this work session regular meeting of the township council is called to order Madame clerk sorry in accordance with the open public meeting Act of the state of New Jersey adequate notice of this work session regular meeting of the Franklin Township
Council was made as required indicating that this meeting would take place at the municipal building at 700 p.m. on Tuesday March 25th 2025 thank you uh if we could all stand for the pledge of Allegiance and then remain standing for the invocation by
councilwoman Fran I pledge Al to the flag flages States one naice as We Gather here today as members of the township Council we pray that we are ever mindful of opportunities to
render our service to fellow citizens and to our community keeping in mind always the enduring values of Life exerting our efforts in those areas and on those things upon which future Generations can build with confidence
let us continue to strive to make it a better world amen amen Madam clerk please do the rle slowly enough so M council member pnic can get in a seat councilman EMB Barrison here
councilwoman Francois here councilman karazi present mayor Kramer here councilman non jaka present council member pnik presid Deputy Mayor oudan here councilman basella here councilman Wright here oh we have many uh
proclamations and commendations uh if anyone wants to follow on the agenda there's one by the clerk um first off is commendations njrpa award for the Youth Center video and if it's the youth center you know
it's got to be councilwoman fris I guess I guess I am yeah yeah yeah I just I want to make sure you s email okay good evening everyone can you hear me okay it's always hard when you're the first one to go make sure everything is
working very well I would like for all the youth to come up here nice try mayor that was a nice try and as I'm asking for the Youth to come up mayor says I'm here he wishes he is a youth just come on
up isn't this a nice sight oh yeah you could show it go over that way you want to see everybody how many parents are here proud parents okay you'll have opportunities to take pictures as well
okay and you come on up too so you can be closer so we have a commodation for each one of the youth and the staff that participated in the um video award the video that they made that received a great award and we're so proud of them
we thought we would bring them in and let them know that we really appreciate what they do and one thing I want to say if you have not seen the video it's on our website all you have to do is click on the township website and look for the Youth Center and then it'll and then
you'll be able to actually watch the award yourself so I'll read the Commendation it says whereas the Franklin Township council is committed to recognizing and celebrating the achievements of individuals and groups who make significant contributions to
the betterment of our community whereas the New Jersey Recreation and Parks Association the njrpa annually presents the agency showcase Awards to honor outstanding initiatives in the field of recreation and park
management where the sounds of Tomorrow video produced by Dwayne Satan over there who will be speaking and the dedicated Youth and the staff at the Franklin Township youth center were awarded by
njrpa agency showcase award for video promotion on February 25th 2025 for its exceptional contribution to the promotion of the youth center programs and activities whereas this
award when video featuring The talents of our local youth all of them up here and there's a lot more at the youth center if you ever go over there and the dedicated guidance of our staff which some of our staff is here but not all of them and you all can speak too if you
want to okay uh played a uh dedicated guidance of our staff beautifully captures to creativity enthusiasm and vision of our young people showcasing the potential they have to
positively impact our community and whereas the following youth played a vital role in the production of the sounds of Tomorrow video I say your name raise your hand Zion green Danielle La
balini did I say that right okay I'm just now seeing this commodation right now so you have to forgive me I didn't get chance to read it uh Nyla Brown Nyla n Nel
Gonzalez NY n NY NYY Gonzalez Alexa for say your last name bordier bourier Alexa bourier Charlene Kelly okay Vian
Kumar there he is okay uh Atara atagi did I say that right I did okay all right I hate when people mispronounce my name they call me Francoise francioso Francisco everything
but Francois Arjun Rock go okay and whereas the following staff members provided mentorship Direction and Technical expertise to ensure the
success of of this project Mah she's out with her baby in outside with the baby okay okay she's outside with the baby Mia Hollman Joe Janowski he's not here right no you see him uh
Joel over here penson that's true uhi did I say okay okay and your last name is Sur suaj Wendy white who's no not here tonight her mother passed away on Sunday she's the director of the youth center and Jordan
Williams oh there you are okay Jordan and whereas the Franklin Township council is incredibly proud of the accomplishments of these students and staff and we recognize the positive impact that their hard work collaboration and innovation
have had on our youth centers Outreach and engagement efforts now therefore be a proclaimed by the Franklin Township Council that we extend our heartfelt congratulations to the students and staff involved in the creation of the sounds of Tomorrow video your dedication
to Excellence and your contributions to the success of the Franklin Township youth center are truly commendable we are proud of your achievement in receiving the njrpa aent showcase award and look forward to your
continued success and impact on our community what a wonderful thing let's give them all a big hand so he he's going to present the show you guys the award hi everybody thank you um the youth center is extremely proud uh to be
able to be a part of this uh showcase award uh we built up a media program along with the kids with the help of scap and sounds of tomorrow uh and it kind of um be
a kind of a loss of words um it would be I guess yeah I'm trying to find the words but if Dwayne without Dwayne and sound tomorrow's help we wouldn't be able to Showcase all the great things we' been able to do
appreciate that problem I thank you guys thank you so much for recognizing these kids they did a lot of great work with this video we're very proud uh you know I'm not sure if you guys ever heard of sounds of Tomorrow how much time do I have it doesn't sound very loud at all did you guys hear me
yeah we hear you fine all right how much time do I have well just to be quick about this uh we're we're very proud of these kids they did a great job with this video glad you guys are recognizing them because they deserve it uh you know we just want to be able to you know grow
this program and offer this opportunity for more kids in Franklin you know with your support we could definitely do that so I just want on Fatima she works with me because she say a few words too yes just I thank you for the honor to participate in this project um Sant
tomorrow is grateful to collaborate with the youth center our main goal is to continue to have creatives have a a safe space to create and as a very therapeutic intervention for our youth and to see them put their s out there
and be fearless and not fall to social like norms and like fads and continue to be themselves I think is just awesome for the authenticity so guys give yourself a round of applause thank you so much um I
all all all all I want to say is this Youth Center has been such an incredible success it's not just a hangout it's it's creative uh it get it's moving our kids along uh and they all love to go there
so congratulations to you and to the youth center on this achievement [Applause] next is WR see what one go
why are you on my phone temp br okay okay you'll give out thank you so much everybody thanks for coming and know we really appreciate how well you treat the youth center treat it like it's your home you know
every time I go there it's so nice and clean and the kids love to be there you know if you've never been there you should go over check it out it's a a safe place for them to be and they talk about it in the video how much they enjoy it how much they how much it needs
to them uh we really appreciate the fact that the township has invested in our youth and they can go there for free you know and have a have a good time when they get out of school on the weekend so thank you [Applause]
everybody next next we have the New Jersey tamamo San gam Commendation I'm sure I pronounced that wrong uh by councilman EMB barison this your that's my phone you want to
join me I told you leave of Applause for the kids great job guys good evening everyone so I'm here today to recognize uh one of uh an association
in New Jersey one of the oldest from Indian based uh associations uh as you can tell I'm an immigrant from India is it safe to say that these days so India for those of you know
India is a a vast country and it has uh 20 22 languages official languages in the country uh so I come from a state in the southern most part of India which is called Tamil Nadu and the native language there is called Tamil one of
the oldest ancient languages in the world about 5,000 years old um so we speak that language and we have a language based organization we started that about 35 years ago uh it has it's one of the oldest in the country and it
has survived this long and it has grown one of the things that uh the or I've been a past uh president the board chair uh before um but now much younger people are running it I'm happy to see that um
what they do not a lot more than just uh conducting cultural programs and activities uh they support uh uh many initiatives both in the US and in India and uh they uh collect money and donate
for good causes um lately last few years uh they have come to Franklin Township and used our facilities both at Franklin Board of Education facilities as well as the Township municipal uh building facilities uh so as a token of
appreciation they love the town they uh they they are really impressed by the staff the courtesy the hospitality and the help that they they get for their events um they really appreciate that and as a token of appreciation uh they
are donating ,000 to Franklin Township U to um put a bench near the Gazebo as you know the Gazebo has no seating so far so we are planning to uh build more benches there and this is the uh start so we uh
like to recognize the organization with the commodation uh would you uh please come um the officials from the organization I have the former president and board member uh Gita and current
president suchitra and the treasurer Kavita Kavita is a a Franklin resident by the way all right the Commendation goes whereas the New Jersey Tamil suum has continuously demonstrated a strong commitment to the enrichment and
betterment of our community and whereas the New Jersey Tamil suum through its generous Spirit has donated a substantial contribution to the township of Franklin specific Al to fund the installation of a commemorative bench at the Gazebo and whereas this thoughtful
donation will not only enhance the beauty and functionality of our beloved gazebo but will also provide a place of rest and reflection for all who visit and whereas this bench will proudly bear the name of New Jersey Tamil suum a
testament to their dedication to fostering Community spirit and enhancing the quality of life for all res residents and whereas the township of Franklin acknowledges and appreciates the New Jersey Tamil suum for its generosity dedication and support of our
Township's goals and values now therefore we Ramen barison councilman and Philip Kramer mayor of the township of Franklin County of Somerset state of New Jersey on behalf of the township council do hereby issue this com
Commendation to the New Jersey Tamil suum for their outstanding contribution to our community we extend our deepest gratitude to the members of the New Jersey Tamil suum for their generosity and we proudly acknowledge their uh continued
commitment to the Improvement of our Township thank you very [Applause] much um good evening thank you mayor and thank you councilman andon sir um this
Township was extremely uh supportive to the community organization we were able to conduct many programs using the school facilities as well as the library the senior center people were very helpful they were um they were really appreciative of the programs that we
were able to everybody was jumping in to help us whenever we requested them for any help the the the politeness and the respect they showed us uh for the individual cultural programs um the way they treated us was extraordinary and uh
we can see it from we observe the postings and everything um the way the township is run um it's really good it it sets an example for the other townships in the state um thank you for all your support New Jersey Tamil suam is extremely grateful for all the
support you have given us thank you all right so um just a footnote there's a little bit of money left from the donation that they made and I have another organization that gave us $100 to the township for using
the facility and my wife suggested that I top it off uh to uh donate another bench to the township uh so uh we have been married 44 years and uh for $9 a
