e e e e e e e e e e
e e e e e e e e e e no we have Bob deal back here to audit
the meeting okay we're good to go all right ready okay all right good evening this regular meeting of Wednesday March 12th 2025 is commencing and let's uh let's all rise for the
Pledge of Allegiance please it's uh time is 7:04 p.m. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and
justice for all thank you very much okay Madame clerk roll call council member brusher here council member Co council member Harris here council member Patel here council member ptil here council member pointer
council member schmuel here okay Madam clerk adequate notice adequate notice of this meeting as required by the open public meeting Act of 1975 has been provided by Nanos sent to the home News Tribune Star Ledger Desi talk in news India times on
November 18th 20 24 and posted main lobby Municipal complex on that same date thank you very much council president remarks I'm getting these from several sources here so the first thing is I want to give an update about the shared services agreement with the
animal shelter which we just received a little while ago the analysis uh indicates that fees paid by mouin were less than the expenses attributable to matou in 2023 and 2024 partially year through September in 2023 the shortfall
was 28,141 the shortfall for January through September 2024 is 19534 should all variables remain constant the projected shortfall is 26,45 but touch's current monthly payment is
$3,643 the projected 2024 shortfall equals a monthly shortfall of $2,174 the revised monthly fee would be $523 4.79 since October 20 of 2024 dellan has indicated that they will not be
participating in Edison's animal control program for the partial period in 2024 denalan contributed $2,822 in revenues and their attributable costs were $1 18,75 on an annual basis denan would have contributed
$3,662 66 to the animal control program assuming that as Edison's costs are fixed and not proportionately decreased n Allan's attributed expenses would need to be reallocated to the remaining participants in the program expenses are attributed to participating municipalities according to the number
of intakes from each municipality and um so that's a lot of numbers to throw at you but that's just a a basic a basic outline um I attended the human relations
commission meeting yesterday that that was honoring women's month and as the guests they had uh County clerk Nancy pinkin County Commissioner Santi Nara Edison Board of Ed members Virginia White and Shannon Pang and entrepreneur Marla Fisher of the ice cream ice cream
house it was a really lovely program and each one discussing either women in history who have been who have made an impact on them or in the case of Santi Nara she took a a different take on it and she talked about just regular
average women who are anything really but average we're talking about your Homemakers and such who are unsung heroes and uh that the main point being that women need to always know their
value so it was a very very nice program um the there is also I got to get this up from my phone um couple of announcements to make so this is an important one um the Office of Aging and disabled services is going to be hosting
a 2025 senior fraud prevention conference that's being held on March 14 2025 between 10:30 a.m and 1 pm at middle sex college at West Hall Parkview room there I would give you the website but it's a long website and you're
probably just best off if you go to Google 2025 senior fraud prevention conference then you'll probably figure out how to register but you do have to register this is a discussion on common types of fraud and how to protect yourself against them including online
phone and door-to-door fraud the event is for all older adults 60 plus caregivers and those who serve the older adult population so um I wanted to announce that and also the Edison police department has announced that they're launching a new initiative called Help
the homeless Drive they're collecting donations of the following items shampoos bar soap toothpaste toothbrushes deodorant socks towels and other hygiene products a donation box was placed in the lobby uh and it's there until March 28th for items that
you may want to donate um all donations will be distributed to coming home in Middle sex County and will also be kept on hand for homeless individuals encountered by Patrol officers in town um so you'll see that box downstairs if you can if you
can contribute any of those things it would be greatly appreciated uh I think that is those are all of my remarks um and now we go to number five the resolution of recognition and I'd like councilman patile
to take place take part in that should okay oh I'm sorry madam M cler could you read the resolution of recognition whereas the Edison Visionary Lions Club was chartered on March 25th 2010 with the mission with the mission
of empowering your professionals to serve their local community Through Hands-On service initially focused on supporting needs of families empowering youth the club has remained committed to their Vision while expand its impact through several Innovative projects whereas since its
Inception the club has served as a guiding force in the Lions Community acting as the mothership for numerous new clubs they've also played a prevent role in establishing six Alliance clubs across United States internationally and collectively proving service
opportunities to over 1 th000 individuals since 1917 Lions International has been made a difference in communities worldwide offering volunteer opportunities that suit various of Lifestyles whereas Edison
Visionary Lions Club staying true to its name strives to provide service with a vision not just to solve immediate problems but to create an environment that Fosters long-term Solutions whereas the club motivates its members and partners organizations to be part of
substantial Solutions in their communities notable um projects such as socials for adults with intellectual disabilities hunger relief vision screening dis disaster relief and support Youth Empowerment support of individuals with
disabilities veteran support International Medical missions so forth the Edison Visionary Lions Club is one of the most decorated clubs in New Jersey and globally it's the only Club in New Jersey to hold prestigious designations such as world class Centennial Lions Club Visionary model
Club Vision 1.5 Platinum Club along with receiving the club Excellence award every year since 2014 now there we resolved the municipal Council Township of vedis hereby acknowledges significant contributions made by Edison Visionary Lions Club and recognizes March 25th
2025 as Edison Visionary Lions day for their notable contributions to our community thank you madam clerk any public comment on this resolution Jo Joy ship um Freeman Edison New Jersey I would like to say um
congratulations to the club um the Lions because when we had a hard health month uh Mahesh didn't hesitate to come forth and do Visionary vision checks for most people that needed their Vision checked
and and as I see them over and over again as I go to the dances and the stuff that they're responsible for our disabled adults they're always there they're always Pleasant they're always participating in their dances and whatever thing is needed at the time so
I would like to applaud them for all their efforts and I wish more people would be like them thank you thank you Joyce yes sir Mahesh shites sville New Jersey I'm the uh founder Charter president of this
club and uh I'm here to thank you for all the support that you have given over last 15 years uh our as mentioned our club was chartered 15 years back in Edison and since then our
mission is to support the needy uh we did the vision screening in Edison and around surrounding areas for about 50,000 individuals in last 15 years we served the Hungary we served about
50,000 meals in various events including during the uh pandemic when there was a lockdown supporting the Edison residents who are who needed food uh we brought in the uh hot meals for them and so on we
we working but more than that we were collaborating with with the township and the council since beginning uh as former councilman uh Joyce mentioned we are part of the recreation
Department's uh special needs dance the social for the intellectual disabilities since 2010 four times a year uh when the uh Sandy hit and we had issues of water supply in the township mayor rigano that
time invited us to distribute water we distributed about 30,000 cases of water in South Edison supporting the township and various other events that we work with the council uh almost most of you
have attended uh some of our events uh notably to mention uh former uh councilwoman Joyce uh Lenny Sosi today we don't have him here but Joo a pel are
always there for our events almost every single uh special needs dance we have somebody from the council uh to come and attend we really appreciate what you guys do and thank you so much and one
appeal Beyond just appreciating your effort is the volunteerism improves the townships so it's not only our association but all the volunteers if you encourage the citizens to volunteer
in one cause or the other especially the youth that will help in making our community better so thank you very much again and uh we really appreciate what you do thank you mes any other any other public comment on this
resolution okay can I get a motion to close I'm sorry I'm so sorry please thank you respect Ed members of the council mayor and Township officials Namaste my name is Mea ravishankar a resident of
Edison and a volunteer with Hindu swak s HSS USA a 5013 nonprofit organization for over a decade HSS has been dedicated to serving the community Through various initiatives like yogathon Teachers Appreciation
Day food and clothing drives and Senior yoga programs today I'm here to share dates of our health for Humanity program Hindu swak s observed the 18th Annual yoga for health yoga for Humanity yogathon or Surya namaskar yagya and
this program ran from January 18th to February 2nd 2025 participants across all ages genders races ethnicities nationalities and faith we invited to participate in the yoga Thon to kickart the new year
with health awareness and practice Surya namaskar is a yogic practice and done in reverence to the sun research shows SE several physiological and psychological benefits from sua namaskar if practiced regularly
they are performed at a series of 10 physic physical postures flowing in a graceful continuous sequence the Su namaskar Yas seeks to promote and the practice of the for the benefits of all
Americans aspiring for it as a Fit Body and and balanced mind initiative since its Inception in 2007 participants from 43 states have actively participated in the yogathon through yoga centers Community organizations schools and
colleges and also as individuals regardless of their faith and belief these participants have performed over 4 million suryan namaskar practice over the past several years this is a testament to the success of the goon in achieving diversity and inclusion in
communities Nationwide while promoting public health and well-being reputedly equitably this year in 2025 Edison and Woodbridge residents participated together in the health for Humanity program in the month of January and
February close to 20 22,000 suan namaskars or sun salutations were performed by participants which included 16,000 men and 6,000 women and children compared to the last year we have about we had about the 75% increase in the
participation across the board HSS chapters also known as shakas meet regularly on a weekly basis and we have nine locations in and around Edison in addition to performing these Yoga practices during these congregations
families are encouraged to participate take take count of the send salutations of suan namaskar posters and record them in a friendly app provided on their phone this created a positive environment where people were able to
relate to the uh leaderboard type of view and also track their own progress on a daily basis while yoga has its roots from the Hindu culture the practice itself is open and very effective and can be followed by anyone
on our SNY Journey this year we had scheduled sessions in Woodbrook Elementary School and woodro Wilson Middle School on February 28th HSS conducted an 8 hour sessions with the kids of Woodbrook Elementary School and we had four sessions covering the first
grade until the fifth grade about 58 580 kids in total did the Su namaskar practice we saw a lot of energy with the kids and good support from the teachers too each session was for 40 minutes and we we covered the activities that included warm-up exercises Surya
namaskar poses and Sun salutation we made Su namaskars and few of the yogat PO yogas posters for the fifth graders to keep them engaged okay excuse me ma'am your your speaking time is up but thank you so much thank you so much for informing the
public about all your services thank you Namaste Namaste Mikey I apologize I just want to make looking for clarification we're not on public comment of the resolutions this is just the resol this is on this this is on the on this resolution about the
Lions Club thank you I'm you're welcome okay anyone else from the public okay motion closed public portion motion to close second thank you very much all right can we get a motion
to adopt motion to adopt second okay uh any Council comments on this resolution councilman Brer yes um listen I'd like to thank the Lions Club mahash you've done a a great job with the
organization I do follow you um what I'm impressed about most is people talk about elected officials and how we give back and we don't really get paid really for the work that we do for the community but your organization truly
gives back to the community you don't expect things in return um and it's really an honorable thing that that you all are doing here so I I I thank you for being part of it I thank you for looking after a residence and you know being so much a part of our
community um a lot of people don't understand what the Lions really do um and we just heard uh you're the the speaker couldn't even get through a list of everything that you guys truly do
which is amazing um in fact I was going to propose we give her an extra two minutes uh on that but um I I thank you all for for everything you do for our community and for Edison thank you anyone else council president
councilman Patel all I want to say is mahes thank you and thank you to the Lions Club you guys are a great asset that Edison has and all the work that you do all the benevolent work that you do uh leads to great things even the smallest Embers
can ignite great fires and I think I remember one time you reached out to to help out uh a immigrant family that came in and you were trying to help them situate so I understand you have you helped out with 50,000 meals and 50,000 Vision uh testing but I think even the
