Not 6:30 yet. It's not 6. >> Go by the flip phone. >> Please rise for the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all. >> Good evening and welcome to the April 28th, 2026 regular meeting of the Jackson Township Council. Pursuant to the provisions of New Jersey's open public meeting act, adequate notice of this meeting was properly provided by transmitting a notice of the meeting on
January 9th for publication. Notice of this meeting the township council has posted in the corridor of the municipal building on the township website and in the office of the municipal clerk. We'll begin with a roll call. Councilman Blli >> here. >> Councilman Breie >> here. >> Councilman Pollock >> here.
>> Council Vice President Paul Mary >> present. >> Council President Bernstein >> here. Also attending this evening is Mayor Cune, Attorney McGucken, Administrator Tara Franco, Miss Dager, and myself, Sandra Martin. We will now hear opening comments from the township
council, starting with Council President Bernstein. >> Thank you, Madam Clerk. Um, I'll try to keep my comments brief tonight. Um, first of all, just a condolences to all Long and her family. Um, I had the opportunity of knowing Alla for the past about 18 months when I served on the
Jackson Day committee. Um she was a longtime Jackson school teacher here in Jackson. Um she was a strong advocate for ROA and for keeping the history of Jackson alive. Um I still remember on a Sunday pretty cold Sunday her coming out
with me at the DPW. Um Mr. Blinsky open got someone to open us open up one of the sheds for us just for her to go and look um at some of the um the various artifacts that were saved. Um, and I, as I told her husband by the funeral, I look forward and I spoke to the mayor
already to making sure that her memory because this is something she used to talk about by all meetings, making sure she'd be alive when Rova would actually happen. Her memory hopefully will stay alive in Roa when Roa's when Roa is built. Um, additionally, just an update. Jackson Day committee had a its first
meeting as a full committee. Um, I guess I'll just say it. Jackson Day is t is scheduled for Sunday, August 23rd, and the rain day being the following Sunday the 30th. It was a great meeting and I'm looking forward to working with this committee and hearing from all of our
residents what we could do to make Jackson Day an even better um Jackson Day as our country's 250th birthday. Um so we look forward to sharing more information as that comes out. And I I think so far a special thank you to Ray Koner and all the others who are working
there. We so far have a very nice amount of um sponsors that are have come in. We look forward to even more sponsorships for this historic uh Jackson Day hopefully. Um I also just want to read a letter that um one of our um township employees sent to myself and the mayor.
I don't know if the mayor was planning on reading it, but I'm going to read it quickly because I just want to clear the air because there were some I some residents or some people online were saying things about her which I thought weren't accurate. And um dear residents, I want to be clear and direct about how
properties in our township reach, and I'm sure the mayor's going to discuss this later, but how properties in our township have reached the point of foreclosure due to municipal leans. Each year, our office conducts a tax sale for properties with unpaid taxes from the previous year. In New Jersey law, a tax sale helps the town recover unpaid
property taxes quickly and maintain stable revenue. When the taxes go unpaid, the ta the town will still fund schools and county obligations. By selling a tax lean certificate, the town receives the full amount owed upfront from an investor. That means immediate cash flow and no delay in funding
essential services. After the sale, the investor takes on the responsibility of playing the of paying the debt. This reduces the town's financial risk and encourages property owners to pay what they owe. In short, tax sales convert delinquent t taxes into reliable revenue and protect the township's financial
health. When a property ends up with a municipal lean, the situation is different. Taxes go unpaid and continue to accumulate against the property until the debt is either resolved or the property is forclosed upon. During this entire town time, the township is still obligated to pay the school district and
the county their full share. Regardless of whether those taxes have been satisfied, that places a real and ongoing burden upon our community. The properties currently in foreclosure are not new cases. Many have been outstanding for many years. Previous efforts to move these cases forward fell short due to a lack of followup through
through lack of follow-through by prior legal representation. That is no longer the case. We now have an attorney who is actively and efficiently advancing these foreclosures. With our new attorney, we are expediently moving forward at a pace we haven't seen in the past. To be clear, the tax office role in this
process is limited. We compile the list of delinquent properties. We turn it over to administration and appointed attorney who then handles the legal proceedings. This process is is about accountability and financial responsibility. We are moving forward deliberately and decisively to resolve longstanding issues that impact every
taxpayer in the township. Thank you, Leah Shank, uh, CTC tax collector, and I just want to thank her and her entire office because they have been unfairly um, targeted and mentioned and I really just want to thank them because they are doing a phenomenal phenomenal job and I
had the opportunity, the mayor invited me to meet with her for a few minutes and I was extremely impressed. So, and I invite all of the council members to reach out and really any resident to go in and ask questions because they are we have a great team in that office. Thank you, >> Council Vice President Paul Mary.
>> Thank you, Clerk. I'd just like to reach out to our residents and let you know that this Saturday, May 2nd, is the Save Our Schools Fix the Funding Rally hosted by Miss Mendes, who is teacher in New Jersey on social media. Um there's going to be a lot of state
representative there. there's going to be um an area where you can go and share your experiences. We're hoping to get a lot of folks out there media attention because I've said this before, you know, fair school funding should not depend on a town's zip code. So, if you could come out, it's going to be at Veterans Park,
Bayville, New Jersey at 1:30 this Saturday, May 2nd. I'll be there. I'm sure a lot of others will be there. I know the mayor will be there. Um we're going to have a lot of guest speakers there. Let's show up and let's let Trenton know that what they're doing to our schools is, you know, it's it's a disaster and we need them to fix it.
They made the mess and they need to fix it. So, I hope you come out and make your voices heard. Thank you, >> Council Member Belli. >> Thank you, Clerk Martin. Uh, what happened Saturday night at the White House Correspondent Center in DC was horrible. Uh, the general and political
violence in our country needs to stop and of course also be met with swift justice. So, I'm very thankful, as I'm sure millions of Americans are, uh, for amazing law enforcement officials who quickly protected our president and
first lady, our vice president, administration officials, and everyone else who were in that room attending the event. Tragedy was averted, thank God, and the Secret Service agent who was shot is okay. Security definitely uh has to be looked at more closely and be
firmed up. I want to speak nationally, continue speaking nationally, but it also certainly can be applied across the spectrum and locally. I think President Trump said it best at a press conference after Saturday night's shooting. And uh here's the quote. In light of this evening's events, I ask that all
Americans recommit with their hearts in reolving our differences peacefully. It's okay to have differences on a wide range of uh topics or policy and express them freely in our great country. um a people in a lot of other countries
can't even do that and you know let's keep it civil without attacking each other. Please pray for our nation and leaders and God bless America. Have a good evening. >> Councilman Brezie, >> thank you. Thank you for coming out this evening. I definitely concur with my
colleagues what they've all said so far. Uh thank you for coming out. Have a safe trip home. I'll wave my comments. Councilman Pollock. >> Good evening everybody. Uh couple things I want to talk about. Uh here I have a
letter from the Pinelands Commission uh that the council did not receive that the public is not aware of yet. It will be posted online. Um, this is another time where we have not received important information from the Pinelands
Commission raising concerns over the affordable housing overlay zones and other projects going on in town. Now, I don't believe in changing the rules to benefit developers at the behest of our environment and our residents. Our elected officials can pretend all they
want that they care, but their actions, I think, speak loud and clear. I believe everybody withholding important information from council members that have to cast votes on important legislation should maybe resign and everybody involved in the planning of our affordable housing should probably
resign as well. Planning over development in environmentally sensitive areas is not acceptable. I personally believe this was planned intentionally to benefit developers who are financially and personally connected to our politicians. I think it's obvious I don't trust this
administration or government. I don't trust how they spend people's money. I don't trust how they do business in Jackson. I'd like to take us back to February 15th to a Facebook post from our mayor uh where she claimed she was threatened and blackmailed by someone
who was contracted by the town. She would be taking all available legal action and she said she refused to let the taxpayers of Jackson be extorted. Um, now I think we take it back a little further. We all know they paid a media
source with taxpayer money and used him to attack me last election. Then it backfired on them and they stopped paying him. Then he came after you. What a shocker, right? I remember asking Council President Bernstein about
the situation and he said they never signed a contract with him and that's why he wasn't being paid. That's really odd considering you guys voted for that. didn't really make sense in my mind. Um, you know, the mayor acted like she was being blackmailed and we were never
going to pay him and that, you know, there were accusations even of the council president offering to pay him through his private school. But it turns out you actually did pay him. On March 4th, 2026, you paid him $10,750. On March 10th, 2026, you paid him
$19,700. I have the receipts, but I didn't see any of this on the bills list. Really strange, right? Seems like you're hiding it. Why would you do something like that? Did you label it under something non-conspicuous so people wouldn't know what you're spending their tax dollars
on? I'm not even saying you shouldn't have paid them because if you have a contract with somebody, you fulfill your obligations. It's that simple. But the issue here is, and what's really troubling is that this government tries to hide everything shady they do. and they do plenty shady
things. I don't know whether this was a strange act to try and garner sympathy and try to distance yourself from your reprehensible actions through the last election. I don't know. But I know they consistently lie, consistently keep things from other members in this government and they manipulate things
from their position of power and I believe they misuse and abuse our tax dollars. As we discuss the budget and other matters this evening, I believe you'll see a clear pattern going on in Jackson. I'm extremely concerned for the political and financial future of our home and I think everybody who lives
here should be too. Thank you. >> The next item on the agenda is comments by Mayor Cune. >> Thank you, Madam Clerk. Good evening, Jackson residents. I wanted to take a moment tonight to update you on the
progress we are making and the work your administration has been accomplishing over these past several months on behalf of the people of Jackson. Last week I shared a list of 129 properties with longstanding unpaid taxes totaling more
than 14.2 million, some dating back nearly 40 years. I did that because I promised transparency, accountability, and action. Property owners were given ample opportunity to address these delinquencies. And now it is time to
move forward. Let me be clear, the residents who pay their taxes on time should not carry the burden created by years of inaction. This is why we are implementing a stronger structured plan to recover these funds, protect taxpayers, and
return these properties to preserved open space. This is about fairness. This is about responsible government, and this is about making Jackson move forward. At the same time, we are continuing to focus on protecting the quality of life
in our community and preserving the recreation space our residents have invested in and enjoy every day. Jackson Township is taking a stronger stand on illegal use of ebikes, motorced, scooters, and motorcycles in our parks
and recreation areas because the reckless behavior is damaging public property and creating serious safety concerns. Our newly built pickle ball courts, baseball and softball fields, football fields, walking paths are all
being torn up and damaged by misuse. These spaces were built for our children, our families, our athletes, and our residents, not as tracks or motorized vehicles. This is about protecting the public investment, protecting the beauty and integrity of our parks, and protecting
our children from dangerous and reckless activities. We are increasing awareness. We are a adding signage. And we are working with law enforcement and council to strengthening enforcement. Let me be clear. We will not allow taxpayer funded
recreation assets to be destroyed. And we will not allow unsafe behavior to be put to be putting our families at risk. Our message is simple and firm. Respect our parks. Protect our fields. Know the law. Put safety first.
