[Music] all right we're good evening everyone uh this meetings being held with the benefit of public notice as required by the uh public meetings act Madam clerk would you call roll Mr
Carabelli here here Mr here Mr G uh would everyone please rise for the flag salute and the invocation to the flag of the United States of America and to the for it
stands Nation indivisible with liy and justice for all dear God As We Gather for our Township council meeting tonight we humbly ask for your guidance and wisdom in our deliberations grant US Open
Hearts and Minds to listen attentively to the needs of our community and to make decisions that are fair just and beneficial to all may our discussions be respectful and productive Guided by a spirit of unity and collaboration we pray for your blessing on our council members and the decisions we make this
evening amen we have a board of health meeting tonight may I have a motion to recess as the township Council and convene as the Board of Health so second do we need a roll call on that Mr yes
yes Mr yes yes yes good evening Kathy thank you for joining us thank you good evening Board of Health members thank you for having us as always it's a great pleasure to be here and provide you our report from the uh division of Health uh
the 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 their public health goals and objectives the continued progress on our journey
towards national accreditation as well as the accomplishments of the entire department to keep us up to date on the accomplishments of the division of Health we invite our board members as well as our residents to take a moment to visit the township website and read the division of Health's 2024 annual
report our health officer has also provided you each with a hard copy and in addition our animal shelter and Adoption Center posts monthly statistics and updates on our shelter web page we encourage you to take a look at that as well our health department staff
continues to provide the state mandated services and our animal shelter continues to provide the best quality of care to the animals in our shelter the animal shelter has been and continues to be a top priority of this Administration as well as one of the
Health Department's highest priorities in our animal shelter many tasks are accom accomplished through a lot of hard work passion and dedication by our employees and volunteers oversight is provided daily and management continues to evaluate re-evaluate and revise
policies as needed the shelter operations and environment is an extremely sensitive operation due to the passion and high emotional level of our staff and volunteers and it is that drive that provides a nurturing and loving environment for our shelter
animals in addition I've asked Chris to continue to reach out to two of our most faithful Animal Advocates to ask if they have any questions prior to our meeting tonight this approach will hopefully offer transparency and provide all concerned parties a clearer picture of
shelter operations and oversight at this time I would like to ask Chris to provide you with a complete report on the Hamilton Township division of Health for February [Music] 2025 good evening and uh at council's
request I'll try to keep it an annotated uh uh brief overview tonight so uh so tonight uh I will give the board and our residents an update uh General Health update and update where we stand with accreditation um our
updated Community Health Plan strategic planning and then I'll end with an animal shelter update and then uh be available for any questions that the board of residents have um so as director Dr F had mentioned uh we had completed our 2024
annual report um we did provide a hard copy here to um our Council um but it is also available to the public right now uh on the website at Hamilton nj.com annualreport and then we also have a soon there'll be hard copies available
for residents to have at the library and at the health building as well if somebody wants to have a hard copy um uh to review but this report highlights all of the great work that are Department had did throughout the uh the previous year and it also Compares where we stand
to uh the last two years so 22 data 23 data and then also the 24 data is in there as well um so starting with environmental our environmental section uh they started a pilot project in 2024 based on
uh reviewing the 2023 data that showed our risk 34 establishments um and those are the establishments where they're doing um like almost a high-risk or special type of um uh process so you
know our Brewery is considered a two4 uh RIS two4 based on because they're not they have a specialized process but it's you know kind of lower risk uh uh food you know with the beer and everything that they're that they're making there but if you think of kind of our sushi restaurants that you know reduced oxygen
uh um way and of um preparing food to make sure it's safe is a specialized uh process um that would consider them a 34 establishment um so we started uh inspecting these restaurants twice a year based on poor inspections that
we've been receiving over the last number of years um so in 24 um our inspectors were able to get uh have an increase uh from 33 to 44% uh for compliance rates of you know
overall so we had an overall Improvement there of getting uh restaurants passed you know the first time around with a satisfactory um and then even just from their first routine inspection it was to their second without having to go on
conditional uh it went from 33% to 55% so this is something that while these rates still are not great and we still have a fair number of establishments still when they're getting expecting being placed on a conditional score we are seeing some improvements so this is something that we will continue in
2025 um we've also seen a huge increase in the number of single event uh and temporary event uh permits that we've been issued so just from 22 to 24 we've seen a 45% increase in the number of temporary and single events that our
inspectors have to go out on so that's our food trucks um the school PTA popups um you know any other you know fundraising event that there might be a food truck or um or food being served to the public that that our inspectors have to go out many times after hours and on
weekends uh and we try to make sure that we hit each and every one of those um to make sure that our residents have um you know healthy and safe food options are available because we do you know even at some of a you know our Township events we do have you know some you know uh
food trucks that either have you know they need more time or reminders that yes you still need hot water and handwashing stations um even if you're a food truck or or a temporary setup um but you know the inspectors are great at working with them and giving them the our vendors options to make sure that
they're able to still participate in the events and very rarely do we actually have to send uh um vendors home because we're able to you know work with them to get them up to compliance which is which is great but it's still a burden that our inspectors have to do and this year
was the first year in a long time that we did exceed and meet the uh our overtime budget um for the uh environmental health section category I was just going to say this is this is big because years ago we only did it one time a year and years and years before
that it was difficult um with the number of inspectors our inspectors have really stepped up their game not only to make sure that we follow the state mandated inspections but they above and beyond so when Chris talks about risk three and four they're the important establishments that truly can make us
sick and so therefore they've upped that game to make sure that those establishments are in compliance so kudos to our inspectors and Chris for doing it um really getting their own pilot program together seeing their data and that drove them to increase their um
their oversight so um we should all be very proud of that so I I am as well yeah absolutely and it's and it's a you know when we also eventually talk about accreditation this is part of you know we can't just force accreditation on the staff they really have to buy into it and it's great seeing you know the staff
across the board really buying into it and wanting to see and make improvements and this is something that you know came up from the staff of looking at the data reviewing it and then coming up with options they did this with um our pool inspections as well which is something last year we came to um Council and
asked for a uh pool ordinance change and we did see and I believe that's highlighted in the uh in the annual report I didn't pull it out up here but we did see um I believe there was a little bit of a an increase uh in pool compliance as well because that's another area where we struggle with not
so great compliance uh with our with our public pools Chris yes just a quick question with um the 24 risk level yeah I mean that doesn't impact anything anything on that on from that grouping right that's not we're still making sure that we're
out there once a year for yes that's thank you that's a that's a good point so we do all 550 Plus of our license establishments get uh inspected once a year um more if there's complaints we do complaint driven inspections but specifically for
our schools and for our risk 34 establishments uh they get inspected twice a year okay thank you um so moving on to nursing um as I'm sure probably everybody in here probably knows somebody who has recently been
sick with uh the flu or you know influenza like illness uh it is going around we have not seen uh levels like this since the 90s as far as uh just the number of of sick people um going to the
hospital um being admitted and just just being overall sick um so it is not too late to get your flu shot um it's even though the shot is not great this year it's not a great match to the viruses that are circulating it's still better than nothing and um there's no guarantee
that you'll you know be exposed to you know the virus that is covered in the the specific strain that is covered in the vaccine versus not covered in the vaccine and it'll still offer some you know better protection than than not having um a flu shut at all so um if you
