[Music] now hereby I call this meeting of the Howell Township Council to order this this meeting is being held in accordance with public law 1975 chapter 231 open public meetings act adequate notice has been provided in the manner prescribed by law this agenda
is complete to the extent and formal action will be taken I'll begin with a roll call councilwoman Fischer here councilman Nell here councilwoman odonnell here Deputy Mayor gazer here mayor legio here thank you resolution uh 25- 84 uh manager is there any reason to go into the executive session sir yes there is Mr Mayor we have several matters including litigation ordinance drafting um
and and some general ordinance materials I'd like to make a motion to adopt resolution 25- 84 second councilwoman Fischer yes councilman Nale yes councilwoman odonnell yes Deputy Mayor gager yes mayor legio yes thank you reconvene meeting I'll begin with a roll call councilwoman fiser here
councilman n here councilwoman oon here Deputy Mayor gager here mayor legio here thank you like everyone to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance in a moment of silence States ofice
Proclamation honoring Paul S this evening ready go down to go down Paul's here
right Paul here there thank you in oh I love it mayor how are
you sir it's all good presenting this plaque to Paul seya so from the township of how and appreciation presented to Paul seya for distinguished Service as chair of the Zoning Board of adjustment from 2022 through 2024 in recognition of years
of dedicated services on various Township boards committees and commissions from 2003 through 2024 presented by the governing body of the township of Howell uh just want to say uh how much Paul has done I know he served on the shet tree commission planning board zoning board and moved out of Howell uh after he resigned as chair of the zoning board uh we miss having you here I know you also served as the president of the Republican Club and when I got involved
in politics Paul was one of the first people I met I got to know him some of his family members and just what a great guy he is so just thank you for everything you've done for the town than yeah I want to say something boed we hate to see you go let me tell you uh piggyback off what Ian
says I think I probably talk to Paul multiple times a week and if there was anyone who educated me on our land use laws and our zoning and our master plan it was Paul or anytime I wanted to pick somebody's brain about something and I knew that I would get an educated guest it was Paul so not too long ago we went to an event uh for the mammoth 250 and I happened to be sitting next to somebody on the council from the highlands where Paul
has moved to and I said to her I said our uh head of our zoney board just moved here she goes yes Paul he's my neighbor we've already appointed him to something so he's already involved uh over there so Paul I I wish you all the best and I'm sure we're gonna still be uh talking oh absolutely thank you before you speak Paul and
I and I hope you will the only thing that I could possibly add uh about Paul seya and his family um various times in the past 15 years I wanted to do something um politically or tied into different things in the township and the first person I typically talked to was Paul sayya because he always comes from a place of a moral compass he has a good judgment he's not selfish and he
puts this town first Sometimes to his own detriment often to his own detriment but I will say he's a fine fine gentleman and I'm proud to say he's a friend here here of course first off thank you so much I'm very grateful for this
recognition um you know 2003 broadcast media advisory committee right Joe deell mayor appointed that committee and I took charge and we re did the franchise fee with Optimum and one of the first accomplishments was getting the schools wired with internet and so forth and so from that point on it just started to roll and you know getting involved and and and helping and and and making things
better for how I I had the had the greater benefit of Javi Morell Norine Kelly Warren Curry you know some of the best that have been in hell for many many many years as you all know and they took me under their wing when I was a younger person 30 years ago and just educated me and taught me about how and what how was all about and so forth so I've been hopefully been able to share that with everyone from time
to time because there's a lot of history here and um I'm just so happy that you know I've seen this town grow but smart growth you know whether it was John kkin that got our two cents for open space on a referendum where Mr Phil San filipo was helping with that as well um to just other things that we've done here with regards to our cfmp you know we are in our fifth term I believe of uh one of
the top towns in the state when it comes to the top tier of how many years we stayed on top of the shade tree and the certified tree you know plant and so forth so those things were very important another thing that I enjoyed so much was after broadcast media and we got on the zoning board although it wasn't popular it was the cell phone towers that started to light up the schools our kids were able to get their cell phones they were able to communicate with their parents and so
forth I thought that was very important so the fire place houses that we had in town that property became you know very valuable to us so that we can get Communications up and running for the safety of the Town um you know other than that you know we have a top police force you know can't do it without them I love that they uh you know keep us safe here and how and of course our emergency services and you know everyone else who uh
contributes as a volunteer here in hell and I believe that you know just being here is still indicative of how good how is because you do recognize your volunteers and appreciate them so with that I thank you once again and uh you know hopefully you know there will be many more years to come [Applause]
go
thank youate thank you [Music]
sit down ready next we have green team Proclamation which will be read by Lisa da
hello hi hi everybody so the proclamation by the governing body of Hal Township in continued support of the how township Green Team whereas the how township Green Team was created to advise the governing body on ways to improve Municipal operations with green initiatives which make practical environmental and financial sense and whereas the how Township Council strives to save dollars assure clean air land
and water improve the quality of life and build a community that is sustainable economic economically environmentally and socially a community which would Thrive well into the future and whereas a sustainable Community seeks to optimize quality of life for its residents by ensuring that its environmental economic and social objectives are balanced and mutually supportive and whereas the how township Green team has the continued support of the governing body to continue its mission to preserve and enhance H townships environment for all citizens now
therefore the governing body of the how the body of the township of Hal does hereby Proclaim their continued support of the how Green Team and I just wanted to thank everybody for your support um we are in a recertification year so there are a lot of materials that we need to submit by February 23rd so I just want to one thank everybody at the town for helping us out I know we've made a lot of requests so I appreciate everybody's time and helping to get that information together for us
