afraid. Ready when you are. Oh, that's the guy I was looking at. Okay, here we go. It works. Whenever you're ready. You good? Uh, good evening everyone. Uh, this meeting is being held with the
benefit of public notice as required by the Open Public Meetings Act. Uh, madame clerk, would you call the role? Mr. Caribelli here. Miss Phillips here. Mr. Whan here. Mr. here. Here. Um, would everyone please
rise for the flag salute and the invocation to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Heavenly Father, as the world blooms in
spring, let our hearts be renewed with God's love. May he bring comfort in uncertainty, strength in weariness, and hope that never fades. Let us pray for the township as well. May we deliberate tonight justly, and may we always serve with integrity. We ask all of you these
things in your name. Amen. Amen. There have been amendments to the agenda uh since it was posted on the website. I am just going to go through those. Uh in communications, uh C4 will be an acknowledgement of receipt of
documentation for ABC license 1103-33-038 Patrino's Italian Beastro Pizzeria. Uh that is an update of the manager position. On the consent agenda items, CA2725-263 will be a resolution
approving renewal of alcoholic beverage control liquor licenses for the term of July 1st, 2025 to June 30th, 2026. uh CA2825-264 resolution authorizing agreements for professional services
with KG Law Group LLC to serve as the municipal prosecutor and police legal adviser and the law office of Brian Rclansy LLC to serve as the assistant municipal prosecutor and the law office of Grian Moles LLP and Kareem Crawford
Esquire to serve as alternate municipal prosecutors for the township of Hamilton. Hamilton for the period of June 1st, 2025 to December 31st, 2025. A
$11,975 shared maximum. CA2925-265 is a resolution rejecting bids received to establish a contract for the Sanyan Pond Restoration Project on behalf of the Department of Public Works. Uh and we will discuss these
later on in the meeting in more detail. Uh but for now, can I please have a motion uh to the amendment of the agenda? I'll make that motion. I'll second. Madam Clerk, Mr. Carabell, yes. Phillips. Yes. Mr.
Whan, yes. Mr. Yes. Mr. Yes. And uh at this time, Madam Clerk, can we move forward with our regularly scheduled Yes. agenda? Um, for recess, take a motion to recess and convene as board fell. I'll make the motion. That's what we're doing. I'll second it.
Madam cler, Mr. Parabelli. Yes. Phillips. That's what I'm saying. That's what we're doing. Miss Phillips. Yes. Mr. Whan. Yes. M. Mr. McCarro. Yes. Mr. Todd. Yes. Now the board. Welcome to our director and
our department of health team. Yes. Am I on? No, you're not. Should be a red light on. And I'm going to ask you speak as close to the microphone as possible because with all the racket in the back of the room due
to our HVAC issues, we have to just be a little more mindful to speak directly into the mics tonight so that the folks in the audience can hear. Very good. Thank you. Good evening. Um, good evening all. As always, it is with great 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 our residents and visitors by means of health promotion, prevention, and education. This evening, in an effort to
save time, we will provide you with an update on the progress of our journey towards national accreditation and an update on the animal shelter operations. As always, we invite you, members of the board and our residents, to take a moment to visit the Hamilton Township
Health Department web page, as well as our animal shelter web page for any updates on our monthly statistics. So, at this time, I'm going to turn it over to our health officer, Chris, who will provide you with his update. Good evening, board of health and
residents. Um we will make sure that this is uh short and sweet tonight but we will as far as our agenda goes I will give a brief updates on some public health update uh topics then I will turn it over to Veronica who will give us an accreditation update and then we will
end with Danielle who will give us a shelter update. Um so what's going on public health recently? So, I'm sure many of um the folks in the room are well aware that there is a ongoing nationwide measles outbreak uh that has really
focused on the southwestern part of the country. Um there has been uh over a thousand cases uh linked to this this one outbreak which is the worst that we've seen in approximately 25 or so years as far as the number of measles
cases. Um these are mostly uh linked to residents um and and citizens who have not been uh vaccinated or not fully vaccinated against measles. Um but we've also seen uh you know links to with the specific outbreak also um in Canada and
then also in in Mexico as well. So there is a a pretty sizable uh amount of cases uh linked to this. We have seen some spillover here locally. Um thankfully uh knock on wood we have not had any um
cases here in town but we have had um cases who have visited uh Texas uh in the area come through receive care locally. Um and then we've had uh the you know the one case that we had from a Pennsylvania resident we had about 30
plus individual Hamilton residents who were exposed to uh to that individual. Um, so our nurses and health education staff and and other staff had to contact trace them. So making contact, educating uh those individuals uh and if need be
um issue quarantine uh orders for them. So if somebody is exposed to the measles virus, that is a 21-day quarantine if you're not fully vaccinated um or can't prove that you what your vaccination status or immun uh uh immunization
status is. So I mean you might have had it if you're uh virus itself but if you've had the virus then you don't you know you have lifelong immunity. Um so we are encouraging all residents you know to try to find your vaccination or
immuniz or immunology records for measles because that will save you a 21-day quarantine. So, if that's not something you don't have those records easily available, kind of start backtracking, talk to your doctor, maybe schools, military, uh, OBGYNS, they
might have those records for you. So, that way you have it. And if you really can't find it, then, uh, ordering blood work to see if you have a tighter against the measles virus. And that will, uh, save you the headache by doing that in advance. And that's something that, um, everybody should be doing
right now considering uh, um, this large outbreak. But on the positive side, uh it does seem that this outbreak is slowing down and cases are starting to um you know, it's starting to plateau and and starting to decrease, but there still is uh a sizable amount of um cases
out there and we're still seeing travel related cases here in New Jersey. Just most recently over the weekend, somebody at Metife Stadium was was positive, but it was a non- New Jersey resident um there. So, just something to be mindful and careful of. Um, something else in the news
lately, um, and that has affected us here locally, and we talked about this a little bit at at our budget hearing, is that, um, there are significant, uh, public health funding cuts, um, both proposed at the federal level and then, um, that, you know, are also making their way through the, uh, the legal
process in the courts in regards to our grant funding, uh, that has been pulled. So, we had about $450,000 to $500,000 um that we lost uh because of the funding cuts. Um thankfully, um you know, the way that we
had our grants structured and and other funding, you know, we're not losing any staff, unlike other our other counterparts throughout the state, thankfully, we were able to hold on to all of um our staff members. Um, but it does, you know, it does, you know, hit us in in the budget and and other
projects that we had, uh, you know, that we were going to, uh, help fund, you know, we now can't and we're kind of in a holding pattern until the it makes its way through the courts. Um, and that also affects, you know, our state level grants that are supposed to start July 1
that we still have not been um there's no RFA that's been released for those grants until the state budget goes. So, we're kind of in a a weird funding holding pattern in regards to our our grants uh and everything. So, that's also our childhoodled, which is state
funded, that hasn't been announced, and then other um public health grants. But, um hopefully we'll get some of that money back. And as um you know, we get closer to the state budget being approved, we'll get those state grant uh
applications out and then those awarded without um you know, any delay. Uh it is we're rapidly which is insane approaching Memorial Day. So that means our inspectors are out there conducting pool inspections. We have 30 plus uh
individual licensed pools. We know a lot of our condo developments, apartment developments, um you know, we have the our seasonal pools that they're out there inspecting and making sure that they're open and available uh so our residents can take advantage of. So, um, again, we've in the last couple of
years, we've been trying to improve, uh, the pool safety here in town and also getting our pool inspections, uh, and the pools so that way we're not out there and our inspectors aren't out there four or five times a year, which has been in the past trying to get these pools, um,
um, satisfactory because we have not had that uh, in the past. And that's something that we've worked with the board and council to uh implement and approve uh reinspection fees for our pools to start, you know, that way if they're not
following the law and the um and you know, having passing inspections that they're going to be fined and we're able to levy those. So, we have we did see a slight improvement uh over the last two years and we're hoping going into this swimming pool season that uh we'll see
even better improvement as well. but we're on schedule to get all those pools who are ready to open opened in advance of Memorial Day. Um, and one other good piece of news is that again the township was awarded the healthy town designation from the New Jersey healthcare quality
um uh index which is run by the hospital association and that's the mayor's wellness campaign. So, uh, this I believe was the, uh, third year in a row that we were awarded, which is their gold level standard of, um, of award showing that, you know, we're taking
into account the um, you know, the health and well-being and and and having programs for our residents to make sure that they are a healthy lifestyle. So that's our mayor's walk which Veronica and her health ed team in partnership with our senior center and recreation um
offer throughout the summer um and throughout the township and hitting a lot of our parks u and offering free accessible opportunities for recreation which is which is great and great to be acknowledged for that. So, that is kind of a quick snapshot of
what we've uh had going on and what's going on in public health. And now I will turn it over to Veronica to give a quick uh accreditation update. Good evening everyone. My name is Veronica. I'm the health educator and also accreditation coordinator for the
division. Uh so I'd like to give you a brief update on our accreditation process. Uh so health department accreditation is a na national level recognition by the public health accreditation board which I'll refer to as fab. Um and the purpose of
accreditation is to ensure that the health department is providing the foundational public health services to the community uh to meet national standards for performance and for quality. Go to the next one. So, our process started in 2022.
