flag of the United States of America stand nais andice all meting please to the open public meetings act adequate notice of this meeting was forwarded to the official Township newsp papers posted on the bulleon board and Township website on January 4th 2024 roll call Mr fella here Mr K here Mr Mar here may here uh we'll start resolution 3424 poting Scott crra the position of Corporal in the Franklin Township Police Department motion R 34- 24 second Mr P yes Mr Keem yes Mr Marsh yes mayor BR yes okay ready Scott you want to come up with your family okay on all right I want to welcome everyone tonight for a very uh special occasion uh officer krauss's promotion to Corporal I have a short biography on Scott Scott is the lifelong resident of Frankl Township in 2011 graduate of delce Regional High School Scott continued his education at Stockon University and graduated in 2015 with a bachelor's degree in forensic forensic psychology after graduating college Scott was hired by the Stone Harbor Police Department in May of 2015 after completing the summer Scott was hired by the Franklin Township Police Department in October of 2015 as a S2 s 2 officer and then hired full-time in October of 2016 Scott is also a member of the malago Volunteer Fire Company where it currently holds the rank of Battalion Chief and diver during his time with the police department Scott has assisted in many investigations many investigations and community events such as National Night Out police youth week and one of the most rewarding events holiday with a hero Scott was also awarded with the 2023 Matthew mclusky compassion award in his free time Scott enjoy spending time with his wife Maria and their two children Carter and Jackson all [Music] right hi your name hi Scott wholy swear you sol swear that I will Faithfully that I will faithfully and partially and partially and justly perform and justly perform all the duties of Corporal all the duties of and the Franklin Police Department the Franklin Police to the best of my building to the best of my building I do Solly swear I do Sol right I will support the Constitution that I will support the con of the United States of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and I will bear true faith and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and allegiance to the same and to the governments established and to the government establish in the united states in the United States and in the state and in the state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people so help me gu [Applause] good job we're going to put pause for five or 10 minutes yes uh can I get a motion n you know what Matt come on up for your uh report sure he has to go somewhere all right mayor and Council uh I prepared a report tonight um uh I'm sure everyone got it but I sent out my year- end report um for your review um it's also online um for everyone to review just to give the public a little idea of um what we handled as far as calls for service in 2023 we handled 53,486 motor vehicle crashes which was a 1% decrease from 2022 5 fatal motor vehicle crashes we conducted 2,078 motor vehicle stops which was a 34 % increase from the year before and we wrote 16726 tickets which was a 49% increase from the year before with that being said we increased our DWI arrests by 32% uh which was 76 arrests and we made 1,6 overall arrests which was a 29% increase from 2022 um our data as far as crime St statistics go overall overall crime reported to the Uniform Crime Report uh we actually reduced crime Prime within the township by 7% um so that that's huge and that um really focuses on our mission of high visibility and really being out there in the public and and being visible um one other thing that I do want to report on um we did have a high increase in crashes at main road and wouth road I know we've had some residents come in and complain uh about that intersection um we spoke to the County engineer and we were actually able to get rumble strips on Waymouth Road on both directions leading up to Maine and I spoke to the County engineer um last week and it looks pretty promising that we're going to be making that intersection a four-way stop yeah so that that'll actually be huge uh if we can make that a four-way stop that'll cut down on accidents drastically out there on Main Road and that's all I have mayor all right any questions can you stick around for an hour I got talk to you yeah sure yeah good to go all right thank you appreciate it can I get a motion to open the first publiction for resolution motion open public second all in favor Dave Marshall 67 New Road Malaga uh just the first ones are just a couple questions in re res in reference to resolution 3824 and 3924 only because I didn't see them anywhere and it's could be I just was looking at the wrong places where were those job postings posted at or where do they normally get posted at Facebook and the website okay we don't do anything with any local papers anything that way or indeed I'm just curious just to see you know to reach out for other areas same thing always website and on Facebook and it indeed picks up off our website sometimes okay and Facebook is through the township Facebook page corre it doesn't get put through any other Affiliated ones you know that have Franklin of name in them well if anybody picks them up yeah and then they can share them okay okay uh any chance that could go out like you know how we have the notifications you know that you sign up for anyway it could go out to the people that are on the for notifications because that way then it could be easier to share I can I can ask the the website lady I mean I assume when she puts something up like that