and thank you to the council for supporting us and our initiatives and we look forward to another great year of projects and green initiatives so thank you Lisa I just want to say for the year I served on the Green Team I had no idea that the green team was involved in the things they were in if it wasn't Larry with the composting or the uh electric vehicles it was the Sustainable New Jersey and the
awards I had no idea so the amount of work you do I mean we we all appreciate it we we do thank you thank you and we appreciate everybody's support I mean I I know it is a it's a bit of a learning curb understanding how we work with sustainable Jersey and all of the um initiatives that they give us to complete so and just to kind of outline it for everybody um we do a recertification every three years um our
last certification we went from bronze to Silver which means we had an additional 150 points from our previous certification so this year we're going for U another silver certification which will make us I think one of 28 communities in the state that is actually silver certified so and as far as the gold goals what's there two three um for gold so there's actually not
a gold certification there's a gold star um and those are available in water health and energy um there are I believe three towns that actually have gold stores and that's one of our initiatives for our next recertification um is to get a gold star in water so we um we'll have the team working on that we get to this we're here you know so so no
thank you we appreciate everybody's help thank you if I I think one of one of the things that um that I I would just like to remind Lisa years ago when we did the tree uh the sapling giveaway we would meet at the DPW garage early in the morning and um if you wore gloves that would great but in like two minutes they were drunch so you took them off it was so cold putting these bundles together that by the time you know you're about a half an hour and by you're like like this you know
like a bad movie um I will say that they have found a way to do the tree giveaway where they still do it at the DPW garage but it's in a much more Humane fashion faster neater and I think that the public enjoys coming and they get an actual little mini series of an education about the trees where to plant them how well they grow which ones sort of go with another one and that type of
thing and uh I will say that um there's a an oldtime family that lives on the bend of Brickyard near Earl and every year this woman comes for saplings so maybe 10 12 years ago she said to me well last year's died so they weren't very good so I said well let's find out what you did I stopped by her house and I saw what she did you they were practically planted in like a little pool but as the years went by she now has trees that are 810 some of them
15t tall and she has like a little mini Forest back there and she's in her late 80s now and she is still planting these trees so when I look and maybe it's a silly thing it's one person one yard uh and maybe too many trees in her yard but the important thing is that this really means something to people they see they see the growth they see the value of the tree and I mean I'm still talking about
about her after probably 35 years now in her garden but it's just so important when you see people expound um what's what they're doing in their yard so you know you learn a little from everybody but I will say that the new way of coupling the tree saplings here here Lisa you have reinvented the wheel on that one thank you reports
of a Township officials okay so Mr clerk so I have a few um first we had a meeting of the Monmouth 250 initiative here today with the county it is the County's um sort of broad-based recognition of our semiquincentennial our 250th birthday so there's going to be a lot of events going on including here in Howell so keep an eye on the space because we're going to be looking for ideas
from people people and participation so that's going to be coming up over the next couple years in fact um tonight I wanted to uh give a shout out to Maria and Tony sharavino they live on Aldrich Road uh they reached out to the PD myself and some other Township officials about doing targeted enforcement for speeding um they were
particularly um convincing to us given some of the issues that they had on Aldrich so tonight we are introducing that resolution so we've got a few different streets and we're going to rotate them throughout the year um to help curb speeding it's far and way the biggest complaint we get here by a wide margin so we we heard you and we're working with you on it um intersections another common complaint so I have an update from our
engineer Justin Yos so for and Kent our consultant has completed a study and is recommending converting the intersection to a four-way stop given the accident history um and lack of available RightWay for vegetation removal so we'll be talking more to the consultants and to councel about that um at Oak Glenn and Randolph uh We've authorized a consultant for traffic counts and conceptual plans and then at Maxim Souther in Oakland uh the consultant
completed the study and recommends tree clearing and signage as a first phase we'll see how that goes and then we will follow up if need be um and then just following up on something from the the last meeting regarding one of our lawsuits I'm not going to go into detail about the facts of the lawsuit itself but I will note
um the is something that we've shared with the council that the County Agricultural Development board has filed a motion to intervene in our appeal um and they are siding with the Township in terms of uh you know exhausting remedies with the township prior to going to the eggboard so they they also are of the mindset that primary jurisdiction should be with the town so uh we'll keep everybody posted one quick update also from engineering um the Township's
been working uh with a cdbg grant uh for the demolition of structures on Township property uh contractor just in the last couple days has uh substantially completed the project that includes uh storage building at the community garden property on Delia Road um a dwelling and accessory structures on a property Route 33 if you've been on that road east of Colts Neck Road you've probably seen through the trees a very beat up looking house um that's been taken down um as well as the the out buildings
also dwelling in debris on Lakewood Farmingdale Road just south of Birdsall Road same idea um these were properties that the township acquired through uh tax sale uh so and foreclosure so um we're cleaning them up and then also the chicken Coupe and dwelling at Bear Swamp on Maxim Road uh has been demolished and that's about a decade overdue so that's a big one that's all I have uh only update that I have is
we have a an old Oprah litigation case that was pending back from I want to say it was 2020 or 2022 it's been sitting for a while uh the town had denied access to a body cam video based upon privacy reasons uh the court uh upheld our decision and dismissed the case um they they thought the Privacy interest in the body cam video uh weigh heavily in the Township's favor and thought the decision not to release it was uh just
so that matter has been dismissed and is concluded it I'd like to open the floor for hearings of the citizens public comments each person shall first give their name and address to the clerk the council should be addressed as a collective body and not not as individual members each person shall have one turn to address the council and comments shall not exceed a total of 5 minutes speakers shall be notified when their time has
run and no time extension shall be permitted Mr [Applause] py good evening mayor and Council Mark feli 35 oral Lane and Howell I'm sure you know me um couple things uh just looking at the proposed ordinance adoption for the salary ordinance I just want to put my
