Good evening everybody. We're going to uh call to order the township committee meeting for Monday, January the 12th. If you're willing and able, could you rise for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of
America and to the stands one indivisible and justice for all. We're going to move on to the open public meeting statement pursuant to the open public meetings act notice of this meeting was sent to the cranberry press
times home distribution on January 9th 2026 township's website and sent to those who request a copy of this notice. >> Thank you very much. Um excited to kick off this meeting uh with the oath of
office for our township committee person Barbara Rogers. Yeah. What do we >> do? >> Am I doing anything? I'm not doing anything. >> I turn off the mix. that I will support the Constitution of
the United States. >> that I will support the Constitution of the United States >> and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey. in the Constitution of the State of New Jersey. >> And I will bear true faith and allegiance >> And I will bear true faith and allegiance >> to the same
>> to the same >> and to the governments >> and to the governments >> established in the United States >> established in the United States >> and in this state >> and in this state >> under the authority of the people >> under the authority of the people. >> So help me God.
>> So help me God. I do solemnly swear >> I do solemnly swear that I will impartially and justly perform that I will impartially and justly perform all the duties of >> all the duties of >> township committee person
>> township committee person >> according to the best of my ability >> according to the best of my ability. >> So help me God. So help me God. CONGRATULATIONS. SO, while Barbara joins us here, I would just like to thank um Senator Greenstein for joining us this evening and and and
being here today. It's an honor to have you here and appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule. So, thank you. Can I just say >> that's what I was going to ask you. >> I was saying to myself, uh, what am I going to say? Um, well, when I see all
your faces, what easily comes to mind is that I do this because of all of you and all the support that you've given me. Sometimes some days are sunny and sometimes uh days are gloomy. Yes. Can you believe it? Um but uh all of you who
are sitting out there um represent Cranberry and that's what I try to do. Represent you and the township and the staff and our other we we work together as a team. Um and I really truly
appreciate uh each and every one of you and I really truly appreciate Cranberry. wouldn't do this if I we I don't think we all would do this um if we did not really really love this town and what it uh what we do together. So, thank you very much.
You're officially up there. >> Okay, we're going to move on to roll call. Mr. Christopher >> here. >> Mrs. Eladawi is absent. Excused. Dr. Rogers >> here. Mr. Scott >> here. >> Mayor Caner >> here. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Do we have any additions or
changes to our agenda this evening? >> None. >> None. Okay. Awesome. Okay. Um can I get a motion to Oh, no. We don't have any minutes to approve. We're all up to speed. Wow. All right. We don't have to approve a reorg. We did that. >> Okay. Um just um before we get to um the
reports and communications, I just want to make I had the unfortunate uh circumstance of coming down with what I believe is the bubanic plague. There's no other explanation for it. So at the reorganization meeting, if anybody heard even on a YouTube video, one word that
left my throat, it would be a miracle. I had the worst case of laryngitis I've ever had and barely got out my oath um um here. But um I desperately was trying to find words that night to just express my gratitude um to the township
committee um for allowing me to serve as mayor for 2026. Um and this would not have been possible without reelection, right? You get elected to be a committee woman. You get selected to be mayor. So that gratitude extends to the residents of Cranberry um
for having confidence in me and to elect me for another three-year term. Um, I would also like to thank Dr. Rogers for being nominated and selected to serve as our deputy mayor uh for 2026. She's going to do an amazing job and I look forward to a not just a
constructive but a fun year uh together in these roles. And if I have one request to make to the community, if any of you are considering marriage or renewing your vows, if you would allow Dr. Rogers to fulfill her lifelong dream
of of performing this ceremony for you. >> I just want to perform a ceremony. >> Exactly. I'm just imploring the community because if you're mayor once, you're considered mayor forever. So, she carries that title with her forward and this is a lifelong dream of ours. So, yeah. And so, I know this TC is
committed to working hard and making sure we achieve goals that we set for 2026. And I appreciate everyone continuing to actively engage with their respective boards and commissions through our liaison work. We made a few tweaks to those. Um, but our plates are
going to be full as in any other year. Um, and I just wanted to remind everybody that our budget meeting is scheduled for 9:00 a.m. on Sunday, February 1st here in town hall. Obviously, that's a public meeting. So, I just wanted to make sure. I'll give
the rest of my updates um later, but I just wanted to say what I couldn't say on January 2nd. And um it's still not 100% back, but it, you know, much to my family sugarin, it's back enough that I can yell in discipline. So, there's
that. Okay. All right. With that said, um updates from any committee member. Barbara, you want to kick us off? Um the environmental commission hasn't met um this year, but uh they are trying to get uh they have a couple of consultants and they're going to be
working on a community energy uh their community energy grant. So that'll be a um exciting thing to see how that's going. >> Short and sweet. >> We'll go on this side of the room and we'll finish up. Um we actually had two meetings on the 7th. uh the two reorg
meetings and zoning reorg which I think was a record of like eight minutes or something. >> Rob Diamond is going to be the uh the chair again and Joe Balance is going to be the vice chair. Um the board of ed was reorging on the same day actually.
