliberative document at that point. All right. So, um, because of that, it's not available through Oprah, not not because of the township of Clark, because that's New Jersey statute. So, I have in front of me here the, um, the Oprah form that people fill out when they want things
um, opted, right? They want a record of what was said or what was done. So one of the things it talks about in here is your request for records is denied for the following reasons and the first thing it talks about is inter agency or
intra agency advisory consultive or deliberative material. Right? So it's not a public document. Therefore it is not operable and it doesn't exist. That's by state statute NJSA471A-1.1. Again, state statute says we can't do
it. I know some people may disagree, but we follow the law. Thank you. >> Great. Thank you. >> Anybody else? All right. 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. >> Okay. Number 14 is authorizing submission of an application for the Union County Kids Recreation Trust Fund
Grant in the amount of $32,600. >> Actually, I'm going to move that one. Can I get a second? >> Second, please. >> Thank you, Council Member Okconor. Any discussion? This is for the new what? Pickle ball courts, other ping pong tables, floor mats. >> Yeah, this is one of the crit one of the key things in this is upgrading the
infields of the um softball fields. So that's both the Nolan and Nelson fields, right? They've been in a state that they needed to obviously be upgraded. Um so we are, you know, working on on that. Uh pickle ball, uh ping pong tables, like
you said, foosball tables. We're putting in some bike racks, uh safety floor mats, and um you know, a pool vacuum for the U municipal pool. So these these again are, you know, standard. This is a standard um grant that we apply for
every year. Uh and um you know so you know these are the things that the recreation department determined that there was important to them for this year. >> Great. Thank you. 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. 15 is authorizing submission of an application for the Greening Union County grant. >> You got a motion? Move,
>> Mr. President. >> Thank you, Council Member Tol. Get a second. I'll second, please. >> Thank you, Council Member Okconor. Uh, anything to add? I believe it's for what, 30 trees. It's a matching grant. >> It's a matching grant. We're going to have 15 red maples, 15 red buds, and if anybody'd like them, you know, they
could contact me. Uh, ba rarclark.com and, um, and then we will be putting them out. Uh not sure if they're going to be ready for the the fall. It's probably going to be the spring of 202. >> Great. Thank you. 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. Number 16 is authorizing an emergency appropriation to finance the remediation
of the damage to the storm sewer pipe near the Robinson's Branch Reservoir exacerbated by the July 14th, 2025 storm to be provided for in full by the adoption of a bond ordinance by December 2025 and to certify that the expenditures to be financed through this
resolution are related to the emergency. >> I get a motion. >> I'll make a motion. >> Thank you, Council Member Hoff. Second. I'll second that. >> Thank you, Council Member Tol. Jim, do you have anything else to add? >> No. Again, I just want to make sure everybody realizes that, you know, this is worst case scenario. We are hoping to
get some additional funds in, especially from FEMA to offset some of these costs. Um, not sure how much, but you know, this is again worst case scenario of uh, you know, just work that we need to do. >> And hopefully our congressman will come up with some funds as well. it we well
it was it wasn't his fault in 2025 uh 2024 you know they they pulled them um you know when they were doing the uh doing the budget they didn't do it in 2026 because they pulled them in 2024 uh 2025 and then hopefully we get them in
2026. Time flies when you're having fun. >> Fingers crossed. Great. 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. 17 is authorizing the Pumpkin Patch Brook stream cleaning and wall rebuilding and 38 Wendell Place Outfall Construction award of contract to Montana Construction Incorporated through the Bergen County Cooperative Pricing System in the amount of
$966,300. >> Thank you. I get a motion. I'll move that. >> Thank you, Council Member Tol. Get a second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Council Member Okconor. Anything else to add to this, Jim? >> No, I think I said enough. >> All right. Thank you. Anyone else have any questions? All right. 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. >> Okay, we go on to the consent agenda.
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 discussion of 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. >> Before you read the mole, I think the mayor or BA would like to make some comments on some of the consent agendas for information. Yes. Um,
as part of this uh of these resolutions, there are several tax appeals. And I just want to remind us all here that uh when there is a tax appeal, the town absorbs all of the cost of the tax appeal. It's not allocated back to the
county or the schools. and approximately $70,000 um will be absorbed by the township uh for various tax appeals that are being covered tonight. >> Great. Thank you. Okay, madame clerk.
>> Okay. Uh 18 is appointing Edwin Sanchez as member of the Clark Volunteer Fire Department. 19 is amending the status of liquor license number 20002-33-00003 for Whole Foods Market Group Incorporated from pocket to inactive.
