like to call this meeting to order. Could we stand and salute the flag, please? I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible and with liberty
and justice for all. Jamie, could you read the sunshine statement, please? Be advised that proper notice has been given by the township council in accordance with the sunshine law in the following matter. Notice advertised in the Burlington County Times and Camden Carrier Post on January 8th, 2025 and posted on the
bulletin board on the state. The roll call, please. Mr. Marorrow, here. Mrs. Apadu, Mr. Smith, here. Mr. Jenny, here. Mr. Lion, here. uh Councilwoman Aadu uh couldn't make it u with a health health issue. So our thoughts and prayers that
she gets um back ASAP. All right. First up on the work session we have a joint presentation county shelter and associated humane societies. So if you guys are ready
take it away. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. Um, my name is Brian Hackett. I'm the director of government and community relations for Associated Humane Societies. Uh, we are New Jersey's largest uh, animal sheltering and protection organization.
Um, we do a lot of municipal animal care and control contracts around the state. Uh, none here in Burlington County because we have our county shelter, which is uh, a bit about what this presentation is about. Uh, personally, I'm a Burlington County resident. I
reside in North Hanover. Um, love the county and appreciate the opportunity to be here this evening. Um, my colleague is Anne Raposarda. She's the uh board vice chair of the Friends of the Burlington County Animal Shelter. Uh,
together we work collaboratively on uh these ordinances around New Jersey and especially in Burlington County. And so I appreciate the opportunity to just give an overview of this issue, why it's relevant to uh Delran and our county and
uh have a short presentation just about the uh model ordinance that we are presenting uh to all the municipalities in Burlington County uh to address this issue. So,
thank you, Ann. Um, so I just gave a brief overview of Associated Humane Societies. Uh, we have our flagship location in Newark. Uh, we also have our Titan Falls location in Mammoth County. And uh for those who have been to
Popcorn Park Animal Refuge uh in Lacy, that's also under our umbrella where we've rescued a lot of wild and exotic animals from, you know, drug trafficking situations and road other roadside zoos
that have been problematic and all sorts of things. Next, so just a brief overview. Why are we even discussing any of this? Uh New Jersey, as you may know, uh does have state mandates on every municipality is
required to have an animal control officer as well as some type of arrangement where sick, injured, rabid, uh stray animals can be brought. And so, of course, as Burlington County residents, we have the great benefit of
our county animal shelter uh in West Hampton. and uh Ann and the friends of the Burlington County Animal Shelter do a tremendous amount of work every year. I think it's a half a million dollars a year that the organization raises to
help offset the costs to uh county taxpayers with that operation of that facility. So a lot of this is really um it's not just about animal welfare. It's about uh efficient municipal functioning, public health uh and a lot
of this stuff is multi-dnamic in terms of various priorities that we have uh in our positions. So next, so just before we get into the ordinance issue,
uh there's some pretty staggering statistics around this uh both nationally and statewide. So over 95% of the animals that are euthanized in animal shelters are cats.
So, you know, I don't know if there's a show of hands. How many people are dog people? How many people are cat people? Uh, I happen to be all the above when it comes to animals. Uh, and so, you know, dogs have their challenges in in animal
shelters nowadays. Uh, but cats are really where the rubber hits the road. So, a lot of the cats that go into animal shelters, they don't ever come out. That's correct. And many of those cats, if
they're not a resident's pet that happen to get lost or or out, most of the cats that go in from Delran, Willingboro, anywhere in our county, most of them are what's known as community cats or feral
cats. These are cats that uh are outside because they've been abandoned. They are offspring of cats that have lived outside. These are not cats that you could have as a pet. You know, they're not adoptable that will sit on your lap at night when you're watching TV and you
could pet them. These are cats that are really they're domesticated species of an animal, but they're really wild. They're out living. They're not socialized. So, the problem is is if these animals go into the county shelter, chances are they're going to
get killed. because there's just no outlet. Sometimes there's barn homes. I know Fabcast and our organization, we work very hard to get some of these unsocialized cats into barn homes and farmers in some instances love it
because they have a barn where they have some cats and that, you know, cats eat the mice and some businesses like that as well. But it's it's it's really difficult. We have to drive up to New Hampshire to get these cats placed. So it's it's it's labor intensive and difficult.
It's a matter of also compassion for our county shelter uh workers who are faced with having to needlessly kill these animals on a daily or weekly or or monthly basis if and when they come in. It's really it's really challenging. In
large part, thanks to the friends of the Burlington County Animal Shelter and Ann's hard work and her organization, there have been tremendous strides made in Burlington County. Uh the county shelter used to put down well over a
thousand cats a year uh throughout all the towns from our county. Um now it's down I think around 200 which is still a lot but it's a drastic decrease as you as you can tell. And the reason for that
success has largely been known to to be attributed to what's known as TNVR programs. T TNVR ordinances. That's trap, neuter, vaccinate, return programs. Next,
sorry for the smaller text, but I'll just briefly explain. So, the good news is is some towns in Burlington County already have some variation of a TNVR program ordinance on the books. Delran does as well. So, uh, kudos to you all.
Thank you for being ahead of the curve in this regard. Uh the issue with Delran's ordinance, however, is that it was based on a pretty 20 25 years ago. There was a veterinarian who helped the
county spearhead this and it was a very um rudimentary version of this ordinance when they were first starting to get proposed and happening. So that's the one on the books in Delran. So it's certainly uh better than nothing and
it's great that the municipality recognizes this as an issue and has this somewhat in motion. Uh but what FOBcast and and I are doing going around Burlington County is working with
municipalities to either adopt a TNVR ordinance or make some modifications and updates to the current one you have. Uh and that's what we would be respectfully requesting here in Delran.
So what happens if we don't do TNVR? This is a really pretty, this is a staggering image statistic. So, one unaltered cat after 5 years of a standard reproduction
process of cats, how prolific they are, it could lead to well over 11,000 kittens. It's it's insane. And that is why nationwide statistically 95% of the
animals that are euthanized are cats because there's just so many there's so many being, you know, reproducing. And when cats are doing this, it leads to a lot of community concerns as well
because residents often complain about, well, I have a cat in my flower bed. I have cats yowling at night. I have cats fighting and you know carrying on. All of those behaviors are because the
cats have not been sterilized. That's the fundamental component of this is trapping them, neutering them, vaccinating them so it's not a public health threat against rabies and then returning them to where they were
trapped so they can be maintained by members of your community who care about the cats. They're they're humane. They're good Samaritans. And then over time, the cats just die off through attrition. And when we maintain cats in that way, it also prevents other cats
from coming in because cats are very territorial. So, they'll defend that area. And so, it's it's it's a population control. It's a public health process. It's also a deterrent for other cats. Now, of course, humans are often the problem when humans abandon cats and
the, you know, people just they leave an apartment and they leave the cat in the apartment or someone gets evicted from a residence and they just open the door and let the cat out. Um, those are those are problems. So,
so there's key components of the community cat ordinance. Um, I believe several months ago when FOBcast was emailing all the municipalities, uh, there was a a model template ordinance that was shared with with all
the towns. And that ordinance template is what we would propose and we would recommend to adopt as closely to that model language as as you can. Uh, it's been reviewed by attorneys with leading
national animal protection organizations. It's been implemented in many places. Um, of course, there's some variations that you may want to make with tweaks, but the key components involve the definition of a community cat,
recognizing that we just don't have cats that are owned as pets. There's these cats outside that need to be dealt with. there are proper regulations put in place that make sure there's not an impact on wildlife and feeders aren't creating any other issues. Um there's a
requirement that people that participate in this have to make every reasonable effort to vaccinate and sterilize the cats. That's the whole purpose. You can't just feed them because you're just adding to the problem. So unfortunately what some towns have done around the
state is they just implement a feeding ban. Well, that's only dealing with a small piece and it's not a comprehensive solution. It drives people underground and it just creates all sorts of problems just to have a feeding ban. We need to allow residents who care about
these animals and it's happening as we speak all over the place. So this is just a recognition that there's a lot of people who are working on addressing this problem. Um and but they have to feed the cats properly and make efforts to participate in TNVR.