Now, I want to highlight some of the positive that shows the very best of Jackson. Our first community litter-free Jackson cleanup is coming up on May 17th from 12 to 4 and efforts and this effort has grown to 184 87 volunteers including
39 families. That is as of this morning. This is something to be proud of. This is what community looks like. Neighbors helping neighbors. Residents taking pride in their town. people coming together to make a difference. If you haven't signed up up yet, there is still
time to join us. Let's make the first cleanup a great success and show what Jackson can accomplish when we work together. And don't forget the mayor's flea market is this weekend. Free to attend, free to set up a booth, come out, support the
community, and enjoy the day. And beginning June 25th, renovations begin on the hockey rink at the Justice Complex through grant funding. Another investment our community has taking advantage of. Jackson is moving forward.
We are addressing challenges. We are making improvements and we are delivering results. Thank you for your trust. Thank you for your support. And thank you for being a part of what makes Jackson such a strong and proud community. Have a great night. The next item is comments by
administrator Terafenko. >> Thank you, Madam Clerk. Good evening, everyone. I wanted to provide a update on the division of rental housing. To date, we have approximately 1,430 units registered. Uh by week's end, the bureau will be conducting their 100th uh
inspection. In fact, in furtherance of compliance, we met with uh property managers, one of which is the largest in Jackson and expressed our concerns and our objectives and what the housing bureau was about and what we'd like to see
going forward to gain compliance and abatement of certain issues that we've uh discovered already. And finally, we're looking forward to meeting with council to do some ordinance revisions uh in in the coming weeks. So, that's to come. and council. I'm looking forward to speaking to each and every one of you
regarding this matter so we can revise these ordinances accordingly. Thank you and have a good night. >> Thank you, Madam Clerk. I just want to add one thing to what the business administrator said. So, I was at that meeting which we had yesterday with I think the largest property manager that I'm aware of of residential homes here in town and it was a great meeting. We
came in very strong. It was myself, the business administrator, the mayor, and the housing bureau. Um we really laid down what we're expecting here in Jackson. Um, and today there was an inspection that I was aware of that they went in and we suspected the same games again where um, they came in, there was
clear evidence of multiple families living there. The walls were down, but they were up obviously yesterday. Four families living in a home and um, I actually texted about a half hour before the meeting the owner, the property manager, and he said, "You see, like look, you told us to communicate with
you. This is what happened today." And she said, "Yes, I'm aware." and um she notified us that in all of her contracts with her tenants um there is a clause only one family is allowed to live in any of these homes. So I said besides for our municipal ordinances and our land use laws, you also have a violation
of all these um rental agreements. And she committed to working with us. Obviously we're going to hold her feet to the fire. Um but I I appreciate the mayor and the business administrator um working sometimes bringing everyone in the room at least is the first step. and we'll see if if they really do work with us, but hopefully we'll get more
positive results working together with our property managers. Um, making sure that they understand that we're zero uh zero tolerance for anyone who's breaking the law over here. Thank you. >> The next item for tonight's meeting is an update from the Department of Public
Works, Council President Bernstein. >> So, bulk pickup is currently underway in zone 4, while brush collection is taking place in zone 3. Bulk pickup is for zone five is scheduled to begin on on May 4th. Residents are reminded to place all bulk bulk items and brush at the curb by Sunday evening prior to prior to the
designated pickup week. In celebration of Earth Day, Jackson Township Clean Communities is inviting volunteers to support local cleanup efforts. Five dates are available to choose from. Participants will receive a Six Flags Great Adventure guest pass and children under the age of 12 and un children ages
12 and under will also be awarded a certificate of merit and a litter free deputy badge. For additional details, please visit our website. Registration is free on a first come first- serve basis with a limit of 300 participants per cleanup date. And also to add that anyone can join even if you're not a Jackson residence, but the Six Flags
Great Adventure tickets are only being given out to people who are Jackson residents. Thank you. The next item on the agenda is the proclamation portion. Council President Bernstein. Um >> I think the mayor had I don't remember what was this. I think the front line is councilman Belli.
>> Uh Councilman Pollock ALS and Councilman Belli >> library week. Okay. >> Library. >> Chris. >> All right. Uh we have a proclamation for ALS awareness month. Uh so whereas amotrophic lateral scerosis also
commonly known as lugar's disease is a progressive fatal neurode uh neurodeenerative disease in which a person's brain loses connection with their muscles slowly reducing a person's ability to walk, talk, eat, and eventually breathe. Thousands of new ALS
cases are reported every year. And estimates show that every 90 minutes someone is diagnosed with ALS and someone passes away from ALS. On average, patients diagnosed with ALS survive only two to five years from the time of diagnosis. The exact causes of
ALS are unknown and there is no known cure for it. People who have served in the military are more likely to develop ALS and die from the disease than those with no history of military service. Securing access to new therapies, durable medical equipment, and
communication technologies is of vital importance to people living with ALS. Clinical trials play a pivotal role in evaluating new treatments, enhancing quality of life, and fostering assisting technologies for those living with ALS. And the AL ALS Association is the
largest philanthropic funer of ALS research globally and has committed more than 154 million to support more than 550 projects. across the United States and 18 other countries. The ALS Association is committed to make ALS
livable and cure it for everyone everywhere. ALS Awareness Month provides an opportunity to increase public awareness of the dire circumstances of people living with ALS. Acknowledge the terrible impact that this disease has on
those individuals and their families and support research to eradicate this disease. Now therefore, be it resolved that the township of Jackson and the council do hereby proclaim the month of May 2026 as ALS awareness month in the
township of Jackson and call upon all Americans to join in and supporting ALS research, advocating for increased funding and standing in solidarity with those affected by this relentless disease. Uh resident uh sent this in and we're happy to make this proclamation today. Thank you very much.
Is anyone here tonight to accept it? Okay, I guess not. Council in Burelli. Uh yeah, this proclamation is for National Library Week. I encourage you all to uh frequent our Jackson Library. It's one of the best around right here
around the corner to Jackson Drive. Um and this is the proclamation for LI National Library Week from the Township of Jackson. This is how it reads. Whereas libraries spark creativity, fuel imagination, inspire lifelong uh learning, offering a space where
individuals of all ages can find joy through exploration and discovery. And whereas library serve as vibrant uh community hubs connecting people with knowledge, technology, and resources while fostering civic engagement, uh critical thinking and cultural enrichment. And whereas libraries
provide uh free and equitable access to bis uh books uh digital tools and innovative programming ensuring that all individuals regardless of background have the support they need to learn, connect and thrive. And whereas libraries partner with schools,
businesses, and uh organizations to maximize resources uh increase efficiency and expand access to essential services strengthening the entire community. And whereas libraries empower uh job seekers, entrepreneurs, and lifelong learners by providing
access to resources, training, and opportunities that support career growth and economic success. And whereas libraries nurture young minds through storytime, steam programs, and literacy initiatives, fostering curiosity, and a love of learning that lasts a lifetime.
And whereas libraries protect the right to read, think and explore without uh censorship, standing as champions of intellectual freedom and free expression. Whereas dedicated librarians uh library workers providing welcoming spaces that inspire discovery, collaboration, and creativity for all.
