start the uh Township of Hamilton meeting for Monday April 15 2024 please stand for the flag salute cheat by 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 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 publication in the Press of Atlantic City and Star Ledger on January the 6 2024 Mr cheek here Mr LW here Mr patali here Dr Witherspoon here mayor Shanker here uh moment of silence for private reflection please thank you we have a guest presentation Hamilton's sustainability team 2023 recap and plans goals for into 2025 okay you can do whatever you want just going to be easier if I click BR so I'm going to try to go very fast so thank you for giving us a chance to bring you all up to speed on what we've been working on um plans for this year and some things we hope to lean in on a little harder in the future so this is just a running list of um what our main focus has been the the top bar sustainable Jersey bronze recertification so that's something that we've done every year and we will continue to do sustainable Jersey I'll actually readed you a quick little bullet on them they're an overarching organization that they have a three tiered uh point system if you will that you can achieve bronze silver or what's the is it gold make sure it's gold not Platinum um and we as a municipality have been very successful at being able to achieve bronze certification so just their their little blurb here I'd like to read to you uh sustainable Jersey is a network and movement of municipalities schools and school districts working collectively to bring about a sustainable New Jersey acting with state agencies nonprofit organizations foundations Academia and Industry sustainable Jersey researches best practices for what communities could and should do to contribute to a sustainable future the program culminates in a prestigious certification award to municipalities and schools that have documented meeting a set of rigorous standards and so I'll underscore the word rigorous because they to achieve the points needed to even get to bronze they keep raising the bar Higher and Higher and it is a tremendous amount of work so while our group has aspirations of reaching silver we know collectively that we need to do things a little differently um um and have increased collaboration with the municipality to be able to get there because they the the point system is is pretty steep very achievable um but as we get through the other information that I'll share with you today you'll see where I I see potential for where we can um work harder um and smarter and probably get ourselves to the silver level um so looking at their list of community events I know you all see us out there in the community doing all these things um in in past years and we continue to host our green that's our biggest event of the year we have multiple shred and recycle opportunities for the community um we are always at Dickens of a holiday Art in the Park participate in the Halloween parade National Night Out um and do road cleanups so there's many other things we'd like to do we're a small group we try not to spread ourselves too thin um but as you um hear and see opportunities where we could have a face to the community please bring that to our attention if there's things out there that we uh could or should be participating in that we're not already um our goal is to add value to the to the community um so please let us know if you're aware of other places where we can have interaction with our um Township uh apologize there's a little bit of a line through there but um something we've done a little bit more in the recent past is our creative team cultural events and thank you to sue Mark she leads up that Initiative for us um last year we had two events the Lenny Lenape demonstration and the uh 1880 train trestle access acent Memorial um we will be repeating those events again this year and that is an extension of of all the work that we do sustainability isn't just about you know cleaning up trash there's there's other elements to what we do always looking for ideas on that as well um to enhance the cultural um capabilities of the municipality and the education component so if you think of something or you hear something um we would certainly like to to take that back and consider it um now getting a little bit more into the collaboration and the education component on Township broad initiatives so some things that happen in the last year that we've tried to lean in on and help educate the community um are the balloon release ordinance the illegal dumping and ATV ordinances that were passed the community solar resolution um the more recent one of the contam contaminant containment resolution uh corporate business tax resolutions so on and so forth the safe excuse me safe prescription drug disposal box that actually happens to be right out in the lobby uh TR plastic film Recycling and Grant applications and I'm going to actually talk a whole lot more about Grant applications um I did neglect to include in some of the logos of of who we partner with the clean communities logo um and so thank you to Lan because obviously most of what we do and and also with these organizations everything dovetails together um for a common goal to enhance and improve the municipalities make our homes and and neighborhoods great places to live that are clean and safe um so a lot of what we do we are enabled through the clean communities work that that Lan does as well so it's all collaborative and it all ties together um the logo in the center is the TX um logo and I want to talk a little bit more about that so TX is um an organization if anybody's ever heard of TX decking you know it's all tied to the same company um this bench actually happens to be the one that's sitting right outside so I'm going to use this time here as a as a chance to do a little shout out for some education and awareness what we do uh as the sustainability team is um and again I think that Audrey and suar you guys get the props for this we have three bins in the community for plastic film collection and a lot of people what's plastic film well the the easy answer is it's plastic bags well there's not an abundance of those anymore since New Jersey