United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States the governments established into the United States and
in this state in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people so help me God so help me God congratulations thank you sir [Applause] I James Waltman I James Walman do
solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will Faithfully that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly and justly perform all the duties perform all the duties of the office of Township Committee Member of all of the office of Township Committee Member to the best of
my ability to the best of my ability and that I will support and that I will support the Constitution of the United States the Constitution of the United States and the state New Jersey and the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and
allegiance to the same and to the government's established and to the government's established in the united states in the United States and in the state and in the state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people Help me go so help me God thank
[Applause] you okay roll call David Bond here Chad bow here Susan Lockwood here josephi here James W here next we will open the floor for nominations for mayor for 2025 I'd like to nominate Joe Voki as
mayor for 2025 I'll second nomination discussion uh well okay so there's a nomination now is there a motion to nomination right close the nomin
that's the okay so is there a motion to close the nomination move I guess I'm the second yeah okay so now um right okay all in favor of the
nomination for josei for mayor say I all opposed exensions okay motion Carri thank you you there wasn't much to [Music]
[Applause] it okay so nowe y all right um so now say nominations for Deputy Mayor I'd like to nominate James W Deputy
Mayor second second no not yet so we got second so we have a not a motion in a second Jamie um so U all in favor uh to close it first yeah okay so uh any any
any discussion anyone make a motion close I'll make a motion close all right now we officially vote on it right okay um so yeah can I have a roll call
please David V yes Chad yes sus yes Joseph yes [Music] yes all right and next Township so everyone can go now if you want for the favorite section at the end
which is ask the mayor whatever you want sure yeah yeah that's a good idea let's take a picture you got all dressed up you got to do something yeah go here the rest of guys you want to come up front
wait last week can we jump in just to thank you [Applause] all right thanks for coming you can sttion sorry for the delay everybody
Rory congratulations thank you thanks for coming good night good night all right um Township committee assignments 2025 do we are we going to read through them all we don't have to I mean the
list is you know I provided it in the packet and it's it's the same as last year except for the switches for planning board for mayor and so if anybody wants to make a change we can certainly speak up but otherwise we can keep it as is is everybody okay comfortable are I just want to say for
planning board if someone else wanted planning board have at it but I've just been doing it for so often and for so long it doesn't bother me to keep going to it so but if anyone else wants to do it
no it's fun you're you're going as the class three yes ESS sing got it okay okay um so we're all good with that then we can we do a motion to to accept the assignments might as well why don't
we do that a motion in a second even we do do it all in favor it's fine but just I I'll make the I'll make that motion I'll second it all right all in favor I oppos good um mayor Ro in Township
committee appointments boards committees commissions um they got same deal everybody had a chance to look over if there's any questions Di people asked me about newsletter but I'm assuming you never got I didn't get any anything submitted
no but we can always appoint them at a time say I think we're having a hard time finding the the for online for some reason really okay I'll double check that the link works okay CU I I know I told someone where to look and then she first she tried and then she called and
then I said and then she said she it and usually I just type in the search honestly for everything like no I'm like you need open type over in the search you need so I'll double check if the link is for me and is there somebody specific you want me to reach out to and send it to me or can offline if you I
will and again you want to just do a motion in a second and all in favor I know some of them are mayoral some of them are committee but it doesn't matter if everybody's in agreement I'll make that motion I'll
second all in favor post all right thank you mayor if you want I mean technically you can read all by title but under the under the law you can just say consent
agenda resolution 251 through 26 okay so yeah we'll do the consent agenda resolution 251 2526 um does anybody have any of you
what they need pull all right do I have a motion for the consent agenda I'll make a motion second roll call please okay David B yes Chad bow yes Susan L yes Joseph yes Jes
W yes he motion carries thank you uh Township committee comments let's start with Chad uh looking forward to starting with
this committee another year last year went really fast do it so um just wish everybody Happy New Year hope it's a good one and ask the mayor to put something together for the
