of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Good evening and welcome to the August 26, 2025 regular meeting of the Jackson
Township Council. Pursuant to the revision of New Jersey Open Public Meeting Act, adequate notice of this meeting was properly provided by transmitting a notice of the meeting on January 28, 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'll begin with a roll call. Council member Belli here. Councilman Brassie here. Councilman Paul Mary present. Council Vice President Bernstein here. Council President Hume here.
Also present this evening is Township Attorney Mr. McGucken, Township Administrator Phillips, myself, Municipal Clerk Martin, and Deputy Clerk Jen Carelli. We will now hear opening comments from the Township Council, starting with Council President Ke.
Thank you, Madam Clerk, and welcome back. We're so happy to have you back, Deputy Clerk. You did an amazing job. Thank you so much. I would like to take a moment to welcome Officer Pratt, Officer Genie, Officer Heric, and Officer Ballard to the Jackson Township Police Force. We are
excited to have you join us. We wish you a long, safe, and healthy career with the Jackson Police Department. You are truly joining the best of the best. We find ourselves here yet again honoring the hiring of more Jackson Police officers. This year since we've hired Director Candido, there have been more
hires than I believe the department has seen in in decades. As council, we have authoriz we have authorized over where these I'm sorry, we have no authority over where these officers are assigned, but I must ask that some of them be assigned to our traffic safety
department. As I understand it, and Chief or Director Candido, please correct me if I am wrong. the officers within the Jackson Police Department who have a mandated minimum staffing requirement or in patrol division. That being said, as far as I know, our traffic safety department does not have
a single officer working on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday in every any given week. My understanding is that because this department as well as other specialized units such as our detective bureau do not have mandated minimum staffing levels, these officers also do
not work weekends. Chief, I am asking that this be looked into. It is my understanding that we are already $650,000 in overtime pay year to date and that number continues to rise. Why is that? I would like an answer when we meet next
week. I also understand that we currently have a sergeant in IT who receives seven hours of comp time per week to be available to the department. However, I do not believe this sergeant is an actual IT professional. I have met him. I have heard amazing things about him. He's gotten the town out of a jam
in less than two hours, but I am still trying to fully understand the day-to-day operations within the police department. Additionally, I understand that traffic safety was previously received five hours of offhour time to respond to contractors for approving
blueprints and construction plans, but is not also come that but that has also come to a halt. I've requested a meeting with the chief through the proper channels being our business administrator and I hope to get answers within the next week as this does fall under his purview. I will meet I will um
bring my findings to the council at the next council meeting. In regards to resolution 279205, I would like to give a big thank you to our township engineer and recreation committee as we have been doing amazing things and moving swiftly in making
decisions as a team and a committee. As you can see, the Camp Joy concept plan is on tonight's agenda. This committee is only two months old, yet we have already have one park moving forward to be rejuvenated through the open space funds. This will be a park that our
residents can enjoy once again and we look forward to sharing the concept plan with you once it is completed. Thank you again to the recreation committee for your continued dedication and commitment. You are a great group of people to work with and with our common goals of sharing kindness as we are able
to work and get things done together. If you like anything and to ask the recreation committee any questions, you can email them at recreation_committjacktownship new jersey.net. net. Um, on our record commission we have Sean Bolinsky, Jeff Hemba, Ed Rogers, Hope, Drew,
Courtourtney, Bill, and Carrie Clarks, and myself as well. Thank you so much and have a great night, Council Vice President Bernstein. Thank you, Clerk, and welcome back. Um, we're excited to have you back, and thank you, Deputy Clerk, for stepping in. We appreciate the great team we have here. I just want to give a quick
update. Um, I know we have a big crowd here. Let's keep it moving. um to the Bartley Road. Uh the county has um had conversations with the governing body here with the council and the mayor's office pertaining to doing a joint project. Um the county is looking to to um upgrading and really redoing and
putting in sidewalks throughout the town um throughout Ocean County. Um and this is a policy shift. For many, many years the county Ocean County's policy was they did not do sidewalks. Now they have agreed to look into it. I think there was a meeting today with the commissioners where they were supposed to be finalizing some of the details of their policy. I haven't yet got an
update, but I just wanted to give an update from our engineers who did the preliminary work of figuring out exactly what is doable and what's not doable. So, I'm just going to read quickly an email and then I'm going to um move on to other items quickly. Um, good afternoon all. I've attached our
environmental due diligence memo and concept estimates for the installation of sidewalks on the west side of Bartley Road from Hullbrook Little League to Scarlet Oak Court. Concept plans can be downloaded here. We have broken the project into two phases as summarized below. Phase one would be the installation of sidewalks on the west side of the road from Hullbrook to Cedar
Null Road. We do not anticipate any regulatory permits being required for this work as all work is within previously disturbed and maintained public right away other than possibly per permit from the Ocean County Soil Conservation District. The estimated cost construction cost would be about $180,000. The survey design would be
about $30,000. Um contingency cost would be at $47,000. The total cost with the contingency would be be about $280,000. Phase two would be the installation of sidewalks in the west side of the road from from Cedar Null to Scarlett Oak Court. The riding will cross the south brow south branch Matita River which is
a category one water body with 300 foot repairarium buffer as well as wetlands and associated buffer. We have broken this down into two different phases and um and it's quite lengthy um the description. Um if anyone reaches out, I'm more than happy to share it, but I'll I'll save you the agony of all of
um but obviously the second phase is close to a million dollars. Um, and that the township has now forwarded this these um these surveys over to the county and we're waiting for a response from the county because part of the conversations we had was that we would go out, we'd look at the design, but the
county would be doing the installation and and and pay for those expenses. Um, additionally, I just want to take a moment and thank all of our first responders. A special shout out to our EMS and to Atsala. Um yesterday there were two instances um where there was one of our fine men men from our
department was injured I think on the way to an accident. Um so a prayers with him and his family and I'm hearing good reports so far. So um our prayers continue to be with him and prayers to the young child who um did a rescue from the pool. Um sounds like the last update
I got this morning was the child's doing fine. So we're prayers and we're happy to we're happy to hear the good news that that ended well. Um, also just a a special uh shout out and really a call for action. Um, we are constantly looking for more volunteers to serve our
boards. Um, sometimes people it's easy to stay a status quo. Sometimes people are willing to look are willing to step out of their comfort zone and learn new things. We appreciate that. I think one thing that council would like to see is a little bit of diversity on the boards and making sure we have talents from different areas. So, I'm happy to I'm
happy that hopefully is some of the one of the resolutions tonight with regard to the zoning board, which is a council appointment. And I know the mayor worked very hard in making sure that we have now an environmental um appointment who also has fire um experience. And now we're also going to be having on the zoning board someone hopefully if it passes someone with fire experience. So
I thank that resident for volunteering. Um um and everyone have a wonderful evening. Thank you, Council Member Elli. Uh thank you, Clerk Martin. I want to welcome you back as well and congratulate you um and Mr. Martin on
the new addition to your family. enjoy the little the little girl. Um I also want to echo council vice president Bernstein's comments about tragedies that were verted yesterday. I want to thank our EMS and police and um thank God the child is okay um and
recuperating. Uh also of course congratulations to our new police officers uh tonight and um and also to your families as well who sacrifice a lot as well. I always like to say that JTP is the best second to none in the state of New Jersey. you are in our thoughts and prayers as you keep our
town safe and secure 247. Thank you. Um in addition, I just want to mention about Jackson Day. It's coming up. It's almost finally here and will be uh happening hopefully on Sunday, September 14th in our town's largest park, Johnson Memorial Park from 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. I say that because we do have a
rain day just in case, but hopefully we won't need it. Um hopefully we'll get beautiful weather as we did last year for Jackson Day. The rain date is uh the following Sunday on September 21st. And um we had a huge turnout last year with over 11,000 patrons and are expecting uh
even a bigger turnout this year with much to do from an ATV riding park for kids, a monster truck, uh the king of roller coasters, the king, the car photo op. Uh there will be a drone show, bands, many vendors, and more. If you'd like to still register to be a vendor for Jackson Day, there is still time. Or
if you would like to be a sponsor for Jackson Day, there's still time. you can please reach out to um our great Jackson Recreation Department that helps put this together with township staff. Um they do a great job with organizing the event. Um if you would like to be a vendor or sponsor, please reach out to
Anthony Horta in our uh recreation department at ajacktwj um sorry yeah ahorta jackinttwpj.net net or you can reach the recreck department at 7329281200 at extension 1258 or you can email the
rec staff at recreationjackanttwpnj.net. Continue enjoying the summer Jackson. Have a good evening. It's good seeing you all. Take care now. Councilman Breie, thank you. Uh, I want to just say that uh, that was definitely good news, Councilman Bernstein, that that child's
doing better and need more news like that and the job that was done was magnificent. A couple of weeks ago, the county engineer, Mark Jenkee, was out here and he gave us an update on the plans. I was able to follow up with him this week and he says it's still on schedule as he
predicted and the detour he's hoping is going to be done this week, this week or early next week. And that detour has been really messing everybody up. The other thing I had the privilege of going to Patriot Park for the ribbon cutting for what the county did at the park there. I was pretty impressed how
they now do it not only for the kids but include stuff for the adults while the kids are there. It's something that you should utilize and take a look at. And uh really it's a good night tonight that we're putting four more police officers on on our roles. Congratulations to all of you. We look forward to working with
you. Be safe. Thank you for coming out. Councilman Pulminary. Thank you. I would just like to start by congratulating the four new officers being sworn in this evening and thank you for your service. I would like to extend a huge thank you to the amazing businesses, families, and organizations
who supported uh recently supported our Jackson High School cheerleaders. I want to give a a shout out to some of them. Uh Courtney from Color Me Mine, Carlos Martins from ASO Firewood, Mike from Deep Pasqual Fence, Mario from Precision
Tech Home Services, Linda from Balina Nail Boutique, Vicky from Pantano Nursery, the JC Junior Foundation, the Campen and Pinho family, and Christina from Savvy Sportsear, as well as Michael, who reminds us to make every
day count. Your generosity made brand new spirit uniforms possible. A special thanks also to our cheer families, coaches, and parents for making it all happen. I just think it's amazing when a town comes together uh to support each
other and our uh and our great athletes. So, uh thank you to everyone. Thank you. The next item for tonight's meeting is an update from the Department of Public Works, Mr. Shawn Bolinsky. Council President Ke. Yes. I just have a quick question. I just asked the attorney. So, prior to
that, I have to read two things into the record. One is a resolution uh 269-2025, which is the resolution to amend the 2025 budget. I have to read every single line. I just want to be transparent like every word. Okay. So, I mean,
get a bottle of water because this is going to be a while. Whereas the local municipal budget this year, 2025, was introduced on July 22nd, 2025. And whereas the public hearing on said budget will be held on September 9th, 2025. And whereas it is desired to amend said introduced budget now therefore is
resolved by the Jackson Township County of Ocean. The following uh amendments to approve the budget for 2025. Current fund budget. Amount to be raised by tax in support of municipal budget. local tax or municipal proposed including reserved and uncollected taxes 36,79
uh $59,881.92 to 36,750 $715,000.99 to 92 total uh renovations within the caps 58,800 uh7,58012 58,762,798
812 administration executive other expenses 91,700 to 89,300 government body mayor other expenses from 5200 to 4500 election salaries and wages from 6,000 to 5,000 human
resources salary and wages from 145,000 to 120,000 assessments of taxes other expenses 57,24 to 40,000 purchasing salary and wages 22,000 uh going up to 61,000. Planning and zoning other
expenses 106,900 to 91,000. Rent level boarding other expenses $36,50 to $15,000. Total operating item 8A within the cap 42,289,77.78 to 42,245,633,778. Total operating including uh
contingencies within the cap 42,289,77.78 to $42,245,633.78. Details salaries and wages other salaries and wages 27,44,38344 to 27,58,38344. Other expenses including contingencies 15,245,324.34
to 15,188,250.34. Total general appropriations and municipal purposes with caps 50,385,6981 to 50,340,99581. Total general appropriations of municipal purposes excluded from cap 5,156,113.65. 65,15611365.