And finally, there is uh a nuisance abatement process. So if a resident does have a concern or a complaint, there's a reasonable process and a time frame by which uh the animal control officer, maybe the health
department, FOBcast, the resident, the caregiver, the various components of this involved would come and work together to address the complaint. Now, the good news is is the more TNVR happens, the less and less there's
complaints because most of the reason people again complain about cats are when they're not sterilized and the hormones are raging, right? Uh but there's a nuisance abatement process in the ordinance which is important to update. So, the town is
protected, the cat is protected, the resident is protected, everybody's interests are respected. So, in the model ordinance, uh, there's definitions that are important. Recognizing feral cats and community
cats, recognizing what a caregiver is. A caregiver may be a resident that doesn't own that cat, but there may be a few caregivers in in a neighborhood section where they say, "Oh, yeah, that's Sammy the cat. You know, me and my neighbor, we we help take care of that cat and he
kind of lives between the houses." Um, ear tipping is something that's required to be done. And when you see a feral cat with an ear tip, it means the cat's been sterilized and vaccinated. So, someone's already handling that cat. It's not a
public health threat because it's been vaccinated. And basically, nothing to see here unless there's a complaint about that cat. Next. There we go. Uh so the key requirements that are put
upon any resident or any participant who is looking to TNVR cats um they have to be cared for on private property. Um caregivers have to make every reasonable effort to sterilize and vaccinate the
cat and make sure the cat's ear tipped. um there's got to be um you know proper care provided to them on a regular basis. Feeding is permitted but only during certain times and certain ways. So people you know what what we've seen
in some places is where the municipality is not friendly towards this approach. People literally and I kind of half joke about it but it's not really funny. There's driveby feedings where people
will drive by, throw food out of a car window because they're afraid of getting ticketed and then it just creates a whole slew of other problems. Whereas this type of ordinance and this type of process lays out reasonable restrictions and
rules and you know everybody understands who should be doing what and the animal control and the police know that this is permitted and there's not a problem unless people aren't feeding properly or they're not taking proper care of their
colonies. So um those are important pieces of this. The complaint mitigation is an important part of this of any ordinance the nuisance abatement process. So if a resident has a reasonable
complaint, it should be dealt with and and the stakeholders involved would be called in. So if a resident or someone is caring for a cat colony and there's a cat that is going in someone's garden beds, we don't want that to happen if the person's upset about it. So that's
an example of a reasonable complaint. You know, someone from FOBcast, for example, if they were helping that resident would come at no cost to the town, spray some lemon oil uh near the plants, the cats hate citrus, and they go away and problem solved. So it it
really helps make things more efficient. If if your animal control is getting calls, this is just helping them route it and sometimes not even have to deal with it. It's preventing the cat from having to be impounded to the shelter. So it's
saving on those costs and those resources. Uh it's really a progressive proven policy um that addresses these issues. some places, Miami Dade County in Florida, they are so happy with how successful
this program has been throughout the entirety of Miami Dade County in Florida, uh, that they pay people to participate in this program. I'm not suggesting that here, but I'm just use, you know, as an example of it's so successful and so popular, they're
paying people to trap and and participate in this. So, it's really incredible what they're doing down there. If you ever go to Miami, if you're ever in South Beach, as you're walking, you'll see, you know, the the bowls and it says, you know, cats are being maintained by this rescue or this
organization. You know, don't feed them if you're not one of the designated feeders. So, it's really a good process that that helps reduce complaints and populations. So, the model ordinance that we've shared, um, animal services, your animal
control does have a right to remove cats, uh, if there's an immediate threat to public health or safety. Um, cats cannot be released on government-owned property or managed parks. You know, there's there's aspects to this to make sure things are done in
an orderly fashion. And that's that's really one reason we are encouraging municipalities to really look at this and update the ordinance because after a couple decades of this happening in many places, you know, we've seen what works,
what doesn't, what needs to be tweaked. Um, and I think we need to strike a really good balance between regulating but not overregulating in a way that disincentivizes citizen and resident participation in
being part of the solution here. Um, and again, you know, my town in North Hover, I think we sent one cat to the shelter. Uh, so it varies throughout Burlington County as to how many cats are going from what towns. And that's why this is
really important. You know, we know New Jersey with home rule, each municipality has a lot of power and authority to do what it wants, but really this needs to be done countywide because if North Hanover and Mount Holly and Delran and
and a number of other towns are are doing wonderful things and the right thing on this, but Willingboro and Peton are not, it still is dragging up, you know, costs for for everybody on county level. So, it's really important that
town by town, this happens throughout the county, throughout the state. So, I I gave a pretty quick brief overview of all of that. Um, just out of respect for your time, if you have any
specific questions or concerns, I'd happy be happy to address them. Ann, is there anything that you'd like to add on behalf of FOBS? Just that we've seen Oh, sorry. Um, we've been dealing with several resident issues with cats and we were able to
successfully solve them by going out fixing the animals and uh, keeping the acco. The town would just reach out to us and, you know, we would go out and, you know, fix it in a reasonable manner. Not saying that every incident would be like that, but we've been seeing that.
We did that in Shimong. We did that in Lumberton, a couple other towns, um, Riverside. So, you know, we've been helping with people who maybe have too many cats and we, you know, helped by fixing them all, removing some, came to a reasonable agreement with the neighbors. So, it is possible to, you
know, mitigate neighborly disputes over cats and any other cat issues like that with some uh, you know, some welfare and and humane aspects. And I'll just uh close by by saying I think um being a public policy wonk
myself, you know, there's always well what are the downsides to this? Um so one concern is always about the predation of cats on birds and that's a a serious concern. Uh the only way to
reduce predation of cats on birds is to reduce the population of cats. And um the only way that we've been able to effectively do that is through this type of approach. Um for many decades, the way of addressing it was you just round
up a bunch of cats when there's an issue or when you see them, they go and they get killed. And then we think we've kind of addressed that. But there's what's known as the vacuum effect. When you remove cats from a particular place, it
leaves that area open. And so there's a vacuum effect in that any cats that you haven't removed, which there's always going to be cats that may not have been removed when we don't do TNVR, then there's a lot more space for other
cats to move in, reproduce, get food because we've just removed a subset of cats that were there. Um, so that's that's an issue. Um, you know, rabies is always a concern, zooonautic disease. Um, again, you know, the requirement
here is that the cats are vaccinated at least once and that's better than the cats being vaccinated zero times. Um, so, you know, nothing is perfect in this, but national animal protection organizations
and experts who have looked at this, what's a solution? There's really only two options. rounding them up and killing them or doing TNVR. Rounding them up and killing them. Just in terms of a cost perspective,
a conservative estimate is for every cat that comes into the shelter. a conservative estimate on costs considering New Jersey's laws on 7-day holds and necessary care being provided.
The empoundment the cost of care and the youth in Asia conservative estimate is $300 per cat. To TNVR the cat, put it back out and let it live the average of five or six years that it lives. The cost is about 120
bucks. Sometimes it can be done for cheaper. And the benefit there is that because it's a humane progressive approach, you're going to get organizations that spend a half a million dollars a year of their own money to address the problem.
You're going to get organizations that want to give grants. Sustainable New Jersey even includes cat management like this as what towns can get credit for under sustainable New Jersey. So I think that speaks a lot to you know
the benefits of this. Now there are people who hate cats. I get it. I don't expect people to love cats. Um but that's part of the nuisance abatement process in the ordinance. What is a reasonable complaint? What is a
reasonable concern? A cat merely walking across my lawn, I would say, is not a reasonable complaint. I have squirrels and deer and birds pooping on my car, all sorts of things. I don't expect animal control to come to remove them.
So, if a cat is scratching up someone's pool cover, that's a reasonable concern. We have to deal with that. There was a situation in Lumberton that Anne dealt with. Gentleman had five cats on his pool cover. They were scratching it all up. Well, they were doing that because they weren't fixed. They were fighting.
Got them all fixed. Neighbors addressed it. Now, the guy loves the cats. So, doesn't mind them. So, you know, this isn't a perfect approach, but it's a very viable approach that's been done in many, many places in New Jersey and
around the country. As I said, you already have a TNVR ordinance on the books, which is great. It just needs to be updated um in our opinion with these with these provisions. So, I appreciate your time. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Anybody from council questions? I um No, I don't need that. um at PetSmart um had residents coming to us in about 2006 2008 and so forth cats especially in the neighborhood I work so
you know about a group of ladies together and love cat and test had a program I don't know if they still do but we we had shth and it went real well and did cut back a lot of cats in the area. We had the donor pack off of Chester Avenue behind
the walls there. We had a large uh colony of cats and women, you know, were feeding on people stuff and the owners didn't mind too much, but then they started to, you know, multiply that. So um you know I think we can discuss maybe looking at the ordinance
and what we can address and um if there's any foundations that you know what she says pets aren't doing but you know pets see if we can get some financial help with this orance. Um, the way the
shelter has described it to us is if a town is TNR friendly, if a cat is brought to by an acco to the shelter, instead of it being killed, it will be fixed, vaccinated, ear tipped, and then either the acco
was found or a Fabcast volunteer can bring it back. Also, your residents are welcome to use our program. We TNVR about 2,000 cats a year through our um cat adoption center. It's called the Hissy Hut. It's in uh Mount Holly on 84 Mil Street. So we run feral cats through
the downstairs um to Ace of Spays in Lumberton and uh get them fixed. We take a van full twice a week. So um and it's very reasonably priced too. It's either $30 or $50 depending on your income. So it's a real very inexpensive way to get
your community cats fixed. [Music] question. Can you can you share with us a little bit? I understand the concept and the theory. Can you share with us a little bit communities? How do people process this? You know, what's the process in
place in the communities to make it work? That's a great question. So, uh this is happening all over the country, all over the state, in places where we know it's happening and in places where we don't know it's
happening. Um, for example, in the city of Newark, where we're based, the Essex County Commissioners appropriated $200,000 a year specifically to this effort throughout Essex County. We have people coming out of the woodwork that
we never even knew existed that were were trying to feed colonies of cats. And you know, they're they're they're compassionate people who were trying to address this because they see starving animals. But again, if you're just feeding, you're adding to the problem
because they're procreating and more and more and this cycle goes on. So this in some instances, if it's just a private resident, you know, just a singular individual, they may or may not come out of the woodwork. But if if they know that
there's a program where the cat will be humanely addressed, they're much more incentivized to come out and say, "Hey, I live on five Main Street. There's some cats in my backyard. I don't have the money to do it, but could FOBcast come in and do it
for me?" And it doesn't cost the town any money. It doesn't cost the resident any money. So, in other instances, there's actual colonies of cats that are there and there's regular caregivers who maintain them and they're known to the
community and sometimes people feed, you know, you you go feed in the morning, I go feed in the evening and someone else goes the next day. It's a little bit more of a coordinated process. It it's it's kind of a case by case depending on
what is the situation. You know, a resident may call and say, "Hey, I see there's, you know, these three cats hanging out in my backyard. I I want someone to help me with it." Or there's an organized colony where people say, you know, there's 10 or 15 or 20 cats here. We don't want them here. We need
to reduce them. And so getting them all fixed and in five years they're all gone. 6 years give or take, they're gone. the problems addressed humanely and by attrition. Um, in other instances and reference the county shelter, if a
