Okay. 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 7 p.m. on Tuesday, September 30th, 2025.
Thank you. If we could all stand for the pledge of allegiance, followed by an invocation by Council Member Patnik. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. If there is to be peace in the world, there must be peace in the nations. If there is to be peace in the nations, there must be peace in the cities. If there is to be peace in the cities,
there must be peace between neighbors. If there is to be peace between neighbors, there must be peace in the home. If there is peace in the home, there must be peace in the heart.
Amen. Okay. Um, madame clerk, please call the role. Councilman, Councilwoman Francois, Councilman Karazzi, here. Mayor Kramer here. Councilman Oni Jaka here.
Council member Bataznik present. Deputy Mayor Udin here. Councilman Vasinella here. Councilman Wright here. We're on to item number five on the agenda. Copies of the agenda are available near the clerk. Um
we're on to accommodations and proclamations and the save a life proclamation by council member Kurazzi and Vasinella. Good evening everyone. I see a few people that they maybe are here for this
proclamation. So please come forward if anybody is here for this and I guess we'll introduce yourself later on after I read the proclamation. Okay. Uh save a life day September 25th
2025. Whereas the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistic Provisionally reported 80,000 391,
let me repeat that, 80,391 drug overdose death in the United States in 2024. And whereas save a life day was established in West Virginia as a pilot in 2020
and has increasing capacity each year. And whereas in 2024, Somerset County participated in Save a Life Day and distributed over 640 Nlloxxen kits in one single day to
residents, contributing to the over uh overall success of the event. 35 states participated and collectively distributed over 84,000 nonoxin doses. And whereas
Narcan is defined as an over-the-counter medication that is used to reverse a known or potential opioid overdose. And whereas on September 25th, 2025,
all the states in the United States were invited to participate in the first ever National Day of Free Noxen. and whereas save a life day will be held on the fourth Thursday of September every year.
Now therefore be it resolved that the Franklin Township mayor and the council do hereby proclaim September 25th, 2025 as save a life day. The mayor and the council recognize the significance of
saving lives and continue to support all efforts to equip our community with life lifesaving devices such as Narcan. And with me we have u actually three ladies that I know them. And uh here
Donna Alissi she is the the director or chair of uh advisor board of health and we have uh Phyllis Beiel who is the champion and I believe the lead for well with
also here should be talking into the mic here. Why don't you talk into the mic? We have our co-chairs of our stigmafree council, our chair of advisory health. Um, so why don't come up to the mic and please Hi, my name is Safy Callen. I'm the
special projects manager for the township of Franklin as well as the co-chair for the stigmafree council. Um, for save a life day, we talked about how there's a free distribution of Narcan. Uh, we also have that same distribution
here in the municipal building. So those that are in need and those that know others are in need can get free Narcan over at the counter with no questions asked. Phyllis and I do the stigmafree council which our mission is to
eradicate stigma around uh recovery to eradicate stigma around people seeking mental health um help. And we meet every third Wednesday of the month. We have two more meetings left in this month. So that is October 15th and November 19th.
You can come as a guest. You can come and join as a member. And you can come and just celebrate life in Franklin and do programming to help others do so as well. Thank you. Um, this was a monumental undertaking
because Franklin was one of the the 21 municipalities in Somerset County that had a save a life day. And Stephanie Billets with the Department of Human Services is the champion of all this. She put this all together and she gave
us the supplies and she helped us to find the sites. And I'm proud to say that in Franklin, we partnered with the Franklin Senior Center. We partnered with the Franklin Food Bank, Communities in Crisis, uh, Communities in Connection, which has a brand new
building over by the old BAM bakery. So that that's going to be a walk-in. If anyone needs help, wants free nlloxxone, wants free information for themselves, a loved one, someone they know, just wants to spend some time with compassionate people, that would be the place to go.
and also schoolhouse pharmacy also partnered with us. Uh so this was uh this was a wonderful event. Uh it it heightened the fact that we are not over the nlloxxone. We're not over the opiate epidemic and the lockxone is still very important. In fact, right now we're in the fourth wave in which we're seeing
overdose deaths with fentinyl and psycho stimulants meaning cocaine and metaphenamine. And I I went to the senior centers because that's one of the growing groups that we're seeing overdose deaths in. And so this is just something to always be mindful of. And
if someone offers you nlloxxone, I would strongly recommend taking it. It may not be for you, but one day you can save a life. Thank you. Thank you very much. This a really important service and the grassroots efforts have already um been very
helpful from what I understand. So we're all supportive of what you're doing. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for coming. Thank you, Mayor. Next on the agenda is a proclamation for fire prevention week.
Count uh Deputy Mayor Uden. How are you guys? Good evening everyone. Whereas the people of Franklin Township are grateful to our firefighters who protect our lives and property and provide other emergency services throughout the year. And whereas the
fire prevention week is observed each year during the week of October 9th to commemorate the great Chicago fire of 1871 and to remind people about the importance of fire prevention. And whereas the year's fire prevention week theme, charge into fire safety, lithium
ion batteries in your home, works to better educate the people uh educate the public about the safe use charging and disposable of lithium ion batteries that power many common devices including smartphones, tables, tablets, ebikes, scooters, power tools, and various
household items. Now therefore, we Philip Kramer, mayor and chief ostein deputy mayor of the Franklin Township of Franklin Somerset County, New Jersey, do hereby proclaim October 5th, 11, 2025 as fire prevention week in Franklin Township and encourage
all residents to participate in fire prevention activities and to support the fire safety education efforts of lo of our local fire departments and emergency personnel. In witness where we have here on set to our hands and cause official seal of the township of Franklin to be affixed this
30th day of September 2025. Um I just want to say that you know I I hear about this a lot when I walk and um the one thing that I provide advice to folks is you know be careful of those third party chargers that you guys get
off because a lot of this um and I'm sure uh Mr. house here will mention is that it's it's one of the causes. You know, when you get batteries off of things that are not um branded or they're not meant for a specific item
that's mentioned, it can cause fires and it can cause a lot of issues. So, um do you want to add anything else, Mr. House or? Sure. Thank you, Deputy Mayor. Um
yeah, this this year's theme is to charge into fire safety and your lithium ion batteries safety. Um and they're everywhere in our homes. As the deputy mayor said, the our cordless power tools, our cell phones, our laptops, our
cameras, remote control toys, um numerous appliances, your cordless vacuums, every everything is using these batteries. Um, and as she said, the one of the big things is to buy safely. Buy things that are ULlisted. If it's not
ULlisted, um, you should avoid that purchase and not use that those devices. Um, and one of the things that we're finding is exactly what the deputy mayor said is
people are using knockoff batteries or knockoff power cords. And when a device gets approved by UL, it's designed with the manufacturers's charger and power cord. And if you use one that isn't,
there's the strong possibility that you could end up causing a problem. Um, so you need to follow the manufacturer's instructions and use the manufacturer's um equipment. Uh, the other thing is disposing of the batteries when they're
uh you need to get rid of them. You can't you should never throw those lithium ion batteries into the garbage because they may still have some charge in them. What happens is when you throw them in the garbage and the uh trash
truck comes around, it gets compacted and the battery gets crushed and if it has still has charge a charge in it, it can cause the truck to catch fire. we we're seeing both with trash trucks and
the recycling trucks um fires involving that. So, what you need to do is not throw it away in the trash, take it to um either the Somerset County hazardous waste days, which I believe there's one coming up on the 18th, which is the last
for this year. But um even if you miss that, there's an organization called Call to the number two recycle.org. Call torecycle.org. And when you click on go to that
website, you put in the zip code and it will give you all the facilities around here that take recy uh lithium ion batteries. Lowe's and Home Depot are big um companies, Staples.
um you know, but it'll give you a list of places and if you have um the one thing that they the Lowe's and Home Depot and stuff won't take because they can't is the large batteries for
bicycles, but at that same website, you can click on a bike battery and it will list there's uh a number of bike shops in Hills. There's one in Hillsboro. Uh, I think there's two in Princeton where you could take the bike batteries or the
the um ecooter batteries and they will uh recycle them for you. All right. Thank you very much. Okay. Thank you very much. [Applause]
Next item is item number six, upcoming events. I know the deputy mayor had something. I have two things. Two things. Yes, I have two things. So, um, one is for Councilman and Barson who is in here. October 4th, which is the
Saturday, is a Diwali festival that's happening at the Franklin High School. I believe cases starts at 6:00. So, please join us uh for that festival that happens every year. Thousands. I think last year we had a thousand or so or 2,000 people that showed up. So, it's a pretty massive festival and it's really
nice and interesting to learn about other folks and their culture and just the diversity in Franklin. Um the second one I had is uh we're doing another movie night mayor in town. Oh. at the NASA Park and um we're uh showing Finding Nemo and we're going to
give some light refreshments um sponsored by Assemblyman Joel Danielson. Um so that's happening on um October I'll tell you I just saw that October 10th at 6:30 at Massa Park. So hopefully you guys come through and and
join us. have your um lawn chairs and blankets and we had a good amount of turnout last year and I'm sure we're gonna have one this year too. So see you guys there as well. Thank you. Very nice. Any other council member have an event to announce?
Mr. Manager, have you any? The the only thing that I have to remind um those who have um family members or or loved ones who are uh would benefit from therapeutic
recreation activities. Um our recreation department sponsors Friday night dropins um every Friday from 7 to 8:30 um with a various theme. This Friday is craft corner. Next Friday, food forthought for
those who um are in need of therapeutic recreation activities from the ages of 13 to 40. So it it says young adults there. There are some who I guess I
don't know. I thought 60 was still a young adult, but apparently we cut the line at 40 for young adults for our therapeutic recreation programs. But that's every Friday night at our senior center, community center here in uh the municipal complex.
Okay. Thank you. Moving on to item number seven, public discussion. I ask for unanimous consent to open to the public. Hearing no objection, we're open for public session. Uh anyone wishing to speak on anything to do with government may do so. You're limited to five
minutes. No yielding of time may only come up once. Please state your name and address. Good evening. Uh my name is Phyllis Beiels and I reside at six Alma Court Somerset. I'm here tonight as the co-chair of the Franklin Township Municipal Alliance Committee for the
Prevention of Substance Abuse and the Youth Services Commission, which are actually two separate boards um with slightly different but overlapping missions. Um they meet at the same time, generally the fourth Wednesday of the month. Um, I will continue, of course, to be involved with our stigmafree
Franklin initiative to decrease stigma around mental health treatment and substance abuse treatment. Community stakeholders are crucial for the success of drug abuse prevention efforts because they provide firsthand insights into the local needs, foster community engagement
and support, and implement tailored solutions that align with the community's unique social and environmental factors. involving various community members, including leaders, residents, and organizations, ensures projects are relevant, accepted, and
effective in reducing substance abuse and improving public health outcomes. After all, and may people don't know that, but this is what the municipal alliances across the state are all about. Sadly, sometimes key stakeholders are missing. We uh we need we need more
participants, more residents in our community to step up and be involved in our substance abuse prevention um and our uh juvenile de del delinquency prevention efforts which are the focus of the youth services commission. If anyone is interested or willing to
consider serving, they can file a letter of interest on the township website. Look for municipal alliance under the various commissions listed on the website. I want to bring to your attention town council members the following. At the September 23rd meeting
of the Franklin Township Municipal Alliance Committee, a motion was made and passed unanimously and um thanks to our meeting virtually now. Uh Councilwoman Francois was able to be there. Uh and uh the uh motion was to
make a recommendation that a Franklin Township Opiate Settlements Funds Advisory Committee be formed for the purpose of making recommendations on dis dispersement of our opiate settlement funds and that representatives be
included from the Municipal Alliance, the Advisory Board of Health, the Franklin Township Police Department, community members who have lived experience, i.e. they may be in recovery andor family members who have been affected by the opiate crisis. So, I'm
here tonight to make sure that all of our town council people are aware that this um took place, this vote uh was unanimous and I would ask that you whatever we have to do to move in this direction take place uh expediently that
we don't waste too much time on it. How we make it happen. I understand that of course the township always needs fiscal responsibility, accountability. The funds are there and some of them have been dispersed over this past year. Um but I think the more that we have
community participation, involvement, we have a lot of people who are skilled, knowledgeable in the area of substance abuse, pharmarmacology, uh social work, uh prevention work. Let's put our talents and resources to work to help make some good decisions
that will benefit our community and reduce the likelihood of opiate um deaths in Franklin Township and support those people who are in recovery and prevent absolutely and try to prevent this from developing with our young people. Thank you.
