to have a pop. That's so I assume he'll be there for move in day. It'll be I can see the sweatshirts now coming out. Be a lot of bling. A lot of shirts. Home of the pope. It was funny cuz my mom texted me from Vanova. I'm like, wasn't
he just here? Like town, Villanova, Italy or something. Oh no. Oh my god. That's really we all got the electronic the guy. We're all in on it though. I pushed it again. Oh, I'm like, "Oh,
that's hopeful." She's I'm telling her to turn around and look at Elise, who's supposed to be her favorite person. H can you run the audio through your laptop if not? Well, this is for go to meeting. That's what I mean. But would that would it work through your It doesn't hear it.
Well, we can come back tomorrow. [Music] Not in the morning. Can you hit the um in the morning? We'll be making pancakes, sausages. No. All right, let me go to Hold on. Let me
just go to settings real quick. Are we scratching the county meeting for tomorrow night? The county meeting? I believe so. I hope so. I'm okay with that, too. I'm good, you know, but I just
wanted to stand up for her and hate sport. All right, hit the big guy. Yep. Oh, that's right. [Music] That made a better sound. 636. Sounded like we were reaching into space. There we go. Yeah, it was the
key. Ah, so it was Jen's fault. Nicely done, ladies. Let me just make sure. And now that's on the audio. We're not recording yet. Oh, good. All right. I can say it again. Don't worry.
[Music] All right. Okay. Jen, do you have your phone on you? Yeah. Can you could jump on the YouTube channel and make sure we're live? Okay. Well, we can start that. Yeah, sure.
This meeting is called pursuant to the provisions of the open public meetings law. Would you all please rise for the flag salute? I pledge algiance 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. Get a roll call, please. Committee Evans, here. Committee Montgomery, present. Mick, here. Deputy mayor here. Mayor Gilmore here. minutes. I need
approval of the regular committee minutes of April 8th. And a second, please. Motion. Second. Montgomery. Yes. Yes. Mr. Dick. Yes. Yes. Yes.
Reports. I see Sergeant Antinucci. [Music] Hello everyone. Good evening. Um, all right. All I have is uh we had a few vehicle thefts. They're on the rise
all across the state. Uh some vehicles in the area of Creek Road and Chase Road. Our detectives and troopers are investigating and are working with other municipalities in order to identify suspects. Like I said, this is happening all over the place. Troopers are
conducting exit patrols in town. Uh just a continued reminder to uh residents to please lock your cars and secure any valuables such as purses, laptops that are out of view. Uh never leave your key fobs or or keys
or key fobs in your vehicle. And uh do not leave your vehicle running while unattended. Uh and if uh residents see any suspicious uh people walking around looking in the cars or give us a call
right away. Uh troopers from Bourtown Station, uh we attended several rents. Uh we just recently attended an Easter event and we had uh I had him take a picture with the Easter Bunny, so we had a good laugh at the uh station. So that was nice.
Mhm. And uh next we'll be at the Memorial Day ceremony and uh we're getting ready for a community day as well. That's all I have. Anybody else have any questions? I have a question. There's there's no update on the theft that would happened at the Glenn, is
there? The jewelry that was stolen? Not that I know of. Okay. I can double check because Marilyn's still looking into that. There was a rumor that somebody they might have had a suspect or saw something, but then the report I think said no, that they did not. So, we just
I have to follow up on that. Was she having trouble getting the police report? I think she was having trouble getting a police report. Yeah, those kind of investigation reports, they have to go through division headquarters. We can't The only reports that we can release at the station are accident reports until she gets it. Yeah, that's
what she said. you can't um you know send it to the insurance company without some sort of a report. Yeah. Uh I can get a number that I'll I'll find a number. Thank you. Thank you. We appreciate that. We're trying to help
her out. And I'll find out more information. Thank you. All right. All right. Thanks for I had a question too. Um for the cars that have been stolen, is it because they're going to sound crazy. Is it because the keys are in the car or are they is it something more sinister? Yes, keys are in the car. Keys are in
the car. Wow. Okay. Yes. All righty. Well, that's interesting. Not that that deserves to be stolen, but it's just Yeah. preventable. It's preventable. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks. Okay. So, with that, I need to accept our
reports. I need a motion in a second. Motion. Second. Missy, yes. Yes. Mr. Montgomery. Yes. Mr. Dick. Yes. Yes. So, we have a discussion this evening
with regards to the joint land use board and um the resignation of a long-term member um Richard Gus Bradley who is moving out of the area and therefore
found it necessary to resign. So, we need to accept his letter of resignation. I'd like to thank him for his many years of service and uh I make a motion to accept his resignation. I'll second it
and ditto that comment. Thank you for your service, Gus. Yes. Montgomery. Yes. Miss Evans. Yes. Mr. Dick. Yes. Yes. And then we have a
proclamation. Just you want me to read it? Sure. Okay. Sure thing. Uh so this this proclamation uh we present each month and this is from the uh construction office. It's just acknowledging that uh May is the
building uh is building safety month. So, do we need to accept we need to make a mo do we need to do something to Sure. Make a motion that we accept the the proclamation to make it that we're
dedicated dedicating the month of May to building safety building safety month. Sounds like a plan. So, we need a second then. Second, Mr. Yes, Mr. Dick. Yes, Miss Ev. Yes, Missy.
