Flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. 2025 regular meeting of Jackson Township Council. Pursuant to the provisions of
New Jersey Open Public Meeting Act, adequate notice of this meeting was properly provided by All right. by trans by transmitting the notice of this meeting on January 28th, 2025 for publication. Notice of this meeting of
the township council has been posted in the corridor of the municipal building and in the office of the municipal clerk. We will begin with roll call. Councilman Varelli here. Councilman Bresie here. Councilman Palm Mary present. Council Vice President Bernstein here. Council President Cune
here. Also present this evening is business administrator Mr. Phillips. Township attorney Mr. McGucken and myself, Deputy Clerk Jen Carelli. All righty. Council President, would you like me to read some things into the
record? Okay. Thank you. So, we had a late ad on resolution um authorizing the applicant to New Jersey clean energy program, communication energy plant grant. It's a program that we're asking for grant money in order to um the deadline was July 11th. So, therefore,
we had to have it as a late add-on. Any late add-ons have to be right into the record at the beginning of the meeting. So, therefore, that's why I'm reading this in if you haven't been here before. The second one is a ordinance, ordinance number uh 2025-25. It's an ordinance for a landlord
registration. The ordinance that was sent out to the public has been amended over the weekend. Um I had made some changes well along with council. There's a fee charge annual landlord registration will increase from $125 to $225 effective January 1st, 2026. For
the remainder of 2025, the fee will remain $125. Section 20245-2 updated will remove the reserved position. Section 245-3 update registration forms and inspections renaming registing registration forms
and annual rental inspections. New section E will add requires annual fire inspection must include a check for the smoke and carbon carbon monox monoxide alarms, fire extinguishers, and compliance with New Jersey AC 5-70-4-9.
A nont transferable certificate will be issued upon compliance, which means if you don't have an annual rental and you change it within three months, you need to comply again. In-person inspections are required. Therefore, the landlord or their representative has to be in person along with our task force that we will
be assigning, which we'll get into when we get into the ordinance at a later date in this uh meeting. Section 245-5 will update violations and penalties. Failure to register, $500 fine. Second offense, $750 fine. Third offense, a $1,000 fine if code enfor it's not going
to be code enforcement, so we'll have to update that. There is a different uh name for this task force is unable to conduct a full inspection related to fire safety compliance. A $250 daily penalty would be applied until the
inspection is completed. Thank you. We'll now hear opening comments from township council starting with Council President Q. Thank you, Madam Clerk. I want to take a moment to highlight the positive and productive steps being taken by both the township council and the administration since the hiring of our new business
administrator last month. Together, we are working towards a shared goal, strengthening accountability and improving transparency within the departments that fall under the purview of administration, areas in which council has previously expressed concerns. Our newly appointed business
administrator, Mr. Phillips, has committed to providing council with monthly department um reports. This is a major step in forward in improving the communication and oversight. These reports will give us valuable insight into departmental operations and allow
council to better understand what is happening on the ground. For example, from the building department, we will now receive detailed reports such as number of inspections conducted, how many passed and how many failed, and which ones were rescheduled. Code enforcement will follow the same standards, including data and whether
violations were abated, how many summones were issued, and the nature of those violations. Just like we currently review zoning board activity, this report will help us to identify patterns and reoccurring issues, allowing for a more informed decision and timely
action. This is not just about collecting data. It's about fostering accountability. These reports will show where our departments are successful and where improvements are needed. Whether it's due to inefficiency, lack of communication, or service delays, while we already receive regular updates from
the Department of Public Works, we're working uh towards even more comprehens comprehensive reports offering a clearer picture of projects, timelines, and operations and resources used. Council will continue to collaborate closely with the administration to help shape
the reporting framework, ensuring we're asking the right questions for the most meaningful information from each department. We are hopeful that the administration will in return use these reports to monitor progress, address concerns, and implement needed improvements, ensuring that no issues
fall through the cracks, which I've speak spoken with the business administrator, and he's right on target with that. Ultimately, our goal is to provide greater transparency for the residents of Jackson. So you know what's being so you know what's being done in your community and how your government is working on your behalf through continued collaboration and shared
commitment to improve. We believe this is reporting process will be a strong step forward to effective accountable and responsible local government. Thank you Council Vice President Bernstein. Thank you clerk. Um I just wanted to
take a moment and recognize all of our men and women in blue who are here tonight looking forward to the promotions. Um, secondly, I also just wanted to take a moment and thank Council President, I think all all my colleagues here for their input on ordinance 2025-25.
Um, it's been something we've been discussing and working on for probably about eight months together. Um it was I had an opportunity in discussing it um today with the mayor and I think it's something that will help ensure some proper cleanup in our town with the rentals and I encourage everyone to
continue reporting when you do find rentals which are abusing what the current ordinances and current law on the books. Um, I also wanted to take a moment quickly and just I had the opportunity there's a resolution on the um I think it's R244-2025
with regard to Bartley Road. I want to thank again Commissioner Sadi and entire county for um for coming down and starting that project. Um I had opportunity in speaking to the commissioner about an hour ago. Um with council president's permission we we invited him to come to our next council
meeting. Um, so a residents of Jackson can get to see a little bit what of of the faces from the county, but also it's a chance for him to hear a little bit from us as a town, some of our challenges here. So we look forward to to to meeting and introducing Commissioner Sedi by our next meeting.
Thank you and have a good night. Council member Belli. Thank you, Cler. I want to congratulate our township police officers who will being promoted tonight. It's always an honor to be part of these council meetings when events like this take place and to see the officers and all of
their supportive loved ones here. Um, you know, of course, we support our men and women. You we support all of you in blue here on the town township council and um we keep you in our thoughts and prayers as you keep our town safe and secure um 247. Um, also I'm glad to see
ordinance uh 2025-25 on tonight's agenda regarding landlord uh registration, which is a huge issue we hear about from residents um who we work we work for you. It's up it's up there with overdevelopment, traffic, and of course taxes. My hope is
this ordinance will make headway um and cracking down on illegal rentals in our town and overcrowding and helping to protect the quality of life for the residents of our town. I'm open to any suggestions building and code enforcement have after the ordinance goes into effect and as they are working within the parameters of it on a daily
basis. In addition, I support home ownership part of the American dream and part of our great country's free market system. However, owners have responsibilities when it comes to renting out their properties and need to follow the laws governing that. Tenants also may have responsibilities according
to leases brokered between them and the homeowner or owners. whoever. It's ultimately the owner's responsibility to make sure their properties which they are vested in in our town are being maintained whether it's them or through a property manager and that the
structures are being properly and legally rented and the township has a record of it. Um, also, um, on a lighter note, we there's a lot going on in Jackson, um, in our parks and recreational areas, which we have, uh, a bountyful of. And,
um, just wanted to share that there's a pickle ball clinic that Jackson Recreation is, uh, sponsoring. Um, and to uh find out more information about it, you can call the recreation uh department's office, or you can reg uh register on community pass, which is on
our website, and it's between it started on July 3rd, and it runs through to August 14th from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on Forest Drive in Jackson. Residents, for residents, like $75 to play, and for non-residents, $100. Good seeing you all. Take care and have a good evening. Councilman Breie,
thank you. It is a pleasant night to be here at all our patrol offices and seeing promotions and the guys moving up. It's really great. It's a great feeling. I would like to mention one thing maybe not directly in Jackson. I think everybody heard about the catastrophe in Texas. If people could
just take a moment out, reflect however you want to and think about them. If you want to donate to them, it's a catastrophe that uh thank God we don't have to face. And it was really a a horrible thing. But uh and this resolution tonight, I I read through it
three or four times because I kept getting surprised by it. Is a very strong resolution written great and now as long as we can enforce it, it's a great thing. Thank you and thank you for coming out tonight. Drive home safe. Councilman Paul Mary. Thank you. I hope everyone had a meaningful and memorable Independence
Day weekend. I also hope uh you took a moment to reflect on what July 4th truly represents, the birth of our republic, the greatest nation the world has ever known. Additionally, I would like to mention, and I think this is important, I'm I was happy to hear about this. Uh
the Jackson Board of Education is working with the food pantry to have services available located at Memorial. I would like to I almost made the lights go out with that. Wow. See that? See how important that is? We knew that it was important the food industry. Uh I would
like to extend the council's gratitude to the Jackson Board of Education for stepping up uh like they always do for our town uh and to everyone uh involved. I think that this is something that we knew was needed and I'm very thankful for it. And to our officers, may God
bless you and protect you all. Congratulations to those that are being I don't think I'm supposed to speak tonight. It's okay. A tornado warning. Uh That's got to be a I tell you I invoked the Lord and boom
here. I'm going to have tornado. [Music] Don't worry guys, you guys are going to get sworn in. I mean, I feel pretty safe in here. So, I think we could keep it. I am not going to cancel the meeting. It's just a warning.
All right. So, to continue to our officers, God bless you and and may God protect you all and your family. And just to touch on the ordinance, uh, 20 202525, this ordinance has been in the makings for a year. And I want to thank Council
President Cune for pioneering this ordinance. I also want to thank Council Vice President, Mr. Bernstein, for also uh, pioneering this with Council President Cune for over a year. Uh, from day one on this council, I made this a top priority and I've been I've been
very proud to work alongside this council in in supporting this ordinance. We all know illegal renting is a serious issue in Jackson and this ordinance is a strong step forward built to hold landlords accountable with real penalties, including steep fines and
possibility and the possibility of having their certificate of occupancy revoked or denied altogether. And I just want to say, look, it's easy to make two-minute videos on social media or make posts to criticize to criticize us from the sidelines, but it's much harder to actually do the
work, sit down, collaborate, and deliver real solutions. And that's what we're doing here. And sometimes that takes time. And I'm proud to see this on the agenda, and I look forward to the continuing to work with my colleagues to protect our town and neighborhood and keep Jackson safe. Thank you.
