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 will take place at the municipal building at 7 p.m on Tuesday April 8th 2025 thank you please all
stand for the pledge of allegiance followed by an invocation by Councilman Alex Kurazzi 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 as we gather here today as members of the township council we pray that we are ever mindful of opportunities to render our service to fellow citizens and to
our community keeping in mind always the enduring values of life exerting our efforts in those areas and those things upon which future generations can build with confidence let us continue to
strive to make a better world amen amen thank you madame clerk please call the role councilman embarrass here councilwoman Francois council member Karazzi here mayor Kramer here councilman Onijaka here council
member Pasnik present um Deputy Mayor Udin here councilman Vasanella here councilman Wright we're down to item number five on the agenda copies of the agenda are there by the clerk um next item is the uh pro commenations and
proclamations uh Arab Heritage Month proclamation by Dr kurazzi closer you got to pull that mic closer what a surprise on on the on your statement to me what a surprise he he missed the pledge of
allegiance though dear respected community members let's turn this on it's on thank you Bob good evening as values of diversity and unity and our
democracy are challenged at various corners of our nation we are blessed that the leadership in Franklin Township take every opportunity to celebrate diversity and recognize contribution of our community
members in the United States pretty much every month is dedicated to recognize people of different heritage who make up our great nation for example April is American ArabAmerican Heritage Month and
May will be Jewish American Heritage Month today we have a proclamation to recognize and appreciate our ArabAmerican community members i would like to invite Professor Dr mahmood Ami and you can join also ma'am who is the
president of Egyptianame please come here who is the president of Egyptianamean council to join us any other person who wishes to join please come to join us as well so Mr mayor would you like to read
this because your voice is always better than mine i can read it thank you all right whereas ArabAmericans have a rich history and a profound impact on the
culture society and economy of the township of Franklin contributing to the diversity and strength of our community and whereas ArabAmericans have played key roles in a wide range of fields
including science medicine business education government the arts and social justice and whereas ArabAmerican communities come from a variety of countries including but limited to Lebanon Syria
Egypt Palestine Iraq Jordan and many others each contributing their unique culture traditions languages and practices to the American mosaic and whereas ArabAmericans Heritage Month is
a time to recognize and celebrate the diversity and contribution of Arab Arab Americans while also reflecting on the challenges they have faced and continue to overcome and whereas we recognize the
importance of building greater understanding respect and appreciation for the diverse cultures that make up the township of Franklin and the integral role ArabAmericans play in shaping our community's future and now
therefore we Alex Kurazzi Councilman and Philip Kramer Mayor do hereby proclaim the month of April as ArabAmerican Heritage Month in Franklin Township and encourage all citizens to celebrate the
rich history culture and contributions of Arabameans to our community and country we urge all individuals organizations and institution to participate in educational programs
cultural events and community activities that celebrate the beauty of Arab heritage honor its legacy and promote unity understanding across all cultures [Applause]
picture thank you i just want to say if the world got along as well as Alex and I do there'd be no problems [Laughter] dear Excellency Mayor Dr
framer Councilman Dr alex Razi and Councilman I'm really speechless and I don't know what to say and how to thank you on behalf of my family and so many proud Arab Americans for your continued
support leadership and commitment to acknowledge the Arab American Heritage Month your recognition inspire us to keep giving back to this great USA this proclamation is a powerful reminder
and significant steps towards fostering a more inclusive and diverse community your support help us share our rich cultural heritage with the large community once again thank you so much
and good bless you all thank you [Applause] yes do I have a motion to open to the public so moved second moved and seconded all in favor say I i
opposed say no motion is carried we are open to the public anyone wishing to speak um about anything to do with government may come up now limited to five minutes no yielding of time may only come up once good evening council skip Schaefer
two-layer terrace Somerset this is how you use a microphone there Mr mayor so everybody can hear you close uh five minutes goes fast up here so I'm going to speak quickly i have a lot of questions and comments and uh if you can write them
down i don't expect all answers tonight but um maybe a few uh this morning I read an article on the Franklin Reporter that the town is looking into doing u an energy aggregation plan uh that was looked at uh almost three years ago as
well as a community solar plan and um it may be time to to look into it and see if it can be implemented again um this year uh who is the energy consultant that the town is using uh for
this uh for this uh project gable i I seem to recall three years ago uh at the community solar and aggregation meeting that someone from Gable Associates was there to to give the presentation
um just a personal opinion if they're going to run the show this time around I don't have much hope for an successful implementation um is this going to be open to
residential and commercial in the township there was mention of a PSG announcement of a rate increase of 17 to 20% coming this June uh if somebody can shoot me a link to that address to that uh
announcement please i haven't seen anything um about that announcement um I understand the program is geared toward providing savings uh to residents and maybe commercial if
it's open to that as well what benefit is there to the town to entering this program does is the town making any money on this or getting any fees from this uh will there be automatic enrollment in this
program in which you have you're all everybody will automatically be in and you have to opt out or will it be an opt in versus opt out situation one of the goals is to have uh
a 5% savings and a 10% uh sustainability goal on the energy that's provided uh I've been in the industry for 15 or 20 years sustainability that's to me that's a euphemism to use wind and solar as
part of the energy mix to provide the electricity and the economics just have not been there where if you're going to include wind and solar if you're going to insist on it it's going to be very hard to provide any
savings anybody can go out and get their electricity from any provider who provides electricity 100% sustainable 100% solar 100% wind but it will cost you more than what you will pay
PSNG so including that in the mix is going to be very hard to achieve whatever savings you're looking for obviously the last meeting was three years ago uh so you're going to have to have a uh you know a refresh
program for the public um to remind everybody of how the program works um I'll just give you a personal um experience of how the community solar project worked with me i signed up for
it uh it was through a company called Ever Solar they were supposed to give us 20% 21% uh savings on our electricity and it was supposed to be all included on the single bill that you got from PSENG well the savings started to come
in i was impressed with the savings i got savings for you know six or eight months and then all of a sudden I started getting bills from a company called Arcadia out of Green Greenwood Village
Colombia trying to claw back some of the savings that was on my PSEG bill they sent return envelopes the first two return envelopes were addressed to Dimension Energy in Atlanta the other six demen uh return envelopes
were addressed to PMBB number 511 in Atlanta Georgia so a program that started out with Eversolar all of a sudden I started getting bills from Arcadia and to sending these bills to a
third company so I'm just wondering what the success rate and whatever other feedback you've gotten from residents who have joined that community solar program thank you anyone else wishing to speak