have not gotten your flu shot yet the health department still has um plenty of vaccine available um and you can just call or reach out to the health department and uh you can come in uh and get that vaccine or at your neighborhood pharmacy um they also offer it as well but you know stay home if you're sick
cover coughs and sneezes wash your hands uh thoroughly with warm water and soap um if not at least uh some sort of hand sanitizer as long as your hands are visibly clean um also between 2022 and 2024 our STD clinic has seen just under
a 40% increase uh in the number of clients scen and just for uh to remind everyone we do have shared service agreements with every single municipality uh in the county minus the city of Trenton so we do provide that service um and we did recently um
increase those fees uh to help cover some of the the extra costs that we're seeing um for patients uh and that went into effect this year with uh the uh the rates during that same period our child health clinic saw an increase of 16% um and that's mostly Hamilton uh we do see
some clients from Robinsville but the the vast majority are all Hamilton residents that we see um within our child health clinic um our nurses also go out each year and they're in that in the progress right now of doing it for uh 25 but they
go out to each of the schools including our daycares to make sure that um every all of our students immunization records are are up to dat and complete um and to make sure you know that they're following State mandated uh vaccine rules um 71% of our schools received
100% on the initial audit which is which is good and an improvement over 20123 where we had uh 61% uh rate on that but we do have some room for improvement um and some of this is just that there's a lot of turnover in some of our daycares uh and our
schools um of the school Nursing scho School nurses so you know there is a loss of just you know internal knowledge of what needs to be uh captured upon enrollment um but unfortunately you know if students do not have the proper vaccine records they can be excluded
from school which is not what we want to see um so we do try to work with these schools and we give them multiple chances to correct um uh to correct these deficiencies but if they fail to uh correct them you know after a certain period of time that the
students do need to um be excluded from school until they you know fix or provide those vaccine records or you know in the worst case scenario um you know the township could take um action against the school and and Levy fines if they're really not um um you know doing
their due diligence to make you know to follow those rules Chris is there is there is there a minum as far as vac vaccines that they need yeah so there is um and and I don't have the number of vaccines off off the top of my head but there is a vaccine schedule that's
required so um like for example the biggest piece where we see a lot of issues in is their dayc carees which requires flu vaccine uh for those who are under 59 months of age they are required to have an annual flu shot
every year so that's typically where a lot of this uh you know the uh scores go down as for the dayc carees in preschools because they you know not everybody meets that requirement but then eventually once they find out that then they're required to be excluded
from school starting January 1st that's when we get all the the documentation coming in uh and uh or exemption letters um and the uh and the what we're able to make sure that they they're able to attend we don't want to exclude anybody from school and to my best of my knowledge it doesn't happen or if it's a
very short period of time that the school will exclude any students um but that's based on uh the conversations between the parents and the schools and whether or not that they can comply we have not forced anybody out um as far as you know trending topics you know we have seen um you know
bird flu is here we know that it's in Mercer County we know that it's in the state we know that it's in the country but the most important thing to remember is there is no reported human cases here uh in New Jersey there's only been uh a handful across uh uh of the country at
this point um the risk is still low but it is you know it is important to take precautions when handling any animals especially when you're handling uh sick or or dead animals and in this case Birds we are asking the public to avoid contact with any sick or dead birds at
this point uh we know that there's been some sightings here in the township you know in our parks and in people's uh you know on people's property and you know if they do have any uh residents uh they do have any dead birds to report um they can just contact Hamad whether that's
over the phone or uh on the online subal form and our acos can uh help arrange for pickup and and and the acos will take care of that uh residents who may wish to dispose of the birds themselves um we're just asking that they double bag the carcass uh and place it in the
trash um when handling any dead animals please wear disposable gloves and then of course wash our hands thoroughly um after the fact it's important right now to also be monitoring cats and backyard flocks um for any illness or unexplained death um
bird flu does seem to have um pretty terrible consequences for cats that U that are exposed um of to the virus and it can be um very similar to almost rabies like uh neurologic symptoms um
that they can experience so if there is any that's one of the PO you know animal populations that you know we want to be you know very mindful of you know during this it's not just birds that there are other animals that we do see being affected by this virus I'm sure folks um
have heard about the dairy cattle um industry as well being uh highly affected but we know that that's where some of the the data around cats and of course if you know our companion animals get sick that increases the lik hood of human exposure as well which we of
course don't want to see um because it is a pretty serious virus especially for um for humans if there is any unexplained illness or death in any backyard flocks or in cats we are asking them to be reported to the health
department and um it's just a good rule of thumb but just even more important reminder um do not feed or um or consume raw milk either to yourself your family or to pets um we know that uh there is
the virus in the raw milk it can be in the raw milk supply and there that can be a mode of transmission especially to pets um and we have there have been a few recalls where uh raw pet food uh they have found uh linked to uh or have
virus uh within the raw pet food so that's something else that we would ask the residents to avoid hey Chris a lot of residents have bird feeders in their yards is that a cause for concern no I mean if you have like I would say the biggest concern
that would be is for residents who also have backyard flocks so if they have chickens you would want to make sure to probably remove the uh bird feeder or make sure that they're not near each other because what we don't want is wildlife mixing with um with chickens
but you know the general resident who just has a bird feeder in their backyard I I think it's it's completely fine but but be mindful that if they do start seeing sick birds at the bird feeder and just generally cleaning you know bird seed can get moldy and stuff too so there's just other General Health but
you know cleaning out the bird feeder and everything on a regular basis but just be mindful of um watching the birds but not a concern moving on to accreditation uh so the uh as we discussed at our last Board of Health meeting we did submit um for
accreditation our initial application on the January 2nd we were notified of the results of our initial documentation review of the 203 documents we uploaded we did get 12 that were kicked back for further review um and there were mostly
some of them were things that we weren't surprised that got kick back but some of them you know we were a little surprised but it was nothing nothing major nothing um uh that was a really red flag for the process and B basically we uploaded all
those uh last week um and we've already um had a site visit team that's been assigned to us um so they will go through these additional documents Plus have another review of all the documents that we sent um and uh we expect
probably late spring most likely early summer to be scheduled to have our site visit here both virtually and then also here in person um at the health department uh at that in person uh site visit will have uh key interviews so
there'll be members from the governing body that might be asked to come meet with the site visit obviously Kathy and I will um have our own conversation and then you know our external Partners like the hospital um maybe neighboring Health departments also we we'll talk uh meet
with the team just to you know get more information on how we interact um and how we how we do our job to to our residents um so our community health needs assessment so every three years um the Department of Health and uh combination
with all the health departments in the county and uh the county itself plus our two Hospital Systems um come together for Community Health needs assessment as part of the greater Mercer Public Health Partnership uh so this organization
really does the um the real bulk of the work that is needed for community health planning here in the county um and it's really a unique partnership that we have here locally that's not seen elsewhere in the state and not really seen
elsewhere in the country and we're very very lucky to have this close cooperation for competing Hospital Systems um that PID jointly into one Community Health Improvement plan because uh that which is a requirement of the Affordable Care Act that every three years hospitals that have
nonprofit status have to do the uh Community benefit analysis um and this is what um uh is that comes out of that process so that process which included feedback from our residents as part of a
survey and shout out to all of our Hamilton residents we had by far the most respondents which you know we're the largest you know municipality here in the county but we blew away everybody and as far as respondents goes um I think we had close to a th000
respondents out of 2,000 respondents that uh for the survey which is great uh so we know that we have a solid you know Hamilton you know focused area here and I did provide uh an infographic on our community health Improvement plan and