two cents in and say there's a couple of uh departments there or people there that are very high amount of money there 290,000 245,000 and I believe last year this ordinance was uh changed in the last year or so to like 27 went from 270 which I think was last year now it's going up to 290 I can't understand that it's kind of High um just my two cents number
two um we have a captain here Captain Thomas Rizzo which I think everybody knows he's a motivational speaker he's notified he's recognized throughout the C country about two weeks ago he received a national award from a national police foundation for a founders award and uh he's been very positive in the law enforcement field um this has going two weeks now haven't seen anything on the township or
the house Township Police page to recognize his accomplishments whether you like the guy or not all right recognize him for the accomplishments that he did he brought credit to this town through that name and through that award and uh I think he should be given his just do uh couple other things uh social media has been a big part of my life it's been a big part of yours probably in my experience in my past experience
social media was used as an advantage to this town all right for example the police social page used to put out daily road closures and uh items of general interest and pertinent interest in emergencies what's going on there's a fire here please avoid the area these roads are closed every day so people can look on that thing before going to work instead of finding out when they make a turn onto Aldrich Road that the road is closed and I realized that there was a something on the township page about the
alter strad being en closed due to water but this used to be done every day there's no reason why it can't not be done every day um street lights in the town uh police department has historically uh made a sweep of the town on a periodic basis to check all these street lights the ones that are out are reported to jcpnl we pay for this
street lights whether they're working or not all right I believe the township does and over the past year I still see some street lights being out all right that have been out for about a year they're not being taken care of we pay for this I think we should be doing something about it and thank you for your time Mr Freeman
good evening uh Dr Steve frean 42 is shano Road how uh um the as the president of the how Chamber of Commerce I'm here this evening to thank the Town Council and other Township employees for always being there supporting what our uh members are in need of uh from the township uh you guys have been awesome along the way uh name uh
last year uh putting out 2,000 copies of a Howell Township business directory and Community guide uh which you guys have of course gone ahead and supported us once again so I'm here to say thank you again for the support uh and getting that out there to the town on behalf of the business Community uh secondly um want to also recognize um the effort you guys put forward in getting out and talking to the business Community um as well as the the employees here of the Town who were able to come out uh back
on uh January 7th um at jves Cafe uh where we had we had a lively discussion say least um but one of our members did bring up uh the point at the time about the traffic patterns on Rish road which Mr Clark has recognized and is addressing so on behalf of the membership of town C of the Chamber of Commerce we do appreciate the response uh and the quick response of addressing those issues lastly um as Mr Clark also mentioned earlier uh today we were um we
were visited by Tom arnone Christine hen and Ted Maturo from the mama 250 um uh committee uh addressing the the uh I forget how we said that the I think it's semi Quin Centennial what did he said um 250th anniversary of the founding of our great country um and that is in a year and a half so Mammoth county is of course
going ahead strong based on our Rich history here in the county uh and the business community of how Township is definitely uh in support of whatever the the council deems necessary uh from the business Community to help you guys uh achieve the recognition that how deserves in being part of the celebration that mama is going to put forward for this great anniversary of our country uh but again thank you very much uh and uh you doing a great job have a good night thank
Mrs gimbal
short hi everybody Betty bz gimbal 97 Victory Road I am here tonight to speak about Victory Road and the warehouse for those um just uh give me some uh patience while I just do a little recap um appro the location of Victor Road for those who don't know approximately 1 mile south from Soldier Memorial on Route 547 uh as we are all aware
the applicant active Acquisitions has filed to appeal the planning board's unanimous decision to deny the over 200,000 foot Warehouse 25 tractor trailer loading docks 35 trailer parking spaces 72 passenger vehicles 247 operation and up to four tenants that would be unknown the planning board unanimously denied the application due to the significant impact to the public health and safety the the environmental committee opposed clear
cutting the land for solar because the negative impact to the environment and residents outweighed the potential benefit to the developer Victory Road residents including myself spent over $94,000 on attorneys and experts to oppose this Warehouse our team provided an incredible amount of testimony regarding the faly storm water management plan that not only threatened the health and safety of the public but also
discussed the significant impact on the wetlands designated as an exceptional resource because of the identification of threatened and endangered species our attorneys further argued the traffic safety concerns of tractor trailers traversing the S curve and intersection of 547 in Victory Road the residents argued the applicant's inability to prevent trucks from traveling west to pick up route N9 they voiced safety concerns financial hardship hardship to the residents who would be required to hook up to the
water main and of course they echoed our legal team and experts last year Council voted to rezone the Victory Road Warehouse property from industrial to residential you agreed with the need for balance and to preserve the rural character of Howell some of you also publicly expressed your opposition to this Warehouse project and for this we are greatly thankful you are not alone as this Warehouse project grabbed the attention of
others outside of Howell last year the mammoth conservation Foundation expressed an interest in partnering with the township and County to preserve the property I am here tonight to share additional information with you that is of great importance we reached out to the Sierra Club via an online form last year for assistance the Sierra Club is one of the largest Environmental organizations in the
country with many chapters in many states I learned of their interest in December of 24 from our attorney they requested all of the information which we gladly provided in the past week I have been in contact with Chris Hitchcock of the New Jersey chapter he stated that our experts did an excellent incredible job and informed me that the Sierra Club is interested in provid iding a litor
a litigator pro bono to assist the Township in its denial I was so excited we all were he informed me that he reached out to Mr ciero the planning board attorney about three weeks ago via email and phone and had not received a reply in an effort to facilitate facilitate the process I asked our attorney to reach out to Mr ciero to make the connection this move proved successful however to my surpris the