smallest help that you do to individual families and situate them and help them integrate into our into our culture into our society into our neighborhoods uh can lead to great things and I thank you for helping out and thank you for being the good Soul thank you thank you very
much anyone else any other comments council president yes coun Council vice president uh thank you I I'll just be brief uh I just want to say thank you for all your volunteer efforts um every everything that you guys do helps make
Edison better helps make our community uh better and a more closet family and for that thank you thank you council president councilman shuel congratulations on a well-deserved honor I to be honest I I didn't know about
this organization I just got a rundown from councilman Patel and uh I'm inspired uh you guys do great work it's uh it's great for our community and uh keep up the great work and keep up your leadership thank
you thank you councilman um I'll start with the lion Moto where there is a need there is a lion that what exactly Edison Visionary Lions Club is all about a dedicated a passionate group of volunteers serving
the community past 15 years and it's a great milestone to celebrate again congratulations and kudos to all the members who are the backbone of the Edison Visionary Alliance Club I can go on and go on about what Edison Visionary Club is doing in Edison whether it's a
ice screening uh dance with special friends uh Distributing the meals Distributing uh helping during the catastrophes I know mahes always calls when he hears something in news or listen from someone hey there is something happen in Edison whether it is
apartment building it's burned out you know how we can help or there is something somewhere happening and Lian is always there who are inquiring about how we can contribute how we can help and support the community again thank you again as I said like it's a group of
passionate volunteers who are supporting this organization without a pay as as my Council colleague said again thank you for your commendable work and thank you council president thank you very much uh I'm just looking at some fun facts about Lions Club they were actually founded in
1917 in my hometown of Chicago by Melvin Jones they have as of January 2020 it had over 46,000 local clubs and more than 1.4 million including the youth Ling weo Leo and more than 200 countries
in Geographic areas of the world around the world that is astounding and we are so grateful that you are here serving our community it's just it is truly in the spirit of what the word awesome is it is truly awesome what you do and the
services that you provide we are so grateful and and we are so happy to be able to pass this resolution thank you so much okay right um council president you know I would ask council president and vice
president to honor Alliance club with the proclamation we do roll call First okay council member brusher yes council member Patel yes council member PTI yes council member pointer yes council member schmuel yes council president Harris
yes okay all right [Applause] Richard mahes did you want to come up here too I think it would be come on any everybody everybody thank youis you guys can go the
front oh yes uh yeah sure okay yes yes watch of the okay very good say something and would you like to
say say something I I just spoke but thank you so much and one thing the councilman did not mention uh a council a p has been a member of our club for 10 years now and he's involved in
everything thank you would you like to say I'm just very grateful to be here and to be able to uh serve um through Edison Visionary Alliance club and uh it goes without saying that she always inspires each one
of us every single day and I'm so grateful to be here today thank you so much everybody here you let's give them a big hand everybody what they do thank you so much okay all right very good up did this
yes it's right where are we we are at the approval of the minutes okay okay we move on to item number six the approval of the minutes for the work session of February 24th and the regular meeting of February 26th
um is there a motion to approve motion to approve okay second second all right all right all in favor I you didn't put that on my cheat you didn't put it okay um unfinished
business number seven ordinances for further consideration public hearing and final adoption clerk could you please read the ordinance an ordinance amending chapter 23 adopt a area program establishing updated program guidelines okay um all right um any
public comment on this ordinance all right seeing none um do I need a motion to close public yes okay can I get a motion to close public comment motion to close the public comment second okay motion to adopt motion to
adopt second okay can we get a oh oh Council comments first right right uh Council comments on this res on this ordinance council president yes councilman pointer Council vice president sorry thank you um
not sure where to start but 2018 I helped form an organization called bul Edison with the premise of trying to put together an organization to partake in just cleanups around the
township um after that in conjunction with the environmental commission a lot of those efforts started to take forward or take forth however one of the items that I saw was that um those were just individual cleanups they
were not general maintenance for periodic times and as a primary sponsor of the Ordinance one of my goals was to try to expand it to allow for other organizations to partake for instance maybe eventually the Lions Club would
like to adopt an area and uh further their community service which I do hope that they partake uh in my previous experiences I've cleaned up several areas around the the township with many other uh individuals these include
Truman Drive Amboy Avenue Whitman Avenue the boat docks and the Gazebo Silver Lake Fox Road Edison Train Station and several others these types of community events in terms of just general litter
maintenance and cleanups provide profound benefit to our community um and I think it's important for us to expand these opportunities to others I know that there was concern about like the Insurance liability sush but I think
that in the grand scheme that what we want is more Community involvement I hope that there is the support to to pass this I thank you council president for putting this on the agenda I thank the administration for working with me to put um to fine-tune this so that it
is um so it could be brought forth and I just really hope for the support thank you council president thank you thank you Council vice president any other comments council president yes councilman Pao it's a great ordinance and thank you Council vice president poiner for uh coming up with
the the fine Grand ordinance that would help various organizations whether it is Lions Leos kianis any other profit nonprofit organizations and individuals who would like to give back to the community they
can certainly adopt the the area and they can maintain that and again thank you Sonia for responding to all the emails I appreciate that so all my questions were answered as far as the insurance is concerned I'm happy to support this ordinance okay any other com comments
okay as for myself I love this ordinance I think it's terrific and you know it I think it actually pairs very nicely with the next ordinance about the bamboo it's all about beautifying our town getting rid of getting rid of things that are
unsightly and um making this town even more appealing so I thank you Council of vice president for having put this forward and I look forward to being uh being someone to volunteer for it so thank you so much and I think uh we do a roll call
then I think that was it council member Brer yes council member Patel yes council member PTI yes council member pointer yes council member muel yes council president Harris yes excellent okay could you read the next ordinance please an ordinance amending chapter 25
trees to prohibit the planting and spread of running bamboo in the township of veton okay public comment on this ordinance yes sir good evening council members uh this is uh my name is alok Su and I live in Edison New Jersey he been living here
for last 13 14 years now uh first of all thank you so much for listening to my concerns that I shared via email and your responses uh I appreciate uh the responses as well and based on that I think I mean I just want to some
confirmation I sent an email uh response back earlier today as well I did not get a response back to it so I want to understand and get a confirmation that based on what vice president uh you sent me earlier today and then I think Miss
uh Alvarez OS also responded to it is the grandfather bamboo uh on private property is outside the direct enforcement of the the the new ordinance uh so that's one thing I I I like a
confirmation and as you guys know I mean the other thing is I mentioned in my emails as well in the last one week has been very stressful troubling I mean I felt I was targeted the ordinance wasn't approved I received one note notice within few days a zoning officer was at
my home giving me a violation notice when I argued with him he took it back but then again I mean if no one else received any notices or violations or anything and that too even prior to the the final approval why was I singled out and being targeted and again I
appreciate the responses back from the council and your support thank you aluk um so the questions about the grandfathering is that's one of the questions um Council attorney can you clarify that once again
properties that existed with bamboo prior to the adoption of the ordinance will be grandfathered okay I've said it once I've said it twice I continue to say it it's it's grandfathered if it pre-existed now there was a prior
ordinance that wasn't specific to Bamboo about invasive species and that's a different legal point but for bamboo particularly its grandfather thank you you're welcome so I guess based on that the violation or the notices I have
received those I mean uh can someone give me a confirmation that those are not applicable to me in that case and I don't even know why I received those I wasn't part of that process sir I can't give you the affirmation that you're looking looking for um the very
fact that the officer or um code enforcement person took it back and did not issue a violation should be good enough for you that the and the fact that I've told you it's grandfathered should be good enough that you were not
targeted and you should not receive that type of a violation okay if you do go get a lawyer you'll win no I mean we all live in the same Township right I mean I don't want to get into that trouble with anyone right I mean it's it's it's good to live I
mean amicably with anyone it's just I mean it was stressful that's what I brought it to the council again thank you so much uh that I'm I'm not affected by it but then again I'll still appreciate if the council can still look into why I was targeted because it can
this time it happened to me next time it can happen to someone else and it's very stressing I'm not like in my 20s anymore stress effects I mean at this age okay thank you thank you Council I have a question to the council Council what
what is the processes how do we monitor who's grandfathered and who's not it's going to be difficult um there are some obvious signs that whether it's been recently planted whether it's been
around for a while whether it's already in pots that's probably the best way to to do it because it's contained with in the pots and um if you really wanted to drill down
deeply there are aerial photographs that are taken on the county from the county on a regular Basin basis there's something called sandborn maps that go back to the early 1900s that show how properties
were um developed over the years and and it can be a fairly exhaustive process if you wanted to spend the time and the effort to find out but once again uh I want everyone to understand
that the purpose of this ordinance is not to be punitive the purpose of this ordinance is to get compliance so that properties with an invasive species of bamboo don't exceed their property
bounds and in on the rights of others that's the whole idea thank you you're welcome coun of pel question as to how does the township get involved would someone have to file a complaint
or would it just be zoning officers going around and seeing it in my experience it's usually somebody has filed a complaint I don't think anybody's going out there looking for it so they've got better things to to focus on so the question in this would be if two neighbors are okay with having it
between their property and they don't mind it's okay to have it between more than likely okay thank you okay yes finny um I was um able to work for a company that actually removed this
bamboo it it's crazy I'm thinking about uh opening a landscaping company in Edison because they charge a lot of money um So for anybody that has bamboo I mean uh you're talking about like just some removal and putting a barrier in
you got to get an excavator in there and you got to put a wall and it's got to go deep I think it's I think it's like it's more than 18 inches I think it's like 24 maybe 36 Ines a barrier wall that has to go in the ground I mean Russ you're going to make a lot of
money sheesh um So for anybody that has bamboo I mean I mean I don't I don't know what to tell you I mean there's other towns that have put this ordinance in like East brunwick and Oldbridge um I mean these landscaping
companies are just making a fortune off the residents I don't know if Sam Joi knows some landscapers that maybe he's getting Kickback but that's that's all I got thank you yes sir good evening my name is Jacob Kik U
I'm a resident of Edison I purchase property and I unfortunately just speak speaking to the microphone unfortunately I have also some bamboo on my proper property and uh it's going to be very difficult like one of the person of the council mentioned that is going to try
to determine who inherit who planted and uh I think the township have much more important things than fight with the windmills who have the bamboo because uh knowing Edison I don't see is like a huge issue for a for a Township that we're basically join bamboo uh
jungle so I would like to know who even come with the idea to fight with the bamboo in Edison this is isolate isolated complaint or because there are already laws on the book If the neighbors have problems with each other with the vegetation growing over their fences so they can resolve
those issue between each other they don't need a Township to be involved so sir what your question is what my question is why Township is wasting resources on fighting with something that doesn't seems to be a big issue in Edison because there's isolated areas