Can I just say same to same if the rest are the same? Okay, I'm just going to say same because they're going to the same. Total general appropriations excluded from caps 5,156,11365. Same to the rest. Uh subtotal general appropriations
item H125,541,18346. This one's different. $55,497 $497,1946. Reverse of uncollected taxes $3,266,396.666 to 3,265,688.66. Total general appropriations 58,87,5812 to 58,7627
$79812. Thank you for my new reading glasses cuz that was hard. Thank you. Council President, can you just explain why you have to read that into the record for a second? It says must read into record line by line and I asked the attorney and I
followed directions. Thank you. I think I did amazing. I'm just going to say that was very quick. All right. Next one is resolution 280-2025. This is to a resolution to the Township of Jackson, County of Ocean, state of New Jersey, appointing uh Ray Tremor,
Jr. to as council members to the Jackson Township zoning board of adjustments. Correct. Yes, council. I just want to make sure it's it says junior. It says two, but she was already in the agenda. She's Oh, I'm sorry. Ray Chmer Jr. Correct. He is leaving the planning
board and he's coming over to the zoning board. He has sent his resignation. We received it this morning. Perfect. Thank you. That is it. Okay. DPW DPW has conducted roadside um litter
cl uh cleanups the past week. The crews um two roads in the town collected 72 bags of garbage. If you notice the roads with excessive litter, please contact DPW. Cruise of department will be begin this seasonal pruning uh working through all zones to trim back low hanging
branches addressing over growth particularly around stop signs and other key visible areas. If you have any problems or concerns, please contact uh DPW SDL update. The municipal clerk's office will be using SDL to process permits and applications. Residents will be able to apply pay online with credit
cards for the following food uh retail food mobile food solicit soliciting. Uh, I almost said a different word. Uh, campground um, parking permits, no knock kennel, uh, mobile home limousines, zoologology, and junkyard licenses. Um,
in addition, we will begin to process Oprah's request through SDL starting in October. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Thank you. The next item on the agenda is the police uh, police department
police officers oath of offices. here. Council President Cume, please. Please me. Director Candido, please come up. Sorry, it's a lot.
Chief, if you're coming up as well. I don't know who's going first. Okay, we're going to swear all four in at once. We have four Bibles, so I want you read. Good. Awesome. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Joe Candido. I'm the public safety director. To my left is Chief Matthew Coons. I'd like to thank the
council and the administration and the mayor for these four new hires. Uh this will bring up our force to 113 once everybody gets out of the academy. Also, the first two officers that we're hiring tonight were class two specials
for us. We switched them over to full-time. So that's saving the town about $50,000 in training cost. So, let's get started. Uh, Michael Pratt, Michael's a 26-year-old born in Staten
Island, New York. Inspired by his mother, Michelle Pratt, a retired New York City police officer and 911 first responder, Michael was driven to pursue a career in law enforcement and follow in her footsteps. He began his journey as a class one and later a class 2 police officer with Seaside Heights
Police Department, proudly serving during two summer seasons. After his time in Seaside Heights, Michael continued his path in public service by joining the Jackson Township Police Department as a class 2 officer. Passionate about fitness, paddle boarding, public interaction, and community service. Michael is also a
certified scuba diver and a former high school lacrosse player. Holding his Bible tonight will be his mother, Michelle. Michael is excited to begin his f his full-time career with Jackson Township Police Department and looks forward to serving the community with pride and dedication. Dominic Grenchy.
Dominic was born and raised in Tom's River, New Jersey. He graduated from Tom's River High School East in 2018 and went on to earn his associates degree in criminal justice from Ocean County College in 2022. In 2023, Dominic began his law enforcement journey as a class one
officer with the Seaside Heights Police Department. He later graduated from Ocean County Police Academy with class 53 in May of 2024 and returned to Seaside as a class 2 officer. Due to his strong work ethic and dedication, he was invited to stay on year round. In March
of 2025, Dominic joined the Jackson Township Police Department as a class 2 officer. Prior to joining Jackson, he served in a variety of public safety and community focused roles, bringing with him a strong dedication to service and integrity. Since becoming part of the department, Dominic has been actively
involved in patrol operations, community policing efforts, and ongoing professional development. Takes a great pride in serving the residents of Jackson and looks forward to building strong, positive relationships within the community. In his free time, Dominic enjoys the beach, fishing, going to the gym, and spending time with his fianceé,
Alexa, and their daughter, Ariela, who will hold the Bible for him tonight, [Music] Matthew Heric. party. Matthew has grown up and spent most of his life in Jackson. He went to Elms and
Gats for his primary middle school years. He then graduated from Albany Academy in Albany, New York in 2020, where he was a member and captain of the Albany Academy varsity ice hockey team. Following high school, Matthew played two years of junior ice hockey and moved
around from Massachusetts to Maine and then settled back in New Jersey playing for the NJ87s where he was named captain and the team won the 21-22 league championship. After juniors, Matthew attended St.
Anselone. Okay. College in New Hampshire for a year with his major in social work and was on the NCAA Division 2 ice hockey team and helped his team to win a Northeast 10 ice hockey championship. Sophomore year, Matthew transferred to the University of Delaware where he's he
is completing his degree majoring in history and wildlife ecology with a minor in insect ecology. Throughout his younger life and continuing today, Matthew has always done what he can to help out his community. He's been a Manisquan Beach lifeguard for over five years and has been credited with
numerous successful water rescue, saves, and preventative actions. Along with that, he has had hundreds of hours of community service under his belt. He helped start the Grove Club in high school that grew fruits and vegetables and was given to homeless shelters and food banks. He also goes to VA hospitals
and children's hospitals spending time with people there and was an active member in the best day foundation a group that takes children with special needs to the beach and helps them have great beach days surfing and swimming and through a social work major at St. Anelm spent a year in Manchester, New
Hampshire helping local underfunded schools and teachers with their afterchool and morning care. Do you have free time? In his free time, Matthew loves to surf, snowboard, and actively trains, teaches, and competes in jiu-jitsu and kickboxing. He wants to
give a special thanks to his mother and father who have supported him through anything he's ever done and for giving him the skills to succeed as an officer and in life. [Applause]
Joshua Ballard. Jos is a proud native of Jackson, New Jersey, where he graduated from Jackson Liberty High School in 2018. During his time in Jack at Jackson Liberty, he distinguished himself both academically and athletically, serving as a four-year varsity wrestler, two-year captain, and
a two-year varsity golfer. Following high school, Joshua attended East Carolina University, where he earned his bachelor's degree in sports studies with a minor in communications, graduating in 2022. After completing his degree, he returned to his alma mater to
work as a substitute teacher and serve as assistant wrestling coach. This role allowed him to give back to the school and community that helped shape him while mentoring the next generation of student athletes. Joshua looks forward looks to still be involved with the newly combined wrestling program to
continue paying forward to the next generation. Josh is now pursuing a career in law enforcement, aiming to follow in his father's footsteps, Michael Ballard, by becoming a police officer with the Jackson Township Police Department. He's deeply committed to public service and is excited to make a positive impact
within his hometown. In his free time, Josh enjoys staying active by playing golf, tennis, and pickle ball with friends. He also values his time spent attending church on Sundays with his girlfriend reflecting his strong sense of faith and community involvement.
Can everybody come up that's holding the Bibles for these uh young gentlemen? like hold microphone. So we kind of get you guys in the middle there. You hold that. Actually, you got to raise your hand. When you guys hold the microphone, right?
Left, left, left hand, left, left on the Bible. Listen. No. Left hand on the Bible. Left to your right. Thank you. Can you all please raise your right hand and repeat after me? I I state your name for the record.
Michael Matthew Heric. Do solemnly swear Doly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States. that I will 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
and that I will bear true faith and allegiance that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same to the state and to the governments established in the United States and the government to the government established in the United States and in this state and in this state in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people
and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly perform all the duties as a police officer. and and justly perform all the duties as a police officer for the township of Jackson for the township of Jackson according to the best of my ability.
according to the best of my ability. Congratulations. [Applause] Congratulations.
[Music] Yeah. [Applause] Thank you. Madame Cler,
the next item on the agenda is the small business recognition. Council President Keune. Thank you. We'll give it 30 seconds. Thank you. The council would like to present to CG's Bar and Grill, congratulations for being small business
of the month for July 2025. Your dedication to excellence and commitment to the community, exemplifies the spirit of entrepreneurship in Jackson Township. We appreciate your contributions and wish you continued success. Councilman, thank you, Council President.
Congratulations to CG's Bar and Grill. We are proud to shine this month's spotlight on CG's Bar and Grill, a true local favorite right here in Jackson. Justin, Carol, and their team have created more than just a place to grab a meal. It's a warm and welcoming
gathering spot where neighbors become friends. Congratulations to CG's on being recognized as our July small business highlight. Your dedication to community and hospitality makes Jackson stronger. Thank you. If you come up and present you the
[Applause] Congratulations. Madam clerk, thank you. The next item of business is second reading and public hearing for ordinance 202527 providing for various general capital improvements. 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 clear. For the record, you'll 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? Seeing no one, come forward and make a
motion to close public comment. Motion. Any opposed? All in favor? I. Any opposed? Motion approved. May I have a motion to adopt ordinance 202527? Motion.
Second. Council member Belli, can you hear me? No. No. No. Hello. All right. I'm sorry. There we go. Yes. Yes. Councilman Brezie. Yes. Councilman Paul Mary. Yes. Councilman Vice President Bernstein.
Yes. Council President Cune. Yes. Thank you. The next item of business is a second reading of public hearing of ordinance 2020 528 amending and supplementing chapter 103 entitled vehicles and traffic article 14
schedules Baso Street. 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 clear for the record. You'll have five minutes and may only speak once. May I have a motion to open public comment? So move. Second. All in favor?
Any opposed? Seeing no one come forward, make a motion to close public comment. Second. All in favor? I. Any opposed? May I have a motion to adopt ordinance 202528? So move. Second. Councilman Belli,
yes. Councilman Brassie, yes. Councilman Paul Mary, yes. Council Vice President Bernstein, yes. Council President Cune, yes. Thank you. The next item of business is the second reading and public hearing of ordinance 202529
amending chapter 244 land use and development regulations to establish an inclusionary zone district entitled AH4 providing affordable housing units to be developed subject to certain conditions and requirements. Attorney McGucken, thank you. There is one minor change in
the ordinance that was introduced in 2025-29. That's on page three of the ordinance. Section 244-63.4. Capital E density area. The only change is to the minimum frontage. Frontage on a culde-sac having an
outside radius of 500 ft or less is how it was introduced. This would include now a semicolon lots with wedge frontage not located on a culde-sac 45 ft. Thank you. At this time, if any me member of the public has any comments to
make, please address the council at the microphone and state your name and address clear for the record. You have five minutes and may only speak once. May I have a motion to open public comment? Second. All in favor? Any opposed? No. My name is Sheldon Hoffstein, Jackson,
New Jersey. I'm not speaking as a board member, but as a concerned citizen. Basically, I'm here to ask you to not vote on this ordinance today, but to delay it to give the public time to learn how their lives will be permanently affected.
