e e e e e good evening everyone thank you for coming out tonight on this potentially snowy Snowy Evening being brave to be here with us so I'm going to read the
proclamation about black history mon whereas Black History Month is an occasion to ReDiscover the enduring stories of African-Americans and the gifts of freedom and opportunity they have bestowed upon future Generations whereas it is also a time to commemorate
the countless contributions of African-Americans many of whom live through and surmounted the scores of segregation racial prejudice and discrimination to enrich every fiber of American life there are examples of heroism
patriotism Enterprise and giv people of all backgrounds confidence courage and Faith to pursue their own dreams and whereas the many local organizations and many individuals throughout our Township are dedicated to the principle of fostering Civic economic and educational
programs throughout the township of Franklin and are dedicated to encouraging reflection on the rich history and teachings of African-Americans and bearing witness to the progress Beauty and achievements they have made
throughout our community whereas Black History Month is called and is a call to each and every citizen of our community to reflect on the cultural scientific political and economic contributions of African-Americans which are woven
through American society and we remember and we learn from and we build on the path so that together we can build a better and a more prosperous future for all Americans now therefore we our mayor Philip Kramer and I councilwoman
Kimberly Francois of the township of Franklin County of Somerset New Jersey on behalf of Franklin Township council do hereby proclaim the month of February to be Black History Month in the township of Franklin and we
urge all citizens to join in celebrating the diversity and character of our community and highlight the importance of sharing our culture customs and traditions with all of us and all of those around us thank you now we're
going to uh do the proclamation which is very befitting about our Martin Luther King c community celebration we had I honor one individual in particular good good evening
everyone a couple of weeks ago we celebrated the legacy of Dr Martin Luther King the 28th Annual breakfast was organized by the Franklin Township Dr Michael Luther King foundation the foundation's
main objective is to raise scholarship money for graduating Franklin High School students they have given out over $282,000 to three 238 graduate and students and including my own
daughter uh so they uh the people behind this wonderful event our group of volunteers who worked hard who worked tirelessly to make this great annual event possible some of them are here and I would like to invite them to come and
join us here and we want to take the opportunity to express our gratitude please come forward our gratitude for organizing this grassroot community event to recognize the life and works of Dr King and raise funds to invite in the
education of our youth also I'd like to take the opportunity to remember one of the founders of the foundation which is Miss Ava n who is no longer with us and we have a commendation that I would like to
read Commendation by the mayor and the Council of the township Franklin We Philip Kramer mayor Kimberly franois councilwoman and I Alex Kazi councilman of the township of Franklin in the county of Somerset and the state of New
Jersey on behalf of the township Council and all residents of the township of Franklin do hereby extend on behalf of Franklin Township Dr Martin Luther King Community Foundation to Shan Heaven president appreciation and Commendation
for organizing an active participation in 28's annual breakfast held on January 20th 2025 to commemorate Dr King's Legacy and raise the scholarship funds to help graduate of Franklin Township High
School students thank you very [Applause] much thank you i' like to say thank you for on behalf of the entire Franklin Township
Dr Martin Luther King foundation and uh just to just to say that the foundation was developed through a collaboration between the uh Board of Education the uh the Franklin Township um schools and the police department back in
1997 uh we talked about the um and she was recognized at our breakfast founder Ava n um she was representing the board along with Chief Daniel levac um representing the police department and Frank Pepe who was at the time superintendent of schools um since then
we've been able to grow this Foundation um exponentially um over the years and as of uh as the calculations are coming in from this last breakfast we we're going to be either at or just uh
over um $300,000 worth of donations um since we've been uh founded um and they all go to Frankland Township Public School um graduating seniors um we'll we'll also be growing uh the foundation
um to change with the times and move from just being a financi iial uh benefit to also investing in our um in our young folks in uh serving um in a in a mentorship capacity to help them prepare for adulthood so where we're expanding with the times that that
that's happening and that's our continued growth I'm happy to be a part of it um I I thank everyone for the support of our events particularly the breakfast because without the Franklin Township community we cannot be a success it's it's the businesses that
contribute it's the it's the single donations it's the coming out through the snow um you know during these events showing up when you know when you could when you'd rather be at home and coming and supporting not only buying a ticket but donating above and beyond that
that's what makes it special um it also makes it special that you know it's it's an event that brings everyone out and it's a time to bring Franklin together to sit there and and uh you know enjoy uh you know performances and speeches
