which stands one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Good evening and welcome to the August, 2025 regular meeting of Jackson Township Council. Pursuant to the provisions of New Jersey Open Public Meeting Act,
adequate notice of meeting was properly provided by transmitting the notice of this meeting on January 28th, 2025 for publication. Notice of this meeting of the township council has been posted in the corridor of the municipal building and the office of the municipal clerk. We will begin
with roll call. Councilman Blli here. Councilman Breie here. Councilman Paul Mary present. Council Vice President Bernstein here. Council President Cune here. Also present this evening is Township Administrator Mr. Phillips, Township
Attorney Mr. Dasty, and myself, Deputy Clerk Jen Carelli. We'll start with opening comments from council. Council president. Thank you, Deputy Clerk. So, tonight I just wanted to one thank Sorry, I've got a little bit of a cough. Wanted to thank
our um business administrator um our new one immensely for the department me uh monthly reports. So, it was 157 pages. It's all 13, I believe, of our departments broken down. Um this is the first month that we've gotten
them. We spoke them about them and we were told from administration that we would start getting them. We just got our first one. And I just want to highlight why council is so excited that we can work and have transparency between administration and council is the numbers that we've been requesting
via emails and dozens and multiples and daily um is now probably going to stop because we're not going to have to ask our engineer if he can go ahead and weekly give us updates because we're going to get them monthly. And the breakdowns that we get is so transparent and gives you so much clarity to where
we know exactly what our building department's doing, how many inspections are going on, electrical, fire, mechanical, plumbing, from the breakdown to literally how many have passed, failed, sent out again. That's all we were looking for. And it really is a pleasure. So for somebody that likes
numbers to go and look and for, you know, the big thing that's going on is landlord registration. I've been asking him many times, how many do we have? So, last year we had over 3,000. I just got the current number sent to me. We're down to 1,866.
So, with the council's uh new ordinance that we put in place in 2024, in January, we collected in 2024 $36,550. In 2025, we collected uh $112,130.
year to date and then we're halfway through the year. We've collected $349,000. Last year in the whole year, we collected $353,000 from landlords. That is a great accomplishment. And that's the transparency that we were just this
council was just looking for. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you again. Um and thank you to the department heads for for for giving the information to the um business administrator. So, giving us so much clarity. Again, we had calls we got from animal control. Now, we get to see
that animal control after hours had 31 appointments in a month. That's a lot. So, we didn't realize that. That gives clarity to why our animal control guy absolutely should be taking a car home. He's going out to a call every single day in a month, right? So, he should have a vehicle. He should have his own
vehicle. Finance department. She wanted to give kudos. Thank you to um she found unfound money of $6,500 just applying to uh the state of New Jersey. That's a great thing. We had two promotions. We had Ashley that's been with the township for over 10 years get
promoted to assistant municipal treasury. We had Virginia get promoted to payroll clerk. We have Caroline that used to be in the clerk's office that now now is in financing that is enrolled in her continuing education. These are people that want to stay employed with Jackson Township. Now we get to see it.
So we get to see and get to get a little bit more insight on our employees and I think that is you know extremely important for council to see our engineers report this one um literally is so informative and I'm not saying that because he's sitting in front of us
um with his his great team but just the drainage improvements the road improvements the municipal aid that we're getting um you know other roads Bethl Church Muse Pittney Lane uh Hurley Pond or Hurley Road. I apologize. Johnson Park, which we're going to get
into the improvements that we've done in the applications that we've done. Now, we have Green Acres here and we've actually which I've gotten an email today and I and Charles is going to go into it a little bit more that we are actually able to get Green Acres money because the improvements that are engineers and the projects that have not
been addressed in over a decade are now getting applications put in and we just got that information within 24 hours. So, thank you. Um, again, we have Bartley Road sidewalks and we have storm water infrastructure which is a problem right now and we're all aware of it. Um,
just another highlight I just want to give in our police department. So, our police department um, you know, last year had had in their budget um, for some improvements, but it was not uh, quads. So, our quads came that we have new quads that we let's see the four new
quads have been ordered to replace the approximately 20-y old ones and they were purchased with uh jobs of blue jobs for blue I believe it said. So, that is contractors that hire our police department that work outside of their regular hours and they collect the money. It goes into an account and they can use that money and also
administration. I believe we get $23 um per hour. I could be wrong give or take about that but we also get money. But anyway, it goes into an account and they can utilize that money to upgrade their equipment instead of coming to the taxpayers and putting in their budget. Uh, a little bit of a disappointment I
have to add is that as of July, the department has incurred incurred $538,584 in overtime costs um, which has to be addressed with our chief. So, we will be looking into that, but I would have never known that. So, that's something that says, hey, that's a red flag. we
could meet with the business administrator, sit down with our chief of police and identify what is the problem that we're already halfway in and paying almost $550,000 in overtime. Um it looking into upgrading if everybody knows we had our email down,
right? We had no email for the township. This township had no email for 4 days. So we've met and they've worked together and now we've upgraded our system. So hopefully that'll never happen again. SDL, which we've talked about this council for over 12 months, have talked about letting the residents get their
questions answered by going to on their on their phones and being able to look up and identify a property that might be next to them. Is it registered as a landlord? Is there any violations? Is there anything that's outstanding? So, there's quite a few things. Um, that is about it for me, but I just wanted to
kind of update you because I read that whole 157 page packet and it was really something that I wanted to bring to the residents because it's a lot of things that we've been questioning and council was extremely extremely grateful that you know our questions were answered and that our concerns were heard
and if we Okay. So, um, our attorney which nobody's got to operate. So, um, our attorney is going to requesting that the administration please put that on the township website so that the residents can all have the same information that the council has for transparency.
So, you guys will get it. Enjoy the reading. Have a great night. Thank you so much, Council Vice President Bernstein. Thank you, clerk. Um, um, again, a special thank you to our deputy clerk who has really just been putting in all those extra hours um, while our clerk is
out still out. Um, thank you very much. Um, a special thank you to Charles from TNM and his entire team. Um, it's a different uh driving driving down Pittney Lane now. We actually, it's almost impossible to speed. Um, we appreciate it. I know the residents in Jackson appreciate it and thank you for
your hard work and dedication and not giving up on that. Thank you. Um, a special thank you to our police department and our um, everyone who was involved with setting up for our night out against crime. Um, it was a great turnout. It was great to see everyone there. Um, and then the last thing is
thank you council president for sitting and serving on the county open space committee. We got a couple of different ideas that we're currently looking into. Um, and I don't think they're all going to pan out, but we're definitely trying to move certain some of those purchases forward either with by ourselves or together with the county. So, we look
forward to hopefully sharing more more exciting news in the future. Have a good night, Council Member Elli. Uh, thank you. Um, I just experienced it tonight there and I want to thank Director Candido and your staff for posting it on your police department website that there is um the county and
thank you to Ocean County as well. There's a current flashing uh there's a traffic signal um at the intersection of Butterfly Road and uh Bennett Mills Road as well and um um and that's due to the abundance of traffic according to uh the police department's uh Facebook page as
a result of of the Cedar Swamp Road uh closure there. So, um, also the, uh, last show of, uh, Jackson Summer Concert Series will be held in Johnson Memorial Park on Thursday, next Thursday, August 21st, between 6:30 and 8:00 p.m., uh,
Living Proof Band will be performing. Uh, please bring your own lawn chair. A food truck or food trucks will be there on site. Uh, our town will also be sponsoring an adult outdoor yoga clinic in Johnson Memorial Park this Friday, August 15th, between 9 and 10:30 a.m.
Um, please bring your own yoga mat. That cost is $25. You can register to participate in this clinic at uh https=2/secure.rec1.com rec1.com or it's probably just easier to call the Jackson recck department if you want more additional information on how to
register for uh that clinic at 732928-1200 extension 1258 or 1260. And the new pickle ball court is open from dusk to dawn in Woodlane Park in one of our many township parks. It's located um at 75
Forest Drive in Jackson. And in closing, our annual Jackson Day is coming up on Sunday, September 14th, in our town's largest park, Johnson Memorial Park, from 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. The rain is Sunday, September 21st. Hoping we will not need the rain. and we have absolutely beautiful weather as we did
last year and are expecting um uh like uh a huge turnout like we had last year which we had over 11,000 uh people um attend that event last year and are expecting even a bigger turnout this year with much to do from an ATV riding park uh for kids and American flag uh
parachute jump a monster truck the king of roller coasters king uh car photo op will be there a drone show and more will be included in this year's event if you like to register to be a vendor and or a sponsor uh for this year's Jackson Day event uh on September 14th. Uh please
reach out as soon as possible to Anthony Horta in the uh Jackson Recreation Department at a horda jackinttwj.net or um call the rec department at 732928 um 1200 extension1258 or you can email
the rec staff at recreationjackwpnj.net. continue enjoying the summer, Jackson, and good seeing a really pretty good turnout tonight. Uh especially for the summer and have a safe drive home. Take care now. Thank you, Councilman Breie. Thank you. Thank you for coming out this
evening. It was nice to see a decent crowd here. You heard a lot of positive stuff just now. A lot was put out on the table. Got to kind of absorb it all and see that everything is being worked on and trying to do the best for the town from all of us. I do want to take time out though to congratulate the whole
Brook Allstar team for winning the state championship. They went up to Connecticut and uh they did a good job. I'm proud of them and they should be very proud of what they did. Thank you for coming out tonight and have a safe trip home. Councilman Paul Mary. Thank you. Uh just like to thank
everybody who came out tonight and those who are watching this uh via live stream. I just have one quick public service announcement that the Jackson Township First Aid Squad is partnering with New Jersey Blood Services for a community blood drive on Monday, August
18th from 1:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at 38 East Veterans Highway. Your donation can actually really save lives. So, if you can, please donate your blood. Appointments are encouraged. Walk-ins are welcome. If you'd like more details,
you could visit nybc.org/ oorgg/drive or you can visit my Facebook or Instagram page where I where you'll find this flyer and a convenient QR code to schedule your appointment. So, I hope you consider it. Thank you so much.
Thank you. Next item for tonight's meeting is an update from the Department of Public Works from Mr. Sha Bolinsky. Council President Yes, we are currently continuing our response to sink holes and other storms related uh is storm related issues. Maya, sorry. We
are currently continuing our response to sink holes and other storm related issues caused by the heavy rainfall over the past few weeks. We appreciate everyone's uh patience during this process and we want to assure the community that we are actively addressing these concerns. As you can
see, at this time there is um at the uh at this time our emergency contractor is working on multiple sites around the town that are beyond the scope of DPW's in-house capacity. Uh as you can see, we are receiving tremendous feedback from the residents regarding the speed tables
installed on uh Pittney Lane. I wanted to take a moment to share that success. The positive response has been encouraging and is a testament to the hard work our engineer team has done. Thank you TNM. Uh we also want to thank administration and council for its
continued support on the critical infrastructure uh projects and that is a couple notes that uh our DPW uh department received from residents and kids in the community. So thank you.
Next item tonight is a presentation from our township engineer Mr. Conliff for public scoping hearing. Before we go to that, I just have to read something into the record. It's a purchase order for the bill list, bills and claims. Um, it was taken off at the bills last time for
$51,49 because it was for additional monies for the pickle ball court and I didn't understand. I wanted more clarity from our CFO as to why we were getting another bill when we had already paid $140,000. She had told me that this was just another installment. It was the last
installment. So after looking into that, if I could get a motion to add it to the bills and claims to be paid at this meeting. I'll make a motion to include it by the bills and claims. Second. Roll call. Councilman Brley, yes.
Councilman Bresie, yes. Councilman Paul Mary, yes. Council Vice President Bernstein, yes. Council President Cune, yes. Pass. Charles, good evening, council. Uh so uh tonight
I'm here with my colleague, Miss Eric Click and Miss Melissa Barnes. Uh we're giving what's called a public scoping hearing. Uh there's two park facilities in Jackson Township. Uh the uh Jackson Mills uh soccer complex where the compost facility is located and also
Camp Joy. Both of those properties were purchased um with Green Acres money uh to fund parkland development. uh at some point in time uh compost facility was moved to the uh Jackson Mills site. Uh whenever the township takes money from Green Acres, it puts an encumbrance on
the property uh to be used for in perpetuity for park land, recreation, open space, and the like. When you introduce a use that's uh not parkland or open space, it's uh what's called a diversion of parkland. Uh so this hearing is the first step in the process
of the township um trying to get the major diversion for the compost facility to remain at Jackson Mills and uh also for some improvements that were constructed uh with cross Crawford Rodriguez Elementary School in the mid-200s to remain uh partially onto the
township's camp property. Um anyone you know members of the public here you're probably here because uh you've seen one of the white large signs that have been posted outside either of those sites. If you're a resident within 200 feet, you probably also received a public notice in the mail and that's why you might be here. If you're a member of one of the
committees, recreation, um, shade tree, you probably also received that notice. So, uh, we've received calls, I know administration's received calls. I just want to put it on the record. Uh, the soccer fields at the compost facility, uh, sorry, at Jackson Mills, they're not going anywhere. This
is just to legalize the compost facility to stay on that parcel. Uh, and same thing for Crawford Rodriguez. If you're an adjoining property, you're not in danger of losing any part of your property or anything like that. It's just to legalize these improvements which have been there for a significant amount of time to to remain there. You
go to the next slide and Mr. K maybe just put the mic up a little bit. Apologize. I just want to make sure that slower. So, so Mr. Mr. Kov, I think if I could just reiterate, I think what the resident's as what the resident's asking was what she heard is if you could
explain in more layman term if what is happening exactly to the properties. So the properties are encumbered by green acres. That's fine. Yeah. Thank you. The properties and we'll get into more details. There's going to be an extensive presentation. There's more than one slide. Um this is just the
introduction to it. um the properties once the township receives grant money from D to uh through Green Acres to you know purchase a property for parkland or open space it puts an encumbrance on that property in perpetuity. So if the township at some point in time later
wants to introduce some nonrecreation or open space use a compost facility uh if they wanted to uh have a private entity operate a business out of that property that would be what's called a diversion of parkland. Um and this is the first step in that process. It's a public scoping hearing. We're giving all the
background on why we're here and how we got here. Um, and the purpose of it is, you know, the theme tonight is transparency. Uh, present this to the public, get comments, questions. We have a court reporter here that's going to take meeting uh u transcripts for this
and that all becomes part of the record. So that way we're hopefully addressing all any concerns and questions of the public as part of this process. Christian, if you can go to the next slide. Hello everyone. I'm Melissa Barnes and hopefully I can put your mind at ease a little bit more with giving you some
background and definitions. So to start, what is Green Acres? In its simplest form, the Green Acres program was created to meet New Jerseys growing recreation and conservation needs. Green Acres is committed to preserving New Jerseys natural, historic, and cultural heritage. Now, what is a ROSI? R O SI,
and what does it mean in relation to our project? The ROSI is a recreational and open space inventory. It is a list of properties that a municipality in New Jersey maintains for recreation and conservation purposes. Parcels on the ROSI are encumbered by New Jersey Green
Acres program. Essentially, if a parcel is within the ROSI, it's a record of lands that have been acquired or developed with Green Acres funding or that are held for recreation and conservation purposes and have Green Acres restrictions placed upon them. So, both of the areas tonight that we're
talking about are encumbered by green acres. As Charlie has said, what exactly does it mean to be encumbered by green acres? To be encumbered by Green Acres means that the land has restrictions put in place by Green Acres to protect its public recreation and conservation
purpose. These restrictions may require approval from Green Acres before land use changes, development, or sale. Um being encumbered by green acres means that it establishes a legal claim to ensure the land remains suitable for its protected uses.
