##VIDEO ID:JwJ-zBgRvqg## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America to the Republic for which it stands indivisible andice all good evening and welcome to the January 14th meeting of the Jackson Township Council will now come come to order we'll begin with the roll call councilman burelli here councilman P pres councilman Sergeant pres Council vice president Bernstein here council president Co here thank you also present business administrator Terrence wall and Township attorney Mr Gregory mcgucken I hearby publicly announce it in compliance with the provisions of the open public meetings act adequate notice of this meeting has been advertised in the manner prescribed by law next item on the agenda is a proclamation council president EMT of the Year 2024 thank you Mr wall where as emergency medical technicians are dedicated professionals who provide critical care and service to the community often in challenging and high uh stress situations and whereas EMTs play a vital role in safeguarding the health and safety of individuals by responding swiftly and efficiently to emergencies delivering life-saving Medical Care and offering support to those in need and whereas each year the New Jersey office of emergency medical services and the Emergency Medical Services advisory Council select an individual to receive the EMT of the Year award the Honore is currently licensed EMT who has demonstrated outstanding leadership over the past year making a positive impact in the area such as patient care public access to EMS disaster prepar preparedness public education Andor training and whereas the Jackson Township first aid Squad supervisor Patrick handle has been named the 2024 EMT of the Year Patrick is an EMT since 2006 16 has has received several prestigious Awards including the Jack Johnson Award and the destiny Ferry award now therefore I Michael Raina mayor of the township of Jackson County of ocean state of New Jersey along with the Jackson Township council do hereby honor and congratulate Patrick handle as the 2024 EMT of the Year Patrick um emblish the spirit of excellence and dedication that EMTs bring to to the profession we are um extending our deepest gratitude to his uh contributions in the health and safety of all those he serves congratulations if you could please come up and get your Proclamation Patrick course thank you very much and congratulations next item is presentation the 2025 budget hearing for Fire District 3 welcome District 3 if you could please come up there's two spots if you need another chair I'll grab another one Anthony do we have a microphone for them thank you sir Council has invited all the districts to come up last meeting was District 2 we invited um District 3 as well and um District Four has not responded to my email go ahead gentlemen if please just have a anything you want to say please keep it to minimum or maximum of 10 minutes bottom bottom you're good okay uh good evening everyone uh thanks for having thank you for having us um of course we're here because we just wanted to uh let you know what's going on as far as Fire District 3 in our budget process uh We've we've done everything that's required by law to get the Budget moving along um the election as we all know is the third Saturday in February uh these hours are normally 2: to 9:00 p.m. and that's by Statute uh however we uh we got permission from the Board of Elections we have extended the hours to 10 p.m. so the hours for the election will be 2: to 10 p.m. at our main station which is at 1:13 North New Prospect Road in uh Jackson That's the corner of Larson Road over there near Johnson School um we uh we want everyone to be able to participate in the election we have almost 17,500 voters in Fire District 3 and the turnout is normally a very small fraction of that and uh We've extended the hours to try and give our members our our neighbors who are members and who are observe their have religious observances observe Saturday as their day of rest to be able to come out and participate and not have to interrupt their religious observances um I'm hoping that that one hour extension be enough to make that possible um we actually did a resolution at our meeting last night to do that from this this year moving forward that it will always be till 10 p.m as long as there's a fire district 3 can I go over a couple points I just want to get to the real nitty-gritty because we don't have much time okay we we know that the uh election is going to be for the fire department is on February 15th between 2 and 10 okay um over by Johnson Park so I just want to go to so the cost of the gearing for a firefighter yeah it's it's not by Johnson Park it's the main station 113 North New Prospect Road oh I'll stand corrected all right I apologize um as far as the budget goes uh what we're asking the uh our constituents to approve is uh we we spent four months working on the budget okay uh it's pretty much a Bare Bones budget we also added a referendum to go above the 2% asking for an additional half million dollar uh this will help us be able to continue to provide the services at a level we feel is appropriate um the cost of the entire budget for the average household is going to be $8 a month so $8 a month really I don't think is all that much to ask uh I would hope that most folks would see it that way um I'm I'm trying to help you here so that's what I was trying to do yeah so I'm seeing that for each individual firefighter just for their helmet alone uh for their safety it's $45 their hood is $125 their turnout coat is 2367 their breathing apparatus and mask is 7,350 their portable radio is 9,600 their gloves are 140 their bunker pants are 1820 so the average cost per person for per firefighter is is quite a bit of money their boots are $482 so what I wanted to ask is for to gear a firefighter which I know that we're all seeing between um what's going on in in our country now with firefighters last thing that this Council wants to do is to cut any budget we we