and have breakfast and you know fellowship with each other and that's something we look forward to every year make no mistake we will be back and uh I also just want to take a quick minute to thank our um trustees and our officers because they they deserve a lot of
recognition because no one gets paid for this this is a labor of love and we do it out of just pure desire to give back to these uh students we have Gary Rosenthal who's our first vice president Alice citz who's our secretary um I like to also thank Mah Rafi who's a trustee
she's here right now Mah U we have Rabbi Eli garfinkle Ron pushi um Dr Sheila de banley Dr Jay get tein bill grippo bill um we have tiia Bennett um
Samy Shaban Michael Stallings Sonia Assante Sonia Ismail and Regina Clark those are all our trustees and we all put you know put the work in and make this thing a success every year thank you very much for all the council support and everyone uh just for being
part of this and joining us in our efforts and you you guys all contribute to making that day special we thank you very much and I thank you much you don't want to say anything just oh just a quick word uh yeah we really
couldn't do this without Shan Heen he really is the locomotive behind this effort his commitment to this scholarship trustee board is just amazing plus all the trustees this year was very special
because we honored a dear friend Ava who passed away as was just mentioned AA was the life and spirit of this uh for many many years and then she passed on her leadership to Shan so it was really shows you the the great strength of this
of this organization and like I say every year when I get to a microphone if you want to see Franklin Township in one moment come to the breakfast that's where the community meets once a year
it's so powerful I recommend everyone to be there you know come on over here you got to say something if you insist bill um thank you Dr Cy thank you council members this is really wonderful for recognizing us
and thank youan for your leadership I don't think we could have progressed as much as we have since Eva's uh departure and physically passing so um yeah it's it's wonderful and like Bill said if you want to see Franklin diversity please
show up to the breakfast next year I I promise you you will leave feeling the warmth the love and the humanity thank you [Applause] okay thank
you next item is item number six public discussion to have a motion to open to the public so moved second move then second we'll wait for the pictures who's taking the picture Mr Mayor seeing no one come forth no no
whoa whoa whoa oh all right we haven't we haven't open the meeting yet oh okay okay the snow plows are about to come out okay so we have a we have a motion and a second all in favor of opening say I I oppos say nay motion is
carried anyone wishing to speak on any matter of government may come up to the microphone no yielding of time because of the impending snow I'm going to live in it to three minutes um may only come up once um please state your name and
address H yes I um thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight my name is Robert Scot and I live at 209 on isuka court I am speaking tonight to request that the council
adopt a re resolution in support of the New Jersey climate super fund act in order to offset the financial burden of climate change on Franklin Township the bill was voted out of the
Senate environment and energy committee on December 12th 2024 this bill appes the logic of the original Super fund act which which um requires polluters to pay to clean up
their contamination sites to The Climate crisis uh similar bills to date have passed in two states in Vermont and recently New York state passed their
bill under the ACT municipalities will be able to recover costs for climate change remediation and agitation projects which include but not limited to uh flood protection
projects upgrades of storm water drainage systems preparation and recovery from extreme weather events Etc the costs of climate change remediations are increasing yearly and are estimated to reach one thir of
global GDP by 20 um to note scientists employed by the fossil fuel companies knew long ago about climate change um issues yet
distorted and buried the evidence we noticed through um foyer requests that captured uh various correspondents that they had with the government so therefore I now think that
it's time for these companies to pay for cleaning up the mess of and that's my statement thank you thank you good evening my name is um Kiki anastasios and I live at 3204 Enclave
Circle in Somerset New Jersey um thank you for this opportunity uh Mr Mayor Deputy Mayor esteemed members of the council um I am also here to to um to request uh that uh uh Franklin Township
passes the res a a resolution supporting the New Jersey climate super fund act I would like to go back to the invocation that uh Council councilman vasella just uh gave us which was um as I'm sure you know this was about peace in the
community and around the world um well I believe in order to have peace uh there has to be fair Ness and with climate change um the largest fossil fuel
corporations um have created an uneven playing field where they reap have been for many many years reaping the benefits and huge profits as a result of our dependency on fossil fuels and we as a
taxpayers have to uh pay the cost of of uh major storms and flooding and destroyed roads County Roads uh Township roads and um and uh rebuild homes in
communities that have been destroyed from fires um so the um this uh act the legislation which is already in the assembly and the Senate uh it's assembly uh number
4696 the bill number and it's supposed to make the playing field much more fair uh in the sense that it will require the fossil fear corporations uh to pay some of the damages uh from climate change