good evening bill Connell 25 Spring Street or as I'm known at my house this week Elijah um happy Passover this is over um mayor thank you very much for responding to my uh letter in the
Franklin Reporter um uh I'm a committee member i'm a resident and we have these discussions and in the It's hard to hear you skip you want you hear me now you don't
okay so when we're in the committee we have these discussions and we debate them and you kind of gloss over them in the budget hearings um and I think it's it was a fun thing to do to discuss it
and again I it does it's a matter of not opinion but we had the discussion in a public forum and you're able to read it and see it and you can draw your own conclusions about what is right so I appreciate you taking the time to respond to me and uh thank you
thank you Doc cunningham 11 South Court i uh remember I believe it was the last meeting it was mentioned there was a video on the youth cent's website about what the youth center has accomplished over the last few years i mentioned to
the mayor and councilwoman Francois that I had a chance to check that video out and it it was it's a remarkable job they did and the the operation I think sounds of tomorrow is the name of the the group they really did a great job on the video
but above and beyond that it was the seeing the kids in the clips in the video that gave you the sense that they felt a sense of belonging at the youth center and that they were part of something so it was great to uh to see that so I just wanted
to pass that along to the council as well uh secondly I want to uh acknowledge and thank uh Deputy Mayor Houdin and Councilman Vasinella for agreeing to be part of the upcoming
civics forum set for May 29th 7 p.m right here in the council chambers had a chance to chat with Councilman Vessinel a couple weeks ago and we exchanged notes on some things we needed to be considering
uh in terms of pre-event planning event day program and postevent planning and so we have begun uh some of that and so I wanted to thank you for that chat because it got our juices flowing and uh the ball is rolling
pieces are coming into place we will share with you at a high level what the runner show looks like uh in a couple days and one of the things that we'll also pass along to you both is a Google Docs link that will capture
summarize the whole flow and layout of the evening's event so that everybody is operating from the same script so there are no surprises we understand our shared expectations and things will move along as expected we're hoping to start
at 7:00 get everything done in in an hour and a half so through 8:30 which will leave some time for networking and folks taking pictures etc i
anticipate a member of the Franklin High School performing the national anthem so we'll probably try to start a few minutes before 7 kind of like the sporting events when they do all of that pregame stuff before you get to the game
so we'll try to get the anthem in uh before 7 so we can try to start the program on or about 7 uh couple of things that I will discuss in more details with you Councilman Vasinelo but I'll just throw them out here just for
FYI and general information uh Sean and Sean Hemon and I he and I are serving as co-hosts for the event i'm not sure if Sean will have a few things to share after I'm done but uh one of the things we'd like to do
throughout the program is have as much participation from the council as possible and so for example in the beginning either the mayor or the township manager Mr varlu could do some type of welcome and introduction to get the to get the ball going i will then
follow that with uh the backstory on on how the event came to be and we'll go through the program as many of you know the headline speakers are Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman and Senator Corey
Booker so that's in a nutshell so Sean and I will follow up with you uh separately to kind of nail down and drill down in more detail how we envision things unfolding uh one last
thing though I'd like to share here we're we're looking to identify local event cohosts we we anticipate having watch parties because not everybody's going to be able to attend here physically so we're considering having watch parties spread
out across central Jersey and in particular Franklin Township and so we're asking the council members from each ward to begin to identify a location that you believe could serve as a watch party and individuals who could be the
local event co-host because what they'll help us do is to begin gathering the questions so we understand what's on people's minds so those questions can be presented to the panelists and then what will also what it will also be helpful
with is when we get to the Q&A section of the program for folks who are here and might be able to ask questions the fact that they are not here they're separately located we still want them to feel included and so maybe the local co-host will be able to send those
questions in to Sean and myself and then we can have those questions asked here so those that's just a hint at some of the logistics that we're working through and the ways we will need your assistance to make this happen thank you i'm not sure if Sean has a few words to
share Sean Evan 37 Clyde Road hello everyone um good to see you again here after uh hold me to hold me to you honesty is the best policy i
guess that you know that goes with your career that's it um you know in in my retired place well thank great seeing everyone here um in my retired place in life you see this is what I do i have uh the responsibilities here that I'm
dealing with and one on the way in about five weeks so um but uh you know as a political science major as you know uh law enforcement for 27 plus years you know school educator before that um you
know the the the government the law the structure the the country is is dear to my heart and being able to uh you know join uh with Doc in in an event like this I think is very important particularly for a town like Franklin
Township um to be you know at at the core of this um we're we're in a land of misinformation we're in the land of people not really understanding uh how our government works um truthfulness clarity discussion all of
those things are things that I think we have to get back to and being able to have a civil conversation so that we could understand uh what's happening what's right what's not right and to kind of get ourselves back on track um
you know the the anger the animosity the you know all of the uh the feelings deep that everyone has anytime you talk about uh government situation is not healthy and it doesn't help us move forward franklin Township has always been a town
that has had the ability to um you know to to to be different and in in the sense that we have the diversity and the ability to to talk so I like the fact of having something like this here um hopefully like everything else we can show other towns other neighborhoods in
the country how to have these uh these these discussions and begin to have meaningful conversations so I'm happy to be part of this event um it feels great to come back to do something that is uh that I think is um hopefully the start of something uh fresh and welcoming to
people in the town and I'm hoping that we can find a way to get enough people in the town behind it because that's how we're able to make progress by having participation um if we have just a handful of people here in the discussion we don't really need a big form we have
people that are coming here uh important people that can make a difference and if we get uh folks engaged um throughout the town I think we will be able to actually have a meaningful event which will um then hopefully uh move us forward into further discussion and more
meaningful events down the line so I'm happy to be part of it and uh you know let's uh let's let's all do our part to make this a great one i think it's good for the township thank you thank you anyone else wishing to speak seeing no no one else coming forward
mayor a motion to close the public portion second moved and seconded all in favor say I i post say nay motion is carried do any council want to answer any questions i can take a stab at the energy aggregation bits i guess that
would happen but didn't want to typ cast you thank you and I'll try to fill in where you leave the gaps uh first of all Mr schaefer thanks so much for coming up and uh sharing some thoughts i can't speak particularly to your disdain for Gable Associates but they are the
consultant that we're working with um and thus far have done a tremendous job um one of the things we asked them to do was monitor the energy markets to see when it was appropriate for us to go out um we don't have flexibility on the