year it adds up to $400 so I donate another check to the township thank you so everything else you give to me the money you give to her okay I I got
that go ahead um so if you're here for the transgender day of uh visibility please come join if anyone wants to join you're welcome if you're an LGBT member of the community a transgender individual or an
ally uh come on up there a couple people I've identified to share some remarks um it's open to all see we're already up here so as we sort of gather uh my name is Ed patnik I'm a council member here in
Franklin Township and uh the resolution that's up before us is a pro Proclamation for transgender day of visibility uh so before we get started first of all I just want to thank members of the community that came out today uh to show support and solidarity
to the transgender member of members of our community folks that walk among us that we might not know and our friends and neighbors it's really important that Franklin is a welcoming Community one that doesn't single out any individual
or throw hate or shade at them or try to um do anything to demean them or take away any rights um and so today is a positive day as we stand together in the face of many different sorts of uh I
would say acts um on the community itself and so I'm going to just paraphrase very briefly why a day like today is important um before I read the resolution when you're a member of a community that's a minority Community
meaning it's not the majority it's not what most people are used to it's not what Society is designed for it can be really hard to be in a place where you're not like everybody else where all the systems are set up for you um if you think about accessibility if you have a
physical disability there may be barriers along your way to get from one place to another have access to a community service if you need an elevator and an elevator isn't available you can't get to another floor and that becomes um an insurmountable barrier and
as a member of any Community we can identify that whether it's gender um for the LGBT community and particularly for transgender individuals there are more and more roadblocks and unfortunately right now now we're experiencing those at the federal level at an unprecedented
level of targeting and roll backs of advancements and civil rights um that were established that now are no longer available and so um Harvey Milk said it's really important for people to come out and be who they are I'm openly gay
because then people could see other folks in their community and say oh I I like you and they get more comfortable and so transgender day of visibility is about that about being seen we see the transgender members of our uh of our community we accept them we love them for who they are and all their
accomplishments um so whereas transgender day of visibility is observed each year on March 31st to celebrate the transgender and nine non-binary Community recognizing their strength resilience and vital contributions to society and whereas
transgender day of visibility is a day to honor the lived experiences of transgender individuals acknowledge the the challenges they continue to face and lift up their voices in a world that too often marginalizes them and where as trenched under day of visibility is not
only a celebration but also a call to action reminding us that there is still work to be done to fight for equality safety and full societal acceptance for transgender and non-binary people and whereas Rachel
cander Crocker founded transgender day of visibility in 2009 to shine light on the the positive aspects of transgender life and to celebrate the diversity of the transgender Community creating a global opportunity to increase awareness and provide support and whereas
visibility matters each time a transgender individual shares their story steps forward as their authentic selves or takes action in their Community they not only advocate for their own rights but the rights of all transgender and gender non-conforming
people and whereas while progress has been made transgender individuals still face significant barriers to equality including discrimination violence and challenges to access healthare education and legal protections highlighting the need for continued action solidarity and
advocacy for full inclusion and now therefore we Philip Kramer our mayor here in Franklin Township and Ed pnik myself council member of the township of Franklin in Somerset County in the state of New Jersey on behalf of behalf of Franklin Township Council do hereby
Proclaim March 31st 2025 as transgender day of visibility in the township of Franklin and call upon all citizens to join together in recognizing and celebrating the lives of and contributions and experiences of transgender and non-binary individuals
he thir further proclaimed that we honor the legacy of Rachel CR Crocker whose mission continues to inspire us and build us a world where everyone can live openly and proudly with dignity amazing turnout from members of the community and allies so thank you guys
I'm going to turn it over to the mayor first if you want to share some some [Applause] comments um any marginalized group wants the same thing that the rest of us want they want to be loved they want to
love and they want to be left to live their Liv lives and be themselves that's all this group is asking for and here in Franklin they have that they are part of our community as much as anyone else and
I'm glad they're there and I I welcome them with open arms um they are us we are them there is no difference uh I'd also like to point out that um Michael steinbrook
um excuse me uh asked if he could get 10 people to come to this meeting to just uh show that support if the camera could pan around I think he did pretty good
[Applause] job I would venture to say there's no better advocate for the LGBT plus Community than mayor Phil Kramer he believes it in his soul and it's um it means a ton councilman good evening everyone I want
to mention a few things too so we pride ourselves in for living in the second most diverse Community we not only reaffirm that hate does not have any home in Franklin but
we have pledged to stand up for the other and reject any form of hate amb bigotry we strive to have a United Community where everyone and we mean everyone to
feel loved respected and valued thank you for doing this all the way from their offices in Asbury Park we have Lauren Alber who is director of a uh advocacy for Garden State equality thank
you thank you councilman for having me um first I want to say say um how incredible this is first of all to have this group of Advocates here on a Tuesday night um I know that everybody else has a life I know you but prioritizing this speaks volumes about
this community um I will tell you that our offices and in Asbury Park but I live in Wall Township uh which is a little bit of a different ball game um and if we had something like this in Wall Township I think it would make our kids in our high school feel a little
more comfortable um and to see people like them to see some support which I don't think is a thing that we have there in in Wall Township um you all are among the first few in the state because we do get uh a lot of information about these things but you're among the first
in the state to do this this year and it speaks to your leadership mayor and councilman um and the whole Council it speaks to your leadership that when it comes from the top when love understanding acceptance inclusion diversity um and true true Equity come from the top
um it shows the values of the community um and it makes a difference and I can tell you that because we have a youth Advisory board at Garden State equality uh we're your Statewide lgbtq rights and advocacy organization one of the projects that we do is Youth Empowerment
um we have a summer camp a Dei camp for kids not just lgbtq kids but all kids who want to learn how to be leaders um it's two weeks in the summer it's a great program but we have a youth Advisory board that goes on all year and I'll tell you um the testimonials from the kids in that
space who didn't have that kind of space before we created something like this with them and with their input um I hesitate to think what life would be for kids who didn't have that kind of space but needed it and needed to see
something like this um need to see a flag raising need to see trans adults surviving thriving and uh and doing well uh when I grew up in the 80s and 90s I didn't have words for my lgbtq identity
which did cause some concern for myself I had no idea what was going on um and I think that the kids today really benefit from seeing this kind of thing and the lived experiences of those who came before them I think it helps to ease their anxiety and um to put a name on
something that they can't quite understand so I just want to thank you all for doing this and um and and for reaffirming your commitment at a time when it's most needed and at a time when other municipalities are not necessarily doing this so thank you when places like Washington step
back towns like Franklin welcoming places can step up um the next person that's going to uh share a few words is Dr Gail Nelson she's the adviser to the gay straight Alliance at the Franklin High School and it's the pace Club um it's really important for young people
to have Role Models but also safe places and trans youth have much higher suicide rates than the rest of the population and so the work she's doing is literally life saving um gaale thank you okay good evening everyone so Pace
came out of a need for a student who was in crisis and when I say crisis I mean suicidal and um at the high school they kind of dropped the ball and that's how I really stepped in the students that I work with are like any other student they don't look different for any of our
kids and as a mother and as a father grandparent a unle I want you to think about if someone in your family was struggling with their Identity or orientation the words we speak to them either Speak Life or they speak death
and it's real because that transgender suicidal rate is out out the roof and every day I speak life to my students whether they're trans whether they're Asian whether they're black I don't care what they are we have to learn to speak
life to our kids because we're living in troubled times I can't stand looking at Facebook or the news because I'm so tired of people hurting children because they're other outlets you don't want your child take them to
the hospital take them to the church take them somewhere where they're going to be led there's no reason to destroy life so every time you think oh here come no trans people they're pushing the gay agenda we're not pushing anything we're pushing life and and and
when we learn to respect what life really is about then you have to step back and reflect and look at your own biases and I had to do that when they asking me to be the advisor because I was like what me what I what but what I
did God dealt with me on that I'm going be real with it I would go to bed I said I'm not doing this I don't know what to do I might say the wrong thing then they'll be walking me out with tenure charges like all this stuff was going through my head but God really dealt with me because every night
for like a week I woke up at midnight and I said oh I'm going on social media and every time I picked up that phone it was a story about a trans kid that committed suicide or either was murdered and I said okay Lord I've hit the message cuz I can't take no more of
this I was at that school at 6 o00 filling out the club application and I placed it on the vice principal's desk in charge of clubs and her secretary stood over her while she signed it because she said thank you we
need this our kids are in crisis and I didn't realize that being at the high school CU they don't have crisis on their face you know they don't know who to go to so I'm happy that I'm a safe space for them I'm happy they feel comfortable coming to me
and I'm not keeping secrets from no parent but I'm not going to put a child in arms way if their parent is not ready to accept who they are so I want you to think about that when you think about your blessings when you oh God thank you or I'm just so blessed think about that
think about if it was someone in your family because every time a child comes to me with something the best way I deal with it I put someone that I love in that position and I play that whole story out and that's where I'm able to help
others I never think I'm better I never think of anything and when I look back on my high school years my best friend I guess was gay and at the time I just didn't realize it I just thought he like long F nails and let me paint them cuz I bit my nails so I was like this is cool
you know I didn't have the I wasn't raised with that prejudice I wasn't raised like that so I'm not going to do it to these kids and I and I speak life to them every day and I tell them to walk in your purpose and sometimes if you're the only one that is walking in your purpose stand strong stand strong
cuz once you get through that trial can nothing touch you so I just ask you to keep an open mind don't be judgmental enjoy life cuz hanging out with these guys is a lot of fun so a quick commercial on Saturday
