like to call to order the committee meeting of Township of Hamilton for Monday, June 16th, 2025. Please stand for the flag salute. Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic
for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. 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 in the Atlantic County record on January the 8th 2025. Mr. Cheek here. Dr. Nelson here. Mr. Patali here. Dr. Witherspoon here. Mayor Shanker here.
Can we have a moment of silence for private reflection? Thank you. Um, we're going to start out this evening with a proclamation for Bobby Hamilton and a dedication of Fifth Street in his honor.
Mr. Cheek. Come on. Come on. There's a bunch of them behind the course. Yes. Get up there. [Laughter] [Music] First of all, I'd like to say one thing
that has nothing to do with this, but beside the family members, I think I'm the luckiest person in this room to spend the time that I spent with Bobby. We spent so much time together that it just makes me feel so honored and lucky.
Proclamation. Whereas Robert Bobby Hamilton was raised in Ma's Landing since the age of four and attended Maze Landing Elementary School schools and later graduated from Oakrest High School. Whereas Bobby was a member of the Maze
Landing Fire Department since 1973. During his tenure with the department as fire chief, he volunteered to house a fire truck for over 18 months in his family garage to enable faster response while the new Mil Street Bridge was
being built. Bobby was a town was a Township of Hamilton rescue squad member since 2014 and one of the founding members of Maze Landing dive team. He was a local business owner who donated to numerous local charities and sports
organizations. Whereas Bobby volunteered as a coach for the MLA baseball as well as a volunteer on the recreation committee. Whereas Bobby worked as needed with our local state forest fire service and was a
generous supporter of the local Presbyterian church. Whereas Bobby will be surely missed by all volunteer or organizations, emergency service members, municipal staff, family, and friends in the township of Hamilton. His service will
never be forgotten by the citizens of this town. Now therefore, we the sworn members of the Hamilton Township Committee in Maze Landing, New Jersey, on this day of June 16, 2025, do hereby recognize Robert
Bobby Hamilton for his unwavering loyalty and friendly dedication to the Township of Hamilton. Although individuals who selfishly serve other others neither receive nor seek the thanks of the public, we offer our
sincere gratitude to him on behalf of the thousands of families he has helped through his devotion to the community. Thank you. [Applause]
[Music] Not much of a speech, but thank you. Thank you to everyone that came here tonight. Thank you for Maze Landing people and the Maze Landing Fire Department and Rescue Squad. You guys have just been great. Everyone's been
brief and I thank you. That's all I could say. Thank you very [Applause] reminded me of my job. I was supposed to Ready?
[Applause] Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Mom, they want to see it. The kids want to see it. Absolutely. I was told
where you want. Especially did better than I would have done. I can tell you that. Yes. At least I made it through. Yeah. Okay. Um I don't know if anybody else, but it got very dusty in here all of a sudden.
Um so we'll have to move on now. Uh number one, additions, deletions of a late agenda items to be considered for action tonight. We have an addition of a business registration which will be labeled as 7A.2
Royal Tire and Auto 6709 Harding Highway Car Repairs, oil change, brakes, tires, and body work. We have a change on item 8J and it shall read as follows. Resolution to appoint
Harry Maxwell as an as needed hourly employee to assist the Department of Management Information Systems during the leave of absence beginning uh July 1st, 2025, which will continue
through August 31st of 2025. an hourly rate of $50 not to exceed 23 hours per week and that will be on an asne basis. So moved. Second. We have a motion. We have a second. Any questions?
All those in favor signify by saying I. I. All those opposed. The eyes have it. Number two, early public comment on agenda items excluding items listed for public hearings. Brett, do we have anybody signed up? We have nobody signed
Okay. Uh we have no discussions for this evening. So we will move on to public hearing and adoption of ordinances. The first uh one is a ordinance 21106-2025 an ordinance authorizing the sale of lot
10 block 5 656. It's a 4.81 81 acre on Pittsburgh Avenue as shown on the tax map of the township of Hamilton and granting the owner or owners of said real property contiguous to the same right of prior refusal to
purchase such land in the township of Hamilton County of Atlantic the state of New Jersey. This is a public hearing. Anyone in the public would like to speak on this matter? Move to close public.