the needs assessment so anybody if you have that has more data Hamilton specific data and then also data on uh what the plan and our health priorities are but moving into the next three years um what we will be prioritizing is mental and Behavioral Health with the
overall goal of nourishing mental health and wellness for all and proving a healthier Community Access to Wellness as you know for a goal in all Mercer County will have Equitable access to fiscal social economic resources to achieve their own Optimal Health and
well-being uh housing and built environment with the goal of everyone in Mercer County having a place to feel safe and to call home and a thriving community and maternal and infant health for all birthing people and infants in Mercer County have Equitable access to
quality Care Resources across and continuing to improve health outcomes so with that all of that info and those you know overarching priority areas we will take that um those data to work with GMP and our community Advisory Board which is made up
of many many of the social service and anybody uh social service agencies and Community Partners within the county who have anything to do with public health um that will create the community health Improvement plan which actually sets out smart objectives and actionable steps
for each of those priority areas and one example for our housing and built environment is implementing Vision zero which is something that Hamilton has already started which you know which is a great to see um that you know not typically something that is seen within the public health space but obviously
reducing um injuries including uh uh Road fatalities and injuries is definitely public health and that's something that um is specifically called out in in this uh this chip for the the next 3 years which is which is great to see as far as strategic planning goes
this was covered in our last Board of Health um meeting and I I shared this out also with with our board um so this is where our strategic plan and our priority areas uh for the next 3 years internally for that division of health
and where we're going but as part of accreditation we also need to make sure that we're monitoring we're not just saying like oh here's our our strategic plan but actually we have to monitor it and actually do the Strategic plan so as far as um going into the new year and
where we adopted the Strategic plan in October uh so far we have started our you know we're already doing records retention but more of a streamlined approach and just renewing and updating our our records retention plan to make sure that we're ready to make the move
and we take as least amount of paperwork as possible because I don't want to take all of our boxes except what's required over to the new building um you know leveraging leadership which is our second goal so connecting the division's values with our actions so that's
something that in the annual report you'll see little hearts next to uh certain parts of um our the actions that the staff did last year just that align with what our values are that we uh came up with for the
division um we also have updated and we maintain an inventory of Social Services so if any residents do need um access to any Social Services we have a pretty comprehensive list of of places that they can be referred to um and this is something that we even partnered with
the the police department with their new program with Volunteers of America that helps out with some of the the homeless population here in town um we actually provided our inventory of services to them so they have another resource to uh to provide and vice versa adding in that
um that service in into that uh into our own inventory so we have it listed there as well or it will be once we we update it again moving forward and then finally for uh goal five um we just went over our community health needs assessment but it's also
making sure that that needs assessment is linked in with our existing plans to make sure that it's built into what we're doing so our health Educators have do an annual health education plan to plan out the year and what their health priorities are so that is aligning that plan with our chna U and that also kind
of aligns with our mayor's Wellness campaign to making sure that all of the public health education that we do and wellness activities that we do um align so we're not really we're not we're trying to make sure that everything that we do is in alignment with the plans that we're saying that we're doing to
making sure that we're not you know you know doing anything that's you know or I guess we're hitting all the the you know the same uh the same metrics and that they're being aligned and also making sure that they're being tracked so we do have a performance management system and that all is is uploaded into there so
that way the staff can track uh the different metrics that they're doing throughout the year and finally moving on to our animal shelter so our current census we have 37 dogs so that means one dog is in a crate right now we have 38 cats uh on site and
we have 13 animals in Foster it's uh six dogs six cats and one rabbit uh in 24 we had a live release rate of 95% um and just as a reminder generally uh it's your shelter can be considered a
no kill shelter um if you exceed 90% which uh over the last uh four years we have uh been you know proudly we've been able to uh exceed that rate uh we also have had a return to owner rate of 68%
so that means um of all the dogs that come in straight to the shelter 68% of them have been able to be returned to their owners year-over-year it's about the same a little bit of an a slight increase uh this year over last year um and the staff does as we get straight
dogs that come in they do get posted to our social media Pages um and then they get shared out to some of the other uh lost and found group pages that exist in the area hey Chris how are we doing with uh the social social media efforts um so social media I mean it it
we're doing better I mean we can always room for improvement it really depends on I think staff ability and staff time to um to get out and create the graphics we've been working with the mayor's office to um making sure that you know when as we get in new animals they we
get updated photos um and then we did work with uh the mayor's office to do our latest ad campaign um for for Valentine Wednesday um so hopefully everybody saw some of those cute Graphics that got posted but that was a newer partnership between uh the mayor's
office uh staff and the uh the shelter too but there's always room for improvement and we know that sometimes not um there can be gaps in when things are getting scheduled and uh um and posted but we're getting better and we
expect as you know um we get some more staff hopefully in um that that will also relieve some of the staff the time Danielle has to to post towards that or to work towards social media are you sure staffed right now we're currently full staff but I did ask
eventually we'll talk about it at at our budget hearing but I did ask for staff so but just putting on the corner pleasant thoughts out there positive thoughts we've been offering for three years probably make um so so other highlights that we
had we've issued uh just over 30 700 dog licenses 24 which is an increase from uh from 23 and it's continued to increase year-over-year uh rabies clinics we had five clinics uh 870 vaccines given which
is uh funny this the exact same that we had in 23 um as far as volunteers go we had uh 2,460 hours of service which is great uh which is uh equals to a value of just over $882,000 which which is which is
phenomenal and a great shout out to our volunteers and our volunteer program for all the help that they do and as far as rescues go uh we had 15 animals last year transferred into into rescues um so an update to our volunteer program so finally uh we have been able
to on board a new volunteer coordinator who started last week we're very excited um we are sharing her with the tennis center so um so there will probably be a little bit of Gap in time uh where she'll be focusing on opening the tennis
center when that opens but um she does have animal experience um and I think it will be and the personality to really to help us out um at the shelter when she's there um so we're really excited to get her up and moving um and and taking over
that volunteer program uh how new is that um last week oh great so so literally just I think if she only has a few hours uh on so we we I'm hoping somewhere between 10 and 12 hours a week it might be more to start and then it'll
probably taper off you know eventually um but really just to you know be a point person for our volunteers to help launch new programming keep continued uh lines of communication opening doing the volunteer um orientation more regularly
um and then also what I really want to see is you know just even just kind of open meetings whether that's quarterly um or some other Cadence that's decided between uh the volunteers um and then the leadership at the shelter as well just to have again more open lines of
communication and I would like that person to take the lead on scheduling that and and uh and facilitating that um I know we always get a lot of questions on you know you know who are our volunteers so we technically have uh or you know as of today we're recording
45 active volunteers so that means um that they volunteered in the last four months so it's kind of a rolling number so depending on when people fall off or come back on so as of today we have 45 um volunteers 17 are pretty much just cat
volunteers um and then the other 28 we have um 17 volunteers who are able to walk our green dogs or basically are the easiest dogs that you know any of us can go out and and walk um eight that can do our blue dogs which you know they still
fairly easy maybe they're just really strong and you just need you know to be able to hold on to them or there just might be little quirks here in there um our yellow dogs we have three volunteers who um uh can walk those dogs um and those are going to be a little bit more
difficult stronger dogs or you know again needs just more experience in in handling uh those dogs um and to match that we only have one green dog at the shelter who is very cute by the way um I want to bring him yes uh he's uh he came