passed the bag band so but we have been able to through these three bins qualify very easily for the weight that needs to be submitted to qualify for these benches the goal is not to get a bch the goal is to keep the plastic out of the landfill and why would you put anything in the ground or in a you know landfill that you could repurpose and so some plastic film just for everybody's awareness you know this was the bag that my Roma lettuce came in um this is a this is the shrink wrap that was around my 12pack of paper towels these are all examples of the type of classic film that we collect so we just want to encourage everybody if you can not put those in the trash we're happy to take those um show a couple other examples I'm focus on that myself um so shrink wrap that around your 12pack of paper towels is is an easy one um uh help me out girls red bags yeah trash bags stretches a little bit is appropriate those crinkle yeah shrink wrap bubble wrap um it has to have a little bit of a stretch texture to it um vegetable at the and it needs to be clean yeah so thank you yep and so what we do in collecting those TR has a program where if you meet a weight goal for you your municipality you get reward at a bench and so I I think at this point we've earned what seven benches um and they're sprinkled throughout the uh throughout the township but again the goal isn't to get the free bench the goal is to to keep plastic out of the landfill um um this is one of our booths in the past year where we helped support the balloon ordinance when it was passed um this was us at the Halloween parade this is actually the rain Garden out in mispa where you see yet another bench so this is some of the work we did um Public Works did the the heavy lifting with the with the stone and and planting the bigger trees um but then we came in behind them and um planted all the native plants we partnered with summersweet natives um and so that's a it's it's an asset to the community and it's a beautiful place to sit uh this was National Night Out where again I think our um educational component that night was again the uh balloon ban release ordinance um so looking at some of these pictures This was um from the Lenny Lenape demonstration that happened out at lenpy Park this was the flyer that was put out for that um this I think was Art in the Park um our educational we had a couple educational initiatives that night you can see to the um left of the picture is actually the um one of the bins that we collect the plastic in those are at uh the library the Presbyterian church and I think the third ones at Acme oh there is one at public works too excellent okay um to the right you see that we have a rain barrel there we try to do rain barrel uh demonstrations and education when we can and then a little hard to see in the picture but hanging from the booth is another thing that we've done a lot of education on and uh partnership with with Lan and clean communities is the produce bags and so these are kind of a premium giveaway that we we do at our educational events but they're super awesome and the goal here is to just get these into the hands of as many people as possible so that when you go to the farm market your even shop wrer Acme you're putting your produce in this and not the plastic that comes off the roll um and these are awesome and they're throw them in the wash when you're see that they're a little bit too dirty um and that I think was a green Fair last year or maybe the year before so jumping into 2024 again the activities and objectives are very similar to what we've done in the past first and foremost the one that is got the greatest sense of urgency is May 4th is our green Fair SL we've renamed it oakfest and that's at oakrest high school from 10: to 2 prior to that I think starting at 8:00 a.m. is going to be the road cleanup along Babcock Road um it's in dire need of it it is a heavily traveled Road and our school kidss that attend H see it every day um any changes to that Lan that I'm not aware we're all still good with that so if you can help us by spreading the word getting people out um many hands make for light work and so we'd like to really do a put a dent in in what's needed on Babcock Road from 8: to 10: on May 4th um continued support of all the events that we already talked about um we will be doing the Lenny laap and the train Memorial cultural events again this year um thanks to Su marks we do multiple Road cleanups throughout the year she spearheads that for us um and then we want to lean in and and have a little bit more collaboration and engagement with you guys on on things that we can do from a m Municipal level that will help us better achieve the points we need through sustainable Jersey um and then lean in a little bit more too on some Grant eligible projects and I'm I'll jump to that real quick so this just happens to be two there's there's a plethora through sustainable Jersey and other avenues news of grant money that's out there and Brett I know you're sort of our grant um expert you know in what's out there and what's available and so just a real quick story um we had last year put a lot of time and effort into into um trying to secure a grant and we didn't but we got the feedback and the the one key piece that they told us that kept us from getting it was a $20,000 Grant so it was a big chunk of change they said we just didn't see where you had the municipal engagement and we were like oh that would have been you know that's an right so seems like an easy lwh hanging fruit so um that's where we want want to lean in and collaborate with you a little bit better um Brett did an amazing presentation on the budget proposal and I sat and took notes when I watched that and I I think I heard 10 examples of where I'm like oh that qualifies for a grant oh that qualifies for a grant um when we talk about leapy field and we talk about um the cove and things happening right on Underhill um Fields there are so so many things that you guys are working on and leaning in that we should we our team should be submitting um to get Grant support for those and so that's where I want to I want to get a little bit better at doing that um little hard to see here but just I wanted