with the RFP that goes out as a notification I I'll check with her yeah just see I don't know how hard it is but I mean it may help spread that word a little bit to get some different people and then I just have and this again maybe because of my ignorance of not being involved in that side but I just and this is not the pick on any one individual I just have some question in reference to the where our salaries are uh for certain positions as opposed to other towns uh some of them are almost 100% higher for the same comparable position through other towns uh and again it's not to pick on anybody and I know it's going to come out that way but it's not meant that way but uh one of course Mr fing I apologize it's not picking on you as the administrator position is there and I'm not saying it's not justified I'm just looking for some clarification on why we're at that rate you know for the taxpayer standpoint why I mean and I'm just like we're we're almost 40% higher than vinin with 61,000 residents for the same position you know for that same exact title so I'm just wondering you know and this I'm now Clayton we're we're more than 100% what there is now they're a smaller town but they have more I actually believe Mr Dickson makes about $50,000 more than I do okay well they post a lot less than that then at least what they have on their website is a fraction of ours I used to work there I can tell probably Clos to 200,000 then that's something that'll I'm sure their residents I'll have to take up with them because I'm just going to BU what they just posted on their website you know through their Township meeting uh you know just as ours just did for this one and it's a fraction so I'm I'm again I'm just how do we get to these points you know where how do we come up with that figure uh we're just basically add 2% to these rates to what they've been cover incre right over the years more than 2% considering within that range okay uh you just curious and it's just it goes down through different spots you know I mean that's the that one the and again we have you know some of the clerk positions are are a lot higher and even salaries of our committee are a lot higher here than surrounding tals and I know which they're nothing they're not high but they're most of them are double what they are at other towns but I'm just so I'm just I just like to like I said from must be working they may be but from somebody that's managed a lot of business we always have ways of of checks and balances where we come up with it and return on investments and I'm just curious where the numbers come from I don't know how long that salary right and it's been that way for years from what I've seen most them they're very slight you know for the the committee positions but I'm just was just looking for some clarification of it's gets voted on I just want to know if you knew where it came from the top ends of this year based on all the cvas that we have that all run through 25 the top end of anybody covered by a collective bargaining agreement are on the top end of that right now so DPW all the the clerical workers all of them the top end salary is where some of the senior people yeah they've been here so long right that's they'll be right and I understand I mean you you're next year salary be very minimal adjustments cuz I tried to adjust this year because of the way this meeting end we've already started paying them out of January 1st so right and everybody deserves a fair and decent wage I'm not trying to take away from that I just want to make sure we're being fiscally responsible for the residents thank you made a motion to close motion close second all favor I motion to approve correspondence and reports motion to approve correspondence and reports second all in favor I motion to approve the minutes from December 26 2023 and January 1st of 2024 motion to approve the minutes second all in favor I a motion to approve the bill list motion to approve Bill list second Mr P yes Mr Kean yes Mr Mar yes may yes I a motion to approve ra a license for 2024 the um handling andic motion approve those license second all in favor I I resolution uh 3524 authorizing the Council of Franco administrator to enter into a memorandum agreement and agend them to the colletive baring agreement PDA 122 motion for R 3524 second Mr Feen yes Mr Kean yes Mr Marsh yes may bro yes resolution 3624 all solic soliciting of PID proposals for Green Acres development project o5- 17046 common known as Hollow motion for R 3624 second Mr yes Mr ke yes Mr Mar yes may yes any motion for resolution 3724 all May to sign the gler Sal Carland County Municipal joint Insurance Fund safety contract motion for R 3724 second Mr fella yes Mr Keem yes Mr Marsh yes may resolution 3824 appointing Eugene Sheran to housing inspector for Franklin Township motion R 3824 second Mr P yes Mr ke yes Mr Marsh yes may yes Mrs is the Le inspector thing new state thing he do yeah he's going to he starts streaming with the DCA on Thursday that's required by the state yes sir as of January 1st uh last one resolution 3924 appointing Angela Kos as Administrative Assistant the township administrative offices motion R 3924 second Mr P yes Mr Keem yes Mr Mar yes yes can I get a motion uh to introduce ordinance 0124 establishing the salaries and wages of Municipal officials and employees of the Council of Franklin County of gler and the state of New Jersey motion hearing will be on February 13 2024 for12 second Mr pero yes Mr ke yes Mr Mar yes yes a motion open the second public comments motion public second all in favor I good evening Barbara Halper and hardik Highway uh thank you for moving on the grant project for pining Hollow preservation