parameters but the voters did approve uh the goal of 5% cheaper or more we obviously would love to have more savings cheaper energy is great um and 10% cleaner than the current state
standard and so that's where we will start there will be a 100% option folks can opt into um and then you mentioned why does the town do it what do they get out of it we don't get anything out of it it's our service um to lower prices and get cleaner energy which improves
public health reduces asthma cancer heart disease um you know the kinds of things that make you go cough cough uh we had a lot of residents come here about pollution concerns related to warehouses and truck traffic um our energy supply is another source of not only greenhouse gas emissions and
pollution but also toxic emissions so whatever we can do to get cleaner energy is good the buying power of 22,000 plus households in Franklin is what makes it attractive but you on your own going out to a single supplier which folks can do they can choose a different supplier
than the default BJS that comes with your PSEG bill um that's an option but to get together and get 22,000 of your neighbors to do that is a different story um I don't have to tell you this but I think for most people don't know that energy prices are on a three-year
rolling average so the prices we see today are based on events three years ago in between all of this was the war of Russian aggression when they invaded Ukraine that also spiked uh supply on a whole bunch of energy markets and you
know that's built in and baked into the current costs i texted you a letter uh from PSNG it's undated um but they refer to the February 12th Board of Public Utilities meeting when they uh agreed to the 2025 basic
generation service auction on June 1st of 2025 uh the increase will occur it'll be 17% for uh residential customers for electric portion of their bill um yeah
um residential I don't know i'm I'm not I don't Yeah I know the commercial number energy aggregation is only for residential um most um as I asked this early on in the process most commercial folks use a lot and they can make their own deals and drive down the price that
way and um often do um solar and wind costs uh more was one of the things that you said in fact right now the cheapest energy there is in fact there was a hearing um just last week in by the legislature uh looking at
these rising prices uh and a Republican from South Jersey Senator Ta asked every single energy expert "Isn't natural gas the cheapest source of electricity?" And every single one of them said "No the cheapest source of electricity right now is onshore wind." And the second
cheapest is solar and then right after that is natural gas um that's where the markets have come um last year 40% of the world energy came from solar and wind the cost curve has dropped uh quite tremendously um Gable Associates
believes and we'll see what happens it's a bid it's open that um the market is right for us to be able to get cleaner energy at a more affordable price at the same time not exactly but within the same window of these energy prices going
up that's going to be you know going up that's going to be much re u needed relief for families um so that's one piece and then separately you mentioned um the other piece which is community solar um which is unrelated to energy
aggregation whatsoever um and I'll just mention if people are interested in learning more about energy aggregation there is a website um a web page on our website and you can just put in the search bar energy aggregation or use whatever your favorite um search engine is i just did Franklin Township Somerset
Energy Aggregation and that found the page easier than me using the um the website search function um but that's there and that'll be updated as we go through the process um folks will have the option to opt out if if we first of all if we go out
to bid and we can meet our criteria and we move forward with the plan if we if we don't meet the criteria and the bid doesn't work nothing changes this is a non it's a nothing burger it would be unfortunate I think if we can meet the criteria and the program goes into
effect there'll be a lot of information that's shared but be opt out window um that folks can opt out and then within 30 days any time they can opt out as well in 30 days they'll go back to dirtier more expensive energy basically um there are some cases where folks should opt out it's very rare and
probably mo doesn't affect most people um so separately energy aggregation you mentioned ever solar I don't know there's a bunch of companies that do it Um you know I think every company is different and you have to look at the small print in your contract if it's a fluctuating rate if it's an introductory
rate um or anything like that i know I I I have an energy aggregation uh excuse me um community solar um I have a community solar company that I work with and um they've been spot on they use Acadia i've run all the numbers been no
funny business with it whatsoever and just this last month they were able to roll it on to unified billing um which is nice through PSENG so you could see actually what the savings are right there in one place you don't have to go to two websites and compare i had a whole spreadsheet you know because I do environmental work and energy as part of
the portfolio um I like to test these things out make sure they're working so um I've been nothing but happy saving 21% on my electricity through community solar half the participants need to be low and moderate income families um and then the other half it's open to
everybody else and it's residential only um my rooftop solar production is just down um New Road in um in South Brunswick so I think that covers uh most of the things i also sent you a um let
me just see I sent you something else you asked for uh oh I sent you a link to the information that we have posted about the energy aggregation program and I'll just chime in a little bit on that so I emailed you the press release
from the BPU on the rate increases for the four regulated uh energy suppliers in the state um that there were they varied i think it was as high as a little over 20 for Jersey Central and then it it goes down to public service
and Rockland Electric and Atlantic City Electric are in between 17 and 20 um uh also just you had asked about opting out so opting out is the law in the state of New Jersey um there's a I I can also
send you the link um under the the uh state of New Jersey website there's a a page on government energy aggregation and the law requires for all those um in a municipality where energy aggregation
is being done to be in and they're required to opt out the not notification comes from in our case the consultant to all of the residents who are receiving uh their power through something other than a third party supplier so the
tariff provider is public service here in in uh in Franklin Township so all residents would be provided through the mail with a notification if all of the things that the council member said happen positively um and then those
residents would be given an opportunity to opt out and it is only residential not commercial um anyone else from council so I've had one other person complain to me about the billing for uh
energy aggregate I'm sorry community solar and that was the woman who got an ad sent to her house and joined up with one of the um parties that we didn't recommend not
not that we didn't recommend them we recommended a certain number of uh parties that did it and this was not one of them so I've not heard of anyone getting at an additional bill have you Mr vornocker
no i I know that like many companies that there's that one company is a parent company to another so you know um and and I'm going to break the rules for a second what one did you say you had it's slipping my mind right now which
one did you sign up for eversolar eversolar thank you so Eversolar is owned by Acadia so what happens is Evers Solar goes out and solicits because they're the applicant for a particular project here in Franklin Township most
of them are warehouse rooftops right and so Ever Solar then the the billing company and we did have some confusion that what what what Mr schaefer said didn't come as a complete surprise to me there was some confusion over time not so much with billing i I didn't
necessarily hear that but we had on our website Eversolar and those were that was the company that was supposed to be going out doortodoor they had a solicitation permit to go out and solicit customers and when they knocked on someone's door they said they were from Acadia right so that caused the
confusion so there was some confusion in the beginning so I know that there's a relationship between those two companies i believe is Acadia owns Evers Solar and in certain states they operate under Eversolar and in certain states they