The timeline for passing uh these ordinance happens to be March 15, 2026. That is plenty of time to discuss all of this. Since this ordinance only provided a list of lots and blocks, I'll give the location which
is off Hope Chapel Road making a left going to other base on Whitesville Road to the left side. It runs from White Street to the Tom's River border. Consist of almost 361 lots, most of which are vacant, though some have
residential uh homes on there, and most of the lots are owned by LLC's. Um, the affordable housing plan, which passed a planning board, only lists two lots, lots one and two on block 22102
as part of the plan. And these two lots alone will have 438 housing units. Since the zone will be infect for many years into the future, the impact of the lies on every Jackson resident, the council should provide a
residents to answer to many of the questions before voting such as what will be the impact of the overall environment, the infrastructure such as water, parking, sewer, water runoff impact on our schools. Um
the last affordable housing round required 1,250 affordable units which at the customary 20% of the market we had to provide almost 6,000 housing units.
This is why we have all the construction and congestion we have now. This one this one section is only 10%. I'd like to know the answer for that. Uh the public needs a discussion before and more answers before the vote is taken.
And this has been done before, but we should invite the affordable housing representatives, the town attorney for h for affordable housing uh and so on, plus the three planning board members who worked on the
new plan. The ordinance along with several ordinances creating the A8 zones will add many thousands of residents to the population of Jackson. If we told this number with the many new residents from
recently approved multifamily RG zones, we will be increasing our population when this is built out to over 100,000 people. You combine this with Jackson, Tom's River, Manchester, Brit, Lakewood, and Howell, and we're looking at a major
urban area of over half a million people. Okay. Um, I just want to say one more thing that I I think it would benefit everybody in this town to have a little more information. At the last meeting, some
of the council members haven't even read didn't even get a chance to read what was happening. And just one more request, any council member who may benefit financially or has family members, friends, or close acquaintances who may benefit from this ordinance or
any similar ordinances should recuse themselves from voting on this ordinance. And let's see some real open government. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Seeing no one else come forward and make a motion to close public comment.
Motion. I move. Second. Second. Council member Elli. Uh thank you uh Clerk Martin. Uh first regarding this ordinance and the other
two ordinance that are coming up on the agenda. Um I want to thank my colleague Council Vice President Marty Bernstein and also planning board chairwoman Michelle Campbell and master plan committee members who were made up of residents and volunteers who put a lot of time and work over the last year to
put together the required blueprint for development plan for our town for the next decade. Um, I'm sure it was a herculean task and I want to express my gratitude and appreciation for all for all of you for working on it and introducing it for the residents and for the governing body. I understand parking
space, uh, open space and some other restrictions and requirements have been included in these ordinances and that's all well and good for the town and thank you. However, I feel we can put in all the requirements we want, but 1,00 more housing units across our town is still 1,000 too much that our town can't
handle at this time. It will be burdensome for taxpayers. That's on top of the existing projects which have been approved in Jackson already and where you have seen land cleared where uh some building has taken place and some building hasn't taken place. And will it just be 1,00 units? I'm very concerned
that you know applicants they like to come back for more including the fair share housing center in the case of ordinance 2025-31. So I have some reservations um about it. I don't it's not all bad and it's in all three ordinances but with those reservations I'm still going to continue
to exercise a no vote on these including uh resol I'm sorry ordinance 2025-29. Thank you. Councilman Breie. Yes. Councilman Palary. So, uh, we had just recently discussed
and I want to just get this right. The a thousand the thousand affordable housing units were voted on in December of 2024. That's correct. With the previous council and was unanimously approved. That's correct. So, th this is happening regardless.
These thousand homes, we're not voting against that today. That's correct. This is just restrictions in the development of what the developers can and can't do. That's and quite frankly, these are some of the toughest restrictions I've seen in Ocean County with the parking, with open
space, etc. So, the thousand homes is happening unfortunately no matter what due to affordable housing from the state. Uh, and again, this was voted on by the previous council and approved unanimously in December of 2024. So, I vote yes.
Council Vice President Bernstein. Yes. Council President Keune. Yes. Motion approved. The next item of business is a second reading of public hearing of ordinance 202530 amending chapter 244 land use and
development regulations to establish an inclusionary zone district in title AH2 providing affordable housing units to be developed subject to certain conditions and requirements. Attorney McGucken. The same change is being added to this ordinance 244-63.2
again in subsection E density. We're adding lots with wedge frontage not located on a culde-sac at 45 ft. Thank you. 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 clear for the record. You'll
have five minutes to only speak once. May I have a motion to open public comment? So moved. Second. All in favor? Any opposed? Shelonstein Jackson just to continue again asking for a delay in the vote.
Would they vote yes or no? Doesn't matter. I don't think the public's had enough time to find out where all these properties are, how it affects their lives, and there should have been more open government on this. The lots included in this one are located on
Harmony Road between Jackson Mills and the Four Seasons adult community. They're located on Brewers Bridge on a section known as Tim Tam Camping Grounds. And that plan is to have 60 residential units including 21
affordable units. And the other is again down on Writesville Road at Faraday Avenue and the border. And again, there's a plan residential and commercial use. And again, there's no information about anything. And I think again, instead of voting yes, again, you
should delay the vote and have more discussion. And let's see a real open government in action. Thank you. Thank you. [Music] Eleanor Hatam, Jackson, New Jersey. Um,
again, as Mr. Hoffstein had stated, this does not delineate exactly what streets are going to be affected. Um, I did look up the streets that are going to be affected there. This is going to be major traffic in these areas along Brewers Bridge Road, Harmony um Harmony
Road um as well as the other development that's going on on Harmony Road. Um, the bulk standards are ridiculous. a 9,000 a 9,000 foot lot a 100 foot depth of the actual lot which
provides major high density again within the requirements of these develop and also these developers are not provide being forced to improve the infrastructure of these roadways that they're about to affect.
So, this council is going to vote on behalf of specific developers that were written into these specific lots, and this equates to basically spot zoning, um, which is illegal. I'd also like to know
why it is only giving a 10% set aside for affordable housing and not our customary 20% set aside. Um, this only benefits the private interests of these developers and it does not outline the
number of parking spots for the multifamily units. It only outlines how many uh parking spots are allowed for the single family units. So why is this all these questions I just answered? because
it's not in the ordinance. And therefore this ordinance ex is extremely extremely broad and creates a mess for our zoning board and our planning board when they are doing uh
you know they're looking at these applications and you have developers going in front of these boards and there's no teeth in it. Again, it creates another mess and it's not
improving again the infrastructure and putting the burden on the taxpayer to improve. The same way this was done with the Chandler Road project and Brewer's Bridge or should I say Bethl Church and
now Pittney. So, can you please answer those questions? Ma'am, we have our professionals here. We're going to let everybody have a chance and then our professional is going to answer your questions. They're right behind you and then I can come back up at the next ordinance. But no, you can stand there and ask all your questions
for the next two minutes. Absolutely. They're writing them down behind you. Well, then it's not a Q&A. It's a question and then we're going to answer your questions. That's the way it's going to go. That's the way we've set it up for tonight. That's why we have so many people here. So many people here. This is a council
meeting. So again, as before, you refuse to answer my direct questions. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. Seeing no one else come forward, make a motion to close public comment. Second. All in favor? I. Any opposed?
No. Council President, could we have can we call up um Miss Leu and and Can you please answer um the resident's question? Miss Leu, I guess, and Mela, you mind just introducing yourselves each to the public?
Sure. My name is Robin Labou. I am an attorney with Rosine Mandel Chipriyani and the affordable housing attorney for Jackson Township. Robin Leu Rostine Mandel Stro Chipriyani. I'm here on behalf of the township for affordable housing.
My name is Malika Abd CME Associates. I'm a professional planner and uh we drafted the master plan for Township of Jackson. Thank you. I took I took some notes about some of the comments that were just made. Um the
first note I have is regarding spot zoning. Um, spot zoning occurs when the the governing body picks a a specific piece of property and changes the zoning. Um, what's happened here is that the planning board has adopted a master
plan which recommended reszoning of various areas of the township and these are implementing ordinances that are consistent with the master plan. So, this is not spot zoning. Thank you. You're welcome. Um, regarding the difference in the set aside on some of the properties, uh, generally in
affordable housing, a range of set aides is approved. It could be 10% up to 20% is usually what's acceptable. The reason why there were differences in this plan is because for those specific properties, the developer was looking for actually a much higher density of development. And so, this was a
negotiation with the developer to get the the density down. And also, we brought the number of affordable units down. We had a certain number that we had to meet which was a thousand units and we were able to do that by reducing the density on those parcels while keeping it 20% on the others. Thank you.
You're welcome. Um see and just the the one other comment that I had was oh the um the the 9,000 square foot and 100 foot um that's actually already existing in the
township in the R9 zone. We have zoning that's consistent with those standards currently. Thank you, ma'am. Was there anything else that was raised? Anything else we're going to that comes up? If we miss anything, we it will be collected by the clerks are going to watch the YouTube tomorrow and um they will email and get emails out to make sure that we get all the questions
answered. All right. Thank you. Thank you. May I have a motion to adopt ordinance 202530? Motion. Second, Councilman Brelli. Uh, yeah, Clerk Martin, thank you. Um, some of my concerns and re reservations
are still what the impact would be of these ordinances, um, especially on our taxes and services and infrastructure and for future residents and of course the increased traffic as a result. I vote no on that. Thank you. Councilman Brassie, yes.
Councilman Paul Mary, yes. Council Vice President Bernstein, yes. Council President Kim. Yes. Thank you. The next item of business is the second reading and public hearing of ordinance 202531
amending the township code of the township of Jackson as to amend and supplement 244 entitled land use regulations so as to amend 24491 entitled RG3 regional growth zone. 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 an o motion to open public comment? Motion. Second. All in favor? Any opposed?
Sheldon, Jackson, New Jersey. The good news regarding this ordinance that it doesn't create a new zone. The bad news is the perception it creates. It appears that on one hand the council is creating a specific ordinance for a favorite builder in order to make the homes on
his property more marketable. On the other hand, it will set a precedent for other builders to demand similar preferential treatments. The result more density, further building and so on. These 20 accessory dwelling
units gives the appearance of adding to the affordable housing stock. However, it bypasses the normal planning, building and management or affordable housing authority that usually conduct these units, construct these units.
These ADA units are in a residential zone and are deed restricted for only 10 years. 10 years after that they can do whatever they want and they're not limited to affirmative marketing medium minimum rent and annual increases. So
it's an open thing to who we can move there. Um, according to the uses for this property of family members, the elderly, in-house healthc care providers, individuals with disabilities, low and moderate income household, just a bunch of wide open
uses. As stated, one winner is the builder. The homeowner benefits by getting a rental subsidy, which enables the purchase of a home which he may not be able to afford. For many years, a homeowner could apply for a variance to
construct and add on deed restricted for a deed restricted apartment for an elderly relative or an individual with disabilities. These were commonly known as motheraughter apartments. These were almost always
approved. If town is short in number of affordable units uh and this is in the last round that this is for the possible solution would be to comply by building the small separate affordable housing areas.
The perception is that we're being presented with a form of builders remedy where the public almost always loses. Again, there's a need for open public meetings so that the residents can hear why this ordinance is before the council. We also need all the relevant
information from our professionals. Just one thing since since uh not to insult you, Miss Cune, but just because you're in real estate and there's a bunch of property up there, make sure that you don't have any dealings with with anybody involved in the project.
