You guys ready? Mhm. >> Sorry, just reading something. >> This meeting is being held with the uh benefit of public notice as required by the open public meetings act. Madame clerk, please call the role. >> Mr. Ty >> here. >> Mr. Whan >> here. >> Mr. Phillips
>> here. Mr. Pero >> here. >> Mr. Piglli is absent this evening. We have four. Uh please rise for a salute to the flag and the invocation. I >> pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> I'll be serving tonight for Councilman Caribelli. Dear God, we humbly acknowledge our continual need for your presence and guidance in times of rapid
change, uncertainty, and division. Steady our hearts and anchor us in your truth. Help us place our trust in you and seek you will above all else. May we all lead with integrity, pursue the common good, protect the vulnerable,
and work towards justice and reconciliation. Where there is conflict, inspire cooperation. Where there is fear, so understanding. We offer these intentions in your holy name. >> Amen.
>> You want a motion? >> No. Going to switch it up. And this is the one you read. >> Yep. We are going to go out of order tonight and uh we are going to start uh with a resolution of accommodation for Nanhem High School for the Consumer Mercy County Champions.
Whereas the New Jersey High School consumable is an educational competition for high school students. And whereas it was established in 1996 by Donna Giovanetti to educate young adults on a variety of consumer issues. And whereas
Noddingham High School has been bestowed the honor of being the 2026 Mercer County Champions. And whereas it gives us great deal of pleasure to express to all of the members of the Nottingham High School Consumer Ball team. On behalf of Mayor
Jeffrey Martin, the Hamilton Township Council, and all the citizens of the township of Hamilton, our sincere congratulations for winning the Mercy County Consumer Bowl. And be it jointly resolved by Mayor Jeffrey S. Martin and the council of the township of Hamilton in the county of Mercer and state of New
Jersey that this resolution of commendation be and hereby is adopted honoring I'm going to need help with their names is coach. >> Can you please come up? >> Yes, sir. >> I'm very big on not pronouncing names wrong. If you could read your uh I can
pronounce >> uh I have two that aren't here tonight. Um, Daniela Ortega is she got called in to work, so that's why she's not here. And, uh, Joseph Martinez is at the FBA conference, which is Future Business
Leaders of America's conference. But we do have Mag Patel, our captain. Please stand Come up. >> Uh, we have Alex Shaw. Come on up to the podium. We're going to take a picture together. And we have
Raul Rivera Rios. And I'm Mike. Thank you. So, I do have something before we take our picture. I do have something uh that I would like to read from Councilman Carelli. I would like to extend my sincere congratulations to the students of
Nottingham High School for winning the 2026 Mercia County Consumer Bowl. This victory marks the third consecutive year that Nottingham has earned this impressive title. Having served as a judge during this time, I had the privilege of witnessing firsthand the dedication, knowledge, and teamwork that
led to your success. Your preparation and performance truly reflect the hard work you have put into this competition. Although I regret I am unable to be with you this evening, please know how proud I am of your achievement. You represent your school and your community with
excellence. Congratulations again to you and your adviser, Mr. Bendorf. I wish you the very best of luck in the state tournament next month. Go Northstars. He had a family obligation, so he was unable to BE >> Can take a picture with that front,
please. Congratulations. They're very quiet. Come on, guys. Come on. Take a picture. Act like you. right there. We're not better at that. >> Yep. champion. CONGRATULATIONS.
>> You guys ain't going to hang out for another hour and a half, >> huh? Take your words and huh? They got to get study. >> I'm sure even if they're not studying, they're smart.
>> I don't blame him. >> That's close enough. >> Thank you. >> At this time, uh, we are going to, um, convene as the board of health. Uh, can I have a motion, please? >> Motion. Second
>> on the motion. Mr. Tai, >> yes. >> Mr. Whan, >> yes. >> Phillips, yes. Mr. Pero, >> yes. >> Good evening. As always, it is a great uh pride and pleasure that we come before you this evening to present our report to the Hamilton Township Board of Health. The Hamilton Township Division
of Health is dedicated to maintaining the health and well-being of all of our residents and visitors by means of prevention, health promotion, and education. This evening, we will provide you with an update on public health goals and objectives, the continuation
and revision of policies required for our national accreditation status, and the accomplishments of the department. To keep you up to date on the accomplishments of our division, we invite members of our board as well as our residents to take a moment to visit our township web page and read the
division's annual report. In addition, our animal shelter and adoption center posts monthly updates and statistics on our shelter page. Our health department staff continues to provide statemandated public health services and our animal
shelter staff continues to provide the best quality of care to the animals in our shelter. The animal shelter has and continues to be a top priority of this administration as well as one of the health department's highest priorities.
We are very proud of the hard work that this staff has done every day and how we have essentially turned around the operation of the shelter performance and delivered positive results under the supervision of our health officer, our shelter manager and our volunteer
coordinator. We have made significant strides in our volunteer program. In our animal shelter, many tasks are accomplished with a lot of hard work, passion, and dedication. Tasks that have been accomplished in addition to the care of the animals, which is the top priority, have been the development of
detailed policies, procedures, exceptional recordkeeping, and shelter internal controls. Oversight is provided daily, and management continues to evaluate, re-evaluate, and revise policies as needed. This evening, I have requested that our health officer
provide us with a visual PowerPoint updating us on the general public health and on any past and present questions, as well as provide us an update on our sections within our health division. At the conclusion of Chris's report,
Danielle, our shelter manager, will also give her report. At the conclusion of both reports, we invite any questions you or the public may have. Thank you. Good evening. Um, so just a quick uh agenda. I'll give
our update like Kathy said. Uh, we'll move to an animal shelter update and then uh we'll take questions if there is any. Um, so what's going on in in public health? Uh, there's been a lot continued changes in vaccine policy at the federal level and there's even some updates at
the state level. Um, it is still respiratory virus season. Um uh I'm sure you've seen in the news the dietary guidelines have changed and bird flu is back as well. Um so as far as the childhood immunization schedule u there
has been a change to federal recommendations at the at the federal level uh we've gone from 17 rout recommended routine vac uh vaccines down to 11. Um and you can kind of see here the one um kind of thing that a lot of
parents uh might start hearing about is this idea of shared clinical decision-making. Um which on paper sounds great. Um you know it's important to remember that all vaccines are given with um you know through a medical provider and um and the discussion
there. You're not typically getting uh or you probably shouldn't be getting a vaccine from your neighbor unless your neighbor is a nurse or medical provider. So you're so parents and uh individuals already having that one-on-one discussion and and ability to discuss uh
any vaccine being given uh you know with either you know the parent or or themselves. Shared clinical decision-m is typically reserved for um in the past is when let's say you know you have either a disease that you know there's
isn't a typical treatment for. So it might be an experimental treatment. Um, and that's where you're going to really go through, talk with your doctor, talk and you have that conversation, maybe talk with a specialist is like, is this treatment going to um, help? Here are
the the benefits, here are the cons, you know, trying to like have that like really in-depth discussion um, to make sure that this treatment or this trial is going to be beneficial or the right course of action for you. That's typically what is clinical
decision-making, you know, in in a medical context. So, putting it in the context of routine vaccination does muddy the water. It sounds great on paper and, you know, when we're talking about it, you know, but it it's just important to know that there is another definition behind it and it does cause
some uh some confusion and, you know, um um especially when you're adding to this kind of routine uh context there. But here in New Jersey, nothing really has changed too much. Um, our vaccine schedule is still the same. So, we still require those 17 uh or all of the
routine uh vaccinations. Uh, and we're not alone across the country. Most uh if not all states have uh kept the the past vaccination schedule in place. Um, New Jersey recently updated their uh, communicable disease rule NJ857
uh, to allow the state department of health to um, come up with their own guidelines. Before it was tied to the ACIP and federal guidelines, but they removed that requirement and allows the state more flexibility to uh, come up with their own guidelines um, you know,
based on some of the changes that we're seeing currently at the federal level. So that gives them uh flexibility um to keep this uh you know a more appropriate and uh the same recommendations that the American Academy of Pediatrics is uh recommending as well. There's also a new
dashboard available. So if uh folks are interested, they can go to the state department of health's website uh and see um you know different immunization rates by county. Um, our nurses go out um and do audits of all of our schools and daycarees to make sure that um all
the students that are enrolled in those programs have the um you know the recommended and required vaccines for attendance or um and then here in New Jersey, you're allowed to have either a medical exemption or rel religious exemption. Um so if they do not have um
those vaccines, they would need to either have one of those two exemptions. We do not allow for uh philosophical uh exemptions here in New Jersey. Um unfortunately, just like Danielle and I found out last week, um it is still
respiratory virus season. Um flu is finally starting to ease, but we still here in the state are seeing um um you know, fairly high rates of flu B going around. Flu A is decreasing, but flu B is still kind of holding steady there.
