your socks. >> Good evening. I'd like to call the planning board reorganization meeting this evening. Can we all please stand for the pledge of 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. Notice of this meeting has been given as required by the open public meetings act in the annual notice of meetings. A copy was posted on the township website. Notice of this meeting was sent to South Jersey Times and the Sentinel and a copy
was posted at the town Franklin Township Municipal Building. At this time, I'll take roll call. Mr. Keane, >> Mr. Brandt >> here. >> Mr. Figerella >> here. >> Mr. Clark. >> Yes. >> Mr. Pesh >> here.
>> Mr. Mady >> here. >> Mr. Suede >> here. >> Mr. Kelly >> here. >> Mr. Travalleon >> here. >> Mr. Ransen >> here. >> Mr. Cahoot. Um, I would ask Mr. Isus to come up and
do an oath of office for the reappointed and new members. Please. They'll just stand here again. >> Yep. Repeat after. >> I state your name. I, Joseph J. >> do solemnly swear >> doly swearly swear
>> that I will faithfully and partially >> that I will faithfully andly >> and justly perform all duties >> and justly perform all duties >> as a member of the township of Franklin planning board to the best of my ability. As a member of the Franklin
plan to the best of my ability, >> I do solemnly swear I do that I will support the Constitution >> that I will support the Constitution >> of the United States of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey >> of the Constitution of the State of New Jersey >> and that I will bear true faith
>> that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the government established >> and to the government established in the United States >> in the United States and in this state in this under the authority of the people. So help me God.
>> God, >> at this time I would like to ask for nominations for planning board chairman. >> I make a motion uh for Joe Bairman. >> I'll second that nomination. >> And do we have any other nominations? I
move that nominations be closed. >> Second. >> Was that Kelly? >> Kelly. >> Kelly. >> Okay. And I will do a roll call. All in favor of Mr. Pesh as board chairman. Mr. Brandt. >> Yes.
>> Mr. Fierella. >> Yes. >> Mr. Clark. >> Yes. >> Chairman Pesh. >> Yes. >> Mr. Pesh. >> Mr. Mady. >> Yes. >> Mr. Suede. >> Yes. Mr. Kelly, >> yes. >> Mr. Travalone, >> yes.
>> Mr. Ransen, >> yes. >> Congratulations, chair. Chairman P. >> I didn't realize that was my queue. >> All yours. >> Okay. First off, I would like to thank the board for uh the privilege to
continue as chair. Uh hopefully we have a uh very successful and uh progress this year. At this time, uh I'd like to entertain a motion for solicitor. >> I would like to make a motion for Dasty and Stiger.
>> All right. I have a motion. Is there a second? >> I'll second. >> I have a motion in a second. Roll call vote, please. >> Hang on a second. Before we um we take a vote, I I have a couple of questions on the solicitor selection. Um >> when did we find out that uh Jackie was
no longer going to be the solicitor? >> I personally uh I don't know when you say when we found out >> when was it resolved that she was no longer going to be the the solicitor for 2026. My knowledge would have been I had
knowledge of it when she was appointed at reorganization to the township solicitor. She obviously she would be conflicted. She can't serve in both spots. So that day of the reorg I was aware of it at that point in time. >> Okay. So So then when did we send out
the RFPs for a replacement? >> I don't know that. Jen Barbara handles all the RFPs and there Excuse me. Sorry about that. I uh uh barber handles all the the clerk handles all all the art. I can get you that information. I don't
know when and I believe I heard that there were they were sent out twice. So, uh I don't have an answer to your question. Certainly get that for you. >> Two was two rounds. >> One during early December normally.
>> Yeah. Yeah. I don't I don't know the specific >> the reason I I'm expressing some concern or just and it may not it may not be founded on anything other than I haven't had enough time to do my own homework my own due diligence on the solicitor
that's being nominated and I'm not I'm not slighting that firm or you sir at all. I just you know I come from a background of doing due diligence and pretty thorough due diligence. I did it in my job for over 40 years and I feel that it's um my obligation to do a good
job to do that type of due diligence and um I was able to do some uh some background uh information, get some background information, not a lot. I was looking for a peer review, couldn't find a peer review. Do you have a current peer review >> in regards to >> your law the law firm?