township attorney refused the free help from the Sierra Club why wouldn't the planning board want the Sierra Club to help I am sharing this information with all of you but more specifically mayor leio and councilman Ian nadell because you serve on the planning board I truly believe you all stand with Victory Road residents and want the planning board to defend their denial of this project I urge you to welcome the Sierra club's participation in this litigation which comes at no cost cost to the taxpayer
with their help you can stand strong in defense of the health safety and Welfare of our community and the environment I'm sorry Diane but I Diane right I have to I'm G to give you a few pieces of paper to give to I made enough and I also have two binders uh one for mayor legio and one for uh councilman uh Nell please don't be jealous um it's just because they're on the planning board and I wanted to give them a copy of the resolution in the future
I'm sure I will give you all of my binder at some point on other subjects appreciate it I haven't put your name
thank you thank you Mr White good evening members
of the council Township professionals and my fellow citizens my name is Lawrence white I reside at 15 renway there's a few things I wanted to talk about tonight but I only got five minutes so I must speak about resolution a criminal offense
many of these undocumented immigrants are victims of Economic and political persecution and criminal threats by drug traffickers in their native lands they have applied for a protective status and we have always taken this kind of refugee in over the decades all undocumented immigrants have the right to be heard in Immigration Court however the system is chronically underfunded and has too few judges so the case load is backed up for years into the future they are denied
legal representation because there are too few lawyers employed to represent them and must often represent themselves with little knowledge of immigration law and language barriers this violates the due process principle foundational to our country are they to blame for the excessive time it takes for their cases to be adjudicated statistics demonstrate that over 90% of people with cases show up for their immigration court dates no one in this room wants con criminals running around in our
communities if an undocumented immigrant commits a felony they should be prosecuted convicted do their time and then be immediately deported the fear of prosecution and deportation makes immigrant communities low crime communities undocumented immigrants hold many jobs in the construction restaurant and agricultural Industries they are exploited due to their immigration status and experience low Market wages and wage theft by unscrupulous employers they are ineligible for many of the
benefits of citizens yet pay taxes like everyone else who will take these jobs if they are deported at the wages they have typically earned this exploitation benefits their employers who can reap more profits due to the substandard wages prices will rise in these industries because employers will have to attract citizens for these jobs with higher wages and benefits those employers will charge higher prices to absorb the higher labor costs how will that curb inflation additionally
many families in the US have mixed immigration status some here are here illegally some legally and some are citizens by selectively Prosecuting those here illegally We are tearing families apart and deporting parents while their American citizen children are left behind this is a cruel practice and not reflective of the fair and welcoming tradition of America finally the standard of citizenship in the modered world of nation
states is an accident of birth no one born here has to earn their citizenship citizenship it is their right by birth the history of humankind is one of movement and migration which allowed our species to settle the entire planet why do we restrict this movement in the modern era historically The Immigrant population has comprised 14 to 15% of the population it is at that level today our ancestors migrated here
when the rules were more liberal they built and invested in one of the greatest economies on Earth why is the current generation of immigrants being denied that same opportunity due to much stricter immigration laws as the son and brother of clergy I turn to the words to Jesus for the answers from Matthew chapter 25 when God confronts those who did not follow his example then he will say to those on
the left depart from me you who are cursed into the Eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels for I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink I was a stranger and you did not invite me in I needed clothes and you did not clothe me I was sick and impr prison and you did not look after me and they also will answer Lord when did we see
you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison and did not help you and he will reply truly I tell you whatever you did not do for one of least of these you did not do for me I urge the council to reconsider this resolution which is nothing more than posturing and virtue signaling it is anti-christian anti and anti-American
americ we are better than that anyone else from the public like to say something Mr debella good evening Council I appreciate the opportunity to speak to you uh Joseph Della 41 Lions Court I came here tonight because my dear friend Paul Seer is being recognized and I want
to thank you for for doing that I had the privilege of serving with Paul and I think it's important for the totality of the record that we embarrass Paul a little bit further uh simply because of his contributions and I think it's important that the community be fully aware and conscious of all that he has done I had the privilege of meeting Paul when I first moved to Howell in 1998 and Paul will help recruit me
to get involved in in Howell Township some may blame him for that don't do it all kidding aside I had the privilege of being on the council we needed a reliable person for a board or a commission we called Paul first when I was mayor I had the privilege of asking him to serve in multiple capacities and before you could finish the sentence of would you he would say yes Paul's a veteran father son more recently a grandfather uh
and someone who in my estimation has embodied all that is good about Howell and I think it's really important that people appreciate and understand the amount of time and commitment that volunteers put in whether it is shade tree whether it was the media advisory board the zoning board serving in other volunteer organizations it takes time I also think it is important to recognize his better half his beautiful wife an because as many of us know you're
not able to serve in capacities and volunteer without the support of your spouse and an was always supportive I would hear in the background there goes Joe again roping Paul into some other thing or when Deputy Mayor gazer would call or councilwoman Fisher would call and ask Paul to go do something the answer was always yes and and his beautiful wife was always so supportive so I'm personally grateful for being his friend our loss due to his retirement
is his new home's gain two other things that that struck me I was appalled to read and see that our governor U has flagrantly and obnoxiously violated the law of this land I'm embarrassed for our state that the governor would say I'm going to violate this immigration issue as our country is dealing with this terrible crisis and I find it to be completely despicable no one is above the law whether you are Phil Murphy or whether