and um of course we all know that New Jersey has seen unprecedented destruction um in and also Franklin Township we have had uh major storms that we have not seen before in the last few years uh massive wildfires in other
parts of the of the state and um and so various townships throughout the state are including uh just recently um the township of Hoboken uh just a couple of days ago passed a resolution supporting this legislation so um again I would
like you to to pass a resolution supporting this super fund act in order to create a more fair and resilient future future for New Jersey thank you so much thank
you um good evening Linda Powell 22 buffer Drive um we have presented a copy of the resolution of to the environmental commission the same one I recently emailed the mayor and the council members um and they commented
and feedback was that it was well written and there seemed to be basic agreement but they asked for a reference to paragraph one on page two which reads whereas more than 50 years ago scientists of major fossil fuel companies knew the direct link between
fossil fuels and global warming and reported their findings to corporate Executives who choose to deceive the public about climate science downplay and distort the evidence of climate change engag in a decades long CA campaign against climate action um fund
counterfeit science and manufactur uncertainty with no scientific basis um that reference which had not been previously included is an article from Scientific American from October 26 2015 that stated Exxon was aware of climate
change as early as the 19 as 1977 11 years before became a public issue the article quotes Exon senior scientist James Black who states quote there is a general scientific agreement that the most likely manner in which
mankind is influencing the global climate is through carbon from the burning of fossil fuels and he went on to warn that the doubling um of CO2 gases in the atmosphere would increase the average temperature by 2 to 3 degrees and continue to warn that the
present thinking quote the present thinking holds that man has a Time window of 5 to 10 years before the need for hard decisions regarding climate change and energy strategies that might become critical that was back in the 70s
um and it was the man it's the management of Exon um that went on the article also explained that Exxon proceeded to spend $30 million which was a lot of money back in the 70s and 80s um on think tax to promote climate
denial so I hope that you will support such a resolution and that the people in Franklin and New Jersey which has also been labeled the pipeline state will let their legis state legislators know that they support the New Jersey climate
super fund act which is Senate Bill s 3545 and assembly Bill 4696 and since I have 31 seconds another important state Bill to support is the Immigrant trust act uh Senate 3672 and
assembly 4987 which essentially limits New Jersey involvement in federal deportation and detention system ensuring that local resources are used to support local prior priorities rather than fund Federal immigration enforcement thank
you good evening Christopher Rio super crey 16 Bloomfield Avenue we're here today to urge the council to continue supporting the LGBT plus community and to take action as needed in response to the recent Federal Executive Orders directed against members of that Community as part of a national campaign
to sty if not extinguish the flourishing of the lgbtq plus Community by instilling fear and Prejudice among the public it has been reported that in the most recent election nearly a quarter of a billion dollars was spent on ads hostile to trans and non-binary individuals this was done largely by
foregrounding the statistically rare occurrence of gender affirming surgeries for minors to be clear according to a 2024 article published in the journal the American Medical Association that looked at the available data from 2019 for insurance covered procedures only 2.1 of every 100,000 trans or gender
diverse minors aged 15 to 17 underwent gender affirming surgery that drops to only 0 .1 of every 100,000 such minors in the ages 13 to 14 and to zero none among such minors age 12 or younger and these numbers refer quote almost entirely to chess related procedures
almost a quarter of a billion dollars spent to scapegoat a small community already at an increased risk for violence and discrimination and then there's the executive order on school reform this document wants you to believe that at our community schools quote students are forced to accept anti-American
subversive harmful and false ideologies steering students towards Surgical and chemical mutilation without parental consent end quote this is a gross misrepresentation both of what is being taught at schools and of how the discovery of one's sexual orientation and gender identity actually takes place especially when one has the benefits of
environments that Foster such discovery free of imposed moralities that disregard advances in scientific empirical knowledge of human sexuality and development simply put this executive order like the others is propaganda whether the topic is trans folks immigrants Dei or what have you it
is all distract us from the social and economic issues that truly stand in the way of our nation's advancement to name a few racism climate change misogyny islamophobia anti-Semitism gun violence maternal and infant mortality rates the farri the lack of affordable housing and the accumulation of unquestionably
absurd amounts of wealth into the hands of a few while the middle class and lower income individuals continue to feel the burden of a dollar that buys less and this is our public education Healthcare and Retirement Systems crumbled doing no small part to one side of the political Spectrum selective skepticism of government's in the lives of its citizens unless it has to do with