Next slide please. Thank you. So once again I would like to present some definitions. What exactly is a diversion? A diversion is a state legal process to remove green acres encumbrance from land and allow it to be used or developed for something other than recreation and conservation
purposes. A scoping hearing is what we're at right now currently. Um, a scoping hearing is a public meeting held to gather input on a proposed project, particularly when it involves the disposal or diversion of parkland. The purpose of this scoping hearing is to accept public comment on major
diversions. Any comments tonight are very welcomed and any comments related to the use of the diverted lands are welcomed. I would just like to reiterate that Jackson Township is proposing to legalize a past diversion, also referred to as an after-the-act diversion.
All right. So, the first site is the Jackson Mills Compost Facility. It's at 334 Jackson Mills Road. You can see in the red boundary, that's the actual entire tract uh block 2201, lot 2. The area that's actually subject to the diversion is that area in purple. Uh
anyone that's been to uh the compost facility site will be very familiar uh with that facility. Um just some brief history. In 2008, the township received Greenacres funds to purchase the property and develop it as a soccer complex. Um, at some point thereafter, between 2008 and 2009, the township
moved a compost facility to that site. Um, around that time, they received a temporary use permit from Green Acres to allow that to stay there. At the time, it was only two acres. Fast forward 15 years later or plus than that, uh, it's now over eight acres. Um, so, and if you
go to the next slide, Christian, thank you. So, this just a zoomed in view. So that area in purple, that's the compost facility that we're seeking to uh get the diversion. So it's just to allow this facility to remain on the site. Just a quick question just to make in layman layman's terms. So we had permission from green acres to do two
acres for compost and somehow it was expanded to date. It was at the time it was a temporary approval to operate for two years with the understanding that the township was going to go through the the diversion process at that time. um in the interim
the site expanded you know there's a need for bulk waste to you know create compost and the site grew but let's let's just we got here because nothing was done about it after when so so I mean I know we're not we're not we're
not there was it was a whole different I'm just saying that's like the truth yeah so there's history this goes back to 2008 or 2025 so 17 years ago um I will say the green acres process to go through the diversion It's not a simple process. It's complicated. Uh the township has gone through this initial
public scoping hearing. Yeah. This they went and had this I want to say in 2012. Uh we as we go through the presentation when you do a diversion, you have to compensate D with compensation land. You have to give them what you took from them basically, right? Uh the township went through the
process of submitting two compensation parcels in the past to D in 2014 and 2018. Uh it fell through for various reasons. So this is the third shot at the apple here. The second site is uh Camp Joy. Um in the n late 1990s 1998 um
the town and the board of ed actually did a land swap. Uh the town gave part of Camp Joy to the board of ed to build Crawford Rodriguez Elementary School and then the board of ed gave the town some contiguous land um you know to expand the park. At some time in the mid200s
when the site was actually built, um, a small gravel driveway and a three- tiered retaining wall, which is shown in the area red, and it'll be shown closer up in the next view, was actually built onto the township's property. Uh, in addition, when they do the diversion, it
gets approved by the state house commission and there's a file map, right? Anything that's not shown on that file map at that time, like if it comes up at a later point, you have to divert for it. So the area in blue, the map at the time only showed the county having a certing rightaway. At some point later it was found to be
greater. So now we have to compensate for them for four and a half feet of right away on South New Prospect Road. So this county if they ever want to widen the roadway, they can do that. So uh Christian, the next slide. So the area in red, like I said, this is where the retaining wall in the gravel driveway is. If you go to the next
slide, actually have some pictures of that. If you could go to the next slide. There you go. Yeah. Yeah. So you can see the gravel driveway and then on the lower right hand corner those are the retaining walls we were talking about. So these have been there since 2004. They're we're all we're just trying to do is legalize these to remain there.
Next slide Christian please. Um so as I said and I mentioned a little bit a couple slides ago uh as part of the diversion process you have to compensate D for the land that you've taken from them. Um so that has three prongs. You need to compensate them on a land area
ratio. So for Camp Joy in the compost facility, the totality of that is 8.61 acres. D requires the land value compensation at a 5 to1 ratio. So we need to find parcels or a single parcel that's a minimum of 43 acres. In
addition to that, um you also have to meet a 1:1 land appraisal value. Uh and that's highest and best use both of the diverted parcel and then also the compensation parcel. And then they have another one because D loves to have all these stipulations. Uh
I just want to go just hit on the value. So in today's market, if we had to pay them back, we're looking at about $10 million. So uh so that's why we're going through this. Yeah. So appraisal is just a snapshot in time, right? So the last time an appraisal was done on the diverted land
was in 2018. At that time, the the two subject areas were appraised at $365,000. You know, everyone knows since COVID and things have kind of gone crazy, it could be double the price when we go get the appraisal for those properties. Now, um if we were not able to find a suitable
compensation parcel to replace them at the 5 to1 area in the one to one appraisal, the town Greenacres does allow the option to do a monetary compensation, but that that's not monetary. It's a lot of money. No, no, yeah. No, it's it's 10 to one. It's a significant. So like we the
township should make every effort to not that's where the importance of this is why we're here. Yep. Exactly. Uh so as part of the green acres major diversion pro process there has to be a compell compelling public need. Now, since this is an act of the fact, I
would just like to state that the public benefits from the ongoing operation of the Jacksonville's compost facility and the Camp Joy property, which is now Crawford Rodriguez Elementary School. Both properties have been beneficially used by the public. To start, the compost facility serves the residents of
Jackson Township by providing a free public facility dedicated to the composting of organic materials. The facility yields an inherent benefit to the township and its residents as it provides a local, cost-effective, sustainable solution to disposing of organic waste. For the Camp Joy
property, that area that Charlie showed earlier in the red outline, serves the residents of Jackson Township by providing a critical infrastructure, a school, which is the Crawford Rodriguez Elementary School, which has been in operation since 2001. And with increasing population within the township, the school is essential to the
community. Now, under a Greenacres major diversion, you also have to analyze alternatives. I would like to state that because this is an after the-act diversion, there are no alternatives to the proposed diversion because the two sites have existing facilities on them and have been in operation for years. Shutting either
facility down would be at the detriment of the public, specifically the Jackson residents. However, we have looked at different alternatives to compensation for these two facilities. For the Jacksonville Mills Road compost facility, we have analyzed relocating the existing compost facility to a new
site within the township. We have also looked at relocating the existing compost facility to a proposed replacement land. Both of these options are extremely costly and would have environmental impacts. discontinuing the existing use of the compost facility would not be would be at the detriment
of the township um and a third party organization would be needed to for the removal of organic waste for the camp joy land swap. Removing all of the improvements from this area including the retaining wall that was shown on the previous slide and the gravel roadway would decrease safety
and sediment erosion control and soil um elements. Having a no build alternative is not plausible as both of these are an after the fact and the no action alternative would not address the township's need to legalize both of these diversion areas. As stated
previously, comments on any suggested methods or compensation parcels would be greatly appreciated and all public comments are welcome. I'm sorry, Christian, you're on the wrong SL. Can you just go to the next slide? I think you're going the wrong way. Yeah, there you go. Thank you. That's
the slide. I'm sorry. I didn't want to interrupt her, but that was the slide that I knew you were I didn't want to I was going to run over there, but I apologize. That was the slide she just went over. All right. So, this is the potential compensation parcel that we're looking at. This is we'll call it the Don Connor
property. Uh it's just the area in red here. It's uh bounded by I believe West Veterans Highway to the left and Don Conor Boulevard to the right. Christian, if you can go to the next slide. Um so as part of this, we've already had a preliminary meeting with Green Acres to kind of show them the parcel that we're
looking at. Um, anytime you're given a parcel to green acres, it has to have uh, you know, not virtually entirely in free of encumbrances as far as wetlands or repairarians, but like it's in the township's best interest to find a piece of property that doesn't have repairarian and wetlands because that'll
increase the land value and hopefully uh, be a suitable candidate for for green acres. So, um, what you see in here is basically the area in blue is the, you know, unencumbered area of this parcel. Um big things that might jump out at you right now is a total land
area is 4 almost 2 acres. Um that's much greater than the 43 acres that we're required to compensate them for. Um one big component is this parcel is located in the Pelands. So when you do highest and best use of properties in the Pelands, you know, that plays into the
consideration of what you can actually build on that property. Um, one thing that we would look at if this is further than this is the property that the township offers up is, um, you know, if we only need to give them a 100 acres to meet the compensation requirement, you know, potentially the town could do a
technical subdivision and only give them what what's needed to satisfy that requirement. Um, but, you know, that's steps down the line. Um, if you can go to the next slide, Christian. Yeah. So now I would like to talk a little bit about the schedule and timeline of the
whole Greenacres major diversion process which is an extremely lengthy process. To start in the year 2025 and in this moment we are conducting this public meeting and will address any public comments that would be at the top yellow rectangular box of this overall timeline. So we are at the very early
stages. Next, after this meeting and addressing all public comments, we will prepare a pre-application package and coordinate all documentation with the NJD Greenacres program. This will take approximately 3 months roughly. Upon approval of the pre-application package,
the final application package will be prepared and submitted to the Greenacres program. Included in this effort will be another public hearing that was mentioned previously before. And also in this meeting, there will be a lot more information included. Appraisals are included, environmental
due diligence is included, and that will be approximately in six to eight months time towards the ending of this. If you could go back, please, that second public hearing. So, we're in the yellow box now. The second public hearing will be all the way down in the second yellow box at the bottom there. Um, the final
thing that we we would be waiting on is the state house commission decision. The state house commission does not meet every month. It it's usually bimonthly. So we anticipate another one to two months for approval from them. In total, we are hoping within a year's time to get the approval from the state house
commission and technically be finalized and complete. All right. And Christian, if you go to the next slide and I just want to sum it up with uh two more points that I think are important for this. Um, so when the township um purchased the property on uh
Jackson Mills to build a soccer field back in 2008, um they received a grant from Greenacres for $487,500. Jackson Township has not to this day received any of that money from Green Acres that's been held by them because of this lingering um matter. Um in
earlier correspondence with Green Acres earlier in this year, they indicated to Jackson Township administration that um if they make continue to make progress on this, hit the milestones, the public scoping hearing, the pre-application, um sorry, what's the next one? Final
application, final final hearing. There's a lot of steps here. Um they will release portions of that funny commenure portions of those monies commenurate with the township's progress. So by completing this um we will reach out to Green Acres and ask
for that initial uh 121,875 dispersement of that grant money that was due to the township back in 2008. So as long as the township keeps continuing making progress, we can get that money. Uh, and then also as far as future green app greenacres applications for park
development, you know, Jake's Law for um ADA park um playground improvements, uh they have also indicated as long as Jackson Township continues to make progress with this, they will be considered for future grant applications for Green Acres. So,
so I just want to hit on a couple things. Um because we've been working on this uh Councilman Bernstein and myself uh Sean from DPW and you um I've been to your office to look through properties because it's this council's passion to clean up the problem from 2008. So we
have found out a way to go through resolutions to get this process going. Um, in speaking, I understand that originally the $500,000 that you were talking about was bonded because we didn't get the grant and we actually paid off that bond obviously by now and then that money is still they
anticipated having the grant come in. They didn't get it. So, they bonded it and then they did this. Now, I just want to make sure we have clarity in regards to Camp Joy. Um, you have people from the recreation committee here. Um, I'm on the recreation committee. we have met with you at this camp and we want to put
improvements into this park. What is that going to do with this application? Is it going to hinder effect? Is it going to be a positive impact on uh since we are making large improvements? We're anticipating to make large improvements to Camp Joy. Um is there anything that you can answer on that? So
any continued use and expansion of a park for recreation open space activities like will not create any additional issues with green acres as long as we're complying with any other outside you know approvals storm water and things like that. So um and then I just want to just to to state it again.