Thank you. Council President Cun, anything else? Yes. So, we are going to We have um DPW, our Department of Public Works, Mr. Bolinsky, our supervisor, is in the back row. So, we're going to skip um the update because he has a presentation
coming up later on in the agenda. And then I would like to go into um at this time I would like to take a moment to formally introduce and recognize our police department promotions. It is an honor to be here once again at a township council meeting to celebrate
the promotions of four outstanding officers within our Jackson Township Police Department. These moments have become more frequent and and that's a good thing. They reflect real progress and strengthening and rebuilding our department, bringing the bridging the
gaps that have have existed and moving us towards a strong, more fully staffed force that our growing our community deserves. I know I speak for my fellow council members when I say thank you to all to our public safety director, Director Candido, for his leadership and
his continued efforts to guide this department forward. And most importantly, congratulations to Lieutenant Reefe Jr., Lieutenant Rodriguez, Sergeant Glattis, and Sergeant Roth III. Your dedication, professionalism, and commitment to public safety do not go unnoticed. These
promotions are not just a recognition of your past service. There are a vote of confidence in your leadership for the future. On behalf of the entire council, I want to thank you for your unwavering commitment to keeping the residents of Jackson safe and for the pride and integrity you bring to our police
department each and every day. Congratulations again and thank you for your service. I would like director Candido to come up and start the uh swearing in as well as um our madame deputy clerk is going to assist in the swearing in. I will provide the Bibles.
We're good. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Joe Candido. I'm the public safety director. Chief Coons is to my left here. Um, I'd like to thank the mayor and the administration and the council for uh these promotions tonight. They're back filling as well as we are
finally in a position where our department is now staffed correctly organizationally in each division with a captain, lieutenant, and sergeants below. Every division is set up that way now. That hasn't happened or has we haven't had that in the 30 years I've
been here. So, Sergeant now, Lieutenant Reef, you want to come on up? Lieutenant Robert Reef was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Rob moved to Jackson in 1968 and is a Jackson Memorial High School graduate,
class of 1984. Oh yeah, me too. Rob, is it coming? Rob attended both Lock Haven University and Ocean County College after high school. Rob began his career with the Jackson Township Police Department in
December of 2001. Upon a successful completion from the Ocean County Police Academy, he was assigned to the patrol division where he worked the day shift. In 2007, Lieutenant Reef was assigned to the detective bureau where he remained until his promotion to police sergeant
in January of 2023. Upon his promotion, he was assigned to oversee the Charlie 2 squad. In September of 2024, he was then transferred to the Alpha Afternoons, where he remained until his recent promotion. During his career, Rob was a member of the Jackson Township Police
Department Special Response Team as well as a member of the Ocean County Regional SWAT team from 2003 until 2011. Rob is also current member of the firearms unit as a firearms instructor. During his tenure in patrol and with the detective bureau, Lieutenant Reef received the
following accolades: officer of the year nominee in 2006 and 12, detected of the year in 2016, command citation in 2016, and two unit citations in 2011 and 2013. Upon his promotion, Lieutenant Reef has
been assigned to the investigation services division where he will now be the detective lieutenant back to where he had previously spent a majority of his career. He brings a great knowledge to this already outstanding unit and they are very happy to have him back. Congratulations.
[Applause] On a private note, Rob and I spent uh our time on midnights as sergeants. when he first came to us, uh, his first call, and that's why we call in the black cloud sometimes, was a was a shooting,
and it was a legit shooting that happened because we get a lot of shots fired calls and they're nothing, but this one was, and I was like, "Oh, boy." So, that was his first uh experience as a sergeant. It was fun. Lieutenant John Rodriguez
John was born and raised in Staten Island, New York, until he and his family moved to Jackson Township in 1997. John graduated from Jackson Memorial High School in 1999 and attended the College of New Jersey from 99 to 2003, where he studied economics. In the
summer of 2003, John attended the Ocean County Police Academy where he graduated valadictorian. John continued his education and recently attained both an RN and a BSN degree, graduating with a 40 GPA. John proudly served the township of Jackson as a patrolman for nine years
before achieving the position of detective. During that time, John maintained a secondary assignment to the Ocean County Regional SWAT team from 2008 to 2011. As a detective, John specialized in sexual assault investigations and took great pride in
being bringing such cases to a successful law enforcement conclusion. John is a recipient of the excellent police duty ribbon, life-saving award, good conduct ribbon, and four citations. During his tenure, John has also served at J as JPD's PBA president for three
terms and has enjoyed giving back to the residents of Jackson through a variety of community events and fundraisers. Tenant Rodriguez was promoted to the rank of police sergeant in February of 2022. Upon his promotion, he was the Bravo Afternoon's plat patrol sergeant
before being transferred to Alpha Platoon in 2025. Currently, Lieutenant Rodriguez is the Superior Officers Union President. In his off duty time, John enjoys nothing more than spending time running around and causing general mayhem with his three children, Sam, Sophie, and
Valentina. John formerly volunteered as a waiter at the John Bonjovi Soul Kitchen in Redbank and also as a regular in a monthly garbage pickup on the streets of Redbank. John has a soft spot for Corvettes. That is true. And restores classic cars as a hobby. Currently
working on a 90 1946 Chevy pickup that's all in one million pieces. Congratulations, [Applause]
John's also been a longtime uh friend of mine and uh we've worked well together as union presidents, vice presidents, and uh I couldn't have done a lot of the things that we hadn't gotten accomplished without him and his guidance as well. Thank you, John.
And you want to call up your families for swearing in? if the families want to come up at this time. Sure. See how do this see how do this [Music] [Music]
Got to be close with the Bible. I Robert Re Jr. Hi, John Rodriguez. support the United States. Do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey
and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey. that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the government established in the United States and the state and to the government established in the United States
and the state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people faithfully andly all the duties. I will faithfully impartially and justly
perform all the duties of a lieutenant for the township of Jackson according to the best of my ability. So help me God. [Applause]
Yes. [Music] Sergeant Ryan Glattis. Ryan graduated Jackson Memorial High School in 2010. A few years later, he attended the New Jersey Department of Corrections Academy in Seagar in 2014 and worked in Trenton State Prison up
until he beat up until being hired at Jackson Police Department in September of 2018. Upon his hiring, Sergeant Glattis attended Ocean County Police Academy in October of 2018 and obtained the top shop award for firearms. During his tenure with the agency, Sergeant
Glattis was made a field training officer and as a result earned the award for field training officer of the year in 2024 after training four new police officers backtoback, two of which were named rookie of the year. Ryan is also
on the special response team where he serves as an entry team member as well as part of the sniper team. In addition, Ryan is a certified physical training instructor and a member of the elite bike unit. Sergeant Glattis has recently received the AY's life-saving award for
performing life-saving measures on an unresponsive nine-month-old who was resuscitated and survived the incident. Sergeant Glattis is also currently holds a position of sergeant-at-arms on the PBA executive board. Ryan is well respected and already acts as a leader amongst his peers while being held in
high regard by his supervisors. Will no doubt be a successful supervisor. Outside of work, Ryan enjoys outdoor activities and spending time with his wife Belle and children Mikey, Benny, and Lily. Congratulations.
[Applause] Ryan's uh been here for how long now? Seven years. And I remember when he first got hired. And uh he has become a great addition to the police department.
He is a excellent leader and well respected by everybody and uh he's going to be a good addition to the supervisory corp. Sergeant John Roth. [Music] [Music]
Sergeant John Roth grew up in Lacy Township. John graduated from Lacy High School in 2006 where he was a four-year varsity wrestler and a three-year varsity football player. Immediately after high school, John began his law enforcement career with the Seaside Heights Police Department as a class one
officer. In May 2007, he graduated from the Ocean County Police Academy basic class 88 and continued serving as a class 2 officer in Seaside Heights. In October 2007, John enlisted in United States Marine Corps Reserves as a motor
transporter operator. He was deployed to Iraq in 2009 and further volunteered to extend his service with the deployment to Afghanistan. After completing his deployments in 2010, John returned to Seaside Heights, continuing his service as a class 2
officer until 2012. In September of 2012, John was hired by the Ocean County Sheriff's Department and attended the Ocean County Police Academy for class number 95. From 2014 to 2016, he was assigned to the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office narcotics strike
force. John joined the Jackson Township Police Department in 2016 where he currently serves as a patrolman for the Alpha Dayshift. His service has been recognized with multiple awards including the 2019 Kimberly Smith Ames DWI Prevention Award for Ocean County,
the MAD DWI Award, and the Ocean County Mental Health Advocate Award for the Ocean County Department of Human Services. In addition to his patrol duties, Officer Roth is actively involved in a range of specialized programs and initiatives. He's a member of the department's special response
team, the department's FTO program, participates in the Ocean County crisis intervention training, the police resiliency program, and the veterans diversion program through the prosecutor's office. He also serves as a defensive tactics instructor at both the Ocean County Police Academy and within
the Jackson Police Department. Upon his promotion, uh, John, well, I'm sorry. John is highly respected amongst his peers with and no doubt will be successful supervisor. Outside of his professional life, John is happily married to his wife of six years, Jamie, and a proud
father to their four-year-old daughter, Emerson Ray. He enjoys spending time with family and friends, going to the beach, reading Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and listening to podcasts. Congratulations,
[Applause] John's also one of those people that uh everybody turns to. Um he holds everything in confidentiality. Um he is a great resource for when we have
stressful calls, people come to him and talk to him. Um, I admire him for all the work he does with CIT and the veterans and he will be another great addition to the supervisory staff here. Congratulations.
[Applause] If the families want to come up This isn't her big moment. I state your name. I John Ryan Glattus domly swear that I will support the
Constitution of the United States. I do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey. I will bear true faith and algiance to the state. And I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same
established in this and the government established in this day the United States under the authority of the people and justly that I will do it a little less a little less
under the authority of the people. under authority. And I will faithfully and partially and justly I will faithfully and justly perform all the duties as sergeant perform all the duties as sergeant for the township of Jackson
for the township of Jackson according to my ability. So help me God. Congratulations. We're going to come down and take pictures with them. Gotcha. Yep. Thank you.
Yep. Perfect. Ready. One, two, three. Outstanding. Thank you very much. Anybody want to miss me today? I control everything. Be nice. I did. Council President, could we take council
president three minutes? Jen, five minutes. Everyone, we're going to take a five minute break for the police and then anybody that would like to leave, we will not be offended. We'll get we're going to start the meeting again in five minutes. Christian, do you want to put a
clock up there? Thank you, sir. Hey, what's up? I don't know. All right, Christian, you are up. So, you can't close the door. No, you can't. It has to be open
session. It has to be open to the public. Thank you all. We're back into session. I apologize for the outside. Um hopefully they moved down a little bit. We were totally not on We were told to not be the end.
No, for now let's leave it. I'll keep we'll keep it open. All right. So, we're going to keep the door open. Um, we now have a presentation on our SDL platform by our very own IT department head, Christian David. Hi.