>> Yeah, go ahead. And I get the due diligence part obviously triple check everything. What do you mean by by peer review? Well, as far as >> I'm sure you know law firms much like accounting firms go through a peer
review process. So you're you're reviewed by other firms. They give their opinions on professionalism, your accomplishments, any shortcomings. It's it's an evaluation of the firm independent. aware of any type of peer reviews that occur for just law firms in
general from other law firms. Usually, it's it's more just, you know, your typical Google review or any recommendations that you get from the website or any kind of uh Yelp pages, so to speak. Uh no type of peer review, but what I can tell you is that we do
represent a lot of boards across the state of New Jersey, a lot of zoning boards, a lot of planning boards. Uh I do represent Elk Township as well. uh as a zoning board and plan solicitor there as well as Tom River Township. >> Okay. And just again, you know, that
that I I have a hard time understanding how a firm from 50 miles away can be the firm that we may choose. Um there's got to be plenty of firms in Camden County, Gloucester County, Cumberland County, somewhere closer. I
just don't understand why a firm 50 miles away would be interested. Um, and in some of the background checks that I did, um, not background checks, but some of the information that I found out about your firm, uh, and who some of the cases that you've worked on regarding Wall Township, um, have involved some of
the developers that want to come in and make and do some massive projects in this township. Um, and you've been successful and maybe not so successful in fighting some of those in Wall Township. So, um I just, you know, I'm curious as to why you're interested to
travel 50 miles to represent Franklin Township >> as far as my firm. >> Yeah. Well, I can tell you that part of the process is a little bit above my pay grade when it comes to I'm not the managing partner of my firm, of
course, uh but I do uh work with the managing partner very closely. We interchange uh who goes to which board and which zoning board. We we do arrive at him and I are the ones that do the zoning and planning work in our firm specifically. So while he did the RFP
and the RFP process, I can tell you that we go all over the state. It's not just, you know, locally sourced that we are operating in. Do we have stuff in Ocean County that we represent? We represent a lot, but we also go come out to Glouester County. We go to Old Bridge.
We go to New Brunswick. We do a lot of stuff in a variety of counties throughout New Jersey. It's just part of the job, part of the trade that uh we as uh public entity attorneys have to do. We have to drive out to some municipalities that are far away. That's just part of the game.
>> And who pays for that travel time? Is that part of your billing? >> Uh no, that is actually just my expense and the firm's expense. Okay. >> All right. Thank you. That's all my questions. >> With that, I have a motion and a second on the floor. Roll call vote, please. >> Mr. >> Yes.
>> Mr. Clark. >> Yes. Mr. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> No. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Yes.
>> Yes. Motion carries. At this time, I entertain a motion uh or nomination, I'm sorry, for vice chair. >> Nominate uh Ralph Tra for vice chair. >> I'll second that. of a nomination. Second for Ralph for vice chair. Roll
call vote, please. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes.
>> Yes. >> Yes. Motion carries. Uh next will be the nomination for board secretary. And let it be noted that the secretary who used to bring candy to the mayor has not brought me any candy tonight. Uh if you
want to take that. Oh, never mind. I got the candy. Okay. So now I'll entertain a motion for board secretary. >> You nominate Christina. >> Nomination. Is there a second? >> Second. >> All right. Roll call, please. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Clark. >> Yes.
>> Mr. >> Yes. >> Mr. Kelly. >> Yes. >> Yes. Mr. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> All right. Now, I'll now entertain a
motion for engineer uh services and acknowledge that the uh um the township committee has already appointed the u planner. Uh the planner is the planner itself is appointed by
the township committee and that's already been done. I'll entertain a motion for uh engineer. >> I make a motion for Bryson and >> I have a nomination and um I have a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Move and second. Roll call vote, please.
>> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. Mr. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Next will be a nomination uh for a
official depository. >> Newfield bank to nominate. >> Nomination for Newfield Bank. >> Move and seconded. Roll call please. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Yes.
>> Yes. >> Mr. Kelly. >> Yes. >> Mr. Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. Next, we motion to approve the calendar. Uh that calendar was provided in a
Dropbox. >> I make a motion. >> Yes. I make a motion to approve the dates. >> Yep. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> And the last uh appointment would be for the official newspaper. And before we do
that, can we have a a bit of a discussion uh with that nomination, the uh legal ad requirements changed in the month of March to no longer have to advertise in the local paper to put it on the web page, which gets a much larger
broadcast. So I think the individual making the motion if they would consider approving both the newspaper to get us through the month of March and moving forward to use the uh website for legal ad. What am I missing?
>> So yes, March 1st the website is for our publication, >> right? >> Yeah. Yes. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Our our Yeah. our piece of it. Yeah. >> Yeah. It does not exc uh it does not uh
Brandon go ahead. >> March 1st. >> Okay. And I think the simple way to the simple way to do that is to follow the state statute on legal advertising moving forward and recognizing the fact that we would be uh able to use the website for our advertisement. Is there
a motion for the u official uh newspaper and legal ads Christina? Uh it was South Jersey Times and >> yes do the same and recognize the state statue for the website. I'll make that motion that we use the same as last year
and uh the statute of your state website. >> Okay. Is there a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I I >> Okay. All right. Moving forward. Uh there's no resolutions tonight. Uh
there's no I'm sorry, there's no applications this evening. Um application 250 has been adjourned until February 17th. >> That's what confused me when I was saying there there was no application.