don't want to revisit what we Revisited last year but we also want to make sure that we're doing proper spending so are you when you're hiring you're saying that it's probably approximately um I don't know a couple thousand I don't know almost $20,000 per firefighter to get them fully it's closer to 23,000 okay and how how often does that gear have to be updated 10 years every 10 years every 10 years so how many how much gear do you need to update in your for your District right now in 2025 and 2026 year six sets six sets six sets yeah okay just want point out though with the SCBA um that is put on the fire apparatus yes but every fire has to use that okay um it's the helmet the gloves the coats the pants the boots that's all falls under the 10 year okay so that gets updated so also I'm just seeing that for station 55 you have a 17-year-old Tower ladder truck I believe and that's the only one in the township now can you tell me what benefit that gives and where that goes so that if there's a call within the town in another District that you guys would be the only ones to that would be able to help save the residents of Jackson well the difference between a straight stick and a tower ladder the tower ladder actually has a platform at the end of the ladder so depending upon what the situation might be it's much easier if you had to do a a rescue from say the third floor of a place like bellara to have that platform okay than to expect someone who is a senior citizen to have to actually reach that ladder and now climb down that ladder where with the platform you can get them onto the platform and as depending upon the scene you may be able to actually take them all the way to the ground they don't have to climb any ladder at all okay thank thank you thank you that's all I have if any other councilmen have any questions could I absolutely thank you council president first of all thank you for doing your part to ensure that as many voters as possible can come out and and participate in your election I think is very much appreciated um if obviously you're putting on a referendum to raise taxes a half a million dollars um if that wouldn't pass um from the taxpayers what wouldn't you be able to continue doing okay it it would affect our ability to be able to continue with the weekend coverage we've been covering weekends and at at this point since midye last year and that cost us about $180,000 a year to cover the overtime and when I say weekend coverage I'm talking just daytime 6A to 6p um we've been actually sharing that with District 2 that $180,000 is just our cost in District 3 they have the same cost over in District 2 um the East End of town has been the most heavily affected by losing uh quite a few volunteer firefighters and we've had to try to make that up with career staff and career staff actually I'm sure you all understand is much more expensive to support than the volunteer staff right go ahead I'm sorry um and um I don't know if you have the statistics I'd be curious to see it would do you say the most of your weekend calls are carbon like are are you seeing different type of calls on weekends that you have such a high high volume over the weekend or it's the same type of calls you're having during the rest of the week most of our calls seem to be uh carbon dioxide alarm but also a lot of oven fires uh fireplaces are uh we're getting those type of calls now just had a call last weekend for that uh water utility issues broken pipes so it's a a large um sortment of different type of calls that we we get um our pretty much fire alarm activations is the bread and butter of the fire department but whenever we get any other type of a call such as a unintended cooking or anything that produces smoke obviously uh at that point that's where the breathing apparatus comes in and so forth and we're starting to see those calls and the weekend since the uh the volunteers aren't um available uh anyone that's available is able to respond uh we have to get that fire truck to the scene so that's where we work and and I guess on that note um are the statistics I don't remember which fire district I saw all the numbers do you have a breakup that you can post online or maybe you can send over um so the residents can see that a little bit of the breakup of what type of calls and if even if you have that scientific you know that data a little bit of weekend calls versus non- weend a big expense looks like your weekend calls and I think that would be important for the taxpayers to yeah sure we can get that to you okay and I guess the last question is I know that we've talked about consol consolidating um and and I'm going to Ste Council question but I literally before I came in here I saw some residents were actually asking me about where that's holding could you give from your standpoint update um where consolidation is holding sure um right now uh seems that the negotiations are going quite well with the career staff in both fire districts um we are hoping to be able to move forward and get everything in place to move ahead with the July 1st consolidation um that will help a lot of things we'll be able to combine career staff and we'll have a lot more flexibility once that happens and um one other thing I I would like to mention if it's okay I don't we have we're limited time we have councilman has one more question and then we're going to wrap it up okay no go ahead mention okay no uh what I was going to say is uh we also have speaking engagements at our retirement communities in the district uh tomorrow at winding ways and Thursday at west lake you send them to me and I'll get them out to the pr team okay okay I guess my last question is obviously we're talking about you guys consolidating and District 2 and three um if District 4 would be interested in consolidating would that be something you guys with support from from your end oh yeah we we we tried to get them to be involved from the beginning of this one and that's let's leave it on that okay I just wanted