Thank you. Anyone else wishing to speak? Hello, my name is Barbara Burns. I live at 79 Havill Place in Somerset and um I believe I've spoken to a couple of people on the council about an issue
that I'm having. Um, I live at Quellbrook at Country Club Homes, which is off of Cedar Grove Lane and is directly adjacent to the Cedar Grove Center, the plaza there at 120 Cedar Grove Lane.
And um um the residents that live there are having uh or have been having for a while now an issue with the uh tractor trailer parking behind the um the gym.
Um over time there is more and more tractor trailers that are parked there. And um I the reason I decided to come tonight was because of I saw the ordinance F here of routine use of
on-site generators powered by fossil fuels is going to be uh you know an ordinance prohibiting it. I was wondering if we could piggy back on to that. Um something an ordinance um not allowing tractor trailers to park in a
shopping plaza adjacent to where people's homes are, especially when in the summertime these refrigerating trucks have been running their diesel engines all day and all night long, emitting all kinds of fumes to the
residents um that live in the in the homes there. I know other people have approached some of your the council members here about this issue. Um I haven't I I seem to have come against up
against a wall a wall of I don't know what it is but I haven't heard back from anybody and and nothing is done. the owner of the um shopping plaza doesn't have their name listed anywhere. And
also there's a lot of debris um garbage, junk um all over the grounds in the back of the shopping center adjacent to uh near where our dumpsters
are. So, between Country Club Homes property and the shopping center property, there's like a wooded area. And in that wooded area, there's all kinds of tires and mattresses and and it's awful. It's just awful. And um so
if if somehow something could be done to send a letter to the owner of that property asking them to clean it up and if there could be an ordinance. I believe there are ordinances in the township prohibiting um tractor trailer
parking in shopping plazas, other shopping plazas within um Franklin Township. if we could somehow use that same ordinance and apply it to this particular shopping plaza. I mean, I'm
we're at Quailbrook Country Club Homes and uh you know, it's it's it's not pleasant to have to listen to the rumbling of the diesel and and smell the fumes. right now my husband's going through cancer and just makes me wonder
where he you know where he got that from having to smell all those fumes and u so basically in a nutshell that's my request is if something could be done to stop the trucks because there it's not getting better like anything when
there's a problem if you don't address it it's just going to get worse and there are more trucks there now than ever more okay and Um, I don't know why. I don't know why. I've never seen tractor Why do tractor trailer trucks I
saw a tractor trailer cab actually? It didn't have a truck behind him, but it was the cab drive straight through the front part of that shopping plaza from uh the exit from the entrance near uh
the entrance to Quailbrook uh country club homes. He drove all the way down past Starbucks and went out the New Brunswick Road exit. My my jaw dropped. I couldn't believe it. But that's what people do. They take advantage of of situations. And I'm just bringing it to
your attention because you probably don't know about it. But uh there's been a couple of us that live there that um have tried to make efforts to get some help for the situation. I would appreciate if anything could be done about it and not or at least give an
explanation why something cannot be done about it. I I would just like to understand. Thank you very much. Thank you. Anyone else? Good evening. I'm Deborah Enman, 67 Robert right here in Somerset. and this is my second time coming to complain
about a rooster in my neighborhood on Phillips Road. I've been to the zoning board and to no avail the rooster is still there and according and it is to my knowledge that the ordinance for having farm pets in a residential area
has been modified but however there is a provision in the ordinance that says prohibited practices roosters are prohibited in residential areas to prevent disturbance due to crowing. This
rooster crows all day every day. Okay. It is the third house from Matilda and Phillips Road. And I don't understand why I have to do the leg work when my tax dollars pay your employees
in the zoning and animal control to go out there and find out where this rooster is. It's been over a year and it has got to stop. Thank you.
Uh Benjamin Guy, 35 patent drive. Um just to highlight a couple events uh because next month is breast cancer awareness month and um I didn't hear really uh talked about yet um for next month. So, a couple events that um public might need to know about. Uh, one is um annually sister Sister to Sister
does their uh event which is going to be hosted in Piscataway um on October 4th from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. in Johnson Park. It's not hosted in Somerset this year, but it's hosted in Johnson Park this year. So, just in case everybody wants to know, October 4th for Sister Sisters Breast Cancer Walk. Um,
additionally, there is another uh community event to raise uh raise money for October 6 for um at Quailbrook for a potential uh golf program that just has been trying to be brought here from from um from a red uh from a gentleman Daryl Smith who's uh work with the Boys and
Girls Club in uh Jersey City trying to raise up a for another youth activity program that he's talked to with the parks and recck department. They're actually doing an event October 6 at uh Quail Brook Park. Um you can find that information through birdies and uh birdies and bogeies and pars on um on
outside again October 12th um there's another breast cancer uh walk um in um Johnson Park again by Sharper Minds one 1 to 4 p.m. um is run walk um and struts. That's another local event during the October for breast cancer
awareness. And then Sister Sister also has another event October 13th in Ringwoods at her and um Glenn's course 7:30 to 3:30. As far as another event, the one event I did not hear about um and I guess Mr. Voner get to this with Parks and Rec later on is that um the
Halloween on Hamilton Street. I know we have a date October 25th, but I haven't had uh seen a flyer out there for Parks and Wreck and everybody else to be advertising. So just because I sit on the Hamilton Street board is going into October. I just want to make sure that we present present that um out there so that the public knows because we got I
got questioned about it and I don't know what to tell them. So I just want to make sure it's done so that we can start registering the people that actually want to appear in a trunk or tree festival. So that is um that's one thing. The second the last thing I got a question on is because Mr. Miss Francois and um Ram is not here but I always ask
about the uh workforce portion of what we're doing. One is I want to know where we stand because specifically for Ram um when he comes back is that um we tried to do an event with Raton Valley at uh at Constell property for the last 3 to 5 years for workforce things that it's not
working. So we need to look at another direction. The reason why I asked that question is because Miss Francois, one of our last council board meeting, I asked her directly. I said, are we going to continue to do programs with the school district for workforce additives because of way the state and the federal governments are moving towards trade
schools? I rather be h ahead rather than behind with things because if we already have a constant program that we do, it's easier to get state and federal funding because we're already in a working model. So what I'm asking is that just where we stand with that that relationships that are there were we were we moving for votech and uh vot
support in the in the city all together because we did step up. I applaud the council for actually putting the money up to do it. But I want to know what the continuous is going to be because it's hard for students in this day and age to get jobs. And it's a big thing with actually getting certifications and trades where we should actually be
trying to focus on because a lot of these kids are not going to college and a lot of these a lot of these families are desperate with actually trying to get employment. So what I'm trying to do is I'm trying to build a better community around that to actually make sure that we can move forward together. And it is not just can't be just put on the school board because we can't pay
the municipal tax. We can't do that. That's not that's not going to fly going forward at all. Are you here you guys are hearing the complaints about that. We got to find better ways to do this. And again, for a city government to actually step up like other county uh other city governments to advocate for this would actually help out a lot lot
for the families and residents that are here because a lot of these kids are not go to jobs. They can work for the parks and rec commission. They can work in civil service. They can work in other areas and we got to start looking at backfilling that. So it's not just on the school district to train these kids to do that. It is also on us as a
community to actually push these type of things. So that is my time. Thank you. Hi Patrick Murray. Uh Lean Hughes Road. Uh even though I live off of JFK Boulevard, I spent a lot of time on the west side of the township. uh largely because my daughter is a girl scout and
has spent many summers at Camp Oakspring over there on uh Western Road and she's now a lifeguard there. So, we're going to be spending many more summers dropping her off while she does that. So, I I see a lot when I drive through there uh about the warehouses and the development that's happened there. And I
do have some questions because I've been hearing some things that that have confused me. I'm hopeful that maybe you can clarify uh some of what I've heard here. Um, so my understanding is that council has passed an ordinance that
bans future warehouse development, but then I've been hearing that there's some draft ordinance that you're considering about bringing back um warehouses in some shape, way, shape, or form uh somewhere in the township.
And I I was wondering what that means and if you could talk about that a little bit and if you do bring warehouses back. I've also heard that we can um make them pay a little bit more of their share um through something
called impact fees. I've heard people talk about the fact that these are in other towns um and they help to uh raise the revenue that warehouses bring. Uh and so I I haven't heard anything about that from council. So I'd like to know a little bit more about those uh two
things if you would in your time for uh discussion of the public questions. Thank you. Anyone else wishing to speak Michelle Peterson 66 Wilson Road. So I rarely get up here to speak at these meetings. Uh but tonight the questions
of accountability in Franklin really can't be ignored. We have a town council made up of entirely one party. We have multiple committees and advisory boards that are overwhelmingly one party as well. And I get it. That's the way of democracy. Um we're outnumbered in this
town. Republicans are outnumbered in this town almost four to one. So I get that, right? But to start, let's consider this. A Republican friend of mine was recently asked to serve on the planning board, but she was told by the president of the Democrat club present tonight that she would first need to switch parties to become a Democrat
before she could be appointed. So, not knowing any better, she switched. And I'm wondering, is that how the appointments in Franklin are supposed to work? Um, then there are uh questions of OPER requests. So, the law says, as far
as I understand it, that responses should come within seven days of an open request, but sometimes that happens and sometimes it doesn't. And I'm aware that you're allowed to have extensions um up to a certain point and that eventually they can even be denied. But that's not the case here. So, in early August, I filed a request for records on who
handles our tax appeals. And I didn't get an answer until I physically went to the clerk's office last week. I had to physically go in there and what I found is maybe the reason why didn't my request was so delayed. I found that the firm of Schaefer and Jello was handling
our tax appeals. Um Schaefer being our summer Somerset County Democrat chair. Tina Jallo is obviously the surrogate. I from what I understand online and from and I could be wrong. Uh they are part of that firm. So over the last 10 years, Franklin's paid that firm more than $1.2
million. So I'm wondering why did it take so long to get those records. Um by the way, we still haven't gotten our line by line of the budget that we've requested through Oprah. that's been since early August as well. I'm not I I he's given up on that one. Um conflicts of intr of uh interest are another issue
tonight. Let me save that one for last in case I run out of time. Um respectfully, um to the to the mayor who accused me of insulting him recently uh because I said Democrats don't always pay their vendor fees and I gave you the example that a Fourth of July event
Democrats set up tents and tables without paying their fees or reserving their space. You said it was an oversight. Okay. Um, it did leave the recreation department in an awkward position of asking sitting council members to members to pay the uh the fee after the fact. That's very awkward for
them. Um, shortly after the council decided to refund everyone's fees that night even though the event went on. So, I don't know that done uh to make the Democrats look better for not paying their fees in the first place. I don't have any idea. Um, but it's still happening today. Uh, the Democrats are
advertising a weekly day of action. These are events at the township gazebo through October 26 and they've reserved they haven't reserved or paid for those dates yet. They're using the gazebo anyway. So that's five hours a day, five
days a week uh five weeks in a row totaling 25 hours. And at $25 per hour, you guys would owe $625. So my question is, are you going to pay that? Um, are you going to be required to go through the same reservation process as the every other resident and
group in this town? And when our organization has a gazebo reserved on the 26th, the same day that you're advertising, who gets it? You or the people who um properly reserved it? So, again, I don't really like coming up here to speak at these meetings. Um, but
I really feel like these questions need to be asked. Um, I think it's a very coincidental and interesting question that the gentleman previous to me had, um, gives you guys a good chance to counter anything that we heard last night. I think that's very coincidental.