to just give you some high level examples these were the Atlantic City Electric Grant recipients for 2024 this is loow hanging fruit look at some of these things like somebody got $5,000 because they're going to put up a sign for the ospry so you know when I think about we should you know we're not on that list and we should be um so just wanted to show you it's it's not difficult we just have to be collaborative with you guys in order to achieve it um so I think that's really all I had um I have a great team we are small But Mighty um we want to do more from a municipal level uh and lean in with you guys and so just asking for your feedback on how can we do more for the community do more for you um we are stewards of the municipality and thank you for your support I'll open it up to any questions if anybody wants to know more thank you well done thank you very much anybody have any questions thank you uh we'll move on to uh additions and deletions of late agenda items to be considered for Action tonight we have two additions uh one will go under A8 business registration for paranormal C I can never say this it's a little circus they have out at the mall May 9th through the 12th 2024 at Hamilton Mall parking lot also 9A Personnel resolution appointing Bonnie Bonnie Cherry as temporary CFO beginning on May 4th 2024 appointment shall not exceed one year compensation will be $75 an hour so moved second we have a motion and second are there any questions hearing no questions all those in favor signify by saying I I all those opposed the eyes have it uh we'll move on to early public comment agenda items excluding items listed for public hearings Brett we have no one signed up no one signed up all right so we move on to the exciting part of this evening 2024 budget um we have do we do we want to talk about it a little bit or we just go right into okay here we go we have a resolution authorizing in the 2024 budget to be read by title only so moved second a motion and a second are there any questions or concerns hearing none all those in favor signify by saying I I all those opposed the eyes have it I usually read that into the record okay whereas njsa 4A 4-8 provides that the budget be read by title only at the time of the public hearing if a resolution is passed by not less than a majority of the full governing body providing that at least one week prior to the date of the hearing a complete copy of the approved budget as advertised has been posted in the municipal building and copies have been made available by the clerk to persons requesting them and whereas these two conditions have been met now therefore be it resolved by the governing body of the township of Hamilton that the 2024 budget shall be read by title only thank you Rita um we now open a public hearing on the 2024 Municipal budget anybody from the public like to speak motion to close second have a motion a second to close the public hearing portion are there any questions hearing none all those in favor signify by saying I I I all those opposed I will accept the motion to adopt the uh 20 24 Municipal budget so move second we have Motion in a second any questions or comments hearing none Rita could we do a roll call for this please yes Mr cheek yes Mr lws yes Mr patali yes Dr Witherspoon yes mayor Shanker yes all yes and adopted all right that was almost painless uh number four discussions formal action may be taken a storm water ordinances uh Brett you want to give us a little background or Ken yes mayor thank you uh so we received Communications from New Jersey DP that in renewing the ms4 permit for storm water regulation that two of the ordinances uh needed to either be in the municipal code or needed to be update uh specifically uh in regards to privately owned salt storage uh Hamilton Township did not have an ordinance uh as of uh today uh regarding that and that's essentially uh storing uh salt on public property that would or private property or public property uh that would come in contact with water sources that would essentially go into to the groundwater uh and the other one was the tree removal ordinance uh Hamilton Township did have a tree removal ordinance uh that dated back to 1970s uh so I I think Mr null and uh Mr Watkins are working with me on that uh to incorporate that old uh code or or ordinance into the updated model ordinance uh that went through effectively what the uh penalties and violations would be for removing trees and what the process would be for replacing trees to be able to protect uh the storm water so we have those before you for intruction tonight okay anyone have any questions concerns yes I do okay the for AI on my paperwork that I since you've read for the questions I put 3A instead of 4 A so I'm sorry about that I don't have any attachments for which number just don't for a discuss the stor war or further down on 6 and that's was the second question there was no paperwork for 4 A but 6A should they have been put together yes so we have and I believe Mr n p in 4 A1 and two are the ordinances that are are being introduced under six uh a and 6 C so 6 a is Sal ordinance and 6c is a tree removal right so if we voting on four we can't really vote on there's nothing here with four a so we'll just be doing the six yes so we're discussing those discussing correct and then the procedure would be for the introduction on 6a and 6 thank you any other questions since formal action may be taken later we'll just move along here uh public hearing adoption of ordinances ordinance 2071 2024 an ordinance of the township of Hamilton for impoundment of shopping carts and penalties for abandoned shopping carts uh this is a public hearing when any body from the public like to speak move to close public second motion a second to close public portion all those in favor signify by saying I I I all those opposed guys have it uh move ordinance 2071 d224 we have a motion in a second to move 2071 2024 any questions or concerns Rita could we get a roll call vote please Please Mr Chief Mr laws Mr Vali Dr Witherspoon mayor Shanker yes all yes and adopted number six we move to introduction of ordinances public hearings on these ordinances will be held May 6 2024 ordinance 2072 2024 an ordinance of