Yes, yes. Comments from the public. This is with regards to agenda items only and comments are limited to five minutes. Do we have anyone in the audience that has something with regards to the agenda
items only? Yes, sir. In the back, come forward. State your name and address, please. Thank you, Mayor Gibler. Robert Mode, 202 Lumberton Road, uh, Hannesport. Uh, I'm speaking on behalf of the Hannesport Democrats here this
evening. Uh, I am the chairman of the Hannesport Democrats. Here at tonight's meeting, the Republican candidate for Township Committee, the candidate for this year, will be appointed as a full member to the JLUB despite having only served as an
alternate since January 2025, even though I believe he went on the uh the the role a little earlier in October of 24. In making this appointment, Mayor Gilmore is passing over another alternate who has served
since January of 2024, almost a full year longer. To our knowledge, this longer serving alternate was not asked, consulted with, indeed was not even aware of the appointment. In our view,
this appointment is political and not in the best interests of the residents of Hannesport. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, Bob. Is there anyone else in the audience that has something to say with regards to tonight's
agenda? Is there anyone online? Do they wish to say anything? No. Closing the comments from the public. Ordinances. Ordinance
2025-3 appropriating the sum of1,216,000 in funding from the general capital fund balance for various projects. This is the first reading and introduction. The public hearing and final adoption will be June 12th, 2025. I need a motion and a second. Mayor
Gilmore, if before that motion, if I may make an adjustment to this, um I made an error and listed all of the capital projects um including the ones that were specifically listed in the budget. If those were added specifically listed in the appropriations, they do not need to be included in the capital ordinance.
So, I made a mistake. Um so, this ordinance for introduction will actually be for $850,000. And you can note that you could see that in the budget document. It's just listed as a capital budget appropriation with no projects listed
underneath. Okay. So, this is earmarked for uh $500,000 of road improvements and um creek turn park improvements. So, it would be $850,000, not the 1,216,000. Very good. So, noted.
So, with that being said, do I need a motion and a second? Motion. Second. Yes. Mr. Dick. Yes. Miss Evans. Yes. Montgomery. Yes. Mayor. Yes. Consent resolution. I would like to take resolution
202581-5 off the consent agenda for discussion, please. Okay. Let's do that. Which one is which one did she say? Uh acknowledging May's appointment for four member of the jail due to resignation. Which one? E.
Okay. So, removing E, we have A through F. I need a motion in a second, please. So moved. Second. Mr. Montgomery. Yes. Mr. Dick. Yes. Miss Evans. Yes. M. Yes.
Yes. So, we have resolution 2025-81-5 acknowledging the mayor's appointment of a class 4 member of the joint land use board due to the resignation. Uh, could I speak to that, please? Sure. So, I've been trying to
make sense of that, and thank you, Bob, for um speaking to it earlier. I've been trying to make sense of of everything that happened on the Jub since January of 2024. And these are all the appointments and um interim appointments and appointments
to expired terms. There's a lot of um shall we say chess pieces here. And I I I'm not exactly sure what happened, but I am interested in one of these particular appointments which is when Richard Bradley who whose resignation we
just accepted in um January 2024 was appointed as alternate one. Alternate one. our mayor just said that he had been on the joint land use board for a long time. So I'm confused as to why that would be. Of course, then when he was
reappointed to the full uh J jail JLA because of the resignation of well an unexpired term that paved the way for the appointment of the Republican candidate to alternate one position which then when another person resigned
uh when Gus Bradley himself resigned paved the way for him to be appointed to the jail less than 10 months after he first sat in as an alternate This is clearly a political move designed to pad his resume before he runs for election. It is not in the best interests of
Hannesport. And I think along with Bob and the Hanesport Democrats, I disapprove. Thank you. Anyone else have something to say? Okay. So, I need a motion in a second, please. So, moved.
Second. Mr. Montgomery. Yes. Missy? Yes, Miss Evans. No, Mr. Dick. Yes, Mayor. Yes. Resolution 2025-83-5 opposing legislation that the world would preamp
local planning and permit conversion certain office parks and retail centers and mixed use developments. That's the the thing that the league is correct. I don't if you want. Yes. Mr. Gillespie, would you please
a little bit closer? This is a resolution opposing legislation that has been I guess floated. I'm not sure how much support it has in Trenton, but it certainly is reflective of the
efforts in Trenton to try and tell every municipality how to live its life and ignore the idea of home rule, right? Um and basically requires that under certain circumstances properties
meeting these conditions must be made available for certain uses and you don't get to say anything about it in your local zoning ordinances. And unfortunately that's the way Trenton's been in the last eight years, seven years.
Um um there is this continued erosion of home rule u because the people in Trenton seem to know better than the people in Hannesport how Hannesport should develop. Um and that's what this resolution does. I'm sorry I
can't we can't hear you. Move closer. The air conditioning just came on. Um, basically all I was just saying is that the resolution being considered uh opposes legislation that is being advanced in Trenton uh as usual in
Trenton that would continue to erode home rule. Right. And it's just another example of the people in Trenton thinking that they know more about how local towns should develop than the people elected in those local towns. And so this resolution says we don't want to
see that legislation. We want to keep building that we think is best for the summary. Um I have something to add to this one if that's okay, Mrs. Smith. Pardon me. I have something to add to this discussion. Sure. Okay. So
this legislation is S1408 and it's actually sponsored by Troy Singleton who is quite a local senator to us. So I reached out to his office to find out if it was really as bad as all that because obviously we all want affordable housing and many
residents have said on looking at abandoned or empty properties that why don't we convert some of those into affordable housing rather than putting up apartment blocks. Right? So, this is what I got from uh Troy Singleton's office. The bill gives municipalities
the flexibility to fully examine an application for conversion if the proposed site plan, especially if the application does not um comply with local zoning laws such as those governing mixed use, storm water management, sewage, etc. This
legislation sets the bulk standards for development. If a developer submits an application based on those standards and complies with relevant local zoning ordinances, the project may proceed. Conversely, if the standards are not met, the project may be denied. The