Motion and a second to close public portion. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. All those opposed. Eyes have it. The chair will now entertain an adoption motion for adoption of this ordinance. So moved.
Mo. We have a motion. We have a second. Are there any questions? Seeing none, Rita, can we do a roll call vote on this, please? Mr. Chief, yes. Dr. Nelson, yes. Mr. Patali, yes. Dr. Witherspoon. Yes. Mayor Shanker. Yes.
All yes and adopted. Thank you. B is an ordinance 21107-2025, an ordinance of the township of Hamilton amending article 2 attachment A of chapter 66 and and ordinance 1947-2021
to transfer oversight authority of youth services and protection coordinator to the township administrator. This is a public hearing. Anybody in the public like to speak? Jim Brett, could you do me a favor? Can you
Thank you. Thanks a lot, Ken. Uh, guess um I never knew the township had a youth um protection um coordinator. Yes, it's it's uh we oversee all the sports teams, make sure
that all the coaches and volunteers are uh certified and qualified to coach our kids. Who's the coordinator's name? What's his name? The coordinator's cow, right? Okay.
So, now everything goes over to you. Yes. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Anyone else would like to speak? Move to close public. Second. We have a motion. We have a second. Any questions? All those in favor
signify by saying I. I. I. All those opposed. The eyes have it. The chair will entertain a motion for adoption of this ordinance. So moved. Second. A motion. We have a second. Are there any questions, concerns? Hearing none. Rita, can we do a roll
call vote, please? Mr. Chief, yes. Dr. Nelson, yes. Mr. Patali, yes. Dr. Witherspoon, Mayor Shanker, yes. Yes. And adopted. Thank you. Uh, we have no ordinances to introduce. We have no awards, bids, contracts, and change orders. So, we will move to the consent
agenda. We have a consent agenda which is from A to J. Yeah. Oh, excuse me. A to A to I. Yeah. So, move. Don't we have a J on there? Okay. No, it's I'll second it. A motion.
We have a second. Any questions, comments? Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. All those opposed. The eyes have it. We're going to move to eight. Personnel. A is a resolution appointing Christina Lzitzki as Township
of Hamilton Municipal Alliance Coordinator effective July 1st, 2025 to June 30th, 2026 at $2,000 annually. So move second. We have a motion. We have a
second. Are there any questions? Rita, can we do a roll call for this, please? Mr. Chief, yes. Dr. Nelson, yes. Mr. Patali, yes. Dr. Witherspoon, yes. Yes. Mayor Shanker, yes. All yes and carry. Thank you. B. We have a resolution appointing municipal alliance
members effective July 1st, 2025 to to June 30th, 2026. Motion. Second. A motion. We have a second. Any questions or concerns? Rita, could we do a roll call vote, please? Mr. Chief, yes. Dr. Nelson, yes. Mr.
Patali, yes. Dr. Witherspoon, yes. Mayor Shanker, yes. All yes and carry. Uh C. Resolution appointing Ma Stewart as a part-time communications officer for the police department at $25 an hour. Start date to be determined
contingent upon successful completion of background process. So move. Second. We have a motion. We have a second. Are there any concerns, questions? Rita, roll call vote, please. Mr. Chef, yes. Dr. Nelson, yes. Mr. Patali, yes.
Dr. Witherspoon, yes. Yes. Mayor Shanker, yes. All yes and carried. D. Resolution appointing Lisa Maralongo as a class C member of the Historic Preservation Commission for an unexpired 4-year term to expire 123125.