The handout that we gave to you has a more detailed timeline. Uh, but we started preparing for accreditation by gathering our documents um and getting them ready to submit, which we submitted everything in October of 2024. Uh, it was over 200 documents that we put
together and submitted for FAB to review. uh they reviewed them in January and we got our feedback in February and we're on to the last step which is a site visit. Uh so throughout the process of accreditation our department has
worked together to improve quality improvement through quality improvement projects and our performance management system. Uh we improved efficiency and working together as a team because there's a lot of different pieces that came together. So we all had to work together um and the capacity to respond
to emergencies. So the accreditation site visit is one of the last steps in the process. Uh so the fab site visit team will be visiting our health department in person on Tuesday, June 17th. Uh the purpose of the visit is to verify and
clarify all the documentation that we submitted and to better understand the health department. um learn about our story and see our jurisdiction. The site visit will include a tour of the health department, meetings with our staff, our governing entity and community partners.
And the visitors will use the information that they gather from the visit to write a site visit report which will be used to inform their decision to um give us the accreditation status. So the accreditation decision uh will not be made during the site visit.
Unfortunately, we do have to wait for them to review everything. Um but the the accreditation committee determines if a health department is accredited um by reviewing all the documentation that we submitted and then their site visit report. So that would include their
observations, their interviews with all of the community partners and staff um and the governing entity. Uh so there's many benefits to accreditation. We've already seen some as going through the process um just kind of streamlined and made us more
efficient. Um it helps promote a culture of quality and performance management. One of the underlying features of accreditation is continuous growth and improvement. Um, so they like to see that we're continually growing and improving our our processes and programs. It strengthens our capacity to
better serve our community and increases our capacity to respond to public health emergencies. And it creates a standard to let everyone know that our health department is performing to the highest quality standards and meeting all the foundational capabilities. Um and
lastly, it increases our it strengthens our internal teamwork and efficiency and use of resources. So, thank you for your continued support through the whole accreditation process. We're finally in the final stages um and look forward to
getting that decision. Hi there. Uh Danielle Kelly and Joya, shelter manager. Um as of today, uh March or I'm sorry, May 20th, the shelter is housing 39 dogs in the shelter. We have five dogs in foster, two at Bark Institute, uh 42 cats in the
shelter, and 11 in foster care. We're also housing one African gray parrot who's 25 years old. Their their owner uh his or her owner passed away, but that um African gray is going to rescue. So, uh we continue to work with Bark
Institute as they've been instrumental in helping us find homes for several of our dogs. Currently, Doug is in their board and trained program and doing well. Uh as of April 30th, so the end of April, our department has issued uh
3,170 dog licenses. This is on par for what was issued in the same time in 2024 minus 86. Uh we've identified just over 800 2024 licenses that not have not yet
been renewed are in the process of issuing notices of violation to those residents who have not renewed their dog licenses. animal control officers will be targeting residents for enforcement. Uh so far in 2025, we've hosted four rabies clinics. In that time
frame, 612 dogs, 114 cats, and a total of 726 animals have received free rabies vaccinations. There go. We have one more clinic scheduled uh in 2025 and that is December 4th um from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. Due to the
construction at the McManaman building on Skully Avenue, we relocated the rabies clinics to Switlick Park Pavilion. So we encourage all residents to take advantage of this service whether your pet is indoor or outdoor. It's extremely important for them to be vaccinated and protected. More
information, as usual, can be found uh about rabies and transmission and prevention at the cdc.gov. Uh for our volunteer program, we've onboarded a part-time volunteer coordinator, Faith. Uh Faith will continue to host regular volunteer
orientations with the addition of uh not just Thursday orientations and having a Saturday orientation for those who are interested in joining our volunteer team. As of the end of April, our volunteers accumulated
1,271 hours so far for the year. Uh general volunteer information can be found on our web page as well as the adoption or I'm sorry the application packet and interested volunteer candidates can email shelter volunteer at hamiltonj.com to sign up for an
orientation. At this time we have 79 active volunteers active meaning those who have volunteered uh in the last four months. Uh we have started uh or are planning to start buddy classes. So, there are dog training classes with the
volunteers and the trainer to help move volunteers up in their color codes so that they can walk um more advanced or more, you know, more experienced uh um not that the dogs are more experienced, but the volunteers will have more experience. Uh we've instituted dog
walking logs um to help keep track of not only for the volunteers, but also for the staff to keep uh track of the time the dogs are getting out for walks. We currently have one green dog, 14 blue dogs, 15 yellow dogs, and
five red dogs. The red dogs being the most difficult dogs to be handled by staff only. Um, at the time I wrote this, we have four pending assessments. That number has come down. So, a couple have been done today. um the red dogs that will be handled by
the staff will hopefully, you know, graduate after being worked with to a yellow dog status and be able to walk by volunteers. So, as we again move volunteers up on their color code and become more experienced and hopefully work with the dogs to make them uh more
accessible to those volunteers. Um, going all the way back to 2019, as usual, we keep all of our uh shelter statistics, including intakes and adoptions, on the shelter's uh web page, and they're updated monthly. Um, and then finally, we have new phones. Yay.
So, there's a new phones in place. Uh, there is a phone tree when you call the shelter for extensions uh to make it more streamlined. though if you want to speak with animal control or dog licensing or the front desk or the shelter manager with separate voicemails in place and things like that. So, we're
still working on a few kinks, but um we're very happy that that we have these uh new phones in place. Um so, our you know, finally, our shelter team, including our four animal attendants, four animal control officers, three support staff continue to work at making improvements to operations and our
programs and services to help the animals and our um residents in our community. So, we encourage our community to get involved and help the shelter by adopting, of course, fostering or volunteering. That's all I have. Thank you, Danielle. Uh just a
couple of questions uh on the shelter. Uh first of all, um I want to commend over 10% of the dogs in your care are in foster care, and that's a great uh thing for them to not be in the shelter. any
dog that can be put in foster care, that's great. So, I I just want to commend the progress in uh the increased engagement with the foster care community. Of the dogs that went out to foster care, what color were they in
your color scheme? Do you happen to say here, if you happen to have that information, I know I'm hitting you with they weren't red. So, um, one of them that I'm including in foster is still one that's
that it was a yellow dog. She's Sylvia. She's at Bark Institute. I think they're fostering her indefinitely. Um, Howie is being fostered by a staff member. He was yellow. Um, Bishop is being fostered. Um, we're probably going
to consider him more phosp, you know, keep him, but he was blue. Uh, there was a little dog who's been in foster for quite a long time awaiting spay. She was probably green. I don't have that. Uh, Darcy's in foster. She was blue. Uh, and then Fergie is
just awaiting spay. Uh she was a green dog, but she was just recently put into foster because she's not spayed yet and she was in heat at the time. So great. But yeah, and uh we're real close on Thank you, Danielle. Yep.