senator is also working on amendments to address concerns about landlords intentionally displacing tenants and keeping properties vacant in order to redevelop under mixeduse zoning. In other words, I don't think that the situation is quite as negative as
painted by our resolution. Okay. Could that explanation be shared? Would you would you email that to all of us? Sure. I can forward this after the and that and that's an explanation that was provided by the sponsor's office. Correct. Uh by the some staff officer
that the director of policy and legislation from the office of Troy Singleton who is a sponsor of the legislation. Correct. Correct. Thank you. Should I just forward it to you and Paula so you can I think everyone should see it. Yeah. Okay. Is that permissible
in these situations? So I need a motion in a second. Motion. Second. Mr. Dick. Yes. Mrs. Tory. Yes. Mrs. Evans. No. Mr. Montgomery? Yes. Mayor Gilmore? Yes. Resolution
2025-84-5. This is regarding the LEAP program. Can we get a little bit more? Yes. The substance abuse one. Okay. So uh the LEAP challenge grant is an opportunity um provided by DCA. Um it is generally a
rolling grant opportunity. However, uh one of the three grants within the LEAP program is um due the end of this month and that is the challenge grant. Um it promotes innovation among peer local units across
New Jersey. Um it exists to challenge municipalities and counties to collaborate on more extensive partnerships and collaborations to produce efficiencies through shared services. Um so with the support of the volunteer fire company um I uh suggested
that we um apply for this grant to do a feasibility study on the possibility of a shared service agreement for their weekday duty crew assignments. I see. Um, so Lumberton currently has that program. Uh, they do have the safer
grant. I believe it's their second round. Um, they do provide um, duty crew or I should say response incentives for their volunteer firefighters. Um, so there's various ways to incentivize um, our volunteers. And I thought this
was a great opportunity for us to um apply for $150,000 grant to hire a feasibility study to explore the possibility of uh a shared service with Lumberton. I have not heard from Lumberton Township yet. Um this is very
timely. Again, it's due by the end of the month. So should Lumberton and Lumberton does have to participate in order for this grant to be valid. um if uh they do participate, uh I have two weeks to write the grant as well as get a proposal from a company that would do
the feasibility study. So, we're working in uh 10th gear here. Um but I thought we should um jump on the opportunity if it all works out. Good job. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. I I have a question, Paula. Um so, this is for the stipens,
right? This is what for the for the volunteers on a daily basis. This is what we're focusing on right now. Yes. With this, we're not focusing on the general whole big shared services program. Great. It would just be a stipen program for the volunteers.
Correct. Thank you. Thank you for that. I know that's a lot of work for you real fast and we appreciate you. Thank you. So, I need a motion in a second, please. So moved. Second, Mr. Montgomery. Yes. Mr. Dick. Yes. Miss Evans? Yes. Miss
Tory? Yes. Mayor Gilmore? Yes. And may I make a request to amend the uh the agenda to add a resolution? Sure. Uh my apologies, but uh this was presented to me u this week, but it is the annual governor's council on substance use um
alliance grant, the ARCASa program that we participate in with four other sending municipalities. Um so this is the annual resolution authorizing um participation in that. So it would be resolution 2025-86-5 titled Governor's Council on
Substance Abuse Disorder Alliance to Prevent Substance Use. Okay. So with that being said, could I have a motion in a second, please? To amend. To amend. Motion to amend.
Second. Mrs. Evans. Yes. Mrs. Tory. Yes. Mr. Montgomery. Yes. Mr. Dick. Yes. Mayor Gilmore. Yes. Okay. So, I need a motion and a second for resolution 2025-86-5. So, moved. Second. Mrs. Tory. Yes. Mrs.
Evans? Yes. Mr. Montgomery? Yes. Mr. Dick? Yes. Mayor Gilmore? Yes. Okay. Approval of business licenses. We have a few this month. I need a motion in a second. Motion. Second. Mr. Dick.
Yes. Mr. Montgomery. Yes. M. Evans? Yes, Mrs. Tory. Yes, Mayor Gilmore. Yes. Approval of charitable clothing bin permit 2025-5. Motion. Second. Was that who made the motion?
Um, okay. Mr. Dick, yes. Mrs. Tory, yes. Mrs. Evans, yes. Mr. Montgomery, yes. Mayor Gilmore, yes. Comments from the public. Comments are limited to five minutes. Anyone in the room wish to make a comment?
Yes, sir. I'm uh Steve Novita. Live at 43 Eastn Way. Been here for the last 26 years. Um it's a great community. I love uh Hannesport. Uh being on Eastn Way and
all my years of working here. I finally retired a couple years ago and we uh adopted a dog in December. So my job now as a retiree is walking the dog in the street. So, in all my years of working, never realized this. I did see it a few
times. Eastn Way has become a speed road. I mean, these people are flying down every day. I'm yelling at them, sometimes in the street pointing at them. Uh I have neighbors coming to me and saying we have, you know, at
least contacted, I'm not sure whether it's the state troopers or whatever it may be, um to do something about it. We got the ste two ste speed bumps or maybe three three stop signs and they're not stopping the stop sign on
uh Eert. I I watch people blow through that all the time. I'm not asking the state troopers. I know how busy they are. I'm a son of a police officer out of Chicago. But something has to be done. It's not my job. It seems like they're slowing down because I'm yelling all the time. I'm I'm out there two or
three times a day just at at times in the morning and at from 7:30 to 9 and from 4 to 6 they're probably coming and going to work and I know where some of these people live. Um I mean to me it's getting to
the point where I'm feeling like I'm going to get a a folding chair and sit in front of my house with a speed sign at 25 miles an hour in the middle of the road just to do something to make them aware. Um, I even thought, you know, deputize me. I don't care. I'll do I'll get a
radar gun from the Phillies, use my cell phone, and take a picture of their license plate cuz it's just getting out of hand. It is a cut through, and it seems like it's getting worse. You can see it on 38, the cars that are piling up now. So, these people are cutting right through here. But, people have
tried to call. I'm retired. My wife calls me the Glattus Kravitz of uh, Hannesport, and I'm at, like I said, 43 Eastern way. I'm right in the middle of it, man. And I see it both ways and all I'm asking is whatever it could be. I mean, I talked to Paul about a little
bit. I know the deterrent of the speed, letting them know when you come into the into Eastn Way, there's a 25 mph speed limit, but it's right as you turn. You don't see it. Now, all the young kids that were in the neighborhood, now they're driving. They're probably most
of the problem, but I also see other people that are just flying through. So, I'm just here tonight to see if there's something that we could do to slow it down. Unless you want me to sit at that phone chair and I'll be glad to do it. But again, I don't know what it could