But as a you know a whole we're kind of over the hump but we're still kind of uh plateauing. RSV and common cold viruses are still pretty high and are going up. And another virus the humo metanumo virus um that might be something you've heard in the news lately is circulating
around. It's typically this is what this time of year when we do see it. So that's not abnormal. Um but you know for most healthy kids and adults this is going to be just you know typically a a pretty miserable cold. somebody, you know, infants, uh, older adults or those
with a compromised immune system, similar to other viruses where it can be pretty severe. Um, so of course, obvious um, if you are having trouble breathing or worried, consult your medical provider. Um, so what does this mean for for us? We're probably about a month or
two um, you know, outside of uh, being uh, you know, respiratory virus season. So there still is time to get sick, but then of course as you know respiratory virus season uh eases, that's when allergy season starts back up. So we go from one to the to the other. So it's
just important to remember to keep up those standard health behaviors. Vaccinate if you can, test, stay home when you're sick, and wash your hands. Um recently the uh the the dietary guidelines have changed. So, we've kind of um just on this photo here is just
the um the evolution of the food guides uh that have been in the past. So, we've gone, you know, back in the day we had the my food pyramid to the my plate and now we're we went back to uh the my food pyramid, but they inverted it. And so um
the food that you should be eating the most is at top and that's where the the broader part of the pyramid is and the foods that you should eat uh least uh are at the bottom or at the point of the pyramid. Um the federal food nutrition guidelines um you know there are some
things that are tied to it. So food uh uh what's included in food meals, military dining facilities, wick, those are all required to follow the uh the food uh the federal nutrition standards. Um and also you know in clinical practice uh as well that's you know how
people are educated and uh you know recommendations follow that uh follow the food guidelines as well. So what's changed? Um real food in quotes uh you know takes center stage which is great. Um we know we want u more real food less
highly processed food but you know there is a lot of um you know honestly there is some baggage that come that with these new uh guidelines that have come out. Um you know it's important to remember that not all processed food is bad. So if you think of canned fruits,
canned vegetables, uh canned beans, those are all can be very highly nutritious. Um but they are processed foods. Um but um you know and you think you know so it's it's important to take it into context that you know again even if you think about pizza you know you're
getting pizza from your neighborhood food joint while it's still a processed food is going to be a lot healthier than if you get frozen pizza from you know the aisle because there's going to be more preservatives uh and more additives and and uh and stuff like that. bread. Another great example of a highly
processed food that you know it still can be healthy for you if you get you know whole grain, whole wheat uh bread. Um but it does go through a processing uh process to become bread and also the flour is enriched with uh with extra vitamins to make sure that uh we're
getting uh needed nutrients. Um there is a greater emphasis on protein. There really is not a protein shortage in our diets here in the US. Some people that can be true but for the vast majority of us we are getting um as much protein as we need if not even too much but on the
flip side most people are not getting enough fiber in their diet which does have um can have impacts on let's say colorectal cancer March is colorectile cancer month um it's something you know making sure having enough fiber reducing you know alcohol intake reducing sugars um you know nitrates stuff like that
will all help uh reduce um you know your chances of you know colctal cancer um down down the line. Um same thing with fat uh you know saturated fats uh you know stricter limits on added sugar and of course like I talked about before the new graphic is is the change there.
Um bird flu is back. It also it made the news recently but not necessarily here in Hamilton but uh in our surrounding counties there were some pretty um sizable mass dieoffs that uh in wild bird populations. It's important to remember that um there are no human
cases here in New Jersey. Uh the risk remains very low especially for um individuals who do not routinely come in contact with um with wild birds or poultry. Um there have been um flocks and um here in New Jersey uh in the area
that have um uh tested positive you know in uh in our surrounding counties. Um, and again, cats are also highly susceptible to this um to this virus. So, by eating either dead birds or even being exposed to um raw milk, um uh cats
seem to be super sensitive to the virus. If there are um reports of dead birds here in Hamilton, residents can um make a cyclic fix uh request and our ACOs can go out and remove that. um or um they
can if just uh using PPE, maybe a shovel. Uh we're not asking for any residents to um you know, we don't want anybody using uh bare hands. So just making sure there's some sort of barrier between you and the bird. Um and if there's, you know, bagging it, throwing it in the trash would be um uh the best
course of action. But then also our ACOs can can handle it if need be. Um there is a lot of great information on the state website, nj.gov/h5. /h5N1 um uh and it's also on the Department of
AS website D and also health all have that that information and same thing with our uh website as well. So moving on to community events and outreach. Our health education uh staff has been uh busy planning for the year.
We're excited to announce uh our wellness walks are back again this year. Um they actually start off uh it gets our kickoff is tomorrow at the YMC. Unfortunately, it is a indoor walk. Um even though it's going to be beautiful out tomorrow. Um so if that's something that you're interested in, uh the walk
will be tomorrow. I believe it's at 9, right? Yeah, it's at 9:00 a.m. at the YMCA and they'll do uh in the basketball court uh area there. And that's a free event open to uh to anybody to come and uh and walk with us to start the morning. Um these events will all be
posted and the walks will all be um on the township calendar. The only one that does require uh advanced signup is our grounds for sculpture uh walk and that uh sign up will open up at the end of the summer in August uh or in the
beginning of September. Um this is a very popular we typically get over a hundred people signing up for this and it does grant you free admission for the day um and a guided uh walk with one of their volunteers. Uh it's a great opportunity um for if you have not been
able to join there. Um some of the other um things that the health education staff has been and our nurses have been out doing uh we continue to do health screenings. Uh we just did one yesterday at the John Wilson Center. We had 17 residents screened. We also work um with the senior center uh and the Brmley
Center to do routine um screening events there as well. Um the staff is uh working with the YMCA to do uh healthy habits for kids. It's a four-part program. We um have partnered with continue to partner with Pen Medicine for community wellness programs. We just
uh finished up a CPR course in February. We're doing a virtual dementia tour um at one of our 55 plus communities. Um we're also working on a pre-teen health program and then uh 10 exercises to keep you healthy as well. Um Quaker Bridge,
we are doing our next uh shingles vaccine clinic at the senior center and uh we also offered mental health first aid training in uh collaboration with Mercer County Connection and the New Jersey Hospital Association. kind of reviewing uh 2025 stats. Uh for
a full list of all of our stats and everything that we've done over the past year, um you can access our annual report uh through hamiltonj.com/anual reports. Uh and the reports going back for the last couple of years are available there as well. Um so vital
statistics were mostly flat over the last four years. Uh yeah, this is uh for our marriage license and our certified copies issued. Nothing overly exciting there. Um, as far as our number of clinic patients go, so we have uh two
standing clinics on a weekly basis. We have our uh adult health clinic. This is really our STD clinic and our adult immunization clinic which is held on Tuesdays. Uh, and our child health clinic which is um provides childhood immunizations that is on Wednesdays. Um,
we did see a dip in both of those things. Um, as far as the childhood health clinic goes, um, this is kind of twofold. A we I think we are catching we're finally starting to catch up on the backlog of children that we saw who
delayed or weren't able to get uh all of their vaccinations following uh the COVID pandemic but also a lot of our population is um the immigrant population and we are seeing uh people starting to stay home and not coming out
to to clinics as much there. So there is u and that's not something that's unique to us. That's something that we've been hearing across the board uh in the public health uh sector there. Um and as far as our adult health clinic and and STDs, it's actually good that we're seeing a decrease and I think we're
finally starting to be uh on the other side of the um the increase we were seeing following CO 19 and STD rates. Um as far as immunizations go, um the the black line there is our flu shots given. Um we are seeing a a kind of
overall trend downward in the number of shots that we're giving um as in our flu clinics. Uh we are ordering less but so we are going through all of our um vaccine. We've completely exhausted our supply this year which is good. So we're ordering just as that the community
needs. There's just so much you can get your flu shot anywhere. So um that's really the the main reason where we used to be the primary provider um along with doctor's offices giving the annual flu shot but now it's you go into the acme you know for the grocery store and you
can get it when um or in the pharmacy it's so much easier to get access to it. Um childhood immunizations just like I had uh said in our overall clinic numbers are down. So this is twofold. This is just you know kids are needing overall less immunizations per visit uh
which is great. So, we're not as uh far behind as we were uh previously following COVID. Um but we're also just seeing less numbers in the uh children in the clinic as well. Uh as far as retail food, this year-over-year uh total number of
inspected uh we did go out um and inspect more restaurants. We were or at least we were out in more restaurants conducting inspections. Um but as far as you know the number of restaurants receive and retail food locations receiving conditional unsatisfactory
more or less the same. Uh we did see an increase in the number of unsatisfactory um cases um of uh places receiving unsatisfactory score. Uh same thing with public bathing and our public bathing facilities. We were
out there a lot more this year just in the number of times that the staff uh was uh being more proactive getting out there or conducting complaint based investigations but you know conditional versus satisfactory more or less the same year-over-year. Uh but again we did see a um a much higher number of
unsatisfactory um uh scores being given. But this was um we had a lot of water failures uh this year. So that uh resulted in uh pools and spas being closed.
Uh dog licensing um you know this just you know we've kind of been a little bit all over the place but you know more or less you know we're within you know 200 or so um you know between 2021 to 2025. Year-over-year it's about a 3% drop. um
you know we are working um and training more staff uh of our attendants to be ACOs and to go out there. So we have another individual who is going through uh the acco training course right now. Um so hopefully we can get uh the plan
would be to get more staff out there. Um you know making sure that um dogs that are not licensed uh um get the license uh and make sure to follow through on that. um the animal flow as far as intake and
outtake uh over the last couple of years. This is a little bit of a busy graph here, but the two blue lines uh uh are for cats and the two red lines or purple lines are for dogs. So the difference between the two lines is
really where we would like to see more animals leaving than coming in. But unfortunately we have more animals staying with us um as opposed to leaving which is and you know and they're staying with us longer. So you know you
know for 2025 this is you know our intake overall right here versus our outflow. So we have less animals leaving than we have coming in. And it's the same thing for cats, but it's, you know, the the difference is is a lot um a lot
smaller there. Um, as far as euthanas go, um, we've been pretty steady across the board. So, this is just, uh, all euthanized animals across all species for all reasons versus just euthanized uh, for behavior. We only conduct um, euthanizations uh,
you know, for dogs for behavior wise. We don't do that for cats. Um, all of our non-behavior cases are all medical related. So that's either trauma, um, uh, cancer, you know, other sorts of medical conditions that, um, the vet um,
uh, uh, agrees that that's the the best course of action there. Uh so just as a reminder and you know in 2025 we had um 20 total and then so 18 were medical related to were behavior related.