Um, and I believe that at the debate that we heard last night, um, everything that said was accurate and I can explain that later if anyone would like to see me outside. Um, and then regarding conflicts of interest, and I hate doing this, but you know, and maybe I'm even wrong, but tonight you guys are voting on an ordinance to prohibit the routine
use of on-site generators powered by fossil fuels or petroleum projects. One of you guys is the head of the League of Con conservation voters. That's an organization that openly advocates for these very policies. Um, and again guys, I could be wrong, but shouldn't you
recuse yourself from positions that kind of overlap uh so directly with township business? And how is it that that same league has endorsed that same person running for reelection in this campaign uh coming up in November? Doesn't that
raise serious accountability questions? Um, and was his opponent even asked for his positions on the issue? And I know the answer to that, and it's no. So, thank you guys and I hope that you found it to be respectful questions. Thanks. Dina Lux, 51 Patriots Way in Somerset.
Um, I was at a forum last night and I have a question about emergency response time. At the forum, I heard that our town, our entire town has only two ambulances that respond to medical
emergencies. I also heard that the Amazon warehouse had 250 emergency calls. Can is that true? I want to know if that's true and uh I just am curious about your response to
that. Thank you. Anyone else wishing to speak? Beverly Lawson, 2004 Amwell Road. I'm here to revisit my pothole question. All right. I don't know if it went through to your website because I did it on two different computers and it's still
processing like so I don't know if it went through but uh my main pothole issue which is not really a pothole is a man-made crater on Church Hill between Veronica and Clyde headed towards Clyde. It's up on that right hand side there.
You don't even really see this especially if it's starting to get dark. You just hit it. I don't know who did what work on it or whatever, but that's one of my main holes. But my main question is whenever anyone I don't care if it's a county road or back road, I
don't care. It's in the township of Franklin. If anyone cuts across the roadway, is there anything in writing, ordinance, law, whatever where they have to at least fill that hole up to the roadway? I know it will settle. Everybody knows it will settle, but when
it just starts off as a crater, I just want to know, is there anything in writing that will prevent them from leaving it as a hole? Right. My other question is, and something I just noticed the other day going down World's Fair Drive where the old ice skating rink is, it still has
that name up there. And I checked and it's no longer that. So, is there anything that prohibits people from putting up the real name of what a business is in town? Because that sign's been there for more than a year, and that place has probably not been that in
like two years. So, no ordinance or anything to force people to put up the correct name of a business. So, they could just leave it as is. Okay, good to know. Thank you.
Anyone else wishing to speak? Javon Walker, 15 CUN Street. Um, just a random question. Is there any thing that we can do as a township or even township council to increase penalties or fines on individuals that drive past like school buses um whenever they stop? I
like there are so many divisive issues in townships and in the country altogether. But one thing that just doesn't make sense as to when drivers they see that a school bus is stopping and letting kids on and off and people just bypass that and go across the stop sign. Like I'm just wondering if there are any increased penalties or ways that
we can I don't know add in speed bumps or do whatever in order to um make sure that kids don't get sideswiped um when they're getting on or getting off of the school. That's the only thing that I have to ask. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? Seeing no one come forward, I ask
percanimous consent to mayor. One more. Oh, okay. Thank you. Good evening, mayor and council members. My name is Christopher Voluone, 3503 Sunny Slope Road, Bridgewater. Uh, I am
the executive director of TNR.org, a cat welfare organization founded in Somerset and now headquartered in Raritin. I'm also New Jersey certified animal control officer. I'd like to use this time to respectfully address some of the
comments uh from the council and questions that arose during the last meeting uh during the portion that was allocated for the public discussion on the feral cat amendment ordinance.
Um, so one thing that was mentioned was the possibility of a TNR program for Franklin Township. Uh, Councilman Onia Jaka, sorry for if I pronounced that wrong. Pretty good.
Uh, nice. Uh I believe he mentioned that uh during his tenure overseeing the Franklin Township Animal Shelter uh during his research he saw that all of the programs in New Jersey were run
by private organizations and so far no private organization had stepped up for Franklin. Uh so I thought it might be helpful if we just took a look at some of the models in place in other parts of New Jersey in case that might be something
the town would be uh interested in. Uh so real quick uh right here in Somerset County uh the arrangement that well the most prominent arrangement I guess
that exists uh is uh with Branchburg and Bridgewater. They both provide TNR services uh at no cost to the community, but the cost is actually covered in the animal
control contracts. So, Somerset Regional Animal Shelter, they are the animal control uh provider for Branch Branchburg and Bridgewater. Um as part of the animal control contract, it includes TNR services. Um the residents
don't pay anything, but obviously Somerset Regional gets their their fee. Um that's included. Um I guess another model you could say which is uh newer and more innovative is
Essex County. So Essex County, they have their animal control provider, but separately they contract with three TNR organizations. Again, these are private organizations uh similar to what the the councilman
had suggested. Um but they're providing this uh the TNR services. They're managing the programs uh these three organizations. Uh they're overseeing the trapping. uh making sure these animal these cats get fixed and
basically they I mean they do have contracts with the uh the county so they are getting reimbursed for the fee of the spays and the neuters for these cats. Um so in a nutshell that's kind of how it
works in the state. uh if the town is interested in something like that, I would suggest that there's probably no shortage of organizations that would be willing to step up and work with Franklin. Uh there is just uh the
obvious issue of the fees for spaying and neutering, which does add up. Uh lastly, Mayor Kramer, uh you mentioned that you looked at the available studies on TNR uh several years ago. I don't remember exactly perhaps 10 years ago
and you found that the data was kind of sparse and uh you know I commend you for trying to look and see uh you know whether it actually works. I can tell you that there is more uh data available now and most of the longunning studies
show that TNR works if it's done correctly, especially if it's accompanied by general education to the public. That includes the importance on spaying and neutering their personal pets. uh which again
it's kind of a it's a broad effort and in conclusion if you're interested I'd be happy to present some of the studies to you and have a discussion about whether it might be something that could work in Franklin Township in some
fashion. Thank you. Sir, sir, my card. Contact me and I'll get a meeting with you, myself, and me. Council member Patasnik figure it out. And it was actually me that asked that
said that statement about others that we need public people helping. Uh people mix up Charles and I all the time. So that's okay. I was once third ward councilman. So that's that's why that's why. Anyone else wishing to
speak? Oh, you're double teaming us. Hi. Uh my name is Manavi Barthacer. Uh 642 Road. Just a little louder, please. if we want to be able to hear you. Um, my name is Manavi Baracer. Uh, I live in 642 Amwell Road, Hillsboro, New
Jersey. Um, I am the volunteer director for our organization. Uh, the 1h hour feeding time limit for feral cats is impractical. It places an
unnecessary burden on feeders, requiring them to remain on site for extended periods so that every cat in the colony has a chance to eat. On top of the considerable time we already dedicate to helping community cats, I have witnessed
cats chase, bully, instigate fights with other smaller, more timid cats over the food. Some are so scared that they do not come out to eat until the feeding site is clear. Or sometimes they don't get to eat at all and resort to scrging around
for leftover food in the dumpsters. Um I only have one copy of this, but this is a picture of a cat just recently. Um, he's eating a slice of pizza around surrounded by garbage that the people in the apartment complex uh
just threw around. That's not from us, the watermelon. Um, over time, this competitive behavior can lead to malnutrition, stress, and social isolation for the younger, weaker members of the colony.
and therefore only a short feeding period. With the short feeding period, the vulnerable cats have little to no chance to eat. Instead of promoting health and order, this restriction unfortunately can lead to starvation, malnutrition, and increased suffering
among the most among the most defenseless members of the colony. As for the health issue, uh when providing assistance to a colony, we have a we as an organization have a thorough process for training feeders in
best practices that include maintaining sanitary feeding stations, removing leftover food, washing or disposing of containers, disposing of other waste correctly to protect both people and animals. Additionally, uh I want to
expand on a concern that was brought up by another female volunteer feeder from the last meeting. Speaking as a female who has helped for colonies in many different communities, I already encounter
uh criticism and hostility from some community members who dislike cats. And at times I have unfortunately endured comments that made me feel uncomfortable and unsafe. Extending the time that a feeder must remain alone at a feeding site would
make this volunteer work less safe, especially for females. Um, lastly, as we observe September's National Suicide Prevention Month, I want to share that as a person who has endured
struggles in the past. Uh, caring for feral colonies has been more than just volunteer work. Um, it's given me purpose. After a very rough period in my life and a hospital stay last year, helping these
cats have given me something to look forward to each day. Um, and knowing that our cats that there are cats that depend on me to continue living another day has kept me grounded and motivated to continue to maintain
and manage colonies through TNR. Their quiet trust reminds me that even small acts of kindness matter and that life, both theirs and mine, also has value. Restrictive feeding ordinances may seem minor on paper, but they can take away
the lifeline that this work provides to both animals and people who care for them. I hope the council members will consider not only the welfare of the cats, but the pressure that will be put on feeders like me if the onehour
restriction is not removed. Um, again, I mean, I work three jobs. I work in an elementary school for special education. Um, on top of that, I work at for animals uh in a, you know, taking care
of them. And then I'm also going to be working as a professional like play-based therapy partner for kids with autism. On top of all this, like being a part of this organization has really helped me, but I would like to continue
to doing this work. Um, however, like this 1hour uh restriction is really going to be tasking on what I can do. But yeah, that's all I had to say. Thank you for your time. Thank you and thank you for having the
courage to share that. Anyone else? Seeing none, I ask for unan unanimous consent to close the public portion. Hearing no objection. Dr. Karazzi touched his microphone. I
thought he was going to object. Hearing no objection. Public session is closed. Um, do any council members want to respond? Yes. I'd like to add one thing for Mr. uh guys. First of all, thank you so much
Mr. Guy for bringing this cancer awareness uh next month. Just want to let you know that uh we will have a proclamation to uh increase awareness about the uh breast cancer and also uh
we have a great workshop which is going to be u let me just exactly tell you where it's going to be held. It's going to be at 47 city girl lane at the uh the masjid ali and it is a workshop. There
are going to be three panelists of MDs uh include an oncologist and it's going to be on October 26 from 2 to 4 and it's a workshop uh presented by the Brilliance Foundation International in
collaboration with Masali 47 city girl lane. I encourage uh all of anybody uh that that may uh wanted to learn more about it, please come and join. This is going to be local in our community. But thank you very much for bringing that
up. Anyone else from council? Yes, mayor. I would like to address a couple of the questions. Go ahead. Um I'll start with first uh on the warehouse um question that came in. So uh there's just been a lot of um
information that's leaking and it's misleading and I want to make sure we provide the facts of what's been happening. Um there's a question about the ordinance that got pushed down. So the Bright View consultant um produced a draft ordinance regarding
his recommendations. We had a long study that was done on traffic and warehouses and the consultant had produced a ordinance. We get proposals for many studies. Um that's just normal. That's what we do. We ask for recommendations.
Are we obligated to take those and introduce those? No, that's not what happens. Council introduces um ordinances and passes them. So, we our current state we're still banning. There hasn't been no um discussions on
changing that ordinance. So, I hope that answers your question um on the draft ordinance. Um regarding the impact fee to warehouses, it's not the law in New Jersey. That's
just a simple we we can't make our own taxes. Um the uh the state the state has uh the court would strike that. So it's just not the law. So very simple and um
that's the truth and um just want to make sure that those two things got addressed on the warehouses. Um second the third question that came in on um Amazon. So, I've actually had a conversation earlier today with Mr. Von
Lockacher around um Amazon and we had this discussion um I believe back in March of this year. We we had a person that came and a resident asked us about the same thing about I think at that time was 276 calls. Now we're at 250 calls. So, there's just these numbers
that are just jumping around. The actual um calls from 2024 is 245 police entries that were made um with Amazon. Now, police entries. Let's just make sure we understand what this is. These are categories, right? It could be all sorts of calls. It could be trees downs,
suspicious activities, um you know, anything around fire alarms, um parking complaints, right? These are typical calls that um a facility like Amazon like it's a 24-hour 24-hour 24 by7 operation facility. So, these are common
things that can happen in that. And um around the 245 about 80 of those were security checks that's done by the police department. Those are normal standard checks that the police department does in certain locations um with cars that are heavily par parked
because just again that's part of their normal random patrol at night that they do. Um so it's it's not out of the ordinary that this this happened. Um I think you know these are average numbers and Mr.