where you can see bumble my property have this Bumble for 15 years none of my neighbors is being affected nobody complains but like the previous person mentioned that somebody was targeting him and uh I don't want to be next person that's going to be targeted and fine for something that is growing on
the property for a long time it's unlikely that you would be targeted unless there are complaints you're saying your neighbors are not complaining and so it's unlikely that the township is going to be just randomly coming by your property but um Sonia do you can you uh answer his
question about the the why are we doing this it's isolated and all of that according to this gentleman I would actually refer to the council uh for putting up this ordinance council
president Council or counil another thing that uh today is a bamboo tomorrow somebody might come with idea about the Apple cherries those are also invasive species and somebody might change their mind that they don't like them anymore and they're going to ask people to
remove them from the properties so is again it seems to be like the township have way more important issues than fighting few properties with the bomo okay thank you I don't think that you're referring it back to me for bamboo as the township attorney Council I think
that you were that the business administrator was referring it back to the township Council um why why this has been brought forward you know what here I'll I'll I'll take a stab at this one um oh okay
so we had we had a ordinance uh for evasive species and residents came and we've given violations I I think Sonia gave us documentation um I think there were eight viol was that last year over the last two
years the the total since 2019 there were 22 okay so so there have been 22 violations for this over since 2019 um what's what's come up is somebody was making the argument of the
bamboo ordinance was called an evasive species ordinance um it was originally intended back when it was put in was really for evasive species which is really the bamboo um but they put put it as evasive species cuz some people plant vines or things of that nature and then
the vines grow over um so it was there this here was just to kind of codify it to say bamboo is one of those evasive species so even if we got rid of this whole thing here and somebody wanted to complain they can still come to your home they can still file a complaint and
it would be under the original evasive species um I don't know what the fine was for that I would say it would be similar sorry so so that was the idea with the bamboo um but because it it comes up as bamboo on here it looks like
this is a new law that that we've created it's just clarifying the Old Law um I do know bamboo is evasive um and I will tell you this when you wonder like who comes and
complains I've had complaints um at my house about me not having permits I've had complaints I I back up to woods and I had complaints that that um I was destroying the wetlands even though that
property was my own and I had a wetland study that showed I wasn't by it it the people that complained the township came out for the complaint but technically it was one of my neighbors um you know after a few years you know you you're having a beer you're you know having
some hot dogs and hamburgers you know and they apologize to you for it um because it was a misunderstanding at the time maybe they didn't know you so they didn't feel comfortable in coming to tell you um I myself ask my neighbors questions all the time when they cut down a tree I ask them if they took out
a permit to be quite honest with you they go what do you mean I need a permit I don't turn them into the township um because I'm looking to have a civil relationship with my uh my neighbors um but that's probably the best way that I can explain it it was just brought up
that they were looking to be specific because the enforcement end of it people were making arguments that what's what's evasive and there was nothing in there that actually defined it unless you were looking at the state to see what the
state listed as evasive um so that's how this whole thing you know came about um how our one resident was Target it or feels it were Target I would say that was that's I I'd bet you my automobile it was a neighbor um don't know which one Township will never tell
you which one like I'll tell you that I never even bother asking when they come um but most likely that's what it is um I don't think do we give violations without a complaint made and and I'm talking about anything
signs um do we really do that or not really typically if the township receives a complaint then we would you know go out there and inspect that's typically what may happen all right that that's what I've noticed with the township um they're
not they don't go out and look for stuff it's when people make complaints about it um yeah listen I like to answer that one I know Council president's going to say you're going to have to wait until later um but so so long and short that
was probably the best explanation I can give as to why this was made yes and let me just add that also included an invasive species are things such as um poison we what's known as obnoxious
growth of weeds poison ivy poison sumac and things like that so so it bamboo is not the only thing in this ordinance it includes all these other invasive species and where complaints are generated uh any other comments about
this nobody wants to touch this one what's that I said nobody wants to touch this one it's been touched um okay um any any other public comment on that Russ oh I'm sorry I'm sorry go ahead
Russ Russ aell Skyler Drive Edison uh I I think pertaining to to the ordinance uh [Music] 02246 uh with the bamboo you're opening up a can of worms because you have
people that move to Edison move it and they're from a district different nationalities they have different plant desires that want that want to be put in you you have a lot of homes South Edison Highland Parks out Edison borderline North Edison mouin at North Edison
there's a lot of bamboo out there already and like Benny said it's very costly and a lot of work to remove it uh you need a machine you can't use a shovel you need a machine that you have to dig down several feet use a cement barrier border or around the perimeter
of the yard or a metal so it's a lot of work a lot of a lot of cost uh how is the township going to know who already has a bamboo and and who doesn't you know how is there going to be a survey
question a you know you you need some you know some type of guidelines and you know you can't have people ratting people out because oh they bamboo they have bamboo in the yard well I I might have moved there last last year and it was bamboo already and I have to deal
with it you know some people like it some people don't so I think you're opening up a can of worms and need to follow up a little bit more you don't you don't want to do an aerial view like the attorney said that that's an invasion of privacy you don't want to be invading people's privacy and watching
what they're doing or watching what what they're growing in their yard uh unless there's just cause but uh you know I talk my customers out of planning bamboo but I I don't I think there's a lot of things that really should be thought
about and if you're sending a piece of mail out next time put something in there to let you know let let that homeowner know yes I do have bamboo I want to check it off so so I don't get somebody coming to my house and get a fine I don't want to get picked on what
if a different employee that day comes and uh you know is there going to be guy lines inhouse with the township before they send somebody out I think there's a lot of things that should be worked out uh so there's no uh you know minimize
the the complaining and uh the problems with the homeowners so I just want to add add my two cents Russ I think if that can of worms could eat the bamboo we'd really be in we'd really be in business you need a lot of lot of cans of worms thank you council president thank
you council president yes can I just maybe just add um like the invasive species things like you were talking about um poison ivy I I my wife is allergic to poison ivy but a lot of people will tell you but not like she's allergic she's like going a hospital
allergic um so I clean it out of my yard I clean it out of the woods behind me and I talk to my neighbors to clean it actually off of their properties because it just grows where I live I I don't know how it grows just blows and it grows um but at the end of the day if if
this ordinance and and Sonia there's a question to you if this ordinance wasn't written and somebody made a complaint about bamboo coming onto their property we would still enforce this correct because we have this invasive species on
there uh we we would uh and we have right that that's what I'm saying so for the past few years we've been enforcing this it just didn't say exactly bamboo um so that that's one thing the other was
Russ brought up a point and this was brought up by councilman batile I believe um and I do recognize it as a problem but it's a problem in the way the law was written before and a problem the way it is today is that if I buy my house this year and my neighbor board
his house next year and then bamboo is on both of our properties nobody knows who owns the bamboo um I I don't know how that enforcement would be handled by the town um I I mean I guess you'd have to
investigate a little bit but at the end of the day I I'm not sure how how that gets implemented um you know when you have two separate people they might have been new and moved in um but that is an issue whether it's the Old Law or the
new law that's that's written here um in fact I don't even know that I want to go down that rabbit hole um you know and how you determine that um maybe at that point they go to both neighbors and they tell you boat to clean it up and remove it I I'm not sure what they're you know
what they do in fact I don't even think Sonia would know at this point exactly what would happen in that case it wouldn't be a condition of sale um I'll tell you that much no okay thank you
okay Council vice president uh thank you I just want to offer one clarification um it's not necessarily bamboo in and of itself entirely no no good it's within the buffer zone
of a property now my understanding is that uh the root you know I'll go back to the public but my understanding is that this is within the buffer zone which is a 10- foot buffer from the property line so I just want to make sure that is clarified
thank you okay any other public comment yes sir hi uh hi I'm viam moja uh 200 comp na so I'm just share with to support my friend aluk so I have been knowing I have seen his house built there in 2012
uh he moved there and I've seen that property and it it's a very beautiful area basically and I'm just looking for like you know to help him out the clarity on his case where uh like he got a warning a month or like two three weeks before and then suddenly somebody
shows up from the township with a violation notice so and today you are passing the ordinance so what was the root cause of course you tried to give a lot of analysis behind it but but you know uh I have seen him in stress from last three weeks and any notice comes
from Township is really like you know thing from somebody who doesn't know about this processes so I just uh look for more clarity in his case and get it resolved thank you I'm sorry sir is there is there a question that a specific question
Clarity on his case where like you know why he got warning first place then violation notice for some somebody came up to his house for the violation notice when there is no ordinance in place you know council president excuse me I I don't think we are in a position
of being able to answer that question in terms of why zoning uh why zoning would come I don't think we as a council are in a position to be able to answer that what did you want to say Dr well I was going to you're right that the council can't do that um but the administration can maybe find out you know what
position them to go there anything which helps him to resolve this issue basically from his side or what whoever side it is I just presumed it was a neighbor but maybe if you could do a followup and see if if they were just
driving by and seeing the bamboo or there was a complaint or if the township receives any sort of um call or complaint obviously we would investigate it um it's it's not something we would um you know necessar neily discuss i i
to the attorney's point it's not anything to as well I'm in the same position as you are to discuss someone's uh individual matter especially if something were to be a civil maybe in that case like you know the person who comes with the violation
or warning should be talked to both sides so that you know it gives Clarity to the person too so that in this case like I think when uh um when uh somebody came for the violation he talked to him and then that got resolved but the person who came with the warning didn't
talk to him at all and like you know so he that gave him stress basically so it's better to talk both sides rather than taking one side and giving right away a decision yes and and in auk's case um Jim out from zoning did come by
and uh was ready to give him a warning but uh UK spoke to him and that helped definitely yes so there's your two-way conversation about it thank okay thank you okay anyone else about this I'm sorry you've spoken already sir come on
AJ you get another chance good evening AJ uh Ben's excuse me uh Ben from medis New Jersey you have the floor council president yes you do I would like to wrap this up with this ordinance with ordinance 2246 I do approve for it um
there was a there was a long comment I do approve for it I would like to say to the previous speakers um from the first comment um I hope he doesn't get uh violated again I hope he doesn't get targeted it looks like it was Target I feel like
this should be investigated regardless for his best interest in this town best entrance um this from the second comment you should absolutely should open up uh a landscaping company Vinnie by the way um and uh Ross that was a great idea
that you you mentioned as as well and for me I'm just want to wrap this up and just I I do approve it and welcome Edison it is this is where you know no bamboo no bamboo just time to take it out so you guys been MN and
this will be adopted after I I say with this I have no other comments at this time thank you thank you AJ Mikey uh good evening Council um I don't really have a question just a comment make it brief um I just don't really like the term invasive species it's kind
of like the terminology that people used on immigrants of all different types that fled to the United States for a better life and the best country in the world so I don't like uh invasive species and I I I agree that if the gentleman feels that he he was possibly