20 is amending resolution 25-144 issuing the refund of the cash performance bond for 8 Ivy Street. 21 is release of remaining guarantees and escrow to Spring Enterprise LLC for work completed at 60-62 Westfield Avenue. 22
is authorizing final payment to DLS Contracting for work completed on the 2024 capital road improvements in the amount of 7,12860. 23 is ratifying the action taken by the business administrator for the submission of a grant application and
execution of all necessary documents for the leaf composting grant program available from the D. 24 is appointing Nicole Castelluchcci as accounting uh I'm sorry acting clerk and Christina Deepak as alternate acting clerk in the absence of the township
clerk 25 is authorizing the tax collector to make the proper adjustments for 100% property tax exemption of block 30.01 01 lot 10 in accordance with a directive from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs 26 is
authorizing the tax collector to make the proper adjustments for 100% property tax exemption of block 49 lot 12.08 08 in accordance with a directive from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. 27 is authorizing the tax collector to make the proper adjustments
for 100% property tax exemption of block 195, lot 17 in accordance with the directive from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. 28 is authorizing the tax collector to refund overpayment of taxes in the amount of $1,000.
29 is authorizing the tax collector to refund overpayment of sewer fees in the amount of $310. 30 is authorizing the tax collector to apply sewer account balance adjustments as credit in the amount of $3,750.
31 is authorizing the tax collector to settle a tax appeal for block 148 lot 15 as authorized by the tax court of New Jersey with credit issued in the amount of $22,287.40. 40.
32 is authorizing the tax collector to settle a tax appeal for block 91, lot 5.01, qualifier C000024, as authorized by the Tax Court of New Jersey with credit issued in the amount of 764.73.
33 is authorizing the tax collector to settle a tax appeal for block 63 lot 46 as authorized by the tax court of New Jersey with credit issued in the amount of $26,5520. And 34 is authorizing the tax collector to settle a tax appeal for block 60 lot
22 as authorized by the tax court of New Jersey with credit issued in the amount of $19,615.79. >> Thank you. A motion to adopt the consent agenda. >> I'll move, Mr. President. >> Thank you, Council Member Tolki. Get a second. >> Thank you, Council Member Hund. 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. Is there any new business on the calendar? >> No new business. >> Great. Thank you. All right. Now, we're
going to move on to public comments. 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 NJSA10 colon 4-12A and the code of the township of clerk. Each person addressing the
council shall 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 at his discretion may choose to respond or
not respond. So at this time it's open to the public. If you'd like to come forward, please again just give your name, town you reside in, and you'll have 5 minutes in duration. [Music] >> Good evening, John Greavves from Clark. Um
I'm going to say something tonight that I've never said here in the chambers. And um what that is is that I am running for office. I am running against Mayor Albanesey's this year. Um I've made a point never to mention that here because I'm not really here to campaign. I'm here because I'm a concerned resident
and I worry about my community. But you guys keep bringing that up like I'm insincere when I'm up here. Like I'm only up here because I'm running a campaign. Um but it's actually the other way around. Um, I'm running the campaign because I'm worried
when I come up here that I don't feel like I'm getting the answers that the community deserves. Um, when I bring up problems a lot of times it seems like you don't even acknowledge that they're problems and that concerns me. Um, so you ask what I would do off often and
you know you guys are the ones with the office and the question keeps getting put back to me. So, in general, I I'll sort of explain some of the things that I I think should be done different. Um, I think we need better advocate for our
town residents needs and a stronger negotiator for our town's future. That sometimes means saying no to 30-year tax breaks for developers. >> Um, >> they're not tax breaks. They're pilot programs. Greavves, we've talked about this 50 times over. >> I still have my speech. So, um,
>> I'll give you a time. Sometimes that means saying no to 30-year tax abayments for developers. That isn't saying we shouldn't welcome smart development, but if you want to get a 30-year tax break, the benefits have to outweigh the costs. >> Otherwise, you can just pay regular price like every other homeowner in
Clark. >> And who wouldn't do I not have my time to speak or No, >> you do. I'm going to stop the clock and I'm going to just interject a second with you. I stopped it at a minute 43. So, you still have 3 minutes and 17 seconds. If we don't offer the pilot
programs, and we spoke about this at Nauseam for years with you, the developers would never come into this town. So the properties that you talk about that we should maintain market rate taxes would never be developed. So would you prefer the AMP property to
stay like it is like it was the last 20 years because a developer will never come develop it or would you like us to try to get a developer in here? And the way to do that is offer a pilot program. That's all I got to say. We've been saying that for three years now. So, okay, your time is back. >> I'll continue my interrupted time. Um,
so, but generally, we shouldn't use pilots for residential properties. Um, it adds students to the schools, which adds burden to the school, which is money that has to be paid to educate those students. And the pilot program does not include any payments to the
schools. So, who pays for that? The residential taxpayer, the homeowners. And I don't think that's right. If you want to use pilots for residential, maybe senior housing is an option because I know it's something that a lot of residents would like and it's something that doesn't add students to
our schools. Another thing is that our local economy, small businesses, places for people to gather is very important for our local economy. But if you look at the deals that you did, it actually reduced the number of small businesses. The Walnut Hill Apartments, there were a number of
small businesses there and now there's none. The Cub Smart, it had a small business there. people could get lunch there. Now it's a warehouse and the new place that you just approved on Westfield Avenue, that place currently there's two small businesses there and