Wlocker can add on to that if if he has anything additional to that. Sure. I I mean you know so 245 entries into the uh the computer aided dispatch system for the police department is certainly not out of the
norm for a facility that operates 24 hours a day. I mean, and and again, like the the deputy mayor said, you know, when I looked at the call types, you know, they're they they're all coded calls. Um the largest number was
security checks. That's just a police officer on patrol who happens to be driving through the parking lot and calls into police headquarters to the dispatcher and says, "I'm conducting a security check at Amazon at 601 Randolph
Road." or any number of locations. You know, uh I while I was having a conversation with with the deputy mayor this afternoon about this topic, um I also happened to have she called in when I was on the phone with the acting public safety director, Lloyd
Frederick's, and and I said, "Run Middle Bush Park for calls for 2024." And I don't know, there were 840 entries for Middle Bush Park. And like 780 of them were park checks. It was a police
officer driving through the parking lot and calling in that they did a park check. That's done throughout the town at countless locations. I couldn't even tell you how many times, shopping malls, parks, anywhere where there's, you know,
nursing homes, things like that where there's checks done. That's not uncommon. Um, the other thing we checked was EMS calls because apparently that's what you were asking me that was raised. And I will tell you that that question was asked in March of this year at the
microphone here in this council uh that the the person who went to the microphone said that there had been 200 and some odd EMS calls at Amazon. And I logged in and said that's simply not true. There were about 60 EMS calls at
Amazon in 2024. And I double checked again today and there were about 60 EMS calls at Amazon in 2024. And in the last 6 months, there have been 11. And I was also educated by our public safety
director today. There is actually 24-hour a day on-site medical staff at the Amazon warehouse so that they don't have to rely on local EMS and be a burden. They pay for their own uh
medical staff 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at the facility. Um th these are things that you know like I said whether it be whether it be a an EMS call you know every every type of location can be
a demand but in this particular case I certainly don't think that 250 calls at a facility that employs over a thousand people 7 days a week 24 hours a day is excessive in the way in as far as demand on emergency services for the town. It
it actually seems in all honesty pretty light. Um so that's what I have. No, thank you. That's that's what I want to make sure that these numbers are coming out as what we um are seeing from our police director as well. And then to also answer around the the two ambulances that are inhouse. Um,
so I mean I I could spend about 6 hours here trying to explain the EMS matrix on dispatch for EMS units and where they come from and what happens when EMS units are tied up on other calls. There are two dedicated primary EMS units in
the north part of town. Um, and then there's a a third dedicated out of Robertwood Johnson in the south end of town. Then you also have in uh East Milstone first aid squad that's responding at various times during the day as well as other you know Mammoth
Junction out of South Brunswick. And all of these fall into a mutual aid matrix that I'm not going to bore everyone here tonight with the details. But it's not that there are only two ambulances serving Franklin at any given time. In fact, there are are more than two. And
uh and um again, not going to bore you, but there are more than two at any given time and there probably are more than five at any given time. Um when you factor in the volunteer first aid squad and those you're referring to, we have like the shared service. Um
well, there's there there's no there are there are mutual aid agreements between municipalities and between EMS um entities. All right. whether it be Robert Wood Johnson um and and others um
that that exist um and those agreements are not they're not shared service agreements between towns. There are mutual aid agreements that exist amongst first aid squads throughout the state of New Jersey. And they they are um
they're what dictates where you go when your primary ambulance is not available. And I mean where you go where where our police dispatch center goes to dispatch ambulances. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Warlock
Locker. And I think that's what we want to make sure um the information that's being said. These are all facts. These are this is what's happening. This is what's on record. I there's just a lot going on and um we want to make sure that you're hearing what the actual numbers are, what the actual processes
are, and what's happening in town. So, I hope that helps um answer both of your questions. Thank you. Any other com any other comments? No, just ask the manager if he could address I have answers for a whole lot of questions. Mr. Mr.
He'll get to me. He's going to you first. Well, I'm good. I'm good. Thank you for running the meeting, Mr. Vessel. You're welcome. Mr. Mayor, Mr. Mayor, I I have a comment. Mr. uh Patasnik. Well, thank you. Uh Mr. Mayor, it's no doubt that it's election season. Um, and
what we see is uh opposition candidates, in this case, the Republican chairwoman, Miss Peterson, coming up and making all sorts of uh statements and questions and raising uh all sorts of issues that are really non-issues. We've heard three
debunked issues already. Um, and one I'd like to sort of address directly. Um, which I'll read, I guess, a text from Mr. Johnson who's sitting a few rows up uh with regard to conflicts of interest
by none other than my own. Um let me just make sure I get it here. I would not like to be not accurate. Uh this article was published in insider NJ and does not mention NJLCV's conflict
of interest. Ed Pataznik, that's me. um the executive director of New Jersey LCV is being paid a salary of $103,000 by NJLCV while at the same time he is Franklin Township Councilman of Somerset County. He is using his influential
position as a councilman to promote so-called quote green and quote agenda electric vehicles wind solar of NJCV why NJLCV pays him a big salary. Um, well, I think it's interesting you chose to list
my salary and, you know, we could go around the room and ask other folks. Um, the idea that there would be some sort of in inappropriate I I'm talking now. Thanks. Um, some sort of inappropriate or conflict of interest uh is highly
problematic to me that you would insinuate it or ask it. And I prefer that folks ask uh directly. Um the question really should be put to the lawyer. Um so you know u Mr. Lawyer uh
uh uh is there anything uh from my day job where I do protect the environment from my elected position which the voters voted for me knowing that I protect the environment. Um, and it is a big issue stopping compressor station 206 and the pipeline that's going to
choke our communities with uh a dangerous unneeded project. It's going to cause asthma, cancer, heart disease. It could explode children. The Buddhist Bahara right next door um fighting against that and for clean air. Is there any conflict of interest there? There
there is not an and council people all come to the council with whatever their background is. I mean I I wouldn't ever say to the mayor, "Well, you're a medical doctor, so you can't vote on anything that's health related because, you know, you have a conflict between your day job and and um
and a and a health ordinance." It just doesn't make any sense. Obviously, the councilman is a champion of the environment and there's no conflict that you champion that when you when you uh when you sponsor legislation or or speak in favor of legislation or vote in favor
of legislation. It's just it's not it's not a it's almost a silly question to be perfectly honest. It's not You turned your mic off. Oh, I'm sorry. Well, then the other thing that was mentioned is my organization does endorsements uh led by an independent
committee. the insinuation was made that the opponent that's running against me, who's not here today, I guess unavailable, um was not asked for that endorsement. And I can say by past practice that's not the case. Every candidate who files the email address uh that is used in the filing on the
petition. Um invitations to apply for the endorsement are given and every single candidate that applies is interviewed. Uh everyone gets the same questions. It's reviewed by the political committee. Recommendations are made to the board and I'm not involved in that process particularly for my own race. that would be um inappropriate. Um
but uh we have a very rigorous process and endorse Democrats, Republicans, and independents in my day job. Um is that a conflict of interest to be endorsed by an organization that you work for for your work to uh support the environment? Well, of course it's not. And not only
that, it's the League of Conservation Voters First Amendment right to endorse whoever they want to endorse. Um, and I don't think that uh I don't think a political party candidate can dictate to them how it is they conduct their endorsement process. No more than we could dictate, for instance, how the
Republican club endorses its candidates. I'm assuming it only endorses Republicans. So, you know, um, is that a conflict of interest because only Republicans are allowed to be endorsed? It doesn't it's once again, it's a nonsensical question. Thank you. I I agree it's nonsensical. I
think what would be more nonsensical is and a conflict of interest for me is to not fight for the environment and every single aspect of my life in my personal life, what I do at my home and the choices that I make and things that I uh purchase. For example, my mom gave me a little hassle today because she had some company over for lunch and the company
that came said no paper plates for dessert and they said no, it doesn't allow paper plates. We have to wash the dishes. I try to walk the walk in every single aspect of my life because it's important. It's important for our children, our grandchildren. I held myself to a high standard. I think what you find in this entire council, and I'm
proud of that, is honest leadership. We're going to tell you how it is. And uh we appreciate the opportunity uh to to respond to this uh the silliness and the sort of mudslinging, but it's not atypical. And thank you for your time.
Glad we're being respectful. Um Mr. Wright, you had something? Yes, sir. I'm afraid. Ah, there we go. Now, couple of people have asked me,
A couple of people have asked me about our budget and they asked me, Carl, why does it cost so much money to run our township? And I tell them, the only thing I know
is my levy, which is the township levy, is 38,993,310, 13.52% of a total budget of 288,359
282.47. now and I'm trying to figure out where everyone is getting all kind of information that Franklin Township council members control this type of deal. Now, I'm going to explain to you
just how we got to that number of 2883592, excuse me, 82847. On column number three where it says 2024 to revise 2025,
you'll see 14 million422,7550. That was an overage that the state allowed the township, excuse me, the high school, the the BOE to add into their budget because of lost salaries,
the um programs that were cancelled, all kind of good stuff. So, they said, "Hey, you got an exemption." They stuck in 14 million. Now the original amount that was due was 165 and that's the fourth
column over which is the estimated 2025. That was 165 and that would have kept you at 59.86 of the tax bill. Nobody would have cried about that. But
we added 14 million to that and we came to 177 and everybody hit the roof. Again, look at your municipal tax. Didn't change. Didn't change. The actual from 2024
didn't change. It was $37 million. And the estimate for 2025 was $ 38 million. And wrap it over to the amount of the levy for the revised vision of 38993310.
It didn't change. So whenever you're out there and you want to ask, well Carl, why did the municipal budget change or why did the taxes go up so much? School board
14 million, not the township. And you see the problem is people say taxes and taxes takes in everything from the county general tax to the open space
tax of the county. Their whole county tax was 1 mil that was revised. So it's now at $48 million and that's 16.65% of your tax bill.
Franklin Township. We have a lot. We included a lot. Open space. Uh what else we got there, Bob? Besides open space, what else we got up there? Fire. Fire tax, which I think was at 10. Yes.
10250. Everybody sees that. And that was 3.55% of your budget. Again, if everyone takes the time, and this came off of the first page
of the tax levy. Everybody got that page. Everybody got that page because you picked up the book, which is our budget book. You would have saw it there. You would have saw it there. The only thing you didn't see was that 14 million. Am I right, Bob?