June 7th from noon to 3 3:00 at the Gazebo we'll do our second Annual Pride event there's going to be tables with resources and food crafts and artists musicians performers um it's really going to be a great day um and our last speaker in the sort of this resolution
portion is Ashley Isaiah Harris who is a Franklin graduate in 2004 a transgender man um to share a little bit about his experience um both when he was a student and now as an openly transgender individual and we're so happy happy to have him with us and I'm going to give
him this uh transgender day of visibility resolution uh for standing proudly before us today this feels good doesn't it yeah visibility um mayor thank
you like to have this platform for all of our voices to be heard is important see what it does is it brings awareness and what awareness allows us to do is to break down stereotypes that
they have on our community they hear trans and they automatically confuse trans with gay for some reason I don't know why I am a trans male but my orientation is none of your
business see we have to respect others people all right and and the way I was raised is you treat people how they want to be treated not how you want to be
treated how they want to be treated if somebody is saying call me Michael and not Mike does that hurting anybody here no so if somebody says my pronouns are
she they then that's what they are or he they or she her let's respect each other let's break down these stereotypes and the stigmatism against our community and and
please let's stop going against each other it starts from within y'all it really does see high school and and they they put my age out there I'm 38 years old right but when I I graduated in 2004 yeah um high
school was not fun for me y'all high school was kids are mean kids can be cruel and even as adults we could be like ow that stings a bit you know um I got bullied
assaulted you know and and finally I said well I'm not going to allow fear to be my compass um I needed to find my path and be confident in it because it's my
responsibility I found my voice my community is under attack oh no it's not the time for me to coward and be scared it's the time for me to stand up speak up because that is my
responsibility I don't know if it will help this person or that person but I know if one person benefits from I did my job and I'm going to continue to do that um we all have different backgrounds different stories and
everything and I just want everybody in this room to know we do not all have to be best friends I don't have to grab a bite at stage house with you but what we can do is come together
for the better of our children our adults our marginalized communities our black community our disabled Community our seniors we can be kinder to each other and we can not get distracted by
little things like which bathroom I want to use that's weird because I think we all use the bathroom right and we don't have to push that narrative like grooming and things like that it's not safe that's not safe
talk let's create safe spaces anywhere we go cuz it starts within you if you see somebody sitting by themselves maybe you sit by them ask them how their day was if you see somebody that is being transphobic speak up that is your job as
an ally it's action it's not just words it's action and I just want Franklin Township to know how proud I am to be a part of this community that's so loving welcome and diverse we have a lot of work to do but uh to lead is to
know where you came from and I'm so happy that I come from Franklin thank y'all awesome thank you again to everyone who came out tonight feel free to stay for the rest of the meeting I know there's more uh items on the agenda for the resolution oh if if folks are interested
in the signs uh ha has no home here the mayor and assemblyman and I have U have those for free you can email me and uh I we can get one to your house no problem for our fourth Proclamation for our fourth Proclamation
we have MS awareness would you like to come up would you like to come up for Ms awareness is it on our website did you know that were you not paying attention he's a friend of mine
too okay so this is coming a week late but I got news it um on uh just a little bit too late for our last council meeting but here we go whereas multiple sclerosis is a
neurologic disease of the central nervous system affecting nearly 1 million people in the United States alone and whereas multiple sclerosis generally strikes people in their Prime of Life between ages 20 and
50 and cause and cure and course of the often debilitating symptoms of MS remain unknown and no cure curely currently exists and whereas the national Multiple Sclerosis Society is committed to a
world free of Ms heightening public knowledge about and insight into the disease and whereas together we have transformed what it means to live with MS and provided Global Leadership ship
to help achieve our vision of a world free of Ms and whereas funds raised through the national Multiple Sclerosis Society fuel research on Pathways to Ms cures and invest in MS research
Workforce at the best medical centers universities and other institutions throughout the United States and abroad leading to many breakthroughs in the treatments of Ms and whereas the township of Franklin County of Somerset
state of New Jersey recognizes the importance of finding the cause and cure of Ms and expresses its appreciation for the dedication that the national Multiple Sclerosis Society New Jersey Metro chapter has shown towards
crediting a world free of Ms therefore I Philip Kramer mayor of the township of Franklin County of Somerset state of New Jersey on behalf of the township Council to hear right Proclaim March 9th to March 15th 2025 as Ms awareness
week and do come amend this observance to all our citizens I encourage all Franklin Township residents to learn more about Ms and what they can do to support individuals with MS and their families so as most people know I'm a
neurologist and when I was going through training there was no treatment for Ms I remember when beta was first coming out and that we said finally there's something and there been a lot of progression but as you hear here we
still don't know why it happens and therefore it makes it harder to make it not happen uh it's they talked about the research in here and unfortunately in today's climate research monies are
under attack and that's something that we need to stop uh it affects people real people like to say a word good evening everyone good evening mayor Kramer and council members again
my name is Dr Jackie Jackson and I thank you for presenting me with this Ms Proclamation on today and although it is written in the proclamation that there that's Ms awareness week was a week ago I assure you that there is not a day a
week or a month that go past that Ms is not recognized by Advocates like myself who are on the Move who constantly are advocating for to recognize Ms dis devastating disease and with that said
that last yesterday on yesterday I was at the New Jersey state house on the assembly floor and I received the MS Proclamation from the assembly floor so that tells you know that Ms is a devastating disease and Ms awareness
week is a opportunity for people like myself living with MS and my adult daughter who has Ms she's not in the wheelchair but all the faces of Ms everybody doesn't have a wheelchair some of them you know have invisible hidden Ms and everybody's symptom is different
so I am one who's on the Move in the wheelchair and I can tell you that I was not born with MS I was forced into an early retirement I went from walking normal to using a manual wheelchair wearing Lake thigh high Lake braces and I could go on and
on but here I am I'm still on the move for millions of people living with MS and the MS Community who cannot be the voice so I'm the voice for the MS Ms people living with MS and I just want to thank you for recognizing that Ms is a
neurological disease and that there is no cure but the educ ational part component is what's really important that's the reason that I here today and I just want to thank you for recognizing Ms awareness week and know that the we
always on the Move thank you for recognizing Ms on behalf of the entire Ms Community thank you [Applause] sh hands too got to do that whole thing there we
go all right awesome good thank you for making me aware of Ms Awareness Week you'll be welcome fth best place to live in America what I okay we are now ready for public
discussion do we have a motion move seconded move then seconded all in favor say I I I opposed say nay motion is carried we are open to the public five minutes of time to speak um no yielding of time may only come up
once please state your name and address no one from East Millstone can speak thank you mayor my name is Michael starberg 28 Market Street East Millstone Somerset New Jersey Franklin all right nice to see you all and uh just wanted
to take a second to thank the mayor and councilman pnik for uh um submitting the resolution and you all for passing that resolution and I will just say this that um you know everything you heard you
know about all the things we value in Franklin I think the the you know I I have personal experience it's not my place to tell another person's story but I will tell you that someone who became a member of our family in our house every day growing up in the school system in
Franklin and was couldn't be who they are in our schools and you know what you heard from the adviser is absolute truths right so there's fear and now that person is
living you know know their full life at Ruckers with my daughter best friends right going to live together next year and uh you know so you all taking the time to make this happen it's a small gesture and I know we run through a lot
of them um but it means a lot so I appreciate it and I appreciate you guys so have a great night thank you anyone else wishing to speak good evening Council um Township Council and um mayor Kramer my name is SAA
bukari and this is my neighbor uh Ruby ooy and we live in Somerset gate community which is at the corner of delas Avenue and 27 and uh we are here with a situation that we've been dealing with with ticketing uh for parking and I
know we had a conversation I had called um mayor creamer and spoke about it um this has become a real problem because most of our units are rented out and I don't think that they monitor how many people are renting for whatever perks
and they have multiple cars we we lack space to begin with when we bought this house in 2014 that was not told us that parking was going to be an issue it's a two-car you know parking with the in one inside the garage and one outside but nobody tells you that hey you know the garage is going to be full which is
typically every American so one car lands on the street um what's happening lately is we can't invite guests and my mate came in she got a ticket one of my guests came in she got a ticket it's embarrassing as a homeowner and I don't know what to do and it's really going to
affect the sale value of my home and all the residents that are still living there it's not a problem for those who have rented out because they're going to continue to make their money it's a problem for the people who live there now this is in summertime and then when you have bad weather when snowing outside it's a gated community your car
is your private prop property if you put it in Douglas Avenue the street isn't any better those are individual homes they have the same exact situation with parking where they're going to start complaining so we have to find some resolution we're talking with the homeowners association I believe they put in an ordinance for the police
department to give tickets on complaint of the fire department and I know that we have to come to some understanding between the the HOA and uh the community president that we have and we need some time to figure this out so that we can
still continue to have and enjoy our home in its full capacity we pay the taxes you know uh it's not the safest area I'm getting alerts every two three you know days of an assault here or this and that so it's not like I can tell my daughter who just turned 18 to go walk you know park her car four blocks away
and walk home if she's returning at 11: or you know even at 10: so we have to consider a lot of things I think if we don't focus on it now it can come back and you know kind of haunt us later on as a a town ship as a you know a development that is in the prime
location um so if we can come out with some ways to maybe maybe not tiet I understand there's a fire issue and the hydrants are at the corners so maybe one of the things that Ruby and I were discussing that where the fire hydrants are and if people are parking on those
curves a distance from the fire hydrant you know just for the fire truck to come through that is understandable and if anybody's parked there ticket him but when it comes to the street parking cuz we don't have any other option until we find a resolution maybe buy us some time
on this and I wanted to get some feedback from you because honestly it's like I can't call my mom and say hey can you you know car pool with the rest of the family you know and then I go and move my car out is just you know or the maid who is making probably the amount that she makes and then she loses half