newsletter because we always put the mayor's message in the first newsletter and the deadline is whatever the last Friday of this month is all right I'll I'll get work you got time but I'm telling you now I be telling you well
actually I'll see you again before then right that's true our next meeting yeah okay let me put that on my phone so I don't forget last Frid okay so got yeah okay I don't know we might have to cut that a week early 24th yeah let still with
January 24th weeks okay CU February is short we'll never get it done by March it can do that okay cool all right thank you J uh sure I I just wanted to reiterate how well I felt
2024 went thought we got a lot accomplished a lot of HR related issues that I think we finally checked off I think we have great people working in the township building on behalf of the taxpayers um we have happy people
taxpayers um I think Justin's doing a great job with the guys down at DPW and that's always been a bone of contention to this committee and many committees before us I think we finally have someone there that is uh helping the
effort uh and is there on a day-to-day basis instead of one of the township committee me Township committee folks having to go down and and intervene and frankly something that we shouldn't have to do um I think 2025 hopefully will be a lot
smoother um but we do also have a lot to accomplish as well um obviously the park project is going to be in full force um I'm hopeful that we can get that going quickly and that it can result in
minimal disruptions to the community uh folks that just want to use it for Passive Recreation but also for the uh Sports for the children obviously as well um so hopefully we can get that moving hopefully the weather cooperates I know there's a lot of variables there
but um I'm just hopeful for that and um I look forward to working with everyone here should be a great year so thank you congratulations thank you okay yeah I just want to wish everybody a Happy New Year and congratulate you for being mayor thank you and I think we all work
we'll work good together this coming here looking forward to it and that's all thank you thank you yeah I want to also say Happy New Year to everybody and I want to thank Jamie because I don't know if I would be so comfortable taking over as mayor you do
such a great job the last few years thank you um and I mean honestly I feel almost like a scumbag coming in and then we're going to the park and all this like good stuff's happening after all this like you know rough times and stuff I come in and I get to just like oh yeah now we're all happy you get to cut the
down there I know right so so thank you for for oh please kind of like you know making everyone happy so this is a better trust me there a lot of people that happy but thank you you here um yes so I'm looking forward to this year working
with everybody so thank you all look forward to supporting you too so any way that we can thank you I appreciate that so I think it's going to be a great year all right um public comments
I'd like to uh congratulate you Joe being mayor and Jamie uh vice mayor assistant mayor whatever it's called but I also am looking forward for the next 12 months of listening and participating and observing sometimes animated
discussions of the trans committee thank you good thanks anyone else J I'll put in my routine plug to have you assume responsibility for video recording these meetings
uh it's done many other places I'm not asking that you have zoom meetings I'm not asking that you do anything live or online but the public deserves a record of what is said during the meetings not just the votes so I'd like you to
consider that it was discussed November of 23 and it was my understanding that you were going to move forward with it in 2024 hopefully you'll do so in 2025 yeah um thank you we it's definitely something we'll bring it up
we'll discuss and thank you for for your dedication you're welcome appreciate it not here whether the WEA is crappy or not you're always telling so I just want to correct the record for those people who are watching there's an incorrect
implication you said not just the votes uh everything that is stated in every meeting is in fact recorded there is is a voice recording that is available to the public so every word that is said not just the votes is available to the
public and and if somebody heard that comment J I know that's not what you meant but there's a suggestion that it's not being recorded and it is I just want folks so if I can just clarify a bit having heard the audio recordings it's
very difficult to understand who is speaking and you also missed the body language we had less body language in 2024 than we did in Prior years but it's much more difficult for members of the
public to really understand the workings of the committee if they're listening to and trying to transcribe an audio recording should be here thank you yep we we will discuss this yeah I have a comment building on
Jan's comment for example the res resolutions uh resolution 2525 establishing procedure for public comment before the township committee what does that mean what
is so if you remember last year we really wanted to set forth um Rules by which someone would have to come out of the audience and stand in front of the podium um because we felt as though when people were sitting back there they