cat comes into the shelter by an acco or the shelter staff just has a cat there that's not adoptable, as Ann noted, if the town is TNVR friendly, there is a process called shelter return to field
where the county shelter staff will say if this cat was healthy, there's evidence that someone was caring for this cat. somewhere and maybe it's someone's outdoor indoor cat that hates everybody but likes that person, but they just don't know what's at the
shelter. So, the the equitable thing to do in that instance and the humane thing to do is the shelter will do all that work and then their staff either directly or working through FOBcast will return the cat to the area or the private property location where the cat
was trapped. So it's more of a passive ordinance where you communicate to the residents so they are aware of it and it's their responsibility to communicate any means not the township to go out and monitor and and identify. Right. So you
already have an animal control officer that you're either employing as a county resident or you're contracting with separately for animal control. That individual's job really doesn't change. what that costs you doesn't change uh
per se. If that animal control officer gets a call, it's just a matter of how they would address that call. Um in towns where there's not TNVR, unfortunately, they bring the cat to the shelter, it's held for 7 days and is killed. In towns where there is TNVR,
then the acco may say, "Okay, I'm going to just work with an and have her group address it." Or the acco will work with the resident. I it it's kind of up to you and your acco. Um but the ordinance allows everyone to know, you know, the
police department will will be aware that, you know, there may be residents working with FOBcast to trap cats at a particular place at a particular time. So the police know that, you know, they're not trespassing. They're working with that business or that neighborhood
to trap cats. So you're you're correct. It's a passive process as far as the town is concerned. Uh but it's getting everyone to understand, you know, this is the approach that we support. Here's who's doing what. Here's the rules, and
if there's a complaint, here's how it's addressed. And we go on and um you know, we find again complaints decrease, cat deaths decrease, rabies cases decrease because all of these cats are being
TNVR. And eventually again over time the average lifespan is five to six years for an outdoor cat. Thank you. Quick question. So is there surrounding communities close to us that are doing
what you're doing? Yes. So Ann, you have a better grip on that. I know we have met with Willingboro, Peton, um Mount Laurel. Mount Laurel is putting forth an ordinance shortly. Uh Peton is
working on it. Um the mayor of Willingboro advised us last week that they're having the ordinance we proposed in legal review. Lumberton has already passed the ordinance. um Shamong Hannesport's
and um you know there's 40 towns in the county and every year I do kind of a you know the worst to the best and there's many many towns that only had one or two cats go. So we haven't hit them all yet because you know going to all these town meetings it takes a lot of effort but um
so we've been working with the top 10 right now and uh so we get so we have a TVNR in place currently we just need to modify what we have correct because right now even though a Delran cat may find its way to the shelter
um if it's healthy it's still going to get killed because there's not quite the right ordinance to allow it to be released back. Yeah. And how many on average would you say we get a year? I think last year
Yeah. Del ran I have to look. I feel like last year was in the mid20s. You weren't um I think you were fourth now. You might have had a hoarding situation that went there to the shelter. That could be because I know you guys popped up a little higher than you normally
are. Um so it could be like Mount Laurel popped up out of nowhere. they they usually weren't that high and they had some hoarding cases but um you know but mostly the top two are always Willing Brow Peton um you guys are in the you know top 10
usually the hoarding is a really important point here um hoarding is not directly connected to to this TNVR ordinance but animal hoarding is a very common
problem. Hoarding is largely a mental illness in many instances and in many instances people are hoarding animals. And so Ann brings up a very good point here just to consider is
is that these cats that are outside, they're not there because they woke up one day and said, "I want to be outside." They're there because someone dumped them or abandoned them. They're there because they're the offspring of cats that have already lived outside. or
in some instances there's you know hoarding cases where we have seen throughout Burlington County as well as elsewhere where you know there's an individual who is suffering from various ailments and they've gotten in above their head and they don't have the
resources to uh you know sterilize their animals and they start with you know a few animals whether it be cats or dogs or guinea pigs and then in a year or two before you know it there's dozens of animals in So this is where when I speak with law
enforcement as well, I I I really try to impart upon the police that if you see someone abandoning an animal, that's an important issue because animal abandonment in that sense is against the law. If there's an individual in town
that you think may have a situation going on with their residence where there's just too many animals, that could be a hoarding case. that is a public health matter and you know often times there's cats in and out and it it's it's a mess. But that's where this
you know ordinance helps helps to kind of assess those issues and those hotspots and work with people you know on that level um to the best that that we can. And again, you know, there's a lot of private organizations and individual rescues and good Samaritans
doing this in their in their spare time that, you know, are doing their best to address the problem. So, um, if there were more people, more resources, you know, that's the better, but everyone's doing their best. All right. Anybody any other questions?
Um, then we'll take a look at um tweaking what we have. All right. Awesome. Thank you so much for your presentation. Appreciate your time. All right. Next up is the Foxtail Road
dedication. And I have never had been involved with this before. So, um, I'm going to kick that to somebody that may have had experience with road digs. I ain't got that
experience. Okay. I I'm assuming it's because they're done the development. They're going to put the last coating on and then it's going to become our responsibility to maintain the roads because there are roads. Okay. So, that much I know. Other than that,
somebody help me out. I I believe what is needed um for this is just you know we have the road list that's in our ordinance. It talks about all the public streets and you know where the stop signs are where this is and that just needs to be updated to it's it's one road to the neighbor's
lane. Um so it's it's not much of an an amendment but I think that's all that's needed you know once I just I haven't um verified with Ed that it is completed. So we we'll make sure that is done obviously but I think that's Yeah. So if
if it was an approved development with something that was supposed to be a public street like you said once that street is completed and once the county of engineer satisfied that it's completed that's when it would be dedicated we would accept that dedication. Um typically there's a deed of dedication and there's an ordinance
where we accept that dedication from the developer whoever whoever owns the road. Um and then it becomes your community your responsibility to maintain that issues. I know RNG were back there. Um has that has that issues been resolved? They had some road issues. I
know when I was back there at Hidden Acres Lane or are you talking about Timber Ridge? Talking about the Foxdale Fox. Okay. Is that that's off of Harper Road, correct? That's the Harford Road. Harford effort. Yeah. Yeah. Well, when
we were back there, I I did they finish. Yeah. They hadn't second coated yet. Had they done I mean is that because there was issues back there. I know Ed from CN was back there with some concrete work some of the road some of the curving and such curving issues that
before we take dedication even though I know there's a maintation that I just want to make sure that we're all satisfied with the condition of it. Right. Yes. If at risk of giving you bad
information, I won't. Um but uh Ed and I did discuss this earlier today. I believe all everything has been accepted on this on this road at this point. And it does carry like any land development project has a two-year maintenance bond. So the township is protected if um if something does go wrong after it's
dedicated to the township. there's a two years and then our office will typically do a an inspection um prior to the two years and if something comes up the the uh the bond holder will still have to be responsible to repair it.
I'll have Ed I'm sorry. I'll have I'll have Ed uh confirm with Jamie that everything was 100% complete. Hersware need but there was issues back there. All right. So,
we're going to follow up, see where it's at with the completion of it, and then do what we have to do, adding it to um the list of our road, stop signs, and all that good stuff. Any other questions or followups on
that? All right, cool. All right, next up, 2025 capital budget. Y'all ready? Go for it. Okay. So, um now that the budget has been adopted, um I put in the packet the pages from the
capital budget um which is just kind of um you know puts everything together under like a broader um listing. Um but then I also included the items that were proposed from either the department heads or actually Joe or possibly the
engineer um you know to come up with the numbers that we put in the actual budget. So, um this is just for you to review tonight and if you're ready to move forward with any uh if you look at some of the items um they're they're in
the it could be in the operating budget especially on the sewer side. So, you'll see numbers in the operating budget column and the total amount in the other column. Um but you know the next thing is to authorize the bond ordinances to move forward obviously. And I know Lynn
had asked me um to talk to Ed. Obviously the roads, you know, are the top priority right now because of the timing of them and um most of these roads that are on this list will not be paved until next year. But we are doing the um
sanitary some sanitary sewer repairs or replacement or lining and also storm water repairs on those roads. So I don't know if you have any questions about capital budget. Um, one of the other things I know we have to discuss is we
had the $250,000 in there for the pickle ball. Um, we applied for the grant which we did not receive. Um, so it's in the budget, you know, under recreational improvement. So, um, Ed had put in his notes to, um,
that we did, um, well, tonight you'll possibly be taking action on the grant for the county park grant, um, which is the to Summer Hill um baseball field. So, in the in the recreation improvements,
it's um the Malbury Street um basketball court, the pickle ball court, and the hockey rink. Um the hockey rink, I know we were looking at an alternative to the resurfacing of it. Um Brian's been looking into um I
think more about what they're called, but type of different surface. There are tiles they can put down there. Yeah. Um so we are looking at other options um with that. So I guess we'll get more information on that later.
Yeah, I think that's we're going to need more information on that. And um the the pickle ball um I I think our game plan was the only way we would go forth with that is if we got the grant. And it's
not that we were married to necessarily Summer Hill to put the pickle court. That was just initially where it was proposed. It Yeah, it could go somewhere else. Um but I think we have to take a good look at that. Um that 250,000 since
we didn't get the grant and use that maybe in other places or hey listen we can we can do it. We can swing it. Looks good. Let's figure out a good spot to put put it. You know, I know there's one um at the Grand, but that's
private private property there with a pickle ball there. That's just for their people who live in that HOA. Um, anything guys down there? When do you do this to the road improvements?
When you ready to go, correct? These roads have been identified. Yeah, these roads have been identified. These are the roads in the milside section that um PSCG and New Jersey American Water are also participating in the repaving of it. They're doing replacements on um all
the roads that are listed on here and then like I said we'll be doing concrete work um sewer sanitary sewer and then um paving them some of the roads I know suburban I believe it's suburban Bentwood and Yardley are the roads that the township is going to pave and then
the rest of them will be I'm not sure how they're divied up between PSNG and New Jersey but we'll be doing the concrete improvements prior to them milling and paving the road pass some years ago on they go they have to
repave the road the whole road. Correct. Oh, they'll be paving. Yeah. The entire roads. And that's why um we're kind of doing that sharing where we're going to repave some of them in full because of our work and then they're going to repave the rest. Instead of doing them doing half and us
doing half, they do full on, you know, the roads that they're doing and we'll do full on the ones that is road work that's going on with the companies don't work with. Yeah. Are they coordinating together? Because we've seen what they've done to Riverside. Yeah. I mean, they're not happy, Mr. Greenwood Avenue.
Yeah. I was Yeah. Green what they're doing. Yeah. Um Yeah. I was going to talk about it in my report, but I can talk about it now if you want with the Okay, I'll I'll talk about it. Right. So, we need to move
particular the roads. Well, yeah. So if you look at the first page that says proposed capital for um this would be like in the regular budget I say but um you know not sewer um the roads Stewart Avenue phase 2 pan coast boulevard
because we have those grants for those so we really need to move on those um you know so that those can get done um and also the soil erosion. Oh, absolutely. Yeah, that Yeah, that that ordinance has actually already been done
as part of the temporary capital. It is listed on here, but that is done. Um, so there's nothing we really need to do with that. Um, and then yeah, that's that's just another um payment that we have to make to the army.