Yep. So everybody got it? Because as my friend Chris Rollis would say, if you don't know, now you know. Okay. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Wright. Um, a lot
of people asking questions and then leaving. Don't seem interested in the answers. I guess just asking the question is what they wanted to get across. Um, let's see. Um, uh, the I'll leave the buses to Mr. Vorn
Locker. Accountability. Um, I respectfully, since the question was asked respectfully, I don't really care what the um, Democratic the president of the
Democratic club, the JFK club answered about how to get on planning board. That must have been her opinion. The way people get on planning board is we have a screening committee. We take the planning board very seriously. they're screened that screen that information is
presented to council and then council makes the decision how to do it. Uh she neglected to say that she as a Republican is on a committee and she also uh neglected to point out that my representative on the planning board
that I pick is a Republican. Uh actually used to have her seat. Um, as far as the budget being line by line, anyone watching now can go to the website under government or under
departments, go to finance and there's uh click on finance and that'll bring you to a page that has the budgets for years past uh the friend the userfriendly budget, the introduced
budget and the final budget. is that that so and they are there line by line and um when council has the budget hearings in the agenda is the exact same paperwork
that council gets to look at that um that she that um the public can see. Um, as far as uh what happened on uh 4th of July, I
believe it was, um, that was one person doing one thing that was inappropriate. I corrected the person for it. And the decision to pay back vendors um, what they uh, spent was actually
made before she made her complaint. So, uh, it was not in reaction to her complaint and here we go trying to make a good thing into a bad thing. Uh, finally, as far as the use of the gazebo on Sundays,
um, anyone can go use a pickupball court, a tennis court, a basketball court for as long as they want. If they haven't reserved it, then they have to share it if someone else comes along. But there's
you don't if you don't reserve it, you can still use it any virtually any of our outdoor facilities. Oh, no. You can use any of our recreational facilities to include the gazebo if you want to make sure that no one else is using it. When you want to
use it, then you pay to reserve it and then you get what's called an exclusive use permit. So, the county democratic committee was using that as a gathering point. And by the way, they put up a sign once. There was a campaign sign and I personally
took it down and explained to them how they couldn't do that. Um, so and uh, by the way, it's $10 to rent the gazebo, not $25. $10 an hour. Uh, and when I have events there, I pay $10
an hour. Um, puddles, scoopas, cats. Cats are covered. Um, I think the rest were you or a lot of it is for me, right? Yep. Yeah, there is. And unfortunately, I'm I
was going to try to go in somewhat order, but I'm just going to be scattered here. Um, tractor parking. I'm going to have it I have it all written down. I'm just saying I'm going to be scattered into in the order in which unfortunately the woman who complained about the trucks parking in the parking lot is no longer here. So,
I'm going to skip over that for the time being. I'm gonna address uh Miss Inman. Um and I've already texted the animal control officer and she indicated that she will go out to Philips Road tomorrow to enforce the ordinance that was just recently adopted that prohibits
roosters. So that's that's taken care of. Told her one, two, three houses somewhere in that stretch. She's pretty good at finding them. Roosters shouldn't be hard to find. So she'll be out tomorrow morning to do that. Um I maybe I'll ask Mr. guy to convey it to
Beverly Lawson who left. Um, I tested our our website to report potholes while I was sitting here and the system works fine. You can let Miss Lawson know that I get every single email that is submitted for potholes or any other type
of complaints and I have not received any for Churchill Avenue. Um, so tomorrow morning I will report to Oh, there you are. So, I checked the system. It's working fine. I get all of the emails that get generated by the website and I got none from you, but I got mine
just now when I checked it. So, you obviously didn't submit it and in the way go to the main page. I'm going to give you instructions. Go to the homepage and scroll down just a little bit. Okay, I'm going to do scroll down
um about let's see uh one turn of a one one turn of the scroller on the mouse and it says report street issue report potholes or other street hazards. You click on that and it brings up a page that says pothole street maintenance
reporting. You scroll down a little bit. Street name must be filled in. Put the street name. Direction north,southeast, west. You have to click something in one of the little circles. Nearest address, cross street landmark with an asterisk. You must do that. Issue reporting check
mark and pothole comments if you feel you need to and an email address. And then you have to click I'm not a robot. And then you hit submit. And I got mine instantly into my inbox for the thing that I just checked. All right. I can tell you that I save every single email
since we instituted that in a folder in my Outlook and I checked and there's none from you reporting a pothole on Churchill Avenue. So, I will report it to the public works department in the morning. You don't need to. As far as an ordinance, chapter 333 is streets and
sidewalks in the municipal code. It's a very very very long ordinance and among the many things that it details are all of the things that are required of someone who gets a street opening permit to include at times the posting of a
performance bond whether it be a cash bond or an actual bond is up to is is determined by the amount of work that's being done. So yes, there is an ordinance. Yes, there is a requirement to maintain the trench and and repair
it. As I explained to you at the last meeting, what I was saying is that when you have a trench repaired, you don't do the final repair immediately. You do a repair that compacts and then you allow
it to settle for a period of time and then they have to come back in and remove the temporary patch and repair it to grade. So that's the requirements of a trench uh repair for a utility opening
on a street no matter where it is. Um but your potholes will be reported in the morning. Um I think that covers that topic. Um and you saw me there there is no requirement for a a business to
remove a sign off the building if they choose not to. Um, back to the shopping center question. So, we have no ordinance. She's not here. Maybe she'll listen to the the recording. We have no ordinance
that prohibits truck parking in any shopping centers. There is a state statute called parking on private property without the owner's consent. Prop property owners and in particular shopping centers often
post signs in their shopping center stating that um parking is only for customers. No overnight parking, no overnight truck parking. And they cite the state statute 39456.6. My memory is still pretty good on some
things. Um and you are not allowed to park there overnight if that sign is posted. What happens if you do is the owner of the shopping center then has the right to contact the tow company to come in and remove your vehicle. Um,
some of our shopping centers in town have those signs posted and some of the them actually do have tow companies under contract to remove vehicles that are there without permission. In particular though, if there are trucks
parked and there is some form of idling taking place, that is not a municipal ordinance. That is a state statute that is enforced not only by the health department and the D, but also by our local police department also under the motor vehicle code. The state was smart
enough to make two statutes stay the say the same exact thing. the one that the police can enforce is under title 39. And those um should be reported to the police department when they're occurring. Whether it's at, you know,
11:00 in the morning or 11:00 at night is not of any consequence. If it idles for more than 3 minutes, it's in violation. Now, there are exemptions for refrigeration units. The and and it would depend on whether or not that was
what was uh was running. I don't know. as far as the trash in the woods in the area near the shopping center boundary with uh the the um the residents um development. I I looked on the on the tax maperials. Actually, the woods are
shared by both Quailbrook and the shopping center. They're not township property. They're shopping center and and uh homeowners association property. So, without knowing exactly where the trash is, um I don't know who's responsible for it. The owner of the
shopping center is a company named Seagroveve Associates, CE G- R O V E. Um, they list 120 Cedar Grove Lane as their address. Um, which is the address for the shopping center. So, they must have some property uh some uh presence there at the property or if nothing
else, there are mailboxes there. You can send a letter 120 Cedar Grove Lane, Seagrove Associates. But um when you have a problem like idling trucks, you call the police department. They can enforce the the state statute. All
right. So that was Churchill Seagrove um parking Rooster. School buses. School bus violations are a state law violation. Municipal ordinances can't supersede or exceed a state statute. It
is in fact one of the highest, if not the highest point violation in the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Code. So, it's already taken pretty seriously. It's also the only statute that doesn't require the identity of the driver for
the person who's issuing the summons. So when you a school bus driver can provide a license plate to a police officer and a summon can be issued and the law for school bus violation states that it is
the registered owner's obligation to provide the identity of the driver of the vehicle that passed the school bus or they by default have to endure the penalty. So there is no way to supersede
it. It's state law. Okay. We did emergency response that's already taken care of. Um that's done. And then last is and mayor, you touched on it a little bit, but the TNR folks um in particular
the first gentleman who spoke and talked about research. I think I might have been the one who said that I did a tremendous amount of research about 15 years ago when I oversaw directly the operations of our animal shelter and our animal control operation. And at that
time it was recommended as it is still recommended by every study and every organization that I have I've done my research on that a strong nonprofit organization to run a TNR program is
strongly recommended for municipalities who are interested in having a TNR program. when I oversaw it as as a a supervisor in the police department, you know, 15 years ago, Second Chance for Animals was active
then in our uh supporting our animal shelter operations. And then Second Chance for Animals told me that they had no interest in managing a TNR program. And recently I was advised that they still take that same position. They are
not interested in running a TNR program. Um, our shelter costs a lot of money. Most of it coming from uh the support of organizations like Second Chance for Animals and Angel Tales, another nonprofit that assists our shelter. Um,
the costs associated with our shelter are great, and adding costs for a TNR program for us to manage is not something that we're in a position to do right now. Um, if you are aware of a nonprofit that wants to come to Franklin
Township and wants to run a TNR program from A to Z, then we can have a discussion. But right now, my job is to to manage the the the funds that are given to me in a municipal budget annually. And I'm telling you, we don't
have enough money to run one right now. So, that's what I have on on all of the answers to the questions. Mayor, thank you, Madame Clerk. Do you want to answer the o questions about Oprah? Well, I could actually answer that one, but Mayor Marie doesn't remember the answer, but go ahead.
No, I know the answer. Thank you. Okay, so I actually got a message from my staff on this one that the requester received all the responses. They just need to log into the portal to receive the information. There's a portal for Oprah requests and
when they request ask for information, it gets put into the portal and they just have to open up the portal to where their request is and they can get their response. Mayor, I have a question of the clerk. Sure. Go ahead.
So when you or whoever it is that puts the information in following the due process, we supposed to follow with that. How is the uh uh requesttor notified that their request has been fulfilled?
It's through the portal through email. They make the request through the portal. So it's all continual. But I just want to be clear and I have no knowledge of this situation in general. Is this is the person Um, are
they told then via email, the one that they use to apply through the portal? So, they need to check and they need to check the portal with Well, okay. That's what I'm trying. They need to check or they're told or they're notified that it's ready.
They're notified that it's ready. Okay. So, they are notified. Okay. No, I would hope that they were. I just want to clarify in general. Seven business is seven business days, not seven calendar days. So seven days can
and with holidays in there can can stretch it out. And I have a question too. So like let's say the town doesn't do it. They just said we're just not going to do any Oprah. There's no recourse. I thought there was Can you talk talk about what that is?
Like you know is it come to the microphone and complain or can I get township can be sued? uh they could be taken to the Government Records Council if we don't respond to a a request. So, it's pretty serious accusations. Yeah. And we we get between five and 15 requests a day.
Okay. Thank you. Ma'am, you're not supposed to be talking. You know, you're not supposed to be talking. Yet, you keep saying you keep talking and you you presented your question respectfully.
But when I was went to answer it, you were gone. Now you're back and you're still talking. That's it's pretty amazing. Um, you accused us of lack of accountability. Maybe you need to um listen to what I
put on what I already said. You can watch the video. But the as far as the use of the gazebo, people don't have to reserve a basketball court to use a basketball court. someone else reserves it, then they've lost their spot there. If some ma'am,
what don't Mr. Mayor I I'm gonna when you're done, I need to say something because I'm tired of this and I need to address it. Go ahead. So, I will remember this and you will remember it, too. You left and didn't
listen to what the mayor had to say. Now, you'll listen and not talk. All right? So, the the gazebo, like any other amenity that the township makes available to the
public, has exclusive use permits. You don't have to get one, but then you don't have exclusive use of it. People use our amenities every day. Go to any one of our parks and find people playing
on the basketball courts or having a picnic in the picnic pavilion. come here and look at who's in the gazebo. Every day there are people there. But if someone has it reserved, then you have to leave and they get
exclusive use of it. I don't know what's hard about understanding and the smirk from you and the one in front of you is not appreciated. You will say it over and over again, but you will not listen to the answer. Watch your tone.
Oh, no. I I You need to watch your That's true. That's all. Just watch your tone. I don't I don't need to be dictated to you. I don't work for you. I work for them. Both of you. That's what we're saying. Stop.