targeted it should be looked into um and I just want to State for the record friendly members of the public who are listening um when you come to address your grievances or speak at a public meeting like this you can always remain anonymous I'm not um alleging that this Council has ever retaliated against any
individuals um but it it is a widely common thing across New Jersey and all over the country when you come to a meeting and you give your address um that there could be possible targeting from code enforcement or or whatever it may be but um but I do think if the
gentleman feels that um he was targeted I do think a proper uh looking into that you know just to make sure that nobody um nobody is being treated unfairly thank you any other public
comment okay motion to close public comment motion to close s thank you um coun uh Council oh I'm sorry let me uh go to the motion to adopt motion to
adopt I get a second second thank you uh Council comments on this ordinance I just commented for 10 minutes yeah were you looking at me again I'm not because you're usually you usually
have something to say okay any any other Council comments on this Council pres yes coun I will I'm in fully support of this ordinance for various reasons but at the same token I want to make sure that the this body acknowledges that there will be there
potentially could be complaint of the targeted uh uh situation however I would also want to State here that not all bamboos some of the bamboos are edable you know some people do eat bamboos uh
so please do research uh and hopefully we'll have our health as well as the uh zoning officer is well educated in terms of the various types of bamb those are bad for the the neighbors and
the one that are good we shouldn't be harming those people in of that you know I do have one email from a resident who is struggling past 10 plus years to take care of his situation and S I'm going to forward that email to you so if you can look into that thank you council
president thank you any other comments Council vice president um again I just want to clarify that the ordinance pertains to Bamboo within the buffer zone of property so that's a 10t
buffer and the premise with that is that because bamboo grows from the root my understanding is generally within a six foot radius I believe that's why the 10- foot uh buffer was established um you are allowed to still have it if it's if it's potted if it's outside of the
buffer zone um and in my opinion the the primary factor for this is just to try to prevent damage of property that is not yours right because if it were to grow to another person's property and then cause damage to it like that's what
we're trying to prevent uh in my opinion so I just wanted to offer offer that thank you Council presid thank you any other comments okay uh just a note to to Mikey if you don't like the word if you don't like the term invasive species you probably really don't like the term
obnoxious growth all right just just making a note of that um okay can we get a roll call please council member brusher yes council member Patel yes council member ptil yes council member pointer yes council member schoell yes council president Harris
yes thank you all right um we move to number eight public comment on the resolutions the resolutions only any public comment on the resolutions yes sir and just uh state which resolutions please yes um
I'm going to be speaking I'm just going to speak on resolution 132 um resolution to support publ publishing legal notices on official government websites just not exactly
sure what what that entails because um official government websites um they fall in the category of like uh the Edison police department Facebook page there's no commenting comments are
disabled uh the mayor has disabled comments on his Facebook acting within government capacity he uh he had shut those comments off after the national flag issue um he's also the director of the public safety and I think he needs to uh resign or step down from that
position because um if if if we're supporting publishing legal notices on official government websites and people can't have um can't create a dialogue on the police page um that could be a public that could be a public safety
issue um and if the mayor is unwilling to if he's going to continue to violate the rights of the People by disabling comments on his personal page I think we maybe should he should he should be maybe possibly
compelled to just just a step down from the public safety because I think that's an issue um I think people should be people should be allowed to create Dialogue on the uh Edison police page that's blocked uh disabled comments thank you
thank you any anyone else for the resolutions Joyce Joy ship Joy ship Freeman Edison New Jersey I was going to ask that question that he asked but I don't know if he going to get an answer to it correctly um with the uh R
113 with the governor's Council on substance use and disorder fiscal Grant cycle from October 2020 to June 2026 does it have the finances on it too labeled between that whole thing online and do you have any other
questions before I get to that okay and I was just curious oh the resolution returning of a cash bond for a filming permit uh what number is that choice that is 134 okay yeah just curious because I you know maybe somebody came
here to film Edison we're so popular okay thank you I'm sorry was was there a question with that okay all right um the question about um 113 the governor's Council substance use disorder fiscal Grant cycle uh the question was are the
finances listed online they're listed on the resolution okay so the resolution is online okay all right and uh come up come back in I just wanted to know if it's online
if the finances are online that 202 20 2021 2022 2023 2024 2024 25 26 each year if the finance is on there for the actual you know grants that we receive
during the course of that time is that all listed for the cycle uh back to you Sonia all of our finances are part of our uh fiscal reporting so our budgets it's listed on there so she's telling me each one is
listed on there for each year that's what she's telling me right now yes okay all right thank you okay and then the question about uh filming uh 134 the 131 the uh no that's not the one for the cash Bond cash Bond yeah filming per the
filming per filming permit yeah um do we know do do we know uh what what excuse me what from our department oh it's from our department okay okay that they have to post a bond when they do filming
permit here so after the the filming is done and there's no damages and of any property whatever then the bond is released okay thank you thank you thank you very much thanks thank you um yes vny just again what what which
resolution uh I'm going to be talking about uh the resolution that he was talking about and that's uh 13 132 132 okay oh we didn't L get what that was so like Mikey asked about it and we didn't
get a thing but also are we doing back and force again no yeah because it was like no asked and we spoke no no no but this was during that's during her speak resolutions is good for back and forth yeah as as long as it's during your your speaking time sure okay all right I
wasn't sure y all right and then uh so he he spoke about uh supporting and Publishing uh legal notices on official government websites so I'm assuming um you know I guess we can't talk about legal notices um sometimes but we're going to
publish them on official websites maybe we'll pick and choose which ones get published and which ones don't uh who gets to uh establish what's posted and what's not and why um as far as uh
resolution on returning cash bond for a filming permit do I need a filming permit to filment here do I need a do I need a permit to film outside I don't I don't believe so so why would anyone need why would anyone need a compies film compan these are
these are actually companies yeah I'm a company okay I published stuff on a website for maybe profit should I get a permit I could be all right thanks all right um yeah so
the question about the um the government we websites so when we're talking about official Publications there are requirements in the statutes of the state of New Jersey that require official notices to be put in
newspapers newspapers of circulation within the county so for things like um the the ordinance we talked about that had to be published in a newspaper so this is a resolution that supports
posting those types of notices not not online commentary but notices so the public can know what's going on on the official website of the township of
Edison not on someone's Facebook page not on not on the police pages on the official website of the township of Edison it could set satisfy the requirements if the legislature agrees
for publication because unfortunately as we all know newspapers kind of a Dying business and realistically who really reads the legal notices in the newspapers so um it's a way to
get wider circulation and more um focused circulation to those who might be interested in issues regarding the township you're welcome thank you okay
any other public comments on the resolutions yes Anthony no Anthony Dam and Wy AV um for resolution I believe it's 123 the uh Rico copier um
uh if that's for one multifunction if that's the mp uh c3503 or the mp400 I we are getting big time ripped off there I used to work for Rico um and I just texted a buddy of mine just to get some quotes and that's just a somebody's
making some bank for for for for commission so I don't know which multi printer that is but that's just a lot of money for that one printer for eight months I'm just saying might want to check that check into that thanks thank you anyone else public
Esther Esther Barkin Edison uh I want to comment on 131 which I introduce the New Jersey climate superf fund act I hope you approve it it passed through the appropriate Committee in the assembly
and it looks promising but we want to get that done ASAP there was a check challenge to some of the Attorney General um efforts to on a you know many states uh put this forward and it was
challenged by some other states and the Supreme Court upheld the right to try to recoup money from the fossil fuels so I I look forward to your approval thank you thank you Esther okay AJ
Ben from medicon New Jersey I have the floor council president yes thank you very much uh want to go back to our 131 that was on my first mind I do really want uh resolution 131 to be approved because this is absolutely we absolutely
do need this funding as soon as possible I do want to talk I do agree with these resolutions that's going to be our 114 115 [Music]
uh and 134 resolution 134 and then for r132 from the chair to the to the township lawyer I think I do now I understand it's like you let's just say
that the Edison Township wants to sell auction their cars they can do that is that correct yes okay and for R134 um a filming permit I think that the Auditors don't need a filming permit
for a perfect example I will mention up one orienti remarks uh Daniel boldi bad baby let you say she wants to film something she has to get a filming permanent because she has a company she's independent artist so I guess she has to film something she wants to come here and edit
if I'm not mistaken if someone can clarify can an artist a celebrity wants to film do they still have to pay the 500 if they don't break anything anything in my
experience the filming ordinances and I will admit that I have not looked at Edison's filming ordinances require production companies which may
involve um traffic control Public Works closing down streets or large areas large areas um areas that may be disturbed the town wants to know about
it so and they should and they should absolutely and that's the purpose for a obtaining a filming permit you generally see them more in areas that have attractions okay like the Edison Tower
or Asbury Park or any other Shore Community um where a filming company would love to be able to come in and just do whatever they want without letting the town know about it so that's the purpose for filming permits it's not
for um the locals if you will unless the locals happen to have a have a production that might require police presence DPW presence or other safety
concerns so that's the general concern General reason for those types of permits yeah CU I can't see any Resident become the next neckflix all right I have no other comments um into the resolutions I would
address those resolutions and in general uh approve all resolutions at this time thank you thanks AJ anyone else on the resolutions okay motion to close public comment on the resolutions motion to close second okay um all right we move
on to anything to pull the resolutions for a separate vote Yes um I guess dispersements which one is that the first one okay right 104 anything else um that would be it okay uh anyone
anything else to pull 132 just for the com which one I'm sorry 132 132 132 uh the legal notices okay okay so any anything else from anybody okay so
pulling right now 104 and 132 so we are looking to consent to 105 through 131 and then 133 and
134 so can I get a motion to approve motion to approve okay second all right um roll call right roll call please council member brusher yes council member Patel yes council member PTI yes
council member pointer yes council member shuel yes council president Harris yes okay let's start with uh councilman Brer the dispersements 104 um yes um you know we've been asking I guess for the
um the flyer that goes out um to everybody for the the cost of that the stamps the publication office time whatever that cost total cost would be for a breakdown um
of some the Flyers that go out and I haven't seen that um when we do a closed session I'd like to speak to my Council colleagues and to our attorney about some grave concerns that I
have and actions that I would be taking moving forward um but I'd like to do that in private but I would like to get the cost overall you know what that is um I know you gave us part of the cost at the last meeting but it was
that simply put the mayor puts out a flyer that says four Council people three Council people whatever it is voted for this or did that um which seems like um a
political propaganda in my mind um I'll talk about you know the value of it um in close session but for right here I'd like to get what that dollar amount was for that fly the mailing cost you know how many people it was sent out to
um if you could councilman um just to be more specific if you could email me exactly the breakdown you're looking for if you give me the breakdown of what you're looking for that would better um help me to get the information to you okay that'll
do okay all right um should make a motion to approve that or okay all right so can I get a motion to approve R 104 motion to approve second okay get a roll call please council member Brer I'll vote Yes