And whereas libraries, librarians and library workers across the country are joining together to celebrate National Library Week under the theme find your joy. Now therefore, be it resolved that I, Jennifer Cune, mayor of the Township of Jackson, County of Ocean, State of New Jersey, along with the Jackson
Township Council, um proclaim do hereby uh proclaim April 19th through the 25th, 2026 as National Library Week in the Township of Jackson. Encourage all residents to visit their library, explore its resources, and celebrate all the ways that the library draws us
together as a community. Is anyone here in the audience for National Library Week? If you don't mind to come up, councilman, >> I'm going to ask the mayor and council to join in a second. Also, >> let the mayor and you know
Yeah. Thank you very much. >> And I just want to add a special thank you. I know Nina, you've always been a great advocate for the libraries. Um last two years ago, we went when Councilman and myself reached out to the Ocean County Library System about increasing the the days you guys are open here in Jackson. You guys were
amazing. We we appreciate you coming down. And then last week, I had the opportunity together with the mayor and meeting with the friends of the library. It's a great group of volunteers who really really are there to help and support the library. So I encourage everyone to get involved. Go read your books and um we look forward to to to
seeing the library continue to be successful both locally and throughout the county and the state and throughout the country. Thank you. >> Thank you. The next item on the agenda is a second reading in public hearing of ordinance 202611 amending and supplementing chapter 3 section 153J
entitled going green committee. 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'll have 5 minutes to speak and may only speak once. May I have a motion to open public comment? >> Motion. Second.
>> All in favor? I. Council. >> Seeing no one come forward. I motion to close public forum. >> All in favor? >> I. >> I. >> Any opposed? May I have a motion to adopt ordinance 2020611?
>> Motion. >> Second. >> Council member Belli. >> Yes. >> Councilman Breie. >> Yes. >> Councilman Pollock. >> Yes. >> Council Vice President Paul Mary. >> Yes. >> Council President Bernstein. >> Yes. I also want to take again a moment and thank resident Holly Reynolds. Um
this was something that she really helped us put together and this will ensure that there are our our appropriate meetings that there actually is a format and this will actually update the ordinance to match um the where Jackson is in 2026 and uh I think
it's a great ordinance. So yes, >> the motion carries. Second reading and public hearing of ordinance 202614 amended, excuse me, amending chapter 162G of the township code relating to fees for temporary certificate of occupancy. 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'll have five minutes to speak and may only speak once. May I have a motion to open public comment? >> Move. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Councel. Seeing no one come forward, I
motion to close. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? >> May I have a motion to adopt ordinance 202614? >> Motion. >> Second. >> Councilman Barelli. >> Yes. >> Councilman Breie, >> yes.
>> Councilman Pollock, >> yes. >> Council Vice President Paul Mary, >> yes. >> Council President Bernstein, >> yes. And this one, I just want to thank Mr. Wilton from the building department for bringing this to our attention and making sure that we're we were we are compliant with DCA regulations. So yes,
>> motion carries. The next item on the agenda is the second reading and public hearing of ordinance 202615 amending township code section 103-6 entitled parking prohibited at all times and schedule one attached there too. 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'll have five minutes to speak and may only speak once. May I have a motion to open public comment? >> Move. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed?
>> Council. >> Seeing no one come forward. I motion to close public forum. >> Second. >> All in favor? I. >> Any opposed? May have a motion to adopt ordinance 202615. Motion. >> Second. >> Councilman Barlli,
>> yes. >> Councilman Bresie, >> yes. >> Councilman Pollock, >> yes. >> Council Vice President Paul Mary, >> yes. >> Council President Bernstein, >> yes. And I want to thank uh Department Head Bolinsky for meeting with multiple residents outside a township piece of property and um hearing their concerns
and immediately bringing it to council's uh address. So, I vote yes. >> Thank you. Motion carries. The next item on the agenda is the second reading and public hearing of ordinance 202616 amending chapter 10345
prohibiting parking along a portion of Cedar Swamp Road CR527. 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'll have five minutes to speak and may only speak once. May I have a motion to open public comment? So
move. Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Council, >> seeing no one come forward, I motion to close public forum. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? >> May I have a motion to adopt ordinance
202616? >> Motion. Second. >> Thank you. Council member Belli. >> Yes. >> Councilman Brassie? >> Yes. >> Councilman Pollock? >> Yes. >> Council Vice President Paul Mary? >> Yes. >> Council President Bernstein. >> Yes. Yes. And I want to thank resident Miss Hanam for bringing this to our
attention. I think it was three meetings ago or two meetings ago. And then for the county Mark Jenkee and the mayor for immediately getting on it and giving us the okay to move this force. We look forward to seeing those signs up as soon as possible and hopefully seeing the police department enforcing it. So yes,
>> thank you. Motion carries. The next item on the agenda is the first reading and introduction of ordinance 202617 exceeding the municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish a cap bank NJSA 4A445
subsection 14. Council President Bernstein, are there any comments? >> Yes. Thank you, Madam Clerk. This ordinance, if adopted, would establish a capping for the township's annual budget appropriations, which is which is done every year for a substantial period of time. By providing for a capping, the township can meet ex extraordinary
expenses incurred, such as this past year's snow removal emergency, which otherwise exceeded the 2.5 budget appropriations cap limit. Any funds not utilized remain in the cap bank for future emergency use. And again, this is only for 2026. May I have a motion to approve on first reading and introduction and to
authorize the notice of the public hearing for ordinance 2026 17. >> Motion. >> Second. >> Councilman Belli. >> Yes. >> Councilman Brezie. >> Yes. >> Councilman Pollock. >> No. >> Council Vice President Paul Mary
>> for emergencies. Yes. >> Council President Bernstein. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. The next item on the agenda is the first reading and introduction of ordinance 202618 amending chapter 103
26.1 schedule 18 speed speed limits to include an additional street to be subject to a 25 mph speed limit. Council President Bernstein, are there any comments? >> Yes. This ordinance, if adopted, would add an additional street subject to a 25 mile per hour speed limit in this case
which is Cobain Road. This comes as a result of a request from the Jackson Township Police Department safe traffic safety bureau as well as township engineer and I had the opportunity of speaking to our one of our residents in Cooey and I think he gave the blessing. So that's the background of this. >> May I have a motion to approve on first
reading and introduction and to authorize the notice of the public hearing for ordinance 20 2618? >> Motion. >> Second. >> Council member Belli. >> Yes. >> Councilman Breie. >> I'd like to see more of this happening, but yes. >> Councilman Pollock. Yes,
>> Council Vice President Paul Mary. >> I I'm going to vote yes. I hope you know and I know JPD will do their thing and and uh enforce this. We have over 15,000 school age children in Jackson. We need people to slow down. They're driving way too fast. So, please slow down. Yes,
>> Council President Bernstein. >> Yes. Yes. And I just want to also take a moment and thank the mayor and the business administrator and the chief who I see who's here um for reinstituting our traffic bureau um making sure that it's properly manned and staffed so we can get some of these recommendations that we weren't getting recently. So
yes, >> motion carries. The next item on the agenda is the 2026 municipal budget resolution 145206 to approve the self-examination calendar
year 2026 budget. Council President Bernstein, are there any comments? >> Um, the business administrator Terafenko, do you have anything you want to say on these uh just overall on these three resolutions? >> Thank you, Council President. I would just like to thank everybody that was involved, all the departments for all
the due diligence and efforts which led to presenting the budget to council tonight for review. Uh I just want to highlight a few things. We have a 0 cents increase for 2026 and the tax rate is going to remain the same as it was for 2025 at 0.254
and in actuality the percentage increase in the tax rate declined to negative.17%. Council has uh 28 days to review the budget that we just presented before them. Thank you. >> So I just wanted for the for the public's information the 28 days there
is no council meeting in 28 days. The next council meeting that we will hopefully um be adopting a budget I think is June 9th if I remember correctly. Um during that time I have spoken to the business administrator and all council will be invited to meet with
the CFO with any of our um financial team and discuss any of their ideas. Hopefully over the next week or two, I'll have the chance to meet with any of our council members who want to meet and solicit any things that the council wants changed. And then at the end of the day, it's up to council to have come
to a consensus and to adopt the budget by June 9th. So, I look forward to working together with council on that. >> Madame Clerk, the floor is yours. >> May I have a motion to authorize resolution 145206? >> Motion.
>> Second. Councilman Brley. >> Uh, yes. >> Councilman Breie, >> yes. >> Councilman Pollock, >> I have to start by saying taxation is theft. I'm not happy with the budget. We're increasing spending by over $3 million, which is around a 5.15%
increase from last year. The late budget you gave us was paid to be done by a third party. I don't believe we've ever done that before. Uh, you gave us a fivepage budget on Thursday and then only yesterday at 6:14 p.m. we were given more detailed information. I don't
know if anybody believes that's a proper amount of time to fully review our municipal budget and the details. We're increasing use of our surplus and we're depleting all our town savings to fund this budget and leaning more on less predictable sources of revenue like delinquent taxes, construction fees, and
miscellaneous revenue. I'm happy to keep the taxes flat, but I have a serious concern for the future. We're kicking the can down the road here. Let's be honest about it. This is setting up for future tax increases. We're using $9.4 million from surplus to fund the budget.