While he does that, I'm just going to kind of push them down. Go ahead. Good evening. Um, all right. Uh, we're going to talk about the SDL portal for tonight. Um, up on the screen is the direct URL for
it. And on our website, the main page, there will be several ways to get to it. There's a search button, search box that you can
type in SDL portal. And it will bring you to my bad again. All right. Obviously, Christian, while you're going through that, can I ask a couple questions? Hold on. Yes. Go ahead. Okay. So, why don't we just that way?
So, in essence, if if I'm I have a problem as we're going into this ordinance with a neighbor and I think it's a rental and I think maybe they don't it's not the landlord's not registered. Am I going to be able to go on this portal, put in the address as a resident and look up or if there's construction going on, am I able to pull
up this portal and see if they have their permits um into the township into each department? So in essence the building department zoning code enforcement at the moment the um property maintenance is not up the property maintenance which what do
you mean with the um for the code enforcements for landlord registrations for landlord registration? Yeah it's not up yet. Okay. When do we anticipate that to be up? Uh hopefully next month. Okay. Thank you sir.
So, in essence, what I'm asking is a lot of questions that we get is concerns about uh properties that are, you know, not being maintained. Are there landlords there? Are there tenants there? So, we get the emails in and when I get them, I know we forward them to code enforcement, but a lot of people ask the questions and and there's a lot
of Opas. So, we get I don't know, we're up to like how many? 800 over over a thousand. Okay. We're over a thousand Opas. So, a lot of this is to try to get everybody wants instant, you know, answers right away. So, this portal will allow you to go put in an address and see if the property that you're concerned about if
they did pull their permits, what permits they pulled. So, we want to just make sure for transparency to let you guys know that this information is out there. The clerks can do it for you, but you also can do it for yourself. So, if you have um concerns or anything like that, we're just showing you how you can utilize and it's free. So, you I have
the app on my phone. I have two of them. I have the township and I have it um obviously it's known I have a real estate broker's license. This is how I do my due diligence when I go to a home to make sure when they had to have their um what permits they pulled, what permits they didn't because I'm sorry,
but not everybody is very transparent and they might say, "Oh, no, we got permits for everything." And next thing you know, there's no permits done and you have to start the process at the end of the day. So, it is very, very great information that everybody can use and we'll answer a lot of questions and then if you find something, you can email us.
You're more than happy to email me. I I'll I check my emails all day and I'll forward it to code or you can send it directly to code. But if you send it right to uh code, I would ask that you CC the business administrator or myself or anybody on council and we'd be more than happy to make sure that your questions get answered. Christian, I am sorry. Go ahead.
Not a problem. All right. On the portal, um you have to um create an account to to get to this screen right here. Um, also when you search, do not hit the permit unless you know the permit number. So, uh, we're just going
to search 94. All right. On this portal, uh, you can see the, uh, the pictures of the property and they hide the the name of the owner for privacy purposes. the assessed value of the uh the property.
And underneath that, you'll be have they will have construction applications. And if you're nosy enough to to want to know what's going on on that permit, you can click on it
and it will give you all the details. Well, obviously not on this one. details what they did on the uh permit and also they have inspections if they failed they pass
and uh ongoing applications and if they have violations zoning applications is here as well and soon the uh the property maintenance will be here hopefully
Um, that's basically it. We also have uh I'm sorry, we also have uh uh an application for um Android phones or Android tablets. It
can be downloaded from our from our website and on people that are using iPhones or any iPad, you can download it from the uh Apple App Store. Good.
Thank you, sir. I appreciate it. So, anybody has any additional questions or you can't find the app, email me. I actually have it saved on my computer because I've gotten multiple people that have called me and asked for it. Council, any questions? If I could just ask a quick question. um just to better better understand I think
it's just for the public. So the town um I think under the previous business administrator purchased SDL program. Do we do we know what year we purchased the program? I don't I think I've been say that again. What year we got program? We got it three years ago.
Okay. So there's three years ago and it's an ongoing I think effort from what I understand getting each department to understand the system to figure out how to upload this the information. Um, I think one of the goals that we're hoping that with this is it will cut back on some of the need for some of the Opas
because people all the time are are constantly doing Opras and making requests for wanting to know if their neighbor or anything. So, this should cut back on the Opras. Um, even so, it keeps it it keeps the residents informed about what's going on in their neighborhood. You want to know what's going on. We all want to know. I think by one of our council meetings
recently, one of some I don't remember it might have been Mr. the pomeary brought up a property um it might have been by one of our meetings behind in the back um about a property that we just were concerned if there there were permits pulled off. That was when the story I had told in um Oakley Hill. They were concerned because their neighbor took the house three lots
down and brought it down the street and attached it to the other house right there. And they said there's no way in any way that there's permits or anything done. And I went on SDL. I picked up my phone and I said it was approved. It's got permits. It may not be pretty, but
it got it got permits. So, that was the end of that. And council president, if anyone has any questions, could they reach out to it? Um, no, they should reach out directly. They would I would say reach out to the administration or reach out to council. I don't want to and we'll forward it to and we'll forward it and get your answers.
Okay. I mean, you can email them, I'm sure, but I don't I wouldn't call them. He might not be happy about that because it's very very easy. It's a very very It's a friendly using. Type in any address and it pops up. Tom's River uses it. We have
it. We're not the only town. Um it's very user friendly. I I I don't think anybody will have it. You don't need to know lots. You don't need to know blocks. You just need to know how to spell the street address and it'll pop right up. Okay. Thank you, Council President. Yes, sir. Yes, Councilman. I guess like if any
neighbor resident has a concern Oh, if any resident has a concern of maybe uh illegal activity going on or Well, it's not going to or safety concerns for structure. No, even though so let's go back. It's a
permit process and it's it's the DNA of the house. It's what's going on with the house. So, if you have a neighbor that's putting up an addition, okay, you could go on this app and you can see from the building department, did they get their electric electric? Did they get their plumbing? Did they do all this? Did they pass? Did they fail? Is it getting
rescheduled? It's not to say, you know, you're not going to go, you can't put a violation on a house on Is there a number they can contact? So, code enforcement, that's what code enforcement's job is to do, is to go ahead. Now, what's supposed to be happening, and I'm not I'm not picking on code enforcement. Please do not like
take that. saying what they could do is they have they all have iPads. They can go to the properties if they get a violation. They can do everything from their iPad. They can take the pictures. They can upload it on the on SDL and you as a neighbor can know and and know that your thing is being addressed. The violation goes on there. They have 10
days to do what's called a bait, which means correct the issue. If they don't, they're supposed to get a summon and you should be able to see all of this on this website. So then you will know, you will be an informed neighbor and you can say, you know what, I'm at least my answer, my question and my concern has
been addressed and you can feel and then the people know that they're being held accountable. That's the problem is there's no accountability. So when something happens and they you come out and we get a concern, if you don't get followed up with, people get upset and they're like, "Nobody cares." And I hear it. You know, I'm I'm I try to answer
every single email and I know this council right here cares and we do are trying to answer everything. We're trying to address it, but you know what? we're we're we're we're late. You know, this it's only three years and it really needs to be utilized to the fullest. So, um that's why we are having these presentations and that's why we're here
tonight and that's why these questions and that's why the BA and I did that announcement this morning because administration and council is working together to get this up and running and to answer everybody's questions pertaining to what's going on in your neighborhoods. I hope that answered you.
Thank you. And just to add, our BA is very familiar with SDL. Correct. Familiar. We're all going to be, you know, we're going to know no ends. Anything else, Councilman? No, that's it. Nope. Thank you. Thanks, Christian.
Thank you, Christian, so much. We appreciate it. We'll have you back next meeting. Okay. So, next next up is um we have council questions and answer session with Sean Bolinsky. He is our supervisor of department of public works. Sean, if
you could please come up. How you guys doing? Hello. Hello. Good. How you going? Yep. All right. All right. So, I'm Sean Bolinsky, assistant supervisor of public works. I stand before you not only as a representative of our hardworking
municipal team, but also a concerned member of this community who wants to see our township continue to thrive. As many of you know, our town has grown significantly over the past few years with new neighbors, expanded roads, more parks, and increased public use in every corner of our shared space. With that
growth becomes a greater responsibility to ensure the towns the town remains clean, safe, and functional for every resident year round. However, the reality we are currently facing is that our staffing levels have not kept pace with the town's expansion. The number of employees responsible for
scheduled leaf bulk and brush collections, maintaining roads, caring for our township's parks, and responding to residents concerned has remained largely the same. Despite the increasing demand, every day presents a challenge as I try to balance scheduled vacations and sick
call outs within our team. We do. Do do we prioritize fixing potholes, clearing storm drains? Can we mow all the township basins or will one have to wait till next week? This is not due to lack of dedication. Our crews work tirelessly. But dedication alone cannot overcome the
overwhelming workload. This situation not only affects the appearance and livability in our town, it also poses long-term risks. Delayed maintenance leads to more costly repairs, overworked staff, or more prone to injury, burnout, and errors. Most importantly, the quality of services our
residents expect and deserve begins to erode. I'm requesting council. I'm requesting from administration and council and authorizing the hire of additional employees. This is not an ask for luxury. It's a request rooted in necessity and a vision for a better
managed team. Hiring more staff will allow us to respond more quickly to public needs, maintain higher standards across our township, and preserve the assets we've invested in long term. Our commitment to safety and service remains strong. We owe it to our residents to
ensure that our staffing levels align with the growth of the town. Thank you, Mr. Valinsky. I I just wanted to do a little I had a little opening statement. Um I just wanted to say Mr. Valinsky as a supervisor of uh department of public works. We are grateful for the dedication that Mr.
Valinsky and his team bring to their work not only in the maintaining of our public infrastructure but also in overseeing the recreation department and the senior center as we enter as we enter the question and answer portion of this meeting. The council will be addressing various aspects of the
day-to-day operations within the department of public works. Mr. uh Blinsky as he's just provided what kind of is his day-to-day operations. the council um asked him to come in and he graciously did as we've been doing with a lot of the departments kind of getting a Q&A and it's just to kind of see what
they're doing in the dayto-day and to see if council can get any has any questions. Um I've prepared mine but um I don't know if you guys if anybody has any I don't want to you know I have a question. You have questions. Okay. So question you want to just go down we'll go down
the down the row. How you doing? I had many many many years involved with public works and understand it totally and respect it all and know many of the guys there. No problem with that. I have a question and I'm not I probably agree with you the
level of employees you need or are short of whichever way you want to put it. If you were to get more employees, how are we matched up with equipment? Do you have enough equipment? Is equipment sitting idle now because you don't have enough employees? What would be the balance if you get more employees? Uh equipment wise has been getting better
the past couple of years. You know, administration has been approving multiple capital requests over the past two years. Uh there's always room for more additions. Uh right now there is some equipment that sits stagnant because in order to stay on track with our scheduled bulk and leaf collections.