in he was uh very um he's unfortunately extremely extremely emaciated but complete sweetheart so if anybody is looking for a you know velcro clingy you know tiny little dog um super cute I did not bring him here looking up right
now I think they just posted him on the shelter uh page maybe a couple last week I think little black pit mix um dog like yes um oh and that we have 12 blue dogs uh
15 yellow dogs and five dogs which um are are more difficult and only handled by staff or um yeah they're only handled by staff um some new updates so because of McMan building where we normally have our rabies clinic is under construction
currently um thanks to the recreation staff for making the switlick park pavilion uh available to us um the staff love it so I don't think that um you know Rec is going to get their uh their their their building back uh rabies
clinic free but um we definitely have had a lot of positive feedback over the location change both from the staff and then from the residents as well um I do realize and and it has been noted that there is a different clientele that do go that did take advantage of the rabies clinic at uh switlick so we're going to
make sure that um we do still at least do one clinic at McManaman once it's ready to um then finish to be utilized just because we know it's a more easily walkable accessible area for c for some of our residents as well so we'll make sure that we hit both areas um but um
like I said we're very appreciative of the last minute change um and ability to to utilize uh switlick and the next Clinic is March 8th in the morning um and that'll be our last Clinic until December um which will most likely be
over at um uh McManaman just an update so we did uh at the end of December we had all 36 of our dog runs repainted um so we really we did uh all of the walls because that was really where um the biggest um really the failure of the paint the last coat
was was happening was on the walls the most of the uh the floors were fine but we did have nine floors that were recoded uh as well because they were cracking or uh or peeling so um so far so good um you know with once the weather warms up and we're able to start
power washing again we will see how this coating is holding up um but as of right now um you know it looks good um and hopefully it lasts for for a few more years so and we don't have to do this in
another three years but TBD but we're glad that that it it worked out well and uh we were able able to work with our partners and a big shout out to both bark um timberlan and oh my God why am I
blanking on the third kennel anyway we had three kennels that um that were able to take um uh a fair number of our dogs we had to empty out um each side of the kennel completely so that the the workers could get in their paint so we were able to work with uh three vendors
to uh who boarded our dogs offsite um uh during this proc project so which it worked out well um especially during the holidays as well so we were very appreciative of of them working with us uh in that regard um I had this up last time as
well and I know Kathy mentioned you know cqi and our continuous quality improvement we know that we're not perfect um and you know we're trying to address concerns both from the board from our you know from the administration from our residents um and even from the staff you know they have their own you know and making sure that
we're continuing to improve because that's that's what we want to do is we want to continue to improve um uh and that's what we have to do um so as far as some of those updates go um you know I know we brought up social media that's
always a constant thing um so we did have this um uh promotion uh that went out so you know we did get some we didn't we weren't inundated um but you know we definitely got some uh uh some you know very happy people to to donate
$10 to us and and we were were very thankful for their for their $10 um and we'll we'll do a they're going to get we'll send out thank you notes to all of those uh individuals that we have uh contact information for um and it was just also a nice way to uh remind people that they can make online donations as
well um as And in regards to um even just coming to the shelter in person uh so that went out well and then additionally we did uh uh kind of 14 days of uh of love for all of the some of the shelter animals that we have in
there that don't typically get um promoted so we're looking to do that more and if anybody has creative ideas whether that's residents or Administration or Council um you know you know St Patty's Day is coming up so if anybody has any clever ideas for for St Patty's Day and and even the in World
Cup coming up as well because uh you know I look at some of our neighboring shelters to do some pretty fun uh um you know media events and social media and stuff like that so we're we're trying to be a little bit more creative and fun um but we're still we want to make sure that the the most important information
of connecting you know Strays and and lost animals with their with their owners is obviously the most important thing and then uh making sure that we have uh the info that's updated and getting out there for the animals that we do have available for adoption Chris you um the $10 donations
how are donations being used so um our policy right now is uh to use donations for um excessive medical costs but then we've also used uh to offset the board and
train for a few of our the dogs that we've sent to bark who've been placed into um we've had pretty good success with those dogs being placed into adoption homes so those are the two expenses that um that we utilize donation funds for except if there's a
specific um let's say marker that somebody puts on or specific request like sometimes it'll be um they'll ask to offset a cost of some a dogs donation or a dogs adoption fee or something like that and then we try to do our best to honor those those wishes as well but if
it's just general placed in there um the priority is excessive medical so really anything probably over $4,000 or so dollars um that you know it's kind of outside of our normal budget um last year we had I think it was last year you
know we had a dog that required um you know A6 $7,000 surgery and we were able to cover that cost um both through uh specific donations and then also the donations that came in previously out of that that were in that account are you still accepting food and
materials yes as donations yeah we we still do I mean um we sometimes we run out of space which is great is a great problem to have and we're very thankful for all of the uh the Don that we do receive but um cash is always easier um
because it takes up less space um but we will not turn away anything so you have received um donations that are beond storage they have um sent them over to the food pantri for those who have animals that might be able to benefit
from that because we had excess yeah that is that is a a good point and then if as we routinely the staff goes through and if things expire or if it's stuff that we can't really use you know um we do also send stuff to Mercer Wildlife Center as well especially
expired food um or if it's you know if we get food that's been open or it's not in its original container instead of throwing it out we um The Wildlife Center does make use of that as well and that's something that we do um uh give to them as well so we try to make um the
donations go as far as possible and of course we you know we get a number of residents who um who ask for um you know help with assistance with food and other supplies and they'll come to the shelter um and we're able to assist them as well which is which is nice that we're able to
provide that service for those who just need u a little carryover uh from time to time um I don't want to jump ahead if if you were planning to talk about this but we have a resolution on our uh Council
agenda tonight for uh Professional Services agreement uh for veterinary services how are we doing with keeping up with our obligations as far as I know there's been a kind of a in the past
like a shortage of of veterinarians willing to take on contracts with municipalities uh it was a problem larger than just our animal shelter so how are we deing with that um so yes it
is still it's still a problem and which is why you know we kind of we were we went out to bid twice in uh 24 and we got zero responses um and we had uh to put it nicely um zero feedback
from our Municipal vets in in town as well um you know eventually we had a couple decent conversations about you know I think people felt bad that we were struggling um and that we're open to it um but people are their vets are busy there you know it's um there is a
shortage of vets around um and then to then have to take on basically a whole new almost practice you know in the amount of animals that we have here you know at the shelter and that we bring to the vet um you know it's a big lift but
uh thankfully we were able to uh work with our existing vet who agreed to stay on um in a limited capacity uh until we found a new vet and also was able to identify one of her relief vets for the
practice um who um who that is that's who we're on boarding we met with her um and I think she'll be a good addition she's already familiar with uh Princeton animal hospital because she's a relief fet there so it still allows us to kind of continue to working with them as our
um preferred um animal hospital but then also you know we will continue to use Northstar for emergency vet services man field as well um and other the other neighboring vets who um just to kind of spread out some of the cost uh for vet
care as well and and also just the the load that uh for the animals one of my colleagues uh pointed out that uh for other health services um the health department will use uh nursing students to help provide
those Services yeah is there any possibility of utilizing Veterinary students to help provide services um so I so it's it's a great question I have previously reached out to the new
vet school uh at um Rowan and they they were I think by the time they weren't interested at the time they were they're still they're I don't even think they've had their first class where they're still in the in the um accepting applications and they're still kind of opening um it would be a limited