operate under Acadia depending on um their their corporate makeup that that's what I I remember but I haven't had a phone call about Community Solar in ages well more than a year maybe two
um okay i think that answers the uh energy issues um Mr connell thank you for your thank you uh I'm still digesting your latest piece of work
but I'll work on that i just thought it ironic that he missed a pledge of allegiance by being late just saying Bill just saying and by the way Mr mr born Locker we are allowed to ask the public questions i I I I usually don't that's not breaking the rules uh I think
that completes answers to the public unless someone had Yeah i just wanted to make a suggestion to Sean and Doc uh you know we have uh almost 70 houses of worship and uh so you may wanted to tap into if you're looking for a watch
station uh some of the major houses of worship might be a good place to to be there so just a suggestion okay well since you got your microphone warmed up why don't you start council comments okay
thank you Mr mayor um so tomorrow we have a trail committee meeting at 700 p.m in the conference room across from here and so if you could just please join uh that meeting
and I also wanted to remind the people about two important police mobilization to improve traffic safety as I mentioned last time uh the the two one is put the phone away or pay so police are out there looking for people
that they're holding their phones or doing texting so please put that down you know when you're driving the other one is the click it or ticket it so make sure that everybody in your car put their seat belt on so we just wanted to
make sure that that everybody remembers that you know New Jersey even though they have a goal to have uh zero um fatality as in the as far as the traffic but unfortunately in 2024
252 pedestrians and bicyclists lost their lives which was 27% more than 2023 so please do your best to be a a safe driver uh the other one for the backyard
chicken lovers there's going to be an information session on April 17th at 6:00 p.m here did I take yours no I thought maybe the council member at the other end might want to announce that now go ahead i wasn't sure if it's
going to do or you have it already okay no no each week I come there's another little chicken behind my name badge i don't know who's doing it but now I have two and they're taped to it which is very fun so I appreciate that love back at you that's totally funny thank you
but anyway the event is called Coupe Dream so you know please if you are interested this will be a good session for you to attend it's going to be here thank you Mr mayor thank you Councilman my 34th wedding anniversary is coming up do you want to announce that
well okay um Councilman mayor um this too hold the microphone please please oh sorry it's even up hello is it on hello yep
okay um I still notice that uh the furniture you remember last time I talked about the furniture on that road the furniture is still there and uh I think and they're still dumping on that uh cotu is there any way we can put a
sign with penalty on that road just to slow it down or stop it completely i'll talk to public works okay okay mayor that's what I have here thank you Councilman Embarrison uh thank you Mr mayor uh congratulations on your
upcoming 34th anniversary happy to say I got you beat by 10 years we just celebrated 44th in January this year congratulations thank you um anyway um so there were a number of uh committee meetings and other
commissioner meetings that uh we attended the most important one was the master plan study uh hearing at the planning board uh the planning board uh the chairman opened it up um even though it was a internal hearing it was a public meeting um you know he opened it
up for comments so that was a very productive back and forth with the public uh so I think we got some good input and uh good discussions and there was a couple of other things land use committee uh sewage authority board meeting
um and the YMCA steering committee meeting coming along pretty well uh we are uh expanding our uh outreach uh to more people and uh oh I just wanted to compliment the township's uh work on uh
replacing the water meter a a technician came to my house and very professional did a nice job i didn't tell him that I'm a councilman until until the end so so that was a good job uh by the water department
um there is a um I've been getting some calls about how to tap into the affordable housing uh by residents um so I talked to um Councilman Wright and he has been
getting calls as well so we thought it's a good idea to host a uh session info session here uh about how to access affordable housing programs either buying a house or renting it many people
don't seem to know where to find the information uh so uh Bob asked Bob to put together a uh I guess a flyer and it's going to come out we are going to do a 1-hour session here on the 24th of
April at 6 p.m and Sharon Clark uh the executive director of the Central Jersey Housing uh would be here she would be uh presenting it and uh we want to invite public at large to come and uh listen
ask questions and get back uh carry back some information and we'll have some handouts for you uh that you could use so that's uh in a couple of weeks coming up on the 24th 6 p.m right here at the chamber that's all I got Mayor thank you
thank you Councilman Bassinella um okay so we didn't have public works meeting today because there wasn't any specific new updates i know I've been getting some calls and as other council people may have about potholes and crack
sealing basically the springtime maintenance that needs to be done regardless of how much paving we do there's roads that just because of weather and age are going to have problems that need ongoing maintenance or repair whatever
you want to refer to it as but bottom line is although we've had some warm weather I'm going to say probably in the next couple weeks is when you'll see us getting more aggressive with that um you know they have it yearly where
I'm going to say between April and May they attack a lot of this i believe on tonight's agenda we're giving out a contract because we do some of the ceiling and repair in house but we contract it out i believe it's on the agenda tonight so assuming we award that
contract you'll probably see um a lot a lot of that going on soon as far as the um civics form looking forward to it um I'm very curious to see uh what that can spur ongoing and we'll talk more
about that going forward um Rahm Councilman Rahm you mentioned about the um affordable housing uh seminar think that's great um hopefully maybe they'll also cover the rehab program part of it
i know on tonight's agenda uh we're awarding some of the contracts with that we have a program that also gives money if you qualify to rehab houses sometimes during our affordable uh uh or not or affordable inventory but it's a very
good program for homeowners in Franklin who want to stay in Franklin maintain their home properly but sometimes can't afford needed repairs um there's a grand process involved so look forward to that and um tonight we'll be uh doing the
Hamilton budget and our executive director is here to talk about it when it comes up uh that's it Mayor thank you very much thank you Council Member Patasnik i was going to mention a little bit about energy aggregation check i was going to mention Coupe Dreams on the
17th check um but what you might not be aware of is on April 23rd in the council chamber at 6:30 Assemblyman Danielson is going to have an energy uh rising costs of energy
information session which I'll be part of and a couple of other folks to talk about what's happening with your bills what's really behind the rising costs and what actions are necessary both by the state and also the regional utility provider called PJM um that's
responsible for a lot of the missteps that left us in this situation where we have inadequate supply um particularly um you know denying the connection of cleaner um uh clean energy projects that are cheaper uh to come online there was
a little bit of a I'll tell you a little bit but you know if 30% of the projects that were clean energy projects had been uh connected our rates would have been 63% cheaper than the numbers that the uh township managers went over and you know that's because the oil and gas industry
executives who are there vote behind closed doors and pick what projects they're going to connect and generally they're the ones that are for their friends that are also oil and gas derived more expensive projects and that shrinks the cheaper projects and therefore we end up paying more but