area do we have any timetable on when we're going to start advertising for those bids now this is done I'll talk to CMA and we'll get it out so we can have bids probably in end of February beginning of March okay so you've done some cost cutting you were talking about U making the boardwalk less expensive than what was designed so in talking to CME we also talked to Green Acres they want us to put the project out and you know specify that we want you know broken down and we once we get the bids in if we're over bid we can break it into phases and we can also add in the things that Brian and DPW believes we can do or like the eagle scout to build some of the the benches and stuff like that so we're putting it out as it's been drawn see where the bids come in and then we can alter it and make it it a multiphase project or whatever spend everything we have but as it is we're putting out Soup To Nuts right now as drawn okay including the cleanup or okay we're going to do some in-house cleanup or we're going abely I mean it makes the most sense okay well that's great um talking about the Eagle Scout project I was wondering if the Eagle Scouts would be willing to share actual plans for the benches that they made like the ones in Malaga because I'm sure there's a lot of talented Woodworkers in town that might volunteer to make benches as well as having the Eagle Scouts make some well we can talk I mean that young gentleman that was here I believe u his mom said she DED me coming back to me sometime in 2024 early cuz he has he had to get approval from us for the Pro project then I had to go before his Council then he actually has to start fundraising and getting the whole plan in place and then he'll come back to us with what he's going to produce and put out there so as soon as he does I'll get a copy and I'll forward it on to you and the environmental commission and everybody app so we can look at it yeah CU we may be able to get the public to participate not just in bench making if there was a plan that would be something easy people could do it home and then bring the bench to public works or wherever to have it installed wherever you tell them to um you know there may be other projects that people would volunteer to help with you know as long as it's within the insurance and ability of the township to accept that help if we did something like that we could just get a one day Rider or something like that so yeah things like maybe the um kiosk I guess it's called or whatever that the welcome area the welcome yeah the structure with maps or whatever or relevant information might get some help with that process too you know St departments in the township and all that yeah and you know I know there are some people that would also help with the um signage there's going to be interpretive signage and um I think Joe Arsenal wanted to help with that so yeah there's a lot of public people that will help reduce your costs and would be they'd love to help thank you good evening good evening Nancy Kennedy 7-Eleven St George Street I did not have the opportunity to attend the first meeting this year so I did have a chance during our snowy weather to review the boards and the appointments that were made to the various boards so Mr Mayor I just wanted to ask who made the decision about who would serve on the various boards well I'm sorry did you well did how did you do that don't in a meeting or individually individually you talk to everyone and you went over each person who was going to be appointed to the boards probably not Mark probably okay well I I'm going to take a little bit of my time to tell you all a story and it's a story that really does not reflect badly on Mr Keane Mr fella or Mr Marsh at least the beginning of the story because they were nowhere near Township committee when it began I have a very good friend he's not politically active he has farmed for most of his life his family has farmed for most of their lives he's a great guy one of the nicest least controversial people you'll ever meet I would be shocked if you ever came to a meeting he was on the agricultural board when Mr Doyle took a seat on Township committee he was removed from the agricultural board my belief is because he had had the temerity not to support Mr Doyle and his bid to be chair of the Agricultural Committee in his place Michelle Doyle was appointed to the board now I didn't really raise a fuss even though you would think well gee that seems a little weird the guys on Township committee and his wife was put on guess what from everything I've heard Michelle Doyle is a really smart good person don't know her I've never met her I've never had a conversation with the woman but you know why not why shouldn't she be on the board right well that's a heck of a question gentlemen why shouldn't she'd be on the board cuz this year the four of you took her off now there's one difference one key difference I can see between when she was appointed before and now because she's still the same Michelle Doyle still the same bright Class Act smart person heck Tim told us all the businesses that we've all heard are so amazingly successful and I believe that are Michelle's businesses which means she does a bang up job she knows a lot about farming she knows a lot about landscaping and there is no reason why when Jake talked to each of you individually somebody shouldn't have said hey why are we taking a woman off the agricultural committee who my source tells me was the chair and replacing her with a man and leaving an open spot there's an alternate spot that was left open n no rocket scientist could barely pass high school math but I'll tell you what the big difference I see is that when