I can't, you know, like right now it takes between 12, sometimes 15, you know, five crews to keep up with the bulk. I can't cut grass. I can't run street sweepers. I can't run a jetack crew. you know, we don't have uh the employees. So, you have the equipment and if you had more employees, you can diversify
them to other other jobs. Correct. I have one other question just out of curiosity. I know we're sitting out here in almost 100 degrees today, but I'm just curious. Do you still have the Brian tanks for the winter that are ready to go? Are we still using the Brian? Yes. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you.
Mr. Bolinsky, you mentioned needing additional employees. What would that number look like? How many would you do you feel you need to properly staff your department? Uh 10 at a minimum would be a good start. How many do you need?
I mean, this is why you're here. So, we want to, you know, we have the new that I have. If I had another 20 guys, we could, you know, do a lot better. Okay. A lot better. So, 10 would be your your low number. 20 would be your optimal. Correct. You know, and that's across streets and roads and buildings and
grounds. you know, we could bring back cutting our own grass. We wouldn't have to outsource talking to the mic because I don't think we you're so you know, uh the more employees we have for streets and roads and buildings and grounds. We could eliminate outsourcing a lot of this work that we should be doing inhouse in my opinion, such as grass, you had said. Yep. Yep. And then in the winter time,
you know, it would cut back on contracted snow work. It would, you know, save us money in the long run. I'd have these guys all year round. So, just to hit snow a little bit, do you recall? I know I do, but I just want to know to recall the amount of money
that we spent for 4 in of snow last year. Uh I'd have to look back. I could tell you it was a half a million dollar, but it's a costly uh it's a very costly half a million dollars. Yes, I did say that. Yes. For outsourcing, you know, and what we use compared to
neighboring towns is minimal. Okay. Very minimal. Yeah. Yeah. So, first of all, just a big thank you. Um I know your dedication. And I think on July 4th, there was an emergency on one of the roads. You were out there. The residents were shocked. I got multiple emails. So, thank you very
much. We appreciate that. I know there was a flood. I think was on Brookwood Parkway last Sunday, I think, or two Sundays ago, it might have been, where a car got stuck when the PD and the fire department were out there and you sent immediately sent out your team. So, we appreciate that. Um, I was just going to
jump into into snow for a second. I know it's a conversation I had with the former business administrator and um I think it will be an ongoing conversation. Do you have the numbers? I don't need them for today, but if you can over the next couple days, get it to us. I know you did some data in comparison to some of our neighboring
towns um of what we how many men and women we had on the on the roads in house, how many we had out, you know, outsourced during the during a snowstorm in comparison to some of our neighboring towns. So, we could just and obviously every town is different. Um but to better understand, you know, sometimes
you travel on one on county roads, sometimes they're clean, sometimes they're not. and just a better understanding of what what current staffing we have. And then um so if we can get some of that data, I think that'd be important. No problem. Um and then um part of that question also is if we
could just how many um members are part of the whole DPW team right now? I have 25 streets and roads employees, six mechanics, and 14 buildings and grounds employees. Okay. That's including nighttime cleaners. Cleaners during the daytime. that streets and roads employees also
includes the people that are designated to the compost site and the transfer station. So on a given day I have maybe around 19 guys men and women to do what we got to do. I I I know I used to have this conversation with Councilman Sergeant um and I hear Mr. Breastian side over here.
Um what was the highest Jackson ever had? Are we lower than we used to be? Yeah. Yes. Significantly. How many roles do you c cover? had uh we had more employees when I started 19 years ago than we do now. Yeah. Um that's for sure. Okay. I couldn't get you. I can probably look
it up, talk to some old time. Okay. And I guess part of my question also is knowing our roads and knowing some of our infrastructure here in Jackson. Um if we could also have similar to asked about snow in comparison to some of the other towns. Oh yeah, I definitely I'll get you the data this week. You know, perfect. Speak to multiple and I think the conversation I've had
with the mayor multiple times and I think mayor and council are in agreement is we do need a five-year plan. in our town is growing and we need to really develop a five. We're not going to get everything overnight. I wish we could. Um we don't have a a blank checkbook, but I think it's important to start developing the five-year plan. Making
sure we're going to uh I'm going to grow outgrow the property, our facility. You know, the building that we built years ago just to capital requests from last year and the year before. I'm already running out of space. You know, we're going to outgrow that facility 100%. You
know, even with the cops and the PD, our guys, our mechanics servicing the PD fleet, they have more vehicles than, you know, it's it's a lot for a little shop for your shop that you're in now. Mhm. All right. So, I just have a couple things I want to I have an invoice here.
I believe was from bulk um and is it was for last month alone $46,980.35. Yeah, that's um it's almost double. We're toward the end of our bulk collection. We've went through zone 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3. We're into zone two and
one now. Just wrapping up. We have few more uh senior private communities to take care of next week, but um it was significantly higher. That that cost is also the transfer station dumping fees as well, but the bulk has been an issue
the past two zones. So my thing is is can we maybe sit when when you sit with the BA can we look at a plan to kind of get these my thing is with the fees with $500,000 in for 4 inches of snow you're saying we have $100,000 for bulk you
have you're 20 less on employees I'm saying if we can hire more employees and we can hire more equipment and we can do more inhouse I think the longevity in the long run we will save a lot of money and it is it's a 5-year plan the bulk collection is out of control
right now, especially we're going into zone one. We're just finishing up. It's, you know, I share pictures with everybody. It's it's something, you know, and then we, my guys, we're putting tags out. We're trying to notify the residents, but we can't really spend all day explaining to every person because,
you know, to keep on schedule, we got to keep moving. So, we have door hangers. They fill out the, you know, the reason the pile was left behind. The residents can bring it to the transfer station themselves. They could, you know, but it's not meant for house cleanouts. uh renovations, none of that stuff. You
know, it's not some furniture. It's one thing, but we're running into piles of, you know, that could fill a 20 yard dumpster. No, I've seen it. I've seen it. Okay. So, that's something that that was definitely concerning. And then once you put those tags out, what does it do? It goes to code enforcement to
So, I'll compile a list. We'll give the residents, you know, I try to give them like a week to clean it up. some residents don't have the means to, you know, so it was sitting around for a little while, but we put out uh 55 tagged violations in zone 2. Okay. And this is two weeks later and there's
probably only like four piles left. So the res Yeah. The residents found a way to to get rid of it. They went to they went to Don Connor and threw it out, you know, but 46 or 49,000 for one month for both is a month. That's what that's what was
my concern with um the recent developments of new parks around town. We're putting a lot of money into parks and recreations. I'm just going to use Woodlane Park for an example. We just put Pickle Ball out there. We just put a brand new park um before the the locks were even open. It was vandalized.
Um I know that I worked with the Jackson Police Department, Director Candido um and the officer that he had put out there. I went to It's my neighborhood. So, I went um and asked people to look at their Ring cameras and we did they did find some. I don't know if they caught them. I don't know the thing. But
the thing is we're putting a lot of money and we have a recreation committee. One of our members is here now. Um and we're planning on going and you know rejuvenating a lot of these parks, Camp Joy, um the 527 on on West Veterans. Before we go and and we're spending all this open space money and
we're doing this, what is the plan to stop the vandalism? I mean, this was like it wasn't even a day and there was dirt bikes and quads through the $120,000 pickle ball court. Like, what? And that falls under your purview to to protect.
Yes. So, uh, we're going to get cameras. The same thing we did at the Justice Complex. We had problems there the past two years with the bathrooms getting vandalized. We installed cameras last year and it's knocked it down. You know, we might have only had two or three instances since last year. Okay. So, uh,
we met with it and a camera company out there two weeks ago. We're just waiting on proposal for camera installation. Anywhere we're going to be doing these large park improvements, we're going to try to get eyes on be connected right to PD to PD. That's what my question. So, we urge any residents that witness
this to call Jackson Police Department right away and um, you know, let them do their part and submit if anybody has, you know, we we don't want vandalism. We don't want to spend this money and do that. Thank you so much. So my next question, there's been discussions around the food
pantry um being removed from your building particularly concerning that there was a rat infestation um issue. Can you clarify if you have any previous alert the if you alerted the former um business administrators about this issue um and how it is
reflected um the suit like how you can how your how your building's doing after this please. So, uh, regarding the food pantry and the building issues, the food pantry's relocation from our building was a complicated situation. We could not treat the rat infestation properly until all the food was removed from the
building. I communicated these concerns with administration to ensure they were promptly addressed. This building is not suited for such purpose. The pantry has been moved to a better equipped facility to support its cause without compromising the health and safety of all involved. Um, just to sum it up,
that building was built in 1960. With all the food in there, they found their way. We couldn't properly treat the rats until we removed the food and it's been corrected. Yep. Yep. It's all been corrected. No more rats running around. No, no, no, no more rats. We had a
company. I mean, it was I had a girl. She's like, I'm eating lunch and there's a rat running over my head. I'm like, we had a company come in. They removed all the walls. We took all the insulation. They cleaned. You know, we So, we're good. Yeah. They're all gone. All right. I have one more question and then I will not keep you any longer.
as the town continues to grow. So, Councilman Bernstein went into the five-year plan. That is really what we're at. We're we're with our new BA. He really seemed engaged in the department heads. I've heard great things about the meetings that are going on with the department heads. The five-year plan. What's the five-year plan for the public works um to
accommodate the growth that we're experiencing and what can this council do um to help you support and implement your plan? All right. So, um, our five-year plan for DPW, as our town continues to grow, my plan includes not only addressing
infrastructure needs, but our overall service capacity. This includes investing in staff training, upgrading equipment, and improving technology systems to streamline operations. I believe that the council can assist by advocating for the appropriate funding and resources, facilitating community
involvement in the planning process, and helping to prioritize projects based on the community's needs. Okay. So, we will do that and I guess the 20 employees would be the first step in doing that, right? It's gonna come down to staff. That's it's going to come down to staff. I think that's what if we have,
you know, the equipment has been being replaced the past couple years and uh just need some more people. So, if you have 20 just let's just say 20 people walk through 20 people from this room say, you know what, Mr. Vinsky, you're awesome. I want to come work with you. You get 20 employees. Well, they have what's it going to cost the town for vehicles? Do they have
vehicles? Do they have staffing? Do they have a place to go? You have a spot for them. We'll cross that bridge when we get there. Okay. I don't want to hold you to it. That's all I have. I don't know. We got plenty of work around town. You know, it's a large town. There's Well, it's I was gonna get into that where it's 104 mile town and we have,
you know, core services that we really would like to I mean, if you compare us to neighboring towns, we're minimal. If you compare our contracted Snowhelp, we're not even They double us with just DPW employees. Okay. And they also subcontract like you
wouldn't believe. It's it's a thing we have to do because you know our guys can only work so long. No, I know the town it takes a while to clean the town. Even three inches of snow. Okay. Mr. Binsky, thanks for being here tonight. No problem. Answering your question. Oh jeez. Yeah, it's on. Can't hear you.