Um as far as our social media uh posts go, we do know that um we do need to get better at at least posting on a daily basis. But I do want to point out that year-over-year um we are still seeing pretty good uh increases in um interactions and link
clicks. Uh so we've had 28% you know content interaction increase year-over-year uh link clicks 9% u and we've had an increase in followers 60 you know 60% there. You know we were down 13% uh as far as visits go
year-over-year. Um, and then as far as views go, there was no data um, uh, from 2024 uh, that I could pull from, uh, from Facebook, but we had 3.4 uh, million uh, views last year in 2025.
Um, as far as vet costs for um, 2025, this is just um, a quick snapshot of our 10 um, top 10 animals that uh, we had uh, veterary costs. So, these 10 uh resulted in $72,000
um of vet of vet bills um due to um you know, whether they were just very ill coming in, injuries happening, you know, at you know, um on at the shelter uh you know, other uh you know, reasons there. These gold are the two cats and then the
blue is uh is dogs there. Um, another really good bright spot that we've had over the last couple of years and especially this, you know, the past year of 2025 is, uh, our volunteer program. So, in 2025, we did onboard a
specific volunteer coordinator. Um, so you can see the jump in having somebody uh, designated um, specifically for this. So, we were averaging kind of, you know, within the 60 to uh 80% or $80,000 kind of inind contribution range to now
we're up to $140,000 um in in kind volunteer hours, which is amazing. Um and then this is just the the number of hours here. So, we had over 4,000 hours uh of volunteer time uh donated to the shelter last year, which
is great. Um as far as some hiring updates, we do have two positions available. Um we had a nurse uh retire, Joel Liso retired in the beginning of the year. So we are looking to replace uh um that position and also we are hiring a part-time u
multiple we have multiple opportunities for a part-time animal attendant position as well. um which uh you know was greatly wellreceived and we are closing in on a 100 applications for for those you know two-ish positions that
are are there and some very highly comp uh competitive applications which is great. It's a really good problem to have. Um and now I will turn it over to Danielle to give our shelter update. Hi there. Thank you for having me. Um,
as of today, March 10th, the shelter is still over capacity with dogs. Um, right now there's 40 dogs in the shelter and there's 31 cats in our shelter, which is not over capacity. So, this time of year, we usually have a less a lesser population of cats. Uh, 13 cats are in
foster care. We're starting to see pregnant cats coming in, so kitten season is upon us. Uh we have that is not so far in uh 2026 we've hosted four rabies clinics two in
January one February I don't have the numbers from the March clinic was just this past weekend um but we've issued uh more than 524 vaccines to our communities cats and dogs um we have one more clinic scheduled in 2026 that's uh
December 10th at the end of the uh from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. Uh as far as the for the dog population, as far as the number of dogs that we have in our care and their color code, uh currently
thank you. Mine the same. Oh, I have a couple more. I have a few more dogs, but uh but it's fine. Um so we have three green dogs currently. Give me one second. four light blue dogs, uh, nine blue
dogs, two light yellow dogs, and nine yellow dogs. So, the light blue, you may have noticed a difference from previous um, reports. The light blue and the light yellow are different. So, our dog trainer has were been evaluating dogs, trying to change their color codes based
on their behavior and to make them more accessible to volunteers who may be less experienced. Um, so a blue dog that is maybe their behavior is improving but they're not quite yet on the green level might be light blue. So we can try to get that dog out more often with more
volunteers. Um, uh, light uh, two light yellow dogs, nine yellow dogs, and then 10 red dogs. And those are the ones the red dogs are the ones that are more difficult to be handled by staff only. Our dog trainer comes in once a week to >> 10 red dogs or one red dog.
>> No, 10 I it's a typo. typo 10. Um some of them uh undergoing behavior modification with the trainer. Um we uh events as Chris mentioned the volunteer like um volunteer program has
been bringing us more events too. So just this past weekend we did a St. Patty's Day uh event at the um Pet Supplies Plus right on White Horse. Um I was there as well. Uh we did pet photos like a little kissing booth if you will.
Uh not with the shelters pets but with people brought their own pets and we would take photographs of them. Uh and had a cute little St. Patty's Day hats and decorations and such. So that was pretty wellreceived. I think we did about a dozen or so photos. Um this year
we so far this year being only March, we've had three dogs um that were transferred out to rescue. uh two with a rescue that uh one of our volunteers runs. Um Alejandro and Billy Jim Bob um and they're both doing great. Alejandro
is officially adopted and Billy Jim Bob is in foster. Another organization we have not really worked with in the past, at least my experience here at this organization, um was out of the woods rescue. So we had a dog come in with a very large tumor on her leg. uh she went
we sent her to the veterary hospital for evaluation. Um it was a cancerous tumor but the veterinarian there actually knew uh the rescue so she reached or he reached out to the rescue who happens to have a soft spot for senior dogs with
medical issues. Um, so our Annie Oakley then became Buttercup and Buttercup um successfully had her leg amputated to to deal with the cancer uh diagnosis and uh and they have her in currently in foster and looking for her forever home uh with
the understanding that you know the cancer uh but it's still a new new le niche on life right it's still phospice if you will um >> right so the light blue. So, the color codes, the green dogs, I think I've mentioned this in the past, being the
easy novice kind of newer volunteers, can walk the green dogs. The light blue and the blue, the blue dogs were just a little bit more ch more challenging than the green, but the light blue, it's like a pathway to green, if you
will. Um, so we can if the volunteer is not quite a blue level volunteer yet, they might will introduce them to a light blue dog. So a staff member would accompany the volunteer with the new dog that they've not walked before to and go over any issues and and introduce them
uh to try to move both the volunteer up and also to improve the behavior of the dog. Uh same with the yellow. So the yellow dogs are the more challenging ones, but as they their behavior improves, I believe it right now we have um light yellow is Reese's uh and Rizzo
uh both have been there for a good amount of time. Rizzo uh was is very reactive in her kennel, but uh taken out of the kennel uh or even when she's created, she's a little bit easier to handle. She's still very shy with strangers. Um, but this program allows
us to have a staff member accompany Rizzo with a, you know, an unfamiliar volunteer to see if they can handle walking Rizzo and and her personality and her behavior challenges. Um, so then exposing Rizzo to more volunteers.
>> Can I ask a question or you want to wait till the end? >> Sure. >> It it applies to this slide. Is that going to ask? >> Yeah. >> You said there was 40 dogs. Um, that only adds up to 37. There are three court case dogs, too, in our shelter. Actually, there's four court case dogs
in our shelter, but if I count them, you probably don't want me count. >> If you count those other three, that makes 40 because there's 37, right there, >> then. Yeah. Right. >> Okay. Just just uh notice that. >> Right. Right. Yeah. We do have some court pending uh court case dogs. >> See, Janice, I'm a good student.
>> Yeah, you can continue. I just want before we went past that one. >> Um and so, yeah. So that I think that was the volunteer program and the dog walking program and that's been a tremendous help. Uh the staff given the break in the weather, we're working on some social media posts to get more
folks in to walk the dogs. I know it's been a challenging winter with all the salt and the snow getting the dogs out in a regular basis, but the I have to say the past week has been very pleasant and lots of folks have come in. So, I encourage uh anyone who's interested to
uh reach out to our volunteer coordinator, Faith, and sign up to volunteer. >> I just want to jump in because, you know, snow was been a problem for all of us. And I just want to commend the shelter staff for getting in to the shelter to care for all of these animals
during such difficult times, whether they had to get a ride in or they had to carpool um or stay longer hours because others couldn't get in. And I don't know that we all recognize and appreciate how much work that was for them during those snowstorms. And you know, they couldn't
get them out of the outside kennels until we got the snow removed from the kennels. So it was a group effort with public works as well. But I do want to commend the shelter staff for that and have that on your record. >> Yeah, we appreciate that and I think we all realize that this this winter was a
difficult test for a lot of people and it was a little struggle. So, um we appreciate you being here. I have uh before I open it up to the rest of my colleagues, I do have a couple comments. Um first of all, I had asked uh a couple
times about social media posts and um also about the bios. I asked everything to be fixed and I asked uh social media post uh to increase and all of it was done. So I want to first say thank you for that. I I appreciate um you know we're all part of a team. I know my
colleagues have also asked please keep pushing social media because you never know who's going to click on it. You don't always see the same stuff, right? We all see different different people's profiles. We asked and you did it. So first of all, I want to say thank you
for that. Uh the bios I see uh are pretty much all up to date. I think there was um potentially one that needed to be fixed that I think was done today. So I appreciate that as well. Um just uh the volunteer program. How how's
that how's that working out? Um, I mean, so I think it's been to me and I know Danielle, it's been very good and we're thankful that we have a volunteer coordinator, although, you know, she's only part-time that has um, you know, really run with it. Um, and
and has, uh, really helped, you know, leverage, you know, some of our relationships that we've had, you know, with our trainer to bring on new programs to get the staff trained. Um, and then also even just some of like the data reporting and stuff like that. So
um just last year as far as the breakdown go as for social you know the vast majority of hours you know cat socialization that dog walking we introduced the buddy program this year and then off-site events and then we also have some staff or volunteers I'm sorry that do some other duties like
administrative or housekeeping stuff um as far as training programs go. So, we had 23 uh volunteer orientation sessions uh this past year with 112 attendees. Um dog behavior and defensive handling
skills. So, um all new volunteers that want to walk dogs have to take that course first in order to move on to dog walking. So, we had 19 of those sessions with 71 um attendees. And then we introduced this buddy program and Danielle can probably explain it a
little bit better than than I can. Um as far we had four and then 14 uh uh attendees. >> So the the dog trainer um Laura's been having a like a buddy class. So the whole point of this is to further the skill set of the volunteers to work with
the dogs. Um she has some handouts that we've been assigning. uh maybe if there's a dog with a specific behavior concern, she'll sign a treatment sheet that generally is to go home with that animal to to a potent or to the adopter. So, for things to them to work on, but
also while they're here, we can train our volunteers to work on those behaviors with our our dogs. Um and then as far as looking ahead and this year um again we're continuing with um the monthly volunteer orientation
um and our dog handling skills classes. Um same thing with the buddy classes as well. We did have a um a uh volunteer um kind of all volunteer teams meeting uh earlier in uh at the end of January just to kind of go over the update any
updates coming on here. allowed the volunteers an opportunity to ask questions or um or voice any concerns. And then um and then also just a review of all the um you know the kind of statistics from the year prior. And then this is the uh what Danielle was talking
about um the event that we had over at uh Pet Supplies Plus. Um, so as far as what's coming new, one thing that we've been hearing and we've been trying to uh start and happy to announce that we will be doing this is a um kind of higher
level dog handling class uh for reactive dogs. So, our um our trainer that we have um as a vendor will be working with um our higher level volunteers uh in a small kind of group setting to make sure that we can you know help move them up
into um you know higher you know the yellow dogs or the more reactive dogs so we have more uh volunteers who can walk those dogs because that's where we I mean you saw that's the bulk of our dogs are in that yellow category so getting more people up up to the ability to to
do that um I don't know if you want to expand any more on that. >> I think that that's addressing one of the more common issues with the dog population in our shelter is reactivities to other dogs. So I think that's why it became our first choice to to have that class.
