I'd like to call to order the committee meeting of the township of Hamilton, Monday, May 19th, 2025. Please stand for the flag salute 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. Adequate notice of this meeting has been provided pursuant to the New Jersey open public meetings law by posting a notice of this meeting on the bulletin board in the municipal building and by transmitting notice of this meeting to
the press of Atlantic City, the Star Ledger and the Atlantic County Record on January the 8th, 2025. Mr. Cheek here, Dr. Nelson here. Mr. Vitali here. Dr. Witherspoon here. Mayor Shanker here. Can we get a moment
of silence for private reflection, please? Thank you. Um, anybody want to come up? We're doing a proclamation. Yes. I'll hang with you. Okay. Don't want to come up. It's okay. Come on down.
How are you? Nice to see you. How are [Music] you? Go ahead. So, for those you don't know, May 18th to the 24th is EMS week. Um, and the township of Hamilton would like to give you a proclamation. All you do, we
appreciate it. All right. So, I want to read this to everybody so they can see what's on there. Uh, whereas emermergency medical services is a vital public service and whereas the members I'll start over. Good enough. Is there any more out
there? No. No. Kangaroo. Whereas emergency medical service is a vital public service and whereas the members of the emergency medical services teams are ready to provide life-saving care to those in need 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. And whereas access to quality
emergency care dramatically improves the survival and recovery rate of those who experience sudden illness or injury. And whereas emergency medical services fills health care gaps by providing important out of hospital care including preventative medicine,
follow-up care and access to tele medicine. And whereas the emergency medical services system consists of first responders, emergency medical technicians, paramedics, emergency medical dispatchers, firefighters, police officers, educators,
administrators, prehosp nurses, emergency nurses, emergency physicians, trained members of the public, and other out of hospital med medical care providers. And whereas the members of the emergency medical services teams, whether career or volunteer, engage in
thousands of hours of specialized training and continuing educ education and enhance their life-saving skills. Whereas it is appropriate to recognize the value and accomplishments of the emergency medical services providers and designating the emergency medical services week. Now therefore, the
township of Ham Hamilton in recognition of this event do hereby proclaim this week May 18th to the 24th, 2025 emergency medical services week. The 51st anniversary of EMS week theme, we care for everyone. Encourage the
community to observe this week appropriate programs and ceremonies and activities in honor of EMS profession and the essential services it provides. Uh just a personal note, if it wasn't for the emergency medical services in this town, I wouldn't be standing here
today. I had an incident uh about 14 years ago almost to the day. And for without the people that stand here and others that were there that day, I wouldn't be here. So, thank you very much. I appreciate you guys. Thanks.
[Music] We know the deal. Thank you. I didn't call her. [Music] [Music] [Music] Okay. Uh, next we have a guest presentation, safety on the agenda with
Joe Henry from Hardenburgg Insurance Company. Welcome, Joe. Thank you, sir. It's been a year already, believe it or not. Yeah. Ladies and gentlemen, recent as a member of the GIF required to have safety on the agenda at least once a year. But I also like to take the
time the opportunity to recognize your safety committee for all that they do. I'm very active at all departments recognized at those meetings and all accidents that occur within the township are reviewed and discussed so that those things hopefully don't happen again. So
without further ado, I'll jump into this and let you know that heat injury and stress prevention is the topic. I'll just take a few minutes and be out of your way. So, heat's the leading cause of death among all weather related phenomena in the US. People think of hurricanes and tornadoes, but realistically people that are working
outdoors, that's where the number the uh most deaths occur when excessive heat. It's long been recognized as an occupational hazard and it can cause a number of adverse health effects including heat stroke and even death if not treated properly, which I'll touch on in a little bit. So, bottom line is
your workers are at risk when we're dealing with the heat wave. OSHA act of 1970 simply states that employers are responsible to see if their employees have a safe environment free of hazards to work in. Since 2021, OSHA has been developing a heat injury and illness
prevention standard and that is why I brought this topic this year and this will be discussed with the safety committee uh that will be outcoming any day. As I said, it's been worked on since 2021. When I mentioned an OSHA standard, that is a law. So you have to
comply with it. Uh even without that standard in place, ocean inspectors have something at their disposal called a general duty clause which they can use to site any employer for hazardous conditions. Purpose of the heat stress policy is to recognize dangers in