Um guys, jump in if you have questions. Uh but we're real close on uh the certification, the accredit accreditation. Uh congratulations on the continued progress toward the accreditation. Uh this is something that
was done at your initiative, Chris, I believe. Uh and and under your leadership, Kathy. Um and so, you know, it's not something that was given to you to do. This was done on your own
initiative and uh will be impactful in the quality of the service being provided uh to the township for years to come because there's going to be an ongoing standard. And that was really where my question was uh with the
accreditation you'll have to be reacredited periodically. What's the time frame for that? So the reacredititation's every 5 years. Okay. Yeah. Good. Yeah, good stuff. Good stuff. I'm just going to echo the
comments of Council President Tai. I, you know, I know this has been a long journey and uh we're all going to be happy when uh we're through that journey and uh we're successful. So, I know especially the people that um it concerns the most. Veronica, thank you for all your work and Chris uh and the
team, obviously Kathy's team, um we're almost at the finish line, so this is exciting. Yes. And thank you. I just want to piggyback on that because if you looked at your timeline, uh the staff began this in January of 2022 in the middle of CO and we were working
diligently not only dealing with the COVID pandemic but also knowing that we could reach this goal if we worked hard and it's not something that was going to be done overnight. And so here we are couple years later and hopefully we're coming into the final stretches. So I'm
very very proud of my team. not to put the cart before the horse, but um in 5 years when we go to re uh certify um how long does that process take or what's that consist of? It's obviously
not starting all from the beginning. Danielle, you can answer one. You don't have to do that. Uh so the reacredititation process is similar in that we have to submit the documents for them to review. Um but the easier part about it is all of the documents are
already created now. So we just have to maintain them annual updates of our policies and review um you know our strategic plan goals. Um so it's really just about continued growth and improvement um so that when it comes time to submit those documents we have
an updated you know policy that's ready to go. We don't have to create anything uh for the reacredititation. And I believe it's less documents that they require at reacredititation. Uh so it wouldn't be quite as many as it should be, right?
One last question, Chris, going back to your comments uh about measles. Uh first of all, thank you for alerting us all. We should all u know how to access our measles quarantine records. number one,
who's enforcing the 21-day quarantine if somebody has exposure, though? So, it's it's it's more of a a a soft quarantine. I mean, we're not parking police officers out there, but um but in in all seriousness, like, you know, we issue,
you know, and this goes to any communicable, you know, uh disease that requires some sort of like staying home, um you know, measles, you know, COVID, you know, we knew in the beginning. Um so we issue uh you know a quarantine letter. So basically it's just you know
um uh bas stating that they have to stay home for you know such and such time period. You know it gives the you know the authority of the health department to issue that. um you know and then we check in uh normally for you know
halfway through and then at the end um and then if or if they you know we tell them you know if you're getting sick then call us like we need to know but for the most part um you know it's kind of a right now a soft quarantine period. If we had knew somebody who was at very
high risk of um not complying, I think we would check in. We would check in more often. Thankfully, with the folks that we had in the residents that we had, a lot of them were healthcare or um uh or they were they were they were compliant. You know, they had they were able to work
from home or, you know, work just to find their records and eventually we were able to kind of um you know, take them off the list. But um we're not out there, you know, every single day right now looking, you know, checking to see if they're home. But if it was a higher risk, then that's also something down
the road that we might have to come to the board to enforce because that would be something like, you know, if let's say we had a a non-compliant tuberculosis case, which could happen. Um and then that would require action of the board uh to take. Let's say if somebody was truly non-compliant, going
out um not taking their meds, going out in public, um then that would be something we would, you know, get the administration and the board involved in because we would have to go through a much more stringent legal process for that which we don't want to deal with, but our, you know, Burlington County has
dealt with a few of those in the past number of years, so it's it's not out of the question. Yeah. Thanks, Chris. Uh unless any other me any other comments or questions from members of council, we need to open it up to the public at this time. Uh how do we want to let's see if
anybody has questions. Do any members of the public uh have questions or comments? Yes. H there's plenty of you could you know what you can leave uh leave the table and chair and and mic right where where
it is if you guys want to just if you want to vacate the table the uh members of the public can just sit. Maybe don't leave the uh keyboard though. There we go. All right. Lisa.
Oh, you you even have to set this up um for this individual. Oh. Oh, okay. Oh, no way. Allison, go ahead and set it up. Go ahead and set it up. Oh, no.
Lisa's up first. Yeah. Lisa, come on up. We're going to continue with our meeting. Do I have to spit? Hi, Lisa. [Music] I know. But my question is you guys language line solutions. This is
when I465123 American Sign Language, but this is what we just set it up. just set it up and and ma'am where where ma'am can can you ma'am can you take a
seat can uh Allison Allison can you have the can you get that going and ask this person through that to take a seat please she's saying no because she said this is remote she asked for someone to be here and that's not what was indicated we don't have that capacity we
we have an accommodation on the screen. No, this was a this was a video. This is disruptable, right? All right. Just give us a minute here. Give us a minute, guys. I'm being Thank you for your patience. Thank you.
Everyone remain silent. Turn your microphones on. Turn your microphone off. This is the same person. No, I'm sorry. If you want to continue, I'll go out and walk. That's not a TV.
She said, "Who who flubbed this up?" That's nobody. No one. The accommodation of the accommodation either. [Music] All right, we're going to go ahead and proceed at this time. Lisa,
Lisa Williams, Briner Lane. I'm going to go through my questions and then really have to talk. Oh, sorry. Are we good into Yeah, into the mic just because of the H. No, it's okay. I haven't been here in a while. I'm not used to this again. Um, I'm going to go through my questions
and then cycle back because if we get answers in the middle of questions, I'm likely to run out of time. So, um, my question is, we're targeting dog licensing for enforcement. How are we doing that? Because for the population in Hamilton, even last year's number, while it's higher than the year before,
is very, very low. Um, there's two dogs on the website that still don't have bios. Pebbles, who's new today, went up sometime, but G easy is a Cane Corso has been there since, I believe, March, has no bios. His bio says he's not available for adoption.