So move. Second. We have a motion. We have a second. Uh I don't think we need a roll call for this. All those in favor signify by saying I. All those opposed. The eyes have it. E. resolution approving the salary of the chief of
police at $167,000 annually and authorizing the mayor to sign an employment agreement between the township of Hamilton and Michael Verga be to become effective July 1st, 2025. So moved. 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, abstain. Mr. Patali, yes. Dr. Witherspoon, yes. Mayor Shanker, yes. Or yes, one abstension. Motion carries. Congratulations and welcome. Look
forward to working with you. F. Resolution appointing Justin Hickeyi as a full-time officer at Academy Step of the PBA, CBA with a salary of $55,867. Start date to be determined contingent
upon successful completion of a background investigation. So move. Second. We have a motion. We have a second. Are there any questions or concerns? Hearing none. Rita, roll call vote, please. Mr. Cheek. Yes. Dr. Nelson? Yes.
Mr. Patali? Yes. Dr. Witherspoon? Yes. Mayor Shanker? Yes. All yes and carried. G. resolution appointing Luke Gilmore as a full-time police officer at step three of the PBA uh CBA
with a salary of $61,191 start date to be determined contingent upon successful completion of a background investigation. So move second. We have a motion. We have a second. Uh any questions, concerns?
Rita, can we have a roll call vote for this, please? Mr. Chef, yes. Dr. Nelson, yes. Mr. Batitali, yes. Dr. Witherspoon, Mayor Shanker, yes. All yes and carried. Thank you. H. Resolution appointing Juan Feliz as a full-time police officer at
step five of the PBA CBA with a salary of $78,891. Start date to be determined contingent upon successful completion of a background investigation. So move. Second. We have a motion. We have a
second. Are there questions or concerns? Hearing none, read a roll call vote, please. Mr. Chief, yes. Dr. Nelson, yes. Mr. Patali, yes. Dr. Witherspoon, yes. Mayor Shanker, yes. All yes and carry. I resolution appointing Dylan Horsey as a
part-time class 2 special officer for the police department at $235 per hour. Start date to be determined contingent upon successful completion of a background investigation. So move. Second. A motion. And we have a second. Questions, concerns?
Hearing none. Rita, roll call, please. Mr. Cheek, yes. Dr. Nelson, yes. Mr. Patali, yes. Dr. Witherspoon, Mayor Shanker, yes. All yes and carry. Thank you. J. Resolution to appoint Harry Maxwell as an asneeded hourly
employee to assist the Department of Management Information Systems during a leave of absence which will continue through August 2025. So move. We have a motion. We have a second. Second. Thank you. Any questions or concerns?
Hearing none. Rita, let's just round it out and do another roll call. Sure. Mr. Cheek, yes. Dr. Nelson, yes. Mr. Patali, yes. Dr. Witherspoon, yes. Mayor Shanker, yes. Oh, yes. And carry. Thank you. We move on to number nine. Approvals.
Minutes of the regular meeting minutes June 2nd, 2025. Motion. Second. We have a motion. We have a second. Are there questions, concerns, inquiries? Hearing none. All those in favor signify
by saying I. I. All those opposed. The eyes have it. B. Minutes. Executive session meeting minutes of June 2nd, 2025. So move. Second. We have a motion. We have a second. Questions or concerns?
Hearing none. Rita, can we have a roll call vote, please? Mr. Chief, yes. Dr. Nelson, yes. Mr. Patali. Yes. Dr. Witherspoon. Yes. Mayor Shanker. Yes. All yes and carried. Thank you. Uh C bills. Bill list total $922,211.85.
So move. Second. We have a motion. We have a second. Are there any questions or concerns? Hearing none. Rita, could we do a roll call vote, please? Mr. Cheek. Yes. Dr. Nelson, yes. Mr. Patali, yes. Dr. Witherspoon, yes. Mayor Shanker, yes.
Yes. And carry. Very good. Thank you. Uh 10, we move on to the reports. Mr. Administrator, congratulations to our new chief. Look forward to working with him and all the new police officers that we hire tonight. Good luck, everyone.