So um the township this does go back to 2008. They have made efforts to try to resolve this. It's just it's it's an ownorous process. um when you get grant money from the state and nothing has no strings attached to it, you got to read the very fine print details and you know
unfortunately this is one of those things that if you don't see that fine details can come back to to nip you in the butt. So but we are in a positive they are actually we just got the email so I called you before we came and said is this email true that we're actually going to start being able to put back into green app because we're moving
forwards and making efforts. I just want to make sure the residents understand why we're doing all this that it's to for the future of the town. So, if I could just ask um it's one thing I'm just trying to understand. It sounds like the town tried this twice in the past.
I don't know if you were here. I wasn't. What went wrong that we should not avoid that again because we're putting all this time and effort and the value is only going to go up. So, yeah. So, so things that can trip you up is um the township's uh Rossi uh had
some period of time where it it might not have been currently up to date. So, if the township went down the path of trying to find compensation parcels and you go and do title searches and then you find that you 25 30 years ago used open space funds or borrowed money from the county through an open space funds
to purchase that property, that would place it on the Rossi. And unless you went down that path to do deed searches and titles, you wouldn't necessarily know that. Um the last goound was in 2018. There was um parcels off of Bennett Mills Road, I think just southwest of Butterfly Road. Uh it met
the area requirement. It made met the compensation value, but there was also a um a quality requirement. So at the compost facility at Camp Joy, those properties are what you know, layman's term high and dry. There's no encumbrances, there's no wetlands. Um, so when you give them a piece of property, you can't give them uh a
landlocked hill in the center of a site that's surrounded by a moat of wetlands, right? It has to have quality to Green Acres for you to be able to give it to them and to them to accept it. So that's why it stalled the last time. So if I could just paraphrase, I think if council president and Mr. Phillips
continue doing the great work they're doing, updating the ROSI and everything like that, then we we should be in finally in in the green. Yes. And I would just say that the Don Connor parcel like fingers crossed it's not listed on a Rossi but we we're going to go down that path. Greenacres is going to ask for the appraisals. They're
going to ask for title search if there's something in a deed from 40 years ago and some fine print like it you know hopefully there that's not there but that's always a possibility with these. And um is there any way to be proactive and maybe just do a title search now? That's certainly something that we can
explore with the township attorney's office. Um yeah that's listen let's be proactive and this is this is not this is absolutely the property right when we go through this whole process if we find one of these encumbrances you know we might have to look at other properties okay ideally green acres wants one large
parcel or contigious properties we could also give them a handful of properties throughout town but they want to have them contigious because you know they serve a common use and you know common locality so we'll get that we'll we'll get and I I guess my last question is if we does get updates. I know recently we we
applied I think your office was involved but obviously with the Jake's grant law um law grant and we unfortunately lost Adam close to a million dollars of of of grants. I guess as soon as we get some clarity and we're able to start greenlighting some of this if you can let the governing body know so we can you know
that'll be in our monthly reports. Yes. So uh and I think council president referred to it. So, uh, I did reach out to our contact at Greenacres and, uh, they indicated in an email that as long as we continue to make process, they're going to lift that restriction
on the township being considered for for Greenacres future funding. Thank you. Yeah, I have the email if you want. And if any members of the public are have any questions or comments, you know, we're we're open to that. So, we'll open it up to public comments. You you have to you have to
you have to come up and just give your name and put it on the record. She's going to keep record of it. Ma'am, you because we have to do we have to be compliant. I apologize. My question is what were they planning
on doing with the parcel of land that's over there on Don Connor Boulevard? I'm sorry, ma'am. She has to have your name for the record. Oh, Naen Schaefer. Yes. So, um, we'd essentially be giving that parcel or a portion of that parcel
to Green Acres and it would be encumbered and it would be owned by Green Acres. So, the the the area of the compost that we took and utilized it for a non-recreation open space use, we're giving them either the entirety of Don Connor parcel or a portion of that parcel to compensate them for that loss
of parkland. Okay. And basically, they would then keep it as no buildings. They wouldn't be putting up apartment buildings over there or anything like that. Or did you just like all open space or just keep it like correct the purpose of the greenacres program is for recreation open space. So
I think it would be quite disingenuous for them to take a property and then give it to someone else to build housing or something else. So thank you ma'am. There's another resident there. I think m if you could just come up. She just needs your name for the record. Thank
you. Susan Jessen. We spoke on the phone about two weeks ago from the administrator's office and I just want to be clear the area I'm sorry the area by the composting center there is no plan to take any of the
houses in that vicinity via the much talked about recently eminent domain not necessarily here but in other places because they're talking about land swaps and compensation. I just wanted to be clear
uh for this piece of property for the compost facility to remain where it is. It's not anticipated at this point in time to take any property around this to compensate for that. We presented the Don Connor parcel is what's the compensation parcel um as part of the
diversion process. No one's losing land around it and uh the park isn't getting smaller. We're just trying to legalize for the compost facilities to stay where it is. Thank you, ma'am. behind you. Gentleman behind you. Ed Goully, 89 North New Prospect Road,
right next to Camp Joy. I want to thank the council and members for your time and due diligence, keeping things moving. Is great. Thank you and your team for your time. Uh just to be very clear, nothing's going to happen to land
that exists as green acres now. Right. Okay. Cool. Uh the other question is property that we're diverting to is that property that the township the members or the the residents of the town have we been paying tax on that property all these years?
I no it's property owned by Jackson Township. It's a public it's owned by the town. So but isn't aren't we partially paying in our taxes for maintenance and all this for all the property in Jackson? Any open space in Jackson? We don't pay property taxes. We maintain our DPW
even maintenance. Our DPW will check if something goes wrong, but you most of them are forested. Okay, cool. Yeah, thank you. You're gonna present the Don Conor. We hope. Should we like also have backups just in case so we don't hold up the process? I'm sorry. We're gonna present the Don
Connor. You're going to present the Don Connor property, right, to the state. Are we going to have backup properties just in case so we don't hold up the process? Say if that falls through. Yes. So, that's a very, very good question. So, up until a week ago, we had a second parcel on Freehold Road
that the town purchased from the board of ed, a group of parcels uh off of Porter Road. It's a paper rightway that we were also looking into as part as I said doing title search and looking at these if it was used for open space monies or anything like that, that would encumber it. So, uh we were looking at
those properties as a backup, but you know, we talked with the CFO and open space monies were used for those properties. So it would appear they're not eligible. It's a hard process. Mr. Conf Mr. Con, I would suggest you not do that because if the state if the D sees it, they'll want them both. They
want both parcels. Yeah. So uh the intent would be to approach them at one property at a time. It's not to approach them with multiple properties. Thank Mr. Dasty. If I could ask one more quick question. Um, if this if the D and
the Green Acres grants what we're requesting, could a future governing body come along and take the compost property and do something else or take, let's say, Don Conor if we get and do something else or once this is done, this is so as long as the compost facility stays within the footprint of what was approved as far as the major
diversion, it can stay there in perpetuity. Now, if it were to expand and double in size again, then we'd be back square one. Yeah. No, we don't want to do that. Okay. I think there's a gentleman behind you who's coming up. Hi, I'm Paul. I'm from West Commodore
Boulevard. Uh, now would you ever consider, uh, acquiring wetlands? So, uh, as part of the process, uh, you got a mic. Yeah. So, can you hear me? Yeah. So, as part of the process, like I said, um, you have to do some environmental due
diligence. Part of the evaluation of a property from a land value perspective is the development potential of it. If you have a property that's entirely encumbered by a wetlands or repairing, it's not going to rate high and and the appraisal value is probably not going to um meet the level of what would be a suitable compensation.
Well, that's the answer I was hoping for. There's no sense in spending money to buy wetlands that are not developable. You you want to go for the de the the property that can be developed. Now, I I want to say that anytime you preserve
land in Jackson, it's a huge upgrade to your town. It's a permanent upgrade and it can never be taken away from the town. Now, when I I I moved here for Millstone and I was involved in the Millstone government, we had a cons we
had a developer uh as a part of our approval give us 10 acres and then we lease that property to the Little League and they made a beautiful complex out of that. We you don't have to buy the property outlight,
you can buy the development rights. We bought that huge uh uh ecquin farm. It was beautiful. We didn't want to even if it's two or three acres, we don't want to see McMansions on it. So, we bought the development rights and forever from
now on they can they keep their property, but they can't develop it and they're happy to do that. So, uh, there's so many good ways to take developable property away from the
developers. As you know, I'm I'm anti-development. I'm totally anti- high density, but I want to tell you, you have a you could have a really beautiful town here and you can be uh a rural residential beautiful town. So, uh, if
the more we can get off the books and onto, uh, permanent preservation, the better this town will be. Thank you, sir. Rivera, Rivera, River, River,
River. Anyone else? Oh, all right. All right. Thank you. Um, so, so I just wanted to get the whole story straight. Right. So, the Green Acres, Sir,
your name, your name, please. Oh, Carl, Carlos Martins, Jackson, New Jersey. Thank you. So, the Green Acres program is the state New Jersey program, right? Correct. Okay. And so, when we say we're going to give it to them for, so today we have eight acres that are labeled green
acres, but we're not using it that way, the compost and the others. So, we need to compensate them for that, right? And you're telling me that the way the formula works is the eight acres that we today are not using as green acres when we should, we have to give them 46
additional acres to compensate for those eight because that's the way they are. Right. Correct. It's a 5 to1 land area. 5 to1 because it's because they rule the world, right? New Jersey. Um, so those 46 acres or now we give it when we say
we give it to them. So do they actually own the property and do they can do anything they want with it or they have to actually whatever green acres program says you're allowed to do with it. Right. Which in there is recreation and other things like that. That's the only thing they can do with it. But they do
own it. So the state does own that park, that area. Correct. Correct. Correct. That's my understanding is that when you give the property to the Green Acres program, it is owned by the state of New Jersey and it's restricted to conservation open space purposes. Right. That that's my only thing that I want to be sure that we're not giving it
to New Jersey state which they can do anything they want with it. We're giving it to this green acres program which is very specific. We want to keep it open, nice, pretty. Nobody develops any houses in it. Nothing like that. Yeah. So, if you went and did a property, if you went and did a tax
record search on the property after the fact, it would probably listed as New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. Uh, and then if you went to the deed, you would see that it was given to them, you know, as part of this map of that. They have to they have to keep those rules. They can't later
decide, okay, we're going to Yeah, we're going to sell it to somebody and they're going to develop it. No, that's my understanding. Correct. Okay. Um uh at any future date, can we get confirmation of that? Because you say your understanding, you know, I'll have my environmental folks who
have done a couple. It goes on the rosy, doesn't it? Yeah. Either way, it will never be developed. I'm not sure if the state if the D mean the Green Acres will put it in their name or it'll stay in the township name and go on the rosy, which means it can
never be developed. Never be developed. Okay. One way or the other. Okay, that sounds good. I mean, I don't like the fact that we got to give up 46 acres. But when we say give up, no, Mr. Dasty has been doing this much much much longer than me. So cannot be developed.
Cannot be developed. That's key. Even though Yeah. I mean, obviously five 46 acres versus eight doesn't sound right. But the fact that it's not going to be developed, I think we're all happy about that. Um, and yeah, we we should have we shouldn't have done what we did, but
that Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? Mr. Kliff, are there any properties in our town that you can point to that are under state uh state of New Jersey D Green Acres ownership that maybe we can
you can So that for you? So when I went to the Ocean County Land Trust, they sent me the link. So at the next uh council meeting, I'd be more than happy to put the link on and it shows you that's how I knew it was purple. Um I know the county is a different color. Jackson Township is another color in the state.
So, I could put the link on there and we can go and we can see throughout our town how much is actually preserved. Uh that I think we really don't realize how much is is preserved through the state, the county, and the township so residents can see that it's owned. I'll be more than happy to Christian. I will send that to you for the next
meeting. Thank you. Seeing no one come forward, make a motion to close the public hearing. Motion. Roll call. Mr. Brellley. Uh, yes. Councilman Bresie, yes. Councilman Paul Mary, yes.
Council Vice President Bernstein. Yes. Council President C. Yes. At this time, I'm going to uh call for a two-minute break so that everybody can uh if that need pardon, warm up. Um if that's okay with council,
we'll just just two minutes. Thank you. Okay, next item on the agenda are ordinances. We have second reading and public hearing for ordinance 2025-26 that was introduced on 722 2025. Ordinance 202526 is amending and
supplementing chapter 103 entitled vehicle and traffic article 14 schedules for Piccadilly Drive. At this time, if any member of the public has any comments to make, please address the council at the microphone and state your name and address clearly for the record.
You will have five minutes and may only speak once. May I have a motion to open public comment? Motion to open public comment. Second. All in favor? I. Any opposed? All right. Just please state your name. Thank you.
And your address if you want. Otherwise, you could say Jackson Township. Lisa, is it on? It's on. Yes. Lisa Homeman, Farmingdale Road. I don't want to be that person, but I'm here tonight still speaking about huge huge concern that affects all
Jackson Township residents. Our town council has ma'am ma'am, has only be on the ordinance that's we're talking about for the second. It's not open. No, ma'am. That'll come back at the end. All right, I'll come back to the Okay, thank you. Seeing no one come forward on this
ordinance, close public comment. Yep. I I Any great. May I have a motion to adopt 202526? So move. Second. Councilman Brelli, yes. Councilman Breie,
yes. Councilman Paul Mary, yes. Council Vice President Bernstein, yes. Yes. Sir, please don't. I'm sorry. You're here. Sir, that's not public comment. If you were here from the beginning of the meeting, instead of walking in an hour after it, you would have known that
we're in the middle of reading first readings for ordinances. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Council Vice President Bernstein. Yes. And Council President Keune, a yes. Thank you. Next item of business is the first reading and introduction of
ordinance 2025-27 providing for various general capital improvements. Council president, any comments for ordinance 202527? Yes, ma'am. The township of Jackson wishes to undertake general capital improvements to acquire and install
radios and capital um capital equipment for the police department, purchase of the passenger bus for senior citizens, and various other improvements included but not limited to Bartley Road infrastructure improvements, police department parking lots improvements, uh
Johnson dog park improvements, and lighting improvements at various township parks and recreation facilities. Total it will be $415,79325. Thank you. May I have a motion to approve ordinance 202527 on first reading and introduction to authorize
the notice of the public hearing to be held on August 26, 2025? Motion. Second. Councilman Brley, yes. Councilman Breie, yes. Councilman Paul Mary, yes. Council Vice President Bernstein, yes. Council President Cune, yes.