Um, this is a new scenario that I've come across in Hamilton because I take my dog shopping and we found a place that would like to hold adoption events. So, this is for any business. My question, what is the process for a business to go through to have shelter dogs brought out to their business for
an adoption event? Um, I know of one. Apparently, there are some others that have been interested in the past. Now, I'll go back to the ones that'll take more time. I have questions about the dogs in foster for yellow, the one that Bark is fostering. Who is that dog? Does
anybody know what that dog's name is? Who's f Who's being fostered? Who's the yellow graded dog female being fostered at Bark? I'm trying. Silia. Silia. Okay. Because I'm trying to figure out from the fosters whether they're all on the
website to be available for adoption because I met Darcy uh the day she went to foster, then she came down. So, I was hoping she got adopted, but I hear she's in foster and she's not on the website. Yeah. Um, so
Okay. So Darcy's not on the website. Um Danielle, just just wait and and let Lisa and then you'll come up and answer. Okay. Little dog and Foster are waiting spay. Don't know who that is. I suspect not on the website because there's not a
lot of little dogs on the website. Uh Furby. Okay. He's she's blue. She went into heat. Um so she's not on the website. She's not available yet. I I think that's it. What I tried to look at is in the past when dogs have gone to foster, they fall off the
website. No one knows they exist or they're available. Like some are on the website. How's been on the website for forever. Uh Bishop's on the website. Um you know, how are these dogs getting seen? Okay, I'll step away so somebody
else can speak. Allison, how much time does she have left? Two minutes. Okay, thanks Danielle. all. Okay. Hi there. So for the licensing questions, the acco we've
again identified a list of over 800 2024 licenses that have not been renewed. So we are the ACOs are visiting the starting with that list and then um as far as past that identifying people who have never been licensed, I don't have an answer for
that. Maybe Chris will. I would just no just for that um we also want to give all the residents due process rights as well. So that includes you know obviously giving them you know many forms of notification whether that's email phone call and then also finally
with a written if they have not renewed um and then a summon if that then after that um so then and that would um so following up there and then also we're asking our ACOs to you know and offering them some OT to go out during the week
after their shift on on off hours to also do enforcement so it's not just the the regular work hours and trying to catch them um and and getting just more acos on the road as well. Is this standard every year? This is this is more targeted. But as far as the you
know the the followup for the previous year, that's a standard. We always go back making sure that at least everybody who has was issued a license in the year prior that then they get they issue again unless you know obviously their pet unfortunately has passed away or they don't have it anymore then we would
remove them from the list. So that process stays the same, but we're trying to be a little bit more proactive at um actual targeted enforcement and getting the ACOS out there. How do you know if a dog has pests away? It's we just take their word for it. We don't Yeah.
Um Okay. So, regarding the two dogs without the BIOS, Pebbles is a dog that had come in, was in some terrible shape, uh, had pyometra, had emergency surgery, and is blind. It's very bitey, has we
have a potential adopter. She was just assessed today, so we're pursuing that. I don't have a bio for her yet as we couldn't determine her s she she's a little smaller dog but she's very because she's blind I believe she bites anything that tries to pick her up. So
we're working on behavior uh modification plan for her and have a potential adopter. Ge is one um that he just needs a bio. So I asked the staff for his information as far as his personality type. Um he's was a little bit more reserved when he came and is
getting a little bit better. So I will update that once I speak to his best friend staff member regarding the foster. So fostering, there's fostering and there's foster to adopt. So for instance, Howie who's being f fostered by a staff member is legitimately in
foster still looking for a home. Uh Sylvia at Bark has been at the shelter for a very long time and Sylvia has some trust issues with strangers. Uh Bark Institute, they're not even charging us for that. they're just legitimately fosting her. If someone was interested
in meeting her, uh, Bark would would facilitate that introduction. But like, so Darcy, however, is off the website because Darcy is foster to adopt. So she's being fostered because we wanted to make sure her uh she was severely underweight. Tested, blood work, fecal
analysis, everything was normal and negative, but she was, I think, due to kennel stress was very underweight. So, we've added changed her diet, added fiber because she was fiber responsive. Um, put her into foster. That foster parent intends on adopting her. So, once
we recognize that everything is good with her health and she's gaining weight, she'll be adopted. So, that's why she's not on the uh website. The small dog that's currently waiting to be spayed was a dog that was adopted or I should say foster to adopt many months
ago. was awake, had a heart murmur, was just kind of drawn out by the foster, but she had an echo cardiogram, is cleared for surgery, and is scheduled next month to be spayed. So, at that time, when she's spayed, she'll be um officially adopted, but she's still technically in foster until she is
spayed. Covered. Got it. Thank you. The last um question Lisa had, and Lisa, you have more time if you want to ask more questions, was the adoption event process. If a business wants to hold an adoption event, is there a process in place for them to follow? So, generally
they would reach out to usually myself, but I would like like so we've had a couple library events, you know, where we uh so our volunteer coordinator would coordinate uh adoptable animals to go there and um volunteers or andor staff
to man the event. Uh we've been contacted by is it Pet Supplies Plus? pets pet supplies plus the owner of the store came into so a shelter or a store manager came in but then the shelter store owner came in I I I believe it's
an internal email issue but uh we I've emailed him a couple times he gave me his email address I put in a call so we're going to follow up with him to host adoption events he did ask if we would be able he has some cat habitats that we wants to have animals staying at
the store so we could showcase them all the time at the store, but we do there's some permitting issues that have to be taken care of before that happens. But yes, we're pursuing that. So, if they email me directly, we would be happy to plan an adoption event. Thank you, Lisa,
you have a couple more minutes. Awesome. I'll move over. Lisa Williams, I was just wondering more. It's um on dog licensing, so it's a Chris issue. How are we targeting more people? Like, I don't want to have to be the one that says, "Hey, I passed the house. There's a barking dog. Is it licensed? Oops. Look at that. It's not because I've
gotten an awful lot of backlash when I followed the instructions I was given by council and township of attorney a few years ago that I had to report the dogs because I knew where they were. Um, shouldn't be a resident's responsibility and in especially at a time where we seriously need revenue. This is a lot of
lost revenue and years worth of it. So, if we had done this way back when, say in 2022 when I had to report what was going on in my neighborhood, um you'd be in a situation to be able to start taking that money out and using it to support the general fund. So, so I'm just going to u and and we're going to
give you your full four minutes, Lisa, so don't worry. But I'm going to respectfully disagree. Uh it's the um participation of the citizens in law enforcement is actually very important. The police can't do their job without
citizen participation and citizens uh proactively reporting crime to the police. And the same is true with the ACOs. If uh if citizens see crimes happening, it's it's the responsibility of the citizen to report the crime. Uh
we rely on the citizens to report things so that we can then turn around and enforce them. Okay. I'm just going to respond to that because my property was vandalized after people were received notices of violation on a Friday before Halloween and I was been bashed left and
right for reporting it. My I I support my I like my tires so I cleaned out my garage. That's why I parked there. Someone thought it was appropriate to take the stems out of the tires on my car and my driveway. So you really when people then know who reported something,
those residents are put at risk. There's a reason there are cameras all the way around my house. It's been vandalized after I have stepped up as a resident to do what I was supposed to do to report. There's chemicals poured on the sprayed
on the trees in my backyard. Um, my property's been vandalized. I find all kinds of broken glass in my yard. So, I disagree with that. If we have a law and there are ways that people know dogs exist, they show up at the shelter as a stray. They get adopted from the
shelter. Someone goes out because there's a barking complaint. You walk down the street and you hear a dog bark. It's not that hard to look it up. So, I don't think this should fall on residents. My property's been been vandalized. I've been bashed left and
right in that neighborhood because I did what I was told in this room I had to do. So, we're just going to let that go. I'd like to know what's being done. I don't want to be the one to have to report stuff. I I really don't want to do it anymore. Can I ask a question?
Sure. I don't recall anyone ever mandating or telling you you were obligated to call. If you see something, you can report it. You also have the right to remain silent and you can turn around and walk away. If you choose to report something, obviously if there's a
crime where someone was hurt, there was personal uh injury, uh there was property damage, there was loss of life, obviously those things fall into a different category. I don't recall, and I would have to defer to my colleagues. I will answer that. Let me finish.