Otherwise, recuse yourself. I'm sure you'll think of that. On the other comment is just that one of the board members is a friend, acquaintance, and so on. Let's not go into that with the builder and I think uh Vice President
Bernstein should recuse himself on this vote. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Eleanor Hannah, Jackson, New Jersey. Uh first and foremost, local zoning changes that appear designed for specific parcels or developers can constitute
spot zoning, which New Jersey courts have deemed invalid and unconstitutional and not serving a broader public per purpose except for that developer. um calling out discriminatory usage and
request for clarity on this ordinance and how it affects our streets, our roadways, the density standards and the parking. So again, uh this RG3 zone, this is Jackson Trails, which is Morai Ihorn's
um development in which I have quite a bit of knowledge about. Most of these lots are on 17 acres. It is not even remotely close to a quarter of an acre. And now we're
going to be putting these accessory dwelling units on these properties. So after Mr. Iicorn in court lost and had to reduce the density in his development, he's now coming back in
Jackson Township is about to reward him by now providing these ADU units on these.7 acres. Um, this only benefits this one specific
developer. This again is spot zoning because no, you're not changing the zoning, but you're adding to the zoning to accommodate um the accessory dwelling unit. So, you're putting two dwelling units on 17 or.20
acres. Who is to determine that those who are renting these ADUs, who's determining that they are actually in fact a family member? It's not going to be code enforcement because code enforcement's
hands are tied when it comes to these multif family, single family homes where we have multifamilies living in it. And when I speak with code enforcement, they tell me their hands are tied because how do you ask if they are family members?
How do you prove they are family members? This ordinance lacks so much and it is extremely discriminatory. So basically on my 1 acre parcel, I can put three ADU units on it.
Why not? And have my family members all live on my compound. But no, this ordinance is so discriminatorily written for one developer to increase the density so he makes more money
because this all comes down to money. Every single one of these ordinances tonight comes down to the benefit of not of the people but of the developer and you are all it appears in their
pocket. So I would like to know why the burden is going to again be put on the resident because again this lacks any infrastructure along Hope Chapel Road to increase this density and that roadway
the water the sewer that still hasn't happened yet. So, as we have right now the infrastructure that is lacking, we have recycling that can't be all picked up. So, therefore, my recycling when it's supposed to be
picked up on Thursday, they can't come pick it up because the truck is full because you have all these multifamilies in one family resident putting out so much recycling, half of it, which is their garbage, because the capacity of the home exceeds what it's supposed to
have. And then I have to call to have them come back out the infra. You are creating an infrastructure mess as I can see because then there'll be a next ordinance in order to fix that mess as I had seen
with the other ordinances that were on tonight's uh with Basso. You make the mess and now you create an ordinance to fix it. And this is going to be another one. This should not go through. ADU units should not be allowed in Jackson
Township. Thank you. Chris Pollock, Jackson, New Jersey. This ordinance is directly tied to the developer, Morai Iicorn. Our council vice president, Morai Bernstein, should not be voting on this. His wife and Mr.
Icorn's wife run a political action committee together that's raised over a4 million dollars. This is a clear conflict of interest. How can residents trust that this vote is in the best interests of Jackson families when money and political power are directly
entangled between a council member's family and a developer? Mr. Bernstein, you need to recuse yourself from this vote. That is the ethical and responsible thing to do. Anything less makes this ordinance tainted by a conflict of interest. Jackson's
residents deserve decisions made free of developer influence, free of pack money, and free of backroom deals. They deserve politicians who put the residents first. Thank you. Seeing no one else come forward and make a motion to close public comment.
Second. She's come. Al Tutor right to Bo Road Jackson. I just want to add a comment based on what uh Eleanor and Chris said. What are the code of ethics all government officials must adhere to in
Jackson, New Jersey? acting impartially and not giving preferential treatment to any private organization or individual. And yes, a religious group is an organization. And that's what I feel you people do on just
about every meeting that I come to. [Applause] Seeing no one come forward, make a motion to close public comment. Motion. All in favor? I. Any opposed? May I have a motion to adopt ordinance 202531?
So moved. Second. Councilman Belli. No. Councilman Brassie? Yes. Councilman Paul Mary? Yes. Council Vice President Bernstein. So this is an ordinance that the mayor negotiated um that will save the town
over 350 units. I vote yes. Council President Cune. I vote yes. Motion approves. The next item of business is the first reading and introduction of ordinance 202532 amending the township code of the
township of Jackson so as to amend chapter 3 entitled administration so as to revise article 9 entitled Department of Public Safety. Council President Cune, are there any comments on ordinance 202532?
Yes, madame clerk. Thank you. This ordinance amends chapter 3 of the township of Jackson code regarding police appointments. It authorized the township and it in its discretion to appoint entry level police officers in accordance with NJSA 11A413.
This ordinance require uh is required for the Jackson Township Police accreditation. Thank you. That's it, ma'am. Are there any questions or comments by the township council? I just I I actually have a comment. I just wanted to get some clarity. Uh Director Kandudo, while you're still
here, this allows you to go off not you can go away from the civil service, correct? And you can you can hire you have a broader span to hire new officers. Correct. Okay. Thank you. I just wanted to make sure that I I got that clarity. But I did get if I could have asked a question, Mr. McGucken. I know you and I have had this
conversation. Our town's a civil service town. We can be we're stuck with civil service and everything else when it comes to the police department. We have a way of having a little bit more gray area and wiggle room. That is correct. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Council President Cun. May I ask uh Director Candido? Um this doesn't affect
the standards that are still um in place that officers have to adhere to. It doesn't reduce the training or the requirements. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Thank you, Councilman.
Madame Clerk. Thank you. I have a motion to approve ordinance 202532 on first reading and introduction to authorize the notice of the public hearing to be held on September 9th, 2025. So moved. Second. Councilman Barlli, yes. Council Breie, yes.
Councilman Paul Mary, yes. Council Vice President Bernstein, yes. Council President Hume, yes. Thank you. The next item of business is the payment authorization of bills and claims. I would like to note the following abstensions.
Abstensions include Council Member Elli and Eye1 and Council President Cune RCS02. Are there any questions or comments by the township council? No, Madam Clerk. May I have a motion to approve the bills and claims with the abstensions noted?
So moved. Second. Councilman Belli, yes. Councilman Brassie, yes. Councilman Paul Mary, yes. Council Vice President Bernstein, yes. Council President Cume, yes. Thank you. The next item of business is resolution
269 2025 amending the 2025 budget, which was read into the record by council president Kun at the beginning of the meeting. May I have a motion to authorize resolution 269 2025? Motion second. Councilman Belli,
yes. Councilman Breie, yes. Councilman Paul Mary, yes. Council Vice President Bernstein, yes. I just want to take a moment and thank our business administrator. I don't think there's been a day that gone by that you and Miss Marlin, our new CFO have not been in touch with the members of the council and administration to
make and getting this to where it got to in a um I know people will say this has been months and months. You you've only been here for what, two months and similar for the CFO. So, thank you. Yes. Thank you, Mr. Phillips. Council President Q. Yes.
Thank you. Um before we get to the consent agenda, Madame Clerk, there is a different process that we do now. Okay. It is would anyone like to pull anything off the consent agenda on the DEAS and speak of it and vote on it separately? Is there any resolutions that you would
like to pull? I have a comment on two of them. That's comments when you vote, but this is to pull them. No, I I I have a comment to make. No, no, no. This is the comment too. Like you want us to talk about it separately? Um, no. I don't want anything.
Any comments? We all have our comments and we want to talk about, but anything that we want pulled for us to talk about separately? Nothing, Madam Clerk. Thank you. The next item, what I do? You want Oh, public. I'm sorry. I by next time
I've got it. I swear. Um, would anybody from the public like us to remove any resolutions and discuss them separately from the uh current consent agenda? Please let me know. Now, you have one. What one? Sanctuary. You got it. What was that?
29, right? 2742. Yeah. So, we're going to remove 274. And I think that's actually a couple of us have do have comments on that one. Um, Councilman Paul Mary and myself were quick to get
that resolution requested to be put on the agenda. Uh, Councilman Palary, you want to uh give your comments and then I'll go next. Sure. So, uh, this actually was brought up at the last council meeting by Miss Tudtor, who's here. Uh, she presented us
with a resolution that Howell recently passed in regards to opposing sanctuary state policies. And, uh, we did read it. We did like a lot that was in it and we actually made our own resolution actually even stronger than Howells and that's what this resolution is 274-2025.
This resolution declares that Jackson Township will not be a sanctuary city and will follow the lead of the president of the United States in rejecting sanctuary policies. It states that New Jersey sanctuary policies obstruct local law enforcement, undermine safety, and defy federal
immigration law. The council believes sanctuary policies are harmful to residents health, safety, and welfare while also threatening federal funding. The township council emphasizes that government efficiency efficiency should focus on improving services for residents, not protecting illegal
immigration. The resolution asserts that state policies cannot force Jackson Township officials to limit efforts to protect residents or violate federal law. Jackson's police department and township officials have an affirmative duty to uphold state and federal law. The council pledges to place residents
first by never allowing Jackson Township to be designated a sanctuary city. The resolution calls on governor uh calls on the governor and the state legislature to re-evaluate sanctuary state policies for the safety and welfare of our residents. It affirms that Jackson Township will strictly enforce all
local, state, and federal law. The township will fully cooperate with federal immigration authorities, including ICE and permit as permitted by law. Thank you. Well, you just recapped it, so I have absolutely nothing to say, so I'm going to second that. That's pretty much um what I was going to do.
Pretty much went over the resolution. Um and I want to thank you for bringing that to us, and thank you, Councilman. So, I'm good. May I have a motion to authorize resolution 274205? Motion.