Great. Next item of business is the first reading and introduction of ordinance 202528 amending and supplementing chapter 103 entitled vehicles and traffic article 14 schedules for Basso Street. Council President Q. Any comments for ordinance
202528? Yes, madam clerk. This would be no parking, stopping or standing in order to add the following uh roadway to schedule 1A Basso Street, which shall allow um to be located on the east side along the entire um block of 23001
and lot 15 for a distance of 266 ft. Again, it would be no parking, stopping or standing. May I have a motion to approve ordinance 202528 on first reading and introduction to authorize the notice of the public hearing to be held on August 26th, 2025.
Motion second. Councilman Brley, yes. Councilman Breie, yes. But I want to make a statement on this. This was something that was picked up at the planning board level and there was a stipulation by the applicant that they had to abide by that.
Councilman Paul Mary. Yes. Council Vice President Bernstein. Yes. and council president Keune. Yes. And I hope they pick up a lot more because there's nothing like the no parking being done and installed by the somebody else besides RDPW. So, thank you planning board. Next item of
business is our first reading and introduction of ordinance 202529 amending chapter 244 land use and development regulations of the township code of Jackson state of New Jersey to establish an inclus inclusionary zone district entitled AH4 providing
affordable housing units to be developed subject to certain conditions and requirements. Council President Cune, are there any comments for ordinance 202529? Yes, the my comments are going to be for ordinance 2025-29, uh, ordinance 2025-30,
and ordinance 2025-31 as they are all affordable housing. Chapter 244 entitled land use and development regulations to create new overlay zoning district entitled AH4 under section 63-4. The purpose is to provide the
development of affordable housing for low and moderate income housing in a suitable location. The ordinance will include a table showing the property to which AH4 district shall be applied to show on the tax map of Jackson. The ordinance shall describe the permit, principal, and accessory using of the
building structures density, area, yard, and building minimum requirements, affordable housing requirements, site plan requirements, off- streetet parking requirements, signage, trash, and loading. Fences and walls shall be provided in accordance with section 244-190. Landscaping and buffering shall be
provided in accordance with section 244-193. Right. May I have a motion to approve ordinance 202529 on first reading and introduction to authorize the notice of the public hearing to be held on August 26, 2025? Motion.
Second. Councilman Belli. Uh I just received these three ordinances a few days ago that will create affordable housing zones in certain areas of our town. I need time to digest and review them to visit the areas of a town that will be affected in the future by this. Um I feel like with
these ordinances we are spot zoning. I want to hear from residents as these are major zoning changes we are considering making that could very well change the suburban character of Jackson and place a huge bur burden on our taxes, township services and infrastructure. Where is mention of the buffer and
infrastructure improvements that will be made to accommodate the additional housing? There are unknowns at this point. So, I'm voting no as I don't know enough to make an informed decision. Um, we talk about traffic in our town at almost every council meeting and how do we deal with it and why are we adding to it with these ordinances? We can barely
keep up with what we have currently going on in our town now. So, I vote no on ordinance. Okay. 29-25, 30-2025, and 31-2025. Thank you. Councilman Breie,
yes. Councilman Paul Mary, yes. Council Vice President Bernstein, yes. Council President Cune, yes. Next item of business is first reading and introduction of ordinance 2025-30 amending chapter 244 land use and
development regulations of the code of township of Jackson County of Ocean State of New Jersey to establish inclusionary zone district in tit a AH2 providing affordable housing units to be developed subject to certain conditions and requirements. Council President Cune
any comments for 2025-30? I read all my comments. Okay. And we have may have a motion to approve ordinance 2025-30 on first reading and introduction to authorize the notice of public hearing to be held on August 26, 2025. So move second.
Council Brley, no. Councilman Bresie, yes. Councilman Paul Mary, yes. Council Vice President Bernstein, yes. And Council President Cune, uh, I just have a comment myself to make. So the chairwoman Campbell um as well as her committee of the uh master
plan. So this is part of the master plan and some of my stuff that are coming through that hasn't been done since 2008. Um which is a state regulated I believe that we have to do as a town. She worked on this for 18 months and she put her heart and soul into trying to do
what's best for the town creating recreation creating things in this smart development. Um, we had asked for no parking. There was anything. You know, there's things that she put on this. This team worked for 18 months on this. It wasn't just done overnight. So, I just wanted to put that in the record as some of us are saying yes because none
of us has really read it. We just got it. We all just got it. And that's a very accurate statement. And I appreciate that you're saying that because now it's first introduction. So, now we have two weeks to go ahead and do our due diligence and bring up any questions that we do have to our planning board because again, we all just received them, not just you.
Believe me, we talked about that this morning. So, I appreciate it. I'm going to vote yes because I believe that this is something that we have to do otherwise we can get our town into trouble. Um, and plus I want to review it and do my due diligence and ask my question. So, I'm going to vote yes. Next item of business is first reading
and introduction of ordinance 2025-31 amending the township code of the township of Jackson so as to amend and supplement chapter 244 entitled land use regulations so as to amend 244-9 entitled RG3 regional growth zone. May I
have a motion to approve ordinance 2025-31 on first reading and introduction to authorize the notice of public hearing to be held on August 26, 2025. Motion. Second. And Councilman Brellley, no. Councilman Breie, yes.
Councilman Paul Mary, I would just like to say I know one of the concerns was will the residents have an opportunity to speak on this, which they will in two weeks. Of course, I want to hear your concerns. Um, but secondly, as Council President Cun was stating, these affordable housing was dictated to us by the state.
We have to build these over the course of the next 10 years, uh, per the state. So, if we could change what the state's guidelines are, I'm sure we would have no problem fixing this, but if not, this is what the state wants. So, uh, they overruled the municipality. Yes, Council Vice President Bernstein.
Yes. And I just want to add also, so I actually sat on the planning board um and the planning board had multiple hearings um where um residents had many opportunities to come and give their comments and thoughts. Um, again, Dr. Dr. Campbell, our planning, our planning board chairwoman put her and and really
Mr. De Marzo put her life and soul into these um ordinances and to these master plan. Um the affordable housing settlement was actually signed by Mayor Raina um after tough negotiations with the state. He got a lot a lot lower number than Jackson has historically ever gotten. Um and if anyone um when
residents actually read through the ordinances, they're going to see there's certain stipulations and conditions um that are in here that are historic. Jackson has never had in any of the developments ever in Jackson 10% of a development being required to be open space. Jackson has never ever had a a a ordinance requiring that every
development has multiple entrances to in order to enable our safety um our safety uh apparatuses to get in there safely. Something that comes up by our planning board and zoning board multiple times. Jackson has never had adequate parking um in some of his ordinances in the past. If you read through some of these
ordinances, there's going to be guest parking spread out throughout the developments. there's going to be requirements for multiple spots on people's driveways. So this way residents do not need to park on the grass um and other such requirements. So I welcome everyone to read through them and I welcome everyone to come back to the ne by the next meeting if we're
going to um pretend like um we can we can always fight the state. We wish we could. Um but the mayor and the council the past council and the current council made a decision to negotiate with the state and this is us fulfilling our obligation. Yes. Okay. Council President Keune.
Yes. Thank you. Next item in business is payment and authorization of bills and claims. I'd like to note the following abstensions. Extensions include Councilman Barlli for AE T01, DEL01, NJ D04, NJM06,
NJS04, RU T04, STA28, STA76, TR08, TR26, and TR34.
Also, Council President Cune for RCS02. Any comments or questions for council? Do we have any residents? Council president want to pull anything out from consent agenda? Oh, this is bills and claims. Sorry. Claims. My bad. That's usually my mistake. Yeah. Council president. Um, no. May I have a motion to approve
bills and claims with the following extensions noted? Motion. A second. Council Council Member Elli. Um, with the exception of of those extensions, uh, yes to the rest on there. Thank you. Councilman Bresie,
yes. Councilman Paul Mary, yes. Council Vice President Bernstein, yes. Council President Cune, yes. At this time, is there anything that um council would like or anybody would like to pulled from the consent agenda for
council to discuss separately? Just consent agenda. Just consent agenda. As I got to do um Oh. [Music] Yeah. Uh I would ask that you pull uh
resolution 259 2025 and 260 2025 to have a little bit further discussion. Uh my primary reason on 259 is that there is a $545,000 bringing the money back. I just would
like to understand why whatever that money was associated for was not completed and we have not heard anything from you guys on that 260. I I think I know the answers but I'd love to hear some comments from
I'm be more than happy to explain 259. So this was in essence so this is actually a great one. Oh yeah it's pulled. Yeah, of course we're pulling 259 and 260. So, I'd be more than happy and actually I'm very extremely proud to answer the 259 um
resolution that's being pulled. So, in the due diligence, which I've spoke about multiple times, we met with our auditor, our CFO, Councilman Bernstein, myself, there was about six people, um our our business administrator wasn't here yet. um our CFO, our interimm CFO,
and I pulled all of the funded ordinances, and these were capital improvements or bond bonds, I'm sorry, bonds um ordinances for capital improvements, and it was all money that was left over. And I found, first of all, it was 1.4. After all the
departments, we we gave them back to the departments said, "Hey, listen. If there's anything that you guys want um to put into your department, we have the money there. It's sitting readily available to to to utilize." So what we did was we got $689,793.25 that came back. We gave one more shot
and I believe um for the police is taking 225,000 I believe for vests, no for radios. Radios. Okay. And then uh DPW uh took some. We got a new bus for senior citizens. Then we went and we have uh
$150,000 being allocated to the dog park. we have money being allocated which we read earlier all of the different options that they were going to do. So that's where the money is being utilized and that's what we're voting on. Um the next one is
260. It's not open to the public. I I I don't know what else I can answer for that. That's what that's why it was it's you have to cancel it before you create new bond ordinances to reutilize the money. So the new ordinance is on the agenda.
Um 260 is a uh emergency temporary appropriation number seven. Thank you. Anybody else has anything to say? May I have a motion to authorize consent agenda with the removed
resolutions noted 256 through 267 2025 motion. Um clerk council president, what about the zoning board appointment? Are we holding up on It's not on the agenda. Okay. I just have it on mine. That's all. And it's You don't have your updated agenda. It's in your box.
Okay. All right. I knew there was, you know, maybe not, but I just wanted to make sure for the purpose of the public that it was still maybe the public is aware. I've spoken with her. Okay. She's in the back. Thank you. Hope Drew. Thank you. She's well aware. Okay. Councilman Brellley.
Yes. To the everything but except those two ordinances. Got it. Thanks, Councilman Breie. Yes. Councilman Paul Mary. I did have a a slight concern with resolution 267-2025. This one is for Magic Touch Construction. It looks
like the initial project for the senior center was approved for 207,000. Yes, we already did one change order uh previously and awarded an increase of $35,000 that I guess we weren't aware of that was needed for that project.
Correct. But now this is the second change order and we're increasing it another $4,300. It's increased in total by 19% this project. And I'm just looking at some of what the descriptions are of this change order. And one item says the following change order is to return the delivered
specified fridge and exchange it for a new model and that's over $2,000. Was it a broken fridge? If so, why be paying for it again? So, I can actually answer this one because I questioned it the last time that we had the the from it and um it's coming from the senior
center in in the um it requests that is coming from there. So, they did a walk through and they found you know sometimes when you do construction if anybody does construction the last one you know there's things behind the walls that you don't find. This one that wasn't the right fridge that they had wanted. Um so they are asking
who approved for the initial fridge? They didn't know this fridge was being provided. The initial fridge. What do you mean who approved it? So, there was a fridge delivered. Oh, it was approved in the contract. They're just when it was coming, they they wanted to make a change out and that's costing the tax base $2,200.
Correct. It's our senior center. Okay. I know the whole project is to redo the senior center. Um Yeah, I know. It definitely needed to be redone. I I I agreed with the 207,000. I agree with the initial. We do have on the ordinance that's on there, but the
money is allocated for the senior center. So, we could take that money away from um towards you may the bus and and put it for towards the fridge. I mean, that's something we I just don't know. I just hope I'm just hopeful there's not a third revision and change order again. Did you want to remove it because we can
remove it and we can speak with the CFO and Yeah, I think if the fridge was initially approved and all this other stuff was approved and now it's just changing. Make a motion to remove it. We can we can vote on it. So, I'd like to motion to remove resolution 267-2025. So, if I could just council president,
if I could just ask a quick question. Um, where is the fridge holding right now? Like, where is it? Is it is it not? That's not my department. That would be a DPW and he is not here. So, unless business administrator, do you know anything about this fridge? I do know that it was just when it came it wasn't spec right. So, they needed to
update it. I haven't seen it. It was before my time, but I do know that it was just spec that was wrong. So when we got it, the person that ordered it originally should have spec different spec. So that would be on the contractor. It would be on the cont.
Oh, well if we made the mistake that's different if it's just being sent back. I just think you know we as in our department sure that we're not making these mistakes. It's costing thousands of dollars. Respect that room to have it. There's a stove. There's all sorts of accessories for the seniors and that refrigerator
was wrong when I got here. So you know what? Let's uh I I take back moving it. I I removing that resolution. I will have no problem leaving it, but moving forward just to be on, you know, to be on the record, any additional funding, we would need to really I'm going to look into that because I
don't know why DPW would be specking out a renovation of the senior center and the contractor wouldn't. It doesn't make sense. Somebody else. Yeah, I it's it's happened. I mean, it's happened in our in our recreation as well. Okay. So you tabled your you
canceled your Yeah. I mean they need a refrigerator. Uh we not want to put our seniors in a position to not have a refrigerator. So for the sake of getting this done for our senior citizens, which I believe they deserve this, we could I'll table that initial request. However, I want us to be
mindful that if we see something like this again, uh either magic touch or someone needs to answer to why they're misappropriating taxpayer funds. Okay. Good. Council Vice President Bernstein. Yes. And Council President Kun.