sorry uh yes no vote Yes council member Patel yes council member ptil yes council member pointer yes council member schmuel yes council president Harris yes right and uh councilman PTI 132
just quick I just want to confirm that we are not discontinuing the current mechanism of publishing the legal notices it stays as it we are only adding the township website that's just
the this is support of a bill no no no no no this is 132 this is the legal notices that is this isn't support just to support okay then I'm good with that okay it's not we're not changing ours this is to support the bill perfect CLS in the that is at the state level
because the newspapers aren't really publishing paper anymore thank you that's the whole prise of this CC stopping what we're do Council vice president uh thank you council president um I I agree that we should support this because I know how much the clerk's
office has spent from a a Time consumption standpoint to make sure that notices particularly on the ordinances that we put forth so that we meet the deadlines from the newspapers the newspapers as the resolution states are
going through troubles whether it be financing whether it be um from employees working so hopefully the legislature uh moves forward with this to be able to give us better opportunity
to notify residents so that we have a more informed Community thank you council president thank you thank you very much okay any other comments okay um um can we get a motion to approve motion to approve second all right roll
call please council member brusher yes council member Patel yes council member ptil yes council member pointer yes council member schel yes council president Harris yes okay we move on to oral petitions and
remarks any public comment Carl good evening through the chair to the ba don't need answer it right now who put up the fence at dudash Park and did they have a
permit do you have any other questions before before this do you have any question I got more okay let's get all of them at once okay well you got the first one correct I do okay 10:20 1061 m you been in zoning
violation for over three years why I didn't tell you why person go there eat for free houses grocery from the first aid Squad three houses I was sent there when I was
working over and over and over harassing the people for no reason that was time and money and a waste of money because of one person [Music] the
grass W Avenue by a mining multiple place I'm sorry Carl could you repeat this is the third one now right yeah okay and so uh could you start over with that one it was about I told you about the
house it's AC CH from first a squad M okay the grass where Avenue by the Min place was not cut out all this year the Board of Health person in that area it's up to me he be fired he said I don't see it I see him
go past the area and the grass is 4 feet high he's useless for cl Martin area we got High Grass at the church at the dead end when there used to be a rideway way you could walk up the street when Pete KN was working but Peter not is no longer
working either it ain't been clean why the administration knows about it why because I'm complaining about it that's an insult remember I was borred because of
Joe coil for three years I'm doing my job because I was doing my job look how many signs around town right now since June 30th what is my other partner doing up there no show um
grass you were talking about other night for 15 minutes he got under his skin that you was taking too long talking about the zoning audience excuse me uh your phone is more important your phone more important than
they listen to me stop the clock that's being rude like Mike was saying the other night you guys don't listen to us I got to slow down for a second because
I was just in JK two weeks ago with 202 heartbeat but I'm bouncing back again I'm on five medications so something got to get done with the zone in B hell I brought
this up a while back if anybody got a good memory up there and you was paying attention to me that night I said when we do the grass zoning two and three years ago people are acted we
don't wait for the phone call to [Music] ring the Board of Health must have side winders on where they look straight ahead they don't see no grass I have this sound looking damn good two years ago last summer it looks like that screws my
mouth but it was I'm sorry I'm sorry Carl your time is out I know that okay all right let let me see if I can get your question okay I'm sorry they got do something with the zoning and let it take it back over act Carl I'm sorry you need you got to sit down let me see if I
can get your questions answered okay thank you okay all right um the fence at uh the fence at D Dash um what do we know about that so uh that is our Township property we put the fence up um that's our own property we wouldn't put
a permit out for it the attorney could um correct me if I'm wrong but that's not something we do and that's the only question that I gathered from the gentleman excuse me Mr I'm sorry Carl thing ma'am I want sorl is too close to
the Cur your time is up the f is too close to the Cur down 10 right away you need to sit down you're out of order now you're out of order now I know the rules you're not you're out of for 5 years need to sit almost Carl thank you hear the
truth uh you were saying I'm sorry Sonia that was all right so the township does not need a permit to put a fence on Township owned property thank you all right okay all right um there was also a question about uh 1061 Amboy Avenue Zone
violation that's been there for 3 years um I'm not sure what the question is if it's why uh do you know anything about 1061 Amboy [Music] Avenue uh I'll will follow up all right
thank you um the other ones really weren't so much there was talk about grass and this place on Woodbridge Avenue and uh zoning and board of a Board of Health but um I think the first two were really the the questions so if we can get uh a followup on the 1061
Amboy um that would be thank that would be appreciated thank you uh Gloria council president just quick question um the fence if if the residents have to keep a fence 10 foot from the curb does the
township or does the township not have to abide by the same rules question is that a question to me counselor well I'll take an answer from anybody I mean we can look into it but the township itself is not subject to
the permit requirements of applying for offence same as the township is not subject to its um agencies like the planning board or
the zoning board um the superior governmental entity uh has the right to take actions for governmental purposes um and to protect life health and
safety well okay I guess my question that wasn't really the question um maybe I didn't understand it try again yes um it no one was saying about a like I'm not talking about a fence or a fee for a fence or taking a permit for the fence
what I'm saying is that if if residents have to keep a fence 10 foot from their from the street to their yard and we're not talking about a safety issue right like a construction fence or something can the township just put a
fence at the curb line like could I put a could the township go would dig a hole and put a fence between the curb and the sidewalk just because they wanted to not for safety or for any other reason that that's my question I think go ahead if I could if I may um what what is reference
here is the right away so that's where we have jurisdiction over so that and again the attorney can correct me if I'm wrong that wouldn't apply to the township correct being that it's in the right away so the township could put a fence in the right away block wall they
do whatever they want it's a very nice fence I haven't seen it looks good on the park um it's not obstructing anything I think if that was a concern certainly we could look at um if there's a specific specific area in the fence
and in the area that is obstructing anything certainly we'd look at it so if if we could find out more I I can certainly have someone take a look at it okay I I'll take a ride by I haven't been by to see it so all right all right
Gloria thank you yeah good evening Gloria diman Midland Road in Edison I want to thank president uh council president har haris for locating the Jane talsman Memorial chair Jane was elected to the Edison Town Council in
1990 if memory serves me correctly and she was a vigorous Fighter for Environ environmental issues she led the fight for the Dismal Swamp and other environmental issues in Edison perhaps her chair should be placed by the Thomas
a Edison bus so that it has a place of honor just an idea a I also would like to acknowledge the good work of our Edison police department for capturing the thieves who caused so much harm in our city I would like to talk to you about
the much needed light at the corner of Grove Avenue in Calver this intersection is a death trap and it has been that bad for many many years the temporary solution of making part of Grove Avenue
a 25 M per hour and a 35 m per hour road just isn't working traffic backs up from both ends from Grove to Calvert and from Calvert to Oak Tree Road this causes people on Midland Road
an impossible pass task of trying to turn onto Grove Avenue so traffic is both directed in both uh ways and completely ruins getting out of that that street lastly this limit for
residents to speak is a real abuse of free speech I understand you want people to collect their thoughts before they arrive at the podium however it is possible that people may learn new excuse me learn new
information or plans for the council meeting which they were not aware of and may cause a need for an additional time at the podium thank you for your time thank you um so
uh regarding Grove and Calvert and this is something that councilman pel has been vigorously pursuing and I I believe as of Monday's meeting um it looks like we're finishing up the traffic study about that and that we should be getting the results of that very soon so so stay
tuned for that okay thank you um okay next yes mam in the back have a nice trip right uh Janette galek Edison I have two things to say one's good one's bad I talked to well I called
the township Friday afternoon I called four Personnel people from the township the only one that called me back was uh Bob Dill and I just want to say thank you very much for Bob Dill he at least
answered my phone call okay another thing he told me go and check what I was calling about was there's this dumpster that was put up by the Edison senior um Center there off of Woodbridge
Avenue A big dumpster it took up three parking places handicap parking places that I was positive it was there Monday and Tuesday I know it was there Friday of last week I'm not sure if it was
there Thursday or not okay that is a very very big uh handicap it's I mean it's a handicap parking it's a h a health hazard okay like I said I called three other people at the township Bob was the
only one that answered my call he told me that by Thursday he says if it's not moved give him a call back right away well I had nothing else to do this afternoon I took a ride at 12:30 by the center lo and behold thank you Bob there
was a big truck there pulling out the dumpster so I mean Tuesday is a very very large crowd that we have there we have the exercise people there on Tuesdays
the because it was so nice on Tuesday we had a lot of people eating there for their meals at lunch time and uh twice a month on Tuesdays and no on the second and the fourth
Tuesday of the month CLA Barton section is there and they have at least 70 to maybe 80 90 people that come there plus our Edison Group that was there and you come there on a Tuesday you can't find a place to park that's
and then it's a shame that we don't even have no parking places for our handicapped people there was people that were handicapped you know where they had a park almost down by the basketball court and there they are walking with Walkers handicap uh wheelchairs one has
a wheelchair canes I don't think that's fair at all that they can park that and like I said I went into the office to find out you know what what do they do I mean there's so much room up there Park the park it someplace else I don't they don't even
they say oh we don't know why it's there nobody wants to give you an answer anyways that's my only problem okay but like I said I went home I when I went home from um seeing the de dumpster I called Bob D but there wasn't nobody
answer and I don't like to leave messages on the phone I don't do textas because I'm very old-fashioned but I left him a message and I just said you know thank you very much I really appreciate it okay thank you you can thank him directly he's sitting right
over there thank you Bob deal um okay uh Joyce J ship Edison New Jersey after discussing on Monday what I said about the violation from both departments about the health department and also
about the zoning department they assured me that was no thing but I went out in the hall and I spoke to the gentlemen and I seen the violations and there's one thing about also about violations at least get check your spelling when I looked at the spelling I
was embarrassed I'm like this is supposed to be you know L town and we can't even spell stuff right correct ly on a violation oh that's just terrible terrible terrible um and and as I was talking about him with bamboo I said we
probably got more marijuana growing here than we have bamboo so don't even worry about it um so and I know um Carl gets a little hyper because he gets a little excited Carl is not like other people he doesn't uh pick on certain people if if
if all five of your cars are there even if his sister's car is there parked incorrect correctly Carl's going to give everybody a ticket on the block that's who Carl is okay now I want to I want to get a better understanding because I keep seeing these points about this
grant is for this thing and this grant is for this thing and then the grants are Co mingle so I know I've been involved with grants and stuff before I've been on this Earth for a little bit of a while and I've been involved in a whole lot of projects now can
you get a grant from this place and then use it someplace else that the grant wasn't said for or you know what I mean or or do the the grant is just so ambiguous and so you know just that kind of Grant or do you
zero in like if you zero in on a library Grant does that have to be specifically spent for the library or you know because I'm hearing these grants are used for different buildings and different things so I'm hoping is not you know
what I mean because I don't you know I know we got new prosecutors in the state now that we've changed presidents so I'm hoping that we're not in the paper for some kind of Scandal or something with the different grants you know I just want to make make it known specifically if we have this grant for senior