it's being replaced with one and it's a much smaller space as well. So I know that affordable housing is an important part of this and you're going to bring that up, but the thing is is that there's already an ordinance that requires it and um Qmart doesn't have affordable housing
units in it. So, we didn't get any benefit there. And for the $12 million or so over the 30 years that uh Walnut Hill has its exemption, you could almost buy the units yourself. Not to mention that's already acquired by law. So, the
benefits don't outweigh the costs. There's more people, more traffic, more kids, fewer small businesses, and you want taxpayers to pay more for that. If you ask me what I would do, I would say no. I'd say no to these bad deals. That doesn't mean slamming the door shut
on development, but it means that we have to address the issues that I brought up. And I'm happy to say yes to those types of things, but that's not what's happening. So, I think we could get regular taxes on a property that doesn't follow or doesn't address
those issues. And like you said, if a developer doesn't want to build something, you know what I say? So what? So what? If it's a bad deal, it's better it's better to have no deal than a bad deal. So to close, basically I've been
arguing this for five minutes with a month in between for like two years, and that's no way to address these issues. This should be a conversation. And so I was going to ask Mayor Albanese if she wanted to have a debate, but I think maybe we should have a town hall. We should have residents come and actually have a discussion about these
issues. So, if you're willing, I'm happy to do that. But basically, we need a public dialogue for our community. This five minutes with the choose to answer or not answer and interruptions, it's not a way to actually address the issues in a
meaningful way for our community. So, that's all I have to say. Thank you. >> Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen of the council, Glenn Fogerty, live off Lake Avenue, Goodman's Crossing. Uh, I'm here to give Mr. Grief some dialogue. U call it
Lincoln Douglas debate, what have you. Uh, I did that in high school. I don't know if you did, but I sure did. And I had moved court in law school. Mr. Greavves. So, I'm here to talk about this strange uh group, self-styled far-left progressive political group in
here that calls itself Stronger Clark. Uh they've been putting signs on people's private property, including one of the ethnic clubs in this town, and they had to remove it and put it in their dumpster. That's highly improper. Last November, they were putting uh
Schulman stickers on uh public mailboxes. again against federal law, but when you're dealing with idologues, you know, it's all about being being audacious and audacity and everything like that. You know, I remember a time
when people ran as Democrat for council, Republican for mayor, but this strange group has to hide under the cultlike banner of stronger clerk. And what does that even mean? Stronger taxes, stronger regulation. When, Mr. Greavves. Has a Democrat like yourself ever complained
about having to lower taxes? That's not part of your program. You love more taxes, more government control over everything. Uh, Stronger Clark to me sounds vaguely authoritarian, quite frankly. I mean, if you have authoritarian tendencies,
that's your issue. But you get up here with this chip on your shoulder every time and then have the nerve to claim that this council is hostile. Uh to me for the past several years, Mr. Graves, looks like you're the hostile one. So I want to go down point by point as who is
stronger Clark or who are their associates. Well, we have Mr. graves here and I have yet to discern any government or business experience or financial management acumen uh other than just being an activist uh comes up here with a litany of
irrelevant details that are almost never on point and then has the nerve to complain that the council is hostile to him. I will say that his finest moment was last year when he went boohoo and said, "Do I have to live here for 30
years to someone for someone to pay attention to me?" To me, that is the call of an attention seeker who's just has has deep internal needs that he needs attention from somebody, from anybody. Turning to another stronger
Clark figure, we've got Miss Miss Mary Cortazo hyphen similar. Last year she ran as Cortazo Similar. Last time she com that she was here complaining, attacking the council for being hostile. Said she was Mary Similar. I'm wondering
what happened to the name Cortazo hyphen similar. Was that just the ploy to get the Italian-American vote? Kind of like Bill Delasio changed his name from Warren Wilhelm to to Bill Delasio. I don't know. How about Bill Grip? He's
never here. He says he wants to be on the council. He says he's Mr. Moderate. Last year he told me stronger Clark gave him the boot. Now he's back in bed with them again. Where are you, Bill? Come on. Uh then we have their strong
ideological influencer. Maybe he's not a made man of Stronger Clark, but he's pro he's a strong associate as they would say. Uh Rob Curry hyphen Smithson Patel. by next year there'll be another hyphen name maybe a couple more I just
don't get what this whole identity crisis and he is a strong ideological influencer of stronger Clark and uh it was just passed on to me that Rob has endorsed Zoron Mandami the self-declared
communist globalized the inifatada anti-Jewish bigot anti-Italian bigot who wants to get rid of Columbus Day tear down Columbus statues hates America, loves Hamas, loves Iran, come on. I mean, if this is who Stronger Clark
associates with, that's shameful. You know, I I grew up in this area, and the thought to me of actual communists running and holding office. You know, Curry Patel was an employee of Bernie, comrade Bernie Sanders, who went to the
Soviet Union for his honeymoon. Um, that's all I've got to say tonight. I'm tired of this litany of comments from Stronger Clark, Mr. Greavves, who unlike I I'll give Mr. Greavves this. He at least gets up here. He never makes
sense, but he gets up here where Bill Grib, where is he? You know, Bill Gri, you know, you see his signs on the Stronger Clark thing. >> You have 15 seconds. >> Yeah. Okay. Thank you. >> And honestly, if Stronger Clark loves Clark, why are they always whining complaining about it for the past five
years? Come on, give me a break. Thank you very much. Have a good night. Thank you. >> All right. I'll see no one further. I'll have a motion to close this portion. >> Thank you, Councilman Tol. Get a second. >> A second.