Yes. At this time, if any member of the public has any comment to make, please address the council at the microphone and state your name and address. Don't we have to vote on the two resolutions that were that were pulled that were pulled? Oh, I apologize. That's my fault. May I have a motion to vote on
resolution 259 and 260? Motion. Second. Are we I thought we were I'm sorry. I thought we were removing them. Remove them from the consent agenda. We still consent agenda. So we That's for open discussion. You still got to vote on them.
Okay. But we have to vote on Madam Clerk. We have to vote on them separately. So you can't do them together. Sure. So we have 259. Can I have a motion, please? Motion and second. Second. Council B. Yes. Councilman Breie. Yes. Councilman Paul Mary.
Yes. Council Vice President Bernstein. Yes. Council President Cun. Yes. May I have a motion to vote on uh resolution 260 2025? Motion. Second. Council member Belli. Yes.
Councilman Bresie. Yes. Councilman Paul Mary. Yes. Council Vice President Bernstein. Yes. And Council President Cune. Yes. Thank you. At this time, if any member of the public has any comment to make, please address the council at the microphone
and state your name and address clearly for the record. You will have five minutes and may only speak once. May I have a motion to open public comment? Motion. Second. All in favor? I. Any opposed?
Good evening. Donnie Adelman, Jackson, New Jersey. Um, first on behalf of everyone from the dog park, I'd like to thank our council president for coming out listening to us about the improvements that are going to be made at the dog park. Um, the other issue that I come before the council tonight
I Yeah, you can't. There's something with the microphone. We can't hear I can't even hear. Can you hear me now? That felt this off. I don't know if this has got to be on. Yeah. [Music] Thank you, Christian. Can I get a doover on my time?
Yes. I don't think I'll need it anyway, but just in case. Um, the reason why I'm here is because I still have problems with my apartment and with my landlord. I addressed this with the council. They said, "Go to the
executive branch." So, I met with Mr. Phillips about three weeks ago. I thought we had a fruitful meeting. He shows up at my house the following Monday, very early. knowing that well that's inappropriate in of itself. But needless
to say, it's three weeks later and nothing has been done. I have a public servant that does understand his job and is refusing to do it. I'm not sure where to go from here because I went and again I thought we had a fruitful conversation and he had
tremendous resources as the town's ADA coordinator and as the town's affordable housing coordinator. He chose to use none of it and went to my property manager who has a vested interest in doing nothing for me and a liability because she's already done nothing for
me and took her word for it. And then with everyone that knows my history with this and the fact that I was left in alert, he decides to bring Cheney to my house to cause another to cause a legal problem for me. And I do know it was manufactured because well, I could hear everything that went on in that
building. So you got another problem there. But either way, it's not up to him whether he wants to do his job. It's not up to him whether or not he feels it's appropriate. And more importantly, he has to do his job based upon facts, not, you know, I gave
him my side of the story. And I asked him, I said, "Look, you have the ability to look up everything on your side." He tells me that my uh community is not doesn't have uh any sort of handicap accessible units. And I hate to put it on the spot, President being a
real estate and checking out my property online, does my property offer handicap accessible units? Yes. All right. I know you haven't been to my unit, but you know, I used to be in a wheelchair and this the the I guess the
main factor seemed to be in Mr. Phillips's head about having grabbars that were taken down last year that weren't put back up because well, that's just another thing. But I think my toilet and my rent and all this other stuff being does a lot more pressing than grab bars. But that was the I guess
what held up Mr. Phillips and I don't have anything else being done. I got a court date uh for the crime they manufactured because between him and Cheney, they figured the easiest way to get rid of me is to get me out of my apartment. Theoretically, maybe out of Jackson and they were dumb enough to put
this on someplace where I have access to the recording, but um I need help. He doesn't want to do his job. I'm gonna what I plan on doing is I'm going to type this all up in a very clear and concise email. I'm going to send it to each and every one of you. And if he
refuses to do it, I think drastic action must be taken. This man is showing very poor judgment by not a by not utilizing the resources as his position entails. All right? Because why should he take my word or my property manager's word when
he clearly has access to it? The state knows that it's affordable housing. I even have old leases that say, excuse me, handicap accessible housing. I have an old lease that says I have a handicap accessible unit, but he was too busy manufacturing a crime and boots with my
property manager. Um, either way, I still need the help. I don't want to live with mice in my house and you know, I was working on this um with Mr. wall and I don't need to be told how benevolent he is by meeting with me and
how he feels that he's going above and beyond by meeting with a some with a resident who's obviously been abused by somebody in the system. Um I could tell you that it just shows a tremendous amount of poor judgment on his behalf
and he shouldn't be trusted with the town's anything. I mean, I wouldn't trust him with a wet paper bag, let alone finances and the millions of dollars and everything else like that. I tried addressing my issues I have with the police. And his response was, I went
and I started uh what was it? I I went looking for trouble. Is that what you said? Is that what you told me that I said? I uh went looking for trouble. My constitutional rights are not looking for trouble. When I go to you and say the police are breaking the law, it's not up to you whether you like it or not
to do something about it. It's up to you to do something about it because they are breaking the law and internal affairs is not willing to do it. Even though we've proven that the crimes that I'm that I am uh accusing the police of doing
six police officers were fired last year are allowed to resign because it's toll theft. We have police stealing it. No matter what, the police above and beyond shouldn't be stealing. All right? And when I go to document it, my buddy back there
six his dogs on me. I send you guys an email. And the very next day, I got five cops showing up at my house to give me five tickets on his orders. All right. And he knows it's so baloney that the officer who wrote the ticket Sir, your time is up. I'm sorry. We did set it back.
You did. Have a great night. Thank you. The hell happened there? [Music] Good evening, Lisa Homeman, Farmingdale Road. I'm here tonight speaking about a huge concern that affects all Jackson Township residents. Our town council has
an ethically bound role in land use and developmental decisions. It all begins with you. Building and development, as you are all aware and that we're all aware of as well, must serve the best interests of an entire community. The impact of mass
widespread deforestation happening in our town, as I said, is a huge concern. While development and infrastructure projects may require some level of tree clearing, residents, developers, and town, excuse me, township officials must fully understand the long-term
consequences of largecale deforestation within a densely populated town where home foundations, wells, and septic systems can be adversely impacted by drainage problems and an increased risk of property damage. Flat land is not
safe from compaction and drying when shade and root systems are lost. Trees are a vital part of our local local water cycle. Trees absorb rain water. They reduce the runoff and allow that water to slowly
infiltrate the soil and recharge underground aquifi, excuse me, aquifers, which many of us rely on for our wellwater. When thousands and thousands of trees are ripped out, removed, the natural
filtration system is disrupted. The rain water instead of being absorbed gradually runs off rapidly across bare land causing erosion and increases the evaporation rates from the soil and carries pollutants into our waterways. Water quality is absolutely
vital for life. This runoff doesn't just damage the landscape, it directly impacts our wells. Tree canopies and forest floors act as filters that capture the pollutants before they can reach our water supply. Again interrupting this
natural filtration process, it leads to a heightened likelihood of pollutants entering our water supply. Also, without the tree roots which hold the earth's soil together to stabilize and recharge it, the water table can drop. Homeowners like myself and my neighbors who rely on
our wells may find our water supply reduced, contaminated, or in some cases running dry altogether. There's no, excuse me, there's also local climate to consider as well. Fewer trees means higher temperatures, lower
humidity, and increas increased wind. Speaking on the impact of lower humidity, humidity is another issue for another night. But for every action, there's a reaction. these developers who you have allowed to come into our town
and decimate our town, our trees and living systems. If and when the destruction is allowed completion and/or wells and water systems are damaged, become polluted or compromised, who's going to pay the money? Which one of you is going to pay for the problems that your decisions
could possibly cause or will cause? There will be no easy way back to balance. This outrageous assault on Jackson is reprehensible. As a taxpaying resident for 39 years, I demand town council, township officials, and these
developers take a hard look at the true cost of removing ripping out thousands and thousands of our trees and not replacing them. Again, balance. Balance. Why? Why are you allowing this? Why? I'm demanding responsible
development and stewardship from you. Jackson is being decimated. Thank you and good night. Thank you. [Applause] I want to follow that.
Uh first of all, you didn't answer my question. I was trying to figure out where the $500,000 why it never got collectively. Don't answer that now. But that was what I was trying to get from it. It's on there. I knew where you were spending the money. why it didn't get on the back of the page in the pamphlet.
It's on there. So, what I really want to talk about is to kind of piggyback off of Mr. Barlli's comments about the uh ordinances that were introduced tonight as first reading. Um, Mr. Bernstein knows I've been at every council meet at every
planning board meeting involved with the master plan. I spoke at probably most of them. Um, I I listened to the presentation that was given last week. Um, honestly, I can tell you I wasn't pleased with the with it. I
don't think it it provided enough information to the residents. Uh, especially based on the amount of time and effort that you guys put into it. So, don't don't get me wrong. You guys spent a lot of time and I understand it. These three ordinances, okay? And the
reason I'm questioning it is because during the presentation of the planning board presenting the master plan, they showed a map where they felt there were perfect spots to develop exactly what is
being written in these ordinances. And those spots were all on the northern side of Jackson. She's she just came on Farmdale Road. One of them was on Farmanddale Road. The other it looks like it's on Chandler around there. somewhere in that that
vicinity. Um, one thing I want you guys to understand before you before you go and allow these types of builds in that area is the infrastructure that needs to be completed before these builds. Okay,
Farmell Road comes into Jackson Mills. So does Chandler. They're maybe 25 feet away from each other. It's a five corners. What are we going to do? What are we going to have the county do? We already know based on the county's presentation last last week or two weeks
ago that it takes them almost two years to get anything done after you ask for it. So what are we going to do? What are we are we out there asking them now? Hey, we are looking to do this. What are you going to do for that intersection? And I'll call it Johnny Irons. I don't
know how many people understand it. Mr. Pressy does. I'm not sure anybody else does, but I know he does. And I do. That's how long we've been here. Um, but that that's the kind of things that when when you see these ordinances, I look at
and go, "Yeah, you can write this ordinance, but do you understand what it means? Do you understand what the impacts are? Where what needs to be done before you allow all of this to happen?" Okay? Because to
me, if you're telling me that these are based on the planning board discussions, my question then becomes has the because the planning board passed the master plan, is that final or do you guys have a say in it? Could I could I answer? Absolutely, please.
So, the council does not vote on the master plan. It was our understanding. The planning board adopted two things. The master plan and the affordable housing plan. The thing you're referencing is actually the affordable housing plan, not the master plan with the colorcoded different areas in town that are going to be have have different areas of density. And the lots, the
streets you just mentioned are actually not in these ordinances um that were that were that was actually one of my other questions is you put block numbers and everything. Most people don't have block numbers. Can we have ideas? So next by the next council meeting when when after the first reading the
planners and the affordable attorney will be here. This is just introduction and they'll be here to hopefully put maps up and and elaborate on them more. Okay. But again, I I'm I'm piecing things together and I'd rather get out in front of it before and if I could just answer your last
question about the county. So the process is that once the plan the master plan was adopted, which was adopted, what was it two Mondays ago? I think you're one of the five or six residents who were there. Um the the attorney and the affordable attorney sent the master plan over to the county engineers and stuff. they've been waiting for it for
19 or 20 months and now they're in the process of reviewing it. That's okay. But as as a council, if you know where things are, if you're if you know that we're going to start building affordable housing and that's those are where the developable developable sites
are, we we have to start thinking about okay, what has to come first? It's not the buildings, okay? The buildings should come last. the road the road structure that we need. Okay, I can tell you here's a I'll give you a classic example. We now have a new light on
Bennett Mills Road and Frank Applegate Road. One o'clock this afternoon, I was coming up Bennett Mills Road. I sat at that light for three cycles. Why? What? How did that happen all of a sudden? I'm Bennett Mills Road. I'm
sitting for three cycles. that that should it's supposed to improve it, not create a backlog of cars waiting to move along that road. So those are the things that you know we and this is the one thing I hate with all the traffic studies.
Sir, that's okay. Thank you. Thank you. It stop beeping Christian. Okay. Well, maybe just ding-dong or something. Thank you, Ray Koner Jackson.
Um, I've donated hundreds of hours for our Jackson Day event. Uh, we circulated a uh brochure. I raised a record amount of money based upon what we're going to have for the event. Um, today we're 30
days away. I'm uncertain of actually what we're going to have. Um, we usually get the contracts negotiated early in the year because the vendors have a tendency to raise prices as we they go into their prime season.