Second. Council member Elli. Uh, clerk war want to thank Council President Cune and Councilman uh Pomeary especially for your comments and uh thank fellow Jackson resident Miss Tutor for bringing the issue to our attention um that it seems like we're wholeheartedly
supporting. So yes, thank you Councilman Brassie. Definitely. Yes, Councilman Paul Mary. Yes. Council Vice President Bernstein and yes and thank you Mr. Paul Mary. I think the next morning bright and early you were reaching out and making getting everyone's uh very early so we appreciate it. Thank you. Council
President Q. Yes. Thank you. The next item um is the consent agenda. Listed for tonight's consideration are resolutions R 270 through 273 and R275
through 280 2025. Council President Cun, are there any additional comments? Um I just want to bring I I said it in my opening speech, but we had a lot going on with a lot of officers. Um, we have a lot of committees out here and we have a lot of stuff that everybody's working together and we um created the recreation committee and under two
months and I I want everybody to hear when you work together and you work administration, you work with your council and you work with your committee members and everybody gets along um it's a whole different ballgame and you get things done. We got uh Camp Joy on here that's ready to have a concept plan in under two months. That's a park that you
know everybody you know you know where it's at and it's that's something that really should be recognized and I know you know you can say what it is but working together does make a difference and I just want to thank my committee because they are very dedicated and they're everybody's different you have you know it's it's when it comes to
recreation we all see eye to eye and it's great to work with them and I appreciate them all. Thank you ma'am. Thank you. I vote yes on everything. Thank you. May I have a motion to authorize the consent agenda resolutions
270 through 273 and 275 through 280 2025? Motion. Second. You council member Elli? Yes. Council Brassie. Yes. But before I vote, I'd like to just mention something that catches my eye. You have a planning board member who's
served time for years on the planning board and now still looking forward and going to the zoning board. And I think that's really, you know, something for the town to recognize. these volunteers. Ray tremor. Thank you. Thank you, sir. I vote yes. Councilman Pomeary,
I do have a comment on one, excuse me, resolution resolution 273-2025, which is the snow plowing contract. The township put out a bid for supplemental snow plowing services and only one company submitted a bid in accordance
with the specifications. The current bid specifications require one company to cover the entire township of Jackson, which is over a 100 square miles. Most snowplow companies do not have the capacity or equipment to handle that size of an area alone. This creates a
barrier and discourages competition. As a result, the township effectively locks in one company each time, which limits competitive pricing. The rate in this contract is $550 per truck per hour with 20 trucks on the
road. That's costing the taxpayers $11,000 per hour. Seems very high. If the township opened up the bid to allow multiple snow companies to share coverage, for example, splitting the town into zones, we could encourage more biders and potentially achieve more
affordable rates. It is worth considering whether the specifications are inadvertently tailored to one vendor and whether the township can adjust future bids to promote fair competition and better value for our taxpayers. So
for resolution 273-2025 I vote no. The rest I vote yes. Council Vice President Bernstein. So I vote yes. I just wanted to highlight two um yes and everything. I just want to highlight two other resolutions. I want to thank the mayor
um for resolution 272 with his with together with Mr. McCucken for a memoriam of understanding between the township of Jackson and Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters. It's great to to to have a hopefully a better working relationship with our local unions. So, thank you for that. I
also want to um piggyback off of Councilman uh Palmary for a second. I also had similar concerns. Um I do want to give a special thank you um to our um I I had a conversation with with the contractor and I am happy to to hear that he is he's going to be increasing his services than he than he has
provided in past years. I think last year we had no salters provided by the contractor this year I think he's going to be providing I think 17ters. Um and that really if I'm I think I got the number correct. If I'm wrong I'll let people know next meeting. You're wrong. It's 10 seven 10 10 sorry 10. Um, and that really comes
with conglomerate um collaboration with our business administrator, the mayor, and Mr. Bolinsky together with council. So, I appreciate that hard work. And um I think we've um our town is is continuing to increase our hopefully it won't snow, but if it does, um hopefully everything will be pl efficiently,
safely, and everyone will be able to continue on their ways. Um, additionally, a a also I just want to really piggyback off of my colleague Mr. Breie. Um thank you, Mr. um um Thank you, Ray. Um, I I sorry, I had a
mental block for a second. We appreciate it. I think one of the things that we always saw on the zoning board was that we needed someone with fire experience. We appreciate you willing to step off that cozy seat in the corner over there. Shimshi, I think you'll be missing him, but we look forward to you doing great things on the zoning board. Thank you, and I vote yes. Council President Hun,
I'm just going to piggyback on uh resolution 273 for the snow plowing. Um I was uh away two weeks ago and we pulled it from the agenda because there was great concern. Uh this was put out to bid and there's no other companies that are able to do the capacity. We've
gone back and forth. Believe me, we've had multiple meetings in regards to this to do to do exactly what Councilman Paul Mary said. We just don't have contractors that are able to uh for the municipality to bring enough equipment and trucks and drivers and hold they're
not willing to sign a contract that they're going to get 75 guys if we need them in a matter of x amount of time to get the snow. But he did come back and say that uh the snow the salt he would do. Um and also we are putting another I want to say it's a salt barrel. We're
putting it on the um other side of town which is South Drospect. We're looking for a spot to put it. I actually just got the purchase order to approve today and I I held off on it. So that now the workers and the snow plows won't have to go all the way to the other side of town to get snow to or to get salt and to
bring them back to the other side which will save a lot of money and time. So that will help a little bit and then we will revisit it in the contractor ready willing and able. Um and Mr. Tremor Jr. Thank you so much. uh will welcome you to the zoning board and uh your
knowledge and experience is going to be very very helpful to the people on the board. Yes to everything else and thank you. Thank you. 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 clear
for the record. You will have five minutes to speak and may only speak once. May I have a motion to open public comment? So move. Second. Any all in favor? I. Any opposed? Thank you, Sheldon Jackson. My last harafha this
evening just for people who happen to live in areas where the fourth round compliance mechanism is going to be. I'm just going to read off the properties by Jackson. This is at Cross Street and
White Street. 281 residential, 30,000 square feet of commercial. Vano Properties, South Hope Chapel and Baso Street, 307 residential. Butterfly and Bennett's Mill
residential, 21,000 square feet of commercial. Grow Town and Veter East Veterans. This is near Bowman's Road. 1,438 residential, 120,000 square feet of commercial. And
if that's not enough, you have at the Pine Baron Golf Course 1,496 residential buildings, 240,000 square feet of commercial. At Chandler Road Concept, they give 66 affordable
housing, which means 330 units at 20%. Watkins Road 22 affordable housing 110 residential Farmingdale Road 53 affordable housing 265 residential Harmony 15 mean 75
residential and something called Rutherford and I think that may be off Bennett Mill that's 60 affordable housing and 300 units that's a lot of lot of building and I think that the township should, which something you
usually don't do, but let the residents whose properties are being resoneed know what is happening so they don't get surprised if they want to build something or have a sale. Uh just two other one other comment just out of the
box and uh Mr. McGovin would would know the answer I assume. Could the council just not build any housing except a thousand affordable units in one or two spots and meet the requirements?
Right. I didn't hear you. Sorry, Shelley. Could you say that one more time? He said, "Can can the township just not build any other spots and take the thousand affordable and put them into one spot? Could we take and put it pick a section of the town and put a thousand
affordable housing is what he's asking. the township has to build it within the jurisdiction of the municipality and that is one option that the township could do. Um, however, the infrastructure needs to be available, the property needs to be available, must be approvable. All of those factors are
factored in and when they did their research as to those properties, this these are the ones they felt could meet the requirements of the statute and the Fair Housing Act and could be built. Okay. Just just a question because I think it was done once before and Mr. breast would probably know on on Solar
Avenue years ago uh something called Windsor Crescent. I think those are all affordable housing units if I I may be incorrect. I don't I really don't know. But uh just want to know if that's a possibility. Uh other than that, nothing else at this
time. I thank the council for all the time you've given me this evening. Thank you, sir. Eleanor Hadam, Jackson, New Jersey. Um, you made a comment about the infrastructure has to be there. Well, clearly the infrastructure is or is not there for all these
ordinances that you just passed. Um, so that's a mute point. Um, you know, I have a concern. So, I deal with different residents that reach out to me that their quality of life is being impeded or affected by
a resident residents that is near them or next to them. Which brings me to something that I have noticed and a a pattern. This pattern goes down the road of
the zoning officer who clearly is selectively doing his job. So I will give you a case in point. 45 Pittney Lane. They put on an addition that quote
unquote is a great room for the family. It is not a great room. is it it is an assembly facility for the community. It has not been reszoned.
It has a certificate of occupancy as a rental. 85 Valley Road. That is a monstrosity. And it is very, very clear what that quote unquote great room
that the owner put on that property. And again, it's a house of assembly. It is not a great room for the family. And that too is a rental. I have
currently 24 Cambridge. That's a rental that is exceeding the 70% coverage. And no one is going to change my mind. I've been there numerous times. Currently, we have 18 Deer Lane that's in Harfield
that is being used not for a single family residence, but for other means that is affecting the quality of life of all those residents that live near and around that home.
You also currently have that I have here five properties that have been granted planning board approval as houses of worship. They have not finished their site plan.
They have not done any of the improvements. They are not supposed to be using the facility the way that they are using it with all of these cars and such high occupancy
until they meet the requirements that they have agreed upon at the planning board in which they're not all five of them their cos they're all rentals it is and they are mall
severely impeding the quality of life of the people around them. Parking all over the streets. 780 Heisen nine Lehi in which that's going to be the next ordinance because you're going to have to fix that mess because of the parking.
One Linda Drive, 864 Bethl Church, and one I sent Mr. Bernstein uh this weekend as I was going to my grandson's football game in Howell 1231 Aldrich Road where they approved
that with a blind hill with the agreement they will not park on Aldrich Road because if you are pulling out of West Connecticut concourse you are taking your life in your hands and now you're parking cars there that's
impeding the sight for a driver. I am doing this intentionally every single time and they're also operating outside their statement of operations because they are there every single day most of the day. That is not what they agreed
upon in their a statement of operations. Um, when it comes to Aldidge Road, I will keep on taking notice because if somebody gets killed, I will reach out to their family and let them know that I tried to help fix this mess and the
safety of their loved ones. One second. One second. So, the only one that I can comment, and I did write every single property, uh, Miss Hannam, that you wrote down, and I will look into it on 1231 Aldridge Road. Um, I can say that there was two cars, not on Aldridge, but they were on East
Connecticut, and I went and I knocked on the door, and I I they I asked them to move it. I know I've gotten your pictures, but I do I live right there's my neighborhood. So, I'm glad you know where I live. Okay. And we I'm just saying it's it's
it's I'm just I'm just I'm I'm saying Thank you, ma'am. I have a just a question maybe for the council, Mr. McGucken. So, um Miss Hannam said the zoning officer is picking and choosing how he does his job. Who does the zoning officer report to? Does it report to council or administration? Who who should take up
that accusation? Administration. So, Mr. Phillips. Uh that would be I guess your perview at this point. Thank you. Thank you. Um council president regarding statement on operations if it's not being followed or Mr. McGuckin what are the consequences of that?
It could be zoning attention. Okay. Could be zoning violations. He said it could be a zoning violation. And council president um I got Miss Hanam's communication email. I did forward it to the zoning officer. I've not heard back yet. Mr. Phillips also. We have forwarded it.
Thank you, sir. I apologize. Well, Jim Selectia Jackson, I actually came here with one thought with one thing to talk about, but I see you guys caught it and adjusted resolution 269. Unfortunately, you didn't repost it to the website. So, we still have
That's why I had to read it into the record. Okay. So, that that's that. Uh, also, the user friendly budget needs to be published before the next meeting. It it is. I I specifically asked if it was published. It is I asked twice. Madam clerk, can you resol tonight at
5:30? I get it. So, I didn't look, but it would it I did ask for it to be published and I was told. In regard to resolution 279, Camp Joy, I've lived in that area for 52 years, give or take on and off. Um, the one thing I would ask you to consider,
you're talking about putting in uh two softball fields with fences. I would ask that you make those fences retractable so that you can take them down. That's the plan. Okay, that's good. Now, my final comment, which is going to be most of my time. Um, as you know, I come to this
meeting all the time. I come to I go to planning board meetings and I go to the zoning board meetings. Uh, at just about every other planning board meeting, the attorney has to state and and let the residents know that the planning board
cannot look at any traffic other than ingresses or egresses. And he says the zoning board can. So if a person takes a preliminary site plan to the planning board, we can't look at it. If it's in front of the zoning
board, they can look at it. So my question is based on that is let's get rid of the planning board. Put everything under the zoning board jurisdiction. The planning board all falls under the township code. We can make that change. Make it a zoning board
issue only. Let them get all the the site plans and do the reviews. And this way we can look at traffic at intersections that are less than a quarter of a mile from these the these large um applications that are coming in
because I'm tired of hearing him say and he said and and you know the planning board it's it's the the state supreme court basically has ruled that they're not allowed to but he then says he expects that to be overturned. Well, the only way it's going to get overturned is
if somebody fights it. So, here's my question. Let's take the planning board and reject one of these applications based on traffic. Let them sue us and let's get to the Supreme Court and get that thing overturned because it's never going to work. So, if you're not going to go to the zoning board for
everything, we got to figure out a way to get this ridiculous rule at a planning board can't, but the zoning board can. In regards to the planning board with Mr. tremor leaving. I hope that when you consider someone to replace him, you
consider someone that has the fire experience that he does. If I could just add for a second, the mayor pointed already to the environmental seat to the planning board, Mr. Tremor's son, who's actually a firefighter also. So, I'm pretty I'm pretty confident that we're going to have the firefighter experience on the board. Good. That's why we we're okay with Mr. Trump
leaving to the zoning board. That that's fine. I that's one of the things that I think he replaced himself with a younger version. That's good. Thank you. Right. 3.0. Thank you, sir. Council President, the the clerk just um if I could just say how to get to the budget, the clerk just showed me I can. Let the clerk Let the clerk say do it. Okay.