of it to a ticket you know it's just one of those situations that I think we need to deal with so just look into this matter and see if we can maybe talk the next time and come back with something for this thank you I just wanted to put that
out thank you anyone else uh Benjamin guy 35 patent Drive um I just had a question uh well I had a couple points that I want to get clarification on one is um just so uh I'm aware again I forgot the dates um the affordable housing portion the
subcommittees that you guys are doing I just want to make sure that we're keeping that updated um at least a month because I know that you got to guys submit a report uh sooner or later in uh over the next uh next couple months and I just want to make sure that that's out there and aware about that portion second portion I know that um during
during the um uh some of the residents are getting uh notices or specifically me uh we replacing water meters I wasn't sure if that's a private company or that's part of what we're paying for as a town to actually do the replacement for the water meters and I think um uh Mr Von Locker probably can
uh update that the reason why I'm asking that question I was trying to see if that was tied into some of the stuff that we're going to be spending for um allocations that we're doing for what we was going to do with the American Rescue plan money I thought no vasel was actually advocating for this to actually get done uh for infrastructure bu infrastructure improvements that was
actually getting done but I wanted to know was that part of this package or was that a separate thing because I don't know I don't know which one it is so I want to clarify that portion based on spending rights and actually allocations all together so the third thing is also just because it's going into summertime I'm not sure if this is
happening this year or there because one of constituents in my area asked a question uh is roadway Paving are we going is there a plan for a new radway Paving that's actually going to happen this year during the time frame because I know we put some of the stuff on hold for Hamilton Street and some other things that were going on and I know I
know that was part of a push back plan that was going on with the counties and with money being pulled back for things of trying to figure out what's getting done what's not getting done because I know that's one of the things that was actually out during the time frame and then uh last portion because I'll be brief brief today is that um one of the
things I want to do is I wanted to actually make sure that I advocate for this because it's uh near and dear to my heart pretty much is that um we're funding a construction program right as a town right now right with the with the votech and everything else I ask everyone in the Town Council to support
this because again from a taxpayer standpoint if you visit and understand these people's lives that are getting impacted it means something and in order for this to be done and actually be done uh the right way we need Township support not just a school district not just the people that are doing it but
also the people that actually are are behind these type of things specifically I talk Ram knows it specifically he visited the person that was actually did it before right the question is is that did anybody else I would say no right on a regular basis again advocacy is
advocacy is power and that's how we actually get change going going on now we've done one in the school district and we've done one as adults but half the town and I can say this publicly it doesn't even know so it's a problem if we're offering services and we we doing
this stuff and we're trying to do Outreach and we're not advocating for it what's the point it's wasting money and I'll say that directly for myself because I advocated for this because I want to see people lives changed I don't want to see them unemployed I don't want to see them on the street I want to see
these things done but the problem is is that I don't think nobody else advocates for these type of things for lifechanging pro programs to actually get done so again for this to continue and actually before you get the state state Appropriations to actually fund this long term which it'll stop after this
year you won't if you don't have the numbers it's not going is not going to get a result so why would why would the county or what why would the state step up and fund anything else for you in the future if you can't do a simple program that you got stepped up to do doesn't make any sense so I ask question is that
are you guys going to advocate for anything else besides your pet projects thank you DRC Cunningham 11 sty Court mayor council good to be with you again want to be quick on one thing and then I'm happy to answer any questions
and maybe get some further guidance on the upcoming efforts regarding a Civics Forum set for May 29 7 p.m. just to recap Mr Mayor as you know I met with the district director for uh
congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman's office and he provided two dates that were viable for her we floated those dates around and the 29th seemed to be the date that minimized conflicts etc etc so that's the working date now that
is being considered by both public officials senior public officials that we've invited and we're hoping to hear back from them uh it was submitted on Thursday and the process suggests it's going to take 7 to 10 days once that information is confirmed I'll Circle
back with uh you and our others on the council to uh have definitive goahead on hosting that event May 29th 700 p.m. here in the uh council chambers let me
uh let me also uh I mentioned I'm here to I'm happy to answer any questions and uh one more thing I want to share and councilman patas kind of made me think about sharing it here and I alluded to it
briefly the last time in 1968 the last speech that Dr King gave he said these words the nation is sick trouble is in the land confusion all around fast forward a few months in that
same year and finally luim implored the nation to wake up now just for context keep in mind at that point in time we had already seen
some major gains in terms of civil rights legislation there was a Civil Rights Act of 64 the Voting Rights Act of 6 the fear Housing Act of 68 so clearly these two individuals were
calling our attention to a shift that had occurred in the nation a roll back as uh as councilman kind of alluded to and so we might want to ask ourselves the question are we at a similar point
in our nation with some of what we're been we've been seeing so part of what we hope to do through this event is to begin to answer the question what's America missing and part of the reason for
asking that question is to tie it in to the period of our founding when folks came up with eus UNAM out of many one because at that time they may have also asked the question what's America
missing thank you thank you anyone else I see Smile everybody smil I'm glad to see that man cuz you know I'm going to smile um John H T is 25 Parx
side dollar Che tell got honey man he said pretty much what I felt so I was I'm not coming here to say I just come to tell you K I apologize I apologize I apologize
for how you think I felt in terms of the center I you know these guys control my television and everything at home it came out 3:00 in the morning it came on by itself the whole thing and the
video you know and I'm with you all I come to tell you is I'm here to join you and the
mayor and Bob in terms of the youth programs and all it has to do offer to the citizens in the fourth W including car right in the fourth word and I think I have a lot
to offer I want to thank you guys very much for this being happy thank you anyone else Helena Rogan nine Republic grow Somerset New Jersey um I guess just this week or
so uh J Joe jelson uh had a bunch of representatives from Franklin Township um residents from Franklin Franklin Township down at the State House to um do some speeches about
um warehouses and public safety and health he and he had a committ committee there also and the mayor and the deputy mayor were there and I just have a few notes from that um from some of the Pres
presenters at this meeting um there were professional respond um professional people there there were a first respond now there was Rescue Squad and firefighters at this meeting in tre Paul
Wier of uh EMS Council of New Jersey who represented first aid responders responders mentioned a few obstacles that they were up against the wareh one in her points these are a couple of points that she mention the warehouses
do not have elevators or they have small elevators that only a small amount of equipment can fit into therefore making the First Responders carry heavy equipment of flight of stairs to perform medical rescue another point that she
made was that the outside doors which are many at the warehouses are not marked causing a delay in service once inside the big warehouses the area again are non marked
causing a delay in service by the EMS work uh Personnel um when you add all these delays in the service caused by problems as mentioned by the professional first aid responder
will this cause a delay in service to communities another group of people was um mayor hack of the league of municipalities and a five who is a five
andt for 20 years and David bis fire of the firefighters Association of New Jersey they mentioned their concern for firefighters mayor heck mentioned that there was a fire fire at a warehouse
that took three days to put out and I think you probably remember in Hillsboro it was a very messy scene pumes of smoke and all went over a lot of this towns and cities um they both continued saying
that lithium batteries which run many of the machine Catch Fire and these fires are very hard to fight the warehouses they also mentioned that warehouses are very tall and wide and hard to fight
fires when of important points that these two firefighters mentioned and since we have uh volunteer firefighters in our community is that many of the warehouses have a change of clients and
therefore the inventory switches and the notice of contents inside of the warehouses are not updated these are issues that are were brought by professionals about the safety of
communities that have warehouses thank you Jan brand uh 22 Bryant Court um I everybody so um Eleanor was mentioning about the um the hearing last week and she spoke at it and I was honored also to testify last week in Trenton and it
was at the public safety and preparedness committee and it was a hearing on Warehouse sprawl for Franklin Township and assemblyman Joe Danielson is the chair of the committee and um um like Elanor mentioned the mayor was
there and um sheepa was there and there were some of us from Franklin Township there before this hearing um I was aware of all the hazards that warehouse sprawl has brought to our community but um I really wasn't aware of all the additional aspects of dangers that um
Warehouse sprawl brings and and this hearing actually uh opened my eyes to it and it was really the emergency response systems that are in place for it um can be very problematic um uh my concerns you know
stem from you know for for our Township just the the additional people um and services that we'll need um because of the 25 warehouses that have been approved or um built in Franklin
Township um and specifically in War II and uh we we had an emergency uh last two weeks ago or last week at um at Canal Walk and it took I heard over 15 minutes for emergency response team to
um answer and so after this hearing and after knowing about this person who did not survive and it took so long um I just I have so many different questions um about this because I'm worried that there's so many um more buildings and people in uh
Franklin Township War I and is there enough emergency services to respond to them I know when I did some research I saw that the Amazon Center that's located um in War I had 276 uh police calls in
2024 so my questions are as follows and I'll I'll give you I made a a copy of all my questions and I just I need to be educated I'm really not educated on the 911 services and this um this hearing really um scared me so I wanted to know
uh where the 911 services for Franklin Township located are each one of them dedicated to a certain Ward or area or um you know depending I guess where they are and where are the firefighter Services locations as well um how many are there and are they designated to
different areas in the township and have we had the same number of Emergency Response locations um in the last 5 years since all this new development in War I and I know that War I has more development because of our location and I'm just wondering um
I'm just worried about you know we have four different senior um living places you know communities we have schools in War II and I'm just worried about how that response is um how long is the response time for 911
in Fire and ambulance services like how long after somebody calls 911 should they expect you know somebody to respond we all know you know I'm uh a retired nurse and I know the mayor he practices medicine but we know that the faster response time increases survival time if
someone's having a cardiac arrest um let me see um are these 911 firefighter service or firefighter services are um are they all volunteer positions how many people work on a shift and is this around the clock are there different response times depending