>> Thank you. >> Yeah. And it's I'm not sure if there's any other questions there. >> Yeah. So uh thank you for the presentation. and I'm I'm glad to see um the work you're doing to uh add these
training programs. That's really great. I mean, I don't think we've ever had anything like that in my time uh on council. Uh so that's a tremendous improvement. Um you've had a lot of success uh generating interest in
participating in these. you said 70 or over 70 uh folks attended trainings I think and what do you attribute that success to um in generating that interest?
>> I I definitely think it helps to have a designated volunteer coordinator who can focus and streamline the classes and keep up communication and not have to worry about shelter operations and focus on that task. So, uh, one other question. Uh, we've
got 10 red dogs who are potentially dangerous animals. Um, what what goes into um what types of behaviors are these dogs exhibiting that, uh, lead to them being with that
designation? >> Sure. Uh, there's a variety of issues. just me glancing at the list. There's some uh guarding sometimes, not just a food bowl guarding, but a global guarder who guards everything, their space and all that. Um
uh reactivity to to people like uh besides leash biting and a hyper like um reactivity getting over aroused in a situation, right? And making challenging to handle. Uh, a couple of these dogs are strange,
have strange reactions to certain individuals, and we can't say that this dog will only react to that one or two people. We we're still working on getting them out and exposed to other um animals. There's a couple dogs with with bite documented bite histories as well.
Um, so Laura's been working with some of them that that have a plan, a behavior plan. she's like guarding, you know, so she has treatments that she assigns to the dogs and she'll come in and she'll do them and she'll show the staff how to do them so that we can try to uh work on some of those behaviors. It is
challenging in our setting and and certainly depending on you know I I'm certain I was away but certain that you know the snow might have kept Laura from coming one week or something like that. So it's not u without its its um challenges but that's what it's you know
we're working on some of them. There's one dog here that um potentially uh Bark Institute might take and and work with her. So, I'm working on that too right now. >> Yeah. One other comment that I had. Um I
I'm I'm impressed that you've recruited a new foster uh to handle animals with conditions like cancer. It's it's rare uh that a foster will take animals like that. So, nice work. Um, also I hope
you'll pass along my thanks to the volunteers. Um, you know, it really is important the work that they're doing at the vol at the uh shelter makes a big difference. >> Thank you. I one thing real quick. Um first of all
I you know your rough tonight was point on a lot of good topics that were very important for everybody and um and truthfully I I think you are making a lot of progress at the shelter on top of it. So I I commend you for the work that
you're doing. One problem though. Okay. something's been cut out my call a little bit late lately and I know it's a problem that we've probably had and I've heard it in this room here from residents when they call
ask for a response from an acco. Okay. So now I know personally how it is when you make a call and leave a message to an acco return phone call. So I kind of got up my crawl. I seen a cat get hit.
did the proper thing. It was earlier in the morning. I don't handle cats, but I wanted to make sure I called the shelter, left a message at our one of our shelters. Um, I did I shouldn't have to tell the councilman, but I I figured maybe that might help a little bit. You
know, I told him it was councilman whin square road there's a cat in distress and could we get this taken care of and I appreciate a return phone call. left my number and two and a half months later I still ain't heard from. Okay.
So, you know, for all the good things we're doing, it's something like that that just kind of that sucked the apple cart a little bit. >> I came from I came from a line of work that I did that I had to get reelected to my job every three years, >> which meant I had to be held accountable
every day to my members to do my job. And if I didn't return phone calls when they called me, I wouldn't have lasted 16 years in that position. Okay? So, that's something I think needs to be addressed. Um, and if they can't handle it in a professional manner,
maybe you're in the wrong job. Okay? This has nothing to do I'm not trying to steer away from the job that you're doing. I think you're doing a tremendous job. >> Um, a lot of good stuff happening. Uh that's just something that I experienced that that that really aggravated me.
Just wanted to make sure that you're aware. >> Yeah. And and I think we we all appreciate that and and we're not going to make any excuses because we we know that it is a problem and it's been addressed with the staff, all of the staff. Um you know, I think there's a a couple, you know, we transitioned to a
new phone tree and routing system. Um but um not that that's a uh any excuse but you know sometimes just if calls get routed to the wrong voicemail and then they sit there uh again it's it's inexcusable across the board and it's been
>> let's not use the phones please. >> I I know >> don't use the phones but >> I don't want to hear routers and stuff like that. This is modern technology and if we got problems with our routers then then we we got the wrong system then. >> Right. Have you specifically addressed
this with staff in terms of returning calls and voicemails and all of that? >> Yeah, I I >> talk a little about that. >> Yes. So, I've gone over it and uh you know there should not be any issues moving forward but you know if there is then I mean I my only ask is that uh it
gets brought to you know either Danielle, myself or Kathy's attention so that way you know then at that point then it's you know an internal disciplinary problem. But, you know, we've I very sternly uh addressed this with the staff. >> Yeah. We're not going to talk about personal matters here.
>> Yeah. Yeah. I I I addressed it with staff uh during our our monthly uh or our week our daily standup meeting. So, it's it's been addressed um >> we appreciate you addressing it. And if you have any issues, you need anything from us, we appreciate if you let us know. >> Yeah. And but again like I I would just reiterate that if there is issues that
you know you know if I don't hear about it or Kathy doesn't hear about it or Danielle doesn't hear about it um we can't do anything about it. So if there are issues that I would just ask that they get just brought to our attention or flag for us to >> follow for something like this though and and I think that's fine that you're
addressing it. But I'd like to see that you um have something internally that you can do a check on that rather than rely on because the average resident once they call >> Yeah. >> and they don't get a call back, how likely are they to call you or any of you to say, "Hey, I didn't get a call
back." Right. Yeah. And so, um, I'd rather with that in mind, and that may work, there are some that will repeatedly call and so then you do find out if that happens, right? Because it's not just didn't just happen with with Councilman Whan. It had happened with others that we've heard.
>> Um, so I'm glad you're addressing it and thank you for responding to that as soon as we brought it to your attention. >> Um, but I'd like to see if there's something that you can do internally, right, that can be a check somehow. And I I don't know what that is. off the top of my head, you're more familiar with
your processes there that there might be some easy way that you have a double check that people are getting to their messages or actually listening to them and then responding, right? So, >> and and I did have a conversation with it about this uh and with the transition
to the new phone system. I mean, they have other priorities that they're working on, but that's something that they're looking if there can be a reporting >> beyond the new system. >> No, no. I'm saying I'm saying with since uh since it's a a IT based system that that you can there should be reports that you should be able to pull >> report. Okay. >> Yeah, that that's sorry that's what I
meant. I wasn't blaming. I'm saying it's actually a positive that but they have to turn on or figure all out but they have other I just have to work with them on that. >> Can I just ask one brief question? So this is back on the the uh the colors. >> Yes. >> And all of that. And I know we talked
about some of the ones that are um the 10 that are in the red. Um, so and I know that you have some programs that do that. Is it a priority to try to move as many from the red into other categories?
And and I know that you do that for some of the colors. I just don't know. I don't want to have the idea that, you know, uh, animals get into the red and they never come out, right? So, are you also focusing on that of doing as much
as we can to help them move out? And so, I know you have some programs in place. And >> yeah, I I'll just I'll the only thing I just want to preface it with is that you know, >> we have to prioritize. I mean, I know that's not the the the the greatest answer what you know um you know,
council and administration wants to hear, but you know, we do have some limited resources. So, you know, when it comes down to we have to pick and choose which dogs get out or which dogs get resources, it's going to be the more highly adoptable or dogs that are going
to be more easily trained. And then uh or not not trained is the wrong word, but like if there's issues to work on. >> Yeah. if there's ability to move versus, >> you know, they're dogs that, >> you know, frankly, I mean, some of them might, you know, you know, languish
there for a little bit, but it it there is a prioritization that we have to do and the staff has to do just based on our resources, but I mean, Danielle can a little expand a little bit on that. And that's been a conversation that uh actually I was sick the flu last week, but that was we had scheduled uh to meet
and discuss it with Laura, our dog trainer, as what's the path for these dogs. Some of them >> um some of them you have documented bite histories and maybe there is no path to yellow. But um I reach out to rescue and see if somebody can help with that. Sure. >> Um some of the issues are definitely
more rehabilitatable than others. So some of them it's not just an easy fix. Um, so we we are currently we recognize it and we're currently working on a plan. >> How often are they evaluated? >> Uh, that depends on some of these red dogs are newer red that that have only
been come here this this year. Um, others are much longer. Um, we'll say Moose has been here for a very long time. He's on behavior medic medications as well. Um, >> I he doesn't trust people. He he
doesn't, you know. So again, this is an an active >> there might be additional information that you could get to even evaluate whether they're >> so we made a little movement or not, even though they may not have moved out. And again, I don't want to get into the the weeds with it because you clearly
have >> avenues in place, but >> you know, you have 25% >> this is the most >> your dogs in red. Yes. >> So, and that's what I said. I I get that you have to have and prioritize, but I also don't want them to get lost, right?