be, but it is an issue. And I know with the other meetings, they talk about correct drive with all the kids. Well, they have to put out a sign on the weekends or whatever it may be in the middle of the street just to make people aware. That's not their job. the city is
it's it's their job to make sure that we're safe here and there's a lot of young kids. Trick-or- treat went away for a while. Now it's back. That means there's a lot of kids in that area and it's dangerous on Eastn Way. Thank you. Thank you, Steve. Anyone else in the
audience? Yes, ma'am. Samantha Loveman, 2514 Creek Road. Um, I would like to add to his I agree with him fully with being a cutthrough street um on Creek Road with the speed humps uh along with the apartments affordable housing that's
being built. Uh we have a lot of trucks come through. We have speed humps, but they do absolutely nothing unless you have a very small car. Um, I walk my son who's about to be five months down the street and it does feel dangerous
sometimes. Um, because even with the speed humps, they just fly right over them. And I noticed uh after leaving the park recently on Deacon, those speed humps you cannot fly over unless maybe you have a truck. Um, so I was just wondering, same thing, like maybe some
speed humps, but when they are placed, they are placed like the deacon ones, um, where those nice houses are right behind our our park right here. Um, because they they do force you to slow down. Um, I don't know if that's feasible, but since the road has been pretty much tore up all along the
affordable housing for the piping and things, I was just kind of hoping maybe um, there could be a whole project for cutthrough streets in our in our township. So, thank you. Thanks, Sam. Yeah, thanks. Anyone else? Yes, sir.
Before my time starts, I just have a quick clarification. Can I bring Larry up and we share five? Take 10 minutes, five each, or would you prefer us to do it separately? Any objection to that? Is that okay? I'm okay. Okay. Thank you. Good afternoon, good evening, ladies and
gentlemen. Thank you um for your time. It's wonderful to be here. Um on behalf of the Hannesport School, uh I speak today as a board president. Um excuse me. You need your name and your address. Jason Cardonic, Broad Street Hansport.
Thank you. Thank you. Um we met last week and had a unanimous resolution amongst all of our board members to introduce a resolution that we'll be sharing with you today um after we're done speaking. The purpose of this resolution is to share our desire to have pilot money shared with the school
as it relates to the residential districts that have been built recently uh specifically to the residential not to the warehouse. Um we have tried a multiple efforts to sort of go through uh channels to get this additional um
revenue shared with us but have been unsuccessful since. Uh we have a request out there from the New Jersey uh tax incentive uh program that's out there which would get the district approximately $347,000 which would be passed on to the taxpayers. We don't need committee votes
for that. Um it's an incentive that we've applied for and have not decided whether or not we're going to accept if awarded. Our goal is not to accept. We would like not to because that would only be a burden passed to the taxpayer that we genuinely do not wish to share. I've been on the school board for 12
years. We have never passed a budget, in my estimation, that has been fiscally irresponsible. We have passed budgets that do not take the full 2% cap that we are allowed to take. Um, we've only spent what we felt is necessary. We're at a crossroads now at our district. We're not Republicans or Democrats
standing here before you. We're concerned members of a board of education who have spent a lot of money specifically this year in ensuring that our students are safe by hiring a state trooper, I'm sorry, a a police officer and off, you know, an offduty police officer um
because at the request of the state police, they felt they were not able to successfully get to our school every day in time if an emergency happened because of the area that they have to cover. Uh we don't blame them. It's a tremendous amount of territory and they do support us immensely. This board has always been incredibly
supportive of our school. Um, many of you come to our meetings and many of you I know personally and almost all of you have had children come through the school have not gone to the school yourself. So, we know how important the school is to you. Unfortunately, we feel like this message is not getting through to the five of you because of factors
outside of the control of the five of you. So, we would ask that you if your answers, thank you for your comment. We respect that. I do that many times in my meetings as well. We know the work is done in the background and we ask you to consider this request on our resolution to approve us the pilot money um that we
believe should be given to us as a as a result of this warehousing. So I'm going to ask Larry to share uh some of the details of that. Thank you. Uh Larry Brand One Wells Court also here representing the uh uh Hannesport school board. Um so we're only concerned with
uh pilot that is uh uh pilot funding agreements that impact residential development. Uh we expect from the 75 unit that 61% of 100 units according to a Ruter study that we're going to get 53
students from that development coming in. We will not get any state money for those 53 students coming to the school. What it means is the taxpayers will have to front the cost of those students
because we're not getting any type of tax money for those individuals because the pilot bypasses the school district. And that's basically our our concern at the end of the day is that, you know, we're not those those 53 students will need some percentage of child study team
work for those uh for those for some of those individuals. And we're just concerned at the end of the day that the school is going to go from 500 students to 553 students approximately. Um but we're still getting funding on only 500
students. Uh and as a second item, um I'd like to look at I would like the township to look at our walking path. Um we recently this year uh we've had a number of individuals who are ignoring our trespassing signs. So, we have two
trespassing signs on the two sides of the walking path, and people are ignoring those signs. Our teacher aids are going out and approaching individuals to say, you know, please go back. It's school property. You're not supposed to be trespassing. It's putting our teachers, our teacher aids, at risk,
and uh frankly, people are being rude to them at this point and not going back. We'd like to look at redesigning the walking path that stays off of the school campus um and divert them. We can't put up gates. We can't put up
chains we talked about because if we forget to take them down and someone's bike riding, it will seriously injure somebody. So, we're look we're we're requesting that we jointly look at a better way to do the path that keeps them off of the school property from a safety factor. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you. So, I'm sorry if that's okay. So, we believe there's no issue more important in this township than the safety of our children. I hope that all five of you agree. And I hope those who are on our township administration, We're at five, right? We're okay. Okay.