Thank you for being here tonight and answering uh our questions and all that. The 20 the I guess that's the number that you had mentioned. Is that 20 full-time or is some of the 20 seasonal? No, full-time. It would be full-time position. retirement employees
and I know like Councilman Vice President Bernstein mentioned the 5-year plan the 20 um where would they be doing like what kind of work would they be doing or is that something that would be you know every everywhere you look there's something to do yeah there's always okay we should be doing a lot more than what
we are doing you know right now we're we're getting by staying on track where we need to be but we could improve on all aspects of well I just want to commend you for staying on track with being under staff by 20 employees. No, seriously. I mean, and and it is it's you do you do see,
you know, he's newly new department head and you do have we do get a lot of positive feedback regarding your department. So, thank you, council. On a five-year plan and you're talking 20 people, um I want to make sure we see in there the what you need to get them
trained enough to staff with the proper licenses and stuff has to accompany that. Yes. People that can't do certain things because they don't have to watch that. You know, you have to get that, too. That's great. A great point. We have in-house CDL trainer. You know, we had a handful of younger new hires over the
past two years that just recently obtained our CD their CDLs. We train inhouse. He's um I think he's six for six with the people he's trained. So, um you know, we got to train them. That's You put 20 in there that can't get the training, then you're kind of blowing
away. We got we got plenty of seasoned guys that can train them. Don't worry. I could just ask one more question quickly. Um I I had this conversation um I think it was with the mayor about 6 months ago pertaining to um it's great hiring employees, but we want to retain the employees. Um part of I guess just
getting a better picture is our pay comparable to other DPWs in surrounding towns. It it's gotten better to pass contract that the TWW you guys just settled, but um that's something I'd have to look into and get back to you because obviously it's great to hire 20, but if you're going to hire them, train them, and six months later, they're out.
Agreed. Okay. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Nothing else. Thank you. If you'd like to stay, you can go. Whatever you like to do. Thank you. Next item on the agenda is our ordinances. First reading and introduction of ordinance 2025-24
amending and supplementing chapter 103 entitled vehicles and traffic article 14 schedules. Council President Cune are there any comments on ordinance 202524? Yes ma'am. So, this ordinance is for no parking, standing uh stopping or standing in order to add the following
roadway schedule A Pittney Lane, which shall be located at the west side from the southernly curb line of South Cooksbridge Road to the point of 980 ft south thereof. So, no parking on one side of the road.
Any other questions by Township Council? It's just first reading. Okay. May I have a motion to approve ordinance 202524 on reading and introduction to authorize the notice of the public hearing to be held on July 22nd, 2025. Motion moved.
Second. Councilman Belli, yes. Councilman Paul Mary, yes. Councilman Breie, yes. Council Vice President Bernstein, yes. And just a quick thank you to everyone involved because I know that part of the process that was necessary before the school year begins was to get
the work done. we can can't get the work done if we don't have the no parking um ordinance in place. So, yes. Great. And council president Cune. Yes. Next item of business is first reading and introduction of ordinance 2025-25
amending chapter 245 landlord registration and responsibility article 1 landlord registration. Council President Cune, any comments on ordinance 20 2525? Yes, I already read the amendments in there. I just wanted to um add a couple
more statements. So, this ordinance is not going to be under the code enforcement. I want to make sure that that's clear. That was said at the last uh council meeting and I 100% meant it. So, we created a name. It's going to be the Bureau of Rental Housing Inspections
and there's going to be um a rental housing coordinator. So, there's going to be two coordinators. They're going to have one admin. And the best thing about this is it's self-funded by the landlords. The taxpayers are not paying for this. So what it is, we're raising it $100. That $100 is going to go to its
own line, to its own department with 3,000 rentals. We'll have $300,000. Figure you make $70,000 each code for or not code enforcement. I got to get that word out of my mouth. Each of these coordinators, they'll have, you know, their own vehicles paid by the landlords. They can go and they can do
their job. And this is going to be their sole job. So you have a pool that you think is being illegally done. you have any property that's being you think that's illegally rented, this will be their sole job. In order to set it up, as you had heard in the introduction with SDL, we have to get this department, we have to get them on, we
have to get them trained, as Mr. Bolinsky said, even with his people, and get them ready to go to work and this is all they are going to do. So, we are super excited. I know everybody says, "I've been working on this for a year." I've been working on this for a year and a half. It started with the traffic um ordinance that we did with the no
parking at the stop signs. Then it started with the changing of the um landlord registration. Yes, I've changed it four times because you have to update it as the town is growing. This is something that went I met with our judge and I asked him because I was told and I'm just going to be honest with you, code enforcement told me, I'll never get
this done. You're not going to be able to do it. And I have the emails and I've had the rejections that I've gotten from administration and I said I will get it done. I will work with my council. My council will support me and a year and a half later it's here. I'm super proud of it. I think it's the second, if not the
best, ordinance that I've been involved with since I've been on council. And it's 5 years late, but at least it's here now. And I'm glad that the council is so supportive of it. So, I'm looking forward to it. Thank you. May I have a motion to approve ordinance 2025-25
on first reading and introduction to authorize the notice of the public hearing to be held on July 22nd, 2025? Motion. Second. Councilman Brellley. Yes. Councilman Breie, yes. Councilman Paul Mary, yes. Council Vice President Bernstein,
yes. And again, I just really want to thank all my colleagues. Um, I really want to thank a lot of residents throughout all parts of Jackson for reaching out over the past, I would say, nine months to almost a year about some of these issues. We see it. Um, I see it in my neighborhood. And I think that really the beauty of this ordinance is
that these men and women who ever get hired by this department, this is their only job. So there's not going to be focusing on other issues in town. So, when this is really their only job and they have a quota, I'm just going to say, let's say there's 3,000 houses and it gets divided into a monthly rotation
and they're going to be expected, their job is to get to 25 or 15, whatever that number is a day. Um, this is what they're going to be doing. And obviously, they're going to have the the quasi police powers of a code officer to be able to write the summons if the house is being utilized by more than one
family when you're not allowed to be used by more than one family. So, um, I support this. I'm very happy and I I've already gotten messages on my phone asking for surrounding towns um if how they can copy this. So kudos to everyone here and yes yes thank you council president Keune. Yes I
just wanted to add to that if I want everybody to look at it because you will see everybody's got here there's red lines on it. So I went over the weekend and um I actually did the monthly inspection schedule for the team that's coming in. So there's no ifands or buts of when you your your property is going
to get scheduled. So, um, it really is laid out very nicely and I thank you all and yes, I honestly support it. Motion approved. Next item of business is the payment and authorization of bills and claims. I'd like to note the following abstensions. Abstensions
include include Councilman Blli AE T01, DEL01, NJS13, STA76, and TR35. Also, Council President Cune RCS02,
are there any questions or comments by Township Council? Yes, I have a comment regarding a um a a payment that was submitted. Um I'm just going to say the the the chief of police had submitted a payment um pertaining to $108. And I was going to
pull it off and I was going to reject it because it was for a toll in Delaware. Um $4 to go there, $4 to come back, but we were charged. he put in for $108 reimbursement. Um, director Candido, if you could just come up and explain, um,
this is just another part of why we have the director Candido, um, the public safety director, it put in for $108, and I know it's a $108 and this and that, but still it's $108 that the township didn't need to pay. Uh, can you elaborate on that? Um, yeah, I I received those penalties
and I looked into it and I called Delaware and I called our easy pass in New Jersey. Long and short of the story is we have an account. All our vehicles are registered through that account. Problem was the chief let that account go to zero. So once it went to zero,
they no longer build us and then we got hit with the penalty. Um when we go out of state instate, we don't get charged our vehicles going through the tolls. Um once we go out of state or actually the AC expressway charges us too. I don't know why.
Um, but uh when we go out of state, we get charged, but if there's no money in the account, then it goes automatic penalty. Um, I gave those bills to him to deal with and rectify. Um, but I took over the easy pass account,
so it won't happen in the future. I I did I did question it and the response I got back was I tried to fight the administration fees. So, I'm just going to say, you know, I had this once. I mean, back when easy pass started. Um, I couldn't find my easy pass in my car or whatever, so I got an administration. I
went through. I called them. They waved the fee. Like, it was like, "Oh, I couldn't get out." Um, his hair is being denied, so I'm taking it's a habitual offender kind of thing because if you keep doing something, eventually they're going to say, "Um, it's not the first time. My understanding that this has happened, but you've taken it over. So, we're
going to I'm not gonna I'm I'm just Currently, there's $468 in the account." Okay. Thank you, sir. That's all. I just I just wanted to bring that to light. Uh, yes. everything else. May I have a motion to approve the bills and claims with the abstensions noted?
Motion. Motion. Second. Council member Elli abstaining on those bill vendor numbers you mentioned. Um yes to the rest on there bills and claims. Councilman Bresie. Yes. Councilman Paul Mary. Yes.