to make under record your opinion perfect thank you thank you thank you thank you gentlemen be safe thank you for all you do Mr wall thank you very much we'll continue with opening comments with the township Council council president  yes good evening everyone I'd like to begin uh my expressing of how honored and excited I am to serve you as part of Jackson Council for uh the year ahead as we step into our first meeting of 2025 I am filled with optimism and commitment to working diligently for the residents of Jackson this year presents an incredible opportunity to continue our shared efforts to improve the quality of life for all of our residents whether it's through strengthening our local infrastructures addressing Community needs or ensuring that Jackson remains a great place to live and grow I'm looking forward to working alongside my fellow council members each of whom bring a unique perspective a strong sense of dedication and a deep love for the this community together as a United Council we will continue to put Jackson's best interest at the heart of every decision we make I also want to take a moment to remind everyone that we are still accepting citizen leadership application forms for appointments to various committees if you're interested in contributing contributing your time and expertise to help shape the future of our town please consider applying we're looking forward to finalize the appointments at our January 28th meeting and there is still time to get involved I believe that when we work together with respect transparency and a shared purpose we can make great things happen I'm committed to being a voice uh for the residents of Jackson and I know that as a team we will accomplish a lot in 2025 thank you to the residents for your continued trust in us I'm excited for 2025 thank you Council vice president Bernstein thank you uh clerk wall um I just want to take a moment and wish a a condolences to to Mayor Raina and his entire Raina family on the passing of the mayor's mom um the family should be comforted and we're looking forward to seeing the mayor back here um and our prayers are with Arena family um I also want to take a moment and really Echo what council president just said we have a phenomenal phenomenal um group of residents who volunteer and all the boards um and council president today um we were talking about the need we still have some vacancies so anyone who who would like to continue to serve please send in your forms we're always looking for more volunteers um and really just to Echo again council president um it's been great working with the council so far in the first two weeks of the year um and looking forward to a great year ahead thank you thank you councilman brelli uh thank you acting clerk wall I don't want to add another title to you you're we're all acting many titles we all yeah it can certainly be a form of acting sure uh but it's nice to see some of our uh Jackson's finest here our police EMS and fire thank you for your service to our town um I want to Echo Council vice president burnsy my prayers and condolences are with mayor Raina and his family on the passing of his mom may God Comfort them at this time um also happy and blessed uh New Year Jackson please keep America's elected and appointed leaders in prayer including president President elect Donald Trump and vice president elect JD Vance as they take the O oath of office next Monday January 20th the same day our country recognizes and celebrates the impactful life and journey of Dr Martin Luther King Jr thank you and have a good evening thank you so much councilman pal Mar thank you sorry one second uh I would like to uh start by uh again extending my heartfelt condolences to the mayor and his family on the loss of his mother my thoughts and prayers are with them during this very difficult time to update you a little bit about my first couple weeks as a councilman I'd like to start by saying last week uh as the council e on to the Board of Education I had the privilege of attending the board of education's reorganization meeting I wanted to congratulate um Miss Cass Dr Osman and Mr wall Walsh on their electoral victories and taking the oath of office I'd like to also congratulate Miss Gardella on being appointed vice president and Miss Cass as being appointed president the board is in good hands I look forward to advocating for our students continually and uh supporting the board to the best of my abilities as the liaison I'm also excited to announce that uh uh I'm I'm spearheading the council supported small business highlight um this is going to be really exciting the council uh will showcase a small business every month month uh and I think it's really great because small business is the backbone of our town so to highlight them and to kind of showcase different businesses I think is really exciting and we have more to come on that so stay tuned uh thank you all for coming out and thank you all for watching thank you very much councilman Sergeant waving comments for this evening thank you thank you very much and as referenced earlier Mayor Michael Reena is not in uh this evening uh we have uh expressed with a heavy heart the passing of his mother rosem Marie arrangement are made with hassler's Funeral Home in Jackson uh tomorrow 2: to 4 P p.m. and 7: to 9:00 p.m. and on behalf of the Jackson Township Administration and family uh Council and our residents we extend our condolences to Mayor Reena and his family thank you uh thank you very much um next item uh council president is uh any comments on regarding ordinance 01- 25 yes sir thank you Mr wall uh this ordinance is adopted would amend the township Property Maintenance code to further clarify the regulations related to ground covering and planting the ordinance also requires sufficient notice to um allege violations and permit plea of guilty for first and second offense without the necessary of a court appearance thank you thank you very much this is ordinance 0 1-25 ordinance Township