Um, and then yeah, I mean, I would say that we're ready to move forward with most of the items on this list. The recreation was the only thing I really had the questions about. um just because of the grant and the um you know looking at the other copyright um options I
think it's yeah we started looking at resurfacing very very less uh the hockey I think they start their season in early September. Quick. I just I just hear it when
somebody scores a goal. Jame, just a really quick question. The Tiger Dam, is that also associated with that uh soil erosion? So, the Tiger Dam, if you remember, we had them come in for a presentation. Um I might have done it by Zoom. Um yeah, at one of the meetings
I feel like um so that is that kind of it would be to put around the sewer plant. Um you know in that area um you know I don't know if that's something that's going to get done this year but that was actually put in the operating
budget. Um so that is not that does not need to be funed. It's fully funded in the capital budget under sewer inside the operating budget along with the other items that you see um
the mixers the pickup truck and the major repairs that's all in operating budget for all right so correct me if I'm wrong but the only the two in the equipment building parts that
we have concerns questions possible alterations for the pickle ball and the hockey ring. Okay. Everything else, it looks like we're going to move we're going to move forward with that. We're going to move forward with the roads
and the the sewer. Move forward with the sewer. Yes, let's let's do that. And then based upon what we come up with as far as the hockey hockey ring and then and then kick the can down the road on
the pickle ball court. All right. Very good. All right. Okay. Anything else from us on that? No. I mean you'll be seeing the bond ordinances depending on how quickly we can work with our bond council. Um you know hopefully we'll have at least one for the next.
Okay. Perfect. All right, moving on to the discussing ordinance 2025-07 amending chapter 257 property maintenance. That's the one we
had um already kicked around um with when someone se sells a house um we're going to require them to have us inspect it, come in, make sure for any work that was done, safety,
the way he worded it, safety sensitive issues. Um, they were permitted properly, the work was done properly. If they got a permit, obviously we're going to know the work was done properly. If it wasn't permitted, um, that's where
we're going to run into an issue. And there was a proposed fee of $200 for the inspections. And then um there was if another one had to be done,
there was one time it was done trick- free and then if it was within seven days of the closing, there would be a followup of $100. Um, anybody want to chime in on this? Um, I
think it's going hand inand with some of the, um, issues we have with, uh, rental properties, bad flippers, um, and some of the other things we're trying to cut down here on town. I know
when we uh spoke with um construction office um it's like a a a multi-pronged um solution to these problems and this would be a piece of it. Um so I don't
anybody want to chime in on um their thoughts on this um ordinance 2025-07. Um, I think in the way it it is, I think it's a good idea. I don't know if um the
the actual fee is where it needs to be. Maybe it's too high. Maybe we should lower it. I have talked to some private home inspectors and varying degrees of what they do or don't do. And, you know,
they can tell people, you know, this there was no permit pulled for this and people ignore it. Don't ignore it. But I don't know. You want to chime in? What? Yeah. I mean, this is the same thing that we've done. It is the same thing. And we haven't changed anything.
Correct. That's why we're talking about it. Yes. Well, I think the specifics were laid out, you know, more specifically because after the public comment, there were a lot of questions asked about what was going to be inspected and I think it was laid out, you know, clearly now. So, this came
from construct. Yeah. They haven't proposed anything different. No alterations to this. This is the same. Yes. That's why that's why we're talking about it. And I think we need to see this with the alteration. This is the same piece of paper.
Yeah. And to your point, we haven't made any alterations officially. Yes. Tom's point. We're just bringing this up for discussion. Yes. bring up the ideas and we boom, this is what we want to see
changed. Tweak it and we go from there. I mean, if if you kind of give guidance on what areas you, you know, you're looking for something different or, you know, a lower fee and we can certainly then I can, you know, kind of take that back to the construction official and he
can relook at it kind of maybe make some other suggestions. But at this point, I don't really really have a lot of guidance on what you were looking for in types of changes. So, and I know Tom at the last meeting you had asked for it to just be brought back to the table. So,
yeah. I mean, spoke to some family members that are in real estate down in Monroe Township, Williamstown area. Um, and they sent me some information on some of their own stuff. Um, our fee is way way out of line, $200, way out.
The most The highest they've ever seen was 10075. Um, now is that for the actual home inspection? Township inspection. The township inspection. Okay. They all have different ways of how they handle. Um,
I think the uh I think the subject is going 45 days ination. I don't think that's um I don't know guys. I'm still on the fence with this. Um
I think um I I know I could I think Riverside does it. Um I think somebody does it also. I think they have an I just I don't know. Um I'm exactly the same. I think it
should be kind of like Yeah, so taking a look at this. I mean this sounds like we're mandating this and this is going to be hard and fast. We're going to go into we're going to do this. I think
about this talk about this. What if this was more a service than a we're going to come fresh your house. What if this was something offered we didn't commit like an option as an option
the owner the owner can reject disagree. We want we want to maintain integrity of our housing. I I get that. The reason towns have done this is because housing is the the standards were were going down. People
are moving into houses that weren't properly constructed or uh uh remodeled. So, I think it's important. Uh I think as far as the fee goes, why don't we take a look at what the cost is for us to do the inspection? A lot of these
other ordinances could be older and the fees might be too low. I think $200 when you're selling a house is very small amount of money, but let's why don't we determine what the actual cost of our guy going in to do the inspection might be. Maybe it's less and make it
appropriate to that rather than just pulling something in the air. But I think if you give the option, nobody should do it. Right. But if Right. But if you give the option to the buyer, the purchaser, and the owner says, "Nope, I don't want to do it." Well, then buyer I mean, I think
we all heard some really valid points. Well, that's where we are now. Buyers, right? I mean, to to an extent. I understand that. But when it comes to um Chris back there, she mentioned it. She said, you know, when I when you purchase car, you're not going to be able to see everything on the car. At some point,
the buyer has to take a little responsibility. And that's and that's where people um when I'm purchasing a house, I hire a home inspector. You pay for that and I
have paid for that. So, I think to Lynn to Lynn's point is nobody's going to use our service because I would just hire a home inspector as opposed to maybe using the town or or I don't know if our
service would be more cost effective than actually home hiring a home. It may also give them the opportunity instead of the real estate agent. And listen, I don't know that much. You were an agency. You understand this better than
any previous permit, right? It's something you have to do. Have permits real estate agent previous permit. Usually they don't, right? It's not their responsibility and the home inspector goes to make an inspection of the home as it is at that point in time,
right? They're not doing research into permits. And there's some gray area also in the fact that we talk about these permits. Um, I think it was Alexa had brought this up. She had said, "Well, what if I bought the house three years ago? Where are we going to prove
that, you know, this work wasn't done 20 years ago? Am I going to get penalized for somebody else doing unmitted work at a house I bought five years ago? I just I see there's so much gray area in this that I think much harder look at it."
You bring up a great point, but everybody elses brought up a great point. I'm not going to act like I'm an expert on this. I'm going to tell you I just don't get a good feeling. Yeah. I think um one of the things Bill brought up to the point of years and years ago
um they actually the way he was explaining, I hope I'm explaining it the way he did. Um they would actually pull up the uh records and the listing from the home 17 years
ago, right? and you know see everything, the amenities, everything that was done, yada yada. So it it would only go back to when you purchased the home and now you're selling the home. It wouldn't go
back to the previous month. The baseline would be um when you purchased the home, what was done prior to that they can't hold anybody accountable for because Right. No, I get I mean and I
might not be explain not a lot of that's in this this is a very incomplete document. It just is not um I agree with that. I did make a few phone calls. I think we
are high jail time. I understand you want to scare people into doing it but jail time might not be the correct way to do it. Right. Um, so maybe maybe a couple of us get together with Bill again, sit down
and say, "Hey, what at the end of the day, how can we tweak this or do we just abandon it?" You know what I mean? And and go from there. But, uh, I think Bill's expertise is obviously what we're going to lean on. Lyn, I'll depend on you. You were a real estate agent, so
you you understand that aspect of it. I'm not I know every aspect of this. Just one one more point. I mean, when when they do a home inspection, that's negotiable with a buyer and a seller. So, they come up with 10 items. They can negotiate it down to one or none or they
can take the house as is. So, it's not a inspection to show whether the house is really um you know up to snuff. It's to identify issues that might be there and then they negotiate which the the seller may repair. Right. And one of the other
anything kind of about this is we wouldn't even get a list of what they're going to be checking when they go in the house. All I got was a broad base. We're looking for safety issues. Safety issues could be anything. So that's why I said it's just to me
it's just not complete. It's not just to your point about right. So we don't know what they're talking about. They want like if there's a hole in a screen they want screen. I don't want to
get that. Exactly. So might I think we agree that when we have public comment that a checklist would be important to identify what will be inspected and you know what's not to be inspected. I think that is an important issue. Yeah, I'm definitely in agreement that
we definitely need to take a look at this ordinance again because um there are a lot of concerns and uh we want to make sure that you know a lot of the issues that were raised by uh the residents are being addressed. So I'm definitely you know for that.
All right. So, um, we'll meet a couple of us meet with Bill and let him know our concerns, apprehensions, and see what what he can uh, put forth as a checklist, alleviate our concerns,
maybe not alleviate our concerns. I'm going to go back. I want to watch those meetings all the comments. All right. All right. So, that will complete the part of our work session.
So, what we'll do is we'll move back up to the deis and we'll move forward with the rest of the meeting. We're going up there unless you want to sit down there. Good. I have one in here. Right.
All right. Um we are going to move on to uh item six resolution 2025-105 resolution of the township of Delran County of Burlington and state of New
Jersey endorsing the housing element and fair share plan for the township's master plan for the fourth round affordable housing obligation. Can I get a motion, please? Motion. I'll second.