bodily autonomy your consensual sex life or our medical decisions so council members I ask that you proactively and even creatively continue to protect and support the LGBT plus Community but also people of color immigrants women young people the currently inform formally incarcerated veterans low-income individuals and middle class we can no
longer rely on federal law to explicitly Define the protections we know are right and just so we must call on the support of New Jersey Law and absent that our Township's own codes and convictions about what enriches with thriving democracy strengthen what is already there look for what isn't um help our young people in school um and lastly
with my remaining time continue supporting the Arts and hierarch education two pillars of a thriving democracy that are immensely important yet likewise under attack thank you uh good evening Mark Harris 524 East celebration way I'm here on behalf of
the Somerset Community Action Program just to share information on a job training initiative that we are partnered with the township on and and thanks in large part to the township and to the council who elected to set aside some of the American Rescue plan funds
received by the town uh and decided to invest that back into the town not only through uh you know uh uh infrastructure and things like that but it direct invest directly in uh the residents of the town for an opportunity like this for for job training initiatives and partnership with the Somerset Community
Action Program uh we have done several trainings already we've done some things with ran Valley Community College and we've had some some residents already graduate with certificates in uh as photomy lab assistants uh pharmacy technicians Administrative Assistant
certifications we've also done a Class A CDL training uh in partnership with uh Smith and Solomon trucking company and we've had a handful of residents complete and graduate from that program as well uh the next round will be beginning on March 3rd uh it'll be
Mondays through Thursdays from 9:00 a.m. to 2: p.m. at the Board of Education uh building on uh off of uh Route 27 this will be for uh civil construction job training where uh eligible residents will at the completion and uh passing of
their exam will be oser certified uh in construction uh and eligible for for those jobs and so we do have some job Partners on the backend who who have some employment opportunities for the residents as well so again it's it's a a time commitment but it's a great
opportunity for Franklin Township residents to invest in themselves and to uh whether they want to change career paths or just go from uh a regular 9 to-5 into having a true uh career path uh and have stable employment we even saw through the pandemic that
construction and jobs like that are things that did not stop uh and so uh just sharing the information that this program will be launching you can find additional information as well as the registration link on our website www . sumerset cap.org it is also on the
township website uh right on the homepage easy to find so if if you're looking to take advantage of this opportunity or or know someone who's looking to take advantage of the opportunity definitely recommend that you check it out it is for adults uh age 18 and older uh the training provider is
also the training provider that has been working with uh the school district and doing some construction training with our youth uh through the road to success program and I spoke to them as well and they hope to have some of the youth who are GR graduated uh and who are now adults to take that foundation and now
get certified and be able to you know really pursue this career path so again just thank you to the council for for creating this opportunity for the residents of Franklin Township and uh if you are interested again check out our website or the township res or Township website uh for more information and for
the registration uh access thank you thank you good evening mayor Deputy Mayor and Council um Robert con 220 Osborne Court um it's pretty appropo that I'm here today because I was just the New
Brunswick and um Senator Smith is the one of the two prime sponsors of this super fund act that we're asking the council to pass a resolution in support of um this would be an opportunity for us in New Jersey to make history we'd be
the third state uh in the country to have pass such legislation so far it's been passed in Vermont and New York and I've spoken to some people New York and they said there hasn't been any extreme abuse of
companies um in New York state after this bill was signed so after Ida and I think unfortunately there's going to be more storms coming up with climate change um I hope that this body would pass a resolution supporting fairness
and this is what it is having people pay what they owe thank you thank you anyone else wishing to speak now Mr W hear now Mr Wright Mr Mayor seeing no one come forward I suggest we close public session well done second do we
have a second seconded who then seconded all in favor of closing public portion say I I oppos say nay motion is carried public session is closed uh item seven address public comments and questions so on the climate
Superfund act uh Miss Paul if you could send me that correction that you wanted to you don't okay um I'll submit that to the clerk in a couple of days for next meeting if any council member objects to
that offline they can contact me otherwise we'll put it on the next agenda uh unless I I think the only thing I would add is I think the environmental commission was probably giving some feedback and then I was going to bring it to the council but it