That's all I have. Okay, Mr. Solicitor. Nothing to report at this time. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you. Mr. Engineer to my written report. Excellent. Uh, township committee members, Dr. Witherspoon. Yes. Um, congratulations to
our new chief and to all everyone that was hired. I'm sure that you'll do a great job. Um, I want to announce on um June the 19th from 4 from 3 p.m. to 8:00 PM there will be a Junth celebration of freedom in the
Gasill Park, 40 Farragate Avenue in Maze Landon. And again, that'll be from 3:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. It's supposed to rain, so I guess it'll be from 3:00 to 5:00 or until it rains. Uh, also I just wanted to announce that uh I did send letters
uh to both of our New Jersey senators. um Corey Booker and Andy Kim and Congressman Jeff Van Drew. And it was in reference to HR1, the one big beautiful bill. Um and there's just a couple of things in there
that stuck out to me, but this act 14 million Americans will lose their health care and 700 million will be cut from medic Medicaid, which is our seniors and disabilities. So, I did not send it on
behalf of course of the township, but I did send it on behalf of myself and I just wanted to make sure that um I announced that I did get a response from um Senator Kim, but that's the only one I got a response from, but I just wanted
everyone to know that. Thank you, Deputy Mayor. Thank you. Um, just I think it was really great to see the Hamilton family and and what we're doing for them and naming that street after Bobby. Uh, Bobby did a lot for this township. He really deserves it.
So, that was nice. Um, Chief Samron, thank you. I've been up here my sixth year. It's been a pleasure working with you and uh, it's sad to see you go, but you all know
sometime you have to move on. um soon to be Chief Vera. Uh looking forward to working with you. Congratulations and uh I'm sure you're going to lead us in in in the proper direction and keep things going the way Greg did. So,
welcome aboard. Thank you. And all the new police officers. Um congratulations. Um Dylan, congratulations. Like see you here. That's great. Um, so looking forward to to all you guys getting on
and protecting us and doing a job that not many people want to do anymore. So, thank you. Um, as Dr. Witherspoon said, Junth celebrations on Thursday, hometown celebration, Saturday, June 28th is 10 to 4 at War Memorial Park. National
Night Out Tuesday, August 5th, and that's 6:00 to 9:00 and that's at Lenipe Park East. Different location this year. Going to try something different. Um there'll be fireworks, there'll be uh some room to do some different things, so it should be pretty exciting to have it over there. And uh if you'd like to
be a sponsor, you can call 609625-2700 extension 576. They're looking for sponsors um you know, for the fireworks and none of these things are free. So we try to make it so that the taxpayer doesn't have to pay and we get people to sponsor it,
which uh we've been able to do the last several years. And um that's really all I have. So Reagan, I'll see you later. Maddie, miss you. Love you. Hope to see you soon.
Thank you. You're welcome. Committee Mchic. Last week Brett and I toured the dam and it was nice to see that the progress they're making according to Brett that they should be done by the end of August. So it's September. That's still
very nice, but it was nice to see the progress. Also, congratulations to the chief of police and all the new hires. That's really great. And Greg, good luck with everything and move on. Thank you. And that's all I have.
Thank you, Dr. Nelson. Thanks. Um, I wanted to say that uh at Hess uh I'm sorry at Davies we had a graduation awards for the students and where they announced the validictorians and I I think it was fixed but the top 10 students were all females. I'm not sure how that happened but um they're smart.
They're smart I guess. Yeah. Um but the graduation will be on the 18th from 4:00 to 5:00. So if anybody wants to uh uh come and watch the kids graduate um please feel free. Um, I want to say congratulations to Dr. Chief Bura
and uh I look forward to all the great things you're going to do and I know that you have some great thoughts of the changes that we need and I look forward to seeing you uh achieve those goals and uh congratulations to all the new officers. And I also want to say thanks
to Chris. He's done a great job. I I've called him a few times and needed some things done for people and he gets on right on them if not the same day. So, I always want to say thank you for being on top of things and and uh making it easy to sit up here when somebody says they want
something done. You're able to get it done very quickly and I do appreciate you and good luck to Chris. Um he's going under the knife in a few few days, few weeks and prayers are with you and hope to see you back as soon as possible. That's all I have. Thank you.