Township of Hamilton reg regarding privately owned salt storage which was just previously discussed I don't know that we need any more information on that does anybody have any questions concerns hearing none we need a motion to move this or just for intruction yes so I need a motion to introduce so moved second we have a motion and second are there any questions hearing none all those in favor signify by saying I I I all those opposed 6B ordinance 2073 2024 an ordinance adopting site specific Redevelopment plan for Doc for Block 1 1134 lot 14 4476 Black Horse Pike so moved I'll second we have a motion in a second are there any questions or concerns questions Dr Withers um on this um I guess this is the agreement mhm I'm not comfortable with not the name of the company being nowhere in the document it's just the block and lot and I said I never seen a contract where the company anyone that comes after us should know exactly what this contract is for and just to have a blocking a lot and an address to me is just not acceptable so anyone that comes after thise down and at the last meeting I believe um we indicated that this was for cannabis right and it was Columbia care not ENT I understand but when we at the last meeting you can correct me if I'm wrong with smiley uh in the Redevelopment ordinance I believe that it would have to be amended this building is attached to the carpet place that's that's why we move forward withf rment in order to allow marijana recreational cus in order for someone to be able to have a recreational in this location they have to also have a medical license and operate a medical resp you don't have to have use and there is no requ forr we are not aming entire so the Redevelopment plan that we already have that says that we cannot have a structure that is connected it doesn't state that in Redevelopment it in Alles and okay clarify so in all Redevelopment plans we only lose block and lots so in some R believe that plan adopted in 2005 because rather thann what that [Music] is when they to okay and my last question is that the I'm looking at this ordinance here's my notes should 8 be when we done the Redevelopment when we changed it the structure on how it was supposed to go the plan in part was in the part of that agreement right for for it to go to the planning board after it goes through everything is supposed to go [Music] through that's my question what question where are we in the flowchart with this because at the end of the flowchart before it goes any further it has to go to the planning [Music] board it's just that I'm going to be done when I say this I didn't understand with the flowchart that it had to go to the Govern body to vote on it to go to the plan that's not in the flowchart the flowchart is after we go through all the steps then it's sent to plan and to review so I didn't understand why we had to vote for to go to planning law okay going to say something but no I was going to say that they have a medical use so they're not 100% following steps in the flowchart and the Redevelopment plan uh this is this is prior to local endorsement so this is a unique situation where we have a business that wants to come in and do Recreation and medical so we developed a we have to change the zoning of that specific piece of property that's not laid out in the recreational Cannabis flowchart that's why it's we have to change the Zone well we have so this is for the change okay thank you Mr Mayor I didn't want to interrupt but Mr Chek has recused himself the record needs to reflect that then thank you talk screen you good okay um so we have an ordinance do we want to introduce yeah so moved I'll second have a motion in a second um are there any other questions hearing none all those in favor signify by saying I I I Rita I'm want to be marked down as an exemption as yeah abstaining okay thank you so that's three yes one exstension yes thank you we'll move on to C ordinance 2074 2024 in ordinance amending chapter 2 can I go get rich oh yeah I'm sorry my bad right at the door I did it again Rich it's been EAS W and back the door almost almost almost done the meeting all right let's try this again um moving to 6C ordinance 2074 2024 an ordinance amending chapter 282 of the code of Township of Hamilton regarding Tre removal I believe we just heard a pretty good description of what this ordinance is about are there any questions or concerns from Township Committee hearing none I'll accept a motion so move second have a motion in a second any questions all those in favor signify by saying I I all those opposed the eyes have it number seven Awards of bids contract and change orders resolution to award bid 2024 Point uh excuse me- 01 to Trinity code inspections of Kate May New Jersey for authorized on-site inspection review Agency for the electrical subcode services and as needed Plumbing building and fire subcode not to exceed the amount of $125,000 for the period of June 1 2024 to May 31st of 2025 second we have a motion and second are there any questions hearing no questions Rita can we do a roll call please Mr Chief yes Mr laws yes yes Dr Witherspoon May Shanker yes oh yes B resolution to award RFP 2024-25 administrative fee charged to the customer above Township invoiced amount for the term of one year so moved we have a motion we have a second second are there any questions concerns I just have a question go ahead now this uh 8% administrative fee is charged to the customers do we get that money no we don't get that money they collect 100% of that money the 8% so what are we get so this is 8% on top of what we currently get for the police car and the officer um right now we get 10791 for the police officer in the car they would get 8% of that which brings it to 16 1654 charge to the customer or the the util usually it's a utility contractor that uses off duty police officers and that's see there's no call to the township yeah okay good okay we have a motion we have a second correct thank you all those in favor signify by saying I I I all those opposed you guys have it consent agenda [Applause] we have items a through [Music] J make a motion to move a through J I'll second we have a motion and second are there any questions or concerns hearing