on what shift you have um since there's been an abundance of development warehouses in War II close to 5 million square feet in the last few years do we take this into consideration with how many personnel we need to work when we are having these emergencies has there
been an increase in hiring additional police in the last couple years if yes how many more police have been hired I'm wondering the same thing about emergency Personnel have there been more emergency personnel and firefighters hired um and um and aside from that my other
um statement was I I I'm wondering how much open space we have in in War I Municipal open space one of the the figures and this is a different topic but when I when I look at different things proposed like for instance um the
uh the open space for 26.2 acres is B9 right and B9 would be building a 100,000 sqt Warehouse that is like 26 Acres of open space virgin land that um would be wasted on on a warehouse and the same
goes for behind there the uh Frank MCS Franklin has 56 Acres proposed for a 621,000 foot Warehouse so um it just concerns me that there's um so much open space and then it gets wasted on these
warehouses when we have and this is I'm just talking specifically War too so should I give I have my sheet of all my questions CU I'm sure you guys didn't write everything down should I give it to you Mr warn Locker I actually should probably give it to the clerk and then
she can either request an Oprah request or whatever else might be necessary so are all those questions need op requests because I'm just even wondering to be perfectly honest with you I wasn't listening to all of them so I I I don't know whether they'll need open requests
or not some of them I can probably answer when I get my chance to answer your questions later thank you very muchi 13 Republic R I just want to clarify one issue when the person uh passed away at Canal Walk I was the
second one on the scene I was on the treadmill the adjacent smaller gym and the man came to me and said there's a guy on the floor I need your help I went over there he was on his side facing away and a couple maybe
two three minutes later the first officer came correct and she rolled him on his back and asked me does anyone know CPR now I haven't done CPR in 30 40 years I didn't know what to do but I didn't do it there was an AED on the
wall right behind her and nobody used that and then another officer came and um the two of them I think gave started to try oxygen but when I saw him eyes were open mouth was open and
nothing was happening but uh it took about 15 or 20 minutes until the ambulance came with four with four more you know and the gy but um the second offic then we blocked people trying to
come into to the area where where M was and so that's that's exactly what happened I me I was there I was a second one on the scene and we it was hard but um that's I
just want to clarify just exactly what happened thank you anyone else to speak M see no want to come forward a motion to close the public portion second mve then second and all in favor
say I I I oppos say nay motion is carried public session is closed uh time to address the public comments do any council members want to answer any of these questions mayor I I'll just address the questions we asked
about our water work and then um I believe our manager is best suited to respond to the concerns about Somerset gate yeah manager will handle many of these yeah I just want all well the
water um the water program that was mentioned I was pushing and happy to keep pushing was uh I believe it's somewhere about 3.8 or 3.9 million total that we are investing a matter of fact some of it I believe leaves on the
agenda tonight to basically redo a water mains water system between Hamilton Street and 27 and Matilda and somewhere around home to going towards in Brunswick that area that's very densely
populated very old in comparison to most of the rest of the buildout of the town and I am uh thankful to my colleagues and our uh water department that's aggressively attacking that and going to um there'll be a lot of digging a lot of work but what will be left is not just
your underground being new as far as our water system but you'll also have um Paving whatever curb whatever so whatever needs to be done usually the following year because everything has to settle the water replacement meter meter
program is an ongoing program in a maner will probably speak about that that's separate and we fund that uh is a separate company and they come to your house and they replace The Meters because they're more high-tech and more accurate basically there's probably more to it than that but there are two major
initiatives one is relevant to that money that was referred to that we got from federal government and uh fortunately putting a lot back into our infrastructure and the other is an ongoing program that we would be doing regardless of whether we were working on
our water mains or not so just a little Clarity there and someone was asked about are we still Paving well we didn't pass the budget but right now I'm happy to report that um the financial oversight I think kept in the recommendation in public works is
working with the recommendation of having $4 million once again you know we vary between two and a half and five but three to four in recent years and that will be enough I think to keep our Paving standard um up to a pretty good
high standard that we've um proudly accomplished in the recent years and there not just that 4 million there's also grant money we fight hard to get sometimes the water department when they do work does Paving sewer
sometimes psng so we're allocating Our Hope to4 million but the reality of it is we'll probably end up with closer to 5 million actual repaving but when the budget gets finalized I'll gladly talk to you Mr guy or anybody else about
those programs thank you mayor thank thank you anyone else uh hi mayor I would like to address some of the questions that came out from illino and Jan okay um just first things uh thank you I actually had on my Council
comments but I can address them now um you're absolutely right on around the clear signage for EMT on the warehouses I think that's something we need to look at and make sure that there are clear visibility um signage for EMT to um access and make it easy for um Emergency
Services um the other thing that I did actually had a chance to talk about is what was on my um agenda today was the lithium batteries concern um regarding um the fire safety so that is something that um
I will ask our attorney to review and provide some feedback to us on drafting out an ordinance that talks about lithium batteries and uh fire prevention from that uh yes uh councilwoman and I I noted to you tonight that there are local
ordinances that are being adopted adopted in New Jersey so I'm going to pull some of them and send them to you and we can start to work on putting a form together for Franklin perfect so hopefully that addresses the lithium battery um concern and then um there was another uh the ask around um War I open
space Sac um and Township manager can validate this but I believe it was for 17590 um and you can validate that if that's correct but I think that's the number that sounds correct okay thank you um and
then on the tragic incident that just occurred in kowalk I was in kowalk today myself um and I was there for the fire prevention 101 um session and a lot of the residents bought to me um this tragic accident that happened um in Canal Walk last week involving a
gentleman and um we will will absolutely review this with our public safety director and get more additional context and um feedback unless if manager has more insight to this but believe from what I understood most of our officers are EMT certified um our police officers
are trained with defibrillators and oxygen um to handle such cases um but we will definitely look into this deeper and make sure that you know what occurred there um versus but I spoke with you on this and we'll definitely
take a look at this more um I know I've also reviewed the the response rate from ambulas from back in 2020 when um when Co hit and that was because the delay was due to the sanitation of
ambulance um now I think it has increased efficiently more um I think it took 5 minutes or so and I can again we can check that for the police officers to be on scene all right three 3 minutes three minutes for the police officers to be unseen um and there were three of
them right um and as they were doing the initial state of getting this Services ready the ambulances were there within 15 minutes um so again is there any room for improvement absolutely we can take definitely take a look at that and see
what can be done further but I just wanted to make sure that these are a couple things that was brought to my attention and we are looking at it um with the Deep dive lenses um I think that's all I had I just want want to report that out before um get to the council comments thank
you any other council member okay Mr manager well let me let me jump in so doc Cunningham I wanted to respond to your uh statement I know you've done a lot of these events that for the community for civic engagement
and trying to encourage Civic engagement and I appreciate I know your first one was done over at the senior center and then you had one over the youth center and I think you you you are bringing forth a lot of issues here not just for the Franklin Township but for the um
Nation quite frankly and I think you were asking a question about if you were able to secure congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman and Senator Corey Booker on those dates could you have your Forum here that was your basically your
question on May 29th if that's confirmed and I know that the mayor is one of the guest speakers on the panel and so as our Deputy Mayor and uh commit commissioner director Chanel Robinson other and others are on the panel I'm not you're not on the panel okay it's
okay so so I think once you get that confirmation you should work with um I'm looking at the manager who should he be who should he work with he's already done it it's with an mie he's already done it already
taken care already oh you're on the panel too are you on the panel councilman councilman basell that brought it all oh okay the Forefront all right so I I think you got what you needed then all right thank you Mr
manager thank you Mr Mayor um to address the question about um uh meter Replacements so as as councilman vasel alluded to briefly vipo is the company under contract with the township of
Franklin to do Residential meter Replacements this has been an ongoing program for I'm going to guess now seems like eight years we were initially initially doing it in-house um we've now transitioned to doing commercial meters
of uh under 2 in and the residential meters are being done by um Vio and then anything over 2 in is the responsibility of the prop property owner to pay for the meter replacement so th this has
been an ongoing project again that Vio was contracted I think two years ago now to begin this process and um I we're hoping to wind down um by the end of I believe 2025 at this point um and so um
that's the question about meter replacement I Mr guy I'm not asking you to confirm or or or or say anything further but as far as your Paving question was concerned I heard you mention the word Hamilton Street Hamilton streets under the jurisdiction
of suers SEC County and I would direct you to the suers SEC County Board of Commissioners with any questions as far as the paving of Hamilton Street that's not within our jurisdiction and we don't fund that Paving um as councilman
vasella said um we completed $4 million worth of Paving in 2024 and it is budgeted at $4 million as a proposed number for 2025 um to address just a couple of
comments and without going into any great detail about the loss of a life at Canal Walk um yes someone did pass away at the Canal Walk Clubhouse I guess last week um it was brought to my attention earlier today by councilwoman udine I
spoke with the public safety director who viewed the body warn cameras of the police officers who were there um there was um emergency life support given to the victim by our
police officers in the form of uh defibrillator and CPR uh the arrival of the first officer was in 3 minutes the arrival of the first ambulance was about 15 minutes after the initial dispatch um for them
to to respond there was an ALS Advanced life support and a BLS unit basic life support sent and they both arrived at roughly the same time um the uh the uh body warn cameras indicate that the police officers
administered um emergency life support upon arrival to the clubhouse and like I said first officer there in 3 minutes and I believe the second officer was there in 5 minutes um I'm not going to address all of your questions Miss
Brandt regarding uh average times of response I will tell you that the fire service in Franklin Township is under the direction and control of four individually voted on uh elected um
Boards of fire Commissioners not by this board up here in front of you today if you have questions regarding fire protection the level of fire protection Manpower questions as far as the fire service is concerned or response times