>> Uh, thank you, Council Member Maniti. All in favor? I. >> Any opposed? >> Council member Hoff, did you have anything? >> May I? >> Yes. you have the >> I'm still going to hold my comments for um on other things for after the mayor's
part, but I just wanted to say recording the recording. Okay. Um I'm glad you finally referred to tonight's uh comments as a speech because like many campaign speeches with rhetoric and manipulation, twisting of words, performative, it finally feels like
something authentic came out. It is so uncomfortable to watch the misinformation and the twisting. It is an epic level of self-righteousness to be the self-appointed spokesperson for so many. You bring up Cubesmart and I I'm curious and we can talk offline. You and I have had zero engagement, never
approached me, never had a conversation. I welcomed any sort of conversation with you. I would love to know with all the talk, did you want Cubes smart to have more apartments? Because then that would contribute to that feeling, right? you bring up these wildly inconsistent things that just blow with the wind for
whatever suits you in the moment. You referenced about the uh hurting small businesses and hurting the schools and developing properly. Do you want AMP to stay vacant? I'm pretty sure you've been talking at length about how that's such a blight on the community. Do you want
small businesses to come here? Go online. There's a ton of commercial spaces available. There is no one stopping small businesses from coming here. It has nothing to do with the development of the few things that are available. Um, and for the thousandth time in the few six months that I've
been up here, the enrollment is not exploding. The board of education has said they don't want anything. I don't understand how you can think that you know better than they do. It's uncomfortable and it's I don't know. Um, I you say something like, "Well, it's
left to you guys." And I would say yes, it is because we have the facts. We have the information. We have an administration who follows the laws and does what they're supposed to do. And we're informed. We are the ones that people call when there's a problem. And we're also the ones that direct them to
the people who are responsible for solutions. So I I sit here tonight. I was going to say it later. I thought it was so great that there was um uh Kenneth Police was cleared out. The DPW did a great job. the the beautiful
letter that came in from the community about that um thanking the administration and the DPW for doing what they're doing. Um and I understand because when I ran for the board of ed, I stood up there as a 20-some year old where the only thing the internet offered me was ask Jeeves and I thought
I'm going to change the world and I'm going to bring Target into the schools and they're going to supply all the textbooks. And then I got on the board of ed and I realized that's not how this works. But honestly, with all of the hyphens and everything else and the use of chat GPBT that's out there, I would say look at what a council person does.
Look at what Clark is supposed to do. And look at what our jobs and responsibilities are. And then you can come from a competent place to stand here with the accusations time after time and the twisting and the manipulations. And I hope that with the recording that you have there and the recording that's on the TV that when you
put this up that it's the full clip in its entirety, including your comments all the way through to the end. And that is all I have to say on this at the moment. Thank you. >> Thank you. Jim, do you have anything to add to answer these comments or
I mean we we've been through this, you know, numerous times. Um, you know, we have competing factors here. One is the affordable housing requirements. The other is, you know, development within the community. and no different than any
person on council, the current mayor, the former mayor, or any one of the residents that you know live here um are concerned about development. But unfortunately, until something changes within the state, we we're going to need
to have these houses um or these apartments and to satisfy our affordable um housing need. you know, we've looked at different options up to and including talking to developers to, you know, bring in um you know, assisted homes.
The price of the property is just too expensive. We've looked into the ability to have um you know take over apartments or you know purchase apartments, do upgrades to the apartments and you know the the former um candidate for mayor
sent me an email and I went through it in detail of you know why they don't make sense right and doesn't make sense not for us for the owner of the property you know deed restricted titles unable you know, the value of the property if
they sold it will be down because of the deed restricted titles. Um, you know, financing options. Uh, we went through line by line. I don't want to bore everybody here, but and I had zero response and this was probably 3 weeks
ago. I don't even remember when. But so there are things that we've looked at. We've tried them all. Um, I can tell you unequivocally that there would be no way that they would be able to build the development
on the AMP property with giving away 15% to affordable housing with some type of um consideration, right? And it's either >> I got an idea. We'll keep the taxes as is and we'll have Mr. Greavves rebate the difference in the 15% to the apartments. Is that what you want? I
mean, 15% of 100. It's 15 apartments. If regular rates 3500 and the builder has to do 2500, how's he going to make that money up without the pilot? >> And 15,000 a month, he's losing minimum. >> Yeah. >> That's why the pilots are here for the development. >> And and the the problem is it's not the
township. It's not any municipality. Look at Westfield. Westfield one. That's a giant pilot, right? The people aren't happy there either. Um and honestly, I don't blame them. I don't blame the people in Clark. I don't blame the people in Cranford. I don't blame
anybody who's not happy. But it's not coming from us. It is coming from New Jersey. So really, if you want to do something, you need to address it with the state. These are just mandates. You know, we went through a process and as you know, council knows, the attorney
knows, the mayor knows our we brought in a special attorney to deal with the affordable housing. uh and it is just a process and unfortunately we have to you know play by the rules if we don't look at what would what would happen right
builder's remedy we have then no control over it so they say hey you know at least we got you know I think it was what 63 units per acre um but you know if builder's remedy they could come in 75 100 units per acre right go five floors we have to protect the
municipality but by protecting the municipality ity we do have to you know comply with the strategy that we set forth and you know unfortunately we are in the position you know and there's there's not more much more that I can
say I mean I think cubes smart is a good deal right because it doesn't add anybody to the schools it doesn't add to traffic I mean anybody everybody who lives in this town you know you'll see how many cars coming out of AMP how many cars coming out of Clarkton how many
cars coming out um you know cubes one minimal zero most of the time right so you know we are taking a holistic view of the township and how to uh manage the development but when our hand one hand's tied behind our
back with this you know hammer over our head for affordable housing you know it we have to play by those rules right thank you all right now we're going to move on to mayor council professional comments mayor Albanese Please.