working as heat excessive heat sets the situation and control the workplace so your employees are safe. two ways to do it administratively and which your supervisors uh you can consider a modified work schedule which typically every municipality and county will do
instead of working 8 to four in excessive heat you'll set it up six to two so your employees are not working in the most uh the most heat of the day uh you can selfpace and use extra breaks if needed and most importantly I believe is incorporating a buddy system where your
teammates look out for each other we had an incident in Atlanta County a couple of years ago where we had a longtime dedicated employee was outside working in heatwave. One of the employees went to the boss and said, "Hey, Charlie doesn't look well. I think we ought to do something." So, he told him to sit
down, take it easy, get hydrated. Uh he insisted on continuing to work, but they said, "No, you're going to go take it easy." Got him some shade, got him some water. He did not seem to get any better. They called 911 immediately and as it turned out he did suffer a heart
attack which had he continued to work could have been much much worse than a mild heart attack. So buddy system is very very important. Uh supervisor responsibility I'll flip over to page seven. You want to periodically review your policy to ensure it meets
regulatory standards. And I'll touch on that policy just uh as I get into that. that your training is happening and being documented and you want to monitor a local weather station, a reputable station to make sure you're out in front of the heat wave so you can prepare for it. Employees will have some
responsibilities as well. Attend and participate in training, follow the heat stress prevention measures, and take appropriate action when needed. You want to designate an employee to do the training and that will be determined at the safety
meetings. schedule training, ensure it conforms to the heat stress policy and see that it is delivered. Of course, hydration is key in all this. Employees must have access to portable drinking water. Two gallons of water per employee per shift is the recommendation by OSHA.
They may not drink at all, but you have to provide it. And on page 11, I've got some cooling mechanisms that sometimes are not practical. Most practical thing is always a nice big shady tree. You can get under there and take your breaks and
get hydrated when needed. On page 12, types of heat illness. We're all familiar with those. Cramps, you want to provide water and shade. We've all had them. If you just take a break, get hydrated, in all likelihood, you'll be fine and ready to go. Heat exhaustion, that's where the training will come. It
will show uh the the heat exhaustion, what can occur, what to look for so that it doesn't morph into a heat stroke, which obviously can be much much worse. And if at any point it's ever considered that somebody may be suffering heat stroke, by all means call 911
immediately. So in conclusion, from a safety committee standpoint, the health and welfare of your employees is paramount. Their objective is to see that each employee returns home safely to their families same as they came to work. OSHA standards are designed to
make this happen. And as a GIF safety consultant, Jane Montgomery, who we all work in conjunction with, as your part in achieving this goal, their safety team has already developed a template to comply with the OSHA heat and illness requirements. So, you would simply go and your committee is on top of this.
They're fully aware of it. Simply go to the website. I'll bring up the safety section, find the uh find find the policy to fill the form. They simply put Hamilton Township in there, print it, have it available in the event you get a ocean inspection, you have it available
if they want to see it. So that concludes this year's topic. We thank you again for your office to serve as your RMC. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask them. I'll get out of your way. Thank you. Any questions, anyone? All right. Thank you very much.
Appreciate you coming in. Uh additions and deletions. I don't believe we have any early public comment on agenda items excluding items listed for public hearings. We have no one signed up. No one signed up. Um let's move on. Number three, discussions.
Formal action may be taken. This is a resolution to participate in the LEAP grant application with the Atlantic County for violation kiosk. Brett, you want to give a little background on this? Yeah. So, the county reached out to me last week and asked that we'd be
interested in participating in a leak grant application for these kiosks for the central municipal court. uh they want to uh apply for kiosk to be placed in all the participating municipalities and asked if Hamilton would be interested in uh placing one in
our ratunda out here with a phone line so that people could come in and um submit their court proceedings electronically and not have to go over to the municipal building or the county building on Main Street.
So if they're successful with this and they put one here, this is at no cost to us. No cost to us. Okay, committee. Any comments? Just one question. How many kiosks would we have? Uh it looks like they're looking for
nine altogether. Um, I did notice that one or two of the towns didn't um opt in, but I I think if they get the the grant, they'll offer the services to all
the towns. I just it it did come in late, so maybe they didn't have time to test resolution. So, we would just get one. We would just get one. kiosk in the rotunda. That would be in the ratunda area. Yes.