And you're basically wiping out the entire surplus we had and leaving us with just over $7,000 left compared to last year where we used less surplus to fund the budget and we still had $4.7 million left over. You're increasing spending, increasing services. Recycling
alone increased by around $623,000. Administrative salaries are up almost a quart million. Public safety salaries are up well over a million dollars. And that'll continue rising. We added a judgment appropriation to spend around a million dollars for all the lawsuits we have. And with all this, we're keeping
taxes flat. That doesn't make long-term financial sense to me. I understand this election year, but my concern is for the sustained future of our township. This is a first introduction, but with a budget increase of $3 million, how it's being funded, the depletion of our
surplus funds, the lack of time to review detailed information, I I can't receive something at 6 p.m. the night before with detailed information and expect me to come in here and vote on it. It's not okay. this government's track record on transparency and my concern for the sustainable financial
future of our township. I'm just voting no. >> Council Vice President Paul Mary. >> Uh so I'm going to vote yes. I vote yes. I know inflation has been record setting high, so I understand the increase to spending is balancing inflation. Um I'm
happy with the flat tax. I think that New Jersey is too expensive as it is and too taxed already. Uh I do look forward to spending time more time with our BA. I spoke with our BA uh throughout the week already when I was researching this
and looking into this budget as well as our finance team and our auditor. So, uh, I have some additional research I'd like to do, questions I I want to ask, and I'll be prepared, uh, to provide my opinion, uh, throughout the next 28 days. And what I would implore my
colleagues is if we do make changes in spending, I hope we can keep it flat tax because, uh, new, our Jackson residents are already overt taxed. I vote yes. >> Council President Bernstein, >> I'm going to save my comments at the budget to resolution C because that's more of the budget. I'm going to vote
yes on this on resolution A. >> Motion carries. Thank you. The next item on the agenda is resolution 146 2026 authorizing the municipal budget to be read by title only at the public hearing. May I have a motion to
authorize resolution 146 2026? >> Motion. >> Second. >> Council member, >> yes. >> Council Breie, >> yes. >> Councilman Pollock, >> no. >> Council Vice President Paul Mary, >> yes. >> Council President Bernstein, >> yes.
>> Motion carries. The next item on the agenda is resolution 1472026, the introduction of the 2026 municipal budget. May I have a motion to authorize resolution 147206? >> Motion. >> Second.
>> All right. Who's the second? Thank you, Councilman. >> All right. Uh, resolution 147-2026. So, this is we're actually voting. This is the first I just for the public's sake as well. This is the first reading. I guess you can call it first reading on
>> introduction >> on the budget. >> Introduction >> introduction on the budget. Okay. Well, I you know, right now from what I've read and received, uh we're looking at possibly no municipal tax increase or possibly a very small decrease of a few bucks here and there. However, I'm still
reading up on it as we just received um the um a kind of user friendly longer detailed budget version uh last night. Um, so at this time I'm going to vote no on it. Um, I need more information. Um, I I received the shorter version of the
budget what on Thursday or early Friday of uh last week. I just need more time to digest what was sent to us. I am concerned with the budget going up in spending by uh 5.6 I'm sorry 5.16% a little over $3 million
from last year. Therefore going way above that two 2.5% cap. Um, I know budgets go up and all that, but it just seems like it's uh it's a lot from what I'm just, you know, looking at right now. Maybe we can look at making more cuts. I don't know to get spending down.
Um, I don't know. Every year it seems like the budgets are going up. So, I I say we start maybe try reigning some of this in for the year and for upcoming years. Also, I'm just very concerned as well um like Councilman Pollock regarding using our healthy surplus our
town has to balance the budget. So, at this time, I'll I'm voting now on uh municipal budget until further uh review and examination. Thank you, >> Councilman Breie. >> Yes, I'm going to vote yes on this because this is only the introduction. We have 28 days to sit down with the
CFO, the administrator, and review everything line by line, which I plan on doing. I'm going to vote yes to introduce the budget. >> Councilman Pollock, I >> think everybody knows how I already feel. Uh, it's very funny doing this horrible politics thing out here in
Jackson, man. It really reminds me of the national stage in so many ways. We're just going to kick the can down the road. We got an election coming up. Uh, all you care about is that all you care about is power. You don't care about the future. I don't think anybody here cares about the future in this town. It's shown in how you treat the
environment. It's shown in the development. It's shown in this budget. Shown in your transparency. You guys got to stop using that word. You can't send me detailed information the night before and make me come in here and vote on that. You send me five pages you paid an outside third party source for.
This is a clown government. No. >> Council Vice President Paul Mary. >> So I'm not up for reelection this year. I'm I'm just, you know, doing what I feel is right. I don't appreciate being called a clown government. If that's including me, Councilman, just say me
too. Um, if not, then just specify who because I think that's inappropriate. Uh, just to blanket everyone. This introduction is exactly what Councilman Belli and Councilman Pollock have been asking for for several meetings. This allows the council now to receive the
budget from administration. And now we have 28 days to review it, edit it, make the council changes. So then we could put it forward to vote on. So if there's anything in here we don't like, I have no problem speaking with my colleagues to change it. This this is not the
do-all. But if we vote this down, then everything they've been asking for is blown up because we don't have the opportunity to look at the budget. So, for the purpose of getting the opportunity to look at this budget, to edit the budget, and work with my
colleagues, all five of us, to make this budget what we all want, what's best for Jackson Township, I vote yes because that's the responsible thing to do. >> Council President Bernstein. >> So, um, to my colleagues, I So, I'm going to vote yes, but I also just want
to explain. I want to say thank you to our business administrator who has not been here that long to our mayor who has not been in office that long either as mayor for working very hard. It's a tough year financially. Other municipalities in our in the surrounding areas um and I know no one likes comparing have raised taxes. Um it's not
a secret we had a historic snowfall season this year. Snow cost the township with private vendors over $3 million. We had a great snow cleanup but it wasn't free. Um, previous budgets I think used to allocate $200,000 if I remember correctly for snow removal. But instead
of saving the money from year to year when there was no snow, the money was spent in was spent for other things when the snow didn't happen. So we came into a snow budget this year, if I remember correctly, with $90,000 $93,000 left for a $3 million snowfall. So the options
that we had were either don't clean up the snow or clean up the snow and be smart and and work with our departments. And I want to give a special thank you to our police department, to our DPW, to our tax office, to our code office, to every one of our departments. And I'm apologize if I don't mention one of them
by name because every single department sat down in the past couple weeks with the business administrator and mayor and said, "What could we cut? What could we do for our township?" And if everyone goes through this budget over the next 28 days, they're going to see major major cuts. And Councilman Blli, I think there's going to be room always for
more. And that's something that we're going to sit down with the auditors, with Holman and and and his crew, with with the financial team and sit down and have those conversations with them if there's if it's safe, if it's smart, um to cut other things. And hopefully whether it's healthcare, healthcare went
up over a million dollars this year. We have a 4% contractual obligation to raise all of our union employees every year. If you have a contractual obligation to raise 4%, that's going to automatically mean an increase in spending every single year. So, I think the fact that we um have it where it is
is I think is historic. Additionally, um every single year until now, we have used in the past couple years close to $9 million in surplus. So, I've had this conversation with the business administrator. Yes, I am concerned also, but I also know that we are working on other revenue items, whether it's the fact that we apply to the state and to
the county. We've had ongoing conversations about FEMA funding for the snow removal, which we've gotten conflicting convers um answers from the county and the state if we're going to be getting anything. Whether it's some of the settlements that we're hopefully going to be receiving our our GIF money for, which we weren't able to count
currently into our into our budget, or whether it's the fact that yes, like Councilman Pollock said, there is about a million dollar in judgments. One of those was the Matsleak lawsuit, which was $150,000. That was a zoning board dispute that occurred a year ago that the township had to pay $150. One was
for Mr. Burke, the former engineer, which was an ongoing thing, which was another about $250,000. So that's about $400,000. And obviously, we had the payment for the for the chief kun settlement for for this year. So yes, it's a lot of money. Um I think this is a a budget which is worth
looking at. And I think we have our our our responsibility. Additionally, um it's very easy to could sit there criticizing that you don't want to be part of this government. You want you were a bunch of clowns. We're all corrupt. I think I'm going to give credit to an entire council and I think the next 28 days will prove we have an
opportunity to work together to make the best possible budget. I would rather vote move this forward so our town employees and our township can continue operating. And again, a special thank you to the mayor because I do think anyone um this was not counting I think the rumor I heard was oh this you're going to flatten your budget by using
the $13 million that the mayor is is negotiating to get from all these delinquent properties. This did not count those $13 million. I am hopeful we're going to get a nice part of that back because we've already received phone calls from some of those property owners in to negotiate and have those conversations with our tax office. So, I'm pretty confident and we'll have
continue over the next month or so having those conversations with administration so we know what our surplus will look like for the upcoming years. So, I vote yes. >> One thing, council president, you know, you brought something up at the beginning of the conversation about where the money went from previous years. years back, there was always a uh
money set aside for snow removal that wasn't used. It was put in an account and it was just carried every year either for more snow equipment or a year we had bad snow. I don't know when or how it disappeared, but I think it's very important we do that again. So, you have that light year, you put that snow
money in that account and that's where it stays until you need it for the following year. I really think we should look into doing that again. >> And I agree and I and again, I just want to add to that. I completely agree with Councilman Pollock. We need to start planning for the future that the economy and and all the rising costs. It's scary
out there and I absolutely think we need to start talking about the five-year plan, the 10-year plan for our town. We've had infrastructure um conversations. Our town is growing. We need we can't we can't be behind behind the eightball. Um but I think we we have an opportunity as a council to all work together with our administration over
the next month. The doors are open from the on both sides of the aisle over there. Um, and I look forward to working with everyone here to see if there's any more room for cuts and if it's smart to cut and what else we can do to bring revenue in, but I think um, the fact of
having a balanced budget and a a a zero increase is something that our residents want. And again, a special thank you to Chief Nelson. I see Lieutenant Candido there, who I know is heavily involved in those conversations from the police department. The police department, um, we have the largest police department in
Jackson history. and they went back and they said, "Okay, you know, we got X, Y, and Z this past year. We donated this year and all the other departments did." And a special kudos because they all did it not for us, they did it for the taxpayers of Jackson. So, thank you guys. >> Motion carries.