Uh Sopruni was elected president of the board of ed um and Emma Vasard is the vice president there. Um, additionally in a uh more there's lots of um committees and things that they um they nominate that day, but also the um the
board member for the Princeton board of ed um will be u Katherine Lara again. So, okay, a little consistency after my departure from those two boards. Um they did some of their regular reorg meeting stuff as well. Um and all of that's
available on their agenda. Um, there's a municipal alliance meeting tomorrow at 3:30. Um, and that's my report. >> Okay, awesome. >> Okay, Matt, what's happening? >> Not much. I'm glad you have your voice
back. That's very exciting. Um, parks have not met yet this year. Um, but there's a couple of things I just want to mention. uh know Barbara was a part of this, but the uh signage and this and the um uh for the 1713 house um will be
will be presented at the next parks meeting. It looks like um well depending on what they how they feel about it. Hopefully they they agree and I I think it looks great and hopefully that'll be installed in May. Um parks has also submitted their capital budget request which we'll discuss on the 1 and that's
about it. I'll report back once we meet. I >> I think the exciting part about that sign is they got they received a $5,000 grant. >> Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. >> Yeah. So, that's great. >> That's $5,000 is always exciting. >> Yeah. >> $5,000.
>> Okay. All right. I believe we have our chief of police with us this evening to give us a update. >> Good evening, sir. >> Thank you. New year. >> Happy New Year.
>> Microphone. >> Microphone. >> Happy New Year everyone. So, it's all right. Happy New Year. How's that? >> I'm going to go over December's uh um monthly report. I am going to start with
the um police blotter. It is on the township website. I received some constructive um a constructive email. Um it's on the township website under uh departments uh police and then under police it has its own tab on the lefth
hand side. So uh feel free to um take a look at it. This one will be posted tomorrow. Again I always send it out to the committee members first prior to uh u putting it on the website. Um December was you know we rang the year out uh
just kind of the way we have been going. So it was kind of busy. Again, this is just a fraction of what we had um some of the arrests. Um December 12th, we had a missing uh person. Uh I saw the helicopters. I got lots of text messages
and calls and thankfully that turned out okay with the assistance of uh prosecutor's office and the Jersey State Police. Uh we were able to locate that individual in the woods and get them the medical need uh medical attention they needed. Um,
we had a bunch of DUIs. I mean, just seems to be the trend during the silly season, as I like to call it. Um, one of note was December 30th where our officer responded to a local business. Um, someone was intoxicated. uh CDS
found uh within the vehicle and surprisingly that individual didn't want to comply with police and then you know a little bit of uh disagreement ensued and a couple of my officers got injured. Um but they're okay. It was very minor. He was successfully arrested and and
charged accordingly. So again, that's uh that's on there as well. So to close out the year, I'll go over the police department statistics. Um, summones are self-explanatory. Um, while the summones may be down from
the year prior, um, I attribute that to, um, uh, less officers. I know that doesn't sound like it's right, but it it was for the majority of the year um due to injuries and uh due to unforeseen
circumstances, but I would uh like to show or highlight the um amount of mo motor vehicle stops that we did for the year, which were in excess of 1500 more than the year prior with more officers. So, I think that number speaks for
itself. I'm not so much about tickets as I am about getting our message across of you know how we uh expect people to drive and and uh you know act accordingly behind the wheel of a car in Cranberry Township. Our crashes, you know, they're always teetering uh around
the same amount. Um thankfully the fatal and serious motor vehicle crashes are down. Again, I'll attribute that to the increase in motor vehicle stops even throughout the state. I mean, it's it if you stop more cars and you wake people up, those kind of bad things will always
happen, but hopefully happen less. Um, I received another email um from a uh from the mayor um just staggered about the uh calls for service and again, every year we go up. Doesn't matter the amount of uh uh manpower, officer power we have.