Um, I'm told um based upon Mr. Phillips empowered a employee of the township to go out and approach all the vendors and try to renegotiate all their contracts. Right now we don't have a drone show. We
don't have the main event, which would be the actual ATV dirt bike exhibition race. Um, asking a vendor to lower their price to where they lose money for event is not going to get us an an event. Um,
uh, emails went out saying that that employee is now in control basically and they have to speak directly to the employee, which is not a Jackson Day committee member. We spent eight months, hundreds of hours putting this together
and I'll be honest, I can't tell you what we're having. It's 30 days away and it's the first time. Usually we're going down the home stretch. Um, I can't I can be honest. I mean, I probably represent a large portion of the event
the amount of time I put into it. I've had no communication from Mr. Phillips. I've reached out multiple times. I don't know what's happening and the vendors are very upset about what's going on. I'm going to ask that I guess Councilman
Belli, you are on the Jackson Day committee if you could give an update along with the business administrator, but you as the um you know the main chair, if you could please update. Okay. I thought it was a go Mr. Canor. I didn't know that. No, the drone show
guys almost I've given them other business. They were kind enough to keep the price the same. It's 40% below the current market. The ATV race or if I had to go get an out of town race, it would be almost two
two to three times the cost of what our in-house pro racer is going to do the show for. He was actually asked if he could reduce the price to where it would be a guaranteed loss. Councilman, can you answer any of his questions? I can the chair of the
Jackson Day Committee. We can work with Mr. Phillips and administration to make sure we had a great radio advertising package. You put in thousands of hours both two years. I I have you will never get that that you have not worked um and and getting now in regards to you know
anything I he is the chair. Um you you know the situation. So, um, but I will be the first one to say that you have worked harder than anybody else on the Jackson Day, and I've said it before. I've been very transparent with you. You've handled some of my problems, and I always will
and I greatly appreciate that. Thank you. We put on a summer camp program with the same individual, and he wasn't getting paid. You took care of it, and I thank you very much for that. You're welcome, Mr. All of a sudden. Now, he seems to be targeted and he's trying to renegotiate the whole
contract. I don't even think he's going to make money at the price that he's willing to do the event for. And to have him come back and ask him to accept less and then change the terms, he's putting on a racetrack. There's a caveat in the
agreement that said, let's say both rain dates, get out. He's out of pocket an estimated $5,000. So, we asked that we would be reimbursed at least4500. We had a complaint lowered it to 2500
where he would actually still lose $2500 uh and that's not acceptable uh apparently by the employee who's now taking control of Jackson Day. Mr. Before your time go ahead Mr. Don I just want to respond to you also for one second. Last year it's I'm
I'm um last year I was I served on the committee with you um and it was you were a pleasure to work with and I think I called you by the pre one of the previous meetings Mr. Jackson Day cuz it really you you you really put put a lot into that. Would you be able to after the meeting to wait a minute and give us some of the names of the vendors so I
can talk to Mr. Be happy to because the drone show guys honestly he's 40% below market. Yeah. He charges an average of 8 to$9,000 more. All right. He has the caveat the same exact contract we signed last year
to this year it's not acceptable. If he brings his people to the event and it gets rained out and then the rain day gets rained out, he's out of pocket for paying his employees, stay behind after stay after the meeting. I will do so. Thank you, sir again. And thank you.
Anyone else? Do you want me to bring the microphone to you? Okay. You're welcome. I don't think I heard from Mr. My name is Paul. I'm sir. Sir sir, she's she's before you. I
apologize. Valutor right to bow road. The reason I'm here couple weeks ago you guys approved new ordinance or law or whatever you want to call it for uh rentals and
landlords. What I was looking for this evening on the uh agenda was an update of that. I'm assuming that you're all aware that the Immigration and Nationality Act was updated by our government and approved
on August 3rd. In that, it was a lot more specific about what what needs to be done. It says um two of my favorites involved in that updating the amendments was 1324 and 1324A. And I'm only paraphrasing,
but it says, "Sheltering, harboring, renting to, transporting, and employing illegals will subject the person doing so to fines, persecution, and seizure of assets." Basically, what it said in the um Jackson generated one is that the
landlord will check out their tenants. Under what criteria, I don't know. Are they breathing? I guess that's sufficient. I don't know. I voted for Trump not because I particularly like the man. I voted for Trump because one of his number one priorities was getting rid of
illegals. And the reason being is they cost this state a hell of a lot of money. I found an an interesting document online called a nonpartisan report on the cost of illegal aliens to New Jerseyians
dated May 7, 2024 by 10th district assemblyman Paul Kenetra regarding Ocean and Mammoth counties. Illegals cost us 7.3 billion in 2024. Illegals paid 1.3 billion in taxes. So
guess what? We're six billion in the hole for the joy of having illegals in this state. Cost per person is 1,600. Cost per household is 2100. It costs us over six billion to educate their kids. And let me remind you, last I was
informed, we are $18 million in the hole in Jackson for our education. And you can't put the blame for all that on the S2 formula. Okay. I hear numerous complaints from neighbors in and out of our town about
LLC's buying up houses, installing illegals in them, providing jobs, enabling them to pay off the mortgage of the LLC. I hear this repeatedly, repeatedly, excuse me. My opinion, whether smoke or spire and according to
the INA, actual specific knowledge is not required to report this condition to ICE. There's enough videos on YouTube and Instagram and everything else by residents in this town that are disgusted reporting the same situation.
[Applause] I'm sure that you're aware that under Trump twice as many Jackson residents voted for him here. Again, I doubt it's because of his charm and personality, but we want the illegals out of Jackson.
Now, in my opinion, what I think I'd like to see Jackson doing is complying to the federal law because that would takes precedent, an updated landlord responsibility ordinance incorporating the incurrent amendments and INA. I
think it would be wise to in inform the business community that no longer will their hiring of illegals be tolerated in this town. I'd like to see Howell's resolution 2581 adopted by Jackson. This
is paraphrasing again. Even though Phil Murphy's AG Gerber Grl, I apologize if I didn't pronounce that badly. Now it's Matt Placken and he's worse. In 2018 declared New Jersey a sanctuary
state. I did not vote on that. I don't think anybody did. He just put a directive out. Okay. My opinion is LLC's, businesses, politicians are using this directive to do what they heck they want to benefit themselves. Phil Murphy
himself in several different news reports bragged about having an illegal living over his garage. Here again, just like how in Newark, they're working on getting legislator to to limit the amount of LLC's buying in
their towns. I'd like Jackson to be proactive and get on board with this, too. So, my question to you, gentlemen and ladies, is do you represent us or not? I'd appreciate some feedback because I've held up several letters
that I'm writing. One to Nick Adams. He sent one out in a mass mailing last week slated to be the next ambassador from Malaysia. He wants to know if I think sanctuary towns and states are entitled to federal funds. I really don't. But if
I answer honestly to that, I'm screwing Jackson over. I understand why businesses like illegals because it saves the money, but there's no benefit for me. When was the last time one of you drove by a a housing development and the sign out
front said, "Hey, these houses would go for $700, but because I hire illegals, I'm letting them go for $425. I've never seen that. Like I say, I live on social security. I don't make a lot of money. I'm very
concerned about the cost to me and my my family, to my residents. We're struggling here. We really seriously are struggling. Our property taxes keep going up. We're number one in the country, by the way, in case you didn't know. I'm so proud of that. Number one
in property taxes. Hooray. That's all I have to say. I would like here again I do a lot of research because I'm retired and I don't get out much because it's very painful for me. If someone would want my help and helping you do something, you know, as far as
researching something for you, I'd be more than happy to. I have the resolution from Howell. Ma'am, I have to stop. I have a resolution from Howell. Oh, we'll grab officer. We'll have an officer because you can't come up to the desk. The clerk's got it. The clerk will grab
it. Thank you, ma'am. We greatly appreciate that. Paul, anyone else? I'm sorry. I'm good. Janice Solero, Jackson, New Jersey. I
don't know if how I could top her, but my uh issue as well as many Jackson residents because I get I get emails and messages from people all over Jackson. I
don't even know is about the LLC's. Okay. One in question. 71 East Connecticut concourse. Rats. I've had pictures of rats in cages sent to me. This has been reported to code enforcement throughout the years. I know
Jenna G. Grizza Gella, whatever she was. Um, she's reported it several times. Um, there's tenants going in and out, loud music, parties, people going in and out. There's a pool. Tarps hung up so nobody
can see. Um I'm a 33y year resident. I could go on and on. Here's another one. Room available in Jackson. I called. Um I have the number here. It goes to uh the y the landlord 103 Spruce Street,
Lakewood. Since when are tenants um not screened? A there should be some type of criteria. I was a renter back in the day. I know I've reiterated this story before. It seems like these LLC's are a big issue in Jackson. There's
several to a home. There are no there's no criteria, no TRW checks, no jobs. A lot of them are illegals. Um, a lot of them are LLC's. One of them is Infinity Land in Brooklyn, New York. Another one
is Imperial. Here's another address. 391 Diamond Road. pool is like wide open. Um, anyone who has little kids in the neighborhood uh could just stroll right over. I mean, whoever the landlord is, I think that one may be infinity. Uh,
they'll be sued. God forbid a child drowns. There also was land cleared that was never cleared before there. That's the tenants doing that. And the doozy of the week was 592 Ali Burke Road. parking
for 50 cars, uh, babysitter if needed, pool rental. Um, I mean, I drove by. I've never even been in that part of Jackson. It's actually a beautiful area. I was amazed that I've never seen this
area. This would never go down in that neighborhood. It's an extreme quiet neighborhood. Um, somebody messaged me yesterday. I don't even know. Uh, five homes on Frank Applegate was just bought
by an LLC. Not sure how true that is, but my kids grew up here. The comments you heard us before was a great neighborhood. It actually was and it still should be. Everyone has a right to
move here and live here. As far as rentals, there's got to be some type there's got to be something done about it. There has to be a criteria set. Um, like I said, I was a renter and I was like driven through the mill about where
I work, how much I make, month and a half security. I did not rent rooms out. I did not have all my relatives move in and live with me. It's disgusting. And a lot of the taxpayers in this township are fed up with it. They are completely
fed up with it. So, what's going to happen is all us old-timers that are here, I mean, a lot of us, I keep my home beautiful upgraded. Um, I I don't understand how these houses, half of them, if you drive around,
they're disgusting. I I took my garage out years back and I had uh the inspector come in, nope, nope, nope, nope, wrong size nails. I'm like, you effing kidding me? the stuff that I'm driving around and seeing what
is going on in this town. It it's it's mind-blowing. Like you grew up here. I know it I'm not I I mean hopefully it's not next door to you. It's not next door to me. I'm on this side of town, but it's it Diamond
is right around the corner from me and the other side of town. It's horrific. I mean, come on. There's got to be some type something something done about the LLC's. I just had to go off of what she said. I mean, she has a little more time than I
do to research. Councilman, could I just respond for a second? Would you mind after the meeting giving Mr. Phillips, our BA, um the addresses that you just mentioned? Um I wrote them down. You wrote them down? I wrote them down. Did you write them down? It's like 71 West Connecticut 391 Diamond 592 Oliver.
West Connecticut. That one on East Concord. I heard that for the past few years, people have been going off about that. Okay. I feel bad for the taxpayers in that neighborhood. Thank you, ma'am. [Applause]
Anyone else? Good evening. Chris Pollock, Jackson, New Jersey. Uh would the members of this council be willing to go on record tonight and state clearly and directly whether you believe that code enforcement is a vital service for the safety, integrity, and quality of life
for Jackson Township and its residents. Sir, you could speak and then we'll answer. Thank you. So, not going to answer. Fine. All right. Uh I'm like to start reading some emails. Tuesday, January 25th, 2025 at
6:22 a.m. from Morai Bernstein to former business administrator Terrence Wall. Were we able to get any more info on my questions? Also, were we able to find out if there are any upcoming retirements and code enforcement this year? And if yes, when? Lastly, Mr.
Wall, you had mentioned that you would send me over the process that explains how a civil service reduction of force works. can you please send over and and can the process begin? My understanding and research has led me to believe that a cut in code would be fairly simple.
Mr. Wall responds, "Yes, you can't do it. On retirements, there are none pending in the system. Please share your research. If this is an attorney giving advice, they are giving you bad advice and feel free to tell me that I said so." I don't want to be manipul I don't want you to be manipulated. A memo will
be forthcoming as I shared previously. Why are our top officials attempting to cut back a department they have no authority to control? And if you listen to the residents up here, we need them. I am not understanding why they are being so attacked. Is this an overreach
of power? Is this a misunderstanding of your role trying to cut them? Or is it something worse? A deliberate effort to weaken enforcement in this town? Earlier this year, this council passed Ordinance 012025 to lower fines for people who don't maintain their properties, which
is an issue in this place. Council President Jennifer Cune said it was because code enforcement was writing too many citations and clogging up the courts. You later have gone on record attacking code enforcement and claimed they weren't doing their jobs. You can't
blame them for writing too many tickets and then later blame them for not doing enough. That's a contradiction. That's hypocrisy. And frankly, it's a lie. You claim they aren't doing their job, but the numbers don't lie. At the end of July, they have brought in $349,030.