Tim was sworn in the last time the real pretty classy lady holding that Bible was Michelle Doyle and when he was sworn in this time boy it wasn't so one of the few people in fact I'd say one of the only people who was removed without against their will against their wishes I'm guessing from aboard is the person who's no longer going to be married to Tim and if you wonder why myself my mother my father my best friend my law partner the marsh and others continue to come to these meetings it's because of how that looks it's because of how that feels to be a resident of this Township to have people sitting in power using that power not to take care of the residents not to lower the taxes could God knows you haven't managed to do that and I know that doesn't apply to all of you but to instead Target the soon to be ex-wife of a sitting Township committeeman not to talk about Mr D Mrs d personal that's great I didn't ask you a thing Jake all I said was you probably shouldn't talk about well you know what Jake it's it's pretty clear from who swarm in that they're no longer together and it's pretty clear that you took her off I took off well you just said you all made the decision so there was an alternate position open you left it open and you removed her she's qualified good person still lives in the town and she was targeted now maybe Michelle will reach out to me maybe she'll say hey lady leave me out of these meetings and if that's the case I apologize but you know what as a woman as somebody who lives in this town is somebody who pays taxes and somebody who trusts all of you not to do the bidding of somebody who is quite frankly if this is accurate disgusting watch what he does gentlemen because most of you are great people who should not be tarred with the brush of that individual thank you hey Mr Mayor Harry Kennedy 1578 Fries Mill Road good evening uh first thing happy new year best of luck this year I hope you all have a great year and do the right thing for the township and uh I trust that the majority of you will and I certainly have that hope and I just wanted to say that uh Dave Marshall I want you to know that I disagree with you I absolutely disagree with you $4,000 is a pittance to sit up there on that Township committee and 6,000 is a pittance to sit up there as the mayor it's I know 4,000 for the committee maybe next year you'll get the raise to six Mike but four four for the township committee six for the mayor you yeah you you uh you guys it's uh it's enough work to certainly justify that uh it's uh it's it's a job that requires uh a thick skin and the ability to discern what's right I just have you know I as we get up here in the following weeks once in a while I'm going to talk about the demographics because it excites me and the great thing about Franklin Township is that a Democrats as likely to be elected in Franklin Township I'm sorry to say or happy to say since I voted a straight Republican ticket with the exception of one person but they're as likely to be elected in Franklin Township as a republican is to be elected in Camden that's just the way things are nowadays things have changed as Mike is very well aware used to be a very competitive town it's not anymore the fights will be fought in Republican primaries as we go on but the point that I wanted to make is one that even the safest politician in the history of the world like Bob Menendez no Republican senator in New Jersey has been elected since 197 to Bob Menendez is about to lose his very safe Democrat United States Senate seat because of his greed and greed is something that all of us should avoid and I believe the vast majority of you up there do avoid it and I'm just going to give one word tonight and that's the difference between rationalization and reason rationalization reason uh last year uh you guys had a reorganization meeting I went back and listened I know I'm old and I have lots of time I went back and listened to the tape of the meeting after the reorganization meeting and there was a complaint about replacing Heather flame with Tim Doyle on the planning board and the rationalization was given it was very clear rationalization was given by Mr Doyle he said well Heather's got the deputy mayor's job shouldn't really have have the deputy mayor's job and the planning board job that was last year this is this year let's keep our rationalizations rationalizations and our reasons reasons let's do the best we can for all of Franklin Township and the thing I wanted to say Nancy is that I have lots of time to read the paper and I am a subscriber to The Sentinel and have been for 40 or 50 years and I remember reading a wonderful article in the Sentinel there was an award given to the farmer of the year in South Jersey to the best farmer in all of South Jersey from the Department of Agriculture in the state of New Jersey guess who that award went to Jake I'll bet you get it on the first guess thank you Michelle Doyle Melle good evening gentlemen Chris sers 184 malago Lake Boulevard I I wasn't here for the reorganization meeting so I just wanted to wish you all happy New Year um and my prayer is that uh you guys will work together for the good of this Township selflessly um I have faith that you will I have faith in the electorate that voted you to the positions that you hold um I also want to thank you for the Piney Hollow grant for um working hard towards that and Mr Finley well for working hard towards that um it came to my attention today that apparently the environmental commission um voted on an application to build another dollar store Dollar General off of Route 40 in Main Road um so I posted that that information on Facebook and the residents were I would