Council Vice President Bernstein. Yes. And Council President Cune. Yes. Motion approved. All right, council president. Any comments on the consent agenda? No, ma'am. All righty. Next item on the agenda is consent agenda. Listed for tonight's
consideration are resolutions 235 through 247 2025 listed by title. Any questions or comments by township council? No, ma'am. Okay. May I have a motion to authorize the consent agenda resolutions 235
through 247 2025? Do we want to council president if I can throw for a Do you want to ask anyone from the public wants to come up and remove anything? Oh, is that what? Hi. Sorry. This is new. It's We were supposed to be doing it for 100 years, but we never did. Your head over there. Thank you. So, would anybody like anything removed
in us to discuss from the consent agenda? If you would please let me know now and I will we will start talking about it. Good. Okay. I Thank you, sir. Thank you for reminding me. That's I'm so happy. I wonder if you can come. I saw him shaking his head over there.
Thank you. So, may I have a motion to authorize consent agenda? Motion. Second. Councilman Belli, yes. Councilman Bresie, yes. Councilman Paul Mary, yes. Council Vice President Bernstein, yes. And Council President Keon,
yes. Motion approved. At this time, if any member of the public has any comments to make, please address the council at the microphone and state your name and address clearly for the record. You will have five minutes and may only speak once. May I have a motion to open public comment?
Motion to open. Second. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Yes. Come up to the mic and just say uh your name and your address, please. Absolutely. My name is Adam Heidi. I live in Jackson, New Jersey. Um, I've
grew up here my whole entire life and um, I'm just speaking up on behalf of all the wildlife in town. Could you guys all look at me while I'm speaking, please? Thank you. Um, so I just, um, I'm a professional molecular scientist. I work in the research and development industry for the last five or six years
professionally. Um, more or less a biologist. So, I'm speaking from a biological standpoint. Um, do any of you guys know about the history of our town and the ecological preservation that took place back in the 16, 17, 1800s?
Can any of you guys name a single endangered species that's home to New Jersey, let alone Jackson? There's I know the snakes in the Pinelands. Close. Yes, a snake. But even those redheaded woodpeckers. Yeah,
a little more specific, brother. But yeah, there's a myat of species home native to our town that are endangered, concerned, threatened, and and also federally protected. So, just a reminder so we could save our taxpayers money and we don't want to be sued. But there are
federal environmental laws that mandate we do proper screenings, you know, ecological assessments when we go and develop what kind of what kind of animals or plant species are in this habitat. this waste management facility you guys are getting ready to create. Did we hire
the the change to the waste the we do we not have a plan to build a a water ma management facility two uh the 245- am I speaking out of my behind are you talking about the ordinance for the water the two
that's just one example yeah exactly just all of all of these these approved developments is there a biological process where we we go and assess and survey the land make sure because legally we have to, right? I it's granted it's it's hired by a
private it's a private company, right? But where are these ecological impact assessment reports and and aren't Yeah. And and shouldn't they be they should be presented to the public before these Right. I just want to make sure our town
is doing the the proper environmental things. Okay. Okay. I'm generally concerned. Um number two, I this is something that you guys can directly do, especially you, Miss You have the power. Just speed bumps, more lights, more signs. I don't care how much it impact if you've
noticed the traffic on all around town. We could we could afford another 5 seconds. Stop the clock real quick, please. Christian, can you just stop this clock? All right. So, speed I'm just going to stop and I'm going to talk and then I'm going to start it again because I I I hear you. And the speed bumps, it's it's
not that easy. So every time we get requests for speed bumps automatically we send it to traffic safety and we send it to the engineer the township engineer the township engineer evaluates it and he tells us whether we can or we can't. So it's a lot of the places the township he tells us we can't do it. Okay.
So it's not that we're not looking into it and if you have any is there an alternative I I absolutely understand they we're working on alternative I believe on Pittney they're doing if I can just answer. So I think every single road it depends on what the issue specific issues are. We just authorized we're doing speed calming measures on
Pney Lane. We're striping the road. There's nothing on Pittney Lane except residences. I'm speaking about places like Frank Applegate. I'm speaking about places like the clock again. Sorry. Let me just just speaking about places where we have wildlife refuges, right? Like Lake Eno
huge wildlife refuge. The butterfly bog. just butterfl just these places where there's a million obliterated deer, goose, swans. Like, have you not looked around our town and just seen dead animals everywhere? As a biologist, that literally breaks my heart. It
literally does. And you guys just keep approving We're council. We're not the planning board or the zoning board. Fine, but we can all You hear me, right? Yeah, I do. I hear And maybe this is my fault, too, cuz like I've been a resident here my whole life and I probably should have been stepping up a little sooner,
but now you hear me and you're going to see me every two weeks and I'm going to talk about the same thing, okay? And it's only about our environment and this has nothing to do with race, religion, color, has nothing to do with anything. I don't think it. It's just about our wildlife. That sound cool?
Thank you, sir. I look forward to it. And thank you. [Applause] I'm coming up early tonight. Jim Seleia Jackson. Um, last week, I guess the last meeting, we talked about the the budget not being out for the
people. Tonight, I'm going to be a little bit more specific in regards to the taxes. Uh, I believe at the last meeting, you said it was okay for them to send out estimated tax bills to the people. I don't think we've gotten them yet. They they did. I got an email and I sent it to the tax collector and she answers the question,
but they have been posted online. So, on the on the website, so I was I've been doing some research, as you guys know, I like to do my research before I come here. Um, some of the things that that just caught my eye is I I looked at my home and I saw my taxes are going up for
August 1 is going up almost $500. When in November I received from the planner that did the appra uh assessment values, it said in a year you're probably going to go up about $400. Now I'm going up $500 in one quarter.
What that tells me if I did my number math rate and I think I pretty good at math. So tells me that the budget is almost like 14% higher than it was last year. not having seen a budget. I can't tell you if that's true or not, but that's
the way the numbers kind of come out. Um, I can tell you one of one of the things that also surprised me is, as I said, I looked at my house and you you can actually look at just about any residential property, actually commercial property still on
the site. I did some punching in of some bad addresses just to see and lo and behold, I found a house that was assessed at a value less than my house or more than my house, but they're paying less in taxes.
The math doesn't add up. If your if your assessed value is higher than mine, you better be paying more than me in taxes. That's the way it works. I have you go out to the site. So again, because we don't have a budget and we're going with these estimates,
who knows what's being put out there for for the resident staff to pay. I'm going I I'll be perfectly honest with you. LA my my quarterly payment is going, as I said, it it was uh $1,600. It's now
going up to $2,94 August. If that's right, that's telling me my taxes are going up $2,000 for the year. All right. So, I'm just gonna And by the way, I said there's a house there's a house that's assessed at more
value than mine and is paying less taxes. I hate to tell you, it's somebody on that deas. Wait, can I may I ask Wait, let me just answer his question. So, I we got we got this question and I sent it to the tax collector and the tax assessor and her response was based on
your new assessment value of $883,600 using the estimated tax rate of 1.462, your yearly taxes are coming to $12,91823. Below is how we figured out the quarters. And then she gave him a breakdown and he was like, "Okay."
Because he thought the same thing. He thought his taxes were being doubled because he went and I guess he saw the same thing that you're looking at. He emailed me. I forwarded to the tax collector and she said that's not accurate. So what what's what's driving this quarter up because we don't have a budget. So we're waiting for
Exactly. And that's the problem that you guys need to correct sooner rather than later. Um Mr. McCruck, did I ask you to call the um the state today and to vote on the budget? So I understand. Uh, yes, Council President, you did. I
prepared a letter to send to DCA. It'll go out tomorrow. I I mean, to me, the residents of Jackson should just revolt and not pay taxes until you have a budget in place. Can I ask you what does your assessment go up to? Like, what was your value of your home and now what after?
My my home went from I forget if I still have it here. It it was 120% increase. I know that. Okay. So when it's 120% increase, and I believe when the CFO was here, she said the the per 100 is going down 50%.
Yeah. So I would think, okay, if I'm going up 120%, I would see a more than a 50% decrease, if I was going to stay even. So I already know since it only went down 50%, I'm going up 120%. I know my
taxes are going up. It's just simple math. Okay. But then to get a letter from professional appraisers, which I have right here, dated on November 12th, you're and it's based on the 2024 taxes uh the budget. So I understand that it
said my estimated annual taxes was $7,94.7. Well, if I take the 20 the 2,000 that I'm being charged in the first quarter, I come up to over 8,000, which is a 14% increase. That tells me the budget is
going up 14%. It's Thank you, sir. I We'll We're working on it. If you want to email me, I'll send it to the tax collector and get you the same answer that I've gotten the pre previous said people should not pay taxes until they have Thank you, sir. [Applause]
Hi, my name is Charles Noak. I live on Valley Road in Jackson. I've lived here over 40 years and I'm here to find out if there's an ordinance about cave being your trash cans out in the street.
I've called the code department and made a complaint and they said there is no code about that. There is no statute. There was no ordinance. Does anybody know if there is an ordinance about keeping your trash cans out in the street?
Could I stop for a second? I I got to take it nine years ago for putting my trash can out too early in when I first moved into town. So you there definitely is an ordinance. There's definitely an ordinance. Can do you have that email that you said they told you that there's Do you have the email that code enforcement told you
that there's no such ordinance? Yeah. Do you do you do you have the information that code told you that that ordinance does not exist? Well, I called somebody in code enforcement and they at first when I first called it went to voicemail and I called about a half hour
or 40 minutes minutes later. Uh they they called me they called back or I talked to them and and they uh said that there was no code or statute. Okay. So, you're the second person that's told me that that you've gotten that answer from code enforcement. I'm going to give you my email if you want
to wait. I'm going to give you my card and I'll give you and then just give me the address. Case in point, I know Lakewood Township has No, we an ordinance and the these Turns out these neighbors I have, they keep their cans out in the street 24/7.
Yeah. No, you can't do that. And it's not one can, it's two cans and it impedes the traffic. Yes. So, I will if you wait, I'll give you my card and or you could and I'll get that ordinance to you and I'll get the address and we'll we'll send it to code.