I don't recall anyone from uh this DAS ever saying anyone was obligated or mandated to do anything except maybe pay their taxes and follow the laws, but I I would defer to my colleagues. Does anybody want to step up for being the ones that tell told me that I had to I know where the dogs are. I have to
report them because I'll I'll tell you who it was and you guys can go back and watch the old videos and catch and see them. It was Councilman Tai and Mrs. Shreger. and I did what I was told to do and I continually followed up. So, I did what I was told to do. My property was
damaged. So, it's really shouldn't be a residence. It should I'm not going to go back and watch the tape, but I don't I don't recall. I'm sure you will, but I I don't recall saying that. And I doubt that I would tell you that it's you you're required. You said it's it's a
citizen's duty. You know where the dogs are, you need to re it's you need to report them. I'll find the video. I'll let you. All right. You You go ahead and find it. I'm sure you will. So, you're back. I'll go sit down. Maybe somebody could answer what we're going
to do so it doesn't fall on resonance. Uh so in regards to um dog licensing so we are also you know this kind of goes to put a little bit of a slowdown on this and when I talked earlier about funding cuts um so we have uh we are in
the process of implementing uh additional gov pilot or online modules for uh the staff um and we were going part of that project we were going to give all of the acos tablets they still have cell phone so they can still do it but it would have been easier on tablets
and then they can as they go out actually you know you know do more online searching um and then uh for the property records and getting you know acco uh complaints tied into the property records so that way uh um you know as they go out they can do that.
But in regards to how we're moving forward um we're really I mean the we're starting with those 800 you know plus uh individuals. So that's that's our starting point. You know, it's only, you know, it's it's May, so we're going to start there and go, you know, and go
beyond. Uh we can't be everywhere at once. I have five ACOs for 40 plus square miles and 92,000 residents. Um so I do need public complaints just like my uh retail my inspectors, you know, for retail food establishments. We're only
in there once a year unless we get complaints. Uh and then we can go out uh and and do additional enforcement actions. And it's the same thing with ACOs. Um you know, we you know, the AC, you know, we can do up, you know, targeted enforcement. That means you
know, going out in parks, you know, you know, talking with people, but we also don't want to be confrontational. My my ACOs are not police officers. Um you know, they don't carry they don't carry weapons, you know, or anything else like that. So, it's they need to be careful as, you know, as they as they approach
it. We don't want to, you know, cause any um I don't want to cause any public safety issues with with my with my staff as well. So, just being mindful of that. But, you know, I think the uh Lisa's comment of going through uh neighborhoods, seeing where there's, you
know, whether there's barking animals or barking dogs. Um or if there's, you know, you know, dog toys out in the yard, things like that, pulling up those uh you know, the property to see if there's a dog licensed, and if there's not, you know, they can knock on the door, leave a dog, uh door hanger, uh
and go from there. So, I mean, that's a a you know, a good suggestion, you know, as far as uh increasing targeted enforcement, but really we're focusing on those who we do know and those who complaints and and and going from there and and kind of moving our way outward
as well. Yeah. Any other members of the public with questions or comments? This is uh for the board of health, Rich Rob. Seeing none, I will entertain a motion
to close. And you know, I'm I'm just going to make one more comment before we close as the board of health, just to say you can do your research and go back and see if I misspoke uh regarding you being required to
report a crime. You are not. Uh maybe under certain circumstances, you are. I consider it our civic duty as citizens to report things. And if we want to see change, we need to tell the folks who are in a position to make change uh
what's happening. So we rely on you to tell us when there's work that we need to do in the community. So uh I I don't recall saying anyone's required and I highly doubt that our township attorney ever said that. I'm more I'm not an
attorney so I'm more likely to misspeak than our than our township attorney is. But if I said that, I misspoke. You're not required. So if you still want to do your research and go find a video, feel free. You can tell us about it at the next meeting. And at that with that,
I'll take a motion to close the Council President. Um before I make the motion, I just want to thank uh the board of health for the update on the accreditation and Danielle for your update on the animal shelter. I think it was very informative uh keeping us u
updated on the process as we move forward. And with that, I'd like to make a motion to adjourn as the board of health and reconvene as township council. I'll second a motion. Mr. Caribelli. Yes. Miss Phillips. Yes.
Mr. Whan. Yes. Peroh, yes. Mr. T. Yes. We should have uh moved to this next item before the board of health meeting. So, I want to uh apologize to the students who've been waiting patiently. Hopefully, you got a little bit of a civics lesson this evening uh that
you'll find helpful. Uh but we're going to be doing a joint commendation next. and I'll leave it to our uh to our clerk uh to formally read this into the record, but we'll be doing a joint accommodation for our Nottingham High
School Consumer Bowl champions uh momentarily as soon as we've rearranged the furniture. Maybe leave the uh we're going to do we're going to take a picture with the kids. Maybe maybe don't
move that just yet. There we go. All right. Okay. I'm sorry. Did you read it? I was busy. I didn't formally read it. So I I don't I don't want to steal your thunder away. Uh communication C1 joint commendation
Ningham High School Consumer Bowl Murph County Champions. Okay. We have commendations to hand out. Whereas the New Jersey High School Consumer Ball is I can't hear you. My microphone was off inadvertently. Sorry
about that. Uh so whereas the New Jersey High School Consumer Bowl is an educational competition for high school students that was established in 1996 by Donna Giovenetti to educate young adults
on a variety of consumer issues. And whereas it gives us a great deal of pleasure to express to all members of the Nottingham High School Consumer Ball team, on behalf of the mayor, Jeffrey Martin, and this council and all the
citizens of Hamilton Township, our sincere congratulations on winning the Mercer County Consumer Bowl. and be it jointly resolved by the mayor and this council of the township of Hamilton that this resolution of commendation be and hereby
is adopted honoring my Patel the captain of the team. I hope I pronounced your name right. My you say may Patel momentarily momentarily a little patience. Thank you Janice. Danielle,
Daniela Ortega, Raul Rivera Rios, Alexander Sha, Yousef Vindis, Michael Bendorf, the teacher and adviser. Uh, thank you for your outstanding contribution and for the honor you've brought to our community.
And it is further resolved that best wishes be and hereby are extended to all team members, families, and friends for continued good health and success in your future endeavors. [Applause]
Congratulations. And if you guys want to come on up to the front of the room, we have some commendations for you and also uh comments from our council members. I just want to just comment real briefly because uh this one's near and dear to my heart. I actually sat as a judge,
impartial as always, impartial, but Nottingham is uh our back-to-back champ for Mercer County, right? Consumer bowl, right, Mike? And thank you for all the work that you do. The first year we ever won and then yeah, that whole group took three years to get there and this group
surprised the heck out of me. They were all new. So, I got to witness it firsthand. Tremendous job, guys. Yeah, really good. Excellent. And then we finished second in the region to us. I heard that's pretty impressive. Congratulations. Daniel's going to take a picture. Okay.
Okay. We're going to slide to the back. So you girls stay in the front. Kind of block us. Block us. Jen, stay there. Stay there. Yeah. Yeah. Stay right there. We're just uh so congratulations. Congratulations.
Great job. Congratulations. What's your name? Alex. Congratulations. And your name? You said congratulations. So that means you are Hold on. May. I got it right that time. There you go. All right. Here guys, hold that up for the
camera. We each get one of these. Hold on. This one's for May. Uh Alex. you. And then we have Daniela. And this one's for the whole team. All right. There's not one left.
Oh jeez. I'll come up here with you guys. Wasted. Okay. took a few. [Applause] [Laughter] I got back in my hiding spot. Yes.