Get the roll call, please. Mr. Marorrow, yes. Mr. Smith, I. Mr. Jenny, I. Mr. Lion, I. All right. Consent agenda resolutions 2025106 all the way down to
2025 1113 and the authorization of bills merantile licenses. Any questions or concerns on the consent agenda? Can I get a motion to approve the
consent agenda, please? So move. Get a second. Second. Roll call. Mr. Marorrow. I. Mr. Smith. I. Mr. Jenny. Hi. Mr. Lion. I. The eyes have it. All right. Next up, we'll move to the public
comment section of the meeting. Um, if you wish to be make a public comment, please raise your hand. You'll be recognized by the chair. um step forward to the podium. You uh state your name and address for
the record. You'll be allotted five minutes of time for your comment. All comments uh will become part of the public record. Can't be redacted or changed either written or orally. So
this can I can I get a motion to go into public? I make a motion. Okay. Second. Second. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Eyes have it. We are now in public. If you wish to be recognized, please
raise your hand and you'll be recognized. Good evening. So, for the essence of time, I just uh Oh, my name is Sam. Sorry. I live on Chester uh here in Delran. Um just for the essence of time, I want to um ask a couple questions about the cats. If you guys can just
keep this in mind, if we can send it over to them to get some answers before you make your decision about uh the ordinance. Um there are a lot of animals, actually all animals, that don't need human interference in order to live just fine.
I don't know that this is something that we need to do. I mean, we have deer sometimes are a nuisance. Um, but we don't interfere with their lives. If something happens, they'll get rerouted, redirected. I think that, you know,
there was there was comments about how much it costs for, you know, to do things with the cats. I I think that leaving them alone is is also a viable option if they have to be moved to another area. I don't think that all of these things necessarily need to go on.
Uh, and not doing anything also is free to the town as well as, you know, that's just an option, something to think about. questions to ask. Um, like I said, animals survive without our interference all the time. And the only other thing I wanted, the only thing I
want to address with the um 2025-07 is um I appreciate everybody's comments and questions and and and looking into it. That's really fantastic. It's really nice to see our government doing exactly what it's here
to do. Thank you all. Um, I think the biggest question and I think you a couple of you guys said it is sometimes is it is it the municipality's responsibility or is it the people's responsibility? So, just keep I think I
speak for myself and hopefully some of the other people behind me. Let's keep that in mind when we look this over. Thank you. Awesome. Thank you. Anyone else? Young lady, Chris Adrien Summer Hill. I know I'm not
allowed to touch this. Um, if I do, I apologize. I've already told you I know I'm not allowed. Um, I actually have a whole lot of things. I hope I get to them all. Um, first of all, the whole issue with along the
river, I suggest that all of you go to the DP GEO web site and look at what they are stating is flood zone area before you decide what's a good idea, just a suggestion. Um, second thing,
pickle ball courts, there's one in Summer Hill, there's one in the Grand. They are never used. Yes, they are private, but they are never used. So before you put one somewhere else, maybe we should think about allowing them to be open to other people rather than just
the people in those communities. Um, third thing was 20250, Mr. Jenny. Yes, you were correct. This is a contract between a buyer and a seller. Just like if you're buying a restaurant, you decide if you're going
to buy the tables and chairs, the uniforms for the staff, the food that's in the cabinets. It's the same when you purchase a house. You get to negotiate what you're willing to buy and what you're going to pay for it. We already have ordinance 1000-14
in the code that stipulates what is permitted and what needs to be in a home. It also states in here that upon complaint, entrance to the property by a township
official for inspection upon complaint. So if a buyer chooses to complain or if a renter says my stove is not working or my toilet is these are all detailed in this code that we already have. We are
piling on more legislation that's already on the books. So, please go back and read the code that's already there and don't add more. Please. Next thing. Um, I was at a public
meeting. Oh, let me let me regress. Council person Aeadoo said, "We want to do these inspections prior to sale to keep up resale values of our homes." I was in a public meeting with 50 people and the leader in the meeting said,
"Delan, that's the town where all the potheads live." Now, I think all of us should be a little more concerned that in a public meeting, we are now known as the pothead town.
Very concerned by that. So maybe we should worry more about the fact our marijuana stores are now billboarding on Route 95 in Pennsylvania rather than saying when you sell your property, it
needs to be inspected by the township in addition to your buyer inspecting. And yes, I'm sure you don't want me to say that in a meeting that's now been recorded, but it was a public meeting with other people.
Last thing, um, the feral cats, I kind of agree, um, with Mrs. Mayor that, uh, human beings tend to get involved in correcting problems that will correct themselves.
Um, your data, I'm not disagreeing with it, but the ASPCA, Quora, and save akitty.org say feral cats only live two years. So, your projections on the birth is kind of off if you're saying five to
six years. If we didn't feed feral cats, they would keep mice, rabbits, squirrel population down, which I don't know about your houses, but our house is overrun with rodents in the yard. And that's their job. That's the
reason they're here in the environment. So before we decide what we're going to try to do to alter that, I think maybe we need to look at this in a broader way in how we want to address it.
Um I think that is it right now. Thank you. Awesome. Thank you. Anyone else? Hi. Hi. Uh Leslie Stewart a um I heard there was supposed to be a meeting with the Army Corps. I was wondering if there's an update on that regarding
Steuart Aav and the flooding and the You want me to answer? Yeah, I did have it in my reports. So, we did have a meeting yesterday. We started back up our bi-weekly meetings with the new lead that we have for the Army Corps. Um really um they're still moving ahead. I'm just trying to find my
report. I'm sorry. I mean I can wait and see your report. I just I mean I have it now but do you have other questions because if not I'm going to talk about it. Okay. So the H&H model is being developed and the boundary conditions are being set now. um and construction
design or current design and construction options are being reviewed preliminary by the army corps. Um they also did geotechnical st sampling that's being tested um and civil design is starting soon. Um the month we we will be holding monthly meetings on top of
our bi-weekly updates um to are going to be held with the design team once the preliminary work is complete. Um, and it just says that the um, they just mentioned that the bi-weekly status updates will continue to be provided and
will be adjusted um, this, you know, the schedule to be provided next month. So, hopefully they're on track. It looks like everything is moving forward. Okay. So, as you continue to have meetings, you'll be providing updates within your statements that I don't have to come up
prior to Yeah. Yeah. So, what I plan to do moving forward is we always have the bi-weekly meeting the Monday before our Tuesday council meeting. So, we will always be in my report any update that we have. Okay. Thank you. Awesome. Thank you.
Anybody else? Yeah. Whatever it is, what it is. Hello. How you doing? Good. My name is Jen Reer from Delan. Um, I actually have three questions and I'm going to ask the um my second question first. So, I'm going to try to write to ask this properly. Um
about like three meetings ago, you guys passed resolution 2589 setting forth a sustain sustainable land use pledge. And so you guys said, "Oh, it's a nothing nothing burger. Don't worry about it." So thought like everything's like ethmology. I think the
word is of word meaning. So I went home and I looked up the word pledge, right? Because it's just not a normal word that you use and to me it means something. So it means a promise or agreement by which one binds himself to do or bear forbear something. Okay, that's that's great.
Put that to the side. Um I there's a Senate bill from the community and urban affair committee which Troy Singleton is the head of that which I'm sure you're aware of that. Um Senate Bill 4451 and it is um which it passed Senate so it's it's I
mean it's passed the committee so it's out of committee now. Um it went through its two rounds. Let me just read just the summary. It clarifies requirements for land use plan element and housing plan element of municipal master plan.
So to me I'm like huh that's interesting. We got the land use plan pledge that came from the council. So who you were pledging to, right? So that they're pledging something to somebody and then all of a sudden the states coming around saying, "Hey, this 4451
bill that just left committee that's that's clarifi clarifies requirements for land use plan element and housing plan element for municipal master plan." So I'm like putting them together. I'm like wow. So my question is I don't have
to ask a question. It seems like that this this 89 was in conjunction with what the state's doing. So just trying to put the pieces of puzzle together about this whole land use thing and how these towns are getting screwed with all
of this affordable housing, it's hard to figure out. But when you start to look at it from the big view, you're like, "Huh, it's interesting." So I'm thinking, is this teeing up for the fourth round of low-income housing? because I know that we just finished the third round, correct? At was it at at
the end of June. So that that's all that's that's my one comment. My other one is um what's the difference between resolution 2541 and 25105? Because they're both again going back to
endorsing fair housing element and fair share plan. They both look the same but there's words that are different. And again, ethmology, you know what I mean? So, are these two different resolutions
41 and 40 and 105? Um, that that so I don't I I have to look at that more. There's different words and but it looks like it's for the same thing, but why have two different resolutions? So, that's something that I'm pointing out or asking about. Are they different?
And what is the difference? Al, you want to comment on I don't What's 41? So 41 was passed a resolution that was voted on and passed on um January 28th. Now I don't have the specific if that had to do with affordable housing. That's after the DCA
Department of Community Affairs issued to each town what their prospective need would be. The town was then obligated to adopt a resolution. So that's probably what that one is. Um what that resolution did was accept those numbers that would then get filed with the court in a declaratory judgment action. The
court would then issue an order with those numbers. And then what you have before you tonight is a resolution that authorizes or endorses the housing element plan that was passed by the planning board I think last week. Yeah. But it was taken care of. And what that housing element does is come up with a
plan as to how to incorporate those numbers within the next 10 years. So one sets the numbers and then the next sets the plan as to how to accommodate those numbers. Thank you. Sure. Um and lastly um why are resolution and consent agendas
passed during work sessions? It used to not be this way. Remember we used to we used to meet over there that was strictly work session. And the reason I'm asking the question is a lot of people think the work session and the township meetings are two different things. So they don't think that things
are being passed during the work session. So it seems to be a little confusing for the people in the town. So when why did you make them why? So well, we have business at hand and we need to take care of it. We're going to take care of it either at public or work so we can move forward.
Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you. Yep. Yes, sir. Spitch William J. 518 Brown Street Delray, New Jersey. I have multiple questions for the uh members of council that could be answered by those individuals
during the report portion of this meeting as my time is limited to 5 minutes. My first question is directed to Mr. Lion. Are you aware of or did you have any briefing on the state of New Jersey plan endorsement recommendation
report for Delran Township dated July 20th, 2022 while serving in any capacity on the township council? In particular, this of this report is page nine of the said report in reference to the abrasive
alloy site redevelopment. Question number two, were you made aware on or about January 28th, 2020 during a Delran Township working session that addressed the abrasive alloy site in
reference to remediation of said site after the township took ownership of this former foundry? Question number three. On or about May 27th, 2025, did you sign the Township of Delran
resolution number 2025-89 in reference to sustain sustain sustain? Yeah, sustainable land use pledge. My question to you, sir, is what is your understanding by the use of the word resolution and pledge as it applies to
this document? And the examples I'll give you are the use to rewrite Delran's master plan or to reszone for higher density housing in reference to Senate Bill 50 or secure state grants from the
DOT and D for other developments. That concludes my questions for Mr. Lion. These next questions are directed toward Mr. Mayor and councel. Mr. Mayor, will you be requesting a judgment of compliance and repose in
order to protect the municipality from builder remedy lawsuits? Question number two, are you prepared to issue a building moratorum in order to stop this overdevelopment of this municipality? Question number three, are you prepared
to evoke the New Jersey Home Rule Act requiring voter approval for major projects that impact this comm community? Question number four, will you have a public referendum to overturn any overdevelopment that compromises the
current and future infrastructure of this municipality? In closing, as was stated to me in passing by Mr. lying. He could have made the town drunk business administrator. So much for the town's people. Thank
you. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. [Music] Yes. Uh, Patricia Griffith, Brown Street Delran. I just have a couple comments um about the grant for the pickle ball court. My understanding is most grants are for a specific location. So I don't
think you can just move the pickle ball court somewhere else. And um since we are going to have 200 over $250,000, I think it'd be better spent and I'm also on the rack. So speaking for the rack and hearing Chris always talking about we need money for the fields. I
think that money would be better spent improving the fields that need better drainage or whatever and instead of something new that we'd have to maintain. So, you're maintaining something we already have and not adding something that we have to maintain. Just seems to make sense. Um,
next uh in terms of that ordinance 20250, if we're doing the inspection and now we're saying it's okay, that that's putting the township as in a liability situation. just my opinion. Um, most
people don't want someone to come in. If you're buying a house, usually you have a homeowner walk you through and and you see whether or not you think it's safe. I don't think there's a lot of money to be made for that. So, I don't see the point of the township doing it. If it's about uh rentals, then usually the owner
is just switching renter to renter. It doesn't get reinspected. So, that doesn't seem to make sense in terms of safety more safe for the rental. I think if you have an issue with rental properties, you ought to do something to deal with that directly and keep private homeowners out of this kind of a I think
it's an intrusion personally. Um, on the consent agenda, there was some money for security equipment. I'm curious what that was because the Blum Troxell Corporation has to do with education and I wanted to know if it was
for something for the school or what other security equipment it was. And then my other question is why is discussion of painting the uh sewer tank a non-public discussion? So they're my questions that you can
bring up when you're Thanks. Thank you. Anyone else? Yes, sir. Oh, this perfect height. Hey, Steve Greo, Delray, New Jersey. Okay, I'm going to tie everything together that you probably already know. I don't know how much you guys know up there about the uh something that we spoke about
here in regards to the uh Senate Bill 50 is only one piece of the puzzle. Um it's a little education. And I don't know most people here are picking up on it. And I don't know to what level or degree you all know about these things, but there's a public law 2021 C6 that was passed during COVID lockdowns without
public input. That's a whole another issue by itself that Mr. Citerelli is going to be taking care of. Uh this is where they force town to submit what looks like a climate vulnerability assessment that ends up forcing new master plan changes in land use in our town. Municipal land use. That's the
words that you use. It's legal words. Uh this helps the state identify every inch of your land in your town and forces your town to comply with not only the green energy and environmentally environmental initiatives and policies uh but also the mass transit initiatives that are connected to recently applied
for DOT grants as you know and the D grants uh that go in coordination with the um bike paths along Route 130 which don't belong and are very dangerous. uh also the big parking lots that they want to put in for mass transit that we spoke about uh early earlier sessions. Um
those are all connected in order for you to get the money and the grant money. You have to comply with that. Um so how you do that? Sorry I just wrote this on the fly earlier. Um it's all branded under the smoke New Jersey smart growth policies which we had a meeting here uh
the one day we had a rack meeting and they were speaking about it and it wasn't just about to make you aware of environmental issues. It was actually policies and laws that the Democrats have passed at the state level as you probably all may know. This mirrors smart city concept uh concepts, you know, like they do in China, 15-minute
cities and surveillance and all that. Well, that's not going to happen anyway because we're not going to let it. Uh these unsupported these are unsupported public initiatives. They've created a building frenzy with our town and developers over the entire state. This is being talked about and written in the newspapers that nobody probably reads as
much. wherever you can find the news, it's being spoken about um probably over the last 5 years and it's now culminating to a big giant explosion. Um it's mainly due to um not just Senate Bill 50, which was passed a long time ago, the public law 2021 chapter 6. In
addition to that Senate bill, uh they've been forcing towns uh to do the increased density per plot, which means onetory zone site can be forced changes to uh four stories possibly to accommodate increased units. Um, and that's I guess it's mainly due to pushing cities into the suburbs. There's
a whole bunch of reasons, but this is going back through different legislation and added policies, bad policies. It seems uh the people, we the people don't have anything against affordable housing. That's not the issue. It's how that it's going about it that's the problem that's causing all the problems in our town and all these towns in the
state. It's not just happening in Delran. It's happening all across the state. even Democrat-run towns like ours have a problem with it and they're starting to go, "Whoa, what's going on here? We need to stop this." But it all stems back to these uh state policies. Um I even heard the uh what's her name?
Uh Mikey Cheryl running for Democrat governor complaining that um she's going to try to curb that and pull that back because she even knows it's a problem. This is the, you know, somebody running for governor if you uh pay attention to the ads wherever they put them. Um and it's causing this overgrowth problem.
Well, it's too late. Somebody needs to fix this problem now, not later. Uh, you've had your turn. It's hard to not notice um the animosity in our in just our town alone, such as the road traffic issues, the sewage pumps blowing up like Leon
Avenue. Um, and that leads to more borrowing bonds. So, we're already up to about 20 million plus. And then we have the surplus that's dwarfed by that. So, like I said before in other meetings, it's not really a surplus. It is called the fund and it's a working fund and every town pretty much has it. I know I'm not stupid. I know it's uh uh you
know townwide. So uh but these are insane policies that we seem to be merely reacting to. We're not planning on. I haven't seen a plan. Mr. Jenny said there was a sewage plan that shouldn't be we're going to go fix fix the sewers. There should be a laidout plan. We've never seen it. The public's never seen it. I would like to see that
because there's more coming down the road with these new developments. Um we we certainly haven't planned well for them in the past for one reason or another. So anyway, now I'm hearing a lot about the new land sale uh sales possibly happening in towns such as con behind Conroe Monasuri school, the
Castle Harbor, um and the elusive 100% affordable housing that was planned for the abrasive alloys tract that I think may be coming down the pike here which we can get ask you in other sessions or whatever. Um but these these were all that was planned during the co lockdown also with zero or no public input like
many other things we all know about. So, I've listened to the previous township meeting videos and read the minutes and it seems um that we're more excited than we are worried about this. That's a problem. That's problematic. It's troublesome for all the residents of our town. Um I'm pretty sure we didn't vote for any of this. It seems like you guys
are a victim of this uh you know, statemandated policy and we see absolutely no push back from anyone. The sustainable uh use pledge was 100% connected to it. I might have someone here that could read exactly what Black's Law Dictionary says, what a pledge is. It's not just no big deal.
Um, Steve, just you're at the five. Okay, wrap it up. Well, I'm pretty much done, but I'm going to go over this over and over again every meeting until it gets through to everybody's head because something needs to be done now, not when the new governor comes in. It's really
uh not good. Thank you. Thanks. I read fast because I knew the minutes were rambling. It really doesn't If I had 10 minutes, I could be nicer in Calver. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Hello everyone. Pamela, capital P,
lowercase A M E L A. I'm very much alive, very much on the land. Um, I came up here to just let you guys know like, um, everybody's starting to wake up. So, uh, you're not a government, you're all corporations.
And we know this and maybe you guys should look up treason because the republic is back. And for your sake after what you've done with co I don't know if you guys have
read the um Nermberg code of people doing what they're told instead of doing what's right. But you're in really deep and you should look up what treason is. It's punishable by death. If you are in any way, shape, or form
working for the enemy of the republic, the constitutional republic of the United States of America, and every time we come here, I feel like we have to fight for our rights. So, if you're not for us, you must be against
us. Am I wrong? Am I wrong? It's public comment, man. I told you. Um, so that's that. Justice is coming. And real quick, I can't just leave with that. As far as
the inspections, if you think for one second I'm going to allow I'm going to pay somebody to come and inspect my house, pay $200, and we're paying everything. But we know that now. We see it. And I'm telling you, it
doesn't end well. God will not allow corruption to go unpunished. Leaders who abuse their power will face judgment. No one is above God's authority, and he will bring down those who oppress others. Ephesians 5:11, "Take no part in the worthless
deeds of evil. Instead, expose it." And there's many more um that I will come and let you know um chapters in the Bible that you probably don't hear on Sunday, but they're very much important and they're very much valid for what's
happening today. But I I told you guys before and this is a public notice. Okay? And it's Crudin versus Neil. Every man is independent of all laws except those prescribed by nature. He is
not bound by any institutions formed by his fellow men without his consent. And I want you all to know I do not consent. I do not consent. That is all. Thank you.