We're we we just barely missed 30,000 calls or something. >> I was going to say, could you state that so the public can >> Yeah. 29,694 and every one of them is tagged and everyone has a reason. So, it's a tremendous amount of calls for uh what everybody thinks is a small township and we're not that busy. I'll I'll put those
I'll put those numbers against some bigger departments. Um none to our neighbors though because they definitely have us be. So, um dispatching again the NAS and hopefully we will not see these um possibly for
the month of January, but after that since I took over um I'd like to record as much as I can. Um and there's 911 calls. Monthly interaction uh for for our dispatchers alone uh was over 53,000 almost 54,000 calls to the dispatch
center 247. Um, I that's just something uh, you know, food for thought. Uh, over 8,500 radio transmission for uh, Cranberry police officers alone. That's just us. That's no other town. Uh, after that is overtime. Um, you
know, my opinion, overtime was down um because, uh, I did everything I could within my power um, to keep it that way. Um, unforeseen circumstances are always going to creep up. Um, but, you know, training took a big hit. So, you know, this year coming up, training is going
to have to we're not going to have a choice. So, it's going to I I expect it to increase a little bit for next year. Um, but that breakdown is there. Uh, and then after that is just the the monthly report. Um, thankfully we already see the trend where there is uh
no NAS um for the detective bureau. I apologize for that report. Um, but if anybody has any questions, I mean those numbers are self-explanatory. Um, if anybody has any questions they like me to answer, I'd be more than happy to answer them to the best of my ability.
So, help me God. Hearing none, seeing none. >> Well, well done. Um, I just wanted to thank you for and the and the department for the collaborative effort on the 12th. Um, I think that um taking care especially of the youth in our town is very important. >> Yeah.
>> Um, and it was uh obviously it was flying around the the parent community. Um, and it was it was taken care of very quickly. Really impressed. >> Yeah, I I've I've addressed this committee before and I do believe that uh one day I don't believe I'll see it,
but the um requirement for a drone is going to come there. Pro drone programs that are popping up all over the place. Um South East Brunswick, I apologize, they're just starting one this year. Obviously, there's a cost associated with anything, but um if it wasn't for
the state police fleer, um I I I shudder to think what could have happened to that that individual with that cold of a temperature and the onset was already hypothermia was already, you know, level one trauma. Uh you know, I'll tell you. So, um and we were we found them relatively quickly. Doesn't take much
when you're not wearing socks and shoes and you're in the woods for an hour in freezing temperatures. So, um, you know, uh, to that end, I'm very grateful, but I also have to be mindful that, um, you know, if the state police had been on another job, >> there's only three helicopters in the
whole state of New Jersey, you know, so you can't always rely on that. But thankfully, it worked out in our favor and I'm very grateful to that. And I sent a letter and I expressed my gratitude to them and to the county was attempting to get here with a drone, but and a dog. Um, they did arrive, but we
had located a few mile already. So very happy about that >> and I think I express this to you obviously our uh you know the gratitude from the whole community but also you know in during the year that we did we had some special circumstances and I took the opportunity to thank um uh
Sheriff Scott when I saw her at the reorg meeting for the prosecutor's office and the police at the the uh county level for their help in keeping the employees of our town hall safe, the DC members safe and and any support that
they gave us that just to make sure that they knew that we were grateful for that. >> They did and and uh I'm in constant contact with them and I appreciate the sentiments and I know uh for my officers I I advise them of the same and uh you know there were some nights here um some
days here there were 50 60 officers and you wouldn't even known it and obviously Cranberry Township doesn't have that many officers so um we were here with a lot more if need be. So I'm grateful for that collaboration. I'm grateful for uh the opportunity to um
give that kind of security or that kind of peace of mind, but at the end of the day, it's uh ever evolved. What how do you like to say that ground's always shifting underneath us? So, >> and again, my favorite four-letter word is hope, right? So, I expressed while I expressed gratitude, I also indicated
that we would hope that we would not repeat any of that and not need their assistance this year. So, you know, knock on anything >> uh that we'll start off this year in a positive way. >> Absolutely. >> Thank you. And once again, that police bladder is located on the township website.