capacity I think just due to our geographic location I think if we had a vet school that was closer it would be a different story um because then at least getting experience with clinical hours or pro bono surgeries things like that spay neuter stuff then that would be an
area where I could see um kind of an academic partnership excelling um but because you know because that's what we have with uh tcj and our nursing students that the the nursing students are able to come in they work on underneath our existing nurse uh or
nurses um and they're able to get their clinical hours we don't have a vet on staff so we would not have um there wouldn't be somebody that they'd be working under their license unless they came the you know the
Proctor came with them to do that um but you know it's again it's it's worth reaching out even just if there is special surgeries um you know sometimes that that we can at least they'll do the do it for free or at reduced cost because it might be something special that they want to expose their students
to so it is worth having a conversation again but for what we need on a regular basis uh working with a vet school just it wouldn't work out as far as I know I mean that that always change we're not completely ruling it out as Rowan's new program gets up and running uh you'll
you'll revisit that yeah absolutely um and and Pen has their own program too you know they have their their Vet program and it's always worth you know at least you know I have not reached out to to pen uh in regards to their veterinary program um but you know it's it's worth reaching out and exploring
those options for sure great um well that shcks off another one of uh our updates so uh as far as the generator and phones go again that's in progress um I know we are very excited to eventually have new phones at the
shelter as well but I know that there's um that's on it list and then the generator um I believe that there's still waiting for permits um or the weather to break to to move on that um I did reach out for an update on that but
I have not uh been able to uh get a a better update than than that for the generator um just for you know disclosure we did have and it was brought up to to me uh we did have some a little bottleneck in some of our uh
cats moving from intake to adoption so we do separate uh for our cats as they come in they're in different part of the shelter and then they move to the public adoption side so we did have between the holidays um you know the changing in in vet service um and then also just some
really difficult cats and some cats that were on 45-day quarantine due to bites of Unknown Origin there was a little bit of a bottleneck there where we had a lot of cats waiting in intake and not moving uh over to um to the adoption room but that has uh since been taken care of um
and then the perennial um re request that we know that you know we get from our residents and from Council in regards to making sure that all dogs are walked um you know it's we did put in a resource request and you know it's a conversation that we look forward to
having um uh you know at at our budget hearing um but it's something that the staff does need to get better at I will not you know I I'll leave it at that I mean the staff needs to get better at at walking more dogs more regularly and and we're very thankful for um you know are
volunteers that come in but obviously you know the volunteers and especially in the Colder Weather we see a little uh a little bit of a lull um in the volunteers coming in and walking and you know rightly so I mean we've had some pretty brutal cold days and the dogs don't even want to go out for walks either they take a step back out and
then they run back in and um uh so it's it's something that I think we have to come up with a better plan but you know it's with matching the volunteers with the right types of dogs which changes on a on a regular basis um which I'll just jump in is one of the priorities of our
volunteer coordinator that's one of her tasks that she's going to be given so that she once she meets all of these other volunteers that they can communicate more regularly and maybe she can entice them to come in and walk the dogs more regularly and hopefully we can
accommodate that request yeah and on top of that you know we've now thankfully and hopefully it lasts for a long time is you know we are finally you know at capacity you know we're not greatly uh overc capacity I know I can't I
shouldn't have said that even out loud but um you know there should be more staff time to to take on some uh walking some of these dogs um more regularly but the requirement um is you know it's the created dogs that are required to the um
you know the the dogs and kennels technically are not required um by state law to uh to be walked but that does not mean that it's not beneficial for them to be walked on a more regular basis so um it's something that you know this is this is the area that we will try to
make a priority in 2025 to you know make sure that this is this is addressed uh on a more regular routine basis Chris before you go on yeah well that was it so you had uh yeah had made mention that um you're waiting for
permits from the generator uh the last update that I got from public works and I'm not sure if Kathy if you have a better update but that it was they were waiting for permits to be pulled for the for the generator permits from the township or somewhere else he would be
from the township we have our staff meeting tomorrow with um public Ian this should seem like it's we'll get an update tomorrow yeah it should should be a quick fix if it's permit from our own yeah I mean and I and I'm not sure
if that they been fixed or if there's um or it's just been the weather and stuff that we've had with the snow and the cold but um hopefully we can get a better update for for you guys thank you that concludes our report have any other questions for
Chris no great great great job this is not really a Health Board related question but since you mentioned generators Kathy have we made any progress on the senior center generator I don't know the the latest update on that yet either okay I do know that the
vendor was there with public works and my staff probably about a month ago so I'm sure that they're looking into the plan submitting permit process as well okay that's good yes I just had a quick question um as far as trainings for
volunteers do we do that on like a you know quarterly basis is it after how many volunteers have signed up and what are we doing to publicize that side of things we're doing a lot for adoption but are what are we doing for recruitment of volunteers um that no I
think that's that's a good question um and we've I know the information for volunteers is on the website um it's I think it's probably been a little bit that we've um specifically promoted volunteering um a
lot of the bill boards that we have throughout town I mean our normal message is you know donate volunteer adopt so it kind of just gets rolled into that message as far as as volunteering goes um normally so it's it's kind of two point two parts I
believe they're monthly uh volunteer uh meetings for at least new orientation but there also needs to be a minimum number of volunteers so if we don't get I believe it's five or more then that will roll over to the next month so it's so it does not always happen on a monthly basis but we try to at least
make it worth everybody's time and then once they do that initial orientation then they get uh dog handling training with uh with one of our staff members as well so then that's how they get assessed and eventually move up in the types of dogs that they're able to
handle and what's the minimum age 18 18 I just wanted to Pig you back on what Chris said so you know our volunteer coordinator position doesn't sound like a lot of hours but the portfolio this person came with and the experience that
I've seen her um give us and actually writing some great procedures even for our tennis Center I have a lot of faith in her happs to be Faith um and I but I do have a lot of confidence that she will really bring to the table in the
next two months some good stuff for us and get our volunteer program up and running and I'm pretty confident on that so I hope at our next uh meeting Chris can report even greater information for you thank you I'm glad to hear that she's on board yes thank you and thanks
to the administration for that yeah and and our plan is to have her there also on site um Thursdays and Saturdays so when our evening hours uh and weekend hours we know we have the most volunteers so at least that they can have some face- tof face time and that
was a requirement for the position is um it might not be necessarily every single Saturday but it would be most Saturdays of the mon thank you uh unless anybody on Council has anymore we we need to set up to allow public questions and comments
you you can cross the town yeah nobody hear you're saying thank you everyone any members of the public who wish to comment or
question for the Lisa good evening Lisa Williams I'm honestly not sure if this is a question for you guys so if it's not you guys want to punt me to the public portion at the end that's fine um so we used to have I'll call it a set
fee schedule for animal related incidents that appear in court so it used to be and this when I say used to be I'm going to say the end of 23 beginning of 24 so if you were in court the first time for an incident and you
plad guilty the fee was $100 if you said oh I want a trial and you're found guilty the fee was $250 first time and then each incident above that went up 250 so the second time if you pled guilty for the same thing I'm just going to use dog running at large because
that's the one I know so well so if you were then charged the second time for your dog being at large and you chose to plead guilty the fine was 350 if you said nope I want to take this to trial the fine would be 500 for the next time do we still have
that we haven't repealed we haven't repealed it if we had so as a general matter not just not the animals the the judge has
discretion for what the fines are um so for example a violation of any of our ordinances if there isn't a specific set fee it starts at $250 and it goes up to $2,000 and so incl and or up to 90 days
in jail or community service so depending on and this is a Judicial discretion depending on um the serious of the of the violation whether the judge recognizes you because you keep