Since the central municipal court is here, do we really need one? It would make it more efficient. I don't I don't know if if Hamilton needs one, but again, if one of the towns that didn't opt in decides they want one, I'm sure that those funds could be used to
put a kiosk at another location or if another town comes on to the I guess whatever makes it onto the court purposes of the application. The more towns, the better the uh
application is and the DCA reviews it. And who's the actual I know the county is trying to do this, but do you know who the actual grants with? DCI. Okay. So, because I I I'd rather see the county use the money for something else, but it's not coming from them anyways and Okay. If it doesn't work out and
they're loitering and whatnot in the retunda, can we ask to have the kiosk removed or is there a time frame? Um, I didn't ask that question. I'm I'm sure we, you know, they didn't include an agreement,
so I don't I don't see why we couldn't ask them to have the the That's a good question, Rich. Committee, what's your pleasure? I'll motion. I see no reason to move forward since there's no agreement and we can just put our terms in the
agreement. I'll second it. A motion. We have a second. Any questions, comments? Hearing none. All those in favor? I. Those opposed? The eyes have it. Let's move on to number four, public
hearings, adoption of ordinances. A ordinance 21102 2025 an ordinance authorizing the sale of block 8 block 8 excuse me and block 343 it's one it's 1342 Nashville Avenue
as shown on the tax map of Hamilton the township of Hamilton and granting owner or owners of said re real property contiguous to the same the right to prior refusal to purchase such land in the township of Hamilton County of Atlantic and state of New
This is a public hearing. Anyone in the public like to speak? Motion to close. Second. We have a motion to close and a second. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. All those opposed. The eyes have it. Take a motion to adopt this
ordinance. So moved. Second. We have a motion. We have a second. Any questions or comments? Just one question. The what what is the what are we selling the land for?
You mean the amount? Yeah. The minimum bid is going to be on the first page at the bottom and section five. Okay. Section five. Yes. So, it's almost all the way at the
bottom. Oh, okay. All the way at the end of that. It was so small. Yeah, I didn't see it. Thank you. Okay. Any other questions? Rita, can we do a roll call vote, please? Mr. Chief, yes. Dr. Nelson, yes. Mr. Petali, yes. Dr. Witherspoon, yes. Mayor Shanker,
yes. Yes. And adopted. Thank you. B. Ordinance 21103-2025. An ordinance or ordinance authorizing the sale of lot 16 block 343 Melvin Newton Boulevard as shown on the tax map of Township of Hamilton and
granting the owner or owners of said real property contiguous to the same the right of prior refusal to purchase such land in the township of Hamilton County of Atlantic and state of New Jersey. Motion to approve 21103 TAC 2025.
Second. Hold on. Hold on. This is a public hearing. Anybody in the public like to speak? Okay. Sorry. Come on, Rook. Move to close public. You only got one motion on me. That's it. We have a motion to second to close
public portion. All those in favor signify by saying I. All those opposed. The eyes have it. I'm done. Uh the chair will uh Oh, I uh yeah, I'd like to make a motion. All right. to to
approve 21103 TAC 2025. Please second. We have a motion. We have a second. Are there any questions or concerns? Brea, roll call, please. Mr. Chief, yes. Dr. Nelson, yes. Mr. Patali, yes. Dr. Witherspoon, yes. Mayor Shanker, yes.
All yes and adopt. Thank you. C. Ordinance 21104 2025 an ordinance amending article 2 attachment A of chapter 66 section 4 of chapter 70 the code of Hamilton the town hamilton
township and ordinance 20 26 and 2023 to transfer oversight authority of the fire administrator and fire departments to the township administrator. This is a public hearing. Anybody from the public like to speak?
Motion to close. Motion to close. We have a second. Second. We have a second. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. All those opposed. The eyes have it. Chair will entertain adoption of this ordinance.
So moved. Second. We have a motion. We have a second. Are there any questions, concerns? Hearing none. Read a roll call vote, please. Mr. Chief, yes. Dr. Nelson, abstain. Mr. Batali. Yes, Dr. Witherspoon. Yes, Mayor Shanker. Yes. Or
yes. One abstension. Motion carries. Thank you. Introduction of ordinances. Public hearing to be held June 2nd, 2025. A. Ordinance 21105 2025. An ordinance superseding the ordinance 2098 2025 amending chapter 144
of the township code to provide for and amend fees to certain construction permit applications in the township of Hamilton County of Atlantic. Brett, you want to give us a little background or Yes, Mayor can jump in. If committee remembers, we previously
passed an ordinance a few meetings back under the advice of the construction official to update the construction uh permit application fees. After that was passed, it went to DCA to review based on UCCC. There were a few minor changes that they asked. They were all uh a
couple dollars this way to the uniform. Um so they asked us to update it and this is what the amendment is for. It's just amending that prior uh ordinance. Okay. Very good. committee. It's your pleasure. A motion.