you're a Republican or an independent I don't care I think it is an embarrassment to the state of New Jersey that our governor would profess to all that he is above the law I also encourage and implore you to pass R 2581 the issue of immigration is a complex one and there are lots of ss to the story and it is emotional and it is heartbreaking but regrettably for the last
four years our country allowed an unthinkable assault on our borders that have allowed all kinds of people to enter this country that has made us less safe and that has worked to the detriment of poor working Americans who already needed our help people in Chicago people in New York people in inner cities who were Americans who already needed help who already needed health care who already needed to be fed and cared for and we can't do that
because of the influx of people who came here illegally whether you agree or disagree when you come here illegally that means you broke the law and I find it to be unacceptable that our state at a state level is looking the other way and I appreciate you having the strength and the courage of your convictions to stand behind this resolution and let the people of Howell know that you're concerned for their safety and you're
concerned for their well-being so I appreciate the fact that you're letting our residents know we're not above the law we're going to support law enforcement we're going to do what's right and I have a stinky suspicion that our good friend Tony Perry one of the leaders in this state is going to do right in Middletown for residents that flagrantly and publicly break the law there's no right time to break the law and I find it embarrassing that you then attempt to brag about it I appreciate your consideration and I I thank you all for your hard work I also in my
15 seconds left I want to acknowledge Mr Howard who I think has one of the toughest jobs in this community you're the person that has to uphold the law you're the person that has to sometimes say no and be put in a very untenable position and in any of my experiences with Mr Howard thank you your time has ended spoken to they say nothing but favorable things thank you for your service Mr Howard appreciate your time governing body
anyone else please come forward Sir caner Mr caner good evening my name is Glenn caner 8 weasel Creek Court good evening councilman and ladies um make this real fast first of all I'd like to Echo the compliments of Mr seya he served as a mentor to in both the shade tree commission and
the zoning board I learned so much from him and I'm able to do a good job because of the example he set and secondly I read the um referendum on Aldrich Road I would just ask that you extend that from Alish road to the Jackson border as well I live on the other side and the problem is just as bad there thank you thank you anyone else hold on someone
behind you stood up Mrs [Music] reevis good evening my name is Sher Rivas I reside at three Hearth Court uh the last council meeting I um completed public comment regarding right to farm and honestly I was extremely frustrated and I'm sure you could see that in my speaking um I did
provide questions and writing at the last meeting and asked for a response either via email um or I asked the town manager if they could be prepared today to answer those questions I will be asking those questions this evening I did get an email that they were submitted for an Oprah request but I'm not requesting an Oprah request I'm asking for them to be answered after public comment the Right to Farm Act njsa 4 colon 1C was signed into
law 1983 and updated May 3rd 2023 it includes um that it was enacted to help address conflicts among Farmers neighbors municipalities and counties regarding a Farms practices under the Right to Farm Act a commercial Farm can receive significant protection from nuisance lawsuits and overly restrictive local regulations you must be a commercial Farm um for those eligibility uh for those protections what happens when there's a complaint the Right to Farm Act requires that
anyone AG grieved by the operation of a commercial Farm must file a complaint with the cadb rather than filing an action in court this applies to neighbors as well as municipality or County officials who believe a farm is violating an ordinance after reviewing the written complaint the cadb reviews whether the farm meets the acts eligibility require criteria if the initial criteria met the cadb holds a public hearing and issues its decisions municipalities can also use the fre agricultural mediation program to resolve
their issues more quickly and ambly my concern is that how Township is not following this um and why does it matter first it matters for Farmers their rights are being violated it's a huge financial impact on farmers and we are losing Farmers they're selling their properties which can often result in an increase in development in the town and it's also a concern because of tax dollars we're paying outside law firms to represent the town in cases against
Farmers when they should be going to this cadb we you're also opening up the town for significant lawsuits because the town is not following the law um earlier the township manager made a comment that that now for the case with ongoing litigation which is now in an not even in appeal it was denied for an appeal by the court now the town has contacted the cadb and the cad B is saying that um they're siding on the
side of the Town however um I believe that you're referring to policy six was was enacted in 2023 um and policy six per this Mammoth County Agricultural Development board their meeting minutes on December 3rd 2024 specifically stated that policy 6 does not apply to the current case in how that's in litigation so these are my questions
does how Township recognize njsa 4 colon 1C known as The Right to Farm Act which was signed into law in 1983 and most recently updated May 3rd 2023 as a law in which this municipality must follow if not under what Authority does the law not apply to how Township within our current structure of government who are the persons and their positions including supervisory that decide what complaints or violations on a farm warrant investigation consult with request mediation and or file a
complaint with the mammoth County Agricultural Development Board review the investigation and determine that a ceas to ceas and assist letter is appropriate determine if how Township should file a lawsuit against Farmers hire and approve payment of an outside Law Firm to represent how Township in the lawsuit since January 1st 2020 how many times has how Township completed the following actions contacted the mcad be by phone or in person to
discuss questions or complaints prior to writing a complaint how many farms are represented in those Communications contacted the mcad in writing to discuss questions or complaints prior to filing a written complaint what are the number of farms represented on those Communications what are the number of written requests to the mcad for mediation for request to determine if a farm meets eligibility for a commercial farm and the number of written complaints to MCA be requesting a hearing or findings how many
times since January 1st 2020 have you been investigating Farmers written C sis and deceased letters and filed an action in court against Farmers thank you your time has Ed thank you I'm hoping to hear those answers anyone else I'm not seeing anyone so I'm going to um make a motion to
close public comment motion to close second all in favor I response to public comments that's mayor yeah yeah go ahead sir mayor uh with regard to the last comment the the litigation that the resident uh reference is on appeal before the Appel division the Appel division hasn't rejected it is it is on appeal and and uh the mammoth County Agricultural board have has in