>> Thank you, Mr. President. Um before I respond to some of the comments, I just want to welcome our new um volunteer fireman, Edwin Sanchez, as a member of the Clark Volunteer Fire Department. Um we've been really blessed
this year to have so many volunteers join. So, Edwin, thank you very much. Um as far as Mr. greavves. Um it's uh it's a little frustrating because he constantly contradicts
himself. Um there are videos on their website that indicate that they are dissatisfied with the progress the township has made with getting rid of the old AMP. um he constantly um talks about getting
higher salaries for teachers yet complains about the school budgets and I I think uh Jim said uh summarized it very well in terms of what is happening in the state. He has no concept at all of what is going on and the commitments
and the burden no matter which party you're in that we are under that our our administration the township council here to fulfill those needs for affordable housing. Uh we have no land we have no extra land in this town to build
affordable housing. Um and we need to attract developers here with these incentives. This is no different than any other town. It just demonstrates a clear lack of understanding of what is
happening and how the process works. Um I think that I could go on and on. You you make a comment. We're not getting answers that the community deserves. You're just never satisfied with the answers that
are given. You're not satisfied with what's being done. It's you personally. It's not the community. The community keeps in touch. They're speaking out and keep us a breast of what's on their minds. I've said that before and I'll
say it again. If anyone needs to reach me, you know how to reach me at town hall. call my cell phone number as you have done and I will get back to you. But um you know I I just don't understand um
what your complaints are and I and I feel you have a lack of knowledge of what's happening and how government works. That concludes my comments. >> Thank you, Council Member Hoff. >> Thank you. Um,
I wanted to say that we went to the national um, Councilman Hunt and I were that the national night out with the Clark uh, police department and EMS and the fire department and other organizations. It was a beautiful night celebrating some of the most important people and organizations and resources in our town. Um, it was so nice to see
so many people come out and the kids sitting on the back of various emergency vehicles. Their smiles were like reminiscent of a kid at Disney. I mean, just they were so excited. Um, and another reason why we should obviously have such pride and support uh for our first responders was front and center uh last week, I think it was last week when
um unfortunately there was that fire in town. So, hearing from that family how supported they felt by the town I thought was really wonderful and continues to show what the people of Clark are really about and the magic that occurs when our town comes together and how beautiful this community is. Um, the town also came out big time for the
opening and rewelcoming back of the Barnes & Noble and Clark. a bunch of us were there. It was amazing to see. Um, and I think it's a great addition back in town over at the Commons. Um, tonight's officially the six months since I've been a part of the council, and I want to continue, of course, in this position for a long time to come.
But I want to thank Mayor Albaneseise, the business administrator, Jim, all the township employees, members of the administration, and last but not least, of course, my extremely experienced, knowledgeable, and very dedicated fellow council members who instantly welcomed me and have been very generous with their time and experience in helping me
learn this role. and I'm very grateful. It's amazing how in such a short period of time those who are sitting up here become part of your life and your dayto-day. Um I know that the mayor did a beautiful job. Um, but I feel obligated to um just add that, you know, about 20 years ago I got elected to the
board of education with Tommy Lewis and for three years we were attached at the hip or maybe the ear because we were on the phone all the time and um I was like the little yippy chihuahua to his like older German shepherd type person. And day in and day out we spent so much time together at committees in what was quite
frankly it felt like a complete overhaul of the Clark school district. A very tumultuous time. We had five or six superintendents in such a short period of time and it was total chaos. Um, and again that like little eager puppy, he always referred to me as like a dog with a bone, but together I think we did
amazing things. Um, and it blows my mind that while I got off the board of education and got married and had three children, one who's going to drive next month, um, he was a volunteer on the board of education that whole time. Um yeah, so many people just at my job, my
office in Raway. Um there's so many people who um have talked to me about Tommy in the past couple days. Um and I know that it his passing leaves a hole in the hearts of many. I'm very grateful for the time I had with him in my younger years and uh
whoa. Um and he helped uh teach how to be part of an organization and have confidence when I was 23 and uh is a great example of someone who's so dedicated to the community. He's always been a huge supporter. I'm very grateful for the time I spent by his side as his girl Friday sometimes and it's a huge
loss for the Clark and Raway communities and beyond. So, I would like to say thank you um and who he was for so many people and again to echo the mayor, extend my deepest condolences to his family and all the members on our board of education and the administration who I'm sure are feeling that loss.