coming back on the same thing wish it was the same judge CU it would have been taken would have been but you know and so so there you know and I and I've been at Municipal Court enough times not necessarily animal matters but on other matters where I am you know if if I'm
bringing the same landlord again it does it does go up and up and up with regard to animal violence I need to pull the um ordinance for that because I haven't looked in that recently just if you give me a moment
and everybody else can talk just hold on one it's okay one moment I've just recently had a not so great experience and you know I like to go for a walk and I just got a second dog it's going to be a little hard if people can't secure their dogs um it's kind of a problem and no she's not eligible for a
dog license yet guys she'll be eight weeks old tomorrow I got a boxer puppy a friend knew someone who had a litter that needed home so uh she just came home yesterday I'd like to walk her eventually down the street and not have a dog who knows how
to open a door come at me again and these people have not been held accountable was it a legal breeder um say it was outside Hamilton it absolutely is outside Hamilton actually that's not even made up it's someone who has a male and female and
didn't get around to spaying and neutering in time and oops now we have a litter and looked for homes friends of friends so I was fortunate enough to get it very adorable okay congratul Fox all right so according to 10815 violation of
penalties of the animal act any person who violates any of the provisions of this chapter shall upon conviction be subject to the penalties in chapter one-2 which is our general violation statute which is what I was talking about before so 1-2 violation penalties
States as follows General P penalty is uh a fine not exceeding $2,000 or by imprisonment of a term not exceeding 90 days or for period of community service not exceeding 90 days in the discretion of the judge so and then continuing violations um each day is each
successive day is separate offense additional remedies the imposition of a penalty is provided in substition a which I just talked about um shall be in addition to any injective or remedial relief which is authorized under the laws of the state so I've done that before in other cases where I've
gotten the judge to order the defendant to do something in addition to being fined um and then subsection D of 1-2 is repeat aaer which is what I was talking about any person who's convicted of violating an ordinance within one year
of the date of a previous violation of the same ordinance and who was fined for the previous violation shall be sentenced by Court to an additional fine as a repeat offender the additional fine imposed by the court upon a person for a repeated offense shall not be less than the minimum or exceed the maximum fine
fixed for a violation of the ordance which is $2,000 but shall be calculated separately from the fine imposed for the violation of the ORD so be $2,000 which is the maximum fee plus $22,000 on top of that or again jail so yes it is in
our ordinance that there but it it is up to the discretion of the judge and the prosecutor and what is what is in many cases there a plea deal so that's negotiated even prior to going to the judge and the judge approves it or disapproves it and that's happened too
okay so I'm going to try to be quick but in the interest of supporting shelter dogs and we all want to be a no kill shelter there need to be places these dogs can live and what I have lived through for 4 and a half years since I adopted a dog during
the pandemic of loose dogs has caused me to be like I I don't know that I can bring a dog in that I need to work with so you know me I was like not into puppies and somebody's like you want a boxer puppy I'm like that's probably all I can have around here so sure and I
love boxers but people need to be held accountable to maintain contain their dogs and I'm not going to get into breeds I'm not going to get into names but the scenario that happened in 23 into 24 first time I didn't find a citizen's
complaint there were Witnesses I didn't my ring cameras didn't function the next two times I filed citizens complaints so that's how I know how this works cuz the that back then that prosecutor explained to me the process then I have an issue at the end
of 24 and get again every time I file something in Hamilton Township's Court department I get different answers on whether I need to show up or not show up so Lisa I know I know we had you waiting but I I think even beyond that you're
out of time we can bring you back up uh for a second uh turn at the mic after other folks have had a chance to speak would anybody else like to come on up Steve Steve CLE Wolfpack Road um I may
have a little trouble organizing my thoughts on this one um this week the shelter will likely schedule a dog to be euthanized um for poor Quality quality of
life he's possibly got a abdominal ass maybe a bladder stone he's had regular incontinence since he's been there but there's a little more to this story I want to tell if you remember just about 18 months ago 20 months ago there was a dog
scheduled to be killed um it came after a seriously flawed Behavior assessment and a seriously flawed process to check that youth and aser
decision um thanks to to Pet's intervention we did not kill the dog that that time um subsequent to that another assessment was done which rated the dog even worse it wasn't even a finished
assessment um and on top of that a week after that the dog needed to go to the vet for medical issues that should have been caught before they decided the first time he was going to be killed so a week after the dog was
deemed too dangerous to handle he was taken to the vet and the Vets notes we muzzled him as a precau as a precaution for x-rays but he was cooperative and showed um no abdom no ad abnormal
behaviors throughout the exam or or x-rays other than some resistant to restraint a week after he was declared too dangerous to handle we all know I've stood up here dozens of times saying the these
assessments are flawed we've proven them wrong I've offered I've asked I've begged to take these dogs out so we didn't kill Hercules 18 months ago his assessment you know done while
he was about 15 lbs underweight emaciated had a urinary infection had sores on his body was mostly based on he was given a bowl of food and it was taken away and he reacted like a dog he growled so we didn't kill him for that
but we did punish him for it because from then until last week even though his rating is he can only be taken out by staff staff don't take him out the trainer I can't find any
indication has interacted with this dog since that second flawed assessment this is wrong we've punished the dog for that for an older dog with a urinary infection being constrained to a space
with no exercise that can only exacerbate those problems and it has uh sometime middle of last year the vet even noted some muscle atrophy in his legs um a risk of a bladder stone I've still asked to take him out
and I can't so the end of last month I was given an email that that explained his his health condition and I asked again can I take him out and I was allowed as long as one of the staff took him out but there's only one staff person who
was willing to do that that person has taken him out to clarify several times over that his time there which amounts to once every couple of months I go I watch this person take him out like a normal dog at the shelter he grabs at the leash when you're rich she
hands up a toy grabs a toy she puts leash on his ask we go out friendly dog we're out for 2 hours we walk he climbs into my car he gets in the back he lays down I hand him his toy I take the toy away he's got no guarding issues he's
got no aggression he's not unable to be handled and in 2 years that's his 2 hours out of the Kim so I've brought uh since we started reforming the shelter the main issue that I've always brought up for why
these why so many animals were killed was two things one that there was a single person able to say this dog can't be touched by volunteers can't be handled can't be seen too dangerous and there's no recourse to
that we know the previous shelter manager did that a lot it was the biggest claim and nobody could contest that liability of Township it's dangerous Steve you're is give me like 30 seconds okay um so
that's what I want to bring up um and we're going to need to revisit this it was something I had put into an ordinance that was proposed and we did a big wait and see um we've seen we're still failing in
this and to their credit they've both acknowledged it um I've had some conversations with Chris and we are working on some time to sit down and talk with this it's has been a a scheduling issue so it's not um an adversarial thing at this
point but it is something that still needs to be addressed and I didn't want uh this quality life issue was not simply his medical issues his quality life issue is the lack of actual care there we've done
great on the vet care he's been to the vet a lot far more you know he's gotten your analysis he's gotten x-rays he's been taken care of the cages are clean but getting him out and treating him like like a sens of being we've missed
that and we've got at least I thought three he said five today more dogs that are going to be on that same track I'd like to find a way to stop that okay appreciate thanks Ste hold on go the music you heard in the background was my phone because I was looking for your
pictures oh of percules on the on on your page so um I you know we obviously All Care this has come a long way and the people that work in that department have been tremendous in getting this where it is sorry
councilman is your mic on you have any problem hearing me quiet so my question or not my question my comment is the problem with an ordinance is we're not going to be taking employees
to to court as discipline right if you have an ordinance and you have an employee that doesn't get that dog out we're not taking every employee because that's not the way personel matters are handled so you know we've gone back and forth about this for 5 years and while I
agree that some things need to happen I don't necessarily think that the ordinance is the way to go they're on the right track I think you allow them give them the opportunity to work with what we're doing now and and give it a little more time I I agree with