I mean it doesn't really matter you'd rather do it that way it's up to you um let's talk offline but either way is fine okay we have enough to do environmental okay uh did you want to comment uh councilman on the LGBT sure I
I'll be typ cast that's fine um uh it's fine um I just uh first of all um on the super fund I mean I think that's pretty well supported I think have support from Council just sort of getting the words right um and thank you guys for your time on that um LGBT
community um I think there's a lot of folks that feel under attack it's no doubt a call I made last week was actually to Gail Nelson drel some of you are familiar she had a chance to come here and um receive uh Pride proclamations from us the past few Junes
but she runs um a high school Gaye trade Alliance which they call Pace I don't know what each of the letters stands for um but um they're they're very active and particularly um a lot of transgender students are part of that group um and I
said hey I want to check in how are things how are the students doing there seems to be quite an onslaught whether it's uh transgender students in sports or removing the tea from the website for the Department of State so you know I'm just a couple letters away from that
deletion and you know Division and Conquer is kind of a a a way authoritarian regimes operate um and to my pleasure quite frankly and I think for all of us um she felt very confident that students felt comfortable that she
was creating spaces for them to share not only their anxiety but their hopes for the future um and continue to have the support they need and of course on behalf of the council and the town offered you know any services or support that that she thought was appropriate because I think that's really important
I think you know being an adult in the LGBT community is one piece of it and I've had my time to sort of work through that but being a young person and still um you know seeing sort of what's happening at the national level and sort of being called out as you know executive orders on day one um is a very
different experience and I don't know what that's like um but I think for all of us to do as much as possible and I think as a community Franklin has been tremendously affirming um and I think we need to continue to work to do that together um and I love at the high school it's a gay straight Alliance this
is not an issue about any one sexual orientation um and the whole Community just accepting each other and loving each other and making sure that we're supporting one another as these attacks are coming to erode not only rights that
have been hard to come by um but also you know threats of physical violence Etc and and those things are real um I will just remind folks too we have scheduled I mean I'll try to be a little bit positive about it um and this Council has done a number of things um
and taken you know strong action both to create an officer within the township safy Kalen who is like the resource human resource person for LGBT folks in town um we've also worked on a general neutral bathroom ordinance that you all
supported um that if there's two bathrooms um and there's just like single stalls or any bathroom that's a single stall like you might see it like a Dunkin Donuts that doesn't say male female they're just bathroom one bathroom two they're Just Bathrooms like in your house you don't have a men's room and a women's room you have a
bathroom um and that was well supported um and as much as we could do to be inclusive in our own facilities but pride is scheduled and I think this year is going to have be different in a lot of ways uh sort of a reconfirmation of uh the Vigor that we need to have is on June 7th um timing still to be worked
out if you're interested Chris and you know to get involved um we'd love to have anyone from the community and I'm going to be setting up a meeting to plan that out we're particularly partnering with the youth at the high school so we'll be working directly with the pace club and putting together programming
and then a celebration event um and some tabling for folks to understand and have access to resources but if there are other things that we can do we always want to be open-minded and we're happy to you know if you stick around this is going to be a short meeting to talk more about what that looks like but I think I'm proud to live in Franklin um and be
in New Jersey and be shielded somewhat but none of the shields are impenetrable and so it's going to take all of us to work and row in the same direction um to to take care of one another and whether it's one Community today I don't think any Community or gender or or um you
know is is going to be safe from this Administration um and that's not being political I me that's looking at the track record that we've seen so far so thank you for coming today and sharing thank you did you have any comments
councilwoman yeah I'd like to uh certainly reemphasize what the executive director of the Somerset Community Action Program came up and talked about we had um the this Council supported a construction
program in the road to success the this past year it was kicked off at the youth center and we had about 20 students that graduated from that program it was very successful and before that program there was a program in the in the in the uh
Middle School over at Samson G for the middle school students and it was actually Mr Wilson Orville Wilson who came to me and said you know councilwoman this program for the middle school students was very very successful but we'd like to offer it to the high
school students but we ran out of money and so this council with the foresight and the vision that they have we said we would like to invest in human capital and not invested American Rescue fund money on just uh pipes in the ground on our water system or our seage system and