would really rile up the crowd and and and unfortunately there were some situations where there was a lot of banter when we noticed when we had them in front of the podium we were much able to much better able to control the situation it also ensures only one
person's speak right we had a lot of uh unfortunate a lot of times where one person would start and then other people would start speaking simultaneously so that was the reason for that and we never really formalized anything via resolution and that's what we just did
here okay is that resolution available to us to see and do post them or where are they they are Incorporated in the minutes but you can also have them sent well if the minutes won't come out to way after you know another
month okay but yeah you can see any of those so I can call you and and ask for those that's what we mean by you know more information of the list of people on committees and things like that those of us in the audience do not have that
information with as we're sitting here and I know other townships do include and make available online all that before you sit down for the meeting so man yeah I don't I want to stop interrupting mayor but um I I think
we've we've gone down this path previously and I think what we came up with was the fact that we're voting on these and ultimately that because they're not set in stone yet we didn't want to put out this entire packet for
everyone to have it's even more than that under New Jersey Law a draft by law is not a document so even if somebody was to make an open request there's no obligation to provide it because these are working documents for you as committee members to review to edit once
you finalize something and adopt it then it becomes a public record and that's what available to the public and then we can request corre because the problem is blind until that time it's essentially yeah essentially because I hear other
townships do put all sorts of yeah I I don't know I what do a lot of things that supposed to and the ordinances are home on the bullet board the day after we pass those as well I mean we should I understand when we
had our prior uh clerk minutes were delayed in getting published and I understand the Public's frustration in respect to that time period but Diana is very Vigilant as far as getting them
posted out as quickly as she can and you know as she had mentioned it's it's usually what 7 to 10 days well it's the next meeting we on them then they're no longer right there has to be on the website so it takes a coule one
month because it's a draft and often there are committee members who will review and say that's not correct can you change this and then there's adoptions as as amended so you know again that's another example of why I
believe it's inappropriate to be sending out drafts because it's not the actual document and it facilitates discussion on things that aren't that don't ultimately become the reality so backtracking then if I had put an Oprah
request in for something like this I could not have got it because it's not thought that's correct if you if you put an oppr request in for a draft document my legal advice and the New Jersey law says the clerk has no obligation to
provide it and actually I would direct the clerk not to Prov provide it because it's not a document once right no it's not that's that's exactly I I'm I am completely consistent um but once it's voted on it then
becomes a public document which is available for your review 100% it has to be voted on and approved by this governing body then it becomes a legal document all right anyone else this is probably a procedural
question but it seems to me I'm looking back to a few years ago where there was quite a bit of discussion about appointing an animal control service that there may be some items on the consent agenda that members of the public might be interested in
understanding and providing input to the committee before a vote was taken um is it from a procedural standpoint appropriate to issue a draft
copy that could be available to members of the public for their comment prior to the committee voting and giving the public an opportunity to provide input to the committee on such things like appointing the township engineer
attorney Etc ET um May uh I believe that in in instances like that we provide the
public the ability to make to speak on the issues that are on the agenda and hence because they are part of the agenda as a consent item you could stand up there and say I would like to know
more about consent agenda item number whatever and then it's at the mayor's decision whether or not he should break that out for further discussion but that is the means by which you have the ability to have input on certain items
in there typically yes but I did notice public comment on agenda items was omitted from the agenda this evening yes just it was I figured again it was a procedural it was just a streamlined agenda understood normally we normally
we have that in advance well what you've just said makes perfect sense so if people read the agenda s an item of particular interest they should get up speak asking their questions and then should you decide further discussion or
tbling it to the next time okay that makes perfect sense thank you m thanks J sure anyone else all right um well I guess then we're ready for Jour so move I'll make a
motion be AJ meeting I'll second all in favor I I thank you thank you thanks every