we'll go more into the specifics of all of that um and that's going to be on the 23rd at 6:30 here in the council chambers it's a sponsored by the assemblyman as well as the mayor and um we'll be having some folks from Board of Public Utilities as well and that's all
I have thank you Councilman Wright just in time what's for dinner right on i just welcome you okay thank you i see you brought He's eating a jelly donut you brought your dinner with you dinner of champions
new Jersey New Jersey Transit has a funny way of falling on Amtraks tracks and they just blow up anytime they want to coming out of North they just blew up you know New York City I'm glad you're
safe and you could make it deputy Mayor Odin thank you um just a couple updates that I have um last two weeks ago there's a there was a CPR training held by our police department um the session was completely full which
shows that a lot of our residents are interested um I was there and there was so much things that I learned out of that training session um it's probably a fiveminute training overall but it's just that moment of the reaction and just um hearing from our cops on what
they do and the scenarios um was really interesting and I know a lot of people walked out of there learning a lot so thank you to our community outreach for having that program available to our seniors um followed by that there was also a fire prevention meeting at Canal
Walk um that spoke about some of the things that lead to fires and just um things that prevent um so that was also another great session again full house there um there were a couple things that I
took away from the canal walk meeting which I'm working on in the back end um I'll come back with more updates as to what we um work on in terms of our lithium batteries etc um and then on summer run there was another session that was hosted by our assemblyman Joe
Danielson on anchor program and J save um which was on property tax and um that session was also very full and I know there's going to be some series so if you missed the anchor program NJ save property tax session in summer we're
going to have another one in canal walk and I believe if I'm understanding correctly there's going to be another one happening um more on a central location so more to come from there um I think we're keeping our assembly person very busy with a lot of these seminars and services that he's offering to our
residents so thank you Joe um Danielson for hosting those and um giving it to our residents um I was also at the planning board master plan traffic study update that our third party Bright View provided to the planning board there
were a couple key takeaways that came out of that from hearing from a resident so ensure that the stakeholders the community teams are going to be back in a work session discussion to go over those updates and I have also sent some questions um that came out of that
meeting um there was a resident that reported um that dump trucks were going across the Manville Causeway to Schoolhouse um driving past Canal Walk to dump dirt at 31 schoolhouse um so we spoke to the
construction crew and good news they will now reroute and go through Western and Randolph so thank you to the residents that brought that to my attention um I had a couple other residents that had reached out for the great signages that's done by
our council member Patasnik and mayor and somely mane has no room here um I had given some of the signages um to the residents and though I know it doesn't mention um some of our council I just want to say that we are in line with DER
um slogan and absolutely supported and thank you for making that happen um there is a fire prevention meeting this Thursday at 7:30 and uh one more thing did want to say I know we're not
going to meet probably till next two weeks so happy Easter and Eid Mubarak as well thank you thank you uh for my comments I have a council chambers weather report it's 27 degrees in here feels like 25
because it's humid mr manager this is right smallest violin so I I just have one upcoming event that I think is important and it does occur after the next council meeting but the day after so for those um who are
parents of teenagers um the a kind of a very serious upcoming parent workshop is taking place it occurs on two evenings Wednesday April 23rd and April 30th i'll just read a little bit from our website you can sign
up for this it is a virtual event so if you are a parent of a teenager and can't get out of the house this is something that's available virtually um the Teen Speak virtual parent workshops brought uh to us by Empower Somerset in the
Franklin Township Stigma Free Council will be held on the uh Wednesday April 23rd and Wednesday April 30th from 6:00 to 8 it's a program developed by Dr jennifer Serno teen Speak provides parents and caregivers the skills necessary to open up the lines of
communication between parents and caregivers and their teens focusing on topics such as sex mental health and substance abuse a parent's influence has a significant impact on the decisions teenagers are faced with every day learn how to create a healthy loving
environment that fosters growth to help your teen make safer and more informed decisions as they continue into adulthood um again sponsored by Empower Somerset and the Franklin Township
um stigmafree council you know a as a someone well beyond my teenage years but having had raised two boys who are now in their 30s this year um it it is a very very different world today than it
was when I raised my own boys and certainly far different uh world than it was for most of us up here and parents need every little bit of help that they can get um teenage years are challenging to begin with um so I would strongly
encourage anyone who's in that position either with a teenager now or a 10 to 12 year old soon to be teenager to to participate and there's some encouragement if you participate in both of the online sessions you'll receive a
$25 gift card um for your participation so again it's just something that I think it you know we live in a very mixed up world right now and because of that you know parents can get all the help that they can get right and here's
an opportunity to to get some sound good advice and guidance so I'd encourage parents to do that grandparents if you're raising a child caregivers anyone who's involved so now Mr mayor what time it is it is April 23rd and April 30th
from 6:00 p.m to 8:00 p.m both are Wednesday evenings and the links to the to receive the Zoom link are on our website thank you uh we're to item number 10 council discussion items there's none 11
approval of the minutes none submitted uh but we do have to pay the bills and item number 12 the warrants in the amount of 13,739,53545 on April 8th are presented to the township council for payment do I have a motion on the warrants so moved
second and seconded any discussion anyone would like to pull an item or question an item madam clerk councilman Barrison yes council Member Francois councilman Karazzi yes mayor Kramer yes councilman Oniaka yes council
member Patnik yes deputy Mayor Uden yes councilman Vasanella yes councilman Wright yes item number 13 calendar year 2025 Hamilton Street Special Improvement District Budget Public Hearing and
Adoption uh resolution 25-134 authorized to read the calendar year 2025 Hamilton Street special improvement district budget by title only is presented to the township council for adoption to have a motion on
that resolution so moved seconded moved and seconded any discussion madame clerk councilman Barrison yes councilwoman Francois councilman Karazzi yes mayor
Kramer yes councilman Oni Jaka yes council member Pataznik yes deputy Mayor Uden yes councilman Vasanella yes councilman Wright yes um item uh 13B public hearing on calendar year 2025 hamilton Street Special Improvement District has
introduced time to open to the public for comments on the public on uh the Hamilton Street budget uh do I have a motion to open to the public so moved seconded moved and seconded uh all in favor say I i oppos say nay motion is
carried we're open to the public on the Hamilton Street Special Improvement District uh budget only see no one come forward mayor motion to close the public portion is there a second second moved and
seconded all in favor say I i post say nay public hearing is closed uh do we have a motion to adopt motion to adopt moved and seconded any discussion on the
budget madame clerk councilman Barrison yes councilwoman Francois council member Karazzi yes mayor Kramer yes councilman Oni Jaka yes council member Patnik yes deputy Mayor Udin yes council member
Vasinella yes councilman Wright yes okay uh ordinance on introduction and first reading the calendar year 2025 budget uh ordinance 4461-25 ordinance to exceed the