none all those in favor signify by saying I I I all those opposed guys have it we have nothing under Personnel approvals have that late last item oh I'm sorry Rita I'm so glad you came tonight uh 9A Personnel resolution appointing Bonnie Cherry is temporary CFO beginning on May 4 2024 appointment shall not exceed one year compensation will be $75 per hour at a and a maximum of 15 hours per we yes is that what the resol did we did we put that on the resolution maximum 15 hours a week okay I'm I'm sorry sorry I missed the second I second okay are there any questions or concerns all those in favor uh you want to do a roll call for this why not I do Mr Chek yes Mr lws yes Mr patali yes Dr Witherspoon yes mayor Shanker yes oh yes thank you excuse me mayor are we supposed to do um the business uh registration we did that was under the U yeah so we moved it up that was in that was at 8 agenda number two on the consent okay thank you sure uh number 10 approvals minutes regular minute meeting minutes of April 1st 2024 so move second uh are any questions concerns all those in favor signify by saying I I all those opposed and I am an exstension was not here here bills bill list total 1,823 2506 cents motion second have a motion and second are there any questions concerns go ahead the um easy pads I had questioned the miscellaneous expenses and my question was OE operation sub expenses but I just wanted to make sure it wasn't tickets no that's the that's the normal fees that we pay for Easy Pass and my last question the Verizon Wireless it seems to be very consistent but that's a high bill um purchase order 24- 0047 is on the last page we pray for you know other phone bills other this bill is consistent with January February and this is March so this is consistent with the past two months I had Finance take a look at it for them I know I saw that but I'm saying is this the on this um Builders there are other phone long distance there's other phone things is this for like this this is cell phones and the uh um the computer computers and the police cars have to have their own card for all right all right I'm good okay yeah any other questions um Rita could we get a roll call vote Please Mr Chief yes Mr laws yes Mr Bali yes Dr withp yes mayor Shanker yes thank you uh number 11 reports Mr administrator so we just hired a temporary CFO and everyone's probably asking why we hire P at temporary CF um Cindy's leaving us um she's taking another job in another town just wanted to thank her for everything over the last year and a half all her guidance and um I'll still be calling you I just wanted to say thank you all I have anything else that's it Mr solicitor and Report mayor thank you perfect Mr engineer nothing to report new um we are receiving bids uh April 25th for Underhill Park so we'll be uh uh letting everybody know what those bids are at the next meeting Al uh leapy leapy moving along they are um insulating and uh closing up all the uh ceilings right now and then fixtures are going in um the steel uh staircase should be in by next week okay for the second floor second floor is totally enclosed um it's almost soundproof up there it's a little scary how quiet it is um and then uh hopefully they should have all all the finishings done by the end of the month the only thing we're going to be waiting for is the canopies over the uh concession open areas uh they're back ordered the contractor is trying to come up with with a different um item perhaps to get here sooner but we'd have to look at it and see if it compares to what we expect okay yeah was that something that if everything else was done we were still waiting for it we could go ahead and open things up I think so I mean it's it's literally a 2 and 1/2t cover over it with some lights um yeah it could be operational um I believe the next thing was is just to get the water uh turned on out there and get that well operating and inside and test the test the well too for um that we don't need any softeners or pH uh neutralizers for it gotcha very good yep thank you Township committee members thma yes I have a report um I had the opportunity I would like to thank the chief for giving me a tour of the police department and the dispatch um Department um that was very very helpful I had visited all of the Departments but I had not visited the police department so thank you chief for giving me that tour and on Friday the 19th the Atlantic County League of municipalities will be meeting at the Atlantic City Country Club and the president of Stockton the new president will be the guest speaker and I will be attending on that meeting and I also wanted to thank the chief or whoever I'm I'm sure he's responsible for putting on there's been some burglaries in our Township with cars and they put out a nice notice thank you for that to tell people to keep your cars locked and keep stuff out a reach where people can see it so you won't be as accessible to be and burglarized so um that's pretty good I haven't seen anyone get stopped on you um on the tickets or the I don't know if he um stopped if the police department has stopped anybody yet for that you drive you checks you pay so I just make sure that I put that out there because uh it's very very important you know so it Sayes lies it Sayes lies from being people being distracted and last but not least um I see someone here from the school uh school board but I did wanted to say that on April the 19th it is the last day for people to who get free and reduced lunch and free lunch free lunch there's going to be a summer EBT program for those $120 per child and if you know anybody who has not filled out their school lunch form they need to do that by the 19th in order to be eligible so I just wanted to bring that to everyone and that's my report thank you okay thank you Carl um green Fair May 4th don't forget come out have a good time um The Cove um passes are available uh call Carol wri 625 2700 extension 592 592 thank thank you um uh you can get a season pass for uh a little bit less if you get it before May 1st so please come on out and the Cod will be open June 22nd thank you thank you very much uh and it will be open from Thursday through Monday close Tuesday Wednesday correct that isre