And those who are on our township administration understand that. That's why we work as hard as we do every day at the school level, right? That's why I volunteer. I don't have children in school anymore. Um, that's why we volunteer to make sure our kids are taken care of and we believe great communities make great schools. None of us want to pay more money in taxes. We
we completely understand we are a beneficial town to move to because we have a low tax rate and we want to continue to have a low tax rate, but we are not going to jeopardize the safety of our children for anyone or for any reason. And that's why without having any money from the township, we made the decision to hire an armed security guard
that will patrol our building every minute of every day that the students are there. every decision we need to make, whether it's a playground issue, an equipment issue, a roofing issue, we take care of our children first and we figure out the money later. I'm more than happy to sit in a room with the committee and analyze the budget of the
school and talk about where we can save because ultimately we're all in this together. So, I ask the board, you know, one, I thank you to the committee for taking the time to hear me out. I thank the committee. Many of you are part of the school through the foundation or come to events or have children in there. I know how important this is to
you and I ask you to fight for our children's safety as much as you fight for anything else because we believe that's the most important thing. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Thanks guys. You guys need copies of the resolution. I'll leave them. Thank you.
Paul and happy to take any questions or comments online. Thank you. Thank you. Very good. All right. Anyone else in the room? Yes, ma'am. Captain McN 407 Bishop. I wasn't going
to make any comment tonight, but the hearing devices, I don't know if it's getting old, but I it's not working very well. Jennifer was nice enough to put a battery in it because both of them were dead.
But when I put them on, there's a motor, air conditioner, something roaring, and it distorts everything that everybody says. So, may as well not even have it. I know that it's required by state law
that uh, you know, try to accommodate. I just thought I'd mention it. Thank you very much. Yeah. Thanks, Kitty. Sorry about that, Kitty. Anyone else in the room? Anyone online? Uh, we do have one resident online. I don't know if she
wants to uh say anything. Any comments? No, she said no. Thank you. Okay, that being said, I'm closing comments from the public. Comments from the administrator. All right, let me get this microphone close.
Can you guys hear me? Should I shut off the air? Yes. Okay. It's the air conditioning. Yeah, I think that's an issue too for all of us. I took the signs off, so maybe that's the police speak into the microphone signs. I removed them. Maybe I should put them back up. Um, so I just
want to forewarn everyone in the audience that my comment tonight is going to be a bit lengthy. Um, so buckle up. Uhoh. No, it's okay. um it needs to be done and um it's it's appropriate to to
be done here. Um so here we go. I would like to take the opportunity to provide an official response to the April 9th review and analysis of the 2025 general election in Burlington County. I first want to acknowledge that
the county is doing a tremendous job with employing many of the recommendations that are found in the review. Um, this will absolutely help with the upcoming primary as well as this year's general election. Hannesport had the interesting fortune of being the only Burlington
County municipality directly named in the review. After reading it, I understand why it is labeled a review and not an investigation, as the methodology was grossly inadequate with small sample sizes,
riddled with incorrect information, omitted facts, manipulated context, and a clear shift of responsibility and blame, which at the end of the day affects all of us municipal clerks in the 40 municipalities of Burlington
County. First, I want to theorize why Hannesport was the only town identified in the 49page review. That's all I can do since not a single individual reached out to communicate with me or anyone involved
in Hannesport's election. One theory is that Hannesport was one of only six municipalities that sent and publicly posted a formal statement to the county that identified and decrieded what our residents and pole workers experienced
on the general election day. Hannesport Township's letter on behalf of its residents and pole workers remains on our web page and social media pages. We were also on local and national news and identified as one of the most
egregious representation of the utter failure experienced on November 5th and November 6th. Now I would like to address the cheap shots that the county contracted firm of Connell Foley LLP, more specifically John P. Lacy and Alexander
J. Gakos took towards Hannesport Township. On page 26 of that review, they wrote the following. To be sure, the street runs both ways. Take Hannesport Township, where the last check-in time was just before 1:00 a.m.
on November 6th, and where voter turnout of 61% fell short of the county average. No one disputes that the superintendent of elections sent too few voting machines to the town's only polling location, which houses five election
districts for roughly 5,300 registered voters. But according to data provided by the superintendent of elections, the town never responded to any of the superintendent's offers to provide more equipment before the election. Nor did any of the town's personnel attend any
of the superintendent's open houses where pole workers and municipal clerks could familiarize themselves with the new machines. Thus, the county election offices and municipal clerks communication efforts must align. First, the first point of falling short,
it emits the county average being only 1% more at 62%. It also fails to identify that the state's average voter turnout was 65% with Burlington County voter turnout 3% less and it still had the worst voter
lines of all 21 counties. It also fails to acknowledge that the number of disenfranchised voters who turned around and did not vote due to overcapacity parking, expansive lines, and up to six-hour wait times may have made up the 1% difference from the county's turnout.
Based on the feedback that I received from many residents, I challenge that it was actually more. Two, to suggest our singular polling location for all of our districts is not sufficient for roughly 5,300 Hannesport voters is interesting. because that information should have
guided the superintendent of elections decision to provide more than one triple which is only two ballot marking devices in a tabulator and a double which is one ballot marking device. We were giving three marking devices less than Dominion's
recommendation. We were short five marking devices than what we always received for the general election. This has been our only polling location for numerous presidential elections, even before early voting and mail-in voting were available to
us. The super superintendent of elections never offered to provide more equipment. On August 29th, 2025, I'm sorry, 2024, an email from the superintendent of elections deputy
registar machine coordinator was sent to the president of the Burlington County Clerk's Association asking her to reach out to the clerks and ask if they have any feedback about needing more ballot marking devices in any of the polling
locations. This wasn't an offer. This was a let's ask someone else to ask if we think we need more ballot marking devices. This ask was after us clerks had one primary election experience with the new Dominion machines.