Or Christian, actually, because Christian puts it on there. Yeah. Because I I knew it was on there. Or Madam Clerk, go ahead. Oh, so it's on there. It's just not available yet. So, we'll have it on there ASAP.
Hi, ma'am. Hi, everybody. Lisa Zak, how are you? Amazing. How are you? I just want to tell you how much I love my town. So, given this in I have a couple questions. All these um LLC
purchases and rentals of those houses and you know the list and every day it's growing and growing because every day there's a new one. Is there somewhere that the residents can go to see which ones were addressed and what's been done about them?
Absolutely. You can email me and I'll forward it to code enforcement and they'll respond. So I can email you. Okay. And if I come across one Absolutely. I email code enforcement every day. I get so upset because every day I send them to the department head. Absolutely. I mean you shouldn't have to do that
because we do have code enforcement, but please send it to me and I'll for how can you keep send them over and I'll I'll forward them. And and the other thing regarding the sanctuary cities, which I'm 100% in agreement with all you guys, what
policies are you going to have regarding that? Like we know there's a lot of illegals in town. Are we going to be doing anything about that or we're going to meet with our department heads with the business administrator now that just passed and we'll let you know? Like say one of these house rentals and you know it's filled with a bunch of
illegals and they're causing problems in the neighborhood. What do we do? Well, that's not an assumption the township can make and be illegal. But it's an it's an observation the residents can make. It's an observation anybody can make, but that assumes that because people of a certain heritage that they're illegal
and it could be any heritage constitutional violations, you just go to a house which has renters in it which appear to be Hispanic and say you must be illegal. So, we would have to have probable cause to do any of those things. It could be any any nationality. Some of them are in this room. Are they legal?
You know what I mean? I could be a we do not have the right we do not have the right to simply as a township to go up to somebody and ask them what their nationality. So the landlords should be providing the township with information as to whether they have legal citizens residing in their homes. No, they are not required to do that under
state law. Okay. All right. So that answered that. All right. So basically I can email you. Yes, ma'am. But uh there's no specific site we can go to to see if a property has been addressed. Yes, we'll have um once it's
up and running. Yes. Okay. All right. You can read the violations that were submitted and and read. We're working on it. We are working on it aggressively. If I could just clarify, if you put in an address in, you can check if there were violations that were submitted. Yes, absolutely. That's what I mean. I just I don't want to say yes and and and code enforcement isn't doing it yet.
So, we're working on it. See if there was any outcome to correct. It should have notes in there. So, once you get the violation goes in, they're supposed to put we're work we're working on it. We meet every two weeks with I meet with the administrator and and the department. when you have it all set and there's a specific site we could go. You should be able to go and and do it
as uh Miss Adam said she knows where I live. So, if you type in my address, you can see if I have any violations and if I do, you're going to see what they what the enforce what code enforcement or zoning officer said and if I cured it or not or abed it. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am.
Council President, if I may, Mr. McGuckin is safe there like a resident a res your mic. Gez, can you hear me? I'm sorry. Mr. McCucken, like safe residents suspect suspicious activity. Report it to the Jackson police. Maybe Director Candida,
if you can jump in. Um, can't you reach out to federal authorities like ICE? No, because of to be clear, uh, okay, the attorney general has decided,
but I've been hearing and I hear ICE raids going on and various communities. We're not attorney general has prohibited local law enforcement from assisting ICE in locating, transporting, arresting, detaining
those who are undocumented in here in the country illegally. That is a directive of the state attorney general. It's not a state law. It's a directive of the attorney general. Every police officer in the state has to answer to the attorney general. If they ignore his guideline, they would be subject to
discipline and potential punishment. It's a horrendous, horrendous directive from an attorney general who's unelected. It's not a state law, but that is the law of the state, unfortunately, because he has the authority and the Supreme Court has given him that authority to make those
determinations to control the actions of police officers in the state, even if they're breaking federal laws. Federal law. That's correct. Isn't that something? It's it's absolutely horrendous. We got a big election, folks, in November. Get out there and vote. Let's change the direction of our
for Shy Jackson. Thank you. Uh, thank you, Councilman. Wording like code enforcement. I had complained a while ago when our town administrator first came on board. 167 North Hope Chapel. It came before
the zoning board and was denied to change the youth from residential to a business. It is now a year and a half later and I have done numerous complaints at the zoning board. It's still operating.
You Why didn't you Why don't the town board it up and tell them get the proper permits? It that goes on our zoning officer. If it's a change of view and they were denied it and they're doing it anyway, that goes to Jeff Papor, our zoning officer. So, I'm going to write down the address because I have about 15.
It doesn't take a year and a half for him. I don't disagree with you. I listen, you're not gonna get any wrong. What is it? 167. Shut him down. 167 North 167 North Hope Chapel. I wrote it down. And his testimony before the zoning board, oh, there just going to be four
or five people coming in. I've been by there where there was 10 cars parked in that driveway and he asphalted the backyard as a pickle court, which he was using as excess parking.
until Zone and Naiden go out and put the fence back up across the end of the driveway. Another with another incident, we've got a shoe that is applying to be legal. They've been operating for two years
illegally. I don't know who's turning the blind eye. Two years illegally. And he was supposed to been before the zoning board last week. It's been changed to next month. We We didn't have a quorum, but he didn't have the permits. They got
a tent, air condition, and heat, bathrooms, and it's been operating going on in this town for two years. Now you understand why people get fed up. And you say, I don't mean you personally. No, I know. I'm not code enforcement's fault. Code
enforcement. And code enforcement something's going on. But to have something illegally going on for this long, something's going on. I don't know what it is. And another thing, I live in the senior community and there's a bunch of
us that are ticked off with the tax assessments. We on just a little over 20 acres, no improvements to all the buildings, no upgrades, no swimming pool. Our assessment went from 6 million
to 17 million. And I'm ticked off because I'm on the board and we just had to do our budget for the upcoming year. And with that assessment from 6 to 17 million, we got a lot of people live on social security,
they can't afford increases. But for us to meet our expenses and our tax bill, we're going to have to increase it on these seniors. And in Jackson, there are a lot of senior communities. Yeah. and they're going to start looking at this fine tooth comb.
Something's got to be done. We're getting fed up. Can't afford it no more. And we will if we sold it for seven, I don't know, 17 million, $400,000 each of us will get and move out. But we don't want to move.
We like it where we're at. We like Jackson, but you're pricing the seniors out of Jackson and even individual homes. You increased it. Where are we going to go? You know, I know getting fed up with it. Thank you.
Thank you, sir. Council President, I council president, can I just be very clear uh with something that the resident said? code enforcement and the zoning officer report to administration. We have
ordinances on the books and we could pass a dozen more ordinances. However, the administration has to be the one to enforce it and code enforcement and the zoning officer report to administration. We don't have authorization to hold them
accountable if they do not enforce. We're working together. Councilman, I got to stop you because we are working together with him. So, so I mean the complaint but this is I understand but it's a new thing. I understand but I I think we've beaten that to a dead horse. I I just want to be clear because they so they know they're well aware but we're meeting every two weeks with
administration. I'm meeting every two weeks with administration. I'm sure they're doing so I don't want to say council's not doing anything because I'm busting my ass to meet with council's not doing anything. I said we can pass a million ordinances but code and the zoning office does not report to us. I understand that but let's let's work
with the new administration. are if I could just add one more thing before the residents speak one question about taxes. I know there was a um I'm not a tax expert but there was a an appeal process. Um my understanding is that if well over if that development has obviously tax concerns that they feel their assessment
wasn't correct. What would be the appropriate body? Would they go to the county? Um I would have them go to Peter Moore. It would be a tax appeal process that they're talking to. Okay. So there is there is a process but and the proper authority would be county ocean county tax appeals board.
If you need the information email councilman Bernstein he'll be more than happy to send it to you. Is that okay? Yeah. Thank you. Sorry ma'am. Hi my name is Peggy Kowitz. I've lived in Jackson 60 years. I live in Brooklyn 3 and I'd like to know what anybody is
going to do. I live on Lehi Boulevard and you're turning it into a commercial property. That's not this board. Did you okay it? No, that's not this board. This is council
and you you don't care if they No, no, no. That's just not this board. That was not at our meeting. That's not It's not up to you guys. Even though you were in the township and Okay, that's We're not those with
Yes. And the about the cards coming into our on Lehi Boulevard. How are people going to get in and out of this development? And and they're making one of I believe they're going to do a no parking on there like we just passed on Basso. That's something that comes. So when the planning board or zoning board,
they approve something, it comes back. If they make regulations on it or stipulations, that ordinance need to be created. That's when it comes to us and we would create an ordinance that there's no parking on that street. Anybody could take residential and turn it into commercial. They can go in front of a land use board.
They they can that's the land use board, right? I've got it. I'm gonna have to move this one up a little bit. Sorry. Can you hear? Is it on? Can you hear me? No. Can you Christian? Can you give him a microphone because he's a little tall for that one?
I'll just try and stand over here. He'll give you a microphone. I'll be all right. You all right? All right. Yep. John Rodriguez, Superior Officer, President PBA 168. As our township council and business administrator, I'm sure you're aware of the court hearing and its outcome
relative to our public safety director position. I'd like to take a few moments to clarify what actually resulted in our union position. As we continue to work to move move JPD forward, excuse me. As it pertains to the court case, the judge very notably did not weigh on in on the
appropriateness of Director Candido's actions thus far during his tenure, nor was any challenge to his scope of authority heard. As a result, the judge merely stated that the public safety director cannot be a lieutenant on leave despite the township's logical arguments to the contrary. So, in plain English,
we have temporarily lost Candido as the director as of September 15th, but not the director's position, and all the while still maintaining faith in the appeal process that could reverse this decision. Prior to coming tonight, I took the time to review my previous comments here at the microphone. And
while we've made progress with the areas Director Candido has been able to control, there still remain many day-to-day issues that require addressing. The following are a few highlights. Thanks to our director, we are in the process of acquiring new bulletproof vests for the near quarter of the agency
that were allowed to pass their expiration date under the chief. Sadly, this process takes time and as we await forfeite funds to be released for the near term, many officers remain unprotected on patrol. We still have a culture of inequity
fostered by day-to-day decisions that provide specialty assignments and compensation directed towards a small minority of personnel using arbitrary and inconsistent criteria. Our recruitment efforts are minimal at best and our agency remains unequipped
to serve the changing population demographics and still has no one court interpreter certified to speak Spanish. The volume of calls for service that required this skill is continuing to increase at an exponential rate. The only effort towards this end is
laughable and came within the last week whereby a handful of officers are being sent to a one-day class for tactical Spanish, whatever that means. As someone with Spanish language proficiency who worked cases using this skill prior to the interpreter certification requirement, I can tell you that a
one-day class is not only unlikely to provide any lasting language retention, but also potentially dangerous when one of those officers tries to remember a command two years from now on a dark and stormy night on a high stress call. Miscommunicating, particularly when you
don't realize you made a mistake, is potentially more dangerous than not communicating. Additionally, there has been encouragement to take Spanish language courses on their own time, but without schedule accommodation or compensation. Recruitment of native speakers remains the most impactful option. And there has
been no direction given towards this end. While we continue to disenfranchise victims and unnecessarily delay investigations while we await interpreters from other agencies, our genuine hopes when moving forward with the public safety director position
were that they and the chief would collaborate to improve the agency and make joint decisions to correct the tumultuous leadership dynamic and provide consistent and clear direction. But through no fault of Director Candido, this did not happen. We have concerns that this court ruling will
lead to a return to business as it was and the progress we have made thus far, such as actually having command staff meetings on a weekly basis to get administration in the same room, of which, by the way, the chief has only attended approximately a quarter, or taking steps needed to actually fill
vacancies, hire new officers, and acquire equipment will go away. There are concerns also about the draconian cuts threatened by the chief at the start of talks regarding the public safety director position and what this will mean for the services the police department can provide. As an
example, the budget which is managed by day-to-day operations under the chief has seen overtime explode in an unprecedented manner with mismanagement having the agency projected to exceed a million dollars this year. As this was brought up at the last council meeting
with a number of 580,000, I was informed today that we are now at 668,000. That's two weeks. This is reckless and insulting to the taxpayers of Jackson Township. I could continue with additional examples, including
highlights of Director Candido's achievements, but in the interest of time and the fact that most of us are already well aware of the great work he's done, I'll wrap up. My hope is that I've made our position clear. In short, the job isn't done. There's still a tremendous amount of work to be done to
move our police department forward, and the unions remain here ready to support council and administration's efforts to continue the progress. We look forward to continuing to work together towards that end. Thank you. Thank you. I I I just want to put into the record because I I don't think people really got that. So, you're
saying in the last two weeks that in overtime that the taxpayers have paid $88,000 in overtime? That's correct. in two weeks to the police department. That's correct. I was under in line cuz I had said we were at 650, but we're at 668.