Thank you, sir. I appreciate you coming. There's definitely that. [Applause] Good evening. My name is Steve Ziggas. I live in Matita Con Lakes. Question. Well, let me let me back it up. I'm very
thankful that I'm here tonight because a week ago I drove from Jackson to Lakewood for a doctor's appointment. I I nearly lost my life twice. It is an absolute shambles driving that route to get out to Tom's River or Brick. There is no obeyance of the rules
of the road. It's every man for himself. There is animosity that's being built on a daily basis. If you turn into Facebook, and I take that with a grain of salt, you get a sense of the fact that we truly have two different towns within the one. I'm curious what the
leadership is doing to minimize the animosity and what appears to be not a hatred, but a a lack of knowledge and respect of each other so we can live in a community. Right now we're two separate groups of people with different agendas and it's it's getting ugly. I I
think I can say that quite openly. So what's the plan? What is the diversity plan to build a program where people can first learn about the other culture? I think that the the biggest issue is one of not understanding. If I don't understand your culture, I fear the culture and that's something that has to
be broken down brick by brick. It it's not easy. Mhm. So, has there been a thought driven in this direction or is it something we haven't really thought of yet? There is a 34 person multi multi- cultural committee that meets every
month. Um, we hear you. I believe me, I for one hear you. Um, I I you know, there's so much I call it fake book because there's so much horrible horrible uh information and and and and statements on there that just are not it's it's I don't even go on it anymore
because if I did it it's just if 10% of it was true, that's too much to that's too much itself. It it's not. So, I'm an open book. You can ask me in my council. We're all up here. We get we get brutally abused on social media every single day. My family
does. Um, every council member up here has experienced it. It's sad. Um, it's disheartening when you work so hard and you put so much into the town and you've loved the town. I've been here my life. Um, you know, councilman's been here 10 years. We've all been here. We're all along. It's it's it's it's hard. And there's
people, you have to see the the stuff that I get. Um, you know, they put nooes around my neck. Um, they they threaten me. They come to my house. They email me threats. It's it's really really um it's it's hard. But again, we go and we create a good ordinance and we go and
like people come and we find out that there's ordinances that are out there and we try to do the good for the residents. Um, but I I do agree with you. Um, and it's sad spots spots available on the inter what have you what have you called it? The council president is there spots
available for what? How do you get on that committee? Yeah, if you sir, if you would like, I'll make a spot. There's there we there's not they're not going to turn anybody away. If that's something that you would like to be in, absolutely. Please stay. I will give you my card as well. And I thank you for coming here and saying that because that takes a lot. Thank you.
Thank you, sir. If I could I want to add something. Absolutely. If I could just add to what the gentleman just said, I want to just say, you know, we can have all the committees in the world, and I think they're great, but hate or acceptance, peace, love, anger, that all starts at the home, in
your home, and what you teach your family. So, if you want to have be accepting, you need to lead by example. And I think everyone in town could could use some of that. Thank you, Councilman. I'll let Carlos speak. Oh, looking forward.
Go ahead. Carlos Martins. Carlos. I New Jersey. I didn't recognize you there. You didn't with the hat. The hat. Yeah. You threw me off. Um, I had a few things to talk about. I wasn't going to come up now, but I thought it was appropriate because of the multicultural committee. Yes. So, I was actually on that committee for
a little while. I was very enthusiastic about it. I thought, first, we have money. there's money there available and we had some people that that really wanted to make things happen and I think exactly right all we have to do is learn about each other that's all we have to do um unfortunately I think it's a
marial that the mayor hand controls that committee um so I I had to drop out because ineffectiveness stresses me out and so um I do encourage though to to to look into that whatever you can do as an
oversight uh to that committee and make it effective. They have the money and and and a little bit goes a long way. So, can we hold the clock for one second council? I just want to address one thing. Obviously, we have a new business administrator. Um, when the multicultural committee, just I I don't
know if you ever even met it yet. When the multicultural committee was was founded, it was founded out of litigation if I remember correctly. At that point, council was was recommended council cannot be part of it because of some of the litigation. I obvious I would just request if the business administrator could have a conversation with our attorney about possibly some I
don't know what oversight the DOJ and AG has over it but if there's any way that we could any of us could from council could be involved with it I think we would more than happy and and whatever ideas obviously we have a new BA with a new new vision new look and maybe you can use some of that vision to to try to
help address some of the concerns that have been brought up. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah, it really just needs structure and someone to because right now it's kind of a free-for-all and then nothing gets done. Okay. Um, so that was one. The other thing that came
up was the environment, that gentleman that came up and so we do have an environmental committee which I was going to complain about because it's been how many years and nothing is happening with that. And I think when Mr. Riker left then there was nobody. So another one the mayor. But now I
found out that we've put Mr. the Hudac um on that committee. That's a mayor. That's a mayor appointment. I know, but I didn't I don't need I don't know that he's on it or he's not on it. I think he is. I I just saw it from the PL. What was it? Anyway, that's good. We need some at
least somebody to start heading it. Um I also want to be involved in that, right? You want to be on that commit leadership? I don't think Mr. Martin could if you're on his own. I'm not sure if he could serve on there if he's on his own. We'll leave that to to the attorney. You can't. Oh, I'm sorry, sir. You can't.
Okay. Yeah. And we need you on zoning because it is important because one of the things they do is those reports. They give us, you know, reports to the zoning board and the planning board and um to look at the environmental impact of any new ordinance. Exactly what that gentleman was talking about, but we
haven't had that. Is he still here? Okay, that's too bad because that we could have put him on the environmental. Yes, he'll be back in two weeks if I think his friend is back there. if you want to let him know if he wants to submit to the citizen leadership form for environmental commission. Thank you, sir. We appreciate it.
Yeah. Anyway, yes. Okay. Um, he'd be perfect for it. So, he would not he'd be perfect for it. We need him. Um, good. Okay. So, now back to what I was going to talk about because I got distracted. I like the hat. I'm very proud of our board. What you
guys are doing now with this new ordinance, the uh 2025 that I clapped about. Great. Um the monthly reports for each each one of the um offices, right? So now you can track it. You can account them, right? We can see
um you know, are they efficient? Are they doing their jobs? You can know your oversight duties that you have. You can apply that to the oversight duties. That's perfect with Doge. Yes. Perfect. Thank you. Um so I applaud you guys. That's great. That's great. Thank you.
It's come every meeting. Okay. So now one more thing. So I think some of you are going to be disappointed. I have to I have to uh um sack that good, bad, and ugly. Yeah. Because it's just it takes too long. I
don't Five minutes is not enough. Okay. So now um I'm going into something that I call the Twilight Zone. Okay. So about eight years ago when I moved here, I never thought I was moving into the Twilight Zone, but at one of our last
meetings on the 24th, someone came up here, a self-proclaimed superhero, calls himself the dark guardian. And um and it's too bad that this dark guardian, the only thing he's dark about
is about the facts. and he comes here and this makes believe he knows anything first of all second gives no solutions puts stuff on Tik Tok that makes no sense it's a bunch of Harris Camela
Harris um word salads that's all it is with no solutions so one is I dare him to put this on Tik Tok two is he actually has there are some points points. He's making the issues
are I think correct issues, but he's got the facts behind those issues all wrong and he's got no solutions. And um so anyway, uh that's what I wanted to say and if and I dare him to put this on TikTok. Thank you, sir. Council President, before any other
resident, can Mr. Bre explain the environmental commission for a second? Absolutely. Please. Thank you. on the environmental commission be it the zoning board or the planning board the applications that required environmental impact statement is looked at. The environmental committee cannot
decline an application. They are advisory. How the planning board over the last many many years 20 plus how they've worked it. If the envi environmental committee came back without a finished statement yet, the applicant would have
to comply with if he comes back with no concern, they can continue with what they got approved for. It comes back with a concern they have to come back in front of us. So they are active and there is an environmental commission that does that along with the engineers looking at the endangered species and
reports on that also. Whenever you have a major size application you'll see that you'll get reports on endangered species be it plant snakes owls or whatever and wetlands. So that stuff is looked at on the individual applications. Thank you. So if I could just add to Mr. Breast
because I see Christian put it up on on on Thank you Christian. Our environmental commission has been missing staff. Mr. Riker no longer lives, my understanding, is no longer on that committee anymore. Um, and some of the other members haven't served in a while. And I think the mayor has been soliciting for probably over a year already people to
step up. There are certain trainings that people do need to take. They say there's training and there have been people who have stepped up and after going to one or two trainings have said this is not for me and stepped down. So if we have residents who are willing to get the training and put the time in, the town's willing to pay for the training and I think they would be able to serve on that committee. So thank you.
Thank you. Thank you, sir. Good evening. My name is Fred Bourbon and I'm a Jackson resident. After speaking to you, Mr. Bernstein, you informed me that the speech I had to make have five minutes, so I'm going to dummy it down. Okay.
You claim you answer email addresses. That's not true. I've sent you many, many of email addresses and the only person that ever responded to an email was that man sitting in between sitting right there, Mr. Bernstein. And I thank you very much, Mr. Bernstein. What I'm here to
talk about is this. Jackson, New Jersey, was a home to my wife for 20 years. And that's what made me move out here 20 years ago. And up until about five years ago when
COVID hit, I have a few friends of mine who do estates of the cleanouts and they used to bring me food and during that I saw people who couldn't get to grocery stores and were begging for food and I opened up my house as a food pantry to
over 25 of Jackson residents who couldn't get it. Now fast forward it. I work very close with the people at the Jackson Pantry to find out that the building was should have been condemned years ago by our
mayor who sits on his ass and does nothing. Okay. And passes the bucket. Joy, who runs the food pantry, who I will not advocate for because she can speak for herself, has told me, "Fred, I give up. I've spoken to the town council
and the mayor and I'm in between both of them. What do I do? I've had multiple and as I told Mr. Bernstein, over 50 families ask me, Fred, when the food pantry closed, what do I do for food? I
barely get food stamps. My question to the town council is, I understand very well that you've been talking to the board of education, but my question is, why is it always a temporary fix?
Why can't Jackson have a full-time food pantry run by Jackson itself? Not that you have to hope and pray that you get someone to run it. Now, I spoke to you about this
when you took my phone calls and you told me, "We don't want to have people going to a church or any religious establishment for a food pantry." Now, I got a question to ask you. When people talk about food, you don't hear them going to a police station, an EMS squad,
a fire department. They go to their local church. We have a church that's located in Jackson who has an open space for a food pantry. I have given people the information.