Um, I would also like to just again thank our BA Jim and the DPW and the mayor um for help coordinating the all the manual work that went into clearing the brook on Kenneth Place. Um, I grew up there so it was extra special. Um, but the the the length of the note that
came from a resident over there talking about what a positive experience was working with the town or talking to the town um and the uh the the be fantastic job that they did. Um, so I just want to say thank you. And lastly, it's been bumpy as one who's connected to the
entirety of the town by Valley Road, but I am grateful for all of the road improvements that are being made. Short-term inconvenience, long-term gain. So that is all. Thank you. >> Thank you, Council Member Hund. >> Yes. Thank Thank you, Council President.
Um, Council Member Hoff took a a lot of a lot of the things that I was going to mention. um no don't no reason to be sorry. One of which um is Mr. Lewis. May he rest in peace and for his family and condolences to his family and he he uh
played an important role in both towns or two towns I should say, Railway and Clark. and um he holds a special place in my heart for his time and dedication he gives to children in athletics and he did that for my children and uh
eternally grateful for the time he took for for my children for everyone else's children that played sports and his dedication to the board of education. Um, Valley Road, um, as we know, is being repaved, so that should be hopefully nice and smooth by the end of
the week or early next week. And we're all looking forward to having a smooth road there. Uh, Barnes & Noble was another not sure why we're echoing. Okay, there we go. Sorry about that. Um, Barnes Novo was a good experience. Spoke
to the project managers there who were very happy that we put in the the ordinance regarding electric vehicles. They explained to us how the children are driving through their their shrubbery and ruining it. So hopefully
that will uh slow down a little bit and take place there. And on the other portions of of the town where they seem to like to ride their bikes. Um to the mers, our prayers are with them. The township has shown tremendous support to them. The day of the fire that the
response that was there, I was up uh on Blake Avenues and uh just the outpouring of support that was there for the family, the response by our local first responders in multiple towns that came to to assist
in that um tragedy. Um congratulations to Edwin Sanchez on becoming a volunteer fire department. Um, as I saw, as I just said, you can see our our firemen there doing what they do and their training is very important and seeing friends of mine coming out of the house knowing
that they risked their lives going in there and coming out and needing it to take a breather because they were it was an intense fire. So, the more more people that we can have volunteer for that, uh, the better. Um, and just to go back to the police night
out, as councilwoman, council member, excuse me, Huff mentioned, uh, there was a little girl there who was afraid to, I shouldn't say afraid, but shy when looking at a fire truck, and I asked her if she wanted one of the little red hats that the firemen were giving out, and she said yes. And when the firemen gave
it to her, her smile was ear to ear. And um, that's what our first responders do in this town. They're very good to our town. So, if we can return that any way possible, that would be an awesome thing to do. And I'm rambling on a little bit. So, I'll conclude with that and have a
good evening. >> Council member Maniti. >> Uh, thank you, Council President. So, I'm going to keep my uh comments uh brief, but I do want to mention um you know, just some of the things that were spoken at the mic today. Um, if you're like me and most of the residents in
Clark, we drive down Westfield Avenue and we see that dilapitated ugly building called the old AMP food town, whatever you call it. And uh, it's time that actions have to be taken on that property. And I'm glad to see that the mayor and, you know, the business
administrator are working diligently to, you know, get an agreement with a developer. Uh, one of the things that bothers me that was said is that if we can't come to some kind of agreement, so be it. So be it. Just, you know, bad for them, good for us. I want you to think
this through. That if they say no to us, they're going to say yes to somebody else. That means they're going to develop a building somewhere else. Just look around the towns. Go to Rosel Park, go to Garwood, go to Scotch Plains, go to Rawway. that a developer has
opportunity to do business somewhere else. So, we have to make an agreement to make them do business with us. Now, I'm not saying we have to, you know, like pilots or we have to like them, but we have to accept them because they're a part of everything going on. And, you
know, for the developers and the business owners in our town, they know that the rising cost of material, the rising cost of labor, the rising cost of insuranceances, the rising cost of everything is hindering their ability to make money. And that's why they're in business. They're developing to make it
financially advantageous for them. And if we can't, somebody else will. It's happening all over the state. It it's it's it's just something we have to deal with. You know, about the uh Cubmart building, that building, Bob's Lunch, and remember as a Clark lunchbox, was
very near and dear to me. It's where my family worked when I was a little boy. I folded newspapers in that place. But we had to do something on that property to I think make it look nicer as a as a a person that owns a property to make a
you know a longer term you know lease or rental deal. So it is a small business that owns the property you know so don't look at it as a conglomerate. I mean it's a it's a franchise and and I'm happy to see development. I think it's a good thing. Um, and I think it does help
small businesses because as a small business owner, I do use storage facilities to store materials. So, it Mr. Greavves, you know, I didn't laugh when you were up here and it's it's kind of disrespectful, but I'm being very respectful to you and hoping that one
day that you come up and see the light at see it on both sides that we're not here just for us. We were we're advocates of the people of Clark because they chose us. And you know, we always have to remember that and I try to is
that you know, I can't put one or two individuals ahead of the people of Clark. So I think that you know, and by the way, for somebody who comes up and the first words out of their mouth is, "This is not political. However, I'm running for mayor."