Well on track to surpass last year's numbers of $353,474. Since we're talking about numbers, let's get to the budget. It doesn't take a genius to know that it's irresponsible to manage a town and not have a budget passed by August of that year. what's
going on with this budget? And I think I know why and I think it would shock a lot of people. I have some more emails to read here from Jennifer to Stephanie Marlin. Miss Marlin, I want to be transparent in sharing that I too do not feel comfortable introducing the
budget in its current form. As I have consistently stated over the past six months, I cannot support a budget that maintains the current level of funding for code enforcement. The request for over $150,000 in reductions was made in good faith, and I do not believe it has
been adequately addressed. Unless these concerns are taken seriously and meaningful adjustments are made, I will not be in a position to support or introduce this budget. Moreai Bernstein replies at 12:59 p.m. Miss Martin, this was brought up 7 months ago. I
understand your point, but I'm not supporting a budget without cuts to code enforcement. They have been holding up our town budget over cutting a department that they have no right to cut in the first place. A department that stands between our neighborhoods and decline. A department that protects
the safety, integrity, and quality of life in Jackson. People of this town need to ask themselves, why would our leadership be so hellbent on cutting the very department that addresses the majority of issues affecting our quality of life? I know when developers and special interests want to take over a town and have free reign to do whatever
they want, one of the things they attack first is code enforcement. Is that what's happening in this town? Are you done, sir? Oh, no. No, no. Councilman, are you done? I'm not going to go back and forth with you, but I'm going to answer out of
respect. I would like to know. Sir, are you going to walk away or you going to let me respond? Can you let me answer? Because I would like to give you the facts. Sit down. You want to sit down while I answer? Absolutely. Go ahead. But I would like you to stay and not run out the door. That's all I'm asking. Okay. So, I just want to go into the
facts of what you're saying. And thank you for reading my emails. I appreciate that because as you can see, it's transparency and you're twisting the words. And that's okay. I get it. What words? What? Those are your words. We're not doing this. We're not doing this. So, I'm going to talk. I allowed you to talk. You're not going to be competitive because that's not going to
get anywhere. Okay? You can laugh at me. That's fine. But I just want to get accurate in your in your your statements. So the reason why we we were going over code enforcement is because the productivity was not there. There was no violations. So we got the violations that we wrote right last
month and everything that they did out of 196 or 139. There was nine that came from code enforcement. Everything came from council and residents. Why are residents giving code enforcement jobs to do? Why is not code enforcement? You
could turn around and do a 360 and find 10 violations. That's not happening. We had to put GPS trackers on their vehicles because we don't know where they were at. There's 40 hours of a in a work week. They wrote three violations. Yes, there was problems and yes, I do
stand behind exactly what I did because I believe that these residents that you're talking about that are having problems with rent uh rentals, it's an issue. It's an issue and it is on our code enforcement. It is on our zoning board. We're trying. So the you're changing and I know that you're videotaping me with your guy and you're
running, you know, for election. And this is for clicks because you come in an hour late. You come in, you get a prepared speech, you change the words, you got emails, which I don't even know if you operate. I don't know how you got them, but that's okay cuz I can take it cuz I'm not scared of you and I'm not
scared of your videos and I'm not scared of your t-shirts, okay? I'm not because I know that I'm doing good for my town, that I grew up here. I've lived my whole life here. So if you think I don't see the changes, I do. And that's why we're 10 minutes late on what's happening. 10 years late on what's happening. So we're
trying to do the right thing on this council. So council president, if I could respond because Mr. Pollock referenced emails that I that I that I wrote and yes, I stand by them. So I've been coming to council meetings for close to nine years. There's very few residents in this room who came for nine years. One of them is sitting in the back. Um, and I disagree with many many of the
comments that were said over the years, but one thing that that stood that I very much admired was the persistence and the understanding of the issues. For many many years, um, residents came to complain about various code issues and yes, illegal rentals. Um, people have
the right to put a house under whatever LLC they want, but they do not have the right to rent out the house to multiple families in one house. That's illegal. We don't need a federal law. That is illegal in Jackson law. But the problem is the residents came since the day I've been sitting on this das residents came and been complaining some of the residents who I strongly opposed over
the years came they texted me they called me Morty what are you going to do differently and our power as council is an oversight power our power is the power of the purse that is the power the council has and maybe you didn't have a proactive counsel in the past but we started looking yes I had a problem with code enforcement officers who were
taking cars home for 50 minutes during lunch breaks and when I asked and again I don't want to mention specific names because there obviously there's certain laws when it comes to to personnel. When I asked um where the cars were, why they were idling for two hours, and why is it that certain residents, and again, some of the residents are here in the back,
some of them no longer live here, and some of them residents mentioned their names before, had to send hundreds and thousands of emails over the years about issues that it's not their job to be to be to be looking at. And some of the issues I'll agree on, some of them I won't I I don't agree on. So, yes, I feel that it's time to restructure
certain departments in the town. And yes, I'm going to do my due diligence. And part of my due diligence process is to talk to administration and talk to the former business administrator and talk to the mayor who yes told me, Morty, yes, I fully agree that code enforcement needs to be restructured. And yes, talked to our our our former business administrator who asked me,
Morty, stop sending emails because emails will be open. I'm not embarrassed of my emails. I'm proud of my emails. Yes, we had a problem in this town. We have close to 2,000 rentals and I have houses in my own neighborhood where I have friends and neighbors who have emailed the township and it's been a circle. So finally we're seeing some
productivity and I'm happy with that. I'm I'm proud of the fact yes to answer your original question. I think everyone in this day supports code enforcement and wants a code enforcement. They want to restructure code enforcement. Every once in a while change isn't easy. Every once in a while you have to look and say are we getting are are we getting 100 cents in the dollar or maybe we're not
getting 100 cents in the dollar. And my my opinion without talking about specifics because there are some great guys and and women in in code enforcement but my my opinion was that we weren't getting getting our full sometimes you have to restructure. council wasn't looking to gut it when it came to rentals. And the proof in the
pudding is that we created an entire new ordinance that would be self-funded to give people whose job is literally to sit there checking on the inspections. And yes, ma'am in the back, I fully support President Trump and it's something that we're going to be requesting from our town attorney to look into the federal law and make sure that we are complying with the federal
law because in Jackson Township, we comply with the federal and state laws and if we have a contradiction between the federal and state law, that's where why we have good attorneys and it's their job to figure it out. So to answer your question, yes, I think everyone in this day supports code enforcement. And yes, no one in in this day wants to see
illegal multiple rentals and multiple rooms and houses. No one wants to see pool rentals. No one wants to see other illegal inappropriate neighbor behavior going on in neighbors. But not everything is is is just an easy fix. And sometimes you have to start from the bottom. And our job with the budget is
to look at it and say, "Hey, are we are we getting everything we want? Are we getting our DPW? Are we getting our police department?" and our town's growing and um we have a very large code enforcement and based on the numbers we had. My opinion is that we're not getting what we deserve. Thank you, Councilman. Thank you, sir.
Have a great night. Mr. Pollock, I I just want to say I just wanted to uh um you know, agree with Council Vice President Bernstein. We do support code enforcement and their efforts in trying to uh keep our town uh safe and particularly uh dwellings in
our town and uh with sighting but uh with citations and all that. I just think they're just simply understaffed for a big town as as ours. So, but um cutting them deeper sounds absolutely. Thank you. But we're very grateful about the
revenue that's been coming in as a result. Thank you. Thanks, sir. Now we actually have a longtime resident who actually knows the issues here. Yes, I know many. Don't start yet. Don't start yet. We'll get ready. No, it's come down to Okay, real quick. You can say, "Okay, hope Drew Jackson, New
Jersey. I'm here tonight not just to speak to council, but to speak directly to the people watching at home. I hope you share this on Tik Tok, Facebook, YouTube, anywhere because this needs to be spread. On August 18th, the planning board will be hearing an application that affects every single resident in Jackson. I don't care if you've been
here for generations like me or just moved in. We need to come together. Not in our neighborhood neighborhood versus their neighborhood. Not pointing fingers because it's suddenly happening in your backyard, but as one town. We're now one high school and one community. Here's
the truth. The application is a direct result of the settlement that changed our land use ordinances to benefit one community. That is not an opinion. It is a fact. Never before in New Jersey history have we seen a residential zoning laws rewritten to allow a single family home to be demolished and
replaced with a parking lot in the middle of an existing neighborhood. If anyone can show me another example of this in the state, I'll listen. But it doesn't exist unless you look at the towns that surrounding Lakewood. This property has been operating since 2018 like a commercial facility. It has
destroyed the quality of life of the families that live in Brookwood 3. Sometimes it's a school, sometimes it's a full daytime daycare. It's like whack-a-ole. We close them, they pop right back open without any of approvals. Not one. And here's the most outrageous part of it all. Not one
single violation has ever been issued to this house. Um, instead of stopping it, our town now is letting them come before the planning board to get an official permission to keep doing it. Why? Because the council changed the ordinances for over 58,000 residents,
they decided that certain targeted neighborhoods, especially the R9 and the R15, should be allowed to have parking lots in commercial scale operations in the middle of a residential street. This wasn't random. That was deliberate. And
let's make this clear. This has nothing to do with religion. It never has. That narrative narrative was spun and created lawsuits and to change our laws. The facts speak for themselves. This has
always always been about zoning violations. It has always been about the illegally used commercial operations in our residential neighborhoods next to our family homes. The proof is right in front of us. Wait, we're just going to move on. Ask yourself, commercial
auditoriums are now being built on the back of residential homes and are operating commercially all the time. And when I talk about the R9 and R15 and people who might not know what this is, I need you to have a little motion to it. The R9, R15 are neighborhoods that are like the OGs of new of Jackson.
We're talking about Hartfield, Flare, Robins Estates, Harmony Farms, all the Brookwoods, my neighborhood, Brookwood 4. Why are these special zones the same ones where unapproved commercial uses have been tolerated for years?
If this process, if this passes, it sends a loud, clear message. Come to Jackson. Break the laws. Destroy the neighborhoods. Be the worst neighbors possible. And you and your reward is to get to keep doing it now legally. It's a
trophy for bad behavior. No residential zone or neighborhood should be having a parking lot inside the interior. Nowhere throughout Jackson, period. The fact that the only the R9 and R15 allow it proves that these are targeted zones.
This wasn't random. This was written with precision precision and to benefit one group's infrastructure needs while leaving every other residential zone protected. That's not neutral zoning. That's not equal protection. And when you design ordinances to privilege one
religious community's ability to build a certain neighborhood while excluding every other residential area from the same impact, you are stepping into unconstitutional territory, which we all know. The establishment clause doesn't just prohibit government from blocking religion. It also prohibits government
from advancing in it. Neutrality means protecting everyone equally, religious or not. These ordinances do the opposite. It carves out special rules rules for specific zones because of who lives there now or who you expect to live there in the future. That's called
targeting zoning and it's the very definition of unequal treatment under the law. So, I'm calling on you today, all of my elected officials that are here before me. It's time to revisit these unconstitutional ordinances that were created outside the settlement.
We need to repeal them or amend these ordinances immediately. Don't hide behind the settlement. Don't pretend your hands are tied. Neato voted against them. So, there's a proven choice that something can be done. The Constitution doesn't allow target zoning. The people of Jackson shouldn't
either. Fix this before August 18th or you will own the consequences when the first parking lot gets built in the middle of a residential neighborhood and every R9 and R15 zone street will become a target. So, please come out August
18th. We need people to come out and speak out. Thank you, ma'am. How are you, guys? My name is Adam Mighty. I live in Jackson, New Jersey. And uh again, I'm here speaking on behalf of the people, the wildlife, and
the environment. Um first, uh have you guys looked at our zoning map? Um, I'm trying to figure out why our town is accepting any sort of site plans or proposals without actually looking at the environmental map. I mean, New
Jersey is so critically sensitive. We have so many Pineland barriers. Couple of our regional growth zones are right on that that Pineland Jackson boundary line. A multitude actually of our uh our regional growth zones are
within the conservation over uh overlay district. Right. Right. I I I believe so. So, I'm just trying to figure out how we're accepting site proposals for places we know we can't build. We know there's like extraneous
amounts of uh EP uh forms that would have to be submitted. Right. one of I'm not sure if I could speak but RG3 you know it's a nice rhombus and 1/4 of
that perimeter is on the Jackson Pineland boundary and probably 45% of RG3 was zoned out as conservation overlay zone so right there itself a letter of intent would have to be
submitted to the D wetland delineation would have to take place so So, I'm just trying to figure out why would we even think about building in some of these places? It kind of sets a bad precedent for the future. I think we're seeing approval at the zoning or planning, particularly the
planning board level, but then there's also approvals that also have to be obtained by other entities as well. Um, which would include, you know, on the county and state level. I think that's what you're trying to, you know, like the D for example, depending on the
application and what is being proposed to be built and developed. So, it's not just initial, you know, approval here and that's it. They they can start building. There's got to be other approvals that have to be obtained as well. Do you do you guys get to hold uh the other boards accountable at all?
Right. Arizona board makes either poor decisions andor violation. Would you like to speak? What do you have something to say? Yeah, I think maybe and you've come up a couple of times. It's appreciated best maybe if you start attending the
zoning board and planning board meetings. I do. He did. So, first off now, Mr. President, he did. When they get an approval, which one of you guys are speaking? I am. Okay. When the applicant does get an approval from the planning board, that doesn't
mean it's done. He has to get all the outside agencies. He has to get his LOI from the D. They got to get water conservation. They got to either get municipal water or wells has to be approved. If it's in the pin lands, the Peland's controller, which is definitely different, and there are controls there.
So everything you're saying has to be done and is done. You might not like the answers. You think it's done, but it's not done. What the professionals put forward between the applicant now is double checked. We have to they're licensed and they're putting their licenses online
and that's what we have to do. So we do go by that we do weigh that in these in these land use boards. I know you may think we don't, but it is speed and laws are in place, right? People still speed, right? It's still things. It still takes place, right? I
know that's this is the epitome of my point. Yeah, these these regulations are in place, but what I'm telling you is they're not being followed. They're not being fully upheld. People aren't fully compliant. I'll give you a perfect example. Right here on County Line Road, somebody cleared out five acres based
off of an impact statement from 2005. The land was never disturbed since 2005. 20 years later, uh, you know, we got approved 20 years ago. Let's nuke these five acres. That's against the law. Everything has a permit. That's against the law. And I
have him lying under oath with proof. Could be provided by Google Earth. Like, that's what what I'm saying is yes, there's laws in place, but they're not being followed. Do you think the LOI Excuse me, my time. What I'm telling you is that there are laws in place. I understand what you're saying. I'm telling you, they're not being followed.
And whenever they get brought up, it seems to just get brushed to another department. If you feel by the way, the planning board, if people go to the planning board, yeah, let me speak because it's my time. I only have five minutes, respectively, sir. No, I'm sorry. Um, no, no, I appreciate that. It's okay. Um, you I'm just running on the
clock. Unlike the zoning board beers that I go to, there's no clock. So, I go to them. Like, for instance, this like environmental commission, right? Would you guys be willing to introduce an ordinance that mandates all developers maybe over one acre have to
go through the commission? Our commission like you you guys offered me you offered me a chair role which is kind of insulting that something so serious would be taken up by a volunteer. Thank you sir. I'll let him answer but your time is up.
We have other people that are waiting. But if he asked me but if he asked me a question I could respond. Right. No, we we're we have to we have to have the next one. If you want after the meeting, you guys can have a open conversation, but we have to move on as there's still multiple people that need to speak. But if but can I just ask maybe I don't know the rules.