instructed the township that they will not consider appeals because of policy six that there's a policy of the County Agricultural board that uh local farms or if there's disputes they have to um uh exhaust all of the land use regulations in the municipality and with regard to that specific case it's not a it's not an issue with regard to farming it's a case where there was um home schooling happening on a farm
or or on a property without um approvals it was not permitted in the zone so it's not a farming issue and so then that's exactly what the a board is saying so they're intervening in the appeal they're relying on policy six um they have found since 1999 about 25% of Right to Farm cases have been filed in Monmouth and they concern concern is that once it's
in front of the eggboard the amount of time that passes for the eggboard to render a decision on it even on a case where right to farm isn't granted takes too long and that it's best for these applicants to go before townships for zoning first and foremost before it gets to the egg board whatsoever so that's the position I expect them to take on appeal because that's the position they told the appella division they're taking so I think that that's uh on the
right to farm with regard to uh Captain P's comments so the award for Captain Rizzo we've looked into we've we've never heard of the organization before it's relatively new so we wanted to see what it was all about um you know we have several other officers that um we looking to uh recognize by way of proclamation as well we're blessed with the great Police
Department I mean I see Jimmy Alexander back there tonight so we have the best in Howell and so we'll make sure that um social social media presence I'll be talking to council separately about that um you know it's right now it's in the planning stages I agree our messaging can be enhanced um we'll talk about how we can do that thirdly street lights we just talked about that today we
have a development meeting myself Mr Howard Mr Greenfield Township engineer we just talked about lights today we had a meeting with jcpnl last week about street lights they have a team dedicated to replacing the lights that are out so we're going to be launching an Initiative for people to report it to us so if you're in your neighborhood and you see a light out you can email it to us just send us all the information on the poll there's usually a combination of letters and numbers H followed by letters JC followed by letters or
numbers um and an address we'll report that and we'll Upstream it to jcpnl uh with regard to miss gimbal statement that's the first time hearing about Mr cucho's response to Sierra Club I will find out and we discussed M revas so I don't know Mr Howard has anything
to add or anybody else uh regarding a few of the questions from Mr Ras we are still looking into them I mean these are somewhat vague questions how many times has a call been placed I can't we can't answer that um what I could tell you is that I work very closely with the county um MTH County AO MTH County Planning Department um there's a lot of complaints that come to my office that never see the light of day because of right to farm so of course we recognize it we've taken great strives to try and understand all the overlapping regulations all the responsibilities and every step of the way before any
violation is written I'm on the phone with the county I'm making sure that we're on the same page um it's happened in every case um so we do have we know we have their support we know we're doing things by the book um in terms of some of the specific questions written complaints and things like that we're compiling those um it takes a bit of time to you know there's no one drop down that will give us everything we're looking for so we have to kind of look through the history um and that's part of the OA request where we've requested um
some more time to do that um and of course anytime we're considering violations first thing you learn when you go for code enforcement zoning officer you get a complaint the last person you call is the person that is being complained about because the problem will go away it will be hidden you will not get access to the property you will not ever be able to observe what you need to do first thing you do is conduct an investigation to try and verify the complaint um obviously if you can do that then you move forward um any
complaint on a farm or any issue that is not run-of-the-mill um I'm usually looping in uh Township Council so um we're always doing that extra set of review uh to make sure that any action we take is proper um and that's happened always in the past um everything else we're going to try and respond through our records research just couple quick things left so um first and foremost the question does right to farm a apply and
Howell it's fact sensitive right so the whole nature of deciding whether or not a farm is a commercial Farm requires a fact sensitive determination so yes it applies it may not apply in every situation depending on what the facts of the situation are um secondly I also wanted to recognize I recognized the chair Vos with regard to the resolution on targeted enforcement um I know he couldn't be here tonight but I will say hello to Mr Paul Ray Berger um
who's been instrumental in bringing some of the speed issues to us Arnold Boulevard happens to be one of the streets so um maybe we'll see him again and you know he'll be h a little happier and the third thing is I'm going to Echo I said it last week and I'm going to Echo what mayor Della said tonight Mr Howard has one of the most difficult jobs in town he's the one telling people you can't do the things that you want it's not well re received a lot of times it makes
him an easy target for criticism but the people who are criticizing I guarantee don't have the same fortitude that he has it's easy to go online and it's easy to light him up but it's much harder to be in his position and tell somebody eye to eye you either have to get a use variance you have to go for site plan approval you can't just do what you want he gets calls every day sometimes from people on this de about things that aren't looking good or being done right in town and he responds to all of
them so I support him 100% I'm sure everybody on the deis does and thank you again to the mayor debella for coming up here and reiterating that one last item just so everyone can see I'm getting calls to my cell phone uh from a caller ID block number last time they did that somebody did this it was a death threat and I've had to file police reports on this matter I'm pretty sure that's happening right now because they're watching so um it's unacceptable and that's
all I'll say about it councilwoman fer anything I'm just GNA piggyback on what um Mr Clark said before regarding recognizing Captain Rizzo we we brought it up um we're almost ready to go we just want to perfect our presentation um and I'm very proud of our resolution that we're going to pass tonight um because we want to give our law
enforcement every tool uh to do what's right to follow the law and the law of the land um we are directly affected by illegal immigration in how I think everybody knows that you can't deny it um it's too bad Mr White left already I would have asked him how many illegals he's been hosting um they need to put their money where their mouth is easy to say easy to to Virtue signal and then to actually do the right thing so I'm very proud of that resolution and um and uh thank you councilman