that I like I said said um just some scheduling issues to talk to Chris but it is in that but it is a um an issue let's let's leave it that is an issue we still need to resolve and yeah and yeah the the other
improvements are are phenomenal we we see it and everything but this this was where it started M so understood thank thank you anyone else Lisa would you like to come back
up Lisa Williams so the incidents that occurred in 20 3 24 so in March same dog lets itself out I give the people benefit of the doubt that they don't know their dog can do
this was on licensed Chris got it licensed thank you so very much um so there is Township record that this dog escaped um then we have another issue dog escapes um I file a Citizens complaint
because I have video of it and I can prove it and they go to court and I rely on this structure and the judge who was so animal serious um for the other situation and I'm like best case scenario they'll learn their lesson pay
their $100 fine and they'll fix the problem worst case scenario they'll plead not guilty I'll show up in court with my video they'll pay 350 and have to fix the problem no fine $33 court costs never even nobody ever even reviewed the video or spoke to me as the
complainant so then same dog escapes so that goes to court in October 11 days later dog escapes again comes after me and my dog and that was a pretty not good night um and again I have video of that and I
file another Citizen's complaint um and the first so I it's Zoom talk to the prosecutor who's no longer a prosecutor but this is just what I've lived through and talk to her I'm shocked in front of the judge that we're going to do a cooling off period
of 90 days if this dog doesn't escape again we will dismiss the case it got dismissed this dog has come after my dog three times what I live with and you guys are probably sick of hearing and I am quite honestly sick of living it is why I haven't adopted a shelter dog because every time this happens it sets
back the work with my existing dog how am I going to walk down the street with two dogs so that's why I'm like is this structure going to be in place or what are we going to do same dog I I refer back to your comment that the prosecutors who are working last year
are no longer our prosecutors okay because it seemed like the current prosecutor like thought this was a problem but he was stuck with I'll call it the plea deal that was set because you know I've taken vacation time and no penalty that got dismissed like
seriously contain your dogs and so we want to be no kill shelter and I fully support it because I think there is a home for most animals but the entire town has to get on board with being responsible with their dogs that they get wherever they get them from many are
puppies untrained so that people that are willing to adopt shelter dogs and have the skill to work with them don't have to deal with your loose dog letting itself out the yard I mean I've heard things like the gate was a jar okay I'm leaving thank you we all need to be on
board of contain your dogs any other members of the B come on up Steve Steve wolf wrot um I know I sent you a list of questions but I was just reminded of one um the licensing in the
rabies um vaccination requirement change this year uh the the statute reads that rabies must ex the rabies vaccination must extend at least 10 months through the licensing year I believe our licensing year is January to December it
expires the 31st that's what to change because technically by the November it would be a January 1 expiration date for they expire on the 3 Chris if you're going to talk a lot you got to get near a mic okay so the reason it came up was to fa a lot of people asked me and and
also I went to get one of my dogs a rabies vaccination in time and the Vets like were all booked with rabies vaccinations and uh I I contacted the the rabies technician for the state to verify what I was just saying and she's
like yeah that's correct based on the licensing year but it it turned up two other issues that this has an effect on one is obviously vet services uh if we're condensing you know the the months that you can get a rabies vaccination for it to actually carry and get your
money's worth you're down to two possibly 3 months which means that's when the rabies vaccine clinics are that's when all the revets are being overloaded and there's only one rabies technician for the state so for 500 municipalities you know when we're doing
these clinics she's got to get them all all those vaccines ready for everybody and shipped and tracked and returned and logged so it does cre a um a resource contention Beyond just the the this Township within the vets and everything
like that so I just wanted to get it clarified what it you know what the actual requirement is thanks thank Steve Chris do you want to step up to the uh yeah so for the rabies um so yes
so when we were looking back at the so Steve is correct that there is a it needs to be valid for 10 months of the 12-month licensing year so the way that our or is so the dog license expires January 31 so it's really February 1 to
January 31st all licenses in Hamilton dog license yeah all dog LIC all dog licenses that's that's the licensing year based on when uh they expire so that is what pushed the December 1 rapies date but we know that so why in
the years's past we've had November rabes clinics we are now have a December rabes clinic this year so if anybody is without of that um that time period Then they can get a rabies shot uh in December we have two clinics in um in
January normally and then late fees don't start until March so you have a grace period of 30 days um in February as well 28 days um in February 7 Days um get and there's also a rabes clinic
there uh in February as well so as far as it's an inconvenience to Residents who probably felt without that uh that in that time period that they had they were on that November time frame and now it's been moved to to December but I I
believe our capacity to get those animals vaccinated with our own free rabies clinic is is fine we've never had an issue getting rabies vaccine for our clinics um you know sometimes there's different lot numbers which is more of an administrative burden on our end
because you know each documentation has to have the specific Lot number of the vaccine um but you know we've been able to work it out with the state to to get that um to get that taken care of and it hasn't been an issue um if other towns have had issues I mean that's
unfortunately it's not necessarily within my jurisdiction or or ability to influence so um you know but you know some places have you know the count have monthly rabies clinics as well and then most vets have Private Stock and they're not getting that from the state rabies
program um that's private purchase which is why you're paying uh to get that done at the Vets office um and then just uh you know one comment quickly in regards to Mr C's uh you know feedback on on
Hercules you know it's the we have to have some sort of Baseline uh assessment we have somebody that we've onboarded who is you has a nationally recognized certification I do
not have that we do not have multiple staff members uh that have that but it's only a point it's only meant to be a point in time and every single staff person that's at the shelter has the opportunity to provide feedback and residents or you know and volunteers can
provide feedback on any of the animals that we have and it should be it should be always be a continuing um you know assessment because you know just you know dogs change their personalities change you know based on what H you know their time in the shelter they're decompressing you know
their health whatever so I always relate to the staff that if they see things that are changing or you know it needs to be documented so if it's not happening I I can't act on it cuz I'm only dealing with what is being documented and what's being told to me
and relate up so you know if there is changes you know or you know in assessments or you know Behavior know we can change it doesn't mean that an animal can't get better and a lot of times they do or it sometimes they could get worse and then they have to move up
um you know based on the feedback from the vet and the specific dog for Hercules yes he we you know we we did not move forward with the the initial decision uh for youth in Asia but at the end of the day we're also not Mass
euthanizing dogs we have less than a handful of dogs extremely two or three or less that were we making Behavior decisions on an annual basis so I I don't you know I'm well open to and you
know and Mr CLE and I have spoken and where I'm open to having the conversation but you know and and I and I thank the the councils uh and the board's comment in regards to uh the proposed ordinance because I do not think and I and I agree that that would
not be a benefit to to the staff or how we run the shelter as well because I think that would that would hamstring Us in ways that um could be detrimental as well even to staff morale and and to staff performance so that's why I do appreciate that
comment thank you Chris uh unless Kathy Chris you have any uh additional closing comments then uh we're going to go ahead and adjourn just like to thank the board thank you thanks
uh motion to adjourn motion to adjourn second should we make it motion to adjourn and reconvene I'd like to make a motion to um adjourn the Board of Health and reconvene as
councel uh second second Mr yes yes yes yes moving on resolutions resolution 12516 resolution transfer active pocket alol Beverage
Control license 113 33427 from LT in of Hamilton tring T too tring as ELO delego located at 628 Arena drive so I'll just um mention that um I
know that we have uh Sam Zang here and I appreciate you coming out this SE evening uh regarding this resolution and hopefully that uh that establishment at 628 Arena Drive is uh one that um it's going to really work out for that location I'm excited to hear that um
he's a he's a business owner already has several establishments uh a restaurant owner does uh does well at those establishments so we're looking forward to having you at this location I'll make a motion to move on resolution oh wait we have to open up to
the public I'm sorry any members of the public Mr um any any comment you or anyone else wishing to comment on you're fine you're fine uh