To me, that it's all political. And it's it's sad because this is a meeting about the people of Clark. It's not about who I am as a, you know, political or what I believe in and it's not for the people that come to the mic. And the same thing, you know, we have to do what's right for the people and I believe we do
100% of the time, not 99% of the time. With that, I want to express my condolences to Tom Lewis's family. He's been, you know, a great supporter of um, you know, the booster club, which I'm president of of. He's also been a big
supporter of our student athletes. I've seen him at all games and you know it's sad to see his passing and I want to wish his family you know my condolences and and from my family um it's it's a huge loss to our community. Um I attended the Barnes & Nobles also and I
just want to congratulate them. I think they did a great job and I was uh literally surprised about all the people that waited online for the opening of Barnes & Nobles and I I just think it's a great place and I'm really happy that they're in Clark. And um congratulations to Edwin Sanchez as a member of the
Clark Fire Department. And finally um just want to mention that the um ALJ Booster Club is uh now holding their annual membership drive. Um, the booster club is a um a nonprofit that supports our student athletes at the um high
school. Uh, we run the snack stand on uh Friday night football games. Uh, we're at the basketball games. Um, and uh, we'd like to raise money to uh, give scholarships and money back to our student athletes at the high school. So, our annual membership drive has started
and hope that, you know, we can get our membership uh, up this year. So, with that, that concludes my report and I uh, you know, appreciate your time. Thank you, Council Member Okconor. >> Thank you very much. I want to start off by uh giving my condolences to uh the Lewis family. Um Tommy Lewis, I knew
him. Did I know him well? Not as well as other people do or um not as well as I would have liked. But one thing about Tommy, whenever I spoke to him, he spoke to me like I was his best friend for 25 years. One of the nicest people you've ever met.
um concerned, listened to understand, not listened to respond. He was a good guy and you know the reputation Tommy had not only in Roway but in Clark is a volunteer and um you know I know uh the
week is on Wednesday and I know it's going to be a lot of people. It's it's at the it's at the high it's a Row High School, right? >> I mean yeah it's Wednesday. Yeah, it's Wednesday. I mean, they're expecting a lot of people. Not because he was an
athletic director, not because he was a school board member, but because Tommy Lewis was a great guy. I mean, that's what you hope for, right? That's what we all hope for when it's our time to be remembered as somebody who was a
great guy and somebody who cared. And I know myself and a lot of other people on this uh council, probably all, I don't want to speak for anybody. I'm sure they think the same. Um, we heard tonight through my report and uh we saw on the consent agenda we have new people
starting. We have a probationary member on the emergency squad. We have a new member starting on the fire department. Again, volunteerism in Clark is there. People want to give back to the town. People like this town. Again, I grew up here. Jimmy grew up here. Jess grew up
here. I mean, Brian grew up here. We love this town. We give back. We always do for the town what's best for the town. And Jimmy Metti said it best. We put the people before us and that's what we're doing. One person can't dictate
what we do for the people. Jimmy, I didn't mean to take it from you, but you did a really nice job saying that. Thank you. Um, school starting, right? School starting means there's going to be kids crossing the street, not at crosswalk like they should. But it also means traffic, right? It's going to start
again. So, please be patient. Um uh have a safe Labor Day. Labor Day is coming up obviously. And you know on the consent agenda tonight there were there were three items here. There was 26 27 and 28. 100% property tax exemption by
director from the US Department of Veterans Affairs. And it's a great time to remember who we should thank for the freedom we have and that's the veterans. Let us not forget and you have you have an opportunity to thank the veterans. Uh let's do so because because of them we
have the free government we have. So thank you. Those concludes my reports. >> Councilman Tol. >> Thank you Mr. President. I'm going to do this quickly because I usually do with the hands. Um my memory of Tommy Lewis when I heard Saturday that he had passed that he had heard he had gotten sick and then he passed. First to Karen to Tommy
Jr. and David our condolences. This community mourns as one. But Tommy Lewis was a part of a family. He was us. He was family of Clark and also Rawway. First time I met Tommy Lewis, it was at some political function in O2. I knew who he was. I knew he was married to the
Boille daughter who my father was good friends with Neil Bole. So it was the Kevin Bole connection in Clark. If you know anything about Kevin Bole, his family and so on. So what happened was Tommy Lewis comes up to me at an event and goes a madman. I go, "What?" He
goes, "You're a mad man. I love the way you work. You're just focused and you get the history and you go and do the job." I didn't know he was a coach. And I got to know who he was and what he was talking about. And I go, "Yeah, I guess I'm a mad man." He goes, "You're focused. You're laser focused." And that's what I wanted my players. I said,
"I was a claude and a dunce when it came to at sports, but I tried." He goes, "That's all you got to do. That's all you have to do on that dasis. Give back to who you are, what you feel you're good at and do your homework. Edris who founded the library always said, "Plan your work. Work your plan. Plan your