>> Township website underneath the police section >> to the left hand side and then police bladder. Yes. I just >> on a lighter note, just like to make a comment. I'm so happy that I live in a town where an incident of ding-dong ditch made it to the police. I couldn't
I'll be remiss if I didn't put that on there. I mean, the uh the resident was and I'm just for me it was Yeah. Okay. It was annoying. It was harassing, but you know what? Let's blow a little light into it. >> It's also nice you read that, you know, the parents were notified and that's it. You guys didn't
>> and and and that's how we that's my mentality behind agree. You know, parents are still parents. You know, until they don't want to be parents and then we have to, for lack of a better term, be the bad bad person. We're going to try to always instill that uh pushing forward. So, I think they got the the
the note out. >> Yeah, absolutely. >> That's all. And if you don't know what we're talking about, I encourage you to read the police. >> Absolutely. >> Where is that police to blame if you don't know what we're talking about? So, please read it. It'll be published tomorrow.
>> Okay. Awesome. Any other questions? >> Thank you, everyone. >> Thank you. >> Happy New Year again. I'm shutting this off now. >> Thanks, Chief. Okay. Um I just uh have two other updates real quick. Uh the planning board uh met they held their reorg
meeting um last Thursday. Uh Wayne Whitman will serve as chair again as well as Jason Stewart will serve as the vice chair for 2026. Um we reviewed quite a body of work uh during the planning meeting. the uh zoning subcommittee has been working since June
on the uh planning board checklists, the application checklists and the design guidelines and we've met the better part um probably every two weeks for six months and that body of work was reviewed by all board members of the planning board. So we've made some
pretty significant changes and again the goal was to streamline the process for applicants and then thus it would streamline how planning board meetings go. So the hope was that um if you've ever been a liazison to the planning board, you know those meetings can be
quite long. Um and you know we have a group of professionals as well as volunteers that are on this board and it is a very timeconsuming board to be part of. Um and the hope is that all of this work uh will help and streamline things
and we partnered with um HPC reviewed a section of their guidelines. We reviewed with shade tree sections of it. So there were other boards and commissions that were brought in too and I think um I think the result is phenomenal. It's it's really really good and very thorough. It will require that typical
kind of back and forth between the planning board and it'll come to the TC for everyone to review these checklists and all of these changes that we made. Um and then it'll go back to the planning board. Um we expect uh the draft from the planning board probably around the March time frame because it
is a lot to put together in a draft form. And then I think all said and done, it'll be around the May time frame that um will then put in uh you know adopted an amendment to the resolution changing all the various things that we put on there. So that means an applicant
in June could potentially be using this new checklist and so we'll kind of audit that and get feedback on it. Um another area was the parks um uh questionnaire survey. if I can get an updated one of that so that I can send it out in
tomorrow's mayor's update and then have the deadline extended on it to where you want the deadline maybe January 31st or the 15th of February, whatever you guys decide when you want to close that. >> They at the last meeting we discussed extending it. So I don't know if they did already.