Second. We have a motion. We have a second. Are there any questions or concerns? Hearing none. Rita, roll call, please. Mr. Chief, yes. Dr. Nelson, yes. Mr. Patali, yes. Dr. Witherspoon, yes. Mayor Shanker, yes. Yes. And introduce. Thank
you. Six awards, bids, and contracts, and change orders. We have none. Consent agenda have 7 A through I. So move I would like to
um 7 A through I. Thank you. Second. A motion. We have a second. Any questions, concerns? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. All those opposed. Eyes have it. Number eight,
personnel. A resolution to resend the resolution 2025 0162 appointing Anthony Alcott as chief of police. Motion. Second. We have a motion. We have a second. Are there any questions or
concerns? Hearing none. Rita, can we have a roll call vote, please? Mr. Chief, yes. Dr. Nelson, abstain. Mr. Patali, yes. Dr. Witherspoon, yes. Mayor Shanker, yes. Four, yes. One extension. Thank you. We move to number nine,
approvals. A minutes, regular meeting minutes, May 5th, 2025. So moved. A motion. Second. We have a second. Any questions or concerns? All
those in favor signify by saying I. I. All those opposed. The eyes have it. B. Bills. Bill list total 3,126,466.19. So move. Second. We have a motion. We have a second. Any questions, concerns, comments? Read a roll poll, please. Mr.
Chief, yes. Dr. Nelson, yes. Mr. Pati, yes. Dr. Witherspoon, yes. Mayor Shanker, yes. All in carried. Thank you. 10 reports. Mr. Administrator, I have nothing to add tonight. Mr. Solicitor, nothing to report this time. Thank you, Mayor. Mr. Engineer, nothing to add in
my written report. Mayor, you guys are the best. D, we'll move on to township committee. Dr. Witherspoon. Yes. I would like to report that I attended the law enforcement and interfaith breakfast sponsored by the prosecutor's office. It was um at the Lynwood Country Club and
um it was a very very nice uh breakfast bringing law enforcement um state police, everyone from the different towns um to together and to um just bringing everyone together and
it was it was a very very nice one, a nice meeting, a nice breakfast and we met the new Ventner. Ventner has a new chief of police and Galloway has a new chief of police and um that was a
nice um I also um want to say when we had the elite basketball team here, there was a young man that got hit Nore
um tragically passed away um on the 17th due to a car accident and certainly um you just never know. You never know what life will bring. It was an accident but at the same time a young
life was taken. So my prayers are definitely with um the more family. I know the grandmother very well. Uh but my prayers were with their that family. And then I also attended the armed forces
um wreath laying the flags not reef laying the flags on the veterans graves and that was on Saturday. It was very very nice uh nice weather. I had on the wrong shoe so I was not able to uh go
out there. It was a lot of mud. I didn't know but that's no excuse. I should have known. But the next time I if there's a next time I'll wear wear a boot or something so I'll be able to uh put the flags on the grave. But it was a very
nice event. That's my report. Thank you. Mayor, I have nothing to report this week. Oh, you have congratulations. I meant to say congratulations to uh Deputy Mayor Carl Vitali got engaged last night.