municipal budget approach appropriation limit and to establish a cap bank NJSA 4A40-45.14 the foregoing ordinance is presented to the township council for adoption on first reading and posting public hearing in accordance with law
and public hearing and final adoption at a meeting of the township council to be held on April 22nd 2025 at 7 p.m in the council chambers do we have a motion to introduce and a public hearing
so moved second moved and seconded any discussion madame clerk councilman Barriston yes councilwoman Francois councilman Clarazzi yes mayor Kramer yes councilman Oni Jaka yes council member
Patasnik yes deputy Mayor Uden yes councilman Vasinella yes councilman Wright yes resolution 25-136 authorized to read self-examination of budget resolution do we have a motion it's all
moved second moved and seconded any discussion mr borlocker if you could explain this I'll I'll mess up the explanation i'm I'm sorry to be to be perfectly honest with you i I was not necessarily paying attention to what you were saying oh sure i
can I know that happens so often but I was uh jumping ahead to my part of this pres presentation self-examination self-examination so what that means is every 3 years the state of New Jersey does the examination of our budget at the department of community affairs to
ensure that uh it's it's been completed the the budget process has been completed properly in those off years we're required to do a self-examination and report back our self-examination to the state so this is a year for
self-examination thank you thank you you're welcome it's taken 34 years for my wife to reach what you've reached in about 12 resolution 25 uh 137 authorized introduction of the calendar year 2025 municipal budget and public hearing date
of May 13 20 May 13th oh that's right 2025 we have to skip one meeting do we have a motion on uh the uh resolution motion second do we have a second moved and
seconded any discussion on the introduction of the budget this is I have some discussion about the introduction of the budget i think you do as well Mr mayor yes that's where we're at right yep
so I I just All of council has my uh memo in front of them i if you want to follow along I I may um just paraphrase a little bit on some of the numbers so I don't read billions and millions and kind of cut it down a little bit but for some I will read the whole number um
mayor and council for calendar year 25 the municipal budget um before grants is proposed at 73,23,524.39 this is an increase of $4,191,3854 or 6.07% from the calendar year 24 budget
which was just over over $69 million the most significant individual budget increases which total $4.23 23 million are in statutory expenditures insurance software licensing and salary expenses
many of which are mandated budget requirements and I'll give you the uh rundown here uh there's an increase in health insurance costs of about $1.39 million which is a 15.19% increase which was somewhat
offset by increased employee contributions an increase in liability and workers compensation insurance of $131,496 which is a low about 9.63% increase an increase in pension and social security tax of just over
$139,000 or a 1.81% increase an increase in debt service of uh just over $1.2 million or 35.4% increase an increase in the library tax of uh over $283,000 or a
5.93% increase an increase in utility costs of $280,000 or a 10.39% increase an increase in software licensing of 201,000 well almost $22,000
41.16% increase an increase in salary wages uh salary and wage expenses of uh almost $600,000 2.23% i just note that that 2.23% to the general fund budget is
uh less than the current inflation rate of 2.8% uh as of February of 2025 offsetting some of these increases are reductions the following departments were able to reduce their budget uh the
total of these uh budgets is $35,566 in reductions and they are the HR department tax collector assessor fire prevention recreation and youth center combined uh the mayor and council budget the audit services budget the legal budget and the salary and wage
overtime budgets in total were reduced by just over $35,000 um some key budget changes uh the utilization of fund balance this year will be $11.9 million which helps prevent a larger tax
increase but is an increase of $2.6 million or 28% over last year's utilization of fund balance um through all of this the township still plans to continue with infrastructure improvements by bonding road surfacing is planned at $4 million an additional
$1.2 $2 million is planned for road related projects the amount to be raised by taxes council managed to avoid raising municipal taxes for four years between calendar year 18 and calendar year 23 municipal taxing uh I'm sorry and
calendar year 18 and calendar year 21 calendar year 22 and 23 municipal taxes increased by 1% and then despite significant inflation calendar year 24 municipal tax increased by 6% the calendar year 25 amount to be raised by
taxes is increasing by $1 million from just under $38 million to just under $39 million that's a $2.63% increase in the amount to be raised by municipal taxes but it will
allow us to handle the mandatory increases while still maintaining a high level of community services for calendar year 25 there's an increase in township assessed valuations from 14
bill887 million in change in 2024 to 16 bill697 million in change which is an increase of uh just over 1.8 well actually 1.809 809 billion or a
12.16% increase in assessed valuations the average home value that was $477,100 in calendar year 24 has increased by $78,385 or a 16.43% increase to
$555,485 in calendar year 25 due to this increased value and the increase in the amount to be raised by taxes the average home will see a municipalonly tax increase from $1,216.61 to
$1,299.83 or an increase of $8323 on the municipal portion of the tax bill and Mr mayor I turn it over to you and once the vote is taken I turn the
budget over to councel now so my comments are first of all Mr bourne Locker and the staff have done herculean tasks in order to get this budget number down or the the amount to
be raised by taxes down uh the the increase in health insurance alone was uh incredibly high they managed to handle that relative or not relatively well very well the as you heard a number
of the departments cut their budgets uh in a time of inflation so I I I really commend you and your staff for doing that i'd also like to state as I have many times property taxes are a stupid way to raise income it's someone who is
house rich but income poor or cash flow for cash flow poor uh puts them in a terrible bind when uh assessments go up um it should be a people should pay
taxes by their ability to pay not by the land that they hold or that they may be inherited um but it would take a state constitutional amendment in order to change that so it's certainly not within our power um but in a short review what
Mr vorlocker said plus a little bit more so residential assessments went up 6.6% 6% while total assessments went up 12.2% so in other words residential takes a larger slice of the
pie um council by setting the levy or the amount to be raised by taxes changes the size of the pie but the amount the slice that each person will pay or the slice that residential versus commercial pays is set by the assessment and the
the residential slice got larger because housing prices went up more than commercial prices um so if the um there was 0% change in the levy so if
we didn't raise the amount that we were um that we were wanted to get from the public and just the assessments alone each individual house would be paying the average home the
$555,000 home which is now the average home each individual home would be paying $46.40 more so if we didn't raise any taxes but just by the levy itself I'm sorry if the if
the if we didn't raise any taxes so 0% change in the levy just by the assessments itself it would be an additional $46.40 with the levy change the total increase as Mr mr borlocker said is $8323 so
um the levy itself is raising it $36.83 in other words the action of council is raising your taxes by $36.83 if somebody in the near future say around
November tells you anything different or comes up with the total amount that your taxes are going up because they're including the schools and the county then they're misleading you when it comes to reference to
council so I'll be gives I'll talk about something a little bit Mayor Kramer centric i took office in 2016 so if you compare the levy the amount that we raised in taxes to 2015 the point that we started from when
I took office that was $34.4 million and now the levy the amount that we raise in taxes is $39 million that's an increase of 13.5% over those 10 years nine years