Why do we need to tell the superintendent who contracted with Dominion and has the machines specifications, who has the feedback and data from the long lines and major major issues from the primary week's early voting
experiences, the failures from June's primary election, past presidential election turnout percentages, and the email correspondents from the clerks on all of this mess need to ask us if we need more machines. This is the
superintendent of elections job, not the clerks. Four, nor did any of the town's personnel attend any of the election o any of the superintendent's open houses. It is interesting how this is framed as if the superintendent's open houses were
the only source available to us for vot voting machine training when there was a new voting machine class for clerks on May 3rd 2025 which I attended. Here is my Google
confirmation that I attended it. I also attended an April 24th, 2023, February 22nd, 2024, and May 3rd, 2024 annual Burlington County Municipal Clerk's meetings, which included information on voting procedures, a physical machine
for us to look at and ask questions. In reviewing the interviews and list of materials provided on pages 33 and 49 of the review, no sign-in sheets were reviewed to verify if any Hannesport personnel attended any trainings.
They also added a statement of, "Nor did any of the town's personnel attend. Not only was I trained, but our tax collector is one of Hannesport's primary pole workers. She is one of the two runners at the end of the night and is a leader among all of the pole workers.
She has worked the elections for well over 20 years and is trained." No one interviewed me or any of the town's personnel to determine if this statement was accurate, making it quite frankly defamatory. Connor Foley identifies in
this section that the information was provided to them by the superintendent of elections. Some additional points I want to share based on the general comments and recommendations by the firm. Prior presidential election data was provided to all of us Burlington County municipal
clerks during our annual election meeting on February 22nd, 2024 by the Burlington County Clerk's Office. The data printed includes 2012, 2016, and 2020 presidential election turnout
history for Burlington County, which averaged 74.56%. It also printed and stated anticipated 2024 general election turnout of 74.56%. Voting trends which included percentage of eligible voters, mail and
ballot turnout and requests, machine voting turnout percentages, early and provisional voting was also provided in this printed material which I have here if anybody would like to see it. Why did we not receive the appropriate number of machines based on this data and Dominion's
recommendation? Two, early voting occurred from October 6th through November 3rd. The data was available from this early voting in terms of length of time it took voters to cast their ballots. These early voting experiences, metrics, and average prior
voter turnout percentages were ignored. Three. In June, after the primary election, Burlington County clerks requested a meeting with county election officials to go over election issues and concerns. This request was
ignored and a meeting never took place. Pole workers were mandated to Pole workers are mandated to train and are trained by the county. They answer to the superintendent of elections, not the municipal clerk.
Municipal clerks have always been given the names and contact information of the assigned pole workers by the county superintendent of elections. This information was intentionally withheld from us this year, this past year. Why?
And how are we effectively how are we supposed to effectively communicate to our poll workers as issues presented themselves? And I assure you there were issues all day, all night, and the next morning, including the decision by a judge to open the polls for another
hour. How are we supposed to get that information to our pole workers if we didn't have their contact information? Thank god we have one poll polling place. How about the other towns that have 10? The review asserts that municipal clerks have some type of jurisdiction
and responsibility for the pole workers. This is unequivocally false. Six, there were opportunities to upgrade the voting machines in non-presidential election years of 2021 and 2023. Why wait for a presidential election to roll out new machines? Seven, Hannesport pole workers
were strategically placed at our location based on their strengths. We had no issue with our pole workers assigned to the machines or the pole books. I stand by my statement that our pole workers are exceptional and quite competent at their jobs. The Dominion Rover technician assigned
to Hannesport was prompt, courteous, and extremely effective. And I can say the same thing for the county IT technicians and machine delivery staff. Our site setup is exactly as suggested in their recent May 6th county superintendent of elections email. Exactly how they
recommend to us was exactly how we had it set up here. The fact that Hannesport was equipped with only three ballot marking devices by the superintendent of election yet met the issues swiftly. Oh, despite the fact that we did this, we met these
issues swiftly, creatively, strategically, and with tact. And it should be example, not the subject of a cheap shot in a review. After I directed traffic for an hour, our amazing volunteer fire police came and took control of the municipal
parking lot for over 6 hours. After communicating with our state police throughout the day, floor warning Sergeant Antinucci that it's coming. Some the the lot at 9:00 in the morning, the lot was piling up. People were jumping curbs and parking everywhere. We finally had to request them to direct
traffic on on Martin Highway and they came right away. We had pre-made, please hold my place in line laminated signs made the day before. Jen made those for our most vulnerable and shade for our most vulnerable voters and had shaded sitting
areas for them as well. In this emergent situation, with the help of Donna Casey, we coordinated Chick-fil-A and Mr. Softy food trucks had bottled water distributed and someone even ordered p dozens and dozens of pizzas for our residents who were waiting in line for
up to six hours so that they were taken care of. Our sound system was mounted outside and all the people wrapped around our entire building and parking lot enjoyed yacht rock radio meeting their neighbors and making the best of quite frankly a horrible situation that
was handed to us. Hannesport created an atmosphere that was community. We were in it together and we made the best of it. So, thank you. I needed to get that off my chest for Hannesport. Um, I did Thank
you. Thank you for your time and your patience with that. And, um, I do greatly appreciate it. That's all I have to say. Sorry. Go ahead, John. I All right, Mr. Gillespie. That's a tough act to follow. John, you better have something to say.