Your email. Yes. Yeah. Oh, okay. No, I'll get it from you. Yes, that's fine. Yeah, I got it. We'll coordinate just congratulations. Have a great night. Congratulations. Have a great night. Thanks for coming. Thank you. Council President, I have a engagement
that I have to run off to. So, I'm just going to just mention that I'm leaving right now. Happy birthday, Council. No, it's not birthday. Yay. What is anniversary? Anniversary. Happy anniversary. Happy anniversary. We need a motion for him to leave. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Go. All right. Let's keep moving
here. All right. Thank you. All right. See you. Chy's in a hurry. Let's keep moving. No. No. Not really, but it's already been a long night and it's going to continue to be a long night. I'm afraid that it's just um if it's okay, we'll do one motion on all the communications if that works for you.
Very good. Okay. Uh moving on to C2 is a joint accommodation recognized in the month of May as National ALS Awareness Month. The theme is amp amplify community voices. C3 is an acknowledgement receipt of documentation for ABC license 10331064 with Frank J. New Vegas post
3525 BFW update of officers on file and city cores the acknowledgement received documentation for ABC license home 103338 trading as Padrino's Italian beastro pizzeria. This is the update of the manager position.
Do I have a motion on those communications? I'll move on C1 through C4 communications. I'll second. Madam clerk, Mr. Caribelli is not over here. Miss Phillips. Yes. Mr. Whan, yes. Mr.
Pharaoh, yes. Mr. Todd, yes. Uh, next for consideration, consent agenda items CA1 through CA29. Any questions or comments from council on the consent agenda? Just the one item I and I mentioned to
uh Julie earlier, but maybe she could just finish up with it. Um we recently bought um a truck that'll hold uh carry the containers of sludge in for the future. So we we have a contract for one
more remaining year. Now you mentioned that they're in training process. So a couple of things we don't actually have the truck yet. Okay. Um two we are still going through the training process to make sure we have all I thought it was. Yes. All right. Just call closer. He's
not picking up. Okay, is that better? Okay, so we don't have the truck yet. We did extend it for a year, but we pay per load. So, if we get everything together and we're able to start doing it ourselves, we no longer have to pay. That and that was the last part of my question. So, if in 6 months
everything's in order and everybody's trained, we just pay them for whatever services they provide back up. Exactly. I I I understand. Just I knew we did a lot recently, you know, with the purchase of this, which I thought was a great idea. you know that we're spending
a lot of money having somebody else haul away our sludge and I I think I thought it was a great idea. So, I'm sure it's going to save us money down the road. So, that's my question. Thank you, Council President. Thank you. Uh I'll note there is uh a labor agreement. Uh
glad to see um an agreement was reached with CWA. Uh how long how let's see until 2028. We've got that. Great. Uh, any other questions or comments from council? Seeing none, we'll open it up to the public for questions or comments.
Only on the consent agenda item right now. Any items on the consent agenda, I should say. I think everything's pretty self-explanatory and uh I have no questions. You see more grants coming in to Yep.
Seeing no members of the public wishing to comment, I'll take a motion. Council President, I'll make a motion to move on consent agenda items C CA1 through CA29. I'll second the motion.
Miss Phillips, yes. Mr. Whan, yes. Mr. Pharaoh, yes. Mr. Ty, yes. Next for your consideration is ordinance 125-005. This is an ordinance accepting a deed restriction for a deed restricted affordable housing property with
restrictions on resale and refinancing. Project named Crosswix News at Hamilton. Property address 3332 South Broad Street, block 2527, part of block 17. Property owner
is 3332 Hamilton Real Estate, Inc. Second reading of public hearing. questions or comments from council? No sir. No. No sir. Any members of the uh public wishing to comment? Um there are
let's see 1 2 3 4 uh affordable units that we are authorizing here. Okay. Seeing no members of the public wishing to comment, I'll take a motion. Good. I make the motion to close the public comment portion and move uh
ordinance 125 on second reading. I'll second that motion. Madam clerk, Miss Phillips, yes. Mr. Yes. Yes. Yes. Ordinance 225006 is an ordinance accepting a
utility easement and dedication of public utility agreement. The project name is Spark Car Wash. The address is 103 uh State Highway 33, block 1828, part of lot 49, and the property owner
is Williams Trading Company, Inc. Second reading of public hearing. Meeting utility requirements. It's pretty pro- fora. Any any questions or comments? No, sir. No, sir. Any members of the public wishing to ask any questions or make any
comments? Seeing none, I will entertain a motion. Um, I'll make the motion to move on ordinance number 225-006 on second reading. I'll second. Miss Phillips, yes. Mr. Whan, yes. Mr.
Pero, yes. Mr. Ty, yes. Ordinance 125-00007 is an ordinance authorizing the proper officials of the township of Hamilton to execute an agreement concerning a payment taxes pilot program for 3816 East State Street, block
1666, lot 80, Our Lady of Sorrows. Motion on first reading. I'll make I'll make the motion uh ordinance 12507 on first reading and introduction. I'll second. Miss Phillips. Yes. Mr. Whan, yes. Harrow, yes. Mr. Tie. Yes, you have to. Ordinance
225-00008 is an ordinance amending and supplementing the code of the township of Hamilton, New Jersey, part two, general legislation, chapter 160, commercial filming and or still photography permits. This is first reading and introduction. Council President, I'll make a motion to
on first reading and introduction of ordinance 225-008. I'll second that. Miss Phillips? Yes. Mr. Way? Yes. Mr. Papero? Yes. Mr. Ty, yes. Ordinance 325-009 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 3, district reg Re regulations, section 550-78, highway commercial and general commercial districts, first reading and
introduction. Council President, I'll move on ordinance number 325-00009 on first reading and introduction. I'll second a motion. Miss Phillips. Yes. Mr. Whan, yes. Mr. Yes. Yes. Ordinance
425-10, an ordinance amending and supplementing the code of the township, New Jersey, chapter 228, fire prevention, article 4, private fire hydrants, section 228-31, responsibility of owner. First
reading and introduction. I make the motion to move ordinance 4 2510 on first reading and introduction. I'll second. Miss Phillips. Yes. Mr. W. Yes. Mr. Pero.
Yes. Mr. Ty. Yes. Ordinance 525-011 is an ordinance amending and supplementing the code of the township of Hamilton, New Jersey, chapter 215, fees. This is first reading introduction. I'll make a motion for first reading introduction of ordinance
525-011. I'll second a motion. M. Phillips. Yes. Mr. Whan. Yes. Mr. Farah. Yes. Mr. Ty. Yes. This resolution 125-262 is a resolution referring proposed amendments to the code of the township of Hamilton, New Jersey, part
three, land use legislation, chapter 550, land development, article 3, district regulations section 550-78, highway commercial and general commercial districts to the Hamilton Township Planning Board for review
pursuant to NJSA 4455D-26. I have no questions. No questions. No questions. All right. Uh we are going to open it up to the public. Just a little bit of an explanation. Uh when we have
uh a land use ordinance, uh it is standard procedure for us to refer that uh over to uh planning. Um and so this is a resolution uh to do so. This is uh
really it was prompted by uh a solar field that we are constructing. Um and not all of the um not all of the land that is going to be u a part of the solar field was
properly zoned for that. Uh so we are adding verbiage to allow for solar outdoor solar. Uh I don't have the exact verbiage in front of me. I do have it here, but to allow for solar uh an outdoor solar facility uh in the general
uh commercial uh zone uh which does not affect many uh areas of the township, but does allow us to move forward with the solar field project. And with that, I'll open it up to members of the public who would like to ask questions or make
comments at Hi, good evening. Whoops. This is off, I think. Is the red light on? Is the red light on? It doesn't look like Are you Are you picking them up in the microphone? Can you Yeah. Can you help, Ed?