the consumer price index or basically the amount of inflation went from 237 to 319.1 that's a 35% increase so in other words with a 35% increase in inflation
we've gone up 13.5% during my time in office as mayor i I think that's a pretty good record i I am amazed at how much staff does not complain about Mr
vorlocker telling them every year this is not the year to ask for a lot of money and but they're not they haven't at least complained to me about that yet so again congratulations to you Mr manager for leading the team uh to
helping us keep taxes low any other comments on the budget i have a general comment mayor yes sir so unlike anybody else in this uh podium um I live in a um 55 plus community at Renaissance um I
heard from many of uh the residents there uh that the assessment of their homes uh is very high they don't understand why it is so high uh I try to explain but the fact of the matter is it is high and I try to explain then you
know it doesn't mean that their taxes are going to go up correspondingly because of the levy that you went over um and almost many I guess many of them are going to challenge the assessment uh whether they'll be successful or not but
it's material but the general feeling out there is uh uh the house assessment um is very high in the town and they're not happy and I'd just like to respond to that briefly yes sir so what I would
challenge anyone to do if they don't believe that their assessment is correct and they believe it is too high is to appeal their assessments but before they appeal their assessment they should do just a little bit of research and it is so easy to do the research now because
all of the data is available online and in this municipality like most of the municipalities in Somerset County properties are assessed annually and there's a physical inspection every 5 years and there's a market analysis done
based on comparable sales in particular neighborhoods for instance where you live the neighborhoods are the models each individual model is a neighborhood and they look at comparable sales of those models in your particular development over the course of the year
and I have been challenged by a number of of residents uh every year for that matter since I've been manager um but in this year there's already been some who have contacted my office and I I tell
them you know Zillow Redf Fin Realer.com are all very good sources of comparable sales that do regular um evaluations of property values um
home values for your particular home and I have yet to come to an assessment that I have been questioned on by a resident where the online sources don't put the value of th their home at a number at or
actually above what we have it assessed at and we are at 100% market assessments so that's what those numbers should be if your assessment is $600,000 and your market value is 600
610 that's where we're supposed to be and that's what the assessor's office strives for so while I recognize that the val the real estate values in this particular part of the country and and and more so in this part particular part
of the state are through the roof that's how assessments get done so that's why they are where they are any other comments Mr manager i just have uh actually this goes to our township manager of all the bullet points that
you've had on your first page yes sir health insurance liability and workers comp pension and social security library tax utility costs and software licensing we don't have any any direct control over that do we so so I I I talked to
someone earlier today about that um so we have to pay our debt and we have to pay our pension and social security obligations for our employees um we have to pay the library tax that's that's a a function of the law that it's included
in our budget right um obviously we have to pay our utility bills um we have to pay our liability and workers compensation insurance and we have to pay the health insurance that we have a a contractual obligation to pay to our
employees um the one thing and I I kind of joked is the software licensing and I and I will say that it's at $21,000 which shows a 41% increase much of those software licenses are multi-year licenses that have now been they'll be
renewed for more than one year so in the 26 budget I would anticipate that number to be much lower it just happens to be this year for many multi-year licenses to be renewed i mean we could eliminate uh software licensing but then we would
lose all the benefits of um technology in our departments and how we operate our our individual departments that rely on software technology we would also expose our town to um great risk for cyber security attacks and things like
that these things cost money and and that's the only thing that's not mandated but um I think that in some regards and we talked about it in the budget hearings they are mandated so the the cyber security software uh systems
that we have to protect our network are mandated by our joint insurance fund that raised our rate by 9 some odd percent there um but if we don't have it we put ourselves at great risk and and the lack of coverage because they won't
cover us for a cyber security attack unless we meet certain standards so it it is almost all mandated in some fashion because when people ask well why is my insurance so high first thing I tell them is health insurance i got to
have it there's the money um the social security one is that they ask and I say we got to pay social security i can't get around that i'm self-employed i can get around that but I got to pay at the end of the year so no matter what happens you got to do that and the one that I love to hit people with is that
the library tax i don't set it don't control it the state of New Jersey says this is what you got to charge and that's what we have to charge because I think some people on the notion that we set the library tax because they don't see anything written that says set by
the state of New Jersey so when when people ask me about the taxes I throw them things out there right quick and all of a sudden they went from here to here because now they realize there's nothing we can do and then when I ask them well did you come
to a budget hearing did you catch us on TV did you do anything and to a bunch of crickets they don't say a word don't say a word so you know I I guess what I'm telling everyone is come
on out if you're going to talk about a taxes at least come on out here and have a seat and and raise your hand and and query us and say what is you doing or how did it happen but uh that's it
thank you i just want to add some things um first of all thank you for breaking this down u Mr block Locker cuz I think you did a great um explanation at least to how this all works and we get questioned all the time i think most of us do on taxes and why it's increase so thank you for being so clear to the
numbers and um going through this to Councilman Barnson i get asked all the time around the increases and though I don't live in those um adult communities but I'm I have a lot of the residents that do and um I've had a couple people raised the concern that
okay my house value went up and the taxes are so high and so I know a couple of them already has done the appeal but to Mr born Locker's point and I know I spoke to mayor I've had them do that pre-check in Zillow and then they found out that it was higher in Zillow and what was valued was lower and so I don't
know if they did any more appeals but it's a good checkpoint and I think it's important that um everyone understands that that should be I guess the primary checkpoint before you run the appeal and go through and then um find out at the later state that it was lower assessed than what was posted or equal lower or
equal I think I want to say um but yes I had a lot of those come through on phone calls asking me you know because as soon as that property tax went up it was a lot of calls that came through as well on what happened but I also want to mention that's the why we're also doing those property um seminars the tax free
seminars with um Joe Danielson to help further um those that qualify to have that senior freeze programs etc so thank you anyone else i I would say it's worth checking with the accessor because maybe they think
you have a finished bathroom and you don't i mean finished basement and you don't or that you've upgraded your kitchen and you haven't or you have a fireplace and you don't um that kind of correction they can come to your house verify it and that can make a big
difference um but unless there's any other discussion we are voting on the authorizing the uh calendar year 2025 municipal budget uh introduction and setting a hearing date May 13th uh do we
have a motion on that item on that resolution i'm sorry we have the motion do we have a roll call please councilman Barrison yes councilwoman Francois councilman Karazzi yes mayor Kramer yes councilman Oni Jaka yes