work. Work your plan. If you have a question, go out and ask it. Doesn't hurt to ask a question, but as long as it makes sense, not poking that pun at anybody." But Tommy Lewis called me a madman. And I thought that was bizarre, but I loved it because it made me more motivated to do the right thing. Over
the years, 20 years, 20 some odd years later, I was very sad because that madman comment stuck in my mind. What a great guy. Not a friend to just Clark, but to two different communities in your lifetime. You've given so much back. You touched so many lives. You go to the pearly gates and St. Peter's going,
"Great job. Get in here. We got uh first first row for you." To Karen, David, Tommy, the the Asil who are all connected to that family. Our condolences. This community will never forget such a great man. We also had another passing that kind of went
through the cracks. Harold Raymond Palmer, US Army veteran. Please note this. US Army veteran, World War II. He served and survived the Battle of the Bulge. A resident of Clark for over 50 years. Father Raymond Palmer, Clark PD,
retired. Father-in-law Patty Ail Palmer. That's what mixing the two together from the Boils and the and the Ales. Ray Palmer was a longtime Clark police officer. Always a good guy. I always say hey why why don't you do things this way he was a traffic officer but I got to know his dad through who I didn't know
he was that old but to get to 100 years of age to survive something like if you know history and what happened at the battle of the bulge it's an incredible thing and he was always proud of that but he came back and he talked to the veterans organizations and stuff about his experiences because that's how you take history when you experience such a
incredible event survive it you give it into the next generation so they never forget something what happened at that event I can tell you the sheriffines story who was also a survivor of the battle of the bulge. That was Andrew and Freddy's dad who Fred Jr. who survived
the battle of the bulge. Two Clark residents who survived, attended, went through the battle of the bulge and both came back and lived in Clark. I'm going to leave it at that. We a lot going on. It's getting late. It is the end of the summer. Please be careful these e ebikes. They're riding around. The kids are having a fun time, but it can be
dangerous, especially with the glare at this time of year. The sun's going down and it's a little bit blind. Just be careful. Thank you very much. We'll see you next month. Clark is a home. It's our home and it's our We are a family. We have to work together. Bye. >> Thank you, madame clerk. Do you have
anything to add? >> No comments. Thank you. >> Okay. Councelor, anything? >> No. >> Nothing. Ba. >> Yeah, I just want to um add uh something. I just looked it up fairly quickly just to get some additional
information. But, you know, again, as the council, we're, you know, and as the administration, we're responsible for maintaining the town and, you know, managing risk. So, you know, throughout the, you know, last few years, I just Googled it now, but Inglewood Cliffs was
court ordered to put in higher density and zoning because they didn't comply with their affordable housing requirement. West Windsor Township municipality um court granted builders remedy compelling them for higher density than
they wanted. Um South Brunswick lost immunity and forced to build affordable housing at a higher density. Middletown went as far as trying to use eminent domain um to uh take over a piece of property that they wanted to use for
affordable housing and the court came out and again I'm abbreviate uh you know cutting it short on some of this stuff but the municipality cannot take um extraordinary measures to avoid their affordable housing um requirement.
Montfell had to reszone seven um seven sites forced by court order with higher development um densities. Um and then some additional ones Alpine Furlong uh Fort Lee Little Ferry Mawa New
Milford Riverdale Upper Saddle River all were forced to have higher density and builder remedy. So again, we continue to go down this route, but you know, it is part of being responsible stewards of the town and making sure that we do in
fact take care of uh our liability and as and I don't remember who even said it anymore, but I was googling and just trying to get the information, but as it was said um by someone on the dis that you know, if they don't invest here,
they're going to invest somewhere and we need to still satisfy our requirements. Uh and and that's what it really comes down to. >> Great. >> One thing um you reminded me of North Brunswick. They appealed uh they were
required to build 1,750 units. They appealed the court and the court concluded they had to build not only the 1,750, they had to add on,500 more units
through the appeal they did. So, you need to be careful about these things. >> Great. Thank you. And again, just uh again, our condolences to the Lewis family. Tom was my first varsity basketball coach actually back in the
day while he was uh over in Rawway. Uh not only was he an AD, that was his I would say part-time job because he spent full-time on the Clark Board of Ed as well as running the UCIA, Union County Interscolastic Association, where all
the ads of all the town schools in Union County reported to him. So, he had a he wore a lot of hats uh and he was able to do it successful and he was able to do it without a cell phone. So, my condolences uh to Karen and her family and he's surely going to be missed. So,
that's all I have to say this evening. Motion to adjurnn. >> Thank you, Councilman Poll. Second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Councilman Okconor. All right. All in favor? I. Any opposed? >> All right. See you next month. Thank you.
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