The next item on the agenda is the payment authorization of bills and claims. The following abstensions are from Council Member BL. AE01, NJSO4, NJS13, STA76, and TR08.
>> Council President Bernstein, are there any comments? >> Um, no. No. Madam Clerk, does anyone from the public have any resolutions that they Oh, sorry. This is bills and claims. Yeah. Continue. >> May I have a motion to approve uh the bills and claims?
Motion a second. >> Council member Belli. >> Uh no to what you had just mentioned. Um abstaining on those. I mean and yes to the rest on there. Thank you. >> Councilman Breie. >> Yes. >> Councilman Pollock.
>> No. >> Council Vice President Paul Mary. >> Yes. >> Council President Bernstein. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. The next item on the agenda is the consent agenda. Listed for tonight's consideration are resolutions
148 through 154 2026 listed by title. Council President Bernstein, are there any comments? >> Um, not for me. Did anyone from the council before I ask have anything they want to mention on the consent agenda? >> Uh, resol uh, council president.
Resolution 151-2026 for truck. Is that one for a truck and accessories? Is that just for one truck? And how many if not just one truck? And for which township department is that being? >> So that's for DPW. It was for a I think a snowplow truck. A um business
administrator Terafano. Do you have more information on that? >> You're right, council president. It's for a mason dump with the accessories to include a snow plow um along with a um dump body and outfitted as a 550 series. Anyone
else from council before does anyone from the public Oh, >> I have comments and that's I it seems like at every meeting or almost every meeting we're like >> um supporting buying a new vehicle for some department and I know >> questions swirling around about that.
>> Your mic if you don't mind. Um just like what is this a necessary uh purchase of equipment for public works or is it something that can be we can wait for on because the winter is over now. >> Mr. Terafano, do you have information?
>> It's used throughout the year. So it's a mason dump. It's not a full dump truck. It's a mason dump which gives them the ability to do their landscaping and things like that throughout the year as well. >> Councilman, you have something? >> Yes. Uh thank you, Councilman Burell. I was going to ask about that exact same
thing of uh was that R1? Oh no, wait. Uh yeah, 51. Um there was no information on it. I'm glad we clarified it. Um you know, with the budget and everything, I think we need to really start being super mindful of what we're spending money on. We're going to have to cut back. Like we got to tighten the belts.
Like you have to be an adult sometimes. Can't just get whatever you want. It's not your money. That's the way I look at it at least. Now, all right. Uh, we got to go to R 152 about the foreclosures. Uh, now I'm not
against collecting taxes that the town has owed. We should be, of course, but I have substantial concerns here. This is being proposed by our appointed real estate business owning mayor who works for hedge funds and in institutional investors who buy up properties in Jackson and have been transforming our community. We're aggressively pushing
for foreclosure on people's homes here. Our mayor's business specializes in foreclosures. Is there a conflict of interest here? Can we guarantee she won't be a part of any of these? This feels overly aggressive to me and more of a campaign stunt than an actual administrative policy decision. Some of
these properties only owe a few hundred dollars from last year I saw in this list. And you're putting them on public blast. Seems very strange, really wrong of our government to do. Um, you know, personally, I think most politicians might be soulless lizard people, but I
try to bring a human perspective to this. Should we be pushing foreclosures on people who owe a few hundred from last year? I don't think so. And look at some of the accumulations of fees and interest on some of these. Some people went from owing a few thousand dollar to
hundreds of thousands of dollars. We need to do this smart with people in mind. It's getting harder and harder for people to live and make ends meet. And we're rushing to force more people out of their homes in Jackson. We should be seeking to help some of these people get up to date with their taxes and not rush to take their homes away and destroy
their lives. We're taxed on what we earn. We're taxed on what we spend. We're taxed when we buy a home. We're taxed every year to keep our home. We're taxed when we sell our home. We're taxed on our utilities. We're taxed on investments. I'd like a smarter process, a human
process with full transparency, clear safeguards, conflict disclosures, hardship review, payment plan options for these people, and a real distinction between abandoned properties and struggling homeowners. So, we have that. I don't support this. No.
>> So, I just want to say for a second um that before I turn to our attorney about conflict, because that word is consistently used during an election year. Um the I was my understanding of the of the purpose of this and the goal of this is to bring people to the table. Um we're not looking to chase anyone out
of their home over $200. That that's there's there absolutely is no intent in that. The goal is that people are ignoring the township and um and we don't want there to be any special treatment. We have some tax we have some applica we have some businesses in town which owe hundreds of thousands of dollars. We have some businesses that
owe nearly $3 million in taxes and they're just no one's been on top of them. And yes, there was an article this morning in Aspbury Park Press where they interviewed the former mayor and the former mayor's response was, "Oh, it was the business administrator's responsibility, not my responsibility." I'm sorry. In this form of government,
the responsibility falls under the mayor. And now that we have a mayor who's hands-on and she went and she's was doing her due diligence. I think this is we're not looking to kick anyone out, but we have to start those conversations. Taxes need to be paid. Everyone who is responsible to pay taxes needs to be paying taxes. And if someone
needs to come in and have a conversation, our tax office is manned by the most professional, friendly, wonderful women and and men in that department and they have an open ear and they will absolutely be as accommodating as legally possible. But we have to start this conversation because for too long we've been taking advantage of. Um,
Mr. McCullen, is there a conflict the fact that I mean, I'm not really sure what I mean, it's easy to throw that word up, conflict and conflict and corrupt, but is there a conflict over here? >> No. The inrem tax foreclosure would result in title. If the township completes the process and takes title to the properties, the township would then
offer them for sales to get them back on the tax roles. That would be a public process. All done at public sale. This is the way municipalities been doing this for at least 60 70 years. Uh that's how you get them back on the tax roles. Um, in addition, by not foreclosing on them over the years, the township has
effectively subsidized these property owners and the rest of the taxpayers are subsidizing these property owners who haven't paid their taxes because, as the mayor indicated earlier in the meeting, the township nevertheless every every quarter must pay the school their what they're entitled to whether we collect
the taxes or not. We must pay the county what they're entitled to whether we collect the taxes or not. So we are in effect being our taxpayers are subsidizing the delinquent taxpayers by not making their payments when due just like everybody else in the township has to. So there is no conflict. This would
be a public sale. If we could get title the township would then do a public sale at auction of any property under the local land and buildings law. >> Mayor, do you have anything you want to add? >> Thank you council president. >> One second mayor. I just want for the record I'm letting you speak. >> Am I allowed?
>> Yeah, you're allowed to speak. >> Thank you. So, um, my background comes from foreclosures. That is an actual fact. I'm very good at it. I'm I travel around the country and I teach young, uh, professionals in this industry all throughout the country. Um, I do it
probably about four times a year. So, I brought my knowledge to the residents of Jackson when I saw a problem and I I dove in deep into it so that we can go and correct this problem. These are not this is not your mortgage. this is not my house and I'm not paying my mortgage
because then your mortgage company comes in and it pays the taxes to your town. They don't want it to foreclose. So then you do a hardship. Then you sit there and you go through that. We're not there. We're nowhere near there. If you look at the addresses, they don't have 123 Main Street. They have zero or
whatever. Um I don't know, let's say Cedar Swamp rear. That's a landlocked property. You can't even access it. We're paying taxes on it. You have developers that are not paying their taxes in 2025 that are accumulating a million dollars. I'm paying my taxes.
I'm very passionate about this. And yes, my real estate education is helping the residents of Jackson clean up this problem and I am proud of it and I'm very very educated in this and I will sit at any table and answer any questions. But I am not going to be called corrupt. Just because I know
something and I'm very wellversed in it does not make me corrupt, sir. So, I do appreciate their wrong saying and I would like an apology. Thank you. >> Okay, Madam Clerk. >> Does anyone anyone from the public want us to discuss anything else from these resolutions?
Consent agenda. Okay. Madam clerk, >> may I have a motion to authorize the consent agenda? Resolutions 148 through 154 2026. Motion. >> Second. >> Council member Elli. >> Madam Clerk, I'm going to vote no on
resolution 151-2026. I really think we need to take inventory of um our township equipment, receive. I want to thank the business administrator for explaining, but I think the public works department should be uh or any other department that wants to continue
purchasing vehicles with not our money, your money, taxpayer money for um future purposes. We need more of a justification. So, I think we start need to start reigning some of the spending in. Um I'm also going to vote no on resolution 152-2026.