Doesn't seem to Oh, okay. Pressing too hard or something. Can you hear me now? Okay, that's better. Okay. So, Ed Feifer for Halley Drive um and uh in Spruce Farms Development and um from what I understand on this resolution, I want to
congratulate you. Normally, I come here to I don't know, cajol, plead, uh beg, whatever, protest. Um but this time around, I think you're really doing something that's that's a good a good thing. Um, and I understand that this
solar field will be on what was formerly uh land that was a dump. Mhm. So, it's right where it should be on brown fields essentially, not on farmland. So, I applaud your efforts. I understand it's also very economical and you're probably going to save the taxpayers money in so
doing. And so, I applaud your efforts. Keep up the good work. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, Ed. Any other members of the public w with questions or comments regarding resolution one? Seeing none, I'll entertain a
motion. Um, council president, I'll move on resolution 125-262. Second motion. Madam clerk. Miss Phillips. Yes. Mr. Whan, yes. Yes. Mr. Ty, yes.
And now we will open it for comments from the public. And we have a list. We'll see. Is anybody on the list? Madam Clerk, first up is Rhonda Abbott. Rhonda Abbott, are you Rhonda
Abbott, please? Who ordered the sign language interpreter for today? This is public comment, council, and and clerk. So, she can comment. You do not have to answer. Your town does not comply with the New
Jersey law. I'm out of Hamilton Township building. I've been by a few times. Yesterday was my first time into a township building. I've been over to
the other building. The police department is the police department does not display this mandated poster. I don't see it on any of the three floors here. This poster came out in August 1st,
2022. The New Jersey law against discrimination has been doing poster since 1945. The state of rules that the most poor posters go up. The police department does not comply with title
two of the ADA northern New Jersey law against discrimination. It's not acceptable to a death person. It does not provide any effective accommodations at the police department. And I want to file an ADA
complaint. I came here yesterday. Who's the ADA coordinator that was appointed by the council? ADA coordinator appointed by the council. Nobody. Who was that?
We have We have an ADA coordinator. I can't hear anything. No one. We gave you a translator. You do need to talk into your mic a little bit more for the for everybody in the room. Okay, it's fine.
Did somebody point out the ADA coordinators? This is your opportunity to procedure. There's there's no uh copies being handed out at this time. This is your This is Well, this is your opportunity to make comment.
Okay. For the record, Miss Abbott is a regular plaintiff in these kind of matters. In in anticipation of litigation, I counsel you not to say anything. For the record, Miss Abbert was abusive to a staff member yesterday
after working after working hours. Only then did she request ASL translation. For the record, again, she a virtual translator was offered to her tonight, which she refused. Her request for a live person translator in less than 24 hours was insufficient timing and the
township gave her an appropriate accommodation which again she refused. I can't hear anything. Want you to set up a meeting with me so I can file an ADA complaint. I need an inperson
signal. Do you want my email address to contact and set up an appointment? We have four minutes yet. 45 seconds. Were we allowed to ask you questions or you would like to ask? No. Her email Miss Kurland's email was was
given to her yesterday. We don't have to do this. This is not the time to to discuss. Not the time to discuss. I have hearing aids too. Give me name.
Sorry. If I were to judge your attitude by facial expression doesn't seem very positive. Ma'am, your your time your time is up, ma'am. Ma'am, excuse me, ma'am. Ma'am,
your your time is up. Uh, thank you for bringing this to our attention. You can have two more minutes after other members of Well, I'm sorry. you we did offer you u an accommodation and uh you
refused it. So uh your time is up. Your time is up. Want a copy of the business? Your your time is up. You you can you step aside for other members of the public to ask questions or comments. No wonder these posters are not up in
this time. I can't even stand up for four minutes and get any kind of effective accommodation work. You want me to bypass the ADA coordinator? Just go straight to the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights.
Would any other members of the public wish to uh ask a question or make a comment at this time? Janice, why don't you come on up? Janice Clonic 432 Trinity Avenue, Cornell Heights. Okay. Um I don't go
down 33 that much at night, but I went during the day. And there's never never anybody at the Sarah. I assume the restaurant that's closed. I can't believe it. They just Is it going to go up for sale? It's been trending in that direction for a while. Really?
Cuz it was a nice restaurant. Okay. Number two, uh, Sunday was the anniversary of Good All Rubber. Have they decided was it arson? Is has anything been settled? Alyssa, do you have any update for the
public? I do. So, uh, try to speak into your microphone. The DP has filed suit against the owners of uh the property and we just filed to intervene in that suit as further plaintiffs. So did they was it set on
fire or they're just filing something that that that was that there's no determination? There's no determination there. There's there's still an investigation ongoing. So there what did that what exactly is it that they filed? the NJD filed for um se under several
counts, but mostly that they allowed asbestous and hazards waste to uh float down the waterways because there's the creek right there. Yes, we Yeah, we've had it for years. Yeah. And so there's also D
um findings that find him, but that's being held right now while the litigation goes on because ultimately we want the everybody wants the property cleaned up appropriately and correctly and the waste brought away in a safe place with the correct permits and everything else. So um there is an order
to show cause in June about that. So that that's going to take a while for them to to get this settled because they can't he can't clean it up till they settle it, right? Cuz he'll argue or whatever. We'll see what happens. Oh, okay. Because as I was going past their I mean the tall tower, there's two trees
growing on the top there. So I mean it's most unique. I mean every time you look at it that it's such a mess. Yep. Agreed. Okay. And then um the the parade is going to be Memorial Day. Two parades. two two parades.
Oh, it's the uh what is it? The um 150th Groville 150th Groville parade. Wow. Oldest, one of the oldest, if not the oldest in the country. It was uh started shortly after the Civil War to honor
Civil War veterans. Oh, wow. This is a parade with a lot of history. Okay. But they're not both at the same time, are they? No. Groville's early 10 o'clock. I think it's 8:30. 8:30. It's early. Groville's early and
then uh the Hamilton Square parades in the afternoon. No, it's Groville is 8:30 and Hamilton is 10 a.m. 10:00 a.m. Okay. 10 a.m. arrival. Not in the afternoon. Okay. Are they Are they starting at Nottingham or are they starting down at
Hartman Funeral Home and walk the opposite way to St. Patrick's Day? Thank you. Right. Groville. Groville stops at starts at the Sunny Berry Shopping Center and walks into Groveville. And Groville is 155 years. If you plan it right, you could go to both. Oh, see, I
don't even know where Groville is. I'm lucky I can find my way in. It's next to Yardville. Okay. So, it's going to start at 10 here in Hamilton and it's starting at Hartman. Time is 10 and it kicks off at 10:30. 10:30. Okay. And then it's going
up towards Nottingham Firehouse. That's correct. Okay. Because when it starts the other way, you don't have to get there on time because by the time they get there, it takes them a half hour. But if it's starting there, you got to be on time so you can see it. There's a method to my madness. Yes.
Oh, yeah. Okay. Well, you got it. Okay. Thank you, Mley. And enjoy Memorial Day weekend. You, too. Thank you, Janice. Can I ask a quick question on what um Janice was talking about with the old good old site? Oh, you're I thought you were asking me. No,
I'm asking our legal department. Does it come a time right where we don't see any action? Are we going to be able to say, "Guess what? We're going in and cleaning up the site and then putting a lean on the
property." Is is there come a point in time when that happens? We already have a lean on the property for all the cost of the fire cleanup and that was over 300,000 and change. Mhm. Um yes, there are avenues that we could take to do
that, but the anticipated cost is exponential. Mhm. So, uh, we are hoping that the NJT complaint as well as the complaint that we filed an intervention that we're asking permission to do, um,
which orders the plaintiff, the defendants to do the cleanup with court oversight that he will do it. Okay. Correctly. Good. Just hope it's sooner than later. Right. Right. Thank you.