say probably 9010 against um now I know I brought this up before at a previous meeting U during the the previous committee and I believe it was you Mr Mayor who thought that it was ridiculous that they would bring another dollar store in town still do yeah still do is there any it's IL legal use there yeah so so there's nothing there there's no plans to do anything whatsoever to regulate to to we can't cry more but it's permitted use in that area yeah and there's no there's no plans at all to change the permitted usage or or to um formulate zoning ordinances I think if you get involved in that if you looking oh no absolutely I understand that because this application was done before any zoning changes it's grandfathered in there's nothing you can do unless you want a lawsuit but in order this would be the eighth dollar store within a three mile radius six in Facebook no it's it's eight so I'm not talking just about Franklin Township it's eight with yes in Newfield and on the out man yes so within a three mile radius it'll now be $8 the spec well dollar stores one Family Dollar and seven Dollar Generals um so there's no plans whatsoever to to change any zoning order not not to say you can't obviously pick on one company and say you can't build here because it meets the zoning regulations no well you can there are well from what I understand Newfield has a zoning ordinance that says that they will not allow any discount stores within their Town border no Newfield so I mean it's it's just outside of Newfield on the boulevard next to the bank it was thought it was maybe I was misled then but there are different zoning ordinances that can be passed not not to ban dollar stores because obviously we already have a full share but to limit their distance from one another in the township so that you don't have the sprawl of dollar stores all over the township there's yeah I mean again targeting a particular use regardless of what their name is is not something we're we're going to go down there there are planning tools available something you can or or planning to no no you can't do that based on the specific nature of the use there's there has to be a broader consideration we we ban adult we ban adult bookstores in in town difference and and the the the attempt is simply proper planning I understand your your position and the relative issue with the the flooding of it I live in a town where there's a pharmacy on every corner and of course at some point and two of them are vacant probably now happens right so so there our attempt is not going to be to Target a particular end user our our processes going to involve proper planning to avoid some issues but not to Target a particular industry use that's permitted but there there are things on that that'll that that will have to be taken into consideration but quote Banning dollar stores is not going to be how that was okay well not obviously you're not going to ban dollar stores because again there's already seven in the township it's just restricting the further growth of dollar stores and I think from I mean even looking at the master plan it says that we should have a diverse economic mix of businesses in the township specifically focusing on those businesses that support our rural atmosphere and I'm you know Grant again this is just my position my opinion but having $7 stores within a 3M radius is not supporting that goal of keeping us Rural and at the same time having a diverse economic mix but I guess I understand that you know you feel the same way but you feel like your hands are tied that's okay I I disagree but I appreciate you looking into the matter and hopefully something can get done because it needs to thank you I know I spoke already but I just want to clarify the environmental commission does not vote on projects they cannot vote on projects all they do is review the plans and make comments that are related to environmental issues only just for the listening public that's going to watch this there's no necessarily endorsement of any kind of business by the environmental commission it's only about what are the environmental concerns so thank you uh Leah Vale 560 delc drive I'm not here today to criticize anyone I'm just genuinely curious what's the Township's problem with dollar stores I mean if you don't want to go to one you can just drive past it but it seems to me and I'm not picking on you Jake it's more of a question I know you're getting pressure to implement more regulations to try to control what type of Economic Development comes into the township but you no I'm saying there's pressure on you to do that but I remind you that you all ran as Republicans and as one key Republican value is less government regulation not more if someone wants to live in Cherry Hill go move to Cherry Hill if someone wants to live in you know mikica Hill go move to mikica Hill but let's not kid ourselves Franklin Township is not Cherry Hill or mikica Hill and the dollar stores you know serve residents of Franklin Township I mean I'm not embarrassed to say there's one very conveniently located to me and I use it far more frequently than I should just because it's so convenient but I mean we don't say let's limit our wwas or let's limit whatever else if if the dollar store is economically unfeasible if there aren't enough people to support that many dollar stores they will close it up and someone else will buy it and move in just like happens with every other industry cycle but I would encourage you not to find things to regulate I mean the township is over regulated already think with the yeah well I would I don't I would still just encourage stores I you know I look it's a double Ed store because