I'm just not sure how you enjoy yacht rock radio. I have no I'm good. Mrs. Evans. Right. I first of all, I want to say that I 100% endorse everything that um
Paula just said. Uh I'm the commissioner liaison, so I've been attending the Burlington County Commissioner meetings. Uh I I don't get there every two weeks, but I would say 75% of the time since the election, I've been there. And every time I stand up in public comment and
say something and ask them and talk about the lack of machines and honestly I think that might be one of the reasons why they mentioned Hannesport. It's cuz you know I was a bit of a squeaky wheel. Anyway, apart from that um I also participated in the Easter event that the sergeant mentioned which seems a
long time ago now. Uh, unfortunately, Earth Day at Hannesport had to be cancelled because of we had bad weather, which means that the green team's light the way Forward pledge will now be launched at community day on June the 7th. I did go to the
county's Earth at Smithville to represent Hannesport there. Also in Green Team News, we are expanding our energy efficiency outreach from residential to commercial and we've just had our first meeting about that. and myself and two other green team members
attended the sustainability sum summit in Holell, New Jersey. Um, fun fact, location of the filming of the TV series Severance. I'm looking forward to the Memorial Day ceremony on May 26th. Thank you all for coming and have a great rest
of your day. Thank you, Mr. Dick. Um, just a couple things. Uh, thank you Paula, first of all, for that for sticking up for the town. Um uh as the senior citizens liaison, senior citizen club liaison, I want to let everyone know and put on the record that they do meet every second and fourth Thursday at
noon at the Kennedy Street Center. It's open to anyone over 55. Uh sounds like they have games, uh speakers, usually some food brought in or maybe they they make their own food. So if you'd like to join or just stop by, feel free to go check them out. Again, every second and
four Thursday and the next one because I had to figure it out for myself is actually next Thursday, not this coming Thursday. and then every other from there. Um this Sunday the township committee is starting the um the the very first which is hopefully of many uh Hannesport helps
thank you Ken for the name kickoff. Um what we are trying to do is organize uh some teenage and maybe younger than teenage volunteers as we move forward to help with the community. So we have a group of teenagers going over to Mason's Glenn to a specific area. They're going
to do some yard work, some landscaping, some mulching, plant some flowers, move some bushes for people. All uh courtesy mulch uh Dumpy's landscaping. So, we do thank them and we thank our public works people for helping with the rest of the stuff. Um none of this is um at cost to the taxpayer or anything like that. Is
truly a volunteer program. So, we hope to tap into the community and make it hopefully a larger and larger program as we go forward. So, keep an eye out on stuff like that. Um if this works, this is kind of where we're going to work out the kinks. We're going to go from there and make it bigger and better from
there. Um, keep your eye out also as a liaison with uh Karen with the fire for the fire department. Um, we're going to put together some fundraisers in the near future. Um, for those who don't know, and I had to learn um very quickly, they are one of the few fully
volunteerfunded or non-funded um uh fire departments. So, they do need to do some fundraising and they need to get out there and they need to to to bang the pavement a little bit. So, please keep your eyes open for them. They need to do the work, but we need to help them because we are a small town and we need
to take care of our town and we need to help them grow. So, um some of us on the comm on the town council are going to help committee are going to help them, but we need your help as well to uh to get the word out and to maybe throw a few bucks their way. So, keep an eye out for things like that. And um I I know
you guys usually like to go over some of the events coming up. I do want to mention the June 7th event coming up. Um please show up early. I'm gonna be bringing my daughter and her softball team to the dunk tank that I'll be sitting in. So, if you want to see some girls who can throw a ball pretty hard. Um, you'll probably see me uh hit the
water quite a bit. Other than that, thank you all. Have a good night. That'll be fun. Thank you for volunteering. Yes, Mr. Montgomery. Uh, so just want to throw some reminders out. Uh, first of all, just uh just a
note of memory of Jay Jones coming up, the anniversary of his death. Um it's on your calendars. Um just really responsible for running our public works for a number of years and he certainly is well missed. Uh the Hannesport
5K is on May 31st at 8:30 a.m. Uh that will be after the our Memorial Day event that takes place at 9:00 a.m. and we're going to have bag pipes there and uh a number of wreaths and um it's a one a number of speakers. It's a great
ceremony. Um, so please try to come. Uh, we seems like we have more and more people attend every year. Um, Paul, I Wow. Um, thank you for that presentation. Thank you for um, sticking
up for our town of Hannesport. Steve and I were in line together for I don't know if it was six hours. My wife was there for six hours. We were there for Yeah, we were close to that. Um, pretty crazy. And it was very just
Hannesport if anyone witnessed what took place there for that those times and Paul obviously was there. What a great great town we have. I mean people were just you know and it was a great idea bringing music and food trucks and you know here's here's to our administrator and her team to do all that because it
was it was really horrible and really turned something horrible into something that was actually somewhat somewhat pleasant. No one liked waiting, but it was because we were there with each other and getting to know each other. Um, so hopefully this coming June 10th is the
primary election. Um, mail in your ballots, vote early. Uh, hopefully we won't have that issue, but um, please still come and vote. Um, the Earth Day was cancelled. um as Anna had said, but um our Hannesport
Township Environmental Commission had a number of of which Leela and I are a part of. Um had a number of plant little plants to give out and uh we they needed to be planted. So I just want to thank John Kaine who was on our um on our commission for organizing a local
planting that took place that following weekend. Uh, I'd also like to thank Dumpy's Landscaping for donating a lot of materials from what Andy had just said and thank Andy for leading the Hannesport Helps team and all those teenagers that are volunteering and we
hope you get more and pre-teens. Um, a comment on one of the things that we had talked about. Um, less legislation to me is better. don't need people telling us what to do unless
it of course it affects public safety and those types of things. And I as a as a resident of Hannesport for almost 30 years would much rather have our committee whether I'm on it or not help to make the decisions for our town than