That's a concern. Thank you for coming. If I could just add, Lieutenant, thank you for coming up. We understand that it's not always easy for someone in your position to come up. And I can tell you that the administration and and the council understand the needs of the PD, and we're here to support you, and we're going to continue to do whatever we could to make sure that the men and
women are going into a well-run and an organized and a safe environment. So, thank you. Thank you. And we appreciate your efforts thus far. Last question. How many vests are still expired on active police officers that are out working right now? Do you know?
I believe it's approximately 30. So, so 30 officers, just so I want you guys to hear that, everybody, we have 30 of our men and women in blue that have expired vests that are walking around going into as we're talking about everything that's going on in our town.
and they're walking around. For the benefit of the room, the vests generally carry a fiveyear expiration date, so it's, you know, there sufficient time to plan accordingly. Yeah, I would think so. Thank you, Lieutenant. Thank you. Hi, Donna Cadell. 534 Gets Lane. Um, I
as a real estate agent for over 20 years, I get asked this a lot about the rental properties. If I list something out on the MLS, um, we do an NTN report. So, we collect a lot of data. We collect a background check, credit, I believe they supply a
social security number. So, as a landlord, I understand they have to register in Jackson to be a landlord. Why wouldn't not the township pass some type of an ordinance that says as landlords they should be doing some type of a check? I'm not saying that they
have to I'm not saying that they have to not rent to somebody. Yeah. But part of that check would make sure that a they don't have a criminal background. That would probably be one of the most important things. So, you know, because you know we're we're we're but we're together for a
very long time. We are not supposed to touch those results. We don't. They give them they used to do they used to give you a credit score. So they give you a bunch of credit scores and you'd see their debt. Now you go zero to 100. The tenant has to go on and then we get a number. That number is a zero to 100
to 100. Yeah. Right. But we can't give that anywhere. Like we can't give it anywhere. But shouldn't landlords be required when they're having tenants that you know especially in the town where now there are a ton of LLC's. Yeah. Every time I turn around, there's another
rental. Yeah, I agree. I I mean, residents are speaking all the time of their concern. Wouldn't it be in the best interest of the town to know that these tenants aren't don't have a criminal background? So, we've tried um this council has
tried with the working with the code enforcement and and what we added needing to provide a license. We added needing to provide a um letter of formation. We we've added everything that they've asked for. we've added that we legally can do. But I think it comes
to it's a matter of you know what I was told. This is what I was told and councilman I just want to and I apologize for before because I just I I just such a passionate of mine and and I just want no I want to apologize in front of everybody because that was wrong with me. But we've actually went and met with code enforcement and said
okay what can we do? And the thing is is we were told that if they feel that there could be somebody that's an illegal rental or it's it's a it's that they have to actually go knock on their door and if they can't get in then they have to go to the police station and file for a warrant and have a judge allow them. And I was told and I'll put
my hand to the Bible, right? We're not doing that as code enforcement. Like we're not doing that. So I'm like okay what else can we do that maybe we can go and we can focus and this has been 14 15 16 months in the making. just want to know this is not I just didn't wake up one day and decide.
So they said we can't go and do that. We have to go to the court. The court has to go give us a court date and go. So I'm like I would love that answer. I I tried to meet with our judge to kind of give us an outside bird view and he said create this bureau. That's what other towns are doing. Follow this town. So
we're trying to do everything but it you can't landlords if they want to not get a social security number and get a background check and not do that. You can't tell liable if something happens like is there anything that that the ordinances so the our ordinance just so you know every single ordinance if
you drive past a house and their and their grass is 15 in high that code enforcement has the at their discretion can write it to the owner or the tenant. It says it right on there. You can check whatever box you want and you can put it on there and then you can
grass at all. I know I'm so over grass. I don't know what else I could say with it, but you know, so council president, if I could just quickly ask a question. I know we created that ordinance. I think a lot of residents asked what happened to it. Um I I think we had created it with an understanding it takes a couple months to get it up and running. I think by our
next meeting, we had talked about Can we just talk about the process? So, so we have the budget. So, in the budget, we went and we sat with the CFO and we had to add So, when we got the budget back, I said, "Wait a second." I called the council. I said, "That line was not in the budget, which is the bureau. We have to create that zero
dollars in there. So then our attorney told us we have to create an ordinance. So we have to have a first and second reading that will create the ordinance prior to January. Then in December we have to hire two code enforcement, new code enforcement with the Bureau of Housing and admin and they're going to set everything up and then we have to
start in January once the money because we have to change the landlord registration which we did from 125 to 225. So that $100 will pay for that services but they're going to start Jan because you got to set it up. Start. Yeah. the same thing we did with the last changing of the land. It's not it doesn't happen overnight
as the public should really, you know, get back to that see something, say something, say something email. I think a lot of people are like afraid to do it, but everybody should be speaking out and not in a bad way. I mean, just send an email. Any email that's sent to council, we forward to our to our business
administrator and our department we feel it goes to and they do their investigation. But there's none that sit in our inbox. Right. I have one more question about the ADU. Yeah. Are they just in one specific part of town? Yeah. Could I Yeah, I'll answer that quickly. It's just in the RG3. Um it's
part of a negotiated, I'll call it settlement due to the fact that the developer um was allowed potentially by right to go ahead and put another 350 units of duplexes. And the governing and the government felt that it would not be good planning from those single family homes to turn into
duplexes. So instead, um the negotiated settlement. So it was just an RG3, nothing else. Right. And the way I read it, it could be an accessory building like behind a single family only only only in the same structure and the footprint of the house, right? But then how does that like how is that fair to other um property owners in town? Like I have
adult parents that I might want a granny shed in my backyard or a granny flat, whatever they're calling it in this ordinance. And you know, how is that just fair to only one particular set of people or one particular set or part of the town when a lot of us could benefit? I mean, I
would love to have my parents live with me. My house isn't big enough. I would love and I would love for them to have their own little place that they're not on, you know, in my home. Um, I I don't think most residents in Jackson would be happy to hear that the state of New Jersey is examining about allowing ADUs throughout everywhere. Um,
it's something that I think the Democrat majority is looking into. I don't think that's what the residents in town would want to hear. That would be increasing density. Um this came about due to the fact that um the zone allows for potential duplexes which would have increased the yield from 450 to about
675 units and that's not something that this government wants and the town wanted. So also it could be a rental property. Thank you. We have to sorry ma'am. Thank you. Anyone else? Deb Jones, Tyson Road. Um, again, I'm
standing here and I'm a little disgusted as a resident because, you know, you guys are watching the town burn down and you step back and blame someone else when you're holding the match. I I just don't understand. It's it's not our fault. It's this one. It's
that one. I was at the planning board meeting. It It's like for residents, we have to chase our tail because, oh, it's not our council. It's this council. It's not that council. It's this council. I'm done. I'm over it. You know, you sit there and you blame code enforcement for
things. Well, you know what? Just like you say we need more police officers, and I agree. We have a lot of square mileage in this road, in this town. code enforcement also has to patrol all of those same roads. Maybe they need more
people. It's just I'm so tired of hearing it's not our fault, it's this one's fault. You don't get to weasel out of it by blaming another council. I'm done. [Applause]
Anyone else seeing Chris Pollock, Jackson, New Jersey? Um, very well said. I think a lot of people are just frustrated with the way government is working in general. We have the council at odds with the mayor, mayor at odds with the council, you guys fighting with code enforcement, holding
up the budget for eight months, over $150,000. This is crazy the way this government's working. Why aren't you all sitting down and trying to work together? It doesn't feel like that. It feels like everybody is fighting. Everybody is against each other. And the people of this town are
the ones paying the price. This is a problem and this is not how government's supposed to work. We're supposed to work together and just we're all fed up. Every resident's fed up. I don't know whether you guys are just out of touch with the people. You don't understand how they really feel or you guys are working
against everybody. And whether you are or you're not, I'm not even saying you're working against the people. But you got to understand that's how people are going to perceive you based on everything that's going on in this town. And these things need to change. We need to call out the problems. Sing it out loud. Be real about it. The people are
tired of politics like this. The games you play, the the freaking media that you pay off to slander other people. It's sickening the way you do this. And people are sick and tired of it. I'm sick and tired of it. We all are. We're
tired of this. No more. Perfect timing. All right, guys. My name is Adam Mighty. Uh I live in Jackson. I grew up here. went to Holman, went to Mclliff, went to Liberty, went to college, got a biology degree, and I'm here on behalf of the environment. Um, just two points I want
to make. Uh, first things about RG3. Uh, have you guys applied to the Peland's Commission yet for that application? I'll answer that. Um, the Pelands had to review this initial application and they and they signed off. Yes. Have they signed off already? Yes.