Either and especially when you have 25% in there, you know, and if it means stepping up the evaluations or, you know, looking for ways that for additional training and I like the fact that you're doing so much training with the volunteers
and, you know, because it even helps staff when you're doing that as well. Absolutely. and you know the more the better they can get too, right? Then that might take some of the priority away for some of these other colors that they're able to take care of for you and
then you could focus a little more on some of the red. So that's all I just didn't want them to be thought of as that they're lost. >> Yeah. And I and I I think some of these dogs are also even just what the the rehab that they need is just completely
beyond our capabilities at the shelter. And and you know, we have you know what's so we have a vendor that we work closely with for you know um >> you know off-site boarding and board and train programs which is great but you know the the way the best way for it to
work is for those dogs to then move directly into a home. Yes. because then it's it's just a better situation for them to be. some of these red dogs there there is you know board and train options out there for these but to it
would be an expense and then what's the option after that training is over especially or you know it's like do we try that and then if they it doesn't work then is that when we make a difficult decision or or maybe even a necessary decision you know elsewhere
but you know it's a bigger conversation that we can have on that but I just and you've had some success with that program. So, I think it's good to to keep following that and just make your assessments as you go along. So, but thank you. I appreciate the responses.
>> Any other questions? >> Um I just since we're on the the colors and and the which I'm really impressed, the volunteer is fantastic in the training program. I'm very impressed. Um, so the dogs that
are yellow and red, like does it are the green dogs getting walked a lot and like versus a red like is our red dog getting walked? Is it just staff then versus volunteer? Like are they getting out? >> Sure. So the green dogs get walked the most because they're they have the
volunteers generally. There's also so some of these dogs are in crates. So we have more dogs than we have kennels for. the dogs in crates get walked clearly get walked many more times a day than a dog in a kennel. Um the so the easier the dog, the more often they get out.
The light blue dogs will get out more than the darker blue dogs. And same with the light yellow. So u but we do have volunteers that come in and are you know attached if you will or advocate for that one dog. Um we'll say like Rizzo as a as a new friend, you know what I mean?
So, um, those dogs tend to get out more, uh, than the red and yellow dogs. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Anything else? >> Council President, I'd just like to acknowledge that our um, health
department recently re >> Thank you. that our health department recently received a letter of congratulations from the CDC on the national accreditation process which is um very very nice to receive. Um there were only six I believe in the country
that received this um and we were one of them this year. So, I just just came through um and I'm very proud of all of them because without all of the staff in the health department, we would not have received national accreditation. And although we talk about our animal shelter and other things, I don't want
that to overshadow this great department and what they have achieved for our township. >> Yeah, we appreciate that. Congratulations. >> Congratulations. >> Yeah, congratulations. >> Questions from the public? Any questions from the public? Uh that would um questions on the board of health report.
Come on, please. >> Good evening, Lisa Williams, Briner Lane. So before every board of health meeting, the health officer I appreciate reaches out to some of us to see if we have any topics to cover. Mine are always the same. dog licensing, bio,
social media. So, Councilman Papero, I know you had said that there was only one bio that needed to be updated. You saw it had been updated. I think you're looking at the dogs. >> I think there's one cat, right? >> Oh, no. There's one cat that I named in the
email because I stopped at one because it just it doesn't get done. So, I mentioned Moose and he had been in the shelter. intake date February 19th of 24 and as of Saturday night had no bio. So that was two years no bio. Nobody had
time to write a bio. Just let me know because I will run out of time and I I know I just I will finish during public comment at the end because I suspect I will run out of time. So he got updated sometime late this afternoon because I've been stalking the page. But there as of what is on the website there are
21 cats. 18 had no bio. We're now down to 17 with no bio because moose, sorry, got updated. I feel like this thing's in my face. Um, so we have now 17 cats, still no bio. Of the population with no bios, two
of them are in foster care. So I would think that the foster could write a bio. We heard I have to jump back and forth that there are 13 cats in foster care, but according to the website, I think there's only two. It's Benson whom I'll
come back to in a second because I went to the shelter in October looking for him. Um there's Benson and Kit or in foster. So I don't know what the story is with the other my question is what's the story with the other 11 cats in foster care that no one in the public
knows are available for adoption. So Benson in October, I didn't come to the meeting, but I watched it and somebody from the public, there was a council meeting, asked when was the last like if any council member had gone to the shelter and I didn't really know why
they were asking and I happened to be in the neighborhood on October 25th and I stopped in and I took a picture of every single dog kennel that did not have a b any information on it and I was looking for Benson because I've on a couple occasions commented via email that
Benson was part of one of the mayor's video radio video video things and was like this really super friendly cat yet no bio like I mean I watched it Maryanne Marian carried him in and he was super friendly cat no bio so I was in the neighborhood on the 25th of October and
I stopped in and I took pictures of the dog kennels moose didn't react to me he just stood there and looked at me I think he's Australian shepherd not not German shepherd um he's one of the red dogs you guys mention So, I wanted to go in the cat room. I had to sign the waiver. So, you can, you
know, I was there. I signed the waiver to walk in the cat room. You can't walk in the cat room without signing a waiver. Apparently, you can't see a dog out of a kennel without signing a waiver because I saw one of them on a counter on another time I stopped in. And I couldn't find Benson. And there's a whiteboard on the wall in there.
Benson's not listed on there. Neither is Moose. I have a picture of it. I printed it, but forgot to grab it off the printer at home before I came. So, I asked someone. I assume it was a volunteer. I don't know who the person was. I was looking for Benson and they said, "Oh, they're keeping him in the
back." I'm like, "Why?" He said, "He scratched someone." I mean, I can't walk in there without signing a waiver. But Benson was in the back. I stopped in some other time later to follow up before the last board of health meeting on the kennels that had no um
information on them. And I asked somebody else. Apparently, Benson went after someone. I don't know. But Benson's in foster care. My point is we promote these dogs and you go look and you can't find them. If you look at the social media post that I guess the mayor's office put out for St. Patrick's
Day has Merl cute little kitten ups him out of time. Um he still has no bio. Bella on there is not on the website. Natasha I think is Natasha has a bio. So our cats don't have bios. Our dog
licenses are much lower than 23 and 24. And I'll talk to my guests from my next ramp about can we get three-year dog licenses? It's really not that hard, you know? I just there's so part of the overcapacity is you go look and there's
no information like and I talk about this over and over. Part of why I stopped coming to meetings is because I feel like a broken record. I bring up the exact same issues every meeting. >> Can you please respond to that? Uh specifically Benson.
>> No, specifically um I asked I asked I asked BIOS and there was uh stated that there was one that wasn't done yet. >> So the cat the cats we are working on um we're I'm recruited volunteer input uh with along with the volunteer
coordinator. Uh they're giving me um little snippets into their personality. The cats do turn over some of them rather quickly. Specifically, Moose is Moose is um a semi or more feral cat that had spent majority of his time in
our intake room, not in the adoption room because he was not nice. Um he's a little cranky. He's a little feral. Um so he's that's why he recently was moved. Um but yes, I recognize that I don't know all of the cats. I I review
all of the dog behavior assessments and I use sometimes I use a little bit of AI to help me generate um bios from their assessments from the behavior that we know. I don't necessarily know all the cats. They get they get moved in and out very quickly. Uh so I have recently
recruited uh key staff members that work with the cats specifically to give me keywords about their personality so that we can generate bios. Um, >> so how many how many dogs and how many cats don't have bios? >> I I don't have that number. Lisa
probably has that number. Um, >> but the cats there there's definitely a good number of cats that are missing bios and I will work on that with our cat staff. Um, okay. >> The dogs generally have more bios written because in the process they're having a behavior assessment. I'm
utilizing that information to create the bio. So that's why that um certain one so uh to Lisa's point about Benson, Benson was an overstimulated cat and did um cause injury to multiple people. So he was moved to the back currently and
it has to be reflected. I don't know why I was out, but um he's in foster to adopt. His his foster is adopting him. That's why um I haven't prioritized his bio. He's not no longer available. So once he officially signs the paperwork, he'll be officially adopted. Uh, same
with Kit. Kit is coming back this Thursday to be altered and adopted, but but yes, I recognize that the CAT uh the CAD bios are are lacking and we're we have a plan to work on that right now. >> Can we get them done as soon as possible? >> I will have it done this week.
>> Thank you. >> Any other questions from the public? Come on, Steve. Steve Craig, Wolfpack Road. Um, I want to talk about the red dogs. Um, there are resources to deal with them.
I'm standing right here again. There are at least two dogs there now that are red. One of them I've handled multiple times with staff with me leading the staff. We've introduced a dog to five different people. We've let him run loose in the
playyard. We've had zero issues. We I asked for a reassessment or for me just to be allowed to take him out on my own because there's not enough staff for me to >> What dog is that? >> Merlin. >> Merlin. >> Merlin. Merlin actually gets has gotten a lot of attention from the public when
he comes in the shelter. There's a lot of people always in front of his cage. He gets a lot of attention. He's a great looking dog. He's he's he's a friendly dog. Very large uh active dog though. Um, as I said, I've taken this dog out three times with different staff,
introduced him to different people, let him run loose. He's got a leash grabbing habit. That's not an extreme danger issue. That's a common as common as barking for most of the dogs.
I've handled him. Some of the staff is I will handle him again. I have absolutely no issues with this dog. I asked for a reassessment or to be allowed to take him out in June, beginning of June. I was told he's already reassess already scheduled for a reassessment.