actually Nell for bringing that up uh well I too will take the opportunity to speak to that specific resolution that's on this evening um I choose not to have it pulled out I I believe that this Council um if anyone wanted to pull it out when before we voted they certainly can but as opposed to doing that I would like to say that when this came up several years ago about how Township being Sanctuary City we
voted no and we met with some opposition from some of the people um you know that live in Howell and uh one of the residents told me that I was heartless and you know I'm not taking care of people and people are dying and it was um a sad a sad statement and much of this is true people are dying all the time because things that are being done that are illegal are very very difficult to tame and to get under control I can
only say that if you look at illegal C or um the cities that did follow this several years ago they are begging to get out they have definitely bitten off way more than they could show they have no place to put um these people which again I will say illegal immigrants because people can come into this country the correct way uh no you know if you want to come in you're
seeking Asylum um those tools are still available so to become an illegal uh entrant um I find absurd and I I do feel that people are hiding behind this and are bad things happening to these people yes um you know they're hungry they have children and I agree I hate to see a family split up so as a mom if that were facing me I would pick up my children
and go back to the country that I came from as opposed to being split up um these are all decisions people make when they do things that aren't legal and I would assume that they think that the ramifications are worth the cause otherwise they wouldn't do it but I will say that there's still a process in place to come into the country and I am desensitized to a degree that people just think of uh
the dreamers or whatever whatever phrase you know whatever the title is that people choose to put on them an illegal entrance into this country is illegal if you do something illegal I mean I can't go to Canada without my passport um not going into Mexico without my passport and I find it just so strange that um people in this country are appalled that you just can't go back and forth
um the law is in place they should take advantage of it I personally will still be supporting we are not a sanctuary City we certainly have more than enough to put our tax dollars to here to take care of citizens um I do not have the answer but hopefully we are in a position in this country now where will'll be heading into a venue that has a better understanding of what can be done to protect our borders but um I
still stand by my vote several years ago I'm not heartless I'm a realist and illegal immigration is just that illegal and there are illegal ways to do things so I just can't say that enough obviously uh so I'm sorry for those people um that share a different uh mindset but you know please consider all of the facets um um you know when you're sitting at your kitchen table talking to
your family it's not just uh you know one or two things you know there are processes in place and we are certainly a country that help people with the process so um I'm hopeful that the um current Council still has that mindset and we shall see when we when we place our votes thank you councilman um a couple things just uh one question on Miss uh gimble's request uh
is there any law that we know of that would prohibit the municipality from accepting pro bono attorney work I don't think there's any law that would prohibit it but it's going to have to depend on what their position is how it ties with our insurance I mean we will look into this I want I just just a general question as far as that yeah I gu will have to speak with Mr Karo but it may be a conf they may have a conflicting position that doesn't you know allow us to accept that help
it's it's not as easy as I'm saying we we'll work with you pro bono they're going to need to support the positions that we're taking some of what the positions they're taking may not be consistent with with our zoning and planning decisions in this town so I don't know why it I mean this is the first time hearing of it so we'll find out but nothing outright prohibiting it on its face it it's got to depend on what the request is it all depends on what they need they might need information that we can't give so it it
we're just going to have to talk to them yeah we would and I I would suspect we would need some kind of authorizing resolution appointing them as Council on behalf of the township if they're going to be taking positions on our behalf so I know everyone else touched on the sanctuary City topic uh I'm retired New York City Police Lieutenant worked in five burrows for my whole career that was a sanctuary city that was one of probably the original Sanctuary cities that were out there and on its face
they were meant as a good thing people that are otherwise not criminals who come into police contact you don't ask them about it that's the Crime Victims that's aided cases people that fell off a bike that's someone who did nothing else wrong but the stance that these are taking right now such as the sanctuary State policy where a blatant prohib prohibition from letting local law enforcement cooperate would criminals are in their custody HPD locks
up criminals all day every day and state law dictates that they cannot inform federal agencies ice or anyone else on the federal level what's going on and that's different than the honest hardworking illegal that is otherwise a good member of our society that the criminals now are being favored over good hardworking honest American citizens so that's the that that's the main problem with what happened with these Sanctuary cities and states it
was meant to protect otherwise vulnerable people but now it's protecting hardened criminals who want to commit violence against our own citizens in this country counil M good evening everyone thanks for coming when you sit up here on the council the amount of information that comes to you every day can be somewhat overwhelming whether it's information that you've observed whether it's a phone call you've got whether it's an email uh or something you read on social
media you take a look at everything and you try to act on what you think is important with that being said uh We've recently sat down with some members of the chamber to discuss bringing new businesses into town specifically some of these abandoned properties that are on the route n Corridor so what we're we're looking at right now is can we come up with some type of special
designation for areas to where we can do some type of pilot programs to attract people here I mean we just started that about two weeks ago but we are looking into it uh if you hadn't noticed uh where woolly's Fish Market is the street behind there is dangerous because it leads the traffic right directly back onto Route nine
going the wrong way so what our DPW has done they've installed two new large signs there saying do not enter to prepare prevent people from go going there uh Mr Clark has touched on some of this you know we already know how bad the intersection of Oakland and Souther is there that's we've already had a study done there there that's going to be addressed with some new LS signs that are going to be there Strickland
uh We've directed Mr Clark to reach out to the New Jersey Transit to talk to them about the possibility of redirecting the bus routes to see where we can go to different places where people won't be getting dropped off and walking over to the other side of the road I also understand that our Township engineer here has sent a letter to New Jersey Department of Transportation