I'm voting no on this. I want the tax people and I want to thank everybody's explanation up here tonight, but I want the tax people who work for our town, who work for all of you to explain to us how it's going to work. Um, that's what they get paid for. And I and I wish they
were here tonight. And I need to see some actual numbers. I don't know enough about the issue as there are many unknowns and unanswered questions on how this will actually uh work. uh the associated cost to the town uh with conducting the foreclosures including the town taking ownership and
responsibility for example maintenance of almost 130 properties is unclear. We may be be creating more of a liability and a headache for our town and the initiative may cost more than the lost revenue it would bring in for Jackson. So I'm a note on this and yes to the
rest of the resolutions on there. Thank you. >> Councilman Breie, >> I'll vote yes. Council Pollock. No. On R 152 and and then no on 151. >> Council Vice President Paul Mary,
>> I'm going to vote yes. Um I'm hopeful we can continue to work together up here. I know that the election is not for another seven months, but this is exhausting and I know the residents must be exhausted by this grandstanding rhetoric and all this stuff. Let's just do what's right. I'm not running for
re-election. >> I I I understand and I've I've never interrupted you. >> I feel like I'm advocating I've never I've never interrupted you. I've never interrupted you. >> It's directed towards me. That's >> No, it's it's directed towards everybody that's running for election because it's exhausting. I think the residents just
want us to work up here. stop bickering and fighting publicly. If there's problems with the agenda, we have a week in advance to discuss it with the appropriate folks. We could discuss it up here, but a lot of this is just campaign rhetoric. It's it's one person look better for serious issues, one person
extremely serious. >> Yeah. And we could talk about it and we should talk about it, but it's like the low blows, the name calling. It's not necessary. >> We could discuss the issues without calling people clowns. That's not an issue. we we could discuss things in a
civilized manner without calling out each other in disrespectful ways. I don't think it's beneficial to the residents and I think it should stop. And Council Member Belli, when I'm speaking, I've never interrupted you. Let me finish. You can then go ahead and say what you'd like. And if it had to do
with you, uh I'm not going to generalize it. I'll I'll tell you. And I say I said everybody running for election. I'm not specifically saying Councilman Pak or Mayor Hune or anyone else. Just it's enough. Let's get the work done for the town. Folks are tired of this. We see it on TV all the time. They don't need to
hear it from their towns all the time. I vote yes. >> Council President Bernstein. >> Well, that's I have a lot to a lot to say after all that, but um so I'm going to just point out a couple things on on the agenda. So, with regard to RF51,
um I would welcome, and I think the mayor has has allowed this, um as long as you informed the business administrator before, I would welcome all of my colleagues on council to go into DPW, get a tour of some of their trucks. I spent a lot of time in there. And um I know that they are they
actually cut a sizable a sizable amount, >> 600,000 >> $600,000 already in their budget. And obviously, council will look at it now and see if we feel it's appropriate to cut more. But they have a very they have an aging fleet. Um and um while I completely agree, we're consistently
seeing trucks and cars. And there was a time I actually called Mr. Binsky. I said, "I just I I can't put this on the agenda. Enough's enough." And he went through and explained it to me why we needed those four trucks and why we need it. And I'm not a truck guy. I I don't even know. I guess I go outside and check the back of my car what I drive.
Um but um that's not who I am. But I also know that they they do their due diligence. And I welcome all my colleagues in the future to when you see something on the agenda, if you have a question, pick up the phone, call the clerk. She has all the documentation, call myself, and we can absolutely set up set us up with the relevant
department to understand why those needs. But that being said, there were tremendous cuts in both the police department and DPW in this specific area because this is definitely an area where last year in 2025 and beginning of 2026, we saw an increase in cars and vehicles and things like that, whether it was
police cruisers and and and the like. So, I vote yes on on that. That being said, I also want to just um address a couple of other resolutions for a second. Um R154 um the Bethl um church road improvements. I know that we got on one
of the resolutions is adding a six-month extension. Um hopefully this extension won't be needed as the bid process, we accepted the bid tonight. Um, but this was enabling the town to get all the necessary easements as we had a DOT grant um that was due to expire. I think
it's May 1st. So, this this allows us to have an extra six months in case anything comes up. And again, I just want to thank our engineering department for being so on top of it. And I don't think there's a weekend or a Friday or Thursday or any day of the week that Mr. Kliff and his team is not out there
working out all the you know we all everyone wants their streets paved but some there's so many issues that come up whether it's the fact that they were researching how to do it and they realized MUA had had had a certain plan on on Bethl Church that's coming up in four or five years. So I just really want to give a special kudos to our
engineering. Um so I vote yes. That being said I also just want to add for a second I completely agree with uh council vice president. Um let's all work together. I think that's what the residents want. It's been a long exhausting year of politics. Um but um even those who are running or those who aren't running, I don't know who
declared, who didn't declare yet, if they're running. But right now, let's all buckle down. Five council members. We have we have an opportunity now to look at a budget over the next month plus. Figure out what we can do for the residents and taxpayers of Jackson. Let's come to a consensus. And listen, I'm okay if we have a disagreement, a
32, a 41, or last time it was a one against four. I was the last meeting I was the only one who voted for a certain ordinance. And that's fine. Let's leave the personal out. As I had a conversation with the resident before, we could agree to disagree and that's fine, but let's leave a civil. So, I vote yes on everything.
Motion carries. The next item on the agenda is the public comment. 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'll have five minutes to speak and may only speak once. May I have a motion to open public comment? So moved.
>> All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Mad clerk, I just want to say one thing. Just a quick think. I see Mr. Shup is up there before he gets up. Um the podium is under repair. So that's why just for all everyone asking, the podium will hopefully will be back in the near future, but um I think this is the way that it's been done in the past
sometimes in the board of ed, but hopefully the mic will work. But I apologize if no one has anything to grip and lean on. Um so hopefully everyone will be fine. Thank you. >> Hi, Joe Str from Aspbury Park Press. I was just wondering if there's any more information on the budget because all we
have here is one page saying introducing the budget and saying what the general appropriation is the amount raised by tax. There's no information on the breakdown. >> Sure. >> Or per person tax. I know Mr. Chaireno said there is no tax increase. Sure. >> And Mr. Pollock and others said there's
$3 million increase in the budget and then someone said there's money for it. >> Sure. And I didn't see anything online to explain what the budget is. Usually when there's an introduction of a budget, you get some kind of presentation and people can find out what's in it. Um and that makes it very
difficult to for us to cover it. So how can we find out more in it? >> So it's my understanding the budget will be posted online either tonight right after the meeting or tomorrow morning. Um when I asked I this is what I was it was my understanding historically the presentation has always been by the second meeting when the budget's
finalized. The budget will be this is an introduction. It's going to be posted online, Madame Clerk, tonight or tomorrow morning. Um, Christian, tonight or 10 tomorrow morning? Okay, it will be posted. Um, with regard I think that was a mincing of words. There's zero the
introduced budget has a 0% tax increase. It does have it is up from 50 um Mr. Terafano I think it's 58 million um budget to 61 million. Mr. Terafano, are my numbers accurate? >> Well, this is 62 million. 62, sorry. So
58 and a half to 62. But um it is a 0% tax increase because obviously everyone's properties goes up goes up in value. And uh I think if if everyone's property goes up in value the way it's estimated, I think the average home that's worth $650,000 will see a $2 um and like 17 cents
increase, but it's the p the tax percent is the same. Actually goes down a drop. >> How can the tax not go up, but the budget goes up by three million? >> Mr. Mr. McGin, can you explain that? >> And I hate to take time to ask you this now, but there's no information being
given. Mr. >> McGin, a budget has appropriations and it has expenditures. >> Um, and in this case, every town's appropriations usually increase each year as do their expenditures because the value of the properties increase, revenue increases. So, your
appropriations go up and your expenses go up. And so that's why your budget spends more than the year before, but your values of the properties have also gone up. Therefore, there's no tax increase. The amount spent is slightly higher, but you also have more
appropriations coming in. I still don't understand why this wasn't this wasn't made public before the meeting. Usually it a budget is presented so that people can see what you're introducing and then for the next weeks they can review it and then when
you vote on it for the final budget they have an idea and we have an idea to tell them what is in the budget. The way you're talking the presentation is not made until the same day that it's adopted for the second reading which gives you very little time for the public to find out what's in it and for
us to report to them what's in it. >> By law the budget must be published. The notice of the uh introduction of the budget must be noticed. The public hearing will be noticed. The budget is now available for anyone to review at their convenience both online and in person. The presentation is made at this
at the public hearing. The budget may or may not be adopted at the budget hearing. They may make changes to the budget at the public hearing. Council may wish to cut something or spend something different. If that change occurs, it'll have to be readvertised and renoticed again for another public hearing. No, I understand. >> That's when the budget presentation is
made. I but everywhere else I've ever covered and even here this in other towns there's a presentation an explanation of what's in the budget at the presentation of the introduction and there's and even when I went online today and last night when I saw this was on the agenda I couldn't find anything
explaining what's in the budget. Now, if you're saying it's going to be online tonight or tomorrow, fine. But it makes it very difficult to cover and then we don't have all the information and people can't can't find out about it ahead of time. Just it it's very makes
it more difficult. But I haven't covered Jackson until this year. This is the way you do things in Jackson. It's fine. >> This this is again I'm not saying I don't want to sound hypocritical because it's illegal. I'm not saying it's illegal. It's just >> unusual and I was just curious what and how we could get the information. If it's going to be online, then I will
find it online and I appreciate >> a struck. There used to be a PowerPoint presentation on the min. >> It will be >> most places do that. >> It will be the second hearing. That's the way it was done last year and every year before that. So >> yeah. So >> thank you. >> Thank
the reporter. >> Hi Bob Vosler, the Jackson Times and many of the questions my colleague from the Asbury Park Press asked I was going to ask too. Um, and I have been covering Jackson for 10 years now. And I know that usually that is the procedure. We
have the bells and whistles with the presentation, with the PowerPoint. Um, but I also have to ask, why did it take so long to get it to the members of council to review it? I mean, the question's been posed of that it
more details came out only like a night ago. And if it was originally said to be finished, why is it taking why did it take so long? And I even sent an email to Mr. Terafenko asking if there had been a
problem. Was there issues that might have caused a delay for further? You know, I know this is not an easy thing to put together, but it did seem like there was a lot of waiting. And you know in June I don't recall a budget in
Jackson ever coming out you know for its real introduction that late in the year. So I was just kind of curious last year I could understand because you had a transition of business administrator and chief financial officer and deputy clerk and a lot of things were happening at
that time but you got people in place this year. So was there a particular >> So mr mucken do you mind starting it? think, you know, I've been doing this for 38 years. Um, and I've done my share of municipal meetings just like you have. There are towns around this around surrounding Jackson who still haven't introduced a budget. There are a number
of towns that haven't done that. Uh, and there they may not do it this week or next. So, it's not unusual. Quite frankly, >> I don't believe it's unusual. I do not believe it's mentioned to be ready. >> Sure. So, I so so I want to add to that for a second. So, um, we had a CFO who
started the budget process. she retired or she she she moved to another town and we obviously brought in a new CFO. So the new CFO needed to get adapted to that process, making sure she was comfortable. Her signature needs to be on this budget. So she obviously had to go through it and as the business administrator came in, there were obviously areas that he felt were areas
that he would be cutting. Um so this was a multi-step process that didn't happen overnight and we wanted to do it right. At least that was my understanding from the mayor and the business administrator. >> Okay. I think though that information being relayed to the public and the council would have been more helpful to to let
them know that additional time was needed. >> Thank you. >> Thanks. >> Hang on. I'm coming up this chair. >> It's getting harder and harder on those shorter chairs. I'm afraid to touch it. Get shot.