citizens over here this three million over here that is not spent for like a park for a kid or something else I just I just want clarification on actual grants cuz I know all about Bond bonds we always got to pay them back and everybody always say oh we won't have to
pay any interest on them the way we crashing and burning right now oh you gonna pay interest on stuff in this country right now if you're paying attention to anything that's going on in government so I don't like us to try to fool the people and make them think that
we all getting this free money and you know like don't worry about it and then when I looked at the the debt amount from 2021 I looked at it then I looked at the Deb amount from 2024 um people are quite nervous in this
town and they're telling me about it they're quite nervous that everybody's just spend spend spend and they you know we we supposed to be getting all this great amount of money but I I don't think that we've gotten that amount of money that's to close to $200 million I
just don't think so but my question is that I need to know specifically is about the grants and I hope that this that is is um there's a resolution to the man who was targeted he said oh my
God it's supposed to be 30 days he said they gave me two violation within three days I don't get it uh the question about can a grant given for one thing be used for another if I may um so grants are very
specific the one that is alluded to in terms of the library Grant so uh and I can certainly send this information there was uh also some uh literature that went out it is a Library community recreation Grant it's a it's a
multifaceted Grant the library applied for it they reive their funding the township separately as a separate entity applied for the same Grant and we did receive 3 million um for the Stelton uh building so because what we discussed
with that there was classrooms set up for the Stelton building that qualified under the grant so it's a Library community recreation Grant and I can certainly give you the specific Grant we're talking about but they grants are
specific to to to attas to a project if you will okay thank you Sonia okay yes Anthony Anthony Damon Wy a um first um oh question uh regarding Stelton um I hear that the uh the
Stelton budget is um is up to about $9 million now uh i' just like to know if we know how that money is being spent uh that's my first question um as far as the uh I agree with the ba the the the fence at at DH Park is really nice they've done
actually did a really good job I would just say uh if the you know if the this the township should follow the rules that they actually impose if if it's if we have to do it as residents Township should obey by the same rules um so that's that's that's what I would say so
I and and Carl knows nobody knows better than Carl when it comes to that stuff um also I'd like to regarding Public Safety uh first I want to give a shout out to the Edison police department for for uh catching those guys um
that's that's uh uh that's that's an awesome job uh so thank you um I I just like to a few questions regarding Public Safety though does the mayor acknowledge um the rate of increase in crime does he does he acknowledge it uh is he aware of it or
does he disagree with the uh 82% increase in uh robberies the 56% increase in assaults this is over the last four years by the way and the 70% increase in overall crime and that's the stat I want to thank the Edison reporter for that by the way putting that
together but that's from the state police that's the state police stats so I want to know if the mayor agrees with those statistics um or or does he just disagree and you know we're all wrong um you know and then I think about what is different from four years ago than today
you know and and one of the things um we have the same Chief same everybody we didn't have these problems four years ago but I look at these meetings specifically these meetings over the last four years we've had we have officers now that have to stay in these
meetings I've been in meetings I've never seen it before but we have before this Administration where there's been chaos in this room we've had these guys having to cell phones in their face being accused of every bad thing there
is all right their name you have even their names have been posted all over social media okay and there's a human element to that because they I don't hear any I don't hear the mayor coming out and defending it or to be honest with you I I it starts with him so to
allow this to go on all right and that over the course of time over four years for it to continue to happen we've had some bad ones here all right then to expect the same individuals to go out and protect our town is is just insane okay it's insane
and what we're doing is other people see it's all over social media so they're you're basically encouraging that in Edison it's okay to do that to these guys it's disgusting in my humble opinion I couldn't stand it we have a lot of people we have some residents that do it we've had a lot of non-residents that do it it's unacceptable and then to tell them to go
out there and to try to deter crime if it was me I would just stay in my car and just look straight and until a call comes to me or crime falls into my lap I'm not getting involved yeah they cameras all over them I mean imagine going to work and dealing with that so I
I I you know it's it's enough's enough and then we worry about the crime why isn't the crime now we know that you know they're stored on patrol numbers we've we've gone through this time and time again myself councilman pressure I know councilman P has done it too all right but it's it's let's let's let's
think of the obvious though the the in his Chambers is it had gotten so out of control here and they they go out and expect them they're say themselves probably and I don't speak for any of them but I'm just thinking hey if I something happens I don't have anybody
sticking up for me here in a sense it's absurd so thank you council president thanks Anthony um his question about Stelton the 9 million how is this being spent it's not 9 million it's approximately 6 million so there's 3 million that was allocated through
capital and then the three million that's coming out of the grant okay thank you and uh Anthony uh I'm not going to be answering a question about what the mayor believes or doesn't believe that's not that's not for me to say so I'm just not going to be
answering that CC can I make the comment and I didn't listen the full comment or full question about the Stelton but I just caught B on what you answered my understanding was the $3 million the de that we
got once we receive the grant that will will pay off the debt so that's net net is 3 million but what I'm hearing is 3 + 3 that's what we are looking at $6 million correct yes sir yeah but you know this the discussion will be for
another day but the document thank you for supplying the document uh today I looked at that spreadsheet somehow I saw the change order for the sport building that was listed in that Excel spreadsheet so not sure it is
a mistake or hopefully we didn't pay from the Stelton Community to someone or some other project hopefully it's a mistake and I would like to get an answer but again that's a question for another day thank you I I see what you're referencing that that's probably a
mistake thank you I'll I'll get it clarified okay president oh yes yeah I I right I noticed that um that mistake I'd like to get a list too for Stelton if we can get a breakdown for all costs um I
just want to make sure the public has like a total a total list um and that goes for even there's some Stadium lighting that I believe isn't going to be part of the package but might be part of like the psng project you know but
it's still really part of the project itself so I'd just like to get a list of of all the costs that that we've incurred um underground piping whatever our water company whatever that cost was just so we get a a full understanding of what that project is um and and that
only came because in looking at this it almost looked like we were trying to hide the change order from the Jets field into to the Stelton Rec Center you know what I mean like I guess if that's a mistake councilman ble didn't see it I I don't know I mean it's a purchase
order that they gotten that so there was a possibility that it could happen um you know when we talked about the public safety when when that was brought up you know and where people are um but I'd like to bring up that that yes these
meetings have um devolved um I myself got a survey I don't know if my Council colleagues did that asked whether we've been threatened uh we feel threatened uh some survey company I think in Illinois um they're probably
trying to come up with legislation to protect elected officials um I answered it honestly and in the bottom when they give you a paragraph they they ask you about it and what I said was um if I'm afraid of loud noises or
bullets I wouldn't become a police officer if I was afraid of fire I wouldn't become a fireman if I was afraid of the public I wouldn't become an elected official not every job amen is actually not everybody could do every
job um being an elected official we have to take into account uh the aggravations that you've went through and and I know myself as an elected official I was standing at that Podium Bob deal was sitting in one of these chairs Rob carab benek who I've known for a while I
actually yelled and screamed at about flooding on my street um because I was just fed up because the mayor the administration the council no one would take care of my flooding um and they handled it quite well you know um they understood that it it wasn't directly at
them at that moment but they were I was just aggravated that I wasn't being heard and I wasn't being addressed um so maybe that just gives me a different idea up here but like I say as elected officials I believe this is our job take the criticism bamboo today that we just
had be honest with you I I voted for it I talked to John about it I thought there was an issue I do see how it affects them um I could see that those residents were not happy with the decision that we made but I just try to be as open and honest and explain it to them um in the simplest terms that what
why I do what I do and I think if all elected officials do that I think we'd be better off and we wouldn't have these fearful um confrontations that that survey put out I don't know did anybody else get did the survey okay you did
okay president uh yes councilman Patel I did have a request can we get from the police department The Uniform Crime reporting for 2018 to 20 current uh I've been trying to get accurate numbers and I feel like every website I go has
different numbers in terms of crime statistics FBI has this Uniform Crime reporting which could be a good track of the indicator and if we can get also Woodbridge and matachin if if matachin is reported I'm not sure if matachin is I know Woodbridge is if we can get that
reporting just so we can have an idea what kind of problem we're dealing with and we can all be in the same base rather than having random numbers being thrown um councilman I'll probably have it up on my website um you know for running forier but it's on the it's a
State website if you Google crime stats for New Jersey okay if if pops up you can go back I think you can go back to maybe like 2008 um and you can go by every County and every town and it gives you a
breakdown of you know rapes burglaries um Larsen another one um there's multiple um there's multiple information and the township I believe every year reports their crime statistics from that
year to the state where they compile it um okay thank you thank you okay yes sir yeah good evening to the Edison city council my name is Jim needle Meer and I am from mouth County New Jersey coming
up to March 29th is the Greenberg toy and train show where Joseph Caruso runs that Expo Center and he does not have handicapped washrooms in there the signs are falsely marked the washrooms
and and the place is packed like cattle and and I got told by you know you know few times or less made a bird of paradise fly up your nose directly from Joseph
Caruso and it's under the Americans with Disabilities Act that that any public place has to play by the Ada act you which George Herbert Walker Bush put into effect and you know I mean I'm getting you know
and the parking over there is atrocious I mean I went and I went to to to the circus to get a handicap placard and none of them park there with handicapped placards or plates long as you have a DOT or a turban on your head
you're allowed to park there I mean excuse me sir uh Jim can you stop his time for a second uh where where where is this being where is this being held this particular event at the New Jersey Convention and Expo Center in
here in Edison correct okay all right continue please and I'm just get you know there's nothing it's please do something about it tell Joseph kuso to make those washrooms there's only one handicap washroom in a whole entire
entire place and if I decide to go outside to have a smoke I have to to get my I had to repay repay to get in the door I had to to use that handicap washroom and then come back in you know
come on I mean Jesus I mean something's got to be done about this and I went to the New Jersey disability rights the the public department you know building building people down to
the Edison Health Department I got someone that could couldn't speak English too well spoke the you know Hindu and and I couldn't understand them I mean come on and they did this person this lady didn't know didn't know butt from a hole
under the ground what I was talking about I mean it's a health issue one two this you know this has got to stop I mean come on I mean this is a violation of the Ada act the the attorney should know this am
I right I can't comment on your specific fact sir nor can I comment on what the convention center is doing I can I can tell you however that if you believe there's a violation of the Ada you have
the right to file that complaint I did and I have paperwork from the disability rights in New Jersey which you if you I will personally fax it to you that the the complaint that I have home in my filing
cabinet I mean come on you know they would you know come on this you know please do something about it and you know the Edison police department can make their ticket quarter in one month down there in in parking
violations I mean come on no no offense to the Edison police department I mean back to Blue but you know but thanks for letting me dump it out and you all have a good night now you here thank you or maybe some dumb country plow boy from M County but I know the