I've spoken to her and up until yesterday, nothing was being done. My second complaint is that app that you put up there earlier or that information you put up there earlier about people who can I guess
tell on their fellow neighbors. Does that uh also include land that has not yet been developed on? Because if not as a Jackson resident or I should say I'm sorry to say as a former Jackson resident because I am not living in
Jackson right now. I am in Barnagate. But with all the people that come to me in Jackson, my in-laws, my wife's family that come to me and say, "Fred, you've got to step up. You've got to be a mouthpiece for people who can't talk. And I am an advocate. I am not a
politician. I am an advocate. And I do hold you responsible. Yes, I do hold you responsible because you are not being honest. You do like to play past the bucket. and you've proven it to me over and over again. And the
only person I give respect to that council is that man right there because he's the only person that takes the time to get back to people. Whether you curse him out, yell at him, call him the ugliest goofball in the world, I give that man respect because he got on the
phone with me and said, "Mr. Burman, you might be a little rough around the collar, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt because you care about the Jackson people." And I do. I know what it is to grow up with food security. I know what it means to not have food on my table. So during COVID when people
knocked on my door, I could have said no, but I said, you know what, Fred, give that woman a loaf of bread. She can use it more than you can. And today to know that we're only at a temporary solution with the food pantry. What do you tell all those people here who need
a permanent fix? A permanent fix, not a temporary solution. Because remember, once the board of education opens up the school in September, where's the food pantry? Then it disappears. Now, the other question I have to ask you, the mayor move the food pantry,
sir. Thank you so much. I first want to say I think all of the council and maybe even the business administrator are all going to respond to you, but we you've had your five minutes, but now we're going to we're going to respond to you because I think you've emailed and called um and messaged everybody up here
uh numerous times. I know that in my messenger um I probably have about 50 messages within you know an hour from you. Um I spoke with you and um I have the communication in the emails that I've responded. I have the threats
you've made against me. Um you say threats telling me sir sir I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm not. No no no no I am sir I'm sorry I cannot because I have them here. you you if I don't answer you in a timely fashion if I
don't answer do you know telling me you're going to come to my office I just want to talk listen let's just we've had the conver I did speak with you I could show you the messages I could show you the calls people sir sir this is not this is not the time or place
sir you're out of order you're out of order we're all going to answer you okay we're all going to answer you and I also have your citizen leadership form that you just submitted to be on the recreation committee and you say you you stated that you lived in Jackson and you just said you lived in Barnagot. So, I'm confused as to where that is coming
from. Nobody told me to do that. The next is the email that I sent to you and the responses that I've gotten and I I did stop answering because they didn't make sense. You respond to me once. Pardon, sir. I said sir,
you respond to me once. But you just said I never emailed you. But I talked to you on the phone once and you said, "God bless. Have a great night." Like I I don't understand. So we did answer you. I did answer you, but I
felt the the the communication was we were not getting anywhere. And I had told you that the board of ed was looking to possibly take over the food bank and the food pantry. And I have an email from the food pantry to me thanking because we stepped in the
council and the spoke with the food pantry and actually emails from you. One from Joy which she sent me as a letter stating that she herself felt that you were hostile towards her and no longer wanted to have communication. So we're
just saying if you get hostile, we're going to stop answering. I have I have communication with people that may not find that what I'm saying is accurate, but I will still communicate with them. But if you're hostile and you're screaming and yelling at me and threatening me, yes, sir, I will stop communication with you and I apologize.
But if you would like to start over again and start from the beginning, I have no problem. But the food pantry is fine. We did meet with the engineers. I met with the engineers and I sat there and I met with Mr. Bolinsky in the back. He's sitting here so he could vouch for it. and we identified parcels that we could possibly donate to the food pantry
for a forever home. But as the rest of the council is going to say, the Jackson Township Board of Education would like them to stay there. Okay? And the only reason why I didn't tell you and confirm it is because I couldn't because they didn't have their meeting till this past Wednesday when they announced it to the public. That's for them to announce.
That's not for us to announce. So that's why I said allegedly I believe they're going there, but I couldn't give you a 100% definite answer. And you didn't like that. So therefore, you attacked me and you called me a liar. You called me this. You called me that. It wasn't I wasn't lying. It was not my thing to
express to the town where the food pantry was going because the board of ed had to have a meeting on it and vote on it. So once they voted on it and they approved it, I just found out yesterday. So that is exactly and it's all in black and white and they're not gonna have the rest of the council. That's all. Mr. President, if I could just add
first, Mr. B, it's great seeing I didn't realize you were here. So nice to finally meet you in person. Um, with regard to the idea that you had mentioned pertaining to a church, I think it was on Whit Soul Road. So, I did speak to the pastor who's a new I think she came to one of our council meetings. She lives, if I remember correctly, in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.
She comes here every day. Um, I had a conversation with her. She told me that, um, she would love to host a Jackson food pantry. Um, she did tell me the church is in the need of desperate renovations and first some of those renovations would be necessary. So, I passed that information to the food pantry as an option. the um the church,
the pastor did call me again yesterday morning and my phone actually died yesterday. I had to get a new phone. So, I was offline for a little bit. So, um I do owe her I told her a call back together with the council president. She had asked me if there's any grants that the town could help them with in order for the church to get renovated in order
to provide for the food pantry. So, with all that being said, I think there's a lot of work to that would go into maybe making the church a a an appropriate location for the food pantry. Um, but I do know that I had a meeting today with the superintendent about another issue and at the end of the meeting I actually
turned to her and I said just miss Miss Miss Perily, do you mind just getting an update? What's with the food pantry? And she actually walked out, pointed to the window. She showed me exactly the two rooms that it's going to be separate entrance after school hours there forever. 5:00 there forever. And I know
Mr. um Jeppi has more information on that. Um, but it's not going to be a short-term fix. the the the superintendent and the business administrator and the entire board voted on it. They're excited about it and um I think that's part of the great partnership that I know our council member I know our mayor reached out originally, council president reached
out and it's means that we were we worked very well together with the board of ed but we didn't feel it was our liberty to announce anything before it was public because a it was their credit. They really took took the lead um but b it wasn't our they needed to vote in it that vote had to pass and it did pass. Mr. Jeppy, do you have
anything more to add? Yeah, first Mr. Mr. Burman, guess am I saying it correctly? I just I love your passion. So, thank you and I and I appreciate you stepping up during COVID for those families that needed it. I think your passion is there. So, thank you for that because there's not a lot of people that have that type of passion like you do. So, you're doing great
work. Uh, and I hear you. It was a tragedy that the food pantry had to shutter its doors for a time. I do again, and I said this earlier, I'm not sure if you were here, but the Jackson Board of Ed did step up. They did need to wait till the end of the school year because with the reorganization, the rooms they wanted to utilize in Memorial
were in use for students. But now that the school year is over, they renovated those rooms and made them accessible for the food pantry. And as uh council vice president Bernstein said, this the superintendent did not put a date of expiration on this. the superintendent and the board of ed which voted on it
just last week to make it official and this is why announcements could not be made prior to that vote um were very excited to give back to the community. Actually, as soon as I called the superintendent initially when this happened uh she got to work on it immediately. I know council president Q
spoke with her and she said anything I could do to give back to the community we will do so. So it just took a little time. Unfortunately things do take a little time. Uh, but this is now an option for the food pantry. And as council vice president Bernstein just mentioned with the church or other
religious organizations that wish to do so, I think that's a great idea. I think we can have multiple organizations if so if they so want to to voluntarily have food pantries because I think the more would be better for our community and give more options and time frames for when uh individuals and families could pick up this food. So, it's an ongoing
uh process and I think we're making strides. Unfortunately, we were unaware of the closing until we found out on social media. Nobody even told the council and we found out on social media that it was closed and that's when we started to put our self in action to get
it rectified. It's it's not a Q&A s knowledge that the food pantry is closed. We knew that the initial where when it was located in DPW, it needed to be moved and it was moved to the senior center. Correct. So, we knew that move took place. But when it was being closed
from the senior center, we were not notified until we saw it on social media. Mr. Bernstein, that's not what you told me on the phone. That's not what you told me. Remind me. We had multiple conversations. You told me that it was her who wanted the food pantry after it was taken out
of uh of the uh her. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Italian president. So So Mr. Burman, that's that's incorrect. what I if I remember correctly and it's been a lot of moving part. We've probably had over 15 or 20 conversations.
Um if I if again don't I mean I guess you can quote me. Um the my from what I remember happening was that it was in um across the street by DPW. That didn't work out. It had to move. They moved to the senior center. Um
they moved it for the primary. They moved we we were notified that it had to move. It was not a long-term location. um how exactly I found out about that. I don't remember if one of my colleagues saw it on social media, but we were notified after that decision was made.
Um we're not putting any blame. I think the the town has done it has done and continues to do its best. We support the food pantry. I've had multiple I I discussed this with the mayor last night. The mayor, we all support the food pantry. No one no one is against the food pantry. Um that building unfortunately fell apart and is badly in
the need of renovations. Um, and I think it could be some of the communication with the changing of the guard with the former business administrator. Things weren't properly passed along to the mayor and the council, but I know going forward, we thankfully have a great line of communication with our current BA and
our and and with the mayor, and I'm pretty confident that we're not going to have those type of issues again. Thank you, sir. Council President, if I may, yeah, you may be aware of this already. Um, and residents, just to make them aware, they may be aware already. You Mr. Burmy, you're alluding to the fact
that churches, it's a it's a great venue. A lot of churches have maybe food pantries. There's one right up the road from here on Bennett Mills Road that you may be aware of is um Jackson Baptist Church. They have an open arms food pantry. Um I think the thing is is when I spoke
with the food pantry, it's not it's not the churches. So the the joy that runs the food pantry is absolutely no no they the a lot of people don't want to go to a church. All right, that is what she had told me. So that is why they didn't want to have it at a church is because some not everybody wants to go to a
church. I and council friends if I could just add you can have multiple avenues. The conversation I had with Joy it's really it's a separate organization Jackson Township had always generously hosted them. I told her that if the council and the mayor were open to looking at some of our our property about donating a piece of property we discussed the board of ed but I said at
the end of the day it's up to you as a separate entity. You're a 501c3. You make a decision. Let us know. We will help you make that happen. And that's seems to be what she's doing. It's it Sean Mr. Blinsky is in the back so he knows. We we sat there and we went through we went through a list of all the properties that the town owns. I
think there was 232. We went through a couple of them but then we went back and I went to the board of ed and I went to the superintendent and she said, "No, keep them here. We we want them we want the food pantry to stay here." That's the whole story. I didn't answer your call because the way you were speaking to me, I just didn't feel that it was a
good line of communication. Um and I did ask you to stop messaging me on um Facebook and I asked you to email me. So that's where it went. I want to thank everybody. Is there anybody else that wants to come up? Seeing no Seeing no one else come forward. Make a motion to close public comment. Motion.
I. Motion to close. Motion to close. Second. I. Thank you. Ajourn. I got to run.