regarding the fire service I would direct you to those individual Boards of fire Commissioners um you happen to live in District One Like I said there are four in Franklin Township um and the
fire service is dispatched by Somerset County communications not to Township so we really have um no no Direct involvement in the fire service that's the responsibility of the fire commissioners of each
district um as far as your your questions about just police response to warehouses I just want to question you when you get numbers and I and and I just did happen to look online at at the the program
where that I can look at as far as the number of responses in 2024 to 610 Randolph Road which is the Amazon warehouse your numberers correct but what I want you to do is put it in perspective and here's what I mean 80 of
those 245 calls were special Security checks that just means the police officer went there because we've identified that location as something that we want them to check on a regular basis and when they call it into Police Headquarters the dispatcher makes a it
it it logs as a security check that security check is because of all of the concerns voiced by the residents in that area about those warehouses so Security checks are done on all the warehouses so that's not actually a call for service
it's that the police department documented that a police officer went through their parking lot and check to make sure that there was nothing a miss all right about 69 of them were calls for first aid
squads okay so in a large Warehouse like that that runs 24 hours a day I will tell you that it's not surprising that 69 times in a year they needed an ambulance because someone got sick or got hurt operating a piece of Machinery that that doesn't come as any surprise
to me additionally there are things like animal complaints um traffic law enforcement because they identified the location when they be ran radar in front of the warehouse or did something there was uh
things like f followups to previous calls that gets logged as a new call um uh you know motor vehicle accidents in the parking lot theft because I'm sure that you can imagine in a warehouse like that and the type of business that
Amazon is they have somewhat of a problem with employees stealing things it happens so it's not all things that are kind of Nefarious it's General Police business and it's not that a surprising to me that there were 245
calls or documented things at that location in a year it's kind of the norm for now a police department that does about 80 to 100,000 of these types of
documentations on incidents in a year um that that's kind of what I would expect um I think that's it m oh no the the other thing I'm sorry um so I'll talk a little bit about Somerset gate so I have a little bit of familiarity with
Somerset gate and I actually had a conversation with the mayor about this because Somerset gate was originally Somerset Douglas and when Somerset Douglas first came to the township with a proposal to develop that parcel I was
an employee of the police department at the time and it was my responsibility to review site plans for traffic related issues and the issue of using a garage as a parking space and Counting the number of
parking spaces necessary for development is something that's included in What's called the residential site Improvement standards it's state it's part of the the uh State Administrative Code as far as development and and I had a significant
disagreement with the attorney who represented the developer at the time about the need for additional parking but they held to the residential site Improvement standards and the development was approved by the planning board with the number of parking spaces
that you currently have and one of the things that I did and that that the planning board agreed with was that in my report to the planning board I requested that they mandate that the developer Grant the police department
what's referred to as subtitle one enforcement powers within the uh private Community you're in HOA ordinarily those are private roads the police department wouldn't have the authority to to do that and it took a very very long time after Somerset gate took over from the
the bankrupt Somerset Douglas developer and they built your development and after your development was built there were signs that were put up that were to be enforced for no parking
however your homeowners association never pursued the subtitle one enforcement ordinance that's granted by the township we all knew there was not enough parking there for your guests I
knew that in what 2001 or 2002 when I reviewed the plans but the developer insisted that that's that they were going to be only held to what the state of New Jersey required which meant that garage
count right one in the driveway one in the garage that's your two parking spaces but as you said we all know the reality of the world and the reality of the world is when you live in a townhouse and you have no basement you store things in your garage and you park
things in your cars in your driveway but that's not what the law recognizes and then we got complaints from the fire company that they were not able to respond on to calls within your development because people were parking
their cars on the street and impeding their ability to get to the back of the development and there was there were two calls in particular that were brought to our attention by the chief of police by this time many years later Here I Am the township manager and I still have some
involvement in this because your homeowners association never pursued what the planning board required them to do so they were told that they needed to do it there was still a bond held by by the township for your
developer and the developer wanted the bond released he was told that the only way it would be released is if they brought it up to the standards of the site plan that was originally approved and that's what he did and I will tell you that I went back and sat down with
the township engineer and the traffic safety Bureau supervisor and we went over your site plan again 20 years later and we allowed for on street parking where it wasn't originally
allowed in the original site plan so you have more parking in that development than you were even supposed to have because there was supposed to be no on street parking and as you know some locations in the development allow for on street parking your
Association was supposed to be pursuing with the township additional off street parking construction I don't know where they're at with it but in the interest of safety there's no other on street parking that
can be permitted we allow as much on street parking as could be permitted to still allow for in particular the ladder truck from the community fire company to make the turns at the intersections without being blocked by a car parked on
the street it's a long wheel-based vehicle and it needs to get through every street in the development and there is no other place for us to allow on street parking I mean we we did work through this whole process with the
management company and and you know as the representative for the HOA you need to pursue this with your hoi I you you can call me you know you can call me to tomorrow we can have this conversation privately but no the the
back and forth can't happen at this part of the meeting I'm more than happy to have a discussion with you and I think the mayor do you do you still have contact information I'm sure you you sent it to me I believe so yeah and the manager and I had a discussion basically
he was educating me and I kept saying well can we do this and he would tell me why we can't it's a terrible situation I I feel for you I I I hate not having an answer but um with respect to the mayor he hates
not having the answer that isn't no he only likes yes that's the answer that the mayor likes unfortunately sometimes the answer is no and this is what the mayor is saying and what's true is that it's kind of out of our hands and in the
hands of your HOA if they're going to try to pursue anything that adds to the available ability of off street parking um know outside of what's currently in existence
okay any more comments from Council um we are now on to council comments um Mr Wright do you like to begin would you like to do Council
comments um we'll see everything we have to offer and I must say people doze I will say that the through the website people are using and taking advantage of our Recreation programs
which are very healthy and I must say through the grants that we pay it should be um I agree with councilman basella and so that's all I need to say about that also the Redevelopment
agency will meet sometime next week to go over uh our new strategic plan because as you know uh we need uh more affordable housing and we're going to look at that
plus uh apartments that we can use for lowincome housing I should have said that differently uh lowincome housing and affordable housing uh I thought they were the same
term but no they're two different terms so we're looking at that uh for our next phase in the Redevelopment area um which councilwoman franois is also on uh the the high school will have
its uh career day informational day and I was able to secure uh the electrical union the plumbers uh carpenters union union heavy metal heavy construction uh unions to
come and participate now they've done it before but along the way things fell by the wayside so they're going to come back and be a part of that um which is what they need to do and what we as the
parents or whatever however you want to put it need for our children to go to because if they're not going to college they're going to need a job and that's the way to go if you don't know what to do as a former Union member
um that's a pretty good deal also that uh Shi which is here in Franklin Township minority contractor owned uh on Davidson Avenue they will also be present
um they want to be they're looking forward to it and again something that our youth can get into of if not going to school and don't have an opportunity for another job um
and that's it Mr Mayor real quick thank you council member po Asik oh thank you mayor this is an anticipation so hopefully tonight the backyard chicken ordinance is passed and will become effective um we are in March
Madness so there's going to be an event called Coupe dreams an information session if you're interested in learning about how to have or keep a backyard flock um we're going to have an expert uh from Ruckers Cooperative Extension Kate Brown she's an assistant professor
and then also uh Katie nous our Animal control officer and we'll take questions from the audience um and hopefully some folks that are have flocks could come and and share their experiences and that's going to be on Thursday April 17th right here in the council chambers at 6 PM that's it thank you thank you
councilman vasella uh the main item I want to mention is um we didn't have Council comments two weeks ago but I think the week before that a few weeks back we had a a big presentation here by the study team that is handling the I'm going to call it the complete revamp of
the roadway from of Hamilton Street from New Brunswick to just slightly uh past Franklin Boulevard intersection there where the high SCH I think it's Viking Avenue anyway it was a wonderful presentation my understanding is that the county at least the team said they
would put it up it was here A bunch of us were here I was here um their County supposed we put it up on their website anybody in Franklin should be interested especially if you use or have interest in that Corridor cuz you're still taking comments from people and this really is
the time where they will consider um suggestions recommendations it was a very um um interactive experience with all the maps and everything else so when uh I'm going to try to get it up on our website it's already there coun it's
always been there the link to the No No the link to the county page has always been so the link to the county page is there and then if you want to see the presentation that's where you can find it um so not to get into a lot of details but there are a few things that
we could take the initiative on locally little little items that work kind of blend into what their grandiose plan is because that won the construction W start to 2029 which is four years but it goes quick but in the meanwhile we're going to be coming out with some uh
ideas um the Public Safety Committee and perhaps other committees so there's some things we could do in the meanwhile that uh should great L uh help um increase the safety of people using the corridor in adjoining streets more to come on that that was the the main meeting mayor
um thank you thank you Mike I'm almost to 60 of the people I Need for Speed hunks I thought I need about 45 but I'm working my way up to 60 and when I get
to 60 then we can talk on which street on which street every street but I'm looking at the four4 uh others are looking around and I won't say what street they're on but I
need 60 and I changed that to 60 because I wanted a broad array of people and and streets I just didn't want to concentrate on one street but I do have one street with about five people just
Dying For Speed humps uh but I'm looking at that to uh move forward so I can get them all together discuss it go back uh talk to the neighbors which which we must do talk to the neighbors about it