>> It should be fine. You just lower it. Perfect. >> Sherry Williams, Fountain Head Mobile Park. Uh, I have a couple of things to address tonight. >> Uh, Councilman Pollock, while I appreciate your enthusiasm and your
passion for what you're doing up there, I have to ask you please also don't lower yourself to the DC levels. Please don't call names. It is not becoming to any member on here. and especially you, it just doesn't look let you look good
either. And I appreciate, like I said, everything that you're trying to do. I appreciate the way you've spoken before and uh I hope to be able to work with you and with all the members on the council. Um I want to thank all of you again for supporting the rent control
changes. Uh it's a godsend and so many members and other residents that are not members have now be are thinking of becoming members because they can see what we're trying to do. And they were so appreciative after 30 years they
don't have to pay a pet fee anymore for a pet that doesn't even go out of their house. Um, interestingly enough, my water/s sewer bill that came last month went up 35%.
No change in my use of water. No change in what went down into my sewer. Now, they measure my sewer usage. We don't pay for water. We're on a well, but they measure my sewer usage by how much water goes through my meter. Um, which is a
whole another ball game that I tried fighting with the rent leveling board years ago and the council, but it didn't seem to register in their heads. But suddenly, mine went up 35%. Several of my neighbors went up 35%.
Interestingly enough, other members of the homeowners association, not people that weren't members. And I called the MUA just to be sure that they didn't change their policy on when their increases go through. Their increases don't go through till April.
This was my March bill that closed the 18th, 19th of March. Fountain Head still hasn't explained to me why it went up. I called them. I checked my meter. It was not running. So, there's no water leak under my home.
Um, I know the rates didn't go up. There was no leak in their part of the pipe. I checked that as well. Fountain Head still hasn't answered my questions after two phone calls and two emails. So, just to let you know, that could be part of the retaliation.
>> Ma'am, another Yes. >> Yeah. I'll let you finish first and we'll respond. I don't want to take away your time. Continue. >> Okay. Um, and speaking of retaliation, we did mention that once that change in the ordinance went through and she saw a
whole row of residents sitting here that she would take retaliation. She did. She announced that there will be no formal gatherings, no bingo, no activities that Fountain Head puts on for a two-month
period. So, all the activity, the only activities we have to look forward to in our non-existent recreation room that she manages to use one, but we're not allowed to use because she says she's not supposed to
put one in. Well, I've been going over the ordinances and you'll be hearing more from me in the future. Um, I've got a stack of them sitting at home. Um, talking about tightening the budget for the town, the households are tightening
the budgets. Um, sadly, we've got residents in Fountain Head. They haven't been to a dentist in years. They haven't been able to go get their eyeglasses done. And they're trying to use the cheapest medications they can. it, you know, if if the residents have
to do this, the town's people have to do this, the town needs to do a better job of it, too. I understand that you're trying to do parks and you're trying to do trails and and all of that, and that's fine and good, and if you can get the money from
someplace else through a grant or, you know, something like that, that's wonderful. But if you can't and you have to spend budget money, we don't need it. we need to worry more about their education than we do a skate park. Um, and as far as the foreclosures go
and the tax collections, are you going after the businesses before you're going after the homeowners? How many businesses owe back taxes? How many businesses should have been closed? Great adventure. I know. Hadn't paid taxes in like 15, 20 years. Have they
caught up yet? Mayor, let her finish first. >> Okay, that's it. >> Okay. So, >> so I I just want to I want to try to respond to all of your points. Um, Mr. McGuffin, and I I don't know our
ordinance well enough with regard to the to to where she lives, the resident lives. Um, but I've been down there. We've seen the condition of of I'll call it your clubhouse. Um, residents are alleging obviously that they're being retaliated against the fact that they spoke up and advocated for themselves. What would be the proper um course of
action that you would recommend as our attorney? Because what she's describing sounds horrible. >> The township will if you authorize me to do so, we will do some investigation, but in the end, this is between the tenants and the property owner. You're a tenant of the mobile home park. Um and
your rights are governed by your contract between them and you. But the township will take a look at, for instance, those water sewer rates. Uh, is that a bill from the MUA or a bill directly from your community? >> From our community, they go under they go under an LLC called Good.
>> I am well aware of that. I understand that. Yes. If the council uh mayor asked me to do so, we will take a look and see what we can find. >> Mayor, we authorize Mr. McCullen to do that. >> Absolutely. >> Yes. So, that that's with regard to that. Now, council, that was your question. >> No, my question was and he he answered
it. You answered it. You don't get a bill directly from MUA. It goes through Fountain Head and they send you a bill. So any secret charges you might not know. >> I can tell you the MUA doesn't play those games. So that's why I was that's what I was asking. That's >> we have a we have a great MUA. Now um
>> secondly, you had brought up um the last question you brought up about the taxes. Mayor, could you mind addressing now I just want to put on the record is is you know I don't want to just beat up on on one specific business because that business did come in I think it was two years ago when they had an application and did pay up a sizable amount of their
taxes that was owed. Um, and then obviously they fell behind again. But I I do think that's important. >> Different businesses. Your Six Flags is paid up. That's what you had said, Six Flags. >> Well, Six Flags was an example. But other businesses in town, >> there is other businesses in town that are on the list that we are going to be
speaking with. Um, that we hope that they do. As the council president said, the last time that we took this initiative, uh, when I was on council, they came to the tax collector's office and paid uh over half a million dollars in their back taxes. >> Okay, great. But yes, we will work over the next
month and try to find ways to continue tightening the belt on the taxpayers and whatever we could do, we will absolutely do. I think that's something that I think all five council members completely agree with. If there's anything else, we will. >> Okay. Under the retaliation with the uh the recreation.