so there was money allocated again to help out the Board of Education that program was successful and then we said we' like to do it again and so what Mark just came up and talked about is the program that we're getting ready to kick off on March 3rd at consola is being run
by scap the township is providing the money but scap is is uh doing the Outreach during the um marketing everything ad during the administration bringing in the participants and making sure that they have wraparound Services
Transportation uh if they need daycare we're providing that and the program is free so what we're doing is we're investing on in our community and you know I want to thank the council this Council for thinking about not just the youth but the young adults and thinking
about what we need to do to continue to invest in the in the people here in Franklin Township of course you have to be eligible because it is a Federal Federal grant money but uh we're really excited about this is going to be the third program that we've been able to to
uh administrate and have people uh participate in and graduate from and have um I I a new opportunity for a much better future so we're doing Workforce Development I know councilman ROM is
really into Workforce Development as well and you know we're going to keep doing as much as we can as often as we can what whatever opportunities and resources that we have so thank you and everybody that's out there you can contact scap to get registered to see if
you're eligible to to qualify there's still time to to um sign up for the program okay thank you Mr Mayor thank you um moving on to council comments and reports I'll remind people that I cut
public sessions short so because of the impending weather so I hope you will edit yourselves Mr karazi thank you Mr Mayor and first of all let me thank our uh public work department for the great job that they
have done and contined to do to keep our road it's clean um and also I wanted to uh congratulate uh the uh Somerset training programs I mean there is a code it says that give a man a fish and
you'll feed him uh for a day but teach a man how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime and you guys is what you're doing thank you so much um just a couple of uh uh information about the uh the
health related items uh last week we had the advisory uh uh Board of Health meeting and uh we had a guest speaker uh Miss uh Natasha Williams who is the Human Services
Navigator and she is now station at food bank and her role as the uh the Human Service Navigator is to provide the Intensive case management information referral and screening to vulnerable
individuals in Somerset County and our trans uh our Township and for example help with housing employment utilities Legal Services Etc so she mentioned that
25 contact has been made and 18 of them have received case management support So this service now is in our Township at food bank and so anybody who may need especially at these difficult times they
can go to food bank and get Services there and um the couple of meetings that we have uh coming up one is the trail committee meeting which is going to be tomorrow right across the hall and also human relation actually it's a zoom
meeting I think yeah it's a zoom meeting yeah and maybe not yeah but Zoom meeting as I understand and human relations meeting is going to be on February 26 and we will have the speaker who is going to be the new inm High School
principal uh Dr Kelly G so I hope uh you can attend that's all I have Mr Mayor thank you councilman on jaka okay mayor what I just have I just want to use this opportunity to congratulate SC for all
their training and it has been very very helpful to our youth in Franklin most especially the less advantaged kids that is all I have mayor thank you councilman and Barrison uh thank you Mr Mayor real
quick um there were a number of uh meetings took place on uh January 30 we had the bi Zone uh business industry Zone master plan traffic study presentation a lot of people showed up
and gave uh input uh to the uh presentation made by uh the the company that did the study very useful information I think more to come on that subject other than that there was a uh Public Works committee meeting today uh
councilman vas will provide an update on that um the uh surage Authority reorganization meeting took place on the 4th February uh followed by the regular board meeting as well um there were
there are few events coming up on the the 15th we have Black History Month uh at the senior center right here in in the in the building um celebrate the black history month thank you and then on the 22nd at the library at 10:30 uh
we have an event uh we talked about the diversity of the township uh an organization is celebrating International mother tongue month um so our Deputy M Dean and I will be there and we invite uh other to come and
participate in that event as well and last but not the least uh Franklin food bank is having their annual empty bowls event at uh on March 9th Sunday March 9th uh please attend and support that
event it's a an annual fundraising um a lot of restaurants are giving free food not free food they donate food uh to the food bank uh so the ticket $70 uh uh early bir prize uh ends on 14th so rush
and get your tickets that's all I got mayor thank you councilwoman fris I just wanted to say to the gentlemen that came up as you can see this our council is diverse and our Township is diverse and we we celebrate diversity here in Franklin Township and
I think what you said was very extremely powerful and I support everything that you said Thank you thank you for coming out thank you Mr Mr Mayor thank you councilman vasella yes uh Echo those same comments
and everyone who came out tonight um hopefully we'll get out of here before it snows but um thank you for coming and being part of our meeting um real quickly before I forget I understand that manager will jump in if