Any other members of the public who would like to ask any question or any make any comment? Janice, please. I should not have to thank you very much for moving the screen. That was very
kind of you so that I could see everybody. So, thank you so much. Yeah. I didn't I didn't catch Janice's. That's okay. All right. Any any other uh in the back? In the back. The guy in the back.
Rob, give us Hold on. Rob, let's let's handle. Would you like to come up, ma'am? Sure. Two. Two more minutes. Two more minutes. Can you talk into the microphone? Can you talk into the microphone?
Can you Can you speak into the microphone? Can we write it down? Yes. Thank you. You want me to write it down? Comfortable. Hit me.
You don't seem to understand a profound death person. I cannot effectively participate here. When I leave here tonight, I want to copy the ADA grievance
procedure. I want the ADA coordinator set up a meeting with me and file in person complaint. Okay. Your council appointed the ADA coordinator. I usually ratify it.
That's it. Your council ratified the appointment of an ADA coordinator. I can't understand. Your council appointed your council ratified the appointment of an ADA coordinator. Okay. Did we ratify? We have an ADA
coordinator. Allison, how we doing on these two minutes? Uh 27 seconds. Go ahead. You got your council ratified the appointment of the ADA coordinator a while ago
and the ADA coordinator is who's the individual you already know time the ADA coordinator your your time is up thank you thank you for bringing that to our attention you're not pointing to the ADA
coordinator You're your time is up, ma'am. Thank you. Thank you. Your time is up. We're going to we're going to move on to other citizens who wish to address council now. Violate the ADA New Jersey. So, your your past time, ma'am. We're we
we're going to we're going to bring up other folks who wish to comment now. Rob, would you like to come up? Thank you. I'm Rob Benjamin. I'm a member of the Hamilton Township Environmental Advisory Commission since
2007. Uh, and I'd like to speak tonight about an aspect of the Sunshine, the New Jersey Sunshine Law that I would like to see adopted by the township council. I come before the council to ask for a change in our policies to allow live streaming and remote attendance for
council meetings as well as meetings of Hamilton's boards and commissions. The sunshine law requires public attendant public attendance at all such meetings but allows for per for permitted exceptions. These exceptions include any physical disability or comparable
barrier to in-person attendance. For example, a council member, commission member, board member, or a member of the public may be prevented from attending a meeting in person because of a physical injury, illness, or caregiver responsibility. The lack of a remote attendance option limits the ability of
public officials to effectively perform their roles. It also limits the ability to p to the of the public to fully participate in civic affairs. In New Jersey, many local governments allow remote attendance at government meetings via Zoom. in our own area based on a
survey I have tak t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t taken myself by making direct calls to these municipalities. These include Trenton, Princeton, Lawrence, Hopewell, Cherry Hill, Bordontown, and West Windsor. Some municipalities allow live streaming with no comments or questions from the
audience. Some offer view only live meetings on local government cable television channels or on YouTube. Hopewell Township uses Zoom for all environmental commission meetings. The key points I asked the council to consider are these. Restricting the ability of local public officials to
fully participate in the public meetings due to unavoidable circumstances can and should be reversed. Restricting the ability of local residents to view and even attend public meetings with proven secure technologies limits public participation in public life. I don't
believe that these restrictions are justified and I ask that the council end them. Thank you. Thank you, Rob. Uh, so we are uh in compliance with state law. Uh, and since it's something that you feel strongly about, we recommend that you uh contact
your state legislators. I've already done that. There is a bill pending in the state assembly 1588 that would extend the ability uh the formal ability of the of local governments to conduct meetings via remote technologies. Right now, it's a catches catch can. It's a
real mixed bag. If you go from one municipality to another, you will find that some follow the sunshine law strictly, others don't. And the reality is that the state does not really um pro um comp compel local governments to do
this. It's available, the technologies are available, and it's up to each local government to allow or not allow them to be used. So, in other words, it's local municipal governments that can make the choice to allow or not allow remote attendance. So that's why I asked the
council to reverse our policy, our local municipal policy and allow these technologies to be used. Thanks, Rob. Thank you. Nice to see you. Any other members of the public wishing to uh ask a question
or make a comment? Seeing none, we'll move to council comments. Okay. I guess I'm going first. Um, obviously the board of health is gone. I I hope everybody enjoyed their presentation tonight. I thought it was
very informative. Uh, appreciate the questions uh that Lisa directed to them. Hopefully she got some of the answers she wanted and I'm sure she'll follow up on it. Um, Memorial Day parade's coming as you heard it discussed up here. the the Groville Yardville one is it uh
kicks off at say 8 or 8:30 and the one in Hamilton Square kicks off at 10:30. So hopefully it's a beautiful day like today where everybody can get out and enjoy the weather cuz I know the next couple days going to rain. So let's uh hope hope for good weather with that. Um
again I appreciate everybody's attendance tonight and have a great night. You are not on. I'm not on. Sorry about that. Now you're on. Thanks again to everyone who came to contribute. I also wanted to comment on the board of health. Um it's very exciting to see how close we are to the national
accreditation. They have worked so hard over the last year and a half or so for this. I'm happy to hear the updates for the shelter, especially um I meant to mention when they were here the buddy training program so that more volunteers can walk different levels of dogs. I
think that's a great program. And again, like we said, Memorial Day, it looks like it's going to be a gorgeous day. So, hope everybody can get out and just get a restful weekend. And also just remember why we celebrate and um keep that in mind, too, when when we're all together. So, thank you again for coming
out tonight and um stay well. Thank you, Councilwoman. Council member Pero. So, first I just want to um speak on one of the communications that uh kind of I didn't really get to talk about. Um, communication 2 is uh recognizing
national uh ALS uh awareness month. Uh, it's a disease uh that has affected uh my personal life uh with a close friend uh especially for disease that seemed to be so rare and now seems to be uh much
more common. So, I commend the mayor uh his administration and everybody that was involved in that. I think it's very important because it is uh like I said feel like it's coming back uh out of nowhere and um I think that's a little alarming for something that seemed to be
um you know like I said very rare as far as everybody that came tonight that wanted to be a productive part of the meeting. We appreciate that. We appreciate all of the positive feedback and the negative, right? We need we don't know the negative unless we hear about it. We appreciate uh the the the
staff from the shelter. I think we've made great improvements. I think we can still make more, but if I think that goes with with everything. If we're satisfied with something, then we probably won't ever get better. So, I think it's important to always strive to be better. And we appreciate all the
work that that staff has done. We appreciate uh especially Steve and Lisa uh for always uh holding everybody's feet to the fire uh on the animal stuff because uh it's very important u that we stick up for those that can't stick up for themselves. So, you know our
feelings on that and we appreciate you. Uh to the rest of uh my family here, enjoy Memorial Day. Enjoy the parade. Hopefully we see you. Hopefully uh doesn't actually rain and um you know, I appreciate all of you and your friendship and I hope you have a good
holiday. Thank you, Councilman Pero. Um I'm looking forward to seeing everyone at the parades. Uh just a couple of takeaways uh from the Department of Health uh meeting. Uh concerns were raised previously about dog licensing
and um there's been a response to dedicate more resources to an effort uh around dog licenses and enforcing the law there. Uh concerns have been raised and uh thanks to members of the public,
our awareness was raised around the issue of of dogs getting walked in the shelter. And now uh with the uh hiring of a part-time volunteer coordinator uh that is more resources being dedicated
to ultimately getting more dogs, more walks. Uh so I'm encouraged by the continued progress uh the responsiveness by the administration and council uh to legitimate concerns that are raised by
the members of the public. and we do rely uh on the public to bring things to our attention. Um so uh once again we appreciate everybody who has been in attendance today uh and I wish you all a uh happy, healthy and safe holiday
weekend and this meeting is adjourned. One second. Hold on. Not yet.