It took 4 months regular followup to get the trainer to even take the dog out. And then it was another two months after that that the trainer took him out again. And it's been almost four months since then that the dog's been sitting in the shelter
leash biting. So on the shelters documentation for blue dogs, some dogs may be designated blue for showing signs of low to mid-level aggressive actions. These actions include, but are not limited to, leash tugging, jumping,
difficulty returning to the kennels, fear of certain strangers, resource guard, blue, multiple dogs with far greater leash biting issues than Merlin's had. They've never been bred. I can't help but think because I'm
advocating for this dog, he's still red. I can tell you I can take this dog out. I promise you here right now on the record, I'll take this dog out. If he gives me anything other than normal dog behavior for being locked up for 4 months, I will go euthanize the dog
myself. I'll walk away from the shelter. I'll never file another open request. How much more clear can it be this dog does not need to be red? Even if he's red, if you want to say he's not adoptable, fine. Red is supposed to be
an indicator of what skilled person could could handle this dog. If our trainer can't handle a leash biting dog, that's a problem. If our staff can't after being there for that long, that's a problem. That's a very extremely common behavior. And leaving this dog
locked up for two, three, four months at a time is going only going to compound that behavior. So at the point he was taken out multiple times, we could have continued that. Instead, we locked him up. So to not expect that
behavior to compound itself is foolish. So we're creating a problem. We're punishing this dog for biting a leash, which again, an extremely common, easily handled behavior. Not for everybody.
He's a 75lb dog, right? Not everybody wants to handle a jumping 75lb dog. I will. I don't go in there and claim I'm going to handle every dog. There are blue dogs I won't handle. They don't like me. One just got adopted. I'd have never
stuck my hand in her cage. She'd have taken my arm off. >> Are you allowed to at this time to handle that hook? >> Only if a staff goes with me. We have two leashes and the staff has to hold one of the leashes. >> There a bite history on that? >> No.
>> Let me follow up on things because again, we don't have the the the privilege to see what the evaluation was, right? And what the re-evaluation was and I don't want to second guess the professional that we have. I would like to follow up because I noticed you
brought me up. >> Can I have the name of the other dog? >> Lockwood. >> What is it? >> Lockwood. >> Oh, yeah. >> Thank you. >> Thanks. >> I'll follow up with you all tonight.
>> Thank you. >> Anything else from the public regarding uh >> I got to use a vener. whatever information you have. >> Lisa Williams, Briner Lane, I'm just going to try to quickly run through a few comments on dog licensing while
everyone is here. So, I know Councilman Papero, in the past you have asked about three-year dog licensing, and I kind of wish we had it as well. And at one meeting that I don't remember if I was here, but I may have watched. You know, it was if we did three-year dog licensing, we'd have to mail the tags
every year. So after that meeting, I did a Google search three-year dog licensing New Jersey. And I found the town that has three-ear dog licensing. So I called them and I said, "How do you do this? I live in a town. We have a lot of people and we don't seem to have three-ear dog licensing or the interest to have it
other than a couple people." And this is I was told that we had to mail the tags every year. They're like, "No, we get two sets of tags." So, what this town does is if you have to give an option, people don't have you have to give them a one-year option and a three-year option. They choose which one they want.
You can't charge more for a three-year license than you would charge for three one-year license, and you have to collect three years of the state fees. But I don't see anywhere where there's a prohibition against collecting less of the municipal fee to encourage
three-year dog licensing. It's a lot of manual work for staff to keep issuing license every single year. So I think we could save staff time if you give a benefit to the township residents of the township portion is smaller on that and
I think that you would get more. So we're supposed to be increasing the population of dog licenses not maintaining the same not sliding back. In 21 2021 we had 3613. 2022 we had 3392.
2023 3664. 24 was our high year at 3741 and 25 is 3648. If you look at the February numbers which I tried to do sitting in the back between the various years we're low this
year. If you just add January and February together in 23 we had 2382 24 2187 then 22 38 we're at 1871. We're not going to get caught up on the backlog until May because that seems to be where we get to it and then by the time you start following up it's the end of the
year and we haven't actually gained anything. I'm going to leave. My two minutes are up. I'll have to continue to leave. I'm sorry. What >> you can say I have a question. >> Okay. Sure. Uh, what town was that that did? >> It was one of the freeholds and I think it was freehold burrow, but I'd have to double check. I just called the number
on their application. Their applications online. I looked at it. I called. I'm like, "Excuse me, can you maybe help me figure this out? You know, this is what my some people in my town want. We don't have it. How do you do this?" And I told her, she's like, "Do you mind if I ask what town?" I told her I told her how
many we have. She's like, "That sounds really low." Um, I just think there's a better way and we could free up staff time. If we did better promoting, we could get the easy animals out and free up time to work on the other animals that need help. I'm going to sit down.
Thank you very much for your time. >> Quick um followup question on that for our our BA or perhaps our attorney. Do we have a statutory requirement that we do annual dog licenses? So, that's just policy.
What do you have to license them? >> It is it a requirement that we do it annually? That's my question. It is a requirement. >> You have the option to do three years have to offer one year. >> Oh, you could. So, in the towns that
offer three, they offer three or one. >> Okay. So, >> both going to offer. But again, they're required to get licensed and if they pay for three years, then they're good for three years. But if they only do it one, then they got to do it every year. >> Okay. So, somebody may opt to just pay
for one year at a time for whatever reason. >> Is there a drawback from doing three years? >> So, >> for anybody, is there a problem with doing three years? Well, it can cause confusion amongst the residents in some cases because I don't remember when my
three years is up, right? So again, you get notification, I would assume, but that doesn't always work either. So it's kind of like out of sight, out of mind. It's hard enough getting annually, but and and then the other thing is the timing of the rainy,
>> right, which is always an issue. So, if I only have a one-year rainy shot on my animal, I can't do the three-year because I have to prove that renew each each year. >> Yeah. But you you you renew a driver's license and you renew a driver's um
vehicle registration on a different basis than you do your car insurance, right? So, do you not do your car insurance every year because you're not you didn't remember? >> That's all I'm That's all I'm saying. If we have the ability to do something to take an e make it easier for our residents
>> to do every 3 years, >> if there's a reason we're not doing it, that's great, right? But we have talked about this in the past. So why don't we do it? It's just a very simple question. >> I mean, right now there's no there's no local burden for for your license. So we
can't do it. >> Well, that was my question is do we need to help you? >> Do we need to enable you to do it? seem to have that much. >> Does it make it easier for you if we do it every three years? >> Nothing's ever easy.
>> I'm finding that what the administration council wants. >> Well, who think we need to have more conversations offline about this to figure out what the best plan of attack is to reiterate that I it's going to I don't it's not going to be I don't think
it's like also we're going to have 2,000 licenses as three year licenses. is still going to be fairly small because you also have to line up your rabies. So I think eventually some you'll get there where >> right >> your rabies is you know you get it in December or you know the first time you're within that 10 month licensing
period but from like you know you have to get onto that schedule um you know for it to work. So your your radius would have to be valid >> for the three years of the threeear licensing period. Yeah, there there's a lot of like
coincide together, but there's there's other stuff that has to happen as well. But again, >> I know we can't meet as a group, but maybe if one or two of us want to come and sit down with you, maybe we can get all that on the table so that we better understand it. And then this way, if it's something that you want to do, we
can all get on the same page. If you're saying, "Hey, it's not conducive to what we do," then that's fine. But let's let's sit and have a conversation about it and see if we can get to where we need to get. >> I mean, I'm I'm indifferent about it. I mean it in the past when we moved from on from paper and the whole like
business to self-pilot like we needed time to like get through that process. I think at this point it's I I would just I would just if you want us to offer this option we >> Well Chris here's here's where where I'm coming from with it. Um, I've I've been
advocating for you for several years to get more manh hours, to get more employees, and if there's an opportunity for us to save man-h hours or free up manh hours from paperwork to being able
to work with the animals directly so that there are better conditions for the animals in our shelter, then yes, I'm interested in pursuing that. And if there are some logistical issues that we need to work through or if we need to
pass an ordinance to enable this, then you know, I'm definitely open to working through any issues that there might be with making that available in Hamilton. >> Yeah, let's let's get together maybe. >> Yeah. Or why don't we have them work up a little proposal? >> Just let's look into it and see what we
can do. >> All right. If you work up a little proposal that shows now on the annual, what would you recommend fees to be on a three-year and not hard, >> you know, again, >> we're not reinventing a wheel.
>> All right. Just can I do something? >> Okay. >> Um I mean just I'm sure you thought of this and just throw it out there like coordinating with our rabies clinic to me just makes sense. Yeah. >> You know, when they're getting their baby shot, they can get their threeyear and everything's on the same path, you
know, like they can do everything right at the same time. >> We've been we've had a couple messages, you know, especially postco we did a lot of we moved to um at least pre-signup last year making appointments or not looking to get a time block. But now we
are also with our payment system and the dog pilot it made processing a lot easier. So we do onsite offering of uh dog licensing too down the road that again it would just be um and with the timing
to do that um you know maybe something just doing standalone like almost hours but in the community as well um to do but yeah I have I have nothing else we apprei appreciate you being here. I know it probably took a little longer. Um
there's a lot of questions and I look forward to the conversation that we're going to have. Um maybe it'll work, maybe it won't, right? But let's let's at least put everything on the table and explore it before we just say no. >> Let us know when uh when you're available, shoot me a text and we'll
figure it out. >> All right. Can I have a motion uh to reconvene, please? >> I'll make a motion to reconvene as council. >> I'll second >> on the motion. Mr. Ty, >> yes. >> Mr. Whan, >> yes.