No, I'll let him answer if he directs something. If he directs something to me, I should be able to answer. He's not going to direct anything to you. He's just going to answer your question. He's not going to ask you a question. Councilman, please don't ask him a question. His time is off. No. Mr. Brassie, listen to mommy. Excuse me.
I said, Mr. Brassie, listen to mommy. That's not appropriate. Thank you, sir. I apologize. I Thank you. The uh first off, there are ordinances that require uh applications to go to the environmental commission and if it comes in front of the planning board or the zoning board and it is not approved
by the environmental commission at that point, then they're normally told if this doesn't get a letter of no concern from the environmental commission, they must come back in front of that board. that's been in process for over 20 years. Also, if you have a problem that
you think the yellow eyes or the D is wrong, you can go to those other agencies and question them because they supply the LOI. We don't. No, they they uphold things pretty well. The the hotel that they tried to build uh, you know, a near venture crosses got shut down
thanks to the D. The D does their job. We're just not letting move on a local level. We're letting things get passed by local level. And I'd appreciate if all of you guys, especially if you were residents, just had some integity. I would appreciate if you had some integrity relative to the environment.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you. And thank you for having some integrity in the choices that are made for our town. I sincerely appreciate you, Mr. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Hi, my name is Paul River. I'm on West Commoner Boulevard. I want to thank you,
Adam. You know, Jenny, you said you grew up in Jackson. I I Yes, sir. Adam grew up in Jackson and he played on the Jackson soccer team and he went to Rowan University and got his biology degree and he's here to help and he's
absolutely just wanted to give you time to speak. So, thank you, sir. I'm I'm I'm very happy that he's here and I'm very happy he grew up in Jackson. Absolutely. Okay. So, we uh Mr. Breie and I'm not doing a cheap shot. I'm just just because that's not me and you know me.
Mr. Brassie, if you you you described what's supposed to happen with these uh site development plans, you know, they're supposed to have everything done. The engineer for the township does a checklist, says, "Okay, everything's
here. You can go before the board." But unfortunately that you implying that that's what happens in this town. Unfortunately, Mr. Breie, that's not what happens in this town. Okay. What would you do if you were a neighbor and
the uh zoning board engineer colluded with the uh applicant to tell the zoning board that oh, they got everything. You can hear this. And then you found out they don't have anything.
That is fraud. And that is denying the residents their ability to know and to be transparent. So please, you can describe how it should be, but please don't say it it's always happens here in
Jackson. It should always happen, but my experience is the opposite. Okay, now let's talk about the environment. Okay, for some towns have a good,
you know, reputation for the environment and some don't. And I have to say Jackson has a terrible reputation. You know, Adam is 100% correct. This lady here is 100% correct. And I' I'm experiencing firsthand, too, by people
saying they got D approval and they don't even have it. and and people who are the uh the D is investigating them backfilling the wetlands. Okay. And all before everybody's eyes.
No, it's it's like hear no evil, see no evil. Okay. Now, when the when I had a friend who's been living here for 25 years, bring me over to an area that was clearcut. It had to be like 20 acres clear. How do you do that?
Huh? Oh, how do you do that? Now that he was telling me all those critters, all those animals, those foxes, the luckily, I guess a way down the road, there was an Ocean County preserve. He said he he saw all the
animals double there. So that whoever did that, whoever clearcut it destroyed the habitat of of in the trees of all illegally. Now you can't be doing that
kind of stuff without permits. But you know in this town I don't see outrage, Jenny. I don't see outrage from you. You live here. You brought up here, sir. You know, and I So I I I wonder what the hell what happened? I'm not laughing at that. I'm
saying if you don't see an outrage, I I I think my emails that they have been read have shown that I'm extremely Okay, so I don't have much time. I'm not going to go into the red. Uh a thousand affordable housing units. I get the impression you guys like that.
Most towns are saying they'll fight tooth and nail against that. And there's a lot of ways to solve that. First of all, you got to get your engineers. Look at the wetlands and the pine lands and all the undevelopable property here that you can preserve and
you can say, "Listen, show me where we're going to put these things. The whole township is environmentally sensitive and that is we in Milstone we use that and that's how we protected our town. You said you can't do that. It's
environmentally sensitive." In this situation, you're seeing people clearcutting and nobody says anything. If it was, let me tell you something. If if I was a somebody and I drove down the road and I saw a huge area clearcuted, I'd be I I
I'd be talking to the police. That's what I'd be doing. All right. So, there's ways to reduce this 1,000 affordable housing. All right. First of all, you say, "Hey, listen. in this environmentally
sensitive area. We can't fit all that. Okay. And then one more thing about other people. The your budget has $35 million for salaries. Now, am I correct that all those people report to the mayor and
he's responsible for all his administration and our business. So, why are we hiring four more people to do LLC monitoring when we already have people in place? It's a management problem. Yes, sir. I I agree. But your time is up and yes, I'll be more than happy to
discuss that with you. Council President, could I ask one question? Absolutely. Mr. Martin, hold on one second. Um, Mr. Dasty, if residents feel that a professional lied under oath um by a planning or zoning board meeting, what is is there what's the recourse that
they have? Because speak to the prosecutor if they do want if residents come to a planning board or zoning board meeting and they feel that that professionals li I'm speaking please hold on one minute and they feel that um that professionals and they and they claim to have proof that the
professional lied under oath what what recourse do they have like could they send it to council like what's the investigation process? A couple of things I think I think the general was talking about before. Sir, sir, listen. You have to stop doing the outburst. You have to let the
attorney talk and you have to let council talk. It is not screaming from the background because that's a rule. I I think you you that let's just let you know right now. I'll put them on the board for next time so that you know the rules. Thank you, sir. I think the gentleman over here was
talking about if not fra if not uh illegal, something fraudulent for sure. If you think that there's something fraudulent going on, you should either speak to the administration, speak to the police department, speak to the prosecutor's office. You always have the
right to appeal a decision uh of the zoning board if you think it was, you know, improperly and fraudulently uh procured. So, if you think that there's anything like that going on, I seems to me you have an obligation to report a crime.
Sir, you're in the back. He's answering your question and you're you're kind of making a mockery of him and I think it's a little insulting. So there's a lot of Yes, you with the hat. So if you could please listen to him. He's answering your question. We stopped everything so that he could answer your question.
So if you if if you um believe there have been some sort of fraud between a professional on the board and and an applicant or something could rise to the level of a crime, but you should bring that up to either the attorney for the
zoning board or go to the zoning. You did it here publicly, which is fine. Do it there publicly. I'm talking to everybody in general. Somebody was asking what do we do about these improper actions of the different boards? Yes. So that's one of that's one
of the many things you can do about Mr. Martin. Report it to someone with specificity. Thank you. Yeah. Um Carlos Martins, Jackson, New Jersey. I'm here as a resident. Um just for transparency as you said. So I am on
the zoning board, but I will not speak about the zoning board. I can't. So that's not the topic I'm I'm going to cover. Um, what I would like to cover is code enforcement. Uh, all the stuff that just came out and Mr. Bernstein mentioned. Um, probably not going to be
in favor of everybody here. Please, Mr. Martin into the mic because I heard the clap. So, probably what I'm going to say against some of you guys. But um when it comes to code enforcement, just like any other
department that does not running effectively, the answer is never you just throw more money at it. You throw more people at it. That's not how you fix something. You fix it by reorganizing it, by actually cutting the number of people in
there so it's more efficient and it's more effective. Um that's how you fix a problem. I think we all agree that a problem um is with I believe it um with code enforcement. We have a lot of
rules. We already have a lot of or ordinances on the on the books. They have to be enforced. And the way we get them enforced is code enforcement doesn't just wait for a resident to to complain about it. They go around and they and they um and they
find the issues and they um Yep. they they write them a ticket. One of the things the council did was and I think you guys know this, right? One of the thing the council did was they reduced the amount of the fee. So now it's crit the criticism is hey you reduced the
number of the fees of the people doing wrong but at the same time one is you never getting paid that fee. So that was the accumulation of these tickets which were never getting paid because they were LLC's and we didn't know where these people were. So, what the council
did was they said, "Okay, we're going to lower it to 300, but we can now go after the tenants, those illegal tenants, or we can go after um the owner." Uh because it's easier to go after the tenants.
You charge the tenants, they pay the $300, they lower the um they then don't pay the rent. All of a sudden, we got the money and the landlord is still the one suffering because he's not getting that rent anymore. If that's if that's the situation, isn't that better? Isn't
it better to lower to $300 and now you can go after a bigger population and you go after the people actually living there? Those 8 10 people that are living in one house. Now you can go after them. You you don't have to go after the LLC, but you can't find them anyway. They're
living in Florida. I'm I'm talking to everybody. All right. Why those facts? Mr. Martin, Mr. Martin, please focus council to the council. You're speaking to the council, not to the public. Um, I am getting a little heated about it because it's just the facts aren't there. It's very easy to say, "Oh,
you're cutting code enforcement, right? You're cutting code enforcement." You're not. You're trying to make it more efficient. You can't throw bodies at it. That's not going to fix the problem. It never has. It never has in any situation. Definitely not in the
corporate world and even in um the government world. We know that's not we know you can't just throw bodies at it. Um correct. And as far as overreach, one of the complaints I had with the council was the communication
um that you guys did a little while back where you said you pass ordinances and then your hands are tied. I No, your hands are not tied. You have the responsibility, not just the power per the code. You read it. You have the duty
of oversight of every one of those departments, right? The mayor administers it, but you have the you have the duty to oversight and you have the duty of the power of the purse. That's why the budget the budget is worthless. It's nothing. It's
a It's a pack of um a pile of piece of papers until you approve it. And you have the right and you have the duty, not just even the right, if you read the code, you have the duty to overlook that budget and make sure it aligns with the goals of the council. That's written in
there in paper. It's not overreach to go to the code enforcement and say, "You're not efficient. We need you to be efficient and so we're going to cut and and then we're going to if have to maybe we rehire but we're not just going to give you money to sit there and do
nothing. That's efficiency. That is doge. Thank you sir. Thank you. I agree. Thank you. Yeah, once the once it we're almost over.
No, you can't go back. You guys can sit by each other and talk, but we can't have an open forum. Thank you, ma'am. Deb Jones, Jackson. Um, I have a few different things to talk about. First, I would like to thank Mr.
because if I'm understanding it correctly, you said that you guys just got the paperwork on the affordable housing. Then I'm sorry, anyone who voted yes, you didn't do your due diligence and you weren't transparent because how are you
transparent about something if you haven't read it through? And just because someone votes no doesn't mean it's never going to happen. Can you stop the clock? Can you stop the clock because I don't want to take from your time. I just I I just want so every single ordinance
that we get when it's a first reading, we all don't get to read it before we come and put it on. That is the way that the process procedure works. I understand that. So there's no difference than these ordinance than the previous ones. There's absolutely zero. I understand. I just want to add to that also. Council all received in their
mailboxes in the clerk's office two two over a week over ago the affordable plan. I can't speak for my colleagues which of us went and picked it up and which of us didn't. We always receive first readings of ordices on our draft agenda either Thursday or Friday and that's just a normal process. Okay, we can continue the clock and I
won't interrupt you again but I felt that compelled to let you know to my next point something as a taxpayer and a citizen in this town and yes Mr. Bernstein. I am a lifetime resident here, but I don't care if someone's been here 10 minutes. If they're paying taxes in this town, they have a right to say
what they need to say. And I am tired of every meeting, meeting after meeting after meeting. There's a dig at somebody all the time. If you're really transparent, you don't need to keep telling people you're being transparent. If I'm not going to be a liar, you're
going to know that because you're going to be able to check the facts and know that I'm not lying. I don't have to keep telling you this is not a lie. I'm I am so disgusted. If somebody disagrees with what you think you want, they almost get
a beating or a reprimand. That has to stop. We voted for him so that he could stand up for what he decided. Well, I don't understand why we have to be put in our place because we voted no. Thank you for
voting no because you know what, we do have affordable housing in the town and maybe I understand and I get it, Mr. Pomeary. We have to by the state, but we also can take a step back and say yes, we have affordable housing, but
something has to give. And as far as what you said about LLC's and people, multiple families living here, well, as someone who's lived here my whole life, this is a new problem. This is not a problem that's been going
on for generations. This is a new problem. And it's been since the housing market has been being ripped to shreds because people are coming in with more money. I don't care who you are. you want to live in this
town, great. But if it the town attracted you because of the way it was, there's a reason for that. Because the people that have been here or are moving here for the right reasons, it's because they love the town. They love what it has. I don't
understand. I drive around this town, I see nothing but empty warehouses. I see houses that have 150 cars in their driveway. And I say that lightly because it's not
their driveway because there's no driveways around here that are fitting all those cars. It's just something that you want to be fair, be fair to everybody. Keep this town to what we put into it. It was our blood, sweat,
and tears that have gone into it for years. So people coming in, they need to they need to align to what was here, not that we have to align to what they want to bring in. It's not fair. I'm tired of it. On top of that, you have Harmony
Road. There's a housing development going in there. There's a ton of houses going up. That road is a battlefield. You try to drive between Heisen and County Line Road, you might as well have a tank because that's what you need. The
road is so ripped up, torn apart. There should not be one resident in that housing development until our road is put back to the way it should be. You guys have to start making better decisions. It has to stop being uh tit
fortat and I want to do this and I want to do that. I don't care what you guys want. I want you to do what we need you to do. That's all there is to it. Thank you. [Applause] Seeing no one else come forward and make
a motion to close public comment. Motion. Second. We We only have We only allow the rules are up. It's only allowed one time around. Thank you. But I it's you know. All in favor? I I.
Any opposed? May I have a motion to adjurnn meeting? Motion. Motion. All in favor? I. Any opposed? No. Meeting adjourned.