Okay. So, the We can't do anything to Pelands without pylons approval. No. No. I absolutely understand that because I have a map right here. You can see all the wetland. You can see all the pineland and we're also on the uh RG3 uh one of the perimeters. One one/4 of the
perimeter is conservation overlay district. Right. It's our conservation overlay zone. So there's a variety of applications relative to the environment that would need to be applied and approved before we can actually move forward with the application. So, I understand you guys, you're telling me,
yes, you you spoke with the pilot commission and they signed off on it, but what about the the multitude of applications like the letter of intent, the the soil evaluation, all these things? My concern, which is my second point, is I feel like we pass ordinances before we actually, you know, meet state
and federal requirements. So, I I don't know. I just feel like we we're preemptively approving things just to like cover our behinds. Um, strictly concerned with the environment. I I I feel like we're just running out of trees. It's so bright in town. There's
no shade. Um furthermore, I just feel like there's not enough um just surveillance on these on these applications. Block number 5601, lot number 63. It's 90 North County Line Road. I got the over request back from
the Department of Environmental Protection. They received um a letter of intent to you know disrupt the land in 2005 but they never went and updated that letter of intent when they cleared the
land in 2023. So 18 years later from the time they got approved they finally went to the trees about four acres and clear cut it down. So I know I I have the statute. All these permits from the D
last for a maximum of 5 years. If he wanted to build in 2023, that's fine. He would have had to just survey the land and but but they never did. And this goes back to my last time I was here. Like the the developer, the lawyer, whoever he was, he lied under oath. He told I asked him, "When was the last
time you disturbed the land?" He said it was 2005. It wasn't true. I went back to Google Earth history and there's like I just want to make sure that we are taking the proper steps. We're reviewing all of the applications that are necessary for the environment whether
it's a species inventory um you know flood hazard plan, storm water, like just all of these things for the environment I'm I'm immensely concerned about. So I please ask that you guys just I don't know. I I was watching on the way here. I just left my laboratory. Um,
I agree with a lot of the things people are saying. I feel like we farm over accountability and I think we need to maybe just establish like what role the council can actually like what role can you actually play. I mean, you guys are the only board that's on payroll. I don't know how other boards that aren't
on payroll have more leverage or or authority to to make decisions in town. So, please uh I I I'm even volunteering for the environmental commission. I'm going to join the committee. I'm going to do my part and make sure that we're building properly. I don't care who
builds what. I just want to make sure people are following following the rules. The only land left in New Jersey is especially Jackson and Ocean County. It's the most environmentally sensitive land. Nobody ever wanted it because everybody knew you would have to go to
the D and get a a variety of myrad of applications. It's not It'll cost a lot of money, but it seems like now if you have just enough money, you can bypass all these permits and things like that. So, I'm just asking you on behalf of the wildlife in town, on behalf of the butterfly bogs and Lake Eno, um and and
our and our forest nursery that you guys please take the necessary steps and review all the make before you guys sign off on things, let's let's look at the environmental list and make sure that we're meeting the checklist and things like that. And Miss I made a bad comment to you
last time, so I just want to apologize for that. It's not uh doesn't represent who I am. I'm just business. I really am just That's okay. I appreciate that. Yeah. No, I'm I'm I'm just I'm here on behalf of the trees. So, I hope you hear what I'm saying and uh I hope you uh can do something to
help us out. Thank you, sir. Yeah. Carlos Martins, Jackson, New Jersey. Um, I wasn't planning on coming up here, but So, oh, um, I can say I can say this is
any topic, right? So, if I want to talk about Yeah, it's open comment. So, if I want to talk about the special election coming in November, I'm allowed to talk about whatever you want. Okay. Um, so like I said, I'm here as a resident. I I do I do participate in the zoning board, but I'm here as a
resident. Um, also full disclosure, so take whatever I I say with a grain of salt. Um, for the special election in November, I am on the side of Mr. Brassie uh because I know Mr. Brassie now, met him and everything. So um, just
full disclosure, I'm not in the bag for Mr. Brassie, but I'm on his side. So, uh, um, okay. So, the other day I'm sitting outside of Quick Check. I'm having my coffee. I'm
having my breakfast and I'm pondering the meaning of life, right? As one would do when they're having breakfast. I never got to an answer what the meaning of life was. But what I realized is that especially in politics,
everybody wants to be a hero. Everybody wants to be a hero. They want to be the savior. The problem with that is to be a hero, you need to invent a villain. And if a villain doesn't exist, then you invent them.
And that's what happens in politics, right? If you can't if you have nothing good to say about yourself, then you just uh throw mud at the opponent. And that seems to be what's happening um for the special election in November. Um
it's disappointing but um that was uh that was my epiphany that I had while I was sitting outside of quick check drinking my coffee. Think deep in thought. Um another thing that I know a lot of people will uh are familiar with
that old saying that um success in life um is 80% just showing up. I think we've all heard that, right? Um, my question is, what does that say about our mayor? Our mayor who never shows up.
As I called him once before, our notime mayor, because I can't even call him part-time. He's never here. Um, it's a shame. And we heard comments today about partic um collaborating. You can't collaborate with an empty
chair. Um, I do want to thank Mr. Phillips though. I'm hearing a lot of great things from you as far as working, making yourself available. Um, you're always here as far as I can tell. Um, so I thank you. Um, I think that that's an
improvement. Um, and and I think that's it, Mr. Tom Mary. Oh, one last thing. I suggest that at every meeting, we should have that picture of Mr. Paulie eating the uh chicken wings. Chicken wings. That's a great picture. We should show
that at every meeting right at the beginning. Anyway, thank you for all your work. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. Seeing no one else come forward and make a motion to close public comment. Motion. Oh, a resident.
Oh, alt tuda right deau road. This is a response to the fact that you can't do anything regarding illegals because of what is his name? Matthew Plutkin, Platkin, whatever the AG's name is.
Uh, last last time we met, I gave you the howl about um making us a not sanctuary town, and I appreciate you doing that. So, thank you for that. That was a pleasant surprise. I really didn't think you would, but you only did half
of what I asked. And of course, you don't have to um do what I say. The reason I requested that you the um landlords do a better job of vetting the people that they're going to be renting is you
have no criteria at all. All you say is they have to check out who's going to be renting. And I made a joke that, oh, they're breathing, so that's okay. I mean, no criteria. I checked the form. There's no criteria. Okay. But I also
made a copy of Donald Trump's rules. Now, I know he's the AG, but I think Donald Trump trumps the AG in New Jersey. So, I'm going to read from you because I don't really like to voice my opinion. I prefer to read what's actually on the
law. And if you want to copy this, you can have this one. Okay. According to him, actual specific knowledge is not required. An example is given. A newspaper article stating that ballrooms depend on an illegal alien
workforce of dance hostesses was held by the courts to be reasonable ground for suspicion that unlawful conduct has occurred. Okay? So, they don't require specifics, but I've spoken to ICE twice. They
actually want addresses because of course they need a warrant. But if we suspect something and yes, they say just looking at someone saying, "Okay, they might be, I don't know, Chinese, Hispanic, whatever the heck," that doesn't that doesn't warrant you
saying, "Okay, they're an illegal alien." But they also give other criteria that if the person is acts acting nervous or or doesn't you know no direct contact they're trying to inch away for you or something like that
that's enough for them to in get into that they can they can actually check into that. So I I hoping that you're not hiding behind the AG's rules. I mean I was really thrilled that you did go with the sanctuary. I brought up facts last
time. 7.3 billion we spent on illegal aliens in this state. They only put 1.6 in taxes. And I hate the spin of politicians that go, "But they pay taxes." Yes, but you neglect to mention
how much we spent on them. Another six billion. And this gentleman that just spoke, I had a lovely conversation with him last time I was here because he and I had a friendly disagreement. This gentleman comes from Portugal. He spent thousands and thousands of dollars and
waited two years, I believe you said, to get into this country. We have 35 million people waiting to get into this country legally. And I know for a fact because I've helped people study for the citizenship test. Okay? People spend thousands and
thousands of dollars and they should be given the choice of coming into the country first. And in case you didn't know, United States only likes to let in one million at a time. So some of those people will never get in. They may actually die first. And we're going to
prioritize people that have broken the law. That's all I have to say. I I was hoping you caught more. If you want this to read it for yourself, I just printed it out. I'm not coming up there because you braided me for doing it last time. Do
you want this? I printed it out. Officer officer, would you grab that? Thank you. I printed out the howl thing for you. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you. So, council president, if I could just ask Mr. McCucken, um I'm just going to talk about myself for a second, but I think this is a a governing body which is extreme supporters of President
Trump. Um I still have my Trump sign in my car from from last November. Um but we also live in New Jersey. And if Mr. McGuffin, could you just elaborate when we have federal um obviously directives, but we have state direct directives how that impacts our ability. We're going to
follow the law here in New Jersey. So, and let me start by saying everything the uh our resident indicated is something I completely agree with her on. Uh unfortunately, as an attorney uh and as elected officials, you're required to follow the state
constitution and the state law as well as federal. The state has determined that no police officer in the state of New Jersey shall enforce federal law with respect to immigration. That's a directive of the attorney general. Again, he's unelected. It's not a law.
We have actually asked in the legislature to force the legislature to adopt a law to repeal his directive. That has gone absolutely nowhere because the legislature is concerned is controlled by one party, the same party as the governor and the same party as
the attorney general. It's absolutely political. They refuse to change it. They don't want to vote on it. So they don't so they can avoid having to vote on it. So they let the attorney general do it by directive. I would love to be able for the council and the mayor to tell the police officers they should do
this. Unfortunately, you did not have that authority under the law and if you did so, you would be violating the attorney general directive, which would lead to the police officers being disciplined, charged, suspended, etc. I think it's absolutely ridiculous. I know
everybody on this council does. I believe almost everybody, if not everyone in this room believes the same thing. But unfortunately, that is the law we have in New Jersey. That is the directive of the state's attorney general. And by law, police officers are required to follow his directives.
Thank you. Thank you. Seeing no one else come forward and make a motion to close public comment. Motion. All in favor? I. Council President, can I just say one thing quickly before we make a motion to close? I um it was brought up earlier and I just really want to take the
moment and thank Mr. Phillips. Mr. Phillips works for the mayor. Um and um this council has been working lock step together as one council. Um we introduced multiple resolutions tonight to have the mayor's input into those resolutions. So contrary to what some
residents alleged, this council is working together with administration very well. I spoke to the mayor on the way to the council meeting. I spoke to the mayor this morning. Um, and I'm not going to speak for when he comes and when he doesn't come. Um, but I do want to thank the mayor and say with regard
to the budget, um, contrary to some of the fake fake news being spread on on social media by some bloggers, um, the council received the budget. Council president, do you have the date when the council received the budget? I do. I I can read it off the top of my head. So, we received it. We went back and forth on January 27th. It went to
us. Uh, we spoke with the mayor. We said that we wanted to make some changes. Then we lost our CFO and RBA. Our CFO was on the agenda on March uh 27th, 2025. She did not start until April
28th, 2025. We met with the auditor and the CFO and the interimm CFO on May 2nd at 1:30. Me and you. And and I just want to add one thing that the mayor and it's anyone could Oprah because it sounds like everyone loves Oprah. Um you could Oprah um where the mayor wrote very clearly thanking
council president myself for being the first council that he's worked with that has asked actually has asked to review the budget. Um I'm only on council for since December of 2023. This council worked on the budget together with administration and we're proud of the budget. There are parts of the budget that I guess by the next meeting we'll
introduce that I don't I didn't agree with but that's part of compromise and I'm looking forward to the next meeting. It wasn't eight months late. Thank you. I just read you the timeline sir. I'm sorry if you didn't hear me. If you'd like a lie that you're sprouting on social media to get a lie. Sorry.
We did our due diligence. Just so you know, if we didn't meet and I'm I'm going to make a comment just so you know, if we didn't meet with the auditor on um May 2nd at 130 million, Councilman Bernstein, we found 1.4 million of funded money and we said, "Whoa, what is
going on here with this budget? Where is this money coming from?" We pulled all the bond ordinances which we passed. We reallocated all the money. We gave it to the senior centers. We gave it to the police department. to DPW. We gave it to many people that needed it and we are still reallocating it. We're putting it into our parks and
recreations. So, we did the right thing. We went through every single thing. I went to I called every single council member. I went back just to make sure that this budget was accurate. I went went over it highlighted with a with a orange and a pink highlighter. You can go into the CFO's office and look at it yourself to make sure that every single
line item was on there so that we were doing the right thing. And yes, I do have an email of the mayor saying, "Thank you. Wow. We've never had a con uh council involved in the budget ever. And they didn't know what to The previous business administrator didn't know what to what to do. He was like, "Whoa, what do you mean? What do you mean?" So the emails that you read last
time, why don't you go a little earlier in your emails cuz you read them at the end. So you want to go up here and give your two seconds and do what you do. You do. You go ahead, sir. Good luck being on a council when you treat everybody like this. You're going in your you're doing a parade. You're not coming. If you wanted to really be on council, you
would have called every single one office and said, "Hey, listen. We're looking to be on council. Will you meet with us and talk about what we can do?" Thank you. That didn't happen. Clerk adjourn. Motion to adjurnn. Motion. Motion. I I thank you.
Any opposed? Motion approved. Yes. How are you?