>> Okay. So if Okay, I'll check my inbox. I didn't see it beforehand. Okay. And then um on January 6, Assemblywoman McCoy from the 14th district joined HBC J uh chair Jennifer Sutmmeer on a historical journey through Cranberry. Um 30-minute
drive tour. There were 12 sites visited which included uh the 1713 cottage, Washington's meeting place, the History Center, Museum, Cranberry Museum, many other stops. Uh and then I think they concluded their um journey at Teddy's for a hot cup of tea or coffee or hot
cocoa. Um they discussed topics such as historic preservation challenges and opportunities within that uh black history in Cranberry, agriculture and plans for the American Revolution celebration and all of those were discussed. So I had the privilege to see
Assemblywoman later that day up in Edison at the reorg meeting at the board of commissioners and she was incredibly complimentary. um of her tour. She felt bad that I think you ran out a little bit of time because her schedule she needed to get somewhere else, but she wanted me to pass along her compliments and I just
want to say thank you to Jennifer for taking time out of her busy day to accommodate that tour. So, I think it was fantastic. So, I just want to give a shout out to that. And then, um at our last uh at our reorg meeting, a member of the public was asking about all the appointees to boards and commissions and
all the liaison. So, I just wanted to thank Deborah and the staff here. All of them are posted on the website, including the liaison, so they're all up to speed with who's doing what this year. And just a shout out for all the volunteers on our boards and commissions. And you'll see that as a
reoccurring theme this year from this township committee is going to be an expression of gratitude and a celebration of volunteerism within Cranberry. It'll be a kind of a running theme for us to communicate out to the residents and make sure that the the
folks that are doing this work and are selflessly giving up their time on these boards and commissions that they're honored and that everybody knows the good work that they're doing and the initiatives that they're they're working on. So, we're going to try to be very very thorough in our communication uh this year about that. So, that's that's
all I had to add. I just want to um I just want to add thank you for that um readout on uh when uh Jennifer brought McCoy around. Um we we met um we met her at uh the 1713 house and uh Karen Kelly
who's also with Chips uh helped show her inside and it was uh really amazing the amount of work that is being done in the 1713 house and it'll be really exciting when the doors open up. >> That's awesome. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> And thanks to all the volunteers that
are doing their work on the 1713 house. Yeah. Um any follow-up items? Okay, we have some uh vacancies on our boards and commissions. So, speaking of volunteerism, uh the environmental
commission has a second alternate um open. Uh the Historic Preservation Commission has a second alternate uh class C open and zoning has a second alternate that is open. Okay. All right.
Uh we are going to move on to we have two first readings this evening. Um yep. >> Okay. So the title for our first ordinance is Cranberry Township Ordinance number 01-26-01. Ordinance to exceed the municipal
appropriation limits and to establish a cap bank. Uh the second reading of this ordinance will be on January 26th, 2026. Can I give you a motion for introduction? >> Yeah. Can I get a motion to introduce ordinance 0126-01?
>> So moved. I'll second. >> We're going to move on to roll call. Mr. Christopher. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Eladawi is excused. Dr. Rogers. >> Yes. >> Mr. Scott. >> Yes. >> And Mayor Caner. >> Yes. >> Thank you. And now our second that is on for introduction this evening. First reading. Cranberry Township Ordinance
number 01-26-02. Authorizing soft cost for Cranberry Housing Associates uh CHA to purchase and develop affordable housing family unions at Cranberry Commons and the Township of Cranberry County, Middle Sex, New Jersey, appropriating 125,000 from Cranberry Townships affordable
housing trust fund to cover the cost thereof. Again, second reading on that will be January 26, 2026. >> Can I get a motion to introduce ordinance 0126-2? >> So moved. >> I'll second as well. >> Okay. And roll call. Uh Mr. Christopher,
>> yes. >> Mrs. Delawi is excused. Dr. Rogers, >> yes. >> Mr. Scott, >> yes. >> American, >> yes. >> Thank you. >> Okay, we don't have any second readings this evening. Um, can I get a motion to move consent resolutions A through D or
if anyone has a wants to have anyone pulled out? >> I'll move A through D. >> I got a second. >> I'll second. >> Okay, we'll be moving on to roll call for those. Uh, Mr. Christopher, >> yes. >> Mrs. Zadawi is excused. Dr. Rogers,
>> yes. >> Mr. Scott, >> yes. >> And Mayor Caner, >> yes. >> Unanimous. Thank you. >> Okay. Um, we are now up for public comment. Just as a reminder, we have a threeminut time limit on our public comment. If you could kindly just walk up and sign in and then state your name
and address if you're making any public comment. Okay. Going once, going twice. Okay. Seeing no public comment, we will close public comment. Um action items that I captured was the parks and recck
survey. Any other action items? >> Okay, captured that. Okay. All right. Can I get a motion to Okay. 29 minutes. This is a second record for us. Okay. >> Uh reorg was 13 and yes. Can I get a
motion to adjourn the township committee meeting? >> Some moved. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> All right. >> All right. >> Congratulations. >> Look at that.