law okay council president this has come up can can we get the email to our attorney because I did talk to Lou about handicapping this depending on when it was built and yet there's a whole bunch of things with the law um and so we
don't I don't really know if they're in compliance like I could tell you they're not in compliance to today's standard and I don't know that if they applied for another permit they'd be required at that point to bring it up to to compliance but if we can get the email like over to the attorney with the
complaint originally maybe he can look into it councilman are you asking me to investigate for a private citizen whether their complaint has validity or not or are you asking me to act on behalf of the township of Edison which I
am Commission to do uh I wish you luck sir I will not be and cannot be your private attorney if you send it to the clerk's office I'll be happy to look at it and to the extent that the township can do anything I'm sure we'd be willing
to do something but I don't know when that building was built I don't know what the standards and regulations were at that time and uh frankly I don't think it's fair for you to ask me to
give a legal opinion based upon what we've heard tonight without any backup information so I'm happy to look at it but right the question wasn't for you to like sue them or anything like that it was to take a look at his complaint to see if there's validity for something
that the township should look into I'm not quite sure um that this is something you know that that we look into maybe we do look into it every year maybe the health department goes through and looks into it um but right if somebody could just look into what his complaint was
that he's filed my qu my question is is the Expo Center under the offices of the township oh aices of the township for what well terms in in terms of of enforcing viol
enforcing violations that have to do with the Expo Center Council president it's not that cut and dry um the they needed site plan approval I'm sure before they got built uh from your
planning board they needed construction approval from uh your construction offices and permits and inspections do we annually inspect them for compliance I can't answer that um if
there is an ADA violation that is not generally within the jurisdiction of the township that's my question there are state and federal agencies who enforce those
regulations we try to ensure when buildings are approved either through site plan or through construction that they meet the ADA requirements do we follow up after those permits are closed
out I would think not we don't have the enforcement on it okay thank you very much you're welcome thank you Vinnie I know uh Anthony was talking about the security here so uh we have I
think an officer over here and then we have an officer there one over there another one outside I I would love nothing more than to have maybe just one why do we need four I mean we're the this building is
attached to the police station so if if he called for backup they'd be here like this right just saying you know I don't think we need four officers in this Chambers I know an officer said something about well we've had threats like bombs and stuff well I mean four
officers isn't going to save you from a bomb that's that's for sure uh I want to talk about the importance of uh transparency and accountabil ility and the rights of the residents to know what's happening in their local government we have seen some
disturbing patterns emerging patterns that raise serious uh questions about leadership honesty and responsibility let's talk about Sonia we have reason to believe that she's actively seeking employment in other towns now that's her right but the
people of this town deserve to know why uh is it because she sees the writing on the wall is it because because she knows that the actions of the administration is too much for her to handle or is it simply uh is or is she's simply looking
to get out before things come crashing down whatever the reason the public has the right to know uh second we need to address the uh legal Maneuvers being used to block the Public's access to critical information there's an ongoing effort to prevent a
deposition with uh Mayor Sam Joi from coming to light um why is it being hidden if there's nothing to hide the residents of this town should not have to fight their own government for transparency they are promised the legal system should not be
used as a shield for those in power to avoid accountability and we the people are paying for it to be hidden how crazy is that by by their law firm with our money and speaking of accountability
let's talk about the mayor's trip to Chicago we need credit card invoices showing uh showing spending during that trip the question is what was the money spent on who approved it and most importantly was it to benefit the residents of this town or was it for
personal or political gain public funds belong to the people not to politicians who think they can use use it uh Freely without explanation we demand answers we already know He reimbursed the town $20,000 with but we
don't know for what for what we have no idea we we can't get any information out of the the uh Administration no documents on what officers were paid or the credit card statements finally let's bring back the
six minutes um it was taken away to silence the voices of the residents and that's not how this uh government should operate um the people of this town have the right to be heard and the 6 minutes is not much to ask the attempt to limit
public discussion is a direct attack on free speech and civil engagement and we won't stand for it um do we have any new information on the rape allegations against Mayor Sam Joi and um it's time to stop hiding and
it's time to start answering it's time for real leadership okay U Mr SC my name is scalo I work with L truth and um my contact information. scof photo.com and as always whenever people say racially insensitive remarks I like
to say I think uh the the individual sounded foolish but I'm glad Margot did not cut shut down the meeting or tell him to leave or anything like that you respected his free speech to say racially insensitive things so I appreciate that in places like
Woodbridge they would shut it they hate free speech over there they would they shut it down immediately you can't even directly criticize a politician you have it's ridiculous over there so actually Edison is has many advantages in terms of that um because when people can speak
freely it's like a pressure valve and it helps to solve problems so let's see first I I was first I like to uh we've had other uh Town attorneys here that were uh extremely well first this particular
Town attorney I tend to like so far first well third Impressions really and uh he's much better than previous Town attorneys there's one guy in particular who's extremely rude and he has these Hissy Fits and these temper tantrums and he can't handle basic communication
skills so and I think we all know that individual is so this particular gentleman is much better he's a little robotic but I I have rather have that than a tempered tantrum personally so thank you I [Laughter]
think anyway um so next next topic is um I'll address the uh Chicago trip the DNC when uh mayor uh who I call sleazy
Sam Joi was doing his uh Comic-Con style politician fantasy uh where he met all the big stars of political theater um obviously we as uh Vinnie addressed cost about $20,000 I believe for four uh police officers to
go which I don't really understand why obviously at first it was the taxpayer money then he reimbursed it but why would you waste your campaign money on four bodyguards why not three why not two most people have zero bodyguards and why would you just recklessly waste your
own money or campaign money I don't really understand that and um um uh was it uh Sam Jo's idea to pay back the township or did someone else have to tell him that that fact the fact that I have to wonder about that is a
problem and the reason why I am suspicious is because he thought he could hijack the tax paid attorney to hide the Glendale deposition video and even the transcript which is kind of crazy so um I don't even think think the
thought of Sam josi I don't think the thought entered his mind that he has to pay back uh pay back the taxpayer for this uh Glendale issue I mean I don't see why the deposition would be hidden from the from Sam josy's bosses which are the
taxpayers and um because what is is he what is he talking about I don't believe you have nuclear weapons here in Edison so I don't see why anything would be kept secret and last but not least I'm limited on time I want I wanted to speak about uh something involving joke coil's
comments last meeting he kind of uh lost his marbles and uh and he but I'm not to go wait for next time but separate ISS 30 seconds um he made a a comment similar to uh Christo's comment um
about I don't even know if can I know going to bother reading it but um wait for next it's basically the same exact comment that Christo was blamed for making a threat uh councilman Joe coell made the exact same comment the exact same concept behind it um but it was not considered a threat but I'll wait for
next meeting to get into that it's it's basically how if I'm out of time uh thank you for time thank you Mikey all right good evening Council uh Anonymous hopefully I don't need my gavel today that was
extremely um disturbing what happened last time uh just as a little recap for everybody that was the third time that I was cut off by councilman Cole after he guaranteed me that he wouldn't do it unfortunately he's not here today to interrupt me for the fourth time in a
row um but the the these kinds of violations I mean Edison has become notorious for stifling the First Amendment and um if we can just someone keeps track of the uh questions uh who is the Ada coordinator um did Richard
brusher ever get an answer on the hill that supposedly was compliant um also about the Constitutional lawyer did he ever get an answer on that I'd like to know um when I leave the meeting I see the uh and the Edison not trying to discourage or you
know throw shade on Edison police a lot of these guys are cool but the cars are running outside is there a certain amount of hours that they have to log on their um computer where they otherwise would be patrolling is that why they're
not patrolling as much because they're getting logged hours on vehicles that are running the whole time during the meeting um these are some issues um I really wanted to spend the whole whole minute four minutes addressing um Joe Coyle but he's not
here unfortunately um I have a Tor claim here that I would like to submit um along with some pictures to as a reminder of the flag band and when I even spoke I said I referred to the prop band as the flag band which is what he's
been saying the whole time I refer to it as a flag B I said those words and he jumped down in my throat violating my rights he made statements that he is going to do it every single time so he has expressed publicly a premeditation to continue to violate My First
Amendment rights when this has been an ongoing issue with Edison uh to correct and I agree with Scalzo I do like this attorney um unfortunately some of the things he says are incorrect um newspapers are private they're not
government websites Bronco versus Carterette says that these social media platforms are government public forums so so you're incorrect about that um you can't block comments on a Facebook page
Kelly yade from Hamilton she was sued $40,000 the township had to pay and they weren't even seeking punitive damages um it's just the principle about it can't disable comments can't block members of the public it's a a government official
page these social media platforms so um hopefully you can catch up to speed with that awareness because as a Township attorney especially coming from this Law Firm who has I believe actively done some of these things to create
litigation to get paid on the back end you know they're playing tug-of-war with people's rights and then they get paid on the Rope when they go to litigate it so um so I'd like to submit this tort claim um Joe Coyle has opened up the
township to new litigation new lawsuits and um and he slandered me he defamed my character he made statements saying that I was coming here putting me in a framework that I was in my comments were
designed to agitate the public and incite violence that slander that defamation and all I was doing was exercising my first Amendment right and I appreciate you Council uh council president Harris for protecting my rights when he called the point of order
the next words that came out of his mouth was he shouldn't be doing this the first amendment it's the first amendment for a reason it's protected for unfavorable things so I'd like to submit this to claim Mar you want to take that thank
you council president Council Brer I'm going to address the uh the two things that were directed at me um constitutional lawyer our attorney told me he doesn't uh know of anyone in particular um he
said he's the one that's supposed to give us that advice um and we did speak about it but he gave it to me an email format um I'm reaching out to I think it's over I'm I'm going to have to talk to a couple people as to where I heard
this or or seen it um but they had a constitutional lawyer is what I thought it was it was somebody that was directing them on theorum and and the whole type of thing um well yeah I I I don't know which town
it was but I'm going to try and find that constitutional lawyer recommend to this attorney that I'd like to speak to them and the only reason why is this body has struggled um over the last three and whatever years um since we got
the new mayor um with this and um I've spoke to my colleagues about it I've spoken in length about it you know it's um trying to stop the Constitution is a um is a hard thing to do um and and a lot of and
the way judges interpret it is even more perplexing um they decide on the facts that are given at the time irregardless of whether the second step is would actually then be a violation so that I'm
going to look into and I told her attorney I get him the name of of that attorney um the ramp in the Ada I I did talk to our attorney about it um they believe that it was uh grandfathered in uh except there was no
Ada when the building was built at the time but the building is required to have an ADA uh what it turns out to be is our ADA compliance is the walkway underneath and the elevator coming upstairs um I asked him why it was shut
down he said it was done through the um command of the police department which would be the Mayor Sam Joi he's technically is the head guy in charge uh Public Safety official um well that's by law
but so I I can only assume that he was the one that made the decision I don't think a patrolman made the decision to secure the building that day because they said that I said there were going to be thousands of people that are going to be here um I have to go through my