so come down and enjoy the Cove um and that's really all I have Reagan talk to you later Maddie miss you love you to see you soon thank you Mr CH I'd like to thank Cynthia for all her all she's done for the township and her CFO position and wish her success in the future thank you that's all I have Mr L yes um i' like to uh also you know thank you for uh the service um and at the same time uh uh Mary Shanker and myself uh met with the uh Coalition for safe communities um really good group they've um positioned themselves throughout the county to do a big um student uh like Teen Summit they're taking five students from each school um so they're having a big event coming up uh next month um but we met with them uh we heard them out uh it sounds like some great things they wanted to do um and they have some great ideas that uh I hope that we can help uh adopt with them uh there's uh Perry Mays who has head set up and uh Reverend Dawson who lives in our town and was just awarded uh I think it was last week yeah the highest uh honor um from the FBI uh for community services and and he's he's one of our residents uh Reverend uh Dawson so he's also part of that uh Coalition for Safe Community so it's exciting to meet with them and and listen to some of the things that they were uh suggesting um for our communities so thank you is that it perfect um I want to thank uh Bobby laws for bringing me in on that it was a excellent uh discussion they D and as Bobby said they're doing a lot of a lot of good things that I think that uh it would be a good thing to sort of jump on board with um for the township a lot of what they've done previously is through counties am I correct correct and they're looking to get into basically having towns uh sort of adopt their plan um and I like I said there was a lot of great conversation a lot of different avenues that we can go down and I'm looking forward to I think we got another meeting set in the month so I'm looking forward to that um Cynthia it was nice working with you battling with you whichever way you want to look at it it's okay with me uh budgets are hard to do um there's there's always uh two different sides to uh what you're trying to accomplish but at the end of the day I think we got there for the two years that we got to do this together and I really appreciate uh what you've done for the township and and you know holding firm when we needed to um but also being open enough to try and get back to the old way we do the way we did things so I thank you very much and I wish you much success in the future that's all I have I'd like to open it up to the public anybody in the public like to speak Mr President yes uh just real quick I wanted to say three things one is thank you very much I know it's very hard to deal with my ba is mad at me so I can imagine I thought he was going to say Me So Very diff so I know they're hard to work with so but thank you good luck um the other thing is um we're looking for uh support from both sides of the aisle when it comes down to we're going to engage our state senators to try to get uh right now the state flip-flops on whether or not we can use certain monies for temporary uh half temporary classrooms uh specifically around pre kindergarten so right now they're on the mode where we can't use the pre kindergarten money to use lack of better word module expansions to the school uh this time last year it was allowed this right now it's not so we're going to maybe look to see if we can get some pressure from our state representatives to maybe help favor on our side where we can do that we had a plan with another school district that fell through so we're looking to quickly um accommodate three additional classrooms at our Davies is it Davies yeah I think we're going to put them back in Davies again um even though we just moved them out but we have to continue to expand the program especially uh when we have uh kids that are on the lottery system waiting to try to start school early um and then so we're going to look for some support from you guys and I'll talk more about that later on when we in a more perfect form and then the um other one was uh we continuing to work with uh uh the school uh I'm draw a BL um the LA of pot one duerson that was the I had practice before I came up here I promise uh duerson so we have to hire a specialized engineering firm that specializes in buildings in the state that are on the on the historical society and they set us our expectations that once we engage them they get an engineering plan that will uh say that we can tear it down or we can't tear it down from an engineering perspective then it'll go to the state and they said expectations is it'll take the state at least two years to determine whether or not we can roll forward with a project and that's just from their experience with everybody else is trying to do the same thing we are trying to do so realistically forward with tearing it down or being able to do something other than restoring it to its uh to its Glory so uh it's our understanding that uh we have two options that's restore it to what it looked like which it can't be used for a school because the state law prohibits it from being a public school because it doesn't meet the minimum requirements from size 88 uh um accessibility number of bathrooms all those kind of things um and so outside of the use of a school um as long as it looks the same on the outside it could be used for that but the problem is uh finding uses for that and then the other thing is um that the uh we can either turn it back into a meadow which was historically appropriate before the building was built or it has to go to what it was when it was open um and anything beyond on that it will take us an engineering plan plus two years for the state to determine whether or not it's appropriate before we can do anything else than that with so um I do know that Mr Rogers is working with uh Congressman van Drew and his offices to find money to restore to what it was but like anything that's going to take some time so I just want to make you that you guys are aware that those are kind of our three different timelines we're working on is money from the government money coming from somewhere