of Jackson County Ocean State of New Jersey amending and supplementing chapter 244 of the Township Code of the township of Jackson entitled land use and development regulations as to amend 44-64 entitle entitle Property Maintenance need a motion to approve the ordinance 0 1-25 on first reading to authorize a notice of approval in public hearing to be held on January 28 2025 may have a motion please motion second any discussion I'll call the role councilman brelli yes Council pal Mar yes councilman Sergeant yes Council vice president Bernstein yes council president yes thank you council president C are there any comments regarding ordinance 02-2 yes this ordinance establishes a salary arrange for all employees of the township um for 2025 the township must establish a salary arrange by ordinance and any employee may only be paid within the salary range um so designated thank you very much we'll need a motion to approve ordinance 0225 in first reading to authorize a notice of approval and public hearing to be held on January 28 2025 we have a motion motion second any discussion I'll call the rooll thank you councilman brelli yes pal Mar yes councilman Sergeant yes counc vice president Bernstein yes council president yes thank you very much and council president are there any comments regarding ordinance 0325 yes I'm going to make my comments uh regarding the summary and then I'm also going to read something from the owner of the property that she had asked me to um read to council Administration the mayor and Mr McGuckin um this ordinance authorizes the acceptance of proposed donation of a certain real estate property by the estate or of a for former property owner the property in questions are vacant wooded and subject to a numerous of environmental constraints rendering them value minimal if the property owner ceas pays a minimal property tax assess the township would incur the cost of the tax foreclosure what that means so um this was a woman that reached out I'm just going to give a back history because I think it's really really important that you it shows how Council and administration and uh can work together this has been a long um effort this um this owner reached out to councilman burelli he forwarded it to me and said listen can you help this woman out um she's an elderly woman that uh hasn't been able she's been in Pre forclosure since 1990 and 2000s reached out to Administration um and lo and behold um our mayor and administration did work it out so therefore uh she sent me an email to The Honorable Mayor Mike Raina Mr Terrence Wall Township administrator Miss Jennifer cun council president Mr Greg mcgucken Township attorney and all members of council and Miss Lee schnike I'm going to get that wrong the tax collector which was working endless with her I am a senior resident of the Jackson Township and owner of vacant properties on right too Road I have had extensive cooperation with the township members expressing my desire and need to dedicate the property and mention to the town due to a personal hardship I am deeply grateful that this proposal is being presented and considered thank you respectfully yours Claire mrey so that's thank you thank you very much this is ordinance 03 -25 is entitled an ordinance for the township Council Township of Jackson County oan state of New Jersey authorizing the acceptance of a land donation for properties known as block 104 Lots 29 and lot 30 is shown on the tax maps of the township of Jackson right deau road we need a motion to approve the ordinance 0325 in first reading and authorize a notice of approval and public hearing to be held on January 28th 25 have a motion moved second any discussion call the RO councilman brelli F May council president C uh regarding ordinance 0325 and met Mr and Mrs uh manfrey last summer and they brought uh the issue of these properties to my attention I then brought it to the attention of council president cun who worked with Administration to see if we can help they work together with their Township's tax offices to get this done uh with Mrs manfrey so thank you council president mayor Raina and uh business administrator wall uh attorney uh Mr McGuckin and administration um for getting this done uh for Miss manfrey uh um I'm sure glad the man fre and I met and results in this ordinance being introduced tonight which will help them and their family and Jackson gets to add these properties to our open space inventory so one win thank you yes thank thank you so much so councilman belli yes is that yes okay thank you councilman pal Mary yes councilman Sergeant yes Council vice president Bernstein yes council president yes thank you council president K are there any comments regarding ordinance 04- 25 this ordinance would established regulations for the use of motorcycle bicycles within the jaon township which are being more and more popular and subject to safety concerns by the Township Police Department so um officer alasco reached out and other officers in traffic safety Mr uh director candido I think everybody had said there's a problem with these electric bikes there's no helmets they they're Reckless they go on the streets they they I don't know what is going on but we needed to regulate it during our due diligence looked into it I actually reached out to to um the council in brick that passed a the same ordinance I sent it to officer Lasco this officer gave me a PowerPoint he gave everything you gave it to the attorney I cannot commend him enough for um his due diligence and helping create this ordinance if it wasn't for our Jackson Police Department and our Traffic Safety Bureau guys I would not be able to get these ordinance done because I I I don't know it as well as ours our men and women of police department really should be commended and thanked for keeping our streets safe and I just want to put it out there thank you again to officer Lasco and that's it I'm thank you very much council president so ordinance 0425 as you heard it's entitled an ordinance of the