right now that properties form land assess so the minute they put a dollar on there Dollar Store on there that changes right and you'll get the roll back taxes too but all I'm encouraging you is as you look into the master plan please keep in mind that Republicans and hopefully you believe that Les government is the best government and stick to that despite pressure you may get from individuals who want a particular thing for a particular reason all right thank you the Marshall 67 Road Mala as I've been repeatedly accused of disliking dollar stores that's not quite entirely accurate but I dislike the way that the properties are kept kep and as Unfortunately they are poor neighbors as comparison to other businesses that's where the issue comes in it's not so much with Dollar Store per se but with the way the property is kept when you have trash blowing your property constantly you have diapers laying in the parking lot that never get cleaned up and things like that it's a concern it's you some of you brought up WWA WWA is they keep their properties Immaculate are they a hazard walking across a parking lot yes you do take your life in your own hands at times but that's your choice but it's still the fact they keep their property Immaculate they're always tending it always taking care of it when you look at them they're not an isore dollar stores unfortunately when they come in when they're first built they're fine and they degrade rapidly from there and it's consistent in every town they have a two-year Bond on them that barely gets enforced and after that they just they they they just fall apart and that's where the issue is and we don't have the individual uh I guess the best way of putting is we keep changing that side to enforce it you know to keep it up to our standard and our code just for basic Property Maintenance and as a neighbor that deals with that that's where the the problem comes in with the dislike of that location and that type of store it's not the dollar store per se it's the way the property is tended and kept and that's where the biggest issue is uh something I do want to ask about that though being it's been brought up with the last planning board meeting that the dollar store down on porchtown road has the mulch that it should have never had it was it was told they weren't supposed to that mulch because of the fire hazard they put mulch in so of course that maybe start looking at all all the other doll stores the one on yeah PCH toown and and and yeah Route 40 right there right across from the axon and the new 76 truck stop oh that's yeah yeah they've had four last year they had four fires they reported to a mulch they when they were told not to have mulch by the planning board mulch was put in it was signed off on on the final plans the dollar store right near me has mulch put in it was signed off on the final plans it's supposed to have stone mulch only both of them the one in frankville stone mulch how does that happen how does it get signed off when it doesn't meet the basic final plan that's supposed to be there knowing there's a fire risk the engineers would want to do I understand that that's why I'm asking and this is you know some of the things that occur and this is what gets residents upset is when it doesn't meet it and nothing gets done about it but that's what I'm bringing it to your attention to see if something can get done uh that would cut down a lot of the trash that sticks in that overgrown area every time now obviously Stone can still get growth and it it was not tended but at least it looks a little better than just weeds thank you yeah Gail Kennedy I live across the street from where they're going to put a solar thing or whatever and poor Tim Doyle is going to lose his farm oh my gosh anyway what I want to ask is are we doing the notorized yet no why it's not do and that's why because because somebody complained the office that hold the license don't want to do it for the public and okay they don't want to do it that's do they get paid for doing a job no they don't they get paid that's just part of their job working here but you took that out they they used to do it but now we don't do it anymore they do it but they do it for cing documents only they don't that was just a courtesy service they don't get paid any more or any less that certification well when they do it as a courtesy are they are we paying them they don't they do it for the township they don't do it for anybody on the outside on the outside of what the township yeah you were not on they're not doing it okay motion to public close second all in favor reports congratulations to all crafts good luck being supervisor work today good luck John another congratulations to um Mr Krauss on his promotion and P lot lot there uh thanks for the comment on the communications blasting out text notifications we'll look into that on the agenda for our next next discussion um that's Mark uh same thing like to congratulations um it was my first time being on committees this month so I'm just really really impressed with all the um opportunities that so check it out thank you uh again congratulations to off CR um I want to thank public works Brian uh thankfully I was in Florida and all this went I on but uh you know when I came back they had everything cleaned up very good so thank you thank them we're in clida for all three events we had a wind event nice event and the snow event I was here for that I got PL of phone calls but I don't out of that buiness I would to take the opportunity to thank my crew they uh they worked extremely hard over the last two weeks between three event with that I a motion to motion ofour second all in favor thank you that