>> So, Mr. McCain's going to look into that. >> Yeah. By ordinance, we are supposed to have because we're a senior park, we are supposed to have a clubhouse and we do not. >> Okay. So, the attorney will look into that. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Jim Selectia. Um, it's good to see the
budget introduced. I look forward to digging into it very deeply and uh giving you my opinions. Um, the one thing I will ask, I think it's been talked about, but the presentation by the township,
let's not schedule it for the day you guys are approved in this budget. How about how about doing it the meeting before you're going to approve it so that we have the opportunity to ask our own questions which may trigger some things in your minds to alter, you know,
alter the the budget as >> do you mind me interrupting for a second? I don't want to lose train of thought. mayor and business owners. Is that something we could I have no problem with it? >> Absolutely. We had spoken about this and we were going back and forth and we we >> 50% said we're supposed to do it today and 50% said we didn't. But listen,
we're learning. Um and we're more than happy. We're not trying to uh present the budget. We went through this last year. If you remember, we voted no on the budget and went back after we got the presentation. So, this is deja vu. >> Yeah. I just don't want it on the approvement. >> Council president. Absolutely. >> Okay. So, Mr. Mr. Terafano if we could
reach out to the budget team to have them by the next meeting and then the June 9th meeting will be either adoption or something. Yeah. >> And Mr. McGuckin with all due respect I am a resident of Jackson Township. I am not a resident of any other township
in this state. So what other townships are doing as far as their budget are not my concern. My concern is Jackson. So that's why I'm speaking up. And I I I kind of, you know, it's an insult to me that we hear, oh, well, half the towns
are doing it, you know, haven't even introduced it yet. To be perfectly honest with you, it it doesn't matter to me, you know. Uh so that's that's all I'll say on the budget for now. Um, as far as the
foreclosure piece, um, I again, it's one of the things that why I wanted to dig into the budget so much is I had questions on the way the tax numbers were showing on the budget. Um, so I I give the the mayor credit to
to start doing this. Um, the one thing I will caution everybody is don't go running into, you know, into the China store like a bull. make sure we take our time and do this right because we've done things in
the past where we just go in and run and do it and we're always trying to fix problems. So, this is one you need to get it right because if you don't the consequences are going to be costly to this town. So, that's my only comments
on it. It's great thing to do. Fine. Uh actually, two other things. Um, people have always been talking about open space. So, I actually brought this up a few months ago, probably early in the year.
Um, when we raised the ratable to three cents per hundred, uh, people were in agreement because we all wanted to buy land. What I would ask the administration to do and the council to
kind of dig into this is come up with a list of what's out there and compare it to how much money we currently have on file because everybody's assessment has doubled since the change to the three
cents. So, if we're just going to continually accumulate money and not purchase anything, I think you guys should really think about putting another resol or whatever it is out >> referendum.
>> Yes, a referendum out on the ballot to bring the the the tax back down to a penny and a half. >> So, um and finally, um I know Jackson Day is a big thing here in town. Um, I am one of the few people, I don't know
how many people in this room, but I am one of a few that went to the original Jackson Day, except it wasn't called Jackson Day. It was the bicesentennial celebration. Jackson Day came out after the bicesentennial celebration. So to
see we're now celebrating 250 years. The fact that we're doing nothing on July 4th >> really is a concern to me. >> I'm just I'm going to interrupt you for a second. We are actually we are doing food and fire trucks, Mayor.
>> Yeah. Um I so I wish you would have asked me because I would have answered you. I've seen you twice yesterday and today. But um thank you for the budget um and understanding and for the taxes. But, um, what I wanted to say is we're trying to do, uh, food trucks and fireworks, um, or a cornhole tournament.
We do have stuff going. The problem is is that everybody's booked. Um, we've had nobody, we haven't had a department head in recreation. We've had other people. We're trying. We have our um, she's part-time in recreation. She has been hustling to get anything. So, it's very, very, very, very hard. And we're
talking about money. We, you know, it's going to, they're 10 times more expensive than they would be any other time. >> So, what mayor, could you say what date are we actually having it here? We have something. We're trying to get a cornhole tournament for uh the 4th of July and then we have July 11th we have the fireworks. >> So it's been advertised July 11th
fireworks. I think Councilman Brelli might have mentioned it at one of the previous meetings but >> but again saying you can't do it and that's because nobody planned well. >> Well, no one planned but and and the vendors obviously are >> agreed. So it's just disappointing that the only reason I bring it up is somebody actually mentioned that Jackson
Day was >> I mentioned it. Yeah. >> August something. >> So I just want to >> just triggered in my mind. So Jim, I just want to respond to to two of the things that you brought up quickly. Um with regard to the tax um about not rushing into it, I completely agree with you. Um this was one of those areas
where I think going back about a year ago, I was I think the only one who voted against my colleagues on council uh about appointing a new attorney um for it. We have a new attorney who is it's one of his areas of expertise is this area. Um I think the Chris Dasty's firm and Lauren Stagger and I'm pretty
confident I know they've been in constant communication with administration about this. So, um, I think we're hopefully we're in good hands professionally with regard to that. With regard to open space, I just want to just clarify what you were bringing up for the public because I think it's a a townwide conversation that we really need to have because I
thought put a lot of thought into what you brought up to me last night is we have an open space fund. It's been obviously the subject of multiple conversations up here, multiple conversations online about the purpose of that open space fund. And I think what you said is it's very hard to buy open space. And I think if I remember
correctly and I would have to act doc ask have a conversation with Dr. Campbell and the mayor is that during the master plan process we did take an inventory of some of the open space ideas that we have in town and um I think part of the question we need to ask as a town is are we just putting money in a bank account and are we
actually being realistic about what we can buy right now? Currently we are actively working on two pieces. Um I don't want to say specifics right now but we are working on a small threeacre piece and and another piece. We're always open to ideas. Any council member calls the mayor, the business administrator, they will absolutely look
into it. Um, but realistically speaking, the ideas aren't coming because you can't go over assessed value and you we all know what the assessment is now. So, does it make sense to spend I know we've had this conversation about a piece in in Robin Estates. Doesn't make sense to spend a million dollars for a 1acre lot,
but that's really what property in Jackson is going for right now. And does it make sense to to go back to 1.5? And I think that's a conversation that the taxpayers need to have internally and have that conversation. And if the and and maybe it would be appropriate for us to put that back on the ballot and ask
the residents of Jackson, do you want us keeping it at the three cents like you said or do you want us cutting back? And I think it's definitely something we should consider. >> The the only way you're going to get the answer from the residents is to put it out as a referendum and let them vote on it. >> Yeah. >> I think it passed overwhelmingly. get
the 20 residents at 25 residents to to make their statement. But, you know, >> and and I just put it out there, we are always open. If anyone knows of an open space idea, come forward. A resident reached out a couple weeks ago um on a Friday. Um I I I handled the call. We
gave it over to our our um they're doing the assessment. They're seeing what what it costs. It's being looked at. I discuss with council vice president. I send the email to all my colleagues for them if anyone has had has any thoughts on it. So, we're open to looking for open space, but it's not like daily people are bringing us ideas that actually make sense as you're aware.
>> And that's exactly what I'm saying. >> Yeah. >> If there's open space, >> I rather leave the money to taxpayers >> buying it. But if there isn't any out there that's affordable and you're just taking money out of >> But I think this is a conversation that residents will disagree. But like I said, I think this is a a conversation
we need to have. Okay. Well, Carlos. Okay. Next. Next, >> Council President. >> Yeah. I'd like to you guys came up a couple of times already and and I guess a little remiss at the beginning. Uh I even asked you before the presentation tonight given a few years I've been up
here. Um I've never had a budget introduction without the slideshows, the pie charts and everything else at the introduction. I don't know if it's I'm not saying it's illegal to do it like this. We have 28 days to look at it, but that does get the rhythm of what's going
on in the budget in a breakdown. And I don't, you know, I really encourage that you get that done before the 28 days, the public and at my own being. I'll go through the whole thing with the CFO and you and everybody, but that's something that was part of the introduction budget
for many, many, many years and it just went away. I don't know why. >> So, so council councilman, I pic um I actually had a conversation with M teraf. said I said I thought we always have a presentation and he said you know obviously it's his first year and I reached out to Mr. Hullman who did it last year and his team and he said no
councilman it was always the second meeting so that's where I came from I understand >> I I'll talk to Mr. I can tell you that is not accurate. I've sat up here for enough years to know we've had it. >> But yes, I agree. >> The DPS like that. We've had it all the time.
>> Right. And I agree up and I think we have to go back to it. >> Okay. And like I think the mayor and the business administrator agreed we'll have it by the next meeting hopefully and then the actual budget adoption will be by the first meeting in June. >> Thank you, >> Carlos. >> Thank you. Um, Carlos Martins, Jackson,
New Jersey. Uh, I'm on the zoning board, but I'm here as um a resident. Okay. So, many important topics came up today, but I'd like to start with the most important topic here today, and that is myself.
Um, everybody's been watching, and we all know why, the Tom's River council meetings. And at those council meetings, there's a gentleman that comes up every time and his name is Carlos.
That is not me. Okay? I know there aren't a lot of Carlos's in this world, but the Carlos that comes up at Tom's River is his own person. And I'm Carlos from Jackson. All right. So, I've gotten a few comments >> like looks nothing like I don't even
know what he looks like. Anyway, I've been getting a few comments about why you going to the times. I'm not. That's not me. Okay, so that's number one. Number two, um I just want to give a shout out to um Karen Lacasio Lundren.
She works at the um this commission for the disability and handicapped, right? And um because of my son, I'm involved in that and she is awesome. if you um
there's a lot you could we other clerks and so on in this in this administration uh could learn from her. She's uh on top of it. Um sends us reminders all the time. Um so anyway, um I just want to
give a shout out to her. She is absolutely awesome uh to keep us all up to speed. So that's two. Um three, I was just curious. I think I missed it. Why does DPW get a special, you know, everybody gets to talk and
then, hey, here's something about DPW. What is special about them? Why why other departments don't get that? >> I'm going let you finish your time before I respond. >> Okay. Okay. Okay. So, that's three. Okay. And then four, just because it came up on the open space, I thought the
referendum said that give give you the opportunity to go up to three cents, not that you're charging three cents. So my question was even before I came up here is how much exactly are you charging for
open space right how many cents in 2026 and how