Stop. Okay. Uh we're now on to council comments. That's fine. Mr. Wright. Mr. Wright. Oh. getting there. Okay. I want to thank
I want to thank I want to thank um the comment about uh Sisters Network since I usually bring it to you uh every month. Uh so I I I thank you for coming up with that. Uh it was on my list and like I said before and every other time
I come here, I had cancer. So, they are definitely on my list because I always bring them up because of that reason. Um, we should always support Sisters Network because of the breast cancer. We always should support them as they look
for a cure. We should always support them as they go through cancer. And they always say it's a man's responsibility to make sure that special person in their life gets what?
checked out. So, I appreciate you bringing up the cancer uh uh information, but I always bring it up myself. Also, um the redevelopment uh agency of which I
am the chairman of uh RPM is doing our area and what we have is they came in and we started talking about where we want to put affordable housing. Well, bless be. Everyone wants affordable housing in Franklin Township and they
want to know if we do it. No, we do not do affordable housing in Franklin Township. This township does not. Excuse me. This council does not do affordable housing, which means it's not done and
it's not done in Franklin Township. So no matter where you go, no, it is put on by the redeveloper to do affordable housing. When he comes in and says, "Hey council, I'm going to do affordable housing and you have
affordable housing trust fund and we would like some money." We give them some money. They do the affordable housing. They build it. They're responsible for it. Not us. Never have you heard us build affordable
housing, but yet you have it in Franklin Township, but we don't do it. So, if anyone believes that we do affordable housing, that's a no no. Number two, you may not get affordable housing if
you live in Franklin Township. Why? the developer has a list of everyone that has put their name there for affordable housing. If you go to Somerset County, there's a list. Everybody's got a list of affordable housing and housing in
general depending on your condition. Now, if you have voucher, which is section 8, that's a part of the code. Um, we don't administer that. That's a federal program. That's a state program.
We have nothing to do with that program. Okay. Zero affordable housing. Yes. So as we looked at it, we were looking to find out what type of a housing we were going to build, where we were going to
build it, uh time frame because we gave RPM a time frame to build housing, and part of that is affordable. We gave them a timetable and right now they're in that flux, but we dragged them on the
carpet and said, "Hey, you promised XYZ. Hey, we want it delivered." So, affordable housing, they're going to build it. Affordable housing, we don't administer it. Affordable housing, I give the developer the money, they do
the project. because if we did the project, it's a whole new staff to administer the project and we're not going to waste money hiring somebody to do something that doesn't need to be done. So, why do
it? So, keep that in mind. Uh, the second part is I'm kind of late on this, but I want to ask the township manager if he would make available the director of recreation because I wanted him to give an update on the function we just
had and of the programs that come into Franklin Township that we put on for our youth in the town. Did everybody catch me on that? That we do. And all you have to do is
look at the sheet that comes in the mail two two or three times a month and has all the activities written that are being put on in Franklin Township for everyone from elderly to middleage to
adolescent down to kindergarten. So we need to watch that and when we say things like that we need to know exactly what we're talking about. Um, Councilman Vasinella would bring up public safety.
Um, that's about it, Mr. Mayor. It's all you. Thank you, Council Member Patasnik. Uh, I just want to take a moment to thank the mayor and deputy mayor for I guess we'll talk about a little bit
later, the fossil fuel ordinance, um, for your leadership. I think this will be the first time in the state something like this is done to protect residents from uh what is happening across the country uh which is these sort of backup generators being used as primary power
sources for uh energy hog um data centers. So thank you for um putting that forward for putting Franklin on the map sort of the tip of the spear uh to protect our communities. Um a couple things. Thank you for for stealing my thunder.
Oh, shoot. No, no, thank you. No, I appreciate your point. Sometimes people have to hear things three times for them to sink in. So, um, and, um, you know, one thing I'll I'll mention too, uh, there's a lot of misinformation out there sort of generally around clean energy
technologies. Um, solar is the cheapest form of electricity that there is. The second cheapest form of electricity there is is onshore wind. Natural gas is up there and costs go up which with each of the fuels. Coal is like very very
expensive. Um nuclear is even more expensive than coal. So if we want to get our electricity prices down which I know all of us would like to do, we need to invest in clean energy like solar which is the cheapest. It's the fastest to get online. It's also the healthiest
for our communities. the jobs are local and uh they can't be outsourced. They're going to be right here. You know, I don't think any of us are going to go work in the coal mines uh to produce expensive electricity which is going to uh drive up our rates. Um and uh those
are the benefits. Additionally, this is back to the sort of comment that was shared about uh uh green practices or what have you. Electric vehicles are also very beneficial. They save a ton of money.
um they produce 80% less pollution with the current electricity coming out of the plug. So, are they healthier for you? They're also healthier for your wallet. And I can tell you my electric vehicle saves about $1,200 a year or $100 a month over buying gasoline from
the gas station. So, those are just a couple things on fossil fuels. And then item 16U, which is the Griggstown um causeway project uh that is proposed the alternate 2A by the county. I want to thank the council uh for passing a
resolution unanimously instructing or asking the county to look at putting a stop sign at the corner of Can uh Canal Road and Griggstown Causeway Road. Um the folks at the county were very nice and ran a simulation and it was pretty
telling that that stop sign instead of a light would be pretty negatively impactful to the historic nature of the community. We had a community meeting. I want to thank the mayor for coming last week on Wednesday over a dozen residents came out to learn a little bit more about the project and also express their
opinions um which I just wanted to share publicly uh here which included something that's not in the study but enforcement lots of uh folks and this is not going to be a surprise for you Mr. manager. You know, lots of folks driving very fast on Canal Road and across the
the causeway itself. Um, but overall they're supportive of having a darker signal, something in black or brown, more within the historic nature. I'm not saying it's 100%, but it was pretty overwhelming. People understood what we had done our best um to to balance the
need for safety and the historic nature of the intersection and area. U truck signage is another request that they have to ensure that heavy trucks are not going through the areas. One person had a suggestion to put something like hanging down so trucks could would hit it and not go that way. I said I didn't
think that was possible but I just mentioned it here. Um, and then to help with the speeding, maybe permanent in the, and this is something we might recommend when they get to the design phase, um, uh, of the flashy speed signs, letting people know that they're violating the, uh, speeding, uh,
particularly for the homeowners that are impacted in the intersection area. So, those are some things we can talk a little bit more about. I know it's on the agenda. I want to thank the council um, for trying to make some adjustments there and the county for looking at those seriously and having a serious conversation. And, of course, the residents for being engaged on this
issue. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Basin. Thank you, Mayor. So, we had a public safety committee meeting tonight. Um, uh, couple things to report out on police uh, asking or reminding people to
please lock your doors in your cars at night, whether it's in your driveway or on the street or whatever, and take your valuables out. Um, but be aware of that, please. Uh the other thing is uh although it's a an event that's going on
in the town, it's more mentioned it as a safety issue. Uh tomorrow we have one of the premier country's premier dog shows happening at Colonial Park, believe it or not, um during the week. And I believe this dog show only happens like
every four or five years. And it's one of the oldest prestigious in the country what I'm hearing. Um wish I can go, I can't. But the point is it's a colonial park. there's massive amounts of people. Um, probably one of the largest midweek events you probably see in Franklin anyway. So, try to avoid and if you see
a little extra traffic, that's uh probably what that uh is. Okay. So, anyway, glad that um they chose Colonial Park, but it it could have some traffic ramifications and it brought a ton load boatload of money uh into our local
businesses and hotels, which usually wouldn't see that type of activity during the week. So, it's a good thing. But um beware of traffic people may be rushing around to avoid uh backups. So uh moving along. Actually is as a resident, but I just want I I'm part of
the Franklin 250 committee as a resident, but um as a council person, I want to thank the mayor for putting together a great group of people and for that moving along. I'm not going to get into details tonight, but starting January 4th, there's a whole slew of programs, reenactment, reenactments, all
kinds of things happening next year. And um going to work with the mayor to possibly have put the formal schedule out in December and give people a little glimpse, a little sneak preview of these these pretty cool events that are happening. Obviously, uh first time in
history you're celebrating 250 years of US independence. Uh moving along, uh trunk or treat was mentioned that's coming up later in October and I'm sure that the portal or whatever uh sign up mechanism will be in place very uh soon
if it isn't already. Um oh another meeting attended was a hearing. There was only three people there but it was for so company who has underground pipelines. For those who don't know, we have a we have a handful
of underground pipelines taking various things. Pipelines take um energy products and other stuff um through our township. Bottom line, there's one that goes uh I believe it comes from under the river in the canal, starts at northern town, Franklin Township, and
comes out underground, comes uh all the way down the southern tip. Bottom line, they're putting in a valve uh uh some valve apparatus so that they can in a more high-tech and safer fashion um
monitor, maintain and keep safe what is um we um obviously want to make sure all these pipelines are operating perfectly safe. Uh unfortunately, it wasn't a rep from the company, but the information that was presented by our own open space consultant was wonderful. answered all
the well all but a few questions and I even saw my email uh today that Sinoco has responded to the few questions left. So um just wanted to mention that. And another thing with Castleton Park is the open space committee. I want to thank
them. They uh embraced and unanimously uh supported endorsed a little mini for reforestation project that will be going on in Castle and Park. ironically um right near where this um where the u
valve apparatus is going in. But um that's one of what hopefully will be a handful of projects to get more trees in this uh fourth and fifth ward ward especially in the east Franklin corridor which is uh severely uh are noticeably
warmer and less tree canopy than most the rest of the township. So very happy those projects are moving along. the shade tree commission also I believe the manager could give me the amount if he has it. We got a grant to cover uh some good part of our forestry management
plan which is something we have to by statute I believe or to maintain our our um designation uh with our tree efforts. we come up with we renew a revise every once in a while and I believe we got a grant um a nice grant to pay for that so
it doesn't come out of either the shade tree fund or any tax dollars I think that is it mayor thank you very much thank you councilman on jaka okay thank you mayor um I've received
you know during this um I campaigned around uh um westmin minister and I received a couple of complaints about the speeding on that particular road. The actual speed limit
is 25 but um they exceed that speed up to 45 miles an hour and uh and they have a lot of uh they have couple of bus stops on that particular road though the the
second part of it that belongs to GL um town houses they have they have uh two bumps uh speed bumps on that area but from the beginning of round 27 to in the middle none around that area and that is where
the speed limit is needed. So I really don't know how we're going to put the speed limit the speed limit there. And who owns that particular road? I think it's the city. What? Westminster road from from 27 all the
way down. Well, so Westminster is privately uh it's a it's part of the the uh the apartments. Yes, the apartments. Yeah, right. It's private road. It's not a public road. It's their road. Yeah, it's their road. Okay. So, I can't do we the municipality has
no authority to enforce speed limits on private roads. And there's no way we can enforce their No, you're not. You literally it's you can't enforce speed on a private road. Okay. It's up to the uh the uh
the association or apartment complexes to notify their residents, but we don't have the authority to enforce that. Okay. Okay. And the second thing is uh I'm going to have a meeting with the country countryside
on the on the 2nd of um October. So we really expect them to come to that meeting so as we can address some of the issues they have right now and fortunately for me my mayor will be there and Ram will be there. So areas
are areas that are concerned is the uh middle hills garden hills and rolling stone that is the area that we're going to have the meeting mayor. That's what I have. Thank you, Dr. Karazzi.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and good evening, everyone. Um, I am happy to inform our community that the Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions is honoring Franklin Township with the environment environmental achievement
award for our community energy plan and micromobility study. The award is specifically highlighting how we use the original $10,000 grant to develop the micromobility study, how we
build up the the local health assessment and action plan, and how the environmental commission and trails advisory committee work so closely to complete these plans as companion
documents. Special thanks to Tara uh Kenyan for her leadership in doing this and on behalf of the township I will be accepting the award on October 10th uh during a special event. So that's a
great news for uh our township. Uh today I attended um a golf autumn lunch uh to support food bank. As you all know, food bank is uh an organization that has been in township
uh for about 50 years and there were many community members, businesses and organization that they came together to to support food bank. Uh believe it or not, one in seven of our community members, they go to
food bank to get help for their food. And in fact, last week I got a call from a daughter of a community member whose mother was going to get some food from food bank and she called me said that my mom
doesn't have any food in her refrigerator. So I promised her that within the next 12 hours because the she called me in the evening that she will get food from our food bank. and I made the call
to the director and indeed she was able to get the food bank and they register her to receive it. So if you know anyone who may need some supplement for their food recognizing the price has gone up
or if you know anyone that needs it, we have a great organization in town. Please send it to them at 22 228 Churchill A and uh they will uh help the person without any issue. Uh I also had
attended the senior advisory committee meeting this past Friday and uh we had a discussion about various improvements uh around the senior center that are budgeted and will be taken care of in the coming month. And there was a
concern that some of the um uh the roof and tiles they are either loose or they are damaged. And uh myself and u Mr. Steven Dah who is the director of the park recreation we walked around. We
took some pictures and uh before I sent the pictures to our to the man who is sitting next to my right he already got an information from Mr. doll and he was on top of it. So I really thank you Bob for doing that. Tomorrow
we have uh our advisory board of health meeting and we have a special guest speaker Kate Russo from the planning administrator in the office of operations and planning in some county department
of health services. Kate has overseen the canvaser program and she will be joining us to discuss interim data specifically as it relates to what the canvasers saw in Franklin Township and what needs they have identified in our
township. Now perhaps you might might wondering what's campus program. Okay, it is a county initiatives to bring education about the county services doortodoor in communities through throughout Somerset County. They
distribute Narcan and refer residents to benefits and services available through the county. So please join us. It's going to be meeting is going to be at 7:30 across the hall. And that's what I have, Mr. Mayor. Thank you.