>> Phillips, >> yes. >> Mr. Pero, >> yes, ma'am. >> Now for your consideration, we have the minutes of December 2nd, the regular council meeting. >> I'll move to accept the minutes. >> I'll second
five. Yes, >> Mr. Whan. >> Yes, >> Miss Philla. >> Yes, >> Mr. Paper. >> Yes. >> Communications. We already did communication one. Moving on to communications two and three. We have the recognition for proclamations for
the month of March. First, we have the mayor's monarch pledge, women's history month, colurectal cancer awareness month, and Irish heritage month. And then with the final joint proclamation acknowledging March 11th,
2026 at Giligosi day. >> Can I have one motion, please? >> I'll make that motion. >> I'll second. >> See you, Christian. >> Mr. Tai, >> yes. >> Mr. Whan, >> yes. >> Phillips, >> yes. >> Mr. Pera, >> yes.
>> Resolution 126-121 is a resolution authorizing the issuance of a one-year and there is a typo. should be class 5 count of its retail and dispensary license to JFN Hulky LLC trading as plot with a license
number of 113- RE-001- Z I'm sorry 002-001 >> it's the one over on >> the phone okay >> right okay >> anybody uh here from uh that would like to comment I here for the representing
the company. I can answer any questions you guys have. >> Okay. >> Any any questions or comments from uh from council? >> Sure. >> If you would like to make a statement, you're free to >> uh No, I'm here to answer any questions if you guys have. >> Do you anybody have any questions? >> So, you guys are fully you've opened,
right? >> We haven't opened yet. That's the other one. >> When you opening >> in We're waiting for this final state license. It should be in a couple weeks time. >> It's the one on Sloan Avenue >> with the pizza parlor. >> Exactly. >> Okay. be a lot of hungry people, huh?
Jesus God. Okay, >> I don't have any questions. >> Any questions from the public on uh resolution 126121? Seeing none, madam clerk,
>> I'll make uh seeing no members of the public wish to comment, I'll make a motion that we close public comment and move >> uh resolution one. And I shouldn't be making this resolution because I have to abstain from this. >> You can make the motion. >> All right. Sorry. Make that motion. >> I'll second it
>> on the motion. Mr. >> I have to abstain due to my work with the New Jersey Economic Development Authority. >> Mr. Whan, >> yes. >> Miss Phillips. >> Yes. Mr. Pero. Yes, ma'am. Mr. P. >> Thank you >> for your consideration on the consent
agenda item CA1 through CA14. >> Good luck. >> Thank you. Make sure you pay taxes on. >> Okay. Consent agenda items. Just to do a little uh recap, we have uh
several appointments uh and reappoints to various positions and committees. Um snow removal uh from the state of emergency, we had an increase there. Uh purchase of a printer, some refunds,
uh transfer of ABC license, and um municipal sewer temporary budget appropriations. Any questions or comments from council? >> Obviously, we went way over our budget for snow removal, right?
>> What's is there any is there anything where we can receive, you know, for the state any help? >> So, I think um one if not both of the storms may qualify for reimbursement under FEMA and so but that takes some
time. So, in the meantime, of course, we pay for the storms. So, but the temporary budget is more about the length of time. When we set the last time you set the temporary budget, it was in January and we do it for give or take a three months, but then sometimes
we have to add to that. And in this case, we're adding to it. We're adding more than we think we're going to use because we're well into the budget process at this point. And obviously, you guys are going to see um have the budget uh introduction soon and then do the budget workshop. So, we should be
okay and this would certainly take care of anything until we adopt the budget. >> But, but unfortunately with what's going on down in Washington DC with FEMA, I I can't see any any relief on the way. They they can't even help the people in Carolina. >> So, it's not even now even in the past.
Sometimes we don't get it until the the next year depending on when the storm was. And so, it's all right. We're we're kind of used to that and we'll end up having to uh to budget for it. and you'll see that during the budget meetings. All right. >> Thank you.
>> Any other questions on the cons on um Yeah. consent agenda? >> No. >> Anyone from the public wishing to comment on the consent agenda items? >> Yes, ma'am. Jan, it's not a clear heights. Okay. Uh going along with what Mr. Whan said, uh
we have to hire people to help plow, right? That's just not us. >> There was roughly 122 people working uh during both storms. >> Wow. >> Each time. >> Do they volunteer or you have to go find them? I assume they volunteer to do it. Pretty >> sure they got the >> They get the money. Yeah. We have
vendors that >> I mean, you know, not to be derogatory, but uh our church, I mean, they're asking for money because the first snow cost us $88,000 to clear
Lady of Sorrows and St. Anony's parking lot, >> just the church. >> And then then we got hit with the second snow. >> Yeah. >> I mean, they've got you over a barrel. >> I would put out a bid request go with a different vendor.
>> I mean, do we do we do that with the bidding or we just take when they come? >> I mean, if they say, "I want a snow plow and say, "Sure." Do we tell them how much they can charge or they say, "This is what we're charging." >> They have to submit, right? >> So, not not the church. The church doesn't have to say. >> No, not the church. But, I mean,
>> for us, we do, right? We have to go out to bid for that. >> Oh, you right. >> So, do you say you say we only can give you this much money? No, it's more like they bid and whoever's the lowest bidder, that's a benefit to the resident
town. So, whoever's the lowest cost, then we choose them. But we have a number of them. So, we have might have to choose the top three or four, I forget how many outside vendors we use to cover the whole town. >> Okay. >> And they do a lot of the plowing. And
then, of course, we have our own staff. They do a lot of the plowing and shoveling and moving of the snow as well. and all of the preparation ahead of time, the brine and everything else. >> I mean, you know, technically speaking, they really got you. I mean, they would like my next door neighbor and my
hairdresser to charge them $200 to clean a threec car garage and a driveway. >> I mean, you know, like if you need it done, they they got you. I mean, that's ridiculous. $200. Is it $200 just to clean and they're done in a half hour? Well, that's all right. We we
hired somebody at our house and and they never showed. So my husband and I were out there trying to Oh my gosh. Both snow storms. So >> Oh jeez. >> So at least they were reliable. There's >> Right. That's true. Okay. I mean it's just unbelievable what they can get.
>> We're making up for the years we didn't get all the snow, >> right? >> Well, supposedly this only comes every 10 years. >> Seems like it's sixes. They're saying >> Yeah. Somebody said if it ends with a six, we're going to It's a big storm. We had 2016 206. I know 96 was nuts, but uh
because we were out of school for a whole week. So, uh but uh hopefully we have 10 years and maybe it'll warm up and nobody knows. Who knows? >> Anybody else from the public wishing to comment?
Council present. Seeing no one else from the public to comment. I move consent agenda items CA1 through CA14. >> I'll second >> on the motion. Mr. Ty, >> yes. Miss Whan, Mr. Whan,
>> I didn't change my name. >> My apologies. Miss Phillip. >> Yes. >> Mr. Paparro. >> Yes. >> Consent agenda passes. Um, ordinance 126-009 is an ordinance amending and supplementing the code of the township of Hamilton, New Jersey, part three, land use legislation, chapter 550, land
development, article 5, exceptions, modifications and development alternative development alternatives section 550-167 affordable housing development fees by repealing the previous section 550-167 and replacing it in in its entirety.
This is the second reading public hearing. questions from com uh or comments from council, I'm sorry. >> Uh just just a quick uh question on um the basics retirements
paragraph. Um it it says here that the article shall not be effective until approved by the court. So, we've put this we're putting this whole ordinance into place, but it's contingent on approval
by the court. >> It need isn't it going to the court on the 15th? >> Correct. Has to >> be done by the 15th. >> That's correct. So, this is this is something that we needed to get done um because in in ahead of the deadline that everyone is then going to go before the
court so it can all be taken care of fixed. So it's it's it's we had to do our part first with the deadline of later on this week and then uh everything else will then go into place. >> It's just the final steps then. >> It's the final step. Yes. This is this
is the ordinance that was given to given down from the state. It was worked through with with our affordable housing attorney. Then we received it. Now we're just getting the final steps that we can get everything >> and and give credit where it's due. the legal department, um,
>> uh, Fred's Fred's department, the administration, uh, they they called the special planning board meeting for, uh, last night due to all the weather in order to make sure that we got this done. So, I'll give credit where it's due to them to make sure that it got to our agenda today to make sure we hit the
15th deadline. Uh, so there was no uh, ramifications for that. Any other questions or comments from council? Questions or comments from the public? >> Seeing none, can I have a motion? >> Um, council president, I'll make a
motion to close the public comment and move on ordinance 26-009. >> I'll second that. >> Thank you. >> On the motion, >> yes. >> Mr. Whan, >> yes. >> Phillips, >> yes. Mr. Perrell, >> yes. >> We're dispatched. Ordinance 226-10
ordinance amending and supplementing the code of the council got you good then legislation chapter 550 and development article 5 exceptions modifications and development alternative to section 550-168
affordable housing by repealing the previous section 550-168 and replacing it in in its entirety. at the reading public hearing. >> Questions or comments from council? >> No, sir. >> No. >> Questions or comments from the public?
>> Seeing none. >> Seeing none, council president, I move ordinance number 226-0 on second reading. >> I'll second on the motion. Mr. Ty, >> yes. >> Mr. Whan, >> yes. Mr. >> Phillips, >> yes. >> Mr. Perro, >> yes.
>> Ordinance passes. Ordinance 326-011 is an ordinance amending and supplementing the code of attached panels of New Jersey. Chapter 24, criminal history background check. Section 24-1 definitions and section 24-2 request for criminal history record
background check call. It's the second reading public hearing. >> Any questions or comments from council? No. >> Questions or comments from the public? Seeing none,
>> council president, I move uh seeing no members of the public wishing to comment, I move that we close the public comment portion and move ordinance 326-011 on second reading. >> I'll second. >> On the motion, Mr. Ty, >> yes. >> Mr. Whips, >> yes.