Um, so first of all, uh, you know, tonight was a bittersweet. Um, what we did for Bobby Hamilton tonight, um, the only thing that I can say is we need to try and do a better job of honoring people before they have passed. Um, he
is one of the best that this town has to offer and he was always there for us when we needed him and, um, it was just nice to to to do this tonight. Like I said, it should have been done before, but
um to the chief going out, Greg, it's been great working with you. You did a great job while you were here. Uh we've been through some some things with tough times and um you know, it was
always good to have you there and to be able to work through those things. Um and maybe someday we'll get together and write some memoirs. uh soon to be Chief Verga, I'm looking forward to working with you. Um I think that we don't miss a step. Uh we're
already starting to and and I want to congratulate the new officers, which was one of the first things that we did was interview and put some new officers in place to make to make up for all these guys retiring, which there's quite a few of them, including our chief and our
captain. Uh there's probably three or four more that are going in the notsodistant future, so we're trying to stay ahead of that. Uh, and we have also started the interview process for promotions, which is long overdue. U, we're getting we're glad we're getting
around to doing that. People deserve uh to be recognized for the what they've done. The uh last thing I'd like to speak about, and Rich mentioned it, the dam. I I I'm on these meetings every week, and they did some aerial shots of it, and it is really something to see.
Um, it it looks nothing like the old dam that was there. It's It's really nice. It's like It's ultra modern and it's going to be uh No more turning valves, Brett. That'll be That'll be nice. I think it does it all by itself now. You know what I mean? So, you can you can
take a Yeah, you're out. You're fired as the damn valve guy. Oh, by the way, the water's low. Can you do something about it? Here we go. Uh that just so you know, the dam was so bad and it had these old valves with these long shafts and they were so bent.
I don't even know how you got them opened and closed sometimes. And I know there's some people that were helping you out with some foreign debris in front of the dam to try and get the water level up. I won't mention any names, but uh I heard that that did happen once or twice. Um, but it's good
to see progress and and we're on schedule and you know, like we talked about before, the bad part about any job that you do in the water, there's only certain times of the year and and the company that's out there has done a fantastic job and stayed on schedule and we're going to probably be done before
I think they said they would be substantially complete sometime late August, early September. So, that's that's that's outstanding. Uh, that's all I have. Anybody in the public like to comment, speak? Anything you got? Step right up to the microphone. Just
tell us your name. How do we learn and where you live? Audio that. Thank you. Well, now that he doesn't have to do the damn, he can do this, right? Yes. Well, my name is Daniel French and
some of you might remember me from a meeting in the past. Uh, I know, uh, Chief Greg is very familiar with the three-year nightmare I've been living with with the neighbors, 150 pound dog, guard dogs coming over trying to attack my animals.
And, uh, Carl Patel, he's familiar with the times. I've been in begging for help from the township. Uh the last time I was here, uh the city attorney was supposed to get me in touch with somebody trying to figure out why so
many in my opinion it things didn't didn't seem right that happened in court. uh with the judge the judge allowing hearsay testimony. Um
the case being put off time and time and time again. Uh one time when I was giving a victim impact statement, a judge was screaming at me. Uh those kind of things. Well, the email I got from the city attorney
uh had a couple contact ways to contact email which I'm not very good at due to on what my screen I look on. I have to have the print enlarge completely and there's a lot of things missing that I can't use it right because when you
enlarge the screen all these little things highlight they just go away. My daughter's tired of being my IT person and she keeps saying press the three dots in the corner, but there's no three dots in the corner for me. Um,
uh, he did leave a phone number for me to call, but unfortunately the phone number wasn't a complete number if it's supposed to have, I think, seven digits in it. It only had six. So over quite a period of time I struggled. I tried adding an extra one at the end, a two at
the end, a three, right on up to five, six, seven, eight, nine, and a zero. It doesn't go through to anybody. Uh it they're not real numbers. Uh that that I saw in the email. It it's not a complete number. Let's put it that way. It seems
like there's always a roadblock anytime I try to get answers. Uh, I I know I I know the people own the dogs are quite friendly with the people high up in the court system, although
they didn't want to let me know that. And I want I want to look into this and find out because it never stops for me. It just never stops. And I'd like a a real way to get a hold of somebody from the county municipal court system.