council member Pataznik yes deputy Mayor Uden yes councilman Vasanella yes council yes item number 15 public hearing and adoption of ordinances on second reading we have none we do have a first reading first
readings are where we announce to the world that we're considering an ordinance second readings are when we actually consider uh we'll vote on whether we're going to pass it or not uh we have a first reading ordinance number 4462-25 and an ordinance amending the
municipal code of the township of Franklin County said state of New Jersey more particularly chapter 180 fees section 180-2 available from the collector of uh revenue fee for
redemption requests the foregoing ordinance is presented to the township council for adoption on first reading posting publication in accordance with law public hearing and final adoption at a meeting of the township council to be held Tuesday April
22nd 2025 at 7 p.m in the council chambers do we have a motion to introduce so moved second moved and seconded any discussion madame Clerk councilman embarrass yes councilwoman
Francois councilman Karazzi yes mayor Kramer yes councilman Oni Jaka yes council member Pataznik yes deputy Mayor Uden yes councilman Vasinella yes councilman Wright yes consent agenda so time for the consent agenda items A through X is listed on
the consent agenda portion of the meeting are presented to the township council adoption for adoption to have a motion on the consent agenda so moved seconded second any discussion anyone like to pull an item
m go ahead Carl yes Mr mayor and I hate to do it but I got to do it uh resolution 25160 endorsing a fourth round mediation settlement concerning the township's fair share obligation for the forefront of affordable housing obligations from
2025 to 2035 what letter is that w what is your Do you want to pull it or you have a question excuse me do you want to pull it to vote on separately or you have a question yeah uh to our
township manager uh because uh we were moving back and forth on that i know what it is uh and just a quick blurb on that of why we did that or why we're at where we are i think the township attorney is more suited to answer that question he
represented us correct so um as as I I think I laid out at an earlier council meeting this year the afford the manner in which we set our affordable housing obligation has been subject to an amendment to the uh the state's fair
housing act it set up a program by which the DCA would uh would uh do a study and adopt and um propose a number for each of the municipalities in the state that number is it was a non-binding number and it was subject to the township's
review um the township reviewed the number we you passed a resolution at the end of of January um and that number was subject to challenge there was a challenge filed by the New Jersey Builders Association they filed in fact
155 of those challenges uh and in an effort to um to avoid further litigation um we you know entered into negotiations with them essentially with the assistance of a retired superior court judge and a special master appointed by
the superior court um and thus we this this is the final conclusion so this is this is your number it is um there's nobody who uh uh who has challenged it further this will be the number for your fourth round obligations so we know uh where as we go into the next phase which
is the compliance phase which will take place over the next four months um we now know how we can plan for the next 10 years so um have have we always been like at the maximum or we've been ahead of the show or or or how's that been well well
I I can I can tell you this um Franklin has a reputation in the community regarding affordable housing and it is like the I don't know how to describe it's like the the gold standard um having done Franklin's third round
approval I can tell you that in dealing with housing advocates in dealing with other municipalities in dealing with the judges who deal with the affordable housing cases um they all um they all see Franklin as kind of a you know how
to do it the right way uh approach um I tell I tell everybody the story you know the it took 15 rounds the 15 years to get the last round of affordable housing done in New Jersey franklin actually was one of a few towns that had certification under an earlier version
of the law and then it got all thrown into court when the the Supreme Court adopted um the Mount Laurel 4 decision so we went back in with our third round plan and fair share housing coalition who are fierce advocates for affordable
housing uh after we put Mark Healey on and he described what our third round plan he asked um he asked one question and of the special master who who uh presented the plan to the judge and he said "Is there
any municipality that's better planned in the state of New Jersey than Franklin?" To which the special master answered "No." one question so that tells you Franklin's Franklin has always been ahead of the curve here they've always stepped up to their obligation uh they
do it they do it kind of the right way um and um and this is a this is another part of that you know and and stepping up to your obligation doesn't mean doing it means doing your obligation so this this process was us
making sure that the number that we got to was what was our fair share obligation essentially um and that and that's and that's the purpose of this resolution now just to confirm that the reason why I asked that is um I just want to let the township know that not
all not only are we on the ball we're past the ball correct and uh so every everyone looking up uh at the TV screen and you wonder what council does this is what we do and uh to our township
attorney who does everything Mr bayome thank you well thank you sir and I and I have to tell you and I know this from your staff and your attorneys without the support of this governing body and I don't mean just this governing body but the governing bodies over the last two decades this would never be this way it
is you know a firm commitment to diverse and fair housing policies in the state uh in the in the township that get it done and it it comes from everybody who sits up here anyone else have
a mayor yes sir i asked that C what's listed as C resolution 25-140 speaking of affordable housing uh that's awarding a contract i ask that that be voted on separately okay any
it's right of any council member to pull an item to be voted on separately anyone else so items A through X with the exception of C madame clerk councilman Barrison yes councilwoman
Francois councilman Karazzi yes mayor Kramer yes councilman Oni Jaka yes council member Pataznik yes deputy Mayor Uden yes councilman Vasanella yes councilman Wright good and now item number C resolution 25-
uh 140 award contract central Jersey Housing Resource Center do we have a motion so moved second moved and seconded any discussion on that madame clerk councilman Barrison yes councilwoman
Francois councilman Karazzi yes mayor Kramer yes councilman Oniaka yes council member Patasnik yes deputy Mayor Uden yes councilman Vasanelo abstain councilman Wright yes do you have a statement you want oh yes
i have the I've had the privilege to serve on the board of trustees of the organization as a volunteer board of trustees and that is one of the well probably the people who the nonprofit that handles the most of our affordable housing needs including uh now we're
going back and actually uh part of why we're seen as doing so wonderful is we're going back and going to use units that the 30-year window I believe that they were deed restricted has expired and Mr known and I think uh we work towards getting as many renewed as
affordable units going forward as possible is the is the goal so anyway they awarded that contract but being on and so I'm a volunteer being on the board of trustees I abstained from the vote thank you mayor thank you we have no resolutions to be voted on separately
we have uh old business 20 can we do W what's going on other ones we already moved it did we we vote on the separate resolution yes we did we did so that was just a statement afterward so we've
already Yes I know that okay council i I have the helm we're okay thank you i I captain we're going for a little turbulence but we're resolutions to be voted on separately we have none
all business 2025 boards committees commissions vacancies does anyone have a nomination um executive session we have none do we have a motion to adjurnn some moved some moved seconded moved and seconded we have moved it and seconded all in favor
say I i oppose say nay motion is carried we are adjourned be well be hope be well franklin hate has no hope