email and text um I believe I was asked you know how many people were coming and I probably said I don't know 20,000 you know I got no clue um I didn't call a thousand people didn't call 20 people
didn't call anybody um but irregardless of that you know it was shut down and whether that's that's the police chief or the public safety director who whoever made that you know recommendation I'm looking into this
because from what I see is that they still have to maintain ADA requirements okay so if they were going to shut off that opening you can't use that ramp for it and if that meant that they had to have the fire department here to uh
carry people up and down then that's a requirement that they would have to have okay they just can't close it off well bother me that night and um I would I would think the chief of staff and ba should look into this was
the we were locked outside and the officers when I asked you know I mean forget about them saying I brought everybody here so whoever that officer was to be honest with you I think he was nuts not to think it wasn't the flag B but it was me that brought everybody
here but I was told that the elevators didn't work and then I watched a construction worker come out of the elevators um somebody working on the fire alarm system was electrician of type right so so I know that the
elevators did work um I just didn't understand the premise of Public Safety of shutting off downstairs as opposed to locking this you know downstairs is pretty you're almost coralled in where you could only kind of go up you know to here um I'd like to get a reasoning as
to why they did that I believe the township attorney provided in terms of the public safety decision aspect of it um I can speak for myself I came down at about quarter to 7 I believe or quarter to when the meeting
started and I did indicate to the public safety folks to open the doors and let the public in being that there was a larger crowd and people are anticipating to come in due the weather so um I believe about 10 minutes before the start of the meeting people were then
brought in right no uh my my question was they locked off the downstairs anybody that's been into this building here you can come in this right over here right and you are right by Council chamber but if you're
downstairs um at the entrance there's only one way to go up and it's the staircase right there which is the same distance roughly to that the metal detector you know what I mean so there really is no difference um so I'm
I'm wondering how who in public safety the mayor the chief whoever who came up with the idea that we should close off downstairs that had the this Ada access as opposed to maybe close off these doors up here and funnel everybody in
downstairs again as the attorney indicated this was a public safety decision so I I I I would just refer to that I okay right and and I guess that's part of the stiming part here when we say Public Safety decision ultimately the mayor is
a public safety director correct councilman you know the you know the answer to that what would be the answer Council answer he's the public safety director then the public safety director did not allow ADA compliance and lock people out of this building to
Stand in the Rain that day so it's the mayor I guess that's where we went and thank you for taking months for us to get to the handicap compliance um to cover up for another one of the uh mayor's blunders here in
Edison and then he wonders why people come here and they voice their opinion thank you council president thank you anyone else from the public uh do we have an answer on who the Ada coordinator
is that's typically the engineer engineering department so that would be Brian [Music] picillo that's our current acting yeah Township engineer okay all right thank you I I don't I don't think I don't
think we are Liberty to be answering that question I don't think we're at Liberty to be answering that thank you all right Russ Russ azarello Skyler Drive Edison good evening council members uh I'm going to start off with
now I I didn't go to I remember the Evelyn Woods speed uh reading I didn't go to Evelyn wood speed talking so this six minutes to four is ridiculous it's already been acknowledged Edison is growing Edison is growing traffic crime
there's good there's bad you can't possibly expect somebody that that's not a professional speaker to get up here in front of everyone and speak whatever their concerns praise or complaints are in four minutes it's ridiculous and it's
shameful uh Public Safety should be Paramount to this Administration uh pertaining to traffic again accidents the Edison fire department the Edison police department are doing a great job phenomenal job last Saturday uh right on my block I say
My Block it's not but I live on Skyler Drive Route 27 in Hmart there's an accident every other day and this accident on this past Saturday the fire department were there they were uh blocking the traffic helping with
traffic in both directions until the until the uh two patrol cars came so Edison police I I wonder is does Edison fire and Edison police have the the proper Manpower with the growing concerns and and the growing problems
that Edison has I want to make sure that they have the ample uh a number of police and fire to do the job uh that we deserve and and respect you know that the Edison residents pay for and
deserve uh there's traff the traffic's horrendous the accidents horrendous three weeks ago I had a car a uh there was a two-car accident one car went into my fence at at my work location I I asked I don't know how many
times at these meetings that we do a traffic study New Jersey 101.5 news2 they've said that middle 6 county is now doing a traffic study on Route 1 Route 27 Route 18 route nine why
didn't we in iate that why didn't we speak them to the punch and I would like to entertain and invite all the council members including uh my South Edison neighbor councilman Shu that we uh do some type of uh
networking with with citizens and and get involved in this traffic study we know where the accidents are we live in Edison we work in Edison we live in South Edison I don't know half the time I'm calling 91 one I'm helping I'm assisting before the police get there I'm already
there you know uh let's get involved and know what's going on and have the answers and help with middle sex County to make sure that they they don't live here they don't know what's going on we could help them you know let's get some type of uh uh a panel
with with citizens concern concerned citizens that that live in that area that maybe could could be of uh some positive input um next little nixel alert I think that's a great idea we should see about getting that up uh you know upgraded and
let people know in Edison there's a traffic accident Route 27 so you can avoid that that accident and the traffic if there's a a Breakin you know you know keep then people in that neighborhood could keep their eyes and ears open uh
also go back to Six Minutes update is what's the update cost and dates of completion for the tote building on idle Road to the Stelton Community Center to the sports facility on Central Avenue to this what's going on with the
seniors of the veterans monument and the beautification um is there a new qualified DPW at hand um okay thank you re thank you um just want I just want to
respond to the fact that I'm I'm still trying to find find someone to head up the resident advisory committee which would include things such as your concerns about South Edis we would have representatives from South Clara and north and so I'm just trying to find out
who I can get on councel to lead that to lead that subcomittee um um there was a question this would be for you captain and uh and chief about uh is there enough man and woman power in your departments for these car accidents
which require uh your services yes so um in terms of the accidents listen the accidents we have day shift afternoon and midnight squads accidents happen when they happen however many officers are needed to support for the actual accident report
for traffic uh support in the area that's who we deploy to those scenes um when the accidents happened I can't speak to if we have officers several officers tied up on other investigations or jobs or assignments um so to say that we don't have enough at a specific time is really is really difficult to to
determine I'm not really sure what you're asking for all year round day by day I'm not I'm not really sure what the question is okay all right um and uh Russ you asked about the completion
for to the sports uh seniors vets Monument um that's a lot right there right and so I wonder if we can I wonder can you give just a brief update on that Sonia on those to sports seniors
and vets Monument council president if you could just provide that list I will gladly email you in detail exactly what the updates are okay all right thank you very much thanks R uh anyone else from the public all right motion close public
sorry oh wait AJ were were you up here already for uh you weren't okay come on up I was here for the the ordinance and the resolution but I have no chance to
speak medicon New Jersey do I have the floor council president you do have a floor thank you very much and the clock begins lovely uh for starters I would like to have the six minutes to go back for for real like I feel like people should have more time to speak and have
more continued dialogue now um this also brought to my attention I guess we we all know about the home invasions that happened recently and I just seen on the news that they just arrested uh the two suspects were in connection into it so
uh Captain uh please tell the chief I my congratulations for the chair to the captain of the police depart um to the chair to Captain right okay um um second of all with this you know I'm glad that this bill was
introduced because it ISS in article you know the bill got was was introduced and it got passed because of you know we've been seeing a lot of crime in Edison and it it's sad it's really sad me I you know it's sad for me talking about it I
just really don't understand the people who want to just commit crimes and please stop this is not the this is not the town you do not want to mess with okay you're lucky that the homeowner didn't didn't just blast the person right on site I know in Texas I just
seen a video if you're a truck driver and you're staying at the truck driver stops you get the green light if anyone tries to open up your one of your uh truck doors and stuff they can just blast you right on site you know I people just need to stop messing with their Edison residents and speaking
about home invasions it's kind of funny because this happened what on March 2nd and then I'm let me pull up my calendar for a second this just happened not that long ago and then you guys got the guy uh yesterday if I'm not if I'm corrected on
that now where's my calendar last Thursday uh on March 6 uh speaking about break-ins we had a celebrity got broken into and then the
next day she had to fly out to Los Angeles to uh Georgia the state of Georgia her name is Danielle boli known as cash me outside bad baby the reason why I'm mentioning this is because she just you
know I feel like these home invasions are happening not just here in Edison but everywhere every second it just concerns me Nationwide that people need to stop doing this you know know I would like to get the statistics of how like
every hour minute second day of you know even BR Mr BR you said something about statistics about crimes like this I would like to see that especially in New Jersey because this is very concerning so going into bad baby I'm
going to say something um I am featured on her new song called OG crash out it is correct I am the first you can say in this Township on a 11 second
introduction track of my voice and I don't don't want to say the words because try to keep a g try to keep it professional but you know the words uh keeping just don't say it you know cuz bad baby's gonna do what bad baby's
gonna do and there's nothing you're gonna do about it she's gonna keep winning this Township's going to keep winning I want to bring this girl here in Edison if we can make that happen I need everyone to please stream that song OG crash yaow and please add me on
Instagram team Benz 17 t e a m b NZ 17 thank you and let's go Edison thanks AJ Okay anyone else all right motion to close the public council president before we close oral petition I just I want to recognize
the passing of uh Harold gaffy of Harold oh go ahead please it was your idea come on up Andy come come on up chief chief to I uh asked him I didn't know if he was in a do or not but uh Harold jaffy owned Harold's Deli in
Edison and countless Township employees citizens whether we had fires Harold would call his Communications through the township and always put his foot forward to help us whether it was in a time of death happiness he did fundraisers for the town I believe he
got the key to the city back in 1998 or something like that and Harold was uh I think he was a a veteran he was a marine boxer he was part owner of the Carnegie Deli he opened like 40s something delies but uh he was a mentor to me for years
and a lot of other people between police fire health and the township the different administrations I just just wanted it to go on record that Harold will be missed by the township sorry for interrupting you thank you chief his iconic Deli just to add on to what the chief
said his his iconic Deli put Edison on the map incredible Place wherever I go and I S for medicine people ask me if I've been to Harold's Deli unfortunately it's not glad kosher but uh but he will be missed thank you very much okay um
motion to close public portion motion close second thank you very much um all right um we are going to be going into Clos session uh regarding litigation clerk could you read the closed session resolution into
record where is article six of the open public me I provide to the public May hold a Clos session and where the township Council during this meeting enter into discussion for the following matters litigation to be discussed in the Clos session or remain restrictive confidence by all council members in the fiduciary releas duties to the township
now for we resolved discussions discussed at this meeting will be released to the public when reasons for discussing acting upon them no longer exist I got a motion to go into close session motion to go into close session second okay very good uh and this uh
this for the public part would conclude the public part um we will we will be in for a while as a matter of fact do we need to have a a motion to go past 10:00 for for a closed
session do do we know do we need to do we need to extend past not for me okay all right okay very good all right thank you everybody