seeing seeing no members of the public wishing to comment I uh look to close the public comment portion and move on resolution 125 d106 I'll second it Mr parabell yes Miss Phillips yes Mr
wh yes Mr yes Mr Ty yes resolution 2 2517 with the resolution authorizing the police of police transer expansion of premise for an outdoor patio for alcohol coverage control license 113
33395 the old c l treating as the old any comments from Council any members of the public wishing to comment seeing none may I have a motion council president I'll make a motion to close public comment and move on resolution 2
25-10 7 second motion Mr carabell yes M PHS yes Mr yes Mr yes Mr Ty yes so before we get into the consent agenda uh just need to uh let everyone know that there's
been an amendment to the agenda since it was posted on the website we are removing consent agenda item number four 25111 which was or is a resolution authorizing a labor agreement between the township of Hamilton and the
communications workers of America local 1040 lower level supervisors for the period of January 1st 2025 to December 31st 2028 and we look forward to seeing that back on the agenda soon um just a few other uh notes
regarding uh the agenda we have a couple of appointments uh we have a sustainable Jersey Grant uh we have Municipal Alliance funds coming to us VI via the county uh we have a uh memorandum of
understanding to continue to provide Wastewater services to Robinsville uh there will be a 2 and a qu% increase in revenue from Robinsville Township uh there's a renewal of our agreement with uh ground for sculpture to
display uh the art throughout the township uh there are items to purchase two vehicles and a tractor all of which were previously approved uh the veterinary
services uh consent agenda item which uh was previously discussed uh there's and then on second reading we're going to have uh a pedestrian safety measure for the safe routes to school projects so with that
uh Madam clerk will proceed with the consent agenda any any comment from public no the one one comment I'll make is uh ca8 I'm just going to need to that's 25-25 I'm just going to have to abstain
again on that one because of my relationship with um my family relationship with the owner of Martin appraisal Associates s right I noticed that one um the amount of that doubled
any ca1 18 um Martin appraisal Associates just doing a lot of it's due to the high level work of the economic development department yes okay well
they're working hard Fred and his team okay all right any other comments from Council seeing none uh members of the public wishing to comment on the consent agenda items hello Janice come on up Janice clock 432 trity Avenue Corell
he uh ca14 exactly what is that pump station is it the uh like a pump station on this is Whitehead Road is that a building or something that has this thing in it or what so pump station is part of our uh
Wastewater um sewer sewer infrastructure uh getting the you know everything's straight downhill so we need pump stations to keep uh the Wastewater moving and and so uh the these facilities require maintenance we have
aging facilities there's just the cost to uh keeping uh keeping these facilities running properly okay I just saw something new and exciting was coming up on whad Rose it's a good grief all right thank you we have a number of them throughout the yeah like the burnt out
buing you know that a different matter uh okay any other members of the public wishing to comment on any consent agenda items seeing none I'll I'll
a motion I'll make a motion to uh move forward with uh ca1 through ca24 um with my one abstention on ca18 do I have a second second Madam clerk on the motion Mr Carabelli with
your removal of C4 yes M Phillips yes Mr whan yes Mr yes with no OBS yes Ordinance one 25-2 ordinance accepting temporary and permanent construction easings for the
2018 safe roots to school project clocker Elementary School pedestrian safety improvements Federal project number t a d00 s411 state job number 650 3342 it's a
second reading in public hearing any members of council wishing to comment any members of the public you exp Chanel's coming up hi um Chanel 301 Rich Avenue I just
wanted Clarity on what is the safety plan for that location that's a great question you should have known I was going to ask Kathy can you help us with so it's as far as I know without looking at the
whole plan it's it's safe safe sidewalks right to to school you can show me later yeah okay yeah you'd have to look at the map to see the whole plan but it's really just sidewalks to make sure that they can can have uh pedestrian traffic
to the school on a very busy street and area and intersection so they needed to these are getting the easements that are required in order to make the sidewalks that may not be there anything else anything like in order to make the
pathway for the sidewalks any work be done I think some of the homes surrounding that school are probably around a hundred years old so they had the old narrow sidewalks so this is going to you know prove that and does
that plan include the flashing crosswalk sign uh or is it J or is it just I know this particular um action is really just to get the easements
necessary so I I can have somebody that can provide some of those details in the plan for that so that you can see overall what it is okay thank you thank you okay any other members of the public Janice did you have your hand up well I
just was want to note they all right uh seeing no members other members of the public wishing to comment uh can I have a motion move the call to um public um portion and move on ordinance
number one on second reading 25-2 a second motion I'm clerk Mr yes M PHS yes Mr yes yes yes ordinance 25 5003 is an ordinance
amending supplementing the code of the ordinances Hamilton Township New Jersey chapter 25 Fe section 215 matter ceremonies I'll move uh ordinates 12503 on first reading and introduction I'll
second Mr Carabelli yes M pH yes Mr yes yes Mr yes all right and now we will open it up to comment from members of the public on any on any issue that you wish did
anyone sign up no no no one signed up so if anyone wants to come up you can just come on up does not appear that any members of the public wish to make any more comment at this time so I will open it up to
council comment so I I guess I'll kick things off don't have too much to say but I just want to mention that um had the uh honor to attend the uh St Patrick's Day Parade um uh the lunch in uh where we
had our Grand Marshall Todd fauler and uh Miss St Patrick Riley Carr I know uh chedy was there with me and um it was a really nice event um looking forward to um the May uh March 88th hopefully KN wood we have good weather because that
hasn't been great weather over the last 3 years but hopefully was Grand Mar not since he was Grand Marshall so um you know looking forward to that parade um as uh you know everyone's Irish for a day so looking forward to that
so um as always thank you everyone for coming out tonight um I think our our Board of Health meeting went very well it was a all long but very informative um I think they do they're doing a great job and they're keeping us
up to date on anything that's happening that we need to be aware of so that's a great thing um hopefully it looks like um you know in the beginning I think it was Saturday or Sunday they were talkinging about a a nor Easter hitting us on Thursday and we could possibly get
a foot or more of snow and everybody's panicking and um it's the last thing I think we want right now is a foot of snow but it looks like that's been downgraded to maybe get an inch if we're lucky so that's a good thing but as always you know the weather it's cold
out be careful out there um if you know somebody needs help um put them in the right direction the township could guide them especially if they're having problems with the heating um other than that uh safe travels and again thank you for coming out tonight oh sure um I'll keep my comments
short as well but I do want to mention um coule us are talking before the meeting started that we are getting good feedback from our constituents on the rabies clinics that they're running smoothly um and as you can see we've gotten many licenses I'm happy to say my
license is on my dog and came already so um great job to our health department for their report thank you to everyone who came out tonight and hope you all had a good Valentine's Day and you can get home and get cozy warm and have a good
night i' like to thank everybody for joining us first of all uh especially the health department for the great report some just some quick announcements I know flu cases and the Norovirus cases I've had both in the past 3 weeks so um germs are out there
wash your hands and try and stay away from large crowds if you can help it but um sometimes things are tough to uh to avoid uh if you need free uh tax filing assistance uh you can go to the Hamilton Library uh where you can do that for
free online also there's a project prom uh shop event EV is Sunday February 23rd uh there is an online catalog you can see the uh Township website for that as well uh with that said uh I'm unfortunately going to miss the next
meeting so I'll be away I guess the next time I'll see everybody will be um the St Patrick's Day Parade fingers crossed for good weather and uh it's a great great Community event you get to see everybody uh maybe since we haven't seen uh because we've been hibernating for
the past uh eight weeks but um I look forward to everybody and thanks again for a great meeting thanks to the team and uh to council president yeah and and thanks to the Hibernians for all the work uh and the parade committee that they do uh to put on what is always a
great Community event uh always a phenomenal turnout a lot of enthusiasm um I also want to thank our our health department team um you know when you think about uh the restaurant inspections and how they raised the bar
and have raised the bar again um so we're seeing a pattern of continued Improvement um and I appreciate uh the uh receptiveness to feedback from the public uh in the ongoing effort to
provide uh the best possible level of service um you know and at the animal shelter especially often under difficult circumstances so uh I want to thank everyone and wish everyone one a good night stay safe during the snow get your
bread and be ready and we'll see you next time bread is on the agenda