else somebody else interested or proceeding down the lines of trying to tear it down to turn it into something more useful for us at this point and that has a minimum two years on it very good thank you thanks alen dicks I I I feel I have to say something about this tree ordinance uh I we don't get to see anything we don't get to have input on intro and I don't need to remind you of all the brutal details of Birch Street 2 years ago with 80 or so oak trees being cut down uh in an area that on the subdivision map recorded in the county clerk the limit of disturbance was right on the back left corner of the house and the new owners have clearcut filled in planted grass every imaginable violation happened and I don't know if there's a resolution because Pine says it's up to the towns to enforce what the Pinel lands edict is and you know I'm talking about the the Seaman property on bir Street Carl very well knows the second one is something that is happening very recently and it was brought to my attention asking me some questions just in the last two weeks and when I went in my favorite website the Atlantic County Clerk's recorded documents that's where I found the division for Diane Allen that's where I found the homeowners association's declaration not saying which property it was right now because I don't want to go there with it but the point is the Declarations of covenants and restrictions are very clear as to how much can be cleared uh everything has to stay in a natural state you can't even have pain picnic table in your yard so with this edict from the state that you're saying this is the reason where where are we blending the state requirement into the local requirements whether it's the pin lands requirement here or the HOAs here and is that being considered in this ordinance because we're going to pay to advertise it and if we have a conflict we're going to have to pay to advertise again that's my reason for bringing it up and I'm going to sit back down thank you thank you this in terms of the the tree removal ordinance this was a draft that we took what was already in existence from the 70s in the township of Hamilton and included as much as was allowable into the model uh ordinance that was given to us by the D so we we included as much as we could in terms of the application but the penalties and violations are what came down from New Jersey D on that that ordinance okay anyone else from the public hi uh Nicholas signell 49 chancel Park Drive um I approached the committee about a couple months ago inquiring about if the committee would be interested in adopting a Township flag um it's been a couple months I've had some life circumstances uh occur but now I'm back with uh asking again if they would be interested in adopting a Township flag Township FL I know there was there was a couple emails that flirted around BR we I want to say it was left off Mr signell has sent over a couple concepts for Township flag um I don't know it so choosing the flag he gave us three or four options um I I don't know if that's something we want to bring to the full committee or if we want to set up a a subcommittee to decide on this it doesn't sound like a big deal but it really is um could be a flag that's hung behind the the mayor and hung out on you know the police department or out on Route 50 um it's probably worth setting subcommittee up just to to review his ideas and can you how can you go back and resend that email to committee and then let's uh bounce back some stuff to Brett I actually brought with me some sample designs if you're interested in I you can give give him the Bret okay yeah over the past couple of months I've just been ret okay and haveb okay thank you thank you anybody who would be interested in being on the subcommittee please just let me know yes sir good evening I was advised to be here by the uh Council legal council Joseph B can you state your name my name's Al McQueen step just a little closer to the uh microphone thank you mqueen anyway spoke to Joseph Hoffman from Hoffman and the Museo Law Firm over an instance that has been going on for a good two years now our neighbors have dogs dangerous dogs that have been out numerous times police have been called there numerous times to talk to them complaints have been filed um had court hearings a file complaints Zoom Court meetings one time doesn't show up rescheduled second time doesn't show up reschedule third time doesn't show up reschedule fourth time the person doesn't show up I'm like I don't have time to play these games these dogs are dangerous I said somebody's going to get hurt somebody's going to get attacked or something is and unfortunately I was right a neighbor dog was walking his dog down the street their dog was loose came out and attacked it last month March 15th my wife was home took our puppy out in our yard on leash and their dog was loose three houses down three lots down from our house came over and attacked our dog my wife picked up the puppy the dog the pit bull still grabbed onto his leg my wife's trying to pull this dog probably weighs more than her off him took three of the three of the people that own the dog to come over pull the dog off and the lady has a nerve to yell at my wife to leave our property something needs to be done I've called Animal Control um I got the lawyer the lawyer would like to see the dogs removed from these people because obviously they're not responsible enough to have pets let alone dangerous pets if I aren't responsible enough to have a bunny rabbit but let alone dangerous dogs right I got you I mean am I is there a different avenue I could go down I mean I know I've talked to police I know they're doing what they could do I know there's like I'm sure there's probably people just can't go grab their dogs but what will it take I don't want another animal to get attacked I don't want a person to get attacked a kid to get attacked it should it shouldn't come to that yeah I don't disagree Chief could you uh step to the microphone please you kind of knew I was going to do this didn't you I understand their their frustration so the police have been involved in this and we actually even have the the prosecutor's office involved it it's in the Court's