[Applause] Anyone else? Seeing no hands, can I get a motion to come out of public, please? I'll make a motion. Second. So move. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Hearing none. We're out
of public comment. We're going to move to reports. I don't think I see anybody from emergency services. Uh, boards committees. You have anything? Good evening. Deb Hammond for the Delin green team. I just wanted to say we are
holding a rainarrel workshop on Saturday. There is no cost, but you do have to sign up. Um, just send an email to delrand.greengmail.com. The costs are being covered by our sustainable jersey grant and I'm going
to stop there. Awesome. Thank you. Uh, any saw somebody pop in from historical but they're not here. anything from RA? I think that's it. Um,
so next up, do we have anything from engineering? Steve, good evening. Um, there's a report that Ed, uh, submitted yesterday. I believe everybody has got it. So, I won't go
through the 15 pages of of updates. Just uh two quick updates on some uh kind of late breaking news in the last 24 hours on two of the projects. The Creek Road sewer extension. Um there was a meeting yesterday uh with police department and the Morristown Police Department and
everyone has come together on a approved uh traffic control and detour plan. And so the contractor just is going to now submit further HOP to the county for the the imple implement the detour during the different phases of construction. Um the other update is on the Burmese field
improvements. Um there's uh as you know there's there's a bit little bit of a struggle working with PSEG on that one and um but there is a meeting uh we they've got them committed that's got them committed to a meeting on site on July 9th to finalize
uh the electrical connections so we get the the lighting improvements underway. Are are we going to have lights for the fall season? That is the goal. Okay. But that that's important. Yes. Agreed. That's very important. And that's all I have. That's it. Thank
Thank you, Steve, for coming in. Um I'm sorry. Can I do one more? I did get a a confirmation from Ed uh while while uh after the work session, and it's it's what I suspected with the Foxtail uh
road dedication. Um the reason that's moved to this point is because everything is 100% complete. The punch list items are 100% done. it's been released from the performance bond and goes into the maintenance bond period like I I mentioned earlier. So, it is at
that point where it's appropriate for the the uh the township to take ownership of the street. We don't get the big scissors or anything. I'm sure that could be arranged that most developers are happy to turn it over. So, all right, that it that's all.
Thank you. All right. Thank you very much. Um, next up we're gonna have administrator Jamie with Peggars, please. Thank you. Um, just want to report on a couple things. We held the paper shredding event this past Saturday. Public works is very well
attended and um, they are looking into doing this again next year and maybe coordinating it with their cleanup days. Um, so we'll we'll have more information going forward. Um, Leon Avenue, the contractor started the CCTV and cleaning
work last night. Um they finished approximately 900 feet for the cleaning and 600 feet of the CCTV work. Um they're on pace to finish this week and they will move on to lay on hopefully next Monday. Um the Real ID mobile unit that I mentioned at the last meeting is
coming to Delran on July 8th from 9:00 a.m. to 3 p.m. Appointments are required. Uh we posted information on our Facebook page and also the township website. They were gone by 12. They were gone. Okay. Gone. appointment filled up fast by 12. Okay. Um and they did say
that you know there was potential they could come back uh for another for another you know time at Delran. Um and then the last thing I have is um in regarding the Millside area um right now PS&G is in there doing work. If you live
on that area or been through that area um New Jersey American Water is set to begin their work on July 14th. Um they are having a meeting with the engineer and the police department because I I forget who brought it up saying are you going to coordinate it? Uh so the engineer, the police, New Jersey
American border and PSCG are meeting on July 7th to coordinate um you know the plan was for them to come in behind PS&G. So there wasn't that um but just to make sure that you know there's no streets that are closed off that one needs access to the other. So um they
are having that meeting on July 7th. So hopefully that all goes well and they're going to start their work on July 14th. And you know, we will probably be in there sometime in the fall to do what I talked about earlier, the sewer san both sanitary and storm. Um not replacements
necessarily, but repairs, lining, um maybe replacement in certain areas, but we'll have more information on that as they CCTV, all of those lines. That's all I have. All right. And could you just touch on real quick and we talked about this earlier the res the
resolution 22 202511 which is the assort uh the security equipment we talked it's like key fobs and stuff I don't know if you want to elaborate. Yeah so it is building security for this building um it's key fobs for the doors and it is including
public works uh this area here and u the police department. So, it's security cameras and key fobs for our internal offices. Very good. Thank you very much. Next up, Mayor Barnes Hutchkins. Thank you, Tom. I'm going to start off with it's
freezing in here. I don't know. I don't know if you guys notic. I'm shaking up here. Um first, so Bill, um I did hear most of what you said. If you get an opportunity and you could email me those questions, I was trying to write them as fast as I could up here. better give it
to you. That would be that would be even better. I appreciate that. I just want to make sure I address your questions and my chicken scratch. I'm not going to get it all and I can I can address the judgment of repose one when you get to me. That was one question. Yes. Perfect. Thank you. Well, um couple of things,
maintenance items I just want to talk about. Um I went to our code enforcement officer today. I have been getting since I took office multiple emails about um vehicles parked on the street, construction vehicles, uh mainly these
white vans, vehicles with um ladders on them, tanks in the back, things that are not to be post they're not, according to our ordinance, they shouldn't be parked on the street overnight. So, I asked him to just pull it up for me so that we knew kind of what was
going on. that um it states there shall be no external evidence of non-residential use. So if there's people out there and they have welding tanks hanging off the backs of their trucks and they're parked overnight,
they're not supposed to be. Um most of these items I we need to go to our actual code enforcement officer. We need to go to these guys and let them know what's going on. I'm more than happy to relay the information, but to
make it a little easier, if we can get it right to the guy that's going to be able to go out and handle it, um, we can get it taken care of faster. Um, another one I want to talk about is it's summertime. I don't know where all
these electric bikes have come from, but I'm scared to death. I watched two young kids yesterday, one sitting on the handlebars, one sitting on the back. Neither one of them were wearing a helmet. They were doing 35 miles an hour because they passed me doing 25.
Um, it's a major concern. It's something that I think that we should talk about. I'm seeing it all over the place. These new electric bikes, it's not something that when we talked about these ordinances in the past and these laws in the past, they just weren't around.
And last but not least, um I had a great meeting with the county talking about our two things. Our it's going to be United States of America. Our semiquincentennial anniversary is next
year, 250 years. That is a huge deal. Um I was kind of hoping the historic Society was going to be here tonight because I want to get with them. Um I want to get with all of the committees on this. This isn't a one day celebration, Fourth of July. This is 250 years. This is a
lot. This means a lot, not just to the people, but to our country. This is 250 years. And it's something that we want to focus on all year for 2026, not just one day. So, I'm asking the committees and I'm asking people in town to come to
us with your ideas and let's put on a big, you know, some big events for a very large event. And last but not least, um, we talked about next year is FIFA. The World Cup is coming. It is a wonderful event. And I know that
we are not in Philadelphia, but we are within that 12 to 15 mile radius that people are going to Google when they're coming from other countries over here. They're anticipating up to one and a half million people in the Philadelphia region.
If you own businesses in this town, you may be looking at a 20 to 30% increase in your current business. But there are some things that go along with that. It's going to be great that you're going to have additional business, but you got to be concerned about parking. You've got to be concerned about um so for
restaurants in Europe, they don't believe they don't use gratuitities. So, owners who have restaurants or coffee shops, they may want to take that into consideration knowing that, you know, this is coming. Um you're also going to want to plan for travel, for driving.
This is going to be a lot more cars out there because we're within that area. They're also going to be um we need to be on the lookout for people are going to want to have watch parties. It's going to have a big effect on our town and I don't want it to happen I don't want us to think about it the day before
it happens. I think we should start preparing now. That's my report. Great. Thank you, Mayor. Um that's next up, Solicitor Al Maro. And can you touch on why we're going into Yes, I can I can handle that
as well. Um the uh so from a legal update you did hear that there was a resolution tonight where you endorsed the housing element which was uh approved by the planning board at our last meeting that kind of goes into some of the affordable housing stuff that was discussed uh this evening as well by
members of the public. Um with respect to that what that now does is we now have 48 hours to file all of those documents with the court. Um sometimes in towns I represent I do it you guys have a land use attorney that handles it here. So, I'll work with him to make sure that happens. Uh, what that does is
when those materials are filed with the court, it then gives any potential objector until August 31st to challenge our plan. And then the gentleman in the public that asked about the judgment of repos, uh, that's where that comes in. So, if anyone was to challenge our plan and try to make the case that we don't
have enough affordable housing in our plan or that it's not realistic, um, then we would go to what's called a dispute resolution program. It's all new. This is new to the fourth round. So, none of these dispute resolutions have taken place yet. Um, but now that we've filed our documents or now that we
will within 48 hours, those will become public to anyone who could potentially object. They have until August 31st to do so. If nobody objects, uh, then we move forward with any necessary ordinances or resolutions to enact that plan. We have until March 15, 2026 to do
that. Assuming you do everything smoothly there and nobody objects to your plan or if someone does object but you prevail at the dispute resolution then you would get what's called a judgment of repos or a judgment of compliance uh meaning it's essentially a stamp that means you've met your
obligation for the fourth round you're good for 10 years uh until presumably a fifth round that comes into play. So I think that answers the judgment of repose question. Um and then with respect to the executive session that you have this evening, um it does
involve with uh what was discussed the um the painting of the treatment tank and the restoration. Um but the uh the um contractor is asking for a modification to the contract. So essentially it's a contract negotiation uh that these guys have to discuss and
determine if they want to modify that contract. Um, and the contract negotiation is one of the items that can be an executive session item. Um, only because if it's done out in the public, any kind of negotiation tactics or ideas they may have would then become part of the minutes and go right into the hands
of the potential other part of the contract. Um, and then if any action is taken after that, obviously it would be done in public. That's all I have unless uh anything else. Nope. Good. Thank you, Al. Um,
all right. I already hit the engineer. So, now we'll move to members of council. We'll move to the far right. Councilman Maro. Thanks, Tom. Thanks for everybody being here tonight. I know some people left. I'm sure it was
because it's freezing here. Um, I know. Um, one thing that Mayor Barnes uh brought up was the electric scooters and bikes. I know some of I don't know if any of you saw two young girls were I think it was in Aston County, Delaware. accident in Delver County. Two young girls were hit on an electric scooter.