I'm wrong but the meeting tomorrow night that a lot of people were looking forward to concerning the uh public session for Hamilton street from Vanderbilt Avenue to the basically to New Brunswick uh middle sex County Line has been canceled because of the weather is that correct Mr vlocker that would
have been my report but since you did I don't have to I was looking so forward I know a lot of people were but I'm sure they'll reschedule it soon because um it it um it's important and we will definitely get that back up on the calendar as quickly as um get all the parties together
um kind of in hand somewhat with what they what was brought up about climate I noticed on here I usually don't Point things on resolutions but I noticed I saw something that said um uh mine oh mine resistant ambush
protected vehicle well long story short with this crazy weather that is probably not going to stop anytime soon just get worse this vehicle I went online and looked I don't know if we're going to get it but it is something that could literally save lives in a flood it's just incredible vehicles I guess they
military approved but being uh mostly the majority of our town surrounded by water and obviously knowing some of these issues I just wanted to mention that um that's on there and uh hopefully we'll get that and literally can mean the difference between life and death with what uh seems to be never
unending uh weather phenomenom everywhere around this country uh anyway just want to report on the meeting of Public Works we did have earlier tonight um we got a Benchmark we could raise or lower it but in consultation with the
financial oversight committee and looking at what we need to do to keep our roads up to date up to the standard we want we're looking at about a $4 million uh threshold um but we also get straight state grants and get the water or sewer to do some Paving so actually
when I say 4 million between other ways that we can get stuff paved it ends up being a lot more we'll get more into that as as um we develop the list the one thing I didn't want to mention since was brought up with the money uh the sca and the programs that we're doing with
job training absolutely phenomenal last year I think we came put the mines together and came up with a great way to spend the money and the other part of that money that was referred to a couple times tonight the infrastructure money which quite frankly uh is providing so
we have clean drinking water so really what we're doing I think is a great assortment of stuff that literally is taking care of us from the time we wake up in the morning to job training uh opportunities so but the last round of that money millions of dollars we went
over and reviewed and I'm I'm um uh happy and uh eager to see uh that last bit to redo our water systems in some of the uh oldest you know areas of town where the water system was in the most need to be replaced will now be replaced off the Hamilton Corridor I'm looking
forward to that that's the short version sorry mayor thank you be safe in these storms thank you council member pesnik no additional comment thank you councilman right small comments um as Mr bassella
said the Hamilton Street uh Corridor cancel a redate uh Redevelopment agency met last night and we're looking to and looking at various ways that we can increase our affordable housing
stock um low to Middle income and that's going to be an ongoing process so as we move forward I will definitely bring to you the result results of what we've done um everyone wants to know about
Recreation Recreation Recreation Recreation I would advise you to go to our Township website where everything we do do is listed now I'm going to say our website is second to none I want to
congratulate our Township manager for sticking everything on there uh I mean it's jam-packed um so definitely go to the website and Mr Mayor I'm done wow Deputy Mayor oudin thank you um
just few things um so just before this meeting um our Township manager and I we were just doing the air quality check just to kind of see where things are and um Canal Walk reported at 33 so is good um those going back to the discussion
where we had to purchase the air quality um checks because we were thinking about the pollution that would happen so that's still on our radar we're checking it um on and off um the bi Master traffic study that happened councilman um and bar already
mentioned it I think the the study is now available online um if you haven't been part of it if you wanted to just kind of go and and check for yourself and have any additional comments or feedbacks you can now go online and be able to click on a
comment section and enter your comments and rest assur there is a steering community and um our planning director W receive that comment um it's it does go to people so just want to make sure it's clear that you are able to input that information
in um you know we were at I know we we get told that okay how many more meetings but it's very important you got to understand this is a 10-year study so it takes a lot of information in um and as it may seem like it's slowing but it's very crucial that we get your
inputs to understand that you know you we have to be also transparent with what we're doing um bringing on the third party consultant and explaining what they're doing in terms of the study and then having giving you guys an ability to also provide feedback so it's a very
collaborative teamwork that we're doing so it is taking a little time but we are progressing and um so more more to come from that study um Public Works we all met just right before this we're looking at the 2025 um roads and as many know