Thank you. Thank you very much. You don't want to say a few words? She'll probably watch this video. Well, yeah. Well, okay. You know, she was gone for the weekend and I was thinking and kind of missed her a little bit and made tacos and said, "Hey, I got a ring. Want
to get married?" She said, she said, "Did you find this ring like you found the other one on the beach?" She's going to watch this video. Come on now. See, get me going. Look, are you guys so touching? It's touching. It's
touching. It is touching. You're the best, buddy. You're the best. No, I'm I'm very happy and I think she's happy. So, thank you everybody. We're happy for both of you. Yes. Is that it? That's it for me. Okay. It was that was that was
took a lot out of me last night. Committee mach uh week or so ago I had attended the Hess concert. There's a great reason why we invest in our youth to watch those kids
from second to fifth grade I believe having a good time and representing themselves well. We are investing in the right thing when we invest in our youth. On Saturday, I attended the Armed
Forces Day at Holy Cross Cemetery. And I must say, I got to place a flag on my dad's grave who's a veteran. And that meant a lot. And all I can say is thank you to all the veterans and to people serving our country today. Thank you very much. That's why we have the
country we have. And that's it. Thank you, Committee Man Nelson. Uh I I was able to attend the last school board meeting which was last week and uh during that time uh the PTA celebrated all of our retirements for the year and we had a lot of great
teachers retiring. Uh that some of them put in 25, 30, and even some 35 years into our district. So, um well-deserved retirements. Um a lot of them swear they're going to go on vacation, never come back. But hopefully I try to get someone to come back to the substitute because we're always short in
substitutes and they said no way. Uh but you know they'll they'll miss it. They'll be back. Um and um also reinforce the relationship between uh this this uh govern body and the school board um and continue to liazison
between the two bodies. Um I did find out that the um Duberson is well underway and all the hurdles known hurdles have been crossed and it's just a matter of uh each one of the three government bodies involved having their
monthly meeting and so barring any other issues they hope to be closed transferred and done sealed and delivered for Duberson um before the summer vacation starts. So, I'll knock on wood on that one, but um uh I I really think that they finally got
everything done this time and I don't think there's any more hurdles. So, that that'll be good. It'll turn it back into raidables for us and we'll be excited to see what they turn that property into. Uh so, the design is to maintain its look and appearance other than cleaning it up obviously. Um but they're not
going to tear it down, knock it down, or deface it. Um, obviously the inside will be changed and I believe it's going to be um condos. So, um, that at least that was the design we looked at when we walked through it with them and it was kind of interesting to hear them say it.
They've done other projects like this, specifically like these kind of buildings and on the historical board. So, that's actually how we got involved with them because that this is their their uh niche. So, uh, looking forward to seeing what comes of that. Excellent. Awesome. Good news. A lot of people will
be happy to see something happen with that building before it falls down. Yeah. So, a lot of good work, a lot of hard work, and we appreciate what you guys did. Uh, I was also part of the uh Reason Across America uh event. Um, I had the honor of being able to present
the hometown heroes banners that we are going to uh put up on Main Street. We're in a process of trying to uh get this off the ground. You'll see it on our website. You'll see it on their website. the the uh the Veterans Advisory Board.
Um we're going to try to extend it down Route 50, but there's a little some hurdles we got to get over. So, we're going to get started with Main Street. Uh and um we'll be talking more about that. I think I'm going to be talking about it on Memorial Day at our ceremony. It's been a long time coming
to get this off the ground and I'm really really happy that we're at this point now. So, you should see them up. The intention is when this is done, we will be bring putting them up on Memorial Day weekend and taking them through till November. I think right before Thanksgiving they would come down um and then repeat it each and every
year. Um hopefully we'll be able to get enough polls for all the people who want to be part of this. So there'll be information on the website. Like I said, I'll be talking about it again and uh maybe we'll even do something we'll do another presentation here so everybody's aware of it and can partake in in it if
they would like to. So, um, good a good event putting the flags out. It was great. Uh, they the RESTs across America will be having a fundraiser sometime in the summer to obviously raise money to put the wreaths out in September, I believe it is. So, it's a good event, a
good group. Uh, and they do a lot of good work for the veterans. So, I was proud to be part of it. Uh, that's all I have. I'll open it up to the public. Anybody in the public like to speak? Steve, I just wanted to come up real quick and um address the proclamation for EMS week. I know it doesn't seem
like much, but for uh on behalf of myself and the staff, we appreciate the recognition for all the hard work they do day in and day out for the residents of this town. Um I also wanted to thank the administrator and all the committee for your support for everything we do. Without your support, we wouldn't be
able to do it. So, our pleasure. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else from the public? Yes, sir. Come on up, Harry. Aaron Rogers, 1069 Morningside Drive. A couple months ago on the planning board,
there was a resolution that was forwarded to township committee asking for the committee to send a letter to the county uh creating a special traffic zone around the Bears Head Road development. Um planning board was
unsuccessful in getting the developer to to do the sensible thing and it's going to be a dangerous situation. We haven't gotten any response back from township committee, a copy of the letter or anything. Has that been sent?
Brett, mayor, I can follow up on that. Okay, go ahead. I'm sorry. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else from the public like to speak? Move to close public. We have a motion. We have a
second. Second. All those in favor I I. All those opposed. The eyes have it. Uh we're looking for to adjourn it. Motion. Motion to adjurnn. Please second. Motion to second. Any questions, comments? Hearing none. All those in
favor signify by saying I. I. All those opposed. The eyes have it. Thank