township of Jackson County of ocean state of New Jersey establishing chapter 432 of the Township Code regulating low-speed electric bicycles and motorized bicycles we need a motion to approve ordinance 0425 in first reading and to authoriz the notice of approval in public hearing to be held on January 28th 2025 may we have a motion motion second second thank you any discussion call the role councilman brle yes Council Paul Mary yes councilman Sergeant yes Council vice president Bernstein yes council president yes thank you very much next item on the agenda is the first public hearing for the Community Development block grant cdbg program for calendar year 2025 uh Charles Kliff is uh unavailable this evening uh so we'll have a brief presentation I believe from Council president or I can read it for you so it's in sorry in accordance with the guide guidelines set forth the township is required to hold a public hearing for the purpose of soliciting ideas and applications the community would like to see presented to the Community Development block grant program for calendar year 2025 the hearing will enable the township to select and prioritize applications for the Ocean County Community Development block around program the second public hearing there are two is scheduled for January 28th or soon thereafter here in the main meeting room of Jackson Township Municipal Building located at 95 West Veterans Highway Jackson New Jersey 08527 so at this time we'll have the first of two public hearings on the Community Development block grant program for calendar year 2025 uh if any member of the public wishing to comment on this topic and bring forth any suggestions may do so at this time and to please address a council with the microphone state your name and address if you if you would clearly and have five minutes uh to speak uh according to what the council president DirectX so would you like to um perhaps preface the I'm going to recap and just just simple words so we get $150,000 for ADA compliance to update so in essence if you're coming into the any of the buildings that we own and they might some of the handles they're going to Cha make them to that they're Ada so we um our SE balinsky Mr binsky from our supervisor for uh DPW we went over it last year so he's just going to take that money when we get it and he's just going to upgrade the buildings that's it thank you might supplement that a little bit for you yeah I just want to say as you reference Ada improved barrier-free access improvements of various municipal buildings and park facilities throughout the township it could be compliant curb ramps from parking areas into buildings automated push buttons for Ingress and egress to the buildings and things of that nature as the reference by the council president thank you thank you that's it any other comments from the public on that issue seeing no one come forward on this we'll close public comment on this thank you second all in favor I I I thank you next item is bills and claims a motion to approve or hold bills and claims motion second any discussion nope I have um am I correct exstension by yes on rut4 sta 26 and st28 yes sir all right thank you very much any other extensions RCS O2 thank you very much yeah they have it they do okay meeting so um do we have a motion second can we do yeah yes all right then councilman brelly absens on those vendor numbers you just mentioned administrator wall yes to the rest on there thank you councilman Paul Mary yes councilman Sergeant yes Council vice president Bernstein yes council president yes thank you very much we need a motion to approve the listed resolutions on the consent agenda so moved second discussion I'll call the role councilman brelli yes councilman Paul Mary yes Sergeant yes councilman I'm sorry Council vice president bernin yes and council president yes thank you very much there's public comment on any Topic at this time if any member of the public has any comments to make please address the council with the microphone please state your name and address for the record and you have five minutes and may only speak once thank you very much microphone is yours hi my my name is Stephanie Brown I live at 310 South pect Road in Jackson um I'll try to make this quick I represent the American canas C really for life um we have recently been doing it at Windward beach in Bur with the northern Ocean County but now they wanted to bring it back to Jackson so I said okay I'll bring it back to Jackson so we are going to be holding it on Saturday June 7th at the orur in Bartley and we need as many volunteers years to sign up as possible because one person can't do it by themselves because that that's wouldn't work um so I'm inviting all of you to to join me and really for life in any volunteer capacity that you can um the website isn't quite up yet because it's it happens kind of fast but I put information in in front of all of you what really is life what we do how how it works um also I wanted to thank you for the Ada um compliance because as you can see I'm kind of handicapped myself and there are certain places that I can't go because I use a scooter and the scooter won't work on on dirt path you know so anything you can do to help that out would be great um such as like uh bugging your bugs the trail I can't bring my scoot on the trail you know there are a lot of trails in Jackson that I can't go on you know so anything you can do to help that out would be terrific you know and I think that's all I have thank you thank you ma'am what time just so I can write it down what time did you say at The Orchards on Saturday oh Saturday June 7 probably at 1:00 in the afternoon at 1:00 at 1:00 and it runs till sunset because we have the ceremony all right thank you thank you seeing no one come forward and make a motion to close public comment second all in favor signify by saying I I thank you very much I would like to ask for a motion to close motion second all in favor I I thank you very much have a good evening