that that goes through another um machine that reports another vendor that provides the ratings and so we're looking at that once things are finalized that will also be up and running and we'll provide more information um well maintain roads are
within with clear sign is very important especially now with all the snow that's going on right so we're looking at that um I just didn't want to point one more thing out and I'm not sure if Bob it's on your report but I did see something come out on free tax preparation um on our website with uh
one of the vendor called United Way of Northern New Jersey so if you have low and moderate income this is a great service available at no cost um you can go online and it's on our website you can get all the details there their number their email and have that done
that's all I had thank you uh Deputy Mayor you want to mention about the Ramadan lightning on the 23rd uh that's coming up yes so that's a coming up event on the 23rd um that's our fifth annual Ramadan lighting ceremony that we do at the
Senior Center so the fly is not up yet but it will be up very soon at the township website as well I think the go-to what we're all saying is use the township website as your place to keep refreshing that tool it's it's very updated and thankful to our staff to
keeping it a very uh reporting a very Lively this thank you thank you for my comments uh there's been a financial oversight committee meeting we are discussing the budget we've got some hurdles to jump over
um main problem is the increase in Insurance costs health care costs uh this weekend is the fire district election on Saturday from 2 to
2:00 p.m. to 900 p.m. um it's an important part of your tax bill but it's also an important part of your safety in town um you can vote at your local firehouse and and uh that's what I have
Mr manager thank you Mr mayor council members have been very kind to didn't we just have those elections no they're in February every year okay we we did in February of last year yeah I was like wait a minute we just did something we
get to do that every year um the council has been very kind to give my report prior to my me giving my report so I have no report Mr Mayor thank you that's great we have no Council discussion item item number 12 item number 11 sorry
approval of the minutes I present the following minutes Township Council for their approval of the work session regular meeting meet regular meeting of November 12th November 26 and the regular meeting in executive session on December 10th all of
2024 to have a motion on the minutes so moved seconded anyone want to discuss them change them correct them Madam clerk councilman EMB Barrison yes councilwoman Francois yes councilman karazi yes mayor krammer yes councilman
on jaka yes council member vasnik yes Deputy Mayor deine councilman vasella councilman R yes proove of the warrants in the amount of 2,395 53282 on February 11 2025 repr presents
to the township Council for payment to have a motion on the warrant so moved second moved in second anyone any discussion anyone like to pull an item the warrants are how we pay our bills Madam clerk councilman andrison
yes councilwoman Fran yes councilman karazi yes mayor Kramer yes councilman onaka council member pnik Deputy Mayor rine yes councilman massanella yes councilman right yes we have no ordinances on either first or second
reading uh so we're down to number 15 the consent agenda items a through I is listed on the consent agenda portion of this meeting repr presented the township Council for adoption to have a motion on the consent agenda so moved second and
seconded any discussion Mr vasella had already uh spoken about the acquire mine resistant Ambush protection vehicle um that is being donated to us by the military it
is not so that we can avoid mine uh that's mines in the road it is a high water rescue and res uh search and rescue vehicle it's how we will use it it may save lives and it be at no cost
any other item someone wants to bring up Madam clerk councilman EMB Barrison yes councilwoman fris yes councilman Kazi yes mayor Kramer yes councilman Oni jaka yes council member pnik yes Deputy
Mayor councilman vasella yes councilman Wright yes we have one item to be voted on separately resolution 2584 authorize out ofate training officer Andrew Crawford 44th annual hostage negotiation seminar Owens Mills Marilyn I used to
live there uh March 3rd through 7th on 2025 has presented Township Council for adoption to have a motion some moved second move and seconded any discussion let's hope we don't need
it Adam clerk councilman EMB Barrison yes councilwoman Francois yes councilman Cari yes mayor Kramer yes councilman Oni jaka yes council member pnik yes Deputy Mary Dean councilman vasella yes councilman right
yeah all business 2025 boards committees commissions and vacancies do we have any nominations yes Mr Mayor I have um a few actually so I was very pleased to see that we have seven candidates or
applicants for human relation for The Advisory Board of Health and we have four openings and uh four candidates that uh we are looking forward to join uh there are two regular members Miss
Rosanne carali and uh guy kapano and we also have two uh Alternatives Dr Tu jalo and Mrs uh Mara chakur and for the human Relations
Committee we have one openings and we have one candidate actually we had two applicants and the the one that uh we uh are welcoming and looking forward to welcome her is Miss Sharon
chbar if I said it right that's all I have Mr Mayor and I'm presented for approval please does anyone have nominations for those same positions does anyone have nominations for other uh
positions we can do it by acclamation all in favor of the named people and oppositions say I I Vos say nay congratulations to the you um we have no executive session do we
have a motion to adjourn so moved second moved in seconded all in favor say I I opposed say nay we are adjourned be well Franklin