uh with regards to the light at stricklin and the light at Aldrich to change the system that they have there to make it better for pedestrians to walk and there are a couple of pilot programs I think Elizabeth has one that we're looking at so you know we've heard these things and we're trying to act on them the sanctuary City thing I spent 25
years in the State Police so there's a lot of things that you don't know right now right now every police officer in this state by attorney general directive is licensed that happened that that was changed a few years ago that in itself is disgusting because what that means is now the attorney general has control of every police officer's job in this state it used to be the state police
handled the state police how police handed how police so the Attorney General can do anything he wants to you if you don't follow his directive and he is doing it so he's pretty much directed every police agency in this state to not cooperate with ice so what are their options well they can't cooperate with them because what the Attorney General is going to go right around and say you violated my directive I'm pulling your license
you don't have a job anymore so you know a lot of people don't realize that that has gone on in New Jersey now that the attorney general has taken that initiative and now he does have control over every police officer in New Jersey and he holds their job over them so that's it thank you all right I'd like to start off by uh Mr SE I should have probably set it up
there but uh I let all the people more experience and uh more time with you speak I I've only known you about four or five years now and maybe I've seen you in the neighborhood or coming to meetings and you you you really did an unbelievable job serving this Township on every board on the at every aspect you you really I wish you were still around to take some more direction from okay your experience your dedication and
your and your commitment to the how residence I really from the bottom of my heart thank you very much Mr s and good luck in the future and if I do have any questions I'll reach out to you in the highlands uh as far as Mr py um street lights I know Mr Mr Clark were working on that the social media presence maybe we it would be nice to bring bring some you know more transparency back with the residents about
accidents and uh road work and or or the H Township site could maybe do that I know we're they're working on this uh um as far as Mr Rizzo Captain Rizzo we've all discussed it we're going to we're going to revisit that when we bundle it with everyone Y correct uh to Mr Freeman you know I've BL you a long time and I uh I thank you for your commitment to the chamber and everything that you guys do you know trying to uh move forward our town with new businesses
and and supporting current businesses and creating new business and all that good stuff okay it's a lot of work you're a full-time doctor at your practice and it's uh the time that you give and your volunteers give is is really amazing okay thank you uh Mrs VZ Betty VZ obviously we're not going to comment too much cuz um Ian and I are on the on the planning board I was one of the vot for no so my only comment is
I am hoping that Mr ciero will defend the decision like he did for the Randolph warehouse and you know some other litigation that we had and you I hope he uh stands firm on the 90 vote that we did and we we will see uh moving forward with our professionals about the Sierra Club okay uh Mr Mr White uh unfortunately sorry I think he left I
disagree with you I am a a son of an immigrant parents okay and my father waited 10 years to get sworn in and become a citizen back in the 70s you know doing everything the way you're supposed to this um this past administration that has allowed this uh influx and assault on our country is uh you know absolutely disgusting and uh as a father of
two sons you moving forward with uh their their life and their and and what's going to be uh obtainable for them and and my friend's kids and uh jobs and just just the cost of living in this country that the illegals have burdened the taxpayers on is just uh unsustainable and um howd don't let anyone lie to you Isis here I haven't heard one thing of them coming in here and removing someone from their house and
you know most of the Main Street Media with their lies with their moms and the kids and all that stuff it's just not true folks if you're a criminal I don't care where you're from you should be arrested and dealt with and if you're an illegal criminal put on a plane and send back to your home so I am in support of that this ordinance 100% um and Mrs revas you know our professionals are working working with uh the farmers and all that you know I'm sorry you don't get the answers that
you want but there is complications with those answers and Mr Clark and Mr Mr Howard will address them when they're when they feel you know it's it's they uh have your answers um and that's it as far as uh public comment um next we will move on to consent agendas does anyone wish to vote on any consent agenda item separately I
see a no so may I have a motion to approve consent agenda consisting of resolutions r25 d71 through r25 83 like a motion to accept these resolutions r25 d71 through r25 d83 I'll second that councilwoman fiser yes councilman Nel yes councilwoman odonnell yes
Deputy Mayor gazer yes mayor leio yes thank you the consent resolutions pass unfinished business um ordinance 0-21 so this is the public hearing on this ordinance 251 is now open if anyone wishes to comment on this ordinance please come to the podium and state your name name and address for a record
no one may I have a motion to adopt excuse me a motion to close public comment motion to close motion to close public comment second all in favor I I motion motion to adopt motion to adopt ordinance 251 second Council Fisher yes councilman Nale yes councilwoman odonnell yes Deputy Mayor gazer yes mayor legio yes thank you the orance is properly
adopted ordinance 0-22 I have a motion to introduce that ordinance you've got to read the name of it for intro yep an ordinance of the town to County sorry want me to read or you reading it whatever you like no you can read it okay County of mmed state of New Jersey mending and supplementing Article 4 of chapter 223 of the Township
Code entitled canvasing and soliciting of real estate motion to introduce ordinance 2502 I'll second councilman Fisher yes councilman Nel yes councilman odonnell yes Deputy Mayor gager yes mayor Leo yes thank you the orance is properly introduced okay ordinance 0-23 and ordinance of the township of Howell amending chapter 139 section 69
facil facility fees of the Township Code moot motion to adopt ordinance 25 introduced I'm sorry motion to introduce ordinance 25-3 second councilwoman fiser yes councilman Nell yes councilwoman odonnell yes Deputy Mayor gager yes mayor legio yes the ordinance is properly introduced ordinance 0 25-4 an ordinance setting forth an amending and supplementing the salary
range schedule for the salaries of certain officers employees of the Town top of Howell I'll I'll make a motion to introduce ordinance 25- 04 second councilman Fisher yes councilman Nell yes councilwoman odonnell yes Deputy Mayor gazer yes mayor leio yes thank you the ordance properly introduced um the next regular scheduled council meeting will take place on February 18th in this room
at 700 p.m. 6 p.m. will be uh executive and seeing no further business would the council like to make a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn second all in favor I I