and then we can say about putting them there because where I have a funeral home in Irvington they just dropped them in nor they just dropped them and I know I can drop them but we need to talk to everyone just like sidewalks
when I put sidewalks on the program we actually got to everybody and no one had a complain so we're looking to sort of do the exact same thing thank you thank you councilman councilwoman Francois you know we've had meus francus
Francois yes Francisco Franc Francis Francisco we we've had late nights for like the last two weeks so I am going to pass with my public comments thank you very much Mr Mayor you are tonight's favorite
councilwoman councilman embarrassing we're all tired um just very quickly I just follow up councilman vas's comment about the Hamilton Street uh safety meeting it was a well attended meeting um quite a
number of citizens came in um they had given their feedback and some inputs and there were some um back and forth question and answer sessions uh so I took away a couple of points and uh I did follow up with uh the township
manager and the uh the public works so we would be uh doing some analysis uh and coming up with some action plan uh because the county project is a very long-term project uh for the uh things that they were suggesting it's going to
take 5 years uh to materialize so some of the things that we can do uh from from that inter from that session so which we will uh try to implement um other than that there were a couple of other meetings
and openings that we attended I I just want to do a plug for the food bank their annual to De Franklin is coming up on the 27th April um that's an event that I sponsor every year uh so uh I
would ask all of you to participate if you can in that event uh it's for a good cause um Fight Hunger in town very important over 7,000 people go hungry and they they're actually getting fed by food food bank so in order for them to
continue to provide that service we need to uh help them um raise money and I ask everyone to uh support uh food bank that's all I got mayor thank you thank you very much cman only Jaa oh man okay
this is for Bob Bob do do we have any f for dropping a microphone okay let me this okay I want to find out if we have any f for dropping
uh um materials on the road on any of these roads what's the in in like what type what type of material do you mean Furniture the dropped Furniture well it's Str littering among
yeah so yeah we have we certainly have ordinances that prohibit that yes okay can we post the fins over there that will eliminate where in particular would you Lane C Lane in my world you know
constantly they've been droing things so so we'll take a look at where in particular but and because a lot of Cordo is State Property so they would be the ones to post it but yeah we can certainly take a look of course okay yes well that is what I
have for tonight okay thank you councilman Kazi thank you Mr Mayor good evening everyone um right before the council meeting my colleagues uh and I attended the uh public safety meeting uh councilman
uh right with Ana and ambr and myself along with the Police director and our Township manager there are two things that I like to to mention uh there are going to be two mobilization by the police start in April 1st and uh
actually on April 1st uh they're going to be starting and it's the title of the mobilization is put the phone away or pay so they're going to be police that looking for people who may be using their phone or texting and just for your
information uh I understand there's $200 $250 penalty plus you have to go to court so please let everybody know that you love one know that put that phone away when you're driving the second mobilization which is going to be begin
on May 19th and through June 1st is click it or ticket so any passenger or drivers and children who do not have uh SE or who not wear a SE seat belt and uh
and the police sees them they're going to get tickets so please again encourage everybody your loved ones to wear seat belt the other thing that I wanted to mention is that our Police Department have a started podcast uh in fact they had the first
one and they're going to have more coming and they're talking about the main idea is just to let Community know what the police does and if there are some uh issues that police would like everybody to know they will be discussing for
example today when they had on their first one they talked about the traffic safety so just be aware of it look for um uh social media they will be linked so you can listen to those podcasts a couple other
uh we had our uh recent Advisory Board of Health meeting and we had two speakers we had Dr Gonzalez president of Zu fall Health along with Dr raali our superintendent and uh they mention that
the building that Zu fall is going to be uh occupying in the uh Middle School campus is going to be ready hopefully around April and maybe by June it will be open for the public they're going to be offering both medical and dental
services and will serve both students and the adults as well uh some of you may not know about Z zual Health um they have several Health Centers across New Jersey and last year they served about
52,000 patients 86% of them were below 200% of federal poverty level 50% of them they did not have have insure insurance and 76% of them were Hispanic and they also serve special population such as
homeless public housing Farm Workers Etc so we're looking forward to have that Center open and I'm sure is going to help our community members and it's going to help to close the gap in health inequality among our community
members um I also attended a few events two of them were annivers iies of couple of churches in our Township uh the um first uh I'm sorry the uh middle Bush uh reform church they
had their 191 first anniversary and it was just amazing event to hear them listen to their history and uh they are looking forward to celebrate the 200th year in nine
years and the other one was uh the 65th and by the way mayor thank you very much for that letter that you sent to them it was acknowledged and read so that was very nice uh the other one was the 65th anniversary by Holy Trinity Lutheran
Church and that was another great event I had the opportunity to be there they have a beautiful uh uh community garden as well that I learned that it's really amazing so congratulation to both both of them and uh you know we're looking
forward for them to celebrate more anniversaries I also enjoyed several intra face interface uh uh ifar or dinner at various uh centers including one at M Ali where they uh made a
donation of $11,000 to three of the organization or Township that serve food to the needy Food Bank GMA and nna relief USA so we thank the Muslim
Community for Their donation to to that cause um also April 7 to13 is the national uh National Public Health week and Governor issued a proclamation in
recognition of this week so that I just want to mention that as well that's all I have Mr Mary thank you oh one more I'm sorry the HRC meeting so we have an HRC meeting starting uh 700 p.m. tomorrow
and there will be a presentation by the president of South Bruns human relations commission to discuss their goals to see um you know what are the what programs they are involved and hopefully expand some of the programs that the uh that we
have and also for them to see what we do so it's kind of a collaboration is going to be at the room across the uh the hall thanks Mr Mayor thank you Deputy Mayor oud thank you um just a couple things so tomorrow and I was hoping that um
councilman and baron mentioned this um the master plan reexamination meeting is happening here at 7:30 tomorrow um for the bi zone so um I know a lot of folks would want to attend that meeting so just want to give that reminder that it's happening here uh tomorrow um I was
at summerfields um a couple weeks ago and spoke to a couple of the residents um around just checking in with neighbors and a lot of the concern that came in was around Public Safety so I am going to reach out to um our director Q
to see if we can do a mini Town Hall there um just 101 prevention um and safety request Somerset run is going to have their first uh safe New Jersey event hosted by our assemblyman Joel Danielson
um and that's on April 1st following U May 30th and Canal Walk so just want to again remind folks that those are events happening um the safe New Jersey is geared towards our seniors on senior freeze and some additional benefits on how you can save money and bring some
money to you so um please do attend those uh really good opportunity events um I know we were talking about the tragic earlier and I just want to also mention that um this Friday I believe believe there is um parks and
Rex is doing it's called Forever 55 event um friends and friends and it's a CPR event hosted by our Police Department so um if you haven't already registered please do register that's a great event and um a lot of learnings
there from our um Police Department um Marcy Street water fountain is in progress so it it I I believe that our work is done and it was so the plan is to have now New Jersey American make the
tap so I I would give it till probably mid late April and it'll be flowing water out of the tap to drink excellent thank you so much and a lot of folks in that side of the um in Somerset will be very happy dogs too dogs I was say so a
lot of our furry friends um because that Community it's a smaller Community section of our town and um residents like to walk their dog to this park pocket park called NOA Park and it didn't have a water fountain so we were able to get that water fountain um installed and it's a really cool
water fountain it's dual so it's for humans as well as the furry friends on the bottom it's a bowl and um so it serves two purposes and it's um much needed and thank you Township manager for putting that together with um American Water um I think the only other thing Al so affordable housing community
I think it's been mentioned I'm part of that community as well um the meetings scheduled next week so more to come from there and just the last thing that I want to point out I've heard a lot of and I've seen actually um things around so we have little kids and we have older
kids that go very early to school um and I'm seeing a lot of noise around school buses where cars are flying through um I just want to point out that it's you know Five Points um that's been reported by our Public Safety d if anyone found
gets a ticket Five Points get cut off but I think also it's a reminder that these are our kids right we cannot spare any of our kids so if you are driving please be mindful when you do see a bus with the red flashing which you cannot miss please stop I mean I stop way ahead
to make sure that you know there's four cars Gap just for the little ones to pass through and even the older CZ I mean some of the high school kids they look very tall now they look like adults but you know keep reminding that are passing through so just be very careful
thank you thank you um as was mentioned earlier during public session uh Deputy Mayor and I uh some others were uh in trening testifying to the public safety
and preparedness committee uh about warehouses warehouses are no longer permitted use anywhere in town that doesn't prevent people from from going to the zoning board for variance that's anybody's right as I've said before you
could go to the zoning board to put a rocket launching facility in the middle of Canal Walk I dare to say you won't get it but you could um I advocated that uh municipalities need to be able
to control work hours so that you not having trucks pulling in and out at night uh that traffic studies need not to be for the single facility but for uh all the facilities that might go in you know each
um no each snowflake says the Avalanche wasn't their fault um storm water uh regulations we need to be able to enforce storm water at time of decision not just time of
application Hurricane Sandy and Irene don't care about when you applied and when you were deemed complete um they're going to wreak their Havoc uh regardless so we need to have more control over storm water and then warehouses should
have to do uh air pollution studies and noise studies um when they're applying and there need to be standards for those that's all I have Mr manager thank you Mr Mayor um I I just have one upcoming event to report on and
and that is the annual tree sale for our shade tree commission um this year there are two trees that will be available to Residents to purchase um a swamp white
oak or an American yellow wood the information on either one of those trees is available on our website the these are not the tiny little you know 12in Twigs um they they are 4 to six foot trees the price is $110 a piece if
you're interested the the um like I said the information is on our website as well as the order form um and a and a a better description then I will give for each of those trees what types of soil
they're they're most um most suited for um one is an ornamental one is uh an oak tree so obviously not ornamental but just a green leaf tree um
so but I you know I just I want everyone to understand that if you're interested in buying it we're only purchasing 20 of them a piece so you need to get your order in as soon as possible if that's what you're looking to do this is not a