>> Mr. Perrell, >> yes. Next we have ordinance 126-012 is an ordinance amending and supplementing the code of the township of Hamilton, New Jersey. Chapter 485 vehicles and traffic article 3 traffic regulations section 45-24
oneway street. It's first reading and introduction. >> Okay. Council President, I'll move on ordinance number one 26012 under first reading and introduction. >> I'll second on the motion. Mr. Kai, >> yes.
>> Mr. Whan, >> yes. Yes, this is >> Yes. >> Oh, no. Really? >> Anybody from the public wishing a comment uh during open uh >> on a roll tonight? I'm on a roll.
>> You're only allowed up twice tonight. That's it. New rules. >> No rules this year. You didn't see them. They came out. >> No, I didn't. I said we had new rules established. You've been away for a while. You're only allowed up twice a night. >> Oh, okay. I've watched a lot of videos and I've been tempted to time some of
the people talking because they seem to get extended time. >> I just wanted to comment maybe I could give some explanation on the three-year dog license so that you have a little bit of information when you meet. So, a question was asked like how does somebody remember if their dog when
their license is due with threeear dog license? The tag has three years on it. So, the town that I talked to, I asked, they issued two different tags. So, I called in 25. She said, you know, let me pull our tags. The one-year dog license has a 2025 date. The three-year dog
license said 2025-2027. So, you look at your dog's collar. You're supposed to by law put those tags on your dog's collar. So, that's how you know if you forgot that you had a three-year dog license. There should be a way they can run a a sort in the system to see based on date, like who's
due. So now if we had this, I would have done it this year. So this is how the phase in would have worked. So both of my dogs needed to be revaccinated for rabies this year. So they both had threeear shots. So they're their rabies vaccines expire, one at the end of 28
and one at the beginning of 29. So I could have done a three-year dog license this year. Now, I can't participate in it for two years because next year, both of them are going to have two years remaining. So, I can't get a three-year dog license. And that's going to be
everybody else who, you know, got a threeear vaccine this year. The following year, they both have one year left. I can only get one. So, then after when they need to be vaccinated again, then I could do three-year dog license and I don't have to show up at the
shelter on my lunch hour and get my license. Um, so you're going to see a phase in. You're going to see a few people the first year, a few more the next year, few more the third year. Then after that, you might get more on a rolling basis.
It's not that hard. Like when I called because I heard in that comments we'd have to mail the tags every year and it didn't seem to make sense. But I asked the lady, >> you know, and I agree. But you know what? And I'm going to be honest with you probably. You know,
>> not everybody's you. >> I know. >> Let me finish. >> I know, >> right? And and and I applaud you for what you do. You know what I mean? You're you're on top of it. Not everybody's you. And guess what? I was probably a big offender myself, right? That didn't check to see if my dog was
was um I I mean, he had all shots. He took him to the vet. I took care of the dog. He's a wonderful lab. He lived 13 years. Did I check every year to see if his license was up to date? I'm guilty. I didn't. I you know it happens. It sure if we could get get a system that'll work and
maybe people get more involved and engaged in it. Yeah, maybe it will. But not everybody's like you, right? And and that's that's the hard part, right? I think of anything. It could be anything we're talking about. Don't have to be dog licenses. It's everybody handles
things differently. You know, >> a town of 92,000 people, we are incredibly low. >> Three, you know, under 4,000. I mean, I've raised samples here of my own dogs as I clean out files at my house because
I saved every single vet bill and, you know, during the pandemic started shredding them. I had every license, every vet bill, and the numbers are really high. So, the the effect on the township is you're missing revenue. Very early in this
administration, you raised the cost of dog license on the minority of us that license our dogs. But the the the follow through to get other people licensed not good. The only reason I ever looked into is with the exception of one. Every single dog that got loose and came after
my dog was unlicensed in my neighborhood except one. So last year I opened one dog license because of the dog's behavior, the way it goes after dogs and its proximity to me and my dog. It was not licensed. >> So
>> they paid eight months worth of late fines. We we're going to set up a meeting with them. We can't obviously have more than two of us at a at a >> No, I know because then it's so you need to advertise the public, >> but there's enough of us up here that are interested to at least explore >> and um I think it's nice to have all
your options open and and think outside the box. So, we're going to do that. >> And I mean, there was a comment made in one of the meetings about if what happens if you move away and somebody in the administration said you have to issue refunds. I don't think so. It's a it's a resident's choice. If you want to
do one year or you want to do three years, you know, by the time it comes around for me to be able to do three years, I might choose to not do my older dog three years, I might do one because at that point, she'll be 14 or 15 years old. Is the likelihood of her and her
breed living to be 17 or 18, pretty slim. So for her, I might do one. For my younger dog, I would do three. You know, she's young. It's a resident's choice. I don't think you do refunds. You get a New Jersey driver's license, you move out of state, you don't get a refund because you're not licensed in New Jersey anymore.
>> You made the choice. Like, >> all right, I'm gonna go back now. Thank you. >> I think everybody feels the same way. We're open to it and I think we're going to look into it and see we come back and hopefully it's it'll be a good resource. So, >> end the story. Perfect. Making things
easier if it helps make things easier. Yeah. >> Streamline things. It's not hard. Come on up, Dennis. Jonic who knows u people who own land they don't have to keep it neat I assume like Sweet Brier
Avenue that's all trees and the trees are falling down and I mean you ride through there and you look and you're going oh my god and some of the trees are like only like 4 in from the road you know so technically they're not on the road and then right on the corner of Sandalwood Sweep Bar there's a huge
trade I I think like over a year ago when the wires came down, they just knocked it down and left it there. And I mean it just looks horrific. >> Where on Sweet Brier? >> Sandalwood and Sweep Bryer. >> Right on the corner there. >> Right on the corner. A lot of people have complained about that, you know,
and it's a huge tree. I mean, well, why can't they just clean it up and make the lot look good? I I'd hate to be the neighbor that lives there, you know. And then then like I said then sandalwood of course rather the sweeper they were supposed to build the self towers or in
there too large sewage was supposed to do that and uh >> oh the the solar panels >> solar panels right and so I mean that of course was always an option that if the somebody that ever decided to sell it the township would look at that because
it would not be good to have some kind of big development there. So that needs to I mean just to have it cleaned up to make it look good. I mean the garbage men will have to come along and do the garbage cuz there's a bag of garbage and I don't know why people throw or unless
the garbage trucks go by and it falls off or whatever but it it's a disaster. >> So but you know but you see these big huge trees and I mean it looks disgusting. You know it' be nice if they cleaned up their lot and made it look good. I I I I would think and I'm I'm just guessing, you know, we're getting
through the winter and you could see it already activity happen and I'm I'm watching the township today. You know, it's luxury being retired, right? You could ride around and you you're seeing the township out there and and they're cleaning up. They're you can see them taking debris and getting rid of debris.
And I think you're going to see more and more activity as thing goes on. As time goes on, as we get further into spring, hopefully we don't get any bad weather anytime soon again that they're calling for. But um that being said, some of them properties maybe we need to investigate. Somebody owns that corner
lot and they should have to maintain it. So yeah, in my travels, I'll make notes of it and uh pass it along to the proper people and see if we could get some of that cleaned up in in your area house. >> Okay. Like I said, that one tree that's on the other side, I was so close to the
road. I mean, I kept thinking if the snow plow goes down and they were a little further over, they catch a hold of that. Oh my god, it would be disastrous. >> It's been a rough winter. We've had a lot of trees down, a lot of limbs down. So, it'll get it'll get taken care of.
>> The one that's leaning over is a Sandalwood Sweep Brier. But the one that's laying right on the road, that's on Sweet Brier, too. But that's between, I think, Better Line and Lehi. But, uh, yeah, the Cornell Heights section. And it's not past the little bridge.
>> So, >> so that's just >> it'll be passed on. >> Okay. Very good. Thank you. >> Steve, you have anything? >> Any comments from council? >> Closing comments?
>> Sure. >> Um, listen, we very it was a very good night. Health department came out, gave a nice presentation. a lot of questions, you know, from public, but you know, um, you know, St. Patrick's Day parade's coming up in Hamilton, which is always a big event. Um, hopefully the weather
looks like it's going to cooperate and they'll be able to get it off and get it done with and, uh, get the area cleaned up in a sufficient amount of time. But more on a somber note, if you could, you know, I tonight we passed a proclamation
for for um former sheriff Gil Logosi, former freeholder Gil Logosi, former fire commissioner Gil Logosi had metal many titles not only here in Mercer County, but in Hamilton Township and uh you know he's he's going through some
tough times right now, you know, physically. So, um, not to get in any details of it, but if you if you knew Gil and the wonderful person that he was and is, um, you know, just keep him in your prayers. And with that, that's my
comment tonight. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Um, so, uh, a bit of good news. Uh, the cleanup has started on the Whitehead Road fire property. >> Um, so that's underway. We're looking
forward to next steps and moving toward some type of redevelopment there. Uh otherwise, thank you everyone uh for coming out and we'll see you next time. >> Okay. Um I was also just going to mention the parade. That's one o'clock, right? >> One o'clock.
>> One o'clock for the Nodingham parade. Um I got to give a plug for also Noddingham's hosting for only the second annual US band's indoor percussion competition and that benefits all three high schools. They're the only high school of the three that's ever hosted. This is only their second annual. So
that's at 4:00 if you're interested in coming to see that. Starring my daughter. Um no, but it's a great event. It really is. We bring This has been a huge um draw to bring people to Hamilton from the other schools all over the state. So
um I just want to support the again Nottingham High School at 4 o'clock. So after the parade, head on over there. And otherwise, I hope you're enjoying the weather and uh hopefully it sticks around a little bit. Thank you to everybody for coming out. Um the budget hearing dates will be set
uh very shortly and next meeting is in two weeks. Have a good night. We're off. >> What do we get again?