hands right now and it's really going to come down to um a judge's decision on what they want to do like you said I know they this uh subject has Court numerous times so until the the judge um I guess puts out a warrant for this person's arrest because they're not listening to the the uh subpoenas and everything to come to court um I don't know what else we can do um like I said we we've uh were in touch with the prosecutor's office we've used them as a resource and that's pretty much as far as we can go um if if we do catch the dogs and they're they're actually off that property we can seize those dogs now and we and we'll keep those dogs because they've been allegedly you know running at large so often so that's that's really where we're at right now unfortunately so they're not just running loose they've been aggressive say the least they have been aggressive in some instances yes yeah there apparently there's a not to make love I guess a good dog and a bad dog one's much more friendlier than the other dog right but they still should be running loose I've seen from the reports are these dogs registered um I believe so but I'm not 100% sure I would imagine but I can uh check on that yeah please do I will all right um so is there any way we can visit the area a little more often we could do that sir I'd appreciate that really nice if we caught him in the act it would be okay all right well listen let's we can look into this a little further how many times have you been to court over this four probably yeah I think going to speak next oh come on my name is Stephanie Perez I'm a direct neighbor of Al mqueen um the dogs December 7th of 2022 charged at my 14-year-old son when he was taking our dogs out to relieve themselves he caught him on camera we told the police officers we filed our applicable reports as we were instructed to we were told nothing's really going to happen unless the dogs bite someone right that took place on one of my other neighbors that will come up and speak shortly I filed that case December 7th I didn't see an inside of a courtroom where my case was heard till last Wednesday 489 days later I sat in court five times personally countless Zoom meetings he works I'm unemploy I stay at home so I have the privilege to take this time but our neighbors are neglectful this is not a breed bashing situation they are loose they are dangerous one may be nice one might not be nice neighbors who don't know these dogs we don't know the difference we see a random dog coming on our property we're thinking danger and I can't tell I've lived here for 18 years and loved it but I've seen all the pedestrians that walk in front of my house they don't walk down Sixth Street anymore they cut down Fifth Street people are sending their kids in my front yard cutting through the Lots they're scared we're scared and I talked to detective Montgomery with the Atlantic Atlanta County prosecutor's office this past December who told me the next time not the next time after today the very next time these dogs are caught loose on the property off their property we are to confiscate them and they will become the property of the the prosecutor's office and they will then be held as evidence until the trial date is set our court system is failing by the way this should not take that many days to be in there we sit for hours waiting for a name to be called call just to know that she didn't show up and we're wa wasting time my son is a key witness missed 3 days of school for this um we're doing our part okay we're trying to do our part but this is this is broken and the next time could be too late yes absolutely they shouldn't be running free period whether they're friendly or not your voices can do to speed up an expedite okay whatever Chief's talking about with the county you know the court system I implore you we all implore you to do something because we're scared and no one wants to picnic no one wants to walk outside we're taking baseball bats we're alerting each other when they're loose we shouldn't live like that and small I don't disagree thank you thank you for bringing this to our attention appreciate it we'll have a conversation yes and I can reach out The Prost off to follow up on please do thank you anyone else hello my name is t m is I live directly across the street from this house mhm and I'm sorry we s we sit on our for sometimes in the middle of the day when we're done work or whatever and we see everything that's going across the street over there um I definitely like it when you said that maybe have more presence as the police officers go through the neighborhood especially down Sixth Street because not only are the dogs running it out they also dealing drugs across the street as well nice the traffic is unbelievable it's crazy cars were constantly pulling up um my sister was at at the house one day I was at work and she called me up with a picture she sent me a picture she says this person has been on side for 6 hours passed out in the car teenagers are walking by knocking on the window are you okay in there are you okay in there it's it's crazy when that happens please call the police we did we we called the police the police went and told knocked on their door and then that that person was told to go on the house but the um the dogs have gotten loose plenty of times and like I said my mom and I when we're not working we're sitting out front of the porch we have seen oh my God at least half a dozen times the police officers Dr the dog back off across the street so they know where the dog lives and where the dog belongs because we've seen it with the dog being dropped off and way so it's just it's crazy it's just czy thank you anyone else anyone else from the public okay motion to close public second we have a motion in second second all those in favor signify by saying I I all those opposed guys have it uh we're going to now adjourn to Executive session for a Personnel matter no we we're not oh we're not never mind I'm sorry I'm sorry don't you want to go home I do okay I do want to go home soon as somebody gives me a motion for motion to adjourn we have a motion and second for adjournment all those in favor signify by saying I I all those opposed eyes Havoc 77