fundraiser for the shade tree commission this is a break even at that is our cost um to purchase them from the nursery is what you will pay and you get a little bit of a break on if you were to go buy one because we're buying 40 trees so we
get a break on what the trees cost from the nursery because we're buying it in in bulk um so um you know get your order in these These are um we we kind of got away over the last few years from doing
the shade the shade tree commission tree sale so I'm glad to see it back in Action again this year um councilman vasella is the uh is the council leaon to shade tree and it is one of the great pleasures of the township maners you to
be able to appoint the members to the shade tree commission and thank you manager for bringing that up I forgot thank you very much not a problem it's it's really what we're all about with with our tree catery and environmental concerns again really thank you and those trees are bargaining that price
they are absolutely a bargain for a 4 to6 foot tree of those types so and that's all I have Mr Mayor thank you thank you uh we're on to approval of the minutes item number 11 I present the following minutes to the township Council for approval executive session
January 7th executive session February 25th budget hearing March 10th work session a regular meeting March 11th and budget hearing March 18th do I have a motion so move seconded
seconded moved in seconded any discussion anyone like to pull an item um I would actually like to make a one edit to the work session regular meeting of March 11th uh when the uh Fire
District 4 spoke I would just like to put before their comment that I asked them uh to make a comment about uh the safety of if fire district three South Bruni Fire
District 3 didn't agree to a contract um I guess I need a a second on that seconded okay uh do I have to have two votes now one
on the edit or just on the no just on the on the minutes okay um any other discussion Madam clerk councilman EMB Barrison yes councilwoman franois yes councilman karazi yes mayor Kramer yes councilman
on jaka yes council member pnik yes Deputy Marine yes councilman vasella yes councilman R yes time to pay the bills approval of the warrants uh1 18,5 $8 1,835 on March 25th presents to the
township Council for payment uh do I have a motion on the warrants so moved so moved seconded seconded on any discussion anyone like to pull an item uh Madam clerk councilman EMB
Barrison yes councilwoman franois yes councilman karazi yes mayor Kramer yes councilman on Jaa yes council member pnik yes Deputy Mayor Dean yes councilman vasella yes councilman Wright yes it's now time for the Community
Development block block grant for 2025 uh a public hearing is in order for anyone to speak everybody left de a motion to open to the
public okay move then seconded have no we have all in favor say I I oppos say nay we're open to the public on this item only good evening everybody my name is Sharon clerk I'm the director at Central
Jersey housing I submitted an RP about um cbbg money and I just want to thank you that for many years now you have funded our nonprofit that's been around 37 years while we're in Somerville at least on average 20% of our uh clients
that we serve uh which are almost 100% very low low or moderate income are from Franklin Township and um this uh grant that we're looking for is $1,759 they'll serve 121 clients last year just a put in perspective we served
with $1,000 1224 clients so except for some increases that have happened which I'm sure you're all aware of what's going on um we want to try and keep helping folks that only gets us through about two qus of people were already at 78 clients
that we buildt already for last year for the 11,000 so um we go through the money pretty quickly and since there's a couple new faces I just like to come and I appreciate all your time and everything the council members do so I just want to take the opportunity to let you ask me any questions if you should
have any about Central Jersey and about who we serve and who we help every year if not the only other I want to tell I came from the county I know it was mentioned by quite a bit of people April is housing month in Somerset
County affordable housing and housing for everybody is important of all different types so Franklin does a fabulous job with having everything from shelters and group homes and everything you can think of so we have a calendar of events on our website we work with
collaboration with 72 other entities 24 of them are on for April doing events and resources so I just want those listening to know that that's out there and there's tons of free information on our website and everything we do is free of lost thank you everybody for what you
do for the community thank you and and and mayor i' just like to mention before Sharon sits down um that the that organization is is administers all of our owner occupied affordable housing
units in the township um I believe that very shortly she'll be taking on the newest ones that are recently constructed on Cedar Lane as well as two of the um affordable rental complexes new to me but uh Noom
they wanted us wew properties no but you you you do all of the Society Hill affordables as well as quailbrook East and also I believe two Somerset Park and Countryside and then we also do some
scattered habitat right right yeah the scattered habit just to give you an idea yes I appreciate that um we sent as were required by law a mailing to all the affordable homeowners in the county um and we have a maximum for the first time in my career 550 are registered in for
Thursday nights um if you're an affordable homeowner what you should know and 70 of those homeowners are Franklin home owners so yeah I me yeah so um we're proud of everything we do and we appreciate the collaboration with Franklin Township and the relationship
that are our staff has with Sharon and her organization is the back top notch so we appreciate everything that you do thank you so much thank you and thank you for keep helping everybody out there thank
you thank you I just want to thank Sharon for coming she's my star partner here he always comes to help me out on presid present ation like uh we do not make uh it mandatory for any of our uh requests
for funding applicants show up to show up to the public hearing but so I do have quite a few more that submitted for funding this year uh Middle Earth submitted for $24,988
for uh their program at the youth center with a goal of 24 children to be served the center for great expectations submitted for $20,000 for their daycare 28 children to be served uh home share
submitted for $10,000 270 Franklin Township residents to be served the Hillsboro y submitted for $2,688 students to be served these are at the title one schools of Elizabeth
Avenue Hill Crest in Pine Gro and they teach life saving skills to the K to five children at those schools sister s sister submitted for $5,900 for their um staff and support
and uh for their breast cancer survival um clients and they also submitted for um the facility Grant 30, 345 and S for Great Expectations submitted
for 24,8 those were the only applications I received this year in the uh facilities and the housing uh project so if we get enough money we'll probably have to add back
doing some affordable housing some housing Rehabilitation units in in this part of the funding package so that's it that's all I have for tonight thank very much excuse me which it it's Federal money correct yes it is this is
development black progr from which agency from the Housing and Community develop housing Urban develop you guys get every time it's 9:00 at night it's from HUD US Department of Housing and Urban
Development I've lost track and I generally don't talk about uh National issues but it this one directly affects us has HUD been dozed yet yes they have and we've survived uh it survived for
20125 only um they haven't completed but uh the continuing resolution which I pulled up it showed that um they funded Community Development block grant for $3.2 billion which was half of the
normal allocation that they got and they said that was because took out all the special programs they did like the economic development portion where they gave out special grants the Congress people could give out special grants they canceled all of that so there's
$3.2 billion for the entire country um and that will only cover till the end of the federal budget year um which was I believe it's uh October 30th oober 30 2026 2025
and so after that U we will see what happens nothing's guarantee that we work y okay thank you thank you that's also affecting the Franklin Township Housing Authority that would be correct
yes okay um do we have a motion to close to the public so move mve and seconded uh all in favor say I I oppose say nay public session is closed for that
portion now it's time for public hearing and adoptions on second reading first reading is when we announce to the world that we're considering an ordinance second reading is when we consider the ordinance to pass or not and have a public hearing this is ordinance number
44 59-25 and ordinance to vacate existing emergency vehicle and utility easement and accept an emergency access and utility easement Arrangement between Ewa
Somerset uh 400 owner LLC and the township of Franklin for the pr premise premises known as block 46801 21.15 Atrium Drive is presented for the
public hearing and final adoption public hearing in has been noticed as required to have a motion to open to the public so moved seconded then seconded on favor say I I oppos say a we're open anyone from the Press because they're the only
ones left want to ask a question seeing none motion to close second second second all in favor say I I fos say nay motion is carried public hearing is closed we have a
motion to adopt so moved seconded we' been seconded any discussion think it's pretty self-explanatory Madam clerk councilman EMB Barrison yes councilwoman franois yes councilman karazi yes mayor Kramer
yes councilman Oni Chaka council member pazik yes Deputy Mayor Dean yes councilman vasella councilman Wright yes okay we're going to skip the chicken
ordinance ordinance 44 6-25 an ordinance amending theal code of the township of Frankl County of Somerset state of New Jersey more particularly chapter 115 dogs and other animals adding article six backyard chicken
flocks I guess two birds are A Flock is presented for public hearing and final adoption the public hearing has been noticed as required to have a motion to open to the public so moov second all in favor say I I oppos say a it's
open uh any questions from the Press seeing no one I move we close public comment this time seconded seconded very good mve in seconded all paper say I I I post say n public session is closed on this Miss Mr
or pnac would you like to make a motion to adopt I I move we adopt the backyard chicken ordinance yes do we have a second second move then seconded any discussion Madam
clerk councilman EMB Barrison yes councilwoman Francois yes councilman Kazi yes mayor Kramer yes councilman on jaka council member yes Deputy Marine councilman bassella yes
councilman right yes Tada in 20 days you can have chickens 21 they take the hatch from egg 21 21 days yeah to hatch oh to hatch no but it's it's 20 days before the
ordinance becomes uh law or from 20 days from when it's published so conveniently chickens hatch within the estole period and if you had one that got laid today on an egg at this time if you were
sitting on an egg at this time it will hatch just in time for it to be legal to have them in your backyard I love that um we have no ordinances on first reading consent agenda items a through v as listed in the consent agenda portion
of this meeting I presented the township Council for adoption do we have a motion on the consent agenda so move second moved then seconded any discussion anyone like to pull an item or have an item
explained Madam clerk councilman EMB Barrison yes councilwoman Fran yes councilman karazi yes mayor Kramer yes councilman Ona yes council member vasnik Deputy May Dean councilman vasella yes
councilman right we have we have no resolutions to be voted on separately uh old business boards committees commissions and V and vacancies yes Mr Mayor I have one for the
recreation advisory committee you do absolutely Miss Maha shmer shama excuse me pronouncing that wrong um I looked at her resume it's
outstanding uh as a student it looks like she's throwing out a resume to to go to uh a job second level job somewhere out there because it's outstanding from
um UNICEF stem scks Girl Scouts Rucker Children's Choir arhythmic arts and dance studio Central Jersey College Prep girls JB basketball team um High School Magazine editor 2024 the
presents girl with impacts girls with impacts uh completed mini MBA program 2024 she is excuse me this residence is
outstanding to say the least the kind of person you better be nice to because you might be working for them some day boy if she wants to go on the muary business I'm going love her this is this is for the non- voting student member correct
yes uh anyone else have a nomination for that position anyone have a nomination for any other position we can do this by acclamation all in favor say I I oppos say nay
congratulations um we have no executive session do we have a motion to adjourn motion move second and all in favor say I oppos say nay we are
adjourned be well Franklin e for