I'm looking at one here. So that that has been moved to the uh February meeting. That application okay >> I'm going to ask our new solicitor a question. I'm confused when I hear this word adjourn. Typically it's a word we hear at the end of a meeting. Please describe the word adjourn in reference
to this application. the application to >> okay I got the journey on car >> so the applicant will reappear in February
>> that's correct notice notice tomorrow is already effective so anybody that has noticed would have been here today if they want to participate so an announcement is your participation And we're we're it's not the applicant's fault. We're the one actually carrying
it because an engineer hadn't been report uh an engineer hadn't been appointed until this evening. So it would not allow him the opportunity to review the application. So we asked to move it to the following month or solicitor >> or solicitor.
>> Or solicitor. Yeah. Or solicitor. Correct. So moving forward to avoid that situation in the future, would it be appropriate to not schedule any presentations or meetings for January? >> So like in the case of the zoning board, it just so happened that they
reappointed the same professional, so they were able to hear. But in our case, since we're changing professionals caused this, >> okay, >> what do you need a motion on that, Jeff? >> Uh, no. No, because it's already been carried. >> Okay. And there's no no additional uh
notice requirement. So anybody in the public that's here for that application, >> right? >> So no additional cost to the applicant. >> No. No. >> Okay. Uh back to you, Chris. Communications. >> All right. Correspondence.
Same. All right. The uh I need a motion to approve the minutes of December the 16th, 2025. >> Motion to approve. >> I'll second that. >> Move and second. All in favor? >> I I got a couple exceptions down there.
>> Okay, >> Brandon to you. Your first night. Any need for a close session? All right, that that's a good thing. Um, with that, we we move into uh comments. Excuse me.
Um just recently on social media I saw some conceptual plans that are out there for the public for the board and for the public. There is no application filed with the planning board office for any
uh conceptual plans on the affordable housing. Uh I don't know if it'll ever come to the planning board or if that's uh above our pay grade and dealt with at the township committee level. It may come someday, but there is no application at this time. I would
caution all uh our board members to be extremely careful in what you say and uh on public uh in the public forum uh because obviously it's a gig it's an earthshattering project the size of the
that's out there if it ever becomes reality uh and uh we just need to do our due diligence. I I will to the board uh we will we'll be to I will be totally transparent and to the same to the
public uh you know if it comes as an application it's going to be handled at no different than a lot line adjustment that uh we'll do our due diligence and and we'll handle it in a professional manner and I just you know like I say I
just caution not to make public comments out there without having the facts uh and you know the myself I'll be totally transparent. So the answer uh tonight is that there is no application.
Uh there's nothing to talk about. All right. I turn to the board uh for comments. John, you good down there? >> I'm good. >> You're good, Jimmy? >> Well, I mean just to add on to that, I mean that was part of my concern for making the comments that I made. I mean,
this is going to hit one of our boards. May not be this one. maybe zoning, maybe who knows, but it's going to hit this township. There's over 4,000 units that are on these overlay plans. And I want to make sure that, you know, we're armed with the best legal representation that we possibly can. And that was really the
reason for my comments and I meant no disrespect. Uh I'm just used to doing a lot of due diligence and, you know, don't really decide on things until I'm really comfortable with it. So, um, anyway, that those were the those are my thoughts. And again, we want to make sure it's not going to be an easy fight.
It's going to be hard. And, you know, we're going to we're going to have to give in probably on some things that the state makes us give in on, but I want to make sure that we fight the hardest that we possibly can fight and and and protect our our the rural character of this township and the residents of this
township. >> Thanks, Jason. >> Uh, no comment. >> No comment, Ralph. >> Ralph. No comment from Ralph. Oh, man. >> All right. >> Joey or >> or or Jason? >> Yeah. Mark, Steve.
>> Uh, just thanks for having me aboard. This is my first year on the planning board. Um, off of what, uh, Mr. Kelly was saying, um, not just for the solicitor, but also, um, for the engineer I I've had the pleasure of talking to at our reorg. Um, any
decision that you guys make, I think the number one thing in the back of your head should be, and again, this is just speaking for me. I I know some people on the board, I've just met some of them for the first time tonight. Is this going to affect the rural character of our town? If the answer to that is yes, um, you really need to run it past
everyone. Um, because that's why I ran for office was to keep this town as rural as possible. Um, there were some issues with previous people about stormwater ordinances and we're not Williamstown, we're not Washington Township. We don't want to be either of
those. Um, so just please that for me that should be your number one driving force. So, welcome aboard. >> Thanks, Mark. >> Thank you. >> Good, Steve? No, >> I'm good. >> Good. Will you travel till next? I'm >> done traveling. >> You done traveling? Okay. With that
said, uh, I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> Motion to adjurnn. >> Second. >> Move. Second. All in favor? >> I. >> All right. Thank you very much.