Okay. Can we have a conversation about this after the meeting? Yes, we can, mayor. Thank you. Hi. Yeah. With her or without her? Well, I think we need to find out what what's transpiring here. And I don't
think it's pardon me. It we kind of know the story. So, I want to find out where this is at and what's going to happen next, and I don't want to discuss that in open session. Understood. Okay. I also
been made aware that there are other charges pending against the people for being less than truthful. Let's put it that way. Okay. About the last incident. Uh I I don't know what became of it. I
guess it went to a higher level than the municipal court. I did get a copy of the police report and apparently it's not nice to lie to the police. But uh yeah, there's there's people I I
strongly feel there's people high up in the court system who are protecting these people. That's the best way to that's the nicest way I can think phrase it. I can't comment on that. I I realize you can't. idea. I realize you can't. All right. So, let us
review. If you want to stick around, that's fine. I just I would like to speak to our attorney off the record to find out where we're at with this. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Sorry you're still having problems. It never goes away.
Yes, Jim. There's some potholes on Laurel Street that need need to be patched. and Cleveland Avenue also. We'll be on it. Okay. Thanks. You're welcome. Way to go. You praised the man
and then this happened. Sorry. Yeah. No more No more praising Chris. Yes. Good evening. My name is Ryan Gre. I 810 Farragate Avenue. Oh, yeah. I'm gonna need your help for this, Brett.
Sorry. I just wanted to um to let the committee know. Thank you very much. Thanks. Um I'm one of the co-chairs of the Hamilton sustainability team, the green team, and um I just wanted to let the committee know I was here a couple
of months ago asking for your support for a grant application to Sustainable Jersey to the PSEG Foundation, and we were awarded the grant, we found out. So very exciting. Thank you for your support. What this means is that we're offering a free webinar to any township
resident who is interested. Um it's asynchronous so you can watch it at your leisure. Um but the link is available this week and the webinar is about native plants uh using them in your yard to mitigate storm water to uh address flooding issues and also create habitat
for our local wildlife. Um the first 50 people who register and then complete the webinar also get free native plants and a guide book to sort of help incorporating native plants into your yard. So we're really excited about this program. We're really excited and thankful to you all for your support,
the administrator who brainstormed ideas with us and of course sustainable Jersey and the PSEG Foundation. This is a program that um it offers a direct benefit to the township residents and we're really thrilled about that. Um it is a tight turnaround in terms of timing
um just because it's getting a little hot to be planting. So uh the webinar like I said is going to be available this week and next week and then the native plants are going to start to be given away at the the following week. So if anybody's interested the link to register, we still have a few slots
available are on our social media pages. It also went out in our uh monthly newsletter that we send out or anybody can talk to me if you're interested. But thank you again for your support. We're really excited. Thank you. Thank you for what you guys do and we're very happy to see that you got that grant.
Is there anyone else that' like to speak? Motion to close public. We have a motion. Do we have a second? Second. Um are there any questions, comments? Hearing none. All those in favor signify
by saying I. I. All those opposed. I'll entertain a motion for adjournment. Some move. Second. Motion. We have second. Any questions? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. All those opposed. The eyes have it.
[Music]