our state government um to decide what's best for Hannesport. um obviously out of touch and the mere fact of some of the facts and misfacts that that Paula mentioned uh on that just goes to show you how out of touch they are at least
with us. Uh I'm willing to bet that the other towns that were shorted those um machines would feel the same way. So um you know thank you for all of that and um you got my eye up um which it should
be. So, thank you, Mrs. Torty. Um, yes. First of all, I'd like to thank Paula again. Um, in addition to everything she planned for, I um happened to witness her efforts for
the entire day. I came in the morning to sell anniversary shirts and realized that there was much more to be done. Um, and I stayed most of the day till like 10 o'clock till we had an event for you. Um, but with Jen handing out water
bottles everywhere and Paula sending the public works guys out to buy cases of water wherever they could find them. Remember they were running Oh, she she was on top of everything. Um, also the communication, as she said, was terrible. We were getting our
information off the news. ABC News were saying, "Oh, Mont Laurel got a a couple machines." And I'd run into Paula. Paula, Paula, they got she'd be on the phone getting us machines. Paula worked so hard that day. So, um really like to commend her. We have the best administrator. So, thank you Paula. You
made the best out of a very hard situation here. Here, here here. So, um as leaison to the uh recreation department, I usually have a long list of things, but many of you have um already mentioned things, but again, I'd
like to thank um Sue and Donna for a great Easter egg celebration. That was wonderful. Um I would like to also congratulate um our Hannesport families and Hannesport students who just made their first holy communion on Saturday. So um
it was a joint adventure. They did a great job and congratulations to all of them. Um, so coming up, our senior core team has different presentations coming up and one is going to be a senior medication
interaction presentation on May 21st at the Kenneth Street um um building and that will be at 1:00. Um, tomorrow we have a very very special event happening. We are we have recently
established under Donna's direction a task force for our veterans. So tomorrow we are hosting our first breakfast for them at the Kenn Street station. So um Mark Marty is going to be making pancakes and Rick's going to be doing
the sausages and um it's going to be a really really lovely breakfast for them tomorrow. We're looking forward to it. I um I was over there popped in to help Sue a little bit today and it looks beautiful. So, um it's going to be a great event for our veterans. It's 10:00 a.m. 10:00 a.m. Yes. Um you mentioned
the Memorial Day celebration and the Hannesport run. Um Mayor's Wellness Day is going to be a great event as always. Um we have a new program starting up which is going to be a six-w weekek yoga program and it's going to be $30 for six
classes. is $5 a class will be on Friday. Fridays starting May May, no June what, Donna? 13th. June 13th. So the the flyers are just starting to come out today. So watch for
information on that. And also um John Anderson is going to have a free kayaking adventure and that is going to be in June as well. Um, and that is the flyers are just coming out today. They're hot off the press. So, that will
be um June 22nd. Um, Donna, am I missing anything else, honey? There's so much. She's so busy. It's one thing after another after another. We have so many meetings coming up. Do you need a kayak? I don't know if we need a kayak. He is providing kayak.
He's providing Oh, he has six, I think. He has six. All right. All right. But you're welcome to join. First come, first serve, I guess. starting at sunrise sunset. Nice. Nice. Okay. So, with that, um, let's say thank you to the rec department. You guys are fabulous. You have so many things going
on in so many different areas and we thank you very, very, very much for everything you do for our town. Um, with that, I'd like to say thank you for coming. God bless you. God bless Hannesport. God bless America. Thank you. Thank you.
So, um I'm going to repeat a couple of things and I'm going to add to um number one uh with regards to the um the uh commission and John Kaine and we planted nine trees and gave away the
tomato plants and uh he also planted the miracle. So, they all went to good good use in honor of Earth/Arbor Day. And uh the Glenn at Mason's Creek also had Arbor Day and planted a beautiful flowering tree
uh once again. So, Hannesport is planting trees, which is wonderful. Um Ken mentioned um something and I would like everybody um who knew him to
please take a moment to remember Jay Jones in their own way and the effect that he had on this community. We lost him in 2021 on the on this day. Okay. So, I know that tonight we
acknowledge the building safety month. It seems like every month celebrates several important things, but I would like to remind everyone that May is also military appreciation month. And I am delighted to report that the mayor's
wellness campaign has added a veterans task force to address mental health and encourage friendship and to offer programs to assist our veterans and their families. This program is off to a great start and we have many events planned to support
our veterans. Tomorrow is the first veterans breakfast cooked by two of our own Navy veterans, Mark Murdy and Rick Murphy. We are expecting about 30 people to attend. We are also uh planning additional events over the next few
months and thank you Donna and Sue Derekson for everything you do to help. Everyone on the task force has been wonderful. May is also mental health month. Please remember that the number
988 is the number to call if you or someone you know needs help or just needs to talk. Before we close tonight, I want to take a moment to acknowledge the exceptional leadership of Paula
Costco during the challenging time of the November election. Her steady guidance and commitment were the cornerstone in navigating the difficulties that arose. I also want to express deep appreciation for the township employees whose
dedication and teamwork made a very difficult situation more bearable for all involved. Equally important was the remarkable patience and understanding shown by our residents as they waited to
exercise their right to vote. That speaks volumes about the character in this township. I have said before how proud I am to live in this community, but the way they came
together during the events of November 5th and 6th, 2024 has only deepened that pride. I thank you here. Here with that, I'd like to pay the bills.
I make a motion that we pay the bills. Second, Mr. Montgomery. Yes, Miss Tory. Yes, Miss Evans. Yes, Mr. Dick. Yes, Mayor Gilmore. Yes, I believe we have an executive session, Mr. uh Gillespie. Uh
we just have to discuss the potential acquisition of some property. It might be a 15 20 minute close session. So, we have resolution 2025 XX-5 to enter into executive session. I
need a motion in a second. So moved. Second. Mr. Montgomery. Yes. Miss Evans. Yes. 85. Mr. Dick. Yes. Mrs. Tory. Yes. Mayor Gilmore. Yes. Uh, we can do them. We come back out.
Are we going to go in the other room? Thank you. Thank you for coming. Thank you. Thanks everyone. It was freezing. Uh-uh.