Thank you, Deputy Mayor. Thank you. I just have a couple things. Um the first one I want to address is on Martino Drive. Um there's work that's going on and um I think there's been miscommunication around the road being closed, but I know I've saw alerts go
out from Nexo as well of us communicating that there are on traffic is okay on alternate ways. Um it's one of the last roads I believe that's getting completed. This contract is the last street for this contract. And if we delay it, we're going to get significant penalties. Well, there would
be penalties to because of for delaying the the contractor and and you run into performance on our part um delays, but it's actually the the work over the last two days that since it started has been
keeping actually two-way traffic open during uh most of the most of the work. No, during the work it's a 36t wide road curb to curb lanes are only 12t wide. So that means you have three lanes, which means you could in in theory be milling
12 feet and still have 24 feet open. You know, we have a little bit of buffer. They can cut down to 10ft lanes, which is what they've done. But they've been maintaining two-way traffic for the most part during the construction, and they should be able to do that during the uh until it's completed.
Do we have any rough idea of It's about a week's worth of work. Okay. And then then it's going to be done, and it's going to benefit our community. Sure. and make that road safer to drive on. So that's interesting. I think that perhaps the people who live on or just off of
Martino Drive might have preferred that the road be closed because they're not happy with the increase in traffic due to the New Brunswick Road closure because Martino is not the approved detour for New Brunswick Road. Amwell and Easton are the approved detours. So
the people who live in that those neighborhoods are probably would rather see it closed than have traffic open during the construction. I can see that. Yes. Um can't can't win them all. Deputy mayor can't win them all. But but we're making roads safer one at a time.
Exactly. Um we're going to discuss the ordinance on the data center uh ordinance 4483-25 later. So I'll save my comments for that one. Um, Councilman Wright had presented us with some tax information and what
the municipal government does. I think we're going to continue repeating some of that information as we're um as we get questions, but I did want to just mention um just two points. In in four years, the municipal portion of the average homeowners tax bill went up only
$173. That was reported by NJDCA. and municipal taxes rose 12% in Franklin versus 28% in Bridgewater and Hillsboro. So that's our neighboring um towns. And I just want to put it out there because
I think that's important information as you start getting into a lot of tax questions and property tax relief and you know school budget. I think this is something that you need to also put in your perception that you know perspective that Franklin is our job. We're keeping it affordable and we will
continue to do that. So thank you. Thank you, council. That's all I have. Mayor, thank you. Um, what I have is, uh, an announcement about the Franklin Township Mayor's Wellness Campaign supports Dance for the
Cure. Uh, Tie the Town Pink program. Um, Franklin Township is proud to announce its support of Dance for the Cure annual Tie the Town Pink initiative, a communitydriven campaign dedicated to raising awareness
and providing uh financial assistance to women impacted by breast cancer. Dance for the Cure is 100% volunteer-run nonprofit whose mission is to help women in Huntington, Mercer, Middle Sex, and Somerset counties who are facing the
challenges of breast cancer through grants and fundraising efforts. The organization offers critical financial support to ease the burden of treatment and recovery. As part of the initiative, what we do is the center
island of the parking lot will be um covered by pink ribbons. Each ribbon stands as a powerful symbol honoring those who courageously battle breast cancer, remembering those lost in the disease, lost to the disease, and
uniting the community to fight for a cure. Um that's all I have, Mr. Manager. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, and and just as a kind of a side note, um, one of the co-founders of Dance for the Cure was
actually one of my high school teachers. Uh, her name is Joanne Liskovitz, and she's, uh, a now a a real estate agent in the central New Jersey area, and she and a friend started Dance for the Cure uh, several years ago. So,
um, I just wanted a couple things. Um there was mention I believe about municipal employment opportunities earlier in the meeting. Um there are two uh short-term
recreation related um employment opportunities, part-time employment opportunities available right now um for application. Um we are seeking basketball coaches for the Saturday basketball program. that that's a a uh a part-time position with the township. Um
you have to be 16 or older to to do that. Um and we would like you to have some previous coaching or basketball uh playing experience. Um coaches are needed every Saturday, November through March. Um so if you're interested in
that, um there's information on the website, also through the recreation department. Um, we're hiring part-time instructors for the FE Forever 55 programs. So, we go from um kids to 55 and over uh crowd. Uh, and they we are
looking for instructors with experience and passion for working with older adults uh in the following areas. Music, dance, and dance fitness. Zumba, something I learned today because I looked it up. Yogais, which is a combination of Pilates and yoga. There
you go. yoga, taichi, and f fitness classes and senior wellness programs. If you are interested in teaching our 55 and over um for daytime programs during the week, um you should contact the recreation department and tell them what
you uh have in mind as far as what your uh uh abilities are. Um, as far as entrylevel positions with the township right now, I'm just going to quickly go through them because I want everyone to know that we have uh opportunities here and the township is actively recruiting
for um 911 telecommunicators. That is an entry- level position in the police department, account clerk, administrative aid, um violations bureau clerk, uh labor in the public works department, part-time animal handler in animal
shelter, part-time custodian, and a permit expediter in the construction department. Those are all entrylevel positions. Um none require anything more than a high school diploma. And so if you know people who are looking for a
job, all of those jobs are available right now and all of the information is posted on the bulletin board outside of the HR department in the municipal building as well as online on the website. So we would love to see those positions filled. So come fill out an
application. Where is it online? Is it under careers? It it's on the homepage. Right on the homepage. And there's a big button that says employment search for open positions with Franklin Township. Big green button has a little
briefcase on it. Can I ask you a question? icon. How long do these positions theoretically hang out? So they they are open until filled. Okay. So if we have positions where there's only one opening, once we fill it after applications are received and we go
through the interview process, then it's removed from the website. Some of those positions, I will tell you, seem to be always open. Um, I don't recall a time in the last, say, 5 years or so where there wasn't a laborer position open in
the public works department. So, that is just a rolling application process. Um, because it's, you know, good paying job, good paying job, great benefits, got a pension, healthc care benefits that are, you know, awesome, awesome healthc care
benefits. And we just settled the contract tonight if you approve it on the consent agenda for the employees in the public works department that will bump that starting pay for a uh a labor up to I think $45,000 a year. Not bad for, you know, 18 years old right out of
high school, right? Yep. Not bad at all. Pension, healthc care benefits, dental, and uh $45,000 a year and and ample opportunities for overtime, especially in the winter time when it snows.
All right. Uh, there's no council discussion items. There's no minutes to be approved. Warrants in the amount of 22,632,81346 on September 30th, 2025 are presented to the township council for payment. Do we
have a motion to uh approve the warrants? Anyone? Seconded. Moved and seconded. Anyone any discussion? Anyone would like to pull an item? Madame clerk.
Councilman Karazzi. Yes. Mayor Kramer. Yes. Councilman Oni Jaka. Yes. Council member Batausnik. Deputy Mayor Rudine. Yes. Councilman Vasinella. Yes. Councilman Wright. Yes.
We are still a quorum. Yes. um public hearing and adoption of ordinances on second reading. So we have a first reading um to announce to the world that we are considering an ordinance and a second reading is when we vote on the ordinance
but we also give uh members of the public an opportunity to speak. So, ordinance 447425, an ordinance amending the code of the township of Franklin County of Somerset State of New Jersey, more particularly chapter 112 land development to reszone
lots for the general business zone to the R7 single family residential zone is presented for public hearing. Final adoption. The public hearing has been noticed as required. Is there anyone wishing to speak on this item only?
Mayor say no one's coming. No. Do we need a motion in a second? So I ask unanimous consent to open to the public without exception. We're open to the public. Okay. Now we're you can come up here.
Motion is good. Okay. Pass. I'll help you. You want to take care? I'm going to help. All right. There you go. All right. Without with I ask for unanimous consent to close the public hearing. Seeing no objection, the public hearing
is closed. I'd like a motion on to adopt. So moved. Second. Moved and seconded. Any discussion? Any questions? Madame clerk. Councilman Karazzi. Yes. Mayor Kramer,
yes. Councilman Oniaka, yes. Council member Vatausnik, yes. Deputy Mayor Reddine, yes. Councilman Vasinella, yes. Councilman Wright, yes. Ordinance 4477-25, an ordinance amending the municipal code
of the township of Franklin County, and Somerset, state of New Jersey, more particularly chapter 50, police department, section 50-11, promotion to sergeant and lieutenant, is presented for public hearing and final adoption. The public hearing has been noticed as required. I ask for
mayor. Yes. Um I believe on my agenda you you skipped an ordinance or maybe I have the wrong No, you skipped. We should be on 4476 the water ordinance 25. Okay, we'll go back to that one then.
Um I ask for unanimous consent open to the public. Hearing no objection. We're open to the public on this item only. Seeing no one from the public come forward, I ask unanimous consent to close public hearing
and hearing. Note the objection. We public hearing public session is closed. Do I have a motion to adopt? So moved. Second. We've been seconded. Any discussion? Madame clerk. Councilman Karazzi. Yes. Mayor Kramer.
Yes. Councilman Oija. Yes. Council member Vansnik, yes. Deputy Mayor Dean, yes. Councilman Vasanella, yes. Councilman Wright, yes. Going back to ordinance 4476-25, uh, an ordinance amending the municipal
code of the township of Franklin County of Somerset, state of New Jersey, more particularly chapter 384, water, article, uh, 4, water rates and meter charges, section 384-12, quarterly consumption charges for apartment
complexes is presented for public hearing and final adoption. The public hearing is been noticed as required. Uh do I have unanimous consent to open to the public? Hearing no objection. Um we are open to
the public on this item only. Seeing no one come forward, I ask unanimous consent for to close to the public. Without objection, uh do I have is there a motion to adopt? So move.
Second. Moved and seconded. This is to uh correct a clerical error. Um any other discussion, Madame Clerk? Councilman Karazzi, yes. Mayor Kramer, yes. Councilman Onichaka, yes.
Council member Vataznik, yes. Deputy Mayor Rudin, yes. Councilman Vasinella, yes. Councilman Wright, yes. Uh item number 15, ordinance and introduction on first reading. So there's six
four ordinances here. Uh we're acquiring two pieces of property. Each get two ordinances. So that's the first four ordinances. And this guy, that guy, and that woman will not let me do them all together. So
here we go. Or you could do them all together. I I have no problem with that either. It's the guy that sits on your left. It's not and the New Jersey legislature. Okay. All right.