One was killed and one is um recovering but has brain damage from what I understand. Also uh this weekend there was a gentleman killed on a scooter in the suburb of u I think somewhere in Philadelphia. Also, um I was coming down
Fairview Street Monday at the blinking light of Fair View Pavilion if any of you are know know where that's at. and one of the electric bike guys came out of Third Street there and he there's a pedestrian crosswalk right across there. Well, he didn't stop. He just went right through it. And it was a miracle he
didn't get hit. The car blew his horn and he yelled at the car like he like the driver did something wrong. And um I mentioned this before in my um comments last time um that these things are all over. You see them on the sidewalks.
museum. Um, in the shopping centers, if you're coming out of a store, I almost got hit at VidIs one time. Um, there is self- responsibility about wearing helmets. You know, there is laws on the books for all this. Um, these bikes are being operated on the roads. Our police
department, they can't grip at all. It's just so much and it's flooded. But as a driver of a of a a motor vehicle like everybody in in this room, it's scary for us because it puts us at a huge liability of of this. So, please be very alert. They're all over the place. I I
see them go down Fairy Street and I seen a a woman with her daughter on one of these electric scooters. I mean, how they move with that kind of weight on um and going up Fairview Street is it's just mindboggling what I'm seeing. Um so, I agree with you, Barnes. I mean,
you know, we talked to the to Matt about that and I know that they look at it. Um Sam's not here from the um rec committee, but Monroe Township, it was I read it this past week in the paper last
week, uh got $1.3 million grant from the uh green acres program, and that was for an amphitheater and that was the C cover the cost 100% that including the parking lot and everything. So, there's money there. for this type of stuff. So, I know I mentioned that to uh to the rec
committee. So, that's something maybe uh we can help them with looking for a grant there. Um also, I just I mentioned before the Delan girls softball team had a great season. Um the Courier Post just came out with their all South Jersey girls
softball team. Um the Delan girls had one player on the first team and one player on the third team. So congratulations to those individuals and for an outstanding season and um to Mr. Spitch uh to your question um and to answer your question, you know, when the
mayor wants to discuss those issues, you know, we'll be more than willing to sit down with him and go over those issues. He's uh he's very open and um and we've been uh the cooperation's been great with all of us. So um to answer your questions um to answer your question um
to those questions uh when he discusses them with us or brings it to a council meeting we will have those discussions. So that's all I have to know. Thank you. Thank you Tom. Next up Marlo. Yeah thank you very much. Uh just a couple quick items. Um you know with this heat wave
that we're having um you know please check on your family, friends, uh you know those that are elderly, those that may not may have mobility issues. uh just make sure that they're, you know, in a cool setting. If they're not, you know, if you have air conditioning,
please try to invite them over. Um, you know, make sure that they're staying hydrated. Uh, same thing with pets as well. I know we talked a lot about pets tonight. Uh, you know, this is it's dangerous. I mean, you know, there are many people that, uh, have medical issues and some even pass away from u,
you know, heat related illnesses. So, uh, nothing to, you know, to play around with. So, just make sure that you're doing that. Um, I I know I've got some older neighbors that I constantly check on just uh, you know, throughout the year, but just especially during this time. Um,
secondly, I would also like to con say congratulations to the class of 2025. Uh, it was a great ceremony last week. Um, last Thursday they moved the graduation up, which was great because, uh, we got it in right before all the
rain came. So, uh, good timing and good planning by the folks there. Uh, but it was great to see all the accomplishments and see all the young people, uh, that graduated high school going on to do great things either in college, some are going to trade school, some going to military, but they're all doing
something. And it's great to see uh, young people in our town u, you know, stepping into uh, young adult adulthood and uh, going forward. And uh, with that, that's the end of my report. Thanks. Thank you, Mara. Next up, Vice President Kenny. Thank you, Council
President. Uh had a uh meeting. Uh mayor asked me to contact Calvary Church. They had reached out to uh Mayor Hutchkins and asked if they could work with us because they have a day of service. Uh today, we met uh with the mayor uh we uh
and D Hammond, myself, and to representatives Calvary Church. They are a great organization in our community. They do a lot of things for our people. Uh we agreed on the 19th of July that we will do a cleanup on Faunt Street Park.
We've talked about Faunts as being a part that's been somewhat ignored over time. Uh they are really excited about the volunteer uh group that they're getting together and we'll be getting over there probably around 9:00 or so and uh working to clean up Florence Park and make it even a better park uh than
it is. and make it uh up to snuff with other parks. Uh we also met with the mayor uh Miss Edgars uh Miss Hammond and myself with regarding a climate assessment update uh contrary to information that was given tonight which
was incorrect. This is a county program, not a state program. It's not part of a state program. It's a county program that's running for the the river cities, you know, Delran, Deleno, Riverside, Edgewater Park, um, Cindson who are all
suffering with, uh, you know, issues regarding the creeks and the river. Uh, so far we've had a session here, a public session where, uh, residents were allowed to come and, uh, make comments and answer questions that were prepared.
It was a really organized um event. We had the most of any towns that were involved which was made us proud and uh so they reported back to us a little bit. Uh we met with uh them and uh regarding what the township's feelings
were. They wanted to know what our government sees as our issues. We heard the public. They want to now hear the government and uh so we had those discussions. There will be further discussions and uh online uh meetings with them to take the next step which
will be uh what the results might be and what potential forward planning might be. The shredding event that uh was mentioned uh I I stopped by to check it out and I talked to uh the gentleman who owns the operation. Uh they collected
2,500 pounds of paper and shredded it. So uh that was pretty significant. Uh also I we mayor myself met with Clark Doerty from the West Jersey Rotary today. Was it today? I think it was or
yesterday maybe. Um to discuss Flags for Heroes. If you remember the last two years we've had Flags for Heroes where people can for $50 donate to the West Jersey Rotary who supports veterans uh homeless people and many other uh
organizations. In fact, they're looking to do a project in Belram. We just we discussed that as well. Um, but Flags for Heroes for $50, you get a medallion with the person you are honoring. It'll be attached to a flag, a 6x4 foot flag
on a 10-ft pole, and all these flags will be displayed out front. You may have seen them in the last couple years. This year, we're going to be looking to our U businesses to uh provide further sponsorships and raise more money. Uh the Rotary is very active and does a lot
for uh the communities around us. And that's my report. Thank you. Thank you, Lynn. Um and for my my report, um we had Jamie touch on security
tank issue. Um, you know, we we talk about affordable housing, and while I'm a firm believer that every town should have an obligation to um create affordable housing, we don't like the
fact it gets jammed down our throat and the numbers. And that one round couple back, they wanted us to increase our housing by astronomical numbers. and we were able to negotiate that down. And
part of that um is the abrasive alloy site. But it is it none of us up here wanted to get jammed down our throat. But um I mean I if affordable housing was around when I was a kid um we might
actually been able to buy a home um because we just could, you know, there's eight kids. We didn't make a lot of money, so we just rented it and everything. So, I I am a proponent of affordable housing, but I would rather us do it on our terms. So, when we get
to the point where we can say we can't build anymore, we just don't have any more room, we can say that. Um, but no, nobody likes getting jammed down our throat. And numbers in the past that have gotten jammed down our throat. um
with uh respect to the pickle ball court and I have seen people on the pickle ball court in the grand. Okay. Um I have not that I go back to the one in Summer Hill that often because I don't have little kids anymore or anything like
that. I haven't seen anybody on the pickle ball court back there. that pickle ball court is actually open to anyone um in Summer Hill, but I believe the grand like you need a fob or something. So that's because that's like the pool, you know, we just can't go to
the pool, right? It's it's for those residents. Um I actually paid pickle ball for the first time um this past week when I was up in Vermont. Um but at the end of the day, since we didn't get the grant, um I do agree that
If we can take money that we have earmarked for the pickle ball court, you know, Tom mentioned the softball programs and whatnot. I think some of our uh softball fields uh Leyon Avenue, we've gotten estimates on irrigation and
I don't know if we've gotten an estimate on what get the electric to that irrigation for that Leyon Avenue field. So there there's it's not as simple as just putting in irrigation. there's some ancillary costs that go along with that, but I do think while we're sprucing up a
lot of the baseball fields, we also need to pay attention to the softball fields uh as well. And I think maybe that pickle ball money could could go to that because we did not get the grant because grants are specific to certain issues.
This was in our in our budget. Um, and I do agree that the people should be aware of not only the World Cup, but our u celebration for our nation's um
birthday because um it it could wreak havoc on our roads and and and whatnot. Could be a boom to some of the businesses or whatnot. But we we do need to take a look at that. Um and with that, that is my report. Um, I would
like to get a motion, if I could, um, to go into executive session for resolution 2025-114. Can I have a motion, please? I make a motion. Can I get a second? Second. All
in favor? I. Any opposed? Hearing none. Motion passed. We're going to go into executive session. Um, we may actually um have action coming out of that. I know you usually say there isn't any action, but uh potentially we could have
action coming out of uh executive session. Thank you. Outside. I'm never cold and I'm shivering. Okay, we're back online. All right, we're Yes, we're back from executive
session. Can I get a motion to come out of exe executive session, please? Motion. I second. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Hearing? None. We're out of executive session. We will be taking action. Uh
from the executive session. Uh the the treatment tank painting and restoration. Um we had an unforeseen issue with the the work that was being done and uh
there was more material that came out of it than was anticipated. And due to the volume of it and the composition of it, we could not dispose of it anywhere locally like we normally do um it has to
be trucked to Lancaster because of how wet it is and how much uh the volume of it. Um these tanks um they're usually 30 year type um when you have to do these things.
So, we do have to make a change order. So, what we're doing is we're going to introduce uh resolution 2000 or introduce or approve adopt. Adopt. We're going to adopt resolution
2025-115 authorizing a change order number two, treatment tank painting and restoration. Whereas in a change order has been submitted for the treatment tank painting and restoration project and whereas the change order was developed
to itemize and authorize those changes and whereas approval has been received by the township engineer and letter dated June 20, 2025. Now therefore be it resolved by the township council township of Delran that change order
number two is hereby authorized and approve was hereby granted to revise the contract amount from 2,941,751 to3,453,92. Um, so may I get a motion to authorize
to adopt I'm sorry to adopt resolution 2025-115. I make a motion. I get a second. Second. Can we get a roll call? Mr. Marorrow. I. Mr. Smith. I. Mr. Jenny. Hi. Mr. Lion. I.
Resolution is adopted. Um, that will end our business for this evening. Can I get a motion to adjurnn, please? So move. I'll second. All in favor? I. Any opposed?