It's the guy with the law degree that says you can't break the law. Decision. Ordinance number 4478-25, an ordinance to require by purchase or condemnation certain lands within the township of Franklin County of Somerset
State of New Jersey for the purposes of open space preservation in the township of Franklin pursuant to NJSA 4A12-13A for the property known as the West Point Avenue Properties, also known as block 384,
lots 102, 1.02, 02 and 16-27 and commonly known as 439 and 43 4 83 West Point Avenue, Somerset, New Jersey. The foregoing ordinance is presented to Township Council for
adoption on first reading posting publication in accordance with law and public hearing and final adoption at a meeting of the township council to be held on Tuesday, October 14th, 2025 at 7 p.m. in the council chambers. Do I have a motion to introduce?
So moved. Been seconded. Um, Councilman Vasinella, do you want to Is this fourth ward or fifth ward? It's the fourth ward, but I'll just say on behalf of Councilman Wright and myself, we're very happy to see land
being preserved, trees not being chopped down, and more density not happening in in areas of East Franklin. So, I'm very happy that this is happening. And many years ago is part of one of the other parts a little bit away from there where
we preserved some other space that today still remains woods on west off of West Point. Scowzone open space. Scow zone open space. Yes. So these little but very important uh is much uh areas for preservation is much appreciated. Thank you mayor.
Okay. Uh and I just want to mention the use the term is we used was condemnation. There's no um condemnation going on, no um taking of land. It's just the turn of term of art. Um any
other discussion, mayor, it's block 348. I think you said 384. Okay. Just want to correct that. Correction. Thank you. Uh Madame Clerk, Councilman Karazzi, yes. Mayor Kramer, yes. Councilman Oniaka,
yes. Council member Bataznik, yes. Deputy Mayor Dean, yes. Councilman Vasanella, yes. Councilman Wright, yes. And the accompanying audience ordinance 4479-25, capital ordinance providing for the acquisition of the property known as
West Point Avenue Properties as located at block 348, lots 1.02 one. Yeah. 1.02 026-27 and also known as 439 and 483 West Point Avenue in the township of Franklin
County, Somerset, state of New Jersey appropriating $742,600 there from uh the open space trust fund of the township of Franklin to pay for the co cost thereof. The foregoing ordinance is
present to township council for adoption on first reading, posting, publication in accordance with law, public hearing, and final adoption at the meeting of the township council to be held on Tuesday, October 14th, 2025 at 7 p.m. in the
council chambers. Is there a uh motion to introduce? So moved. Move. Second. Moved and seconded. Any discussion? Mr. Just the typo in front of 742 should
be dollar sign versus n. So eagle eyes just going to say to madam clerk is smiling at home right now. Madam clerk, I haven't gotten that call from Ted on Monday morning. Okay. Uh Councilman Karazzi,
do it. I can't. Yes. I'm sorry. Yes. Yes. Mayor Kramer, yes. Councilman Oni Jaka, yes. Council member Pataznik, yes. Deputy Mayor Reedine, yes. Councilman Basinella, yes. Councilman Wright, yes. And now we do it again for
ordinance number 4480-25, an ordinance to acquire the purchase or condemnation certain lands within the township of Franklin County of Somerset, state of New Jersey for the purposes of open space preservation in the township of Franklin pursuant to NJSA4A
12-13A for the property known as Brener property and also lovingly lovingly known as block 5.02 02 lot 58 and commonly known as 39 3995
State Road Route 27 Somerset, New Jersey. The following ordinance is presented to township council for adoption and first reading posting and publication in accordance with law and public hearing and final adoption at a meeting of the township council to be
held on Tuesday, October 14th, 2025 at 7 p.m. in the council chambers. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Moved and seconded. Any discussion? Mayor, I think the font is different on the three and 3995.
With seeing no discussion, Madame Clerk, Councilman Karazzi, yes. Mayor Kramer, yes. Councilman Oniaka, yes. Council member Bataznik, yes. Deputy Mayor Redine, yes. Councilman Basinella, yes. Councilman Wright, you know, it's my job to move these
meetings along. An ordinance number 4481-25, capital ordinance providing for the acquisition of property known as Brener property located at block 5.02, 02 lot 55 58 and also known as 3995
state road state route 27 in the township of Franklin County of Summers state of New Jersey appropriating 3 million67,000 [Music] there from um the open space trust fund
of the township of Franklin to pay the cost thereof and foregoing ordinance presented to the township council for adoption on first reading posting and publication in accordance with law and public hearing and final adoption at a meeting of
cliffhanger here. The township council to be held on Tuesday, November 14th, 2025 at 7 p.m. in the council chambers. Do we have a motion to introduce? So moved. Seconded. Moved and seconded. Any discussion? Mayor, just curious, Nita, how many
acres that is this one? Yeah, approximately about a hundred. Wow. Okay. So, 100 acres for $3 million. Okay. No. Good. Thank you. Any other discussion,
Madame Clerk? Councilman Karazzi? Yes. Mayor Kramer? Yes. Councilman Onaka? Yes. Council member Bataznik. Yes. Deputy Mayor Red. Yes. Councilman Vasinella. Yes. Councilman Right. Yes. Ordinance number 4482-25,
an ordinance accepting a conservation easement from Jeff Jeffrey J. Carter for premises known as block 507.38, lot 18.01, also known as 179 Cedar Grove Lane. The
foregoing ordinance is presented to the township council for adoption and first reading, posting and publication in accordance with law and public hearing and final adoption at the meeting of the township council to be held on Tuesday, October 14th, 2025 at 7 p.m. in the
council chambers. Do I have a motion to introduce? Some moved. Second. Moved and seconded. Any discussion? Madame clerk. Councilman Karazzi. Yes. Mayor Kramer, yes. Councilman Unjaka, yes.
Council member Patnik, yes. Deputy Mayor Redee, yes. Councilman Vasanella, yes. Councilman, right? Okay. Council, the uh on the next ordinance, the uh hearing date is uh ch going to be changed. So, when I
say a different one, you'll know why. Ordinance 4483-25, an ordinance amending the municipal code of the township of Franklin, Somerset County, New Jersey, with the addition of chapter 198 generators to
prohibit the routine use of on-site generators powered by fossil fuels, petroleum products, or other combustible materials. The foregoing ordinance is presented to the township council for adoption on first reading posting and publication in accordance with law and
public hearing and final adoption at a meeting of the township council to be held on Tuesday, October 28th, 2025 at 7 p.m. on in the council chambers. Do we have a motion to introduce? So moved. Second.
Moved and seconded. So, as mentioned before, this is, as best we can tell, the first of its kind of such an ordinance in the state of New Jersey. And it was inspired by a um television
news article about a town, I believe it was in Tennessee, that's a very rural town, and someone decided to build a warehouse-sized building uh that was an AI center. So an a AI
server farm. It's probably not the technical right words for it, but it was is running AI and they had acres of generators, diesel generators to run it because the grid couldn't handle it. This is the next
attack of beyond warehouses. This is warehouses meets Nessie. And I don't think we want it in our town. I think we've written a model ordinance that other towns can use. I'm going to make a personal tour of the town surrounding us so we don't have one
at the butter at the on the border of our town um which would be just as bad for our residents. Um anyone else have a comment? I just wanted to say um thank you to our staff and everyone that came up and got this alert. I think we're being very
proactive. We're taking proactive measures and we're making sure that, you know, we're looking out for a future in Franklin Township so that we don't have these um heavy machinery um items that are polluting our air because we're fighting for clean air. Um and we
continue to do that and we want to avoid anything that's going to impact our quality of life in Franklin. So, thank you to our council and to our staff for getting this done. This is much needed and thank you again, Mayor. I don't know if it's appropriate to bring up this part, but since you
triggered a thought in my mind when you talked about surrounding towns, we have, I think, what is it? 14 towns, I'm just wondering if uh we should make them aware and forward this ordinance uh uh to them and let them know that they may
want to take this up and we'd be happy to uh assist them in any way possible. As I said, when this once we've passed this, then I'll be bringing it around. Oh, I thought you said you were just going to glow look around. Okay. No, but we'll formally just walk around. He's trotting it out.
Well, yeah, you know, put on your uniform to re reenactment maybe part of it. No, but seriously, uh yeah, we have like 14 towns and uh that's great. Uh we not only can be the first, but maybe generate a whole um many more. Thank you.
You know, and Mr. mayor, you know, when and one of the things so when when we did the research on this and this was kind of a whole lot of people involved in this process over over a relatively short period of time. Um when the mayor mentioned something to me
about this, I had just become aware from my son who lives in Pennsylvania um that a small town in in um actually what was Carbon County, right? So it was coal coal area of Pennsylvania is
Nesquoning Pennsylvania and Nesquoning Pennsylvania right now is dealing with an issue where an AI data center in uh in the area is being powered by an
onsite um incinerator energy plant that is burning tires. Um and and the Pennsylvania's version of the D has issued air quality permits to this facility because they're doing
things like scrubbers. But so they have this facility um that that people have been fighting now for a couple years in Nesquon and and not far outside of Nesquon now is a
700 acre tract in Pen Forest Township which is right outside of Jim Thorp, Pennsylvania. and they're now um the Penforest Township is dealing with this issue right now because a developer is looking to build a data center on that
se 700 acre site. So, this is real. It's happening right now, not far from us. So, it's kind of timely that that we're doing something about it before it happens. Good. But, Mr. Mayor, thank you so much for for initiating this just to to make
sure that we are all on the same page and uh there's uh no confusion. Uh just you routine use or is there any particular legal definition about routine use? Are we talking about
24-hour use, 12 hours use, and a few that is there something there that tells what it is? Well, it defines when you can use it, and that's during an emergency or during, uh, times of maintenance, uh, which includes exercising the generator. So, that's
really the only time you can use it. Thank you. And this, by the way, your home generators are safe. You can still use those when there's a power outage. This is just we don't want someone replacing the grid or what we use as the grid with
um carbon emitting generators. They want to do it with solar and batteries, they can do that. Uh I'd like to thank um staff including Mr. Borne Locker um and um council member Pataznik and the
deputy mayor for their input on this. Um, and ironically it was impartially written by Chat GPT. It was um, but it it even went through our attorney to make sure that we didn't
have a uh a uh what do you call hallucination in it. So any other discussion? Madame clerk. Councilman Karazzi. Yes. Mayor Kramer. Yes. Yes. Councilman Oni Jaka.
Yes. Council member Bataznik. Yes. Deputy Mayor Dean. Yes. Councilman Vasinella. Yes. Councilman Wright. Yes. No sir. On October 28th, there'll be public discussion. Um consent agenda. Items A through U as
listed in the consent agenda portion of this meeting are presented to the township council for adoption. Do we have a motion on the consent agenda? So moved. Anyone want to second that? Second.
Good work. Councel moved and seconded. Anyone would like to pull an item, discuss an item? Mr. Wright, just drag the meeting out. Go ahead. action. You talked about recreation programs and
going through this, I looked at the number uh and O uh amend compatib uh competitive contract recreation and enrichments programs. Yes. So, I just want to let everybody know we
do have them. We are moving forward and $400,000 worth of uh programs. That's a lot of money for programs and I want to commend the township for putting that forward because everybody loves programs. And there you have it.
I'm just going to add to that, mayor, that a lot of that 400,000 or some of it is retrieved back with fees for the for the program. So, a lot of those are self sustaining. All of it. Okay. I want to make sure people don't think not that it's a terrible investment, but that
we're not using $400 of tax. But well, good point, Councilman. Right. We have quite a bit of recreational and uh training type of programs for our
entire population. Any other comments, Madame Clerk? Councilman Karazzi, yes. Mayor Kramer, yes. Councilman Oniaka, yes. Council member Bataznik, yes. Deputy Mayor Dean, yes. Councilman Vasinella, yes. Councilman Wright,
yes. Resolutions to be voted on separately. There are none. Old business, uh, boards, committees, commissions. Anyone have a nomination? Hearing none. There is no executive session. Do we have a motion to adjurnn?
So moved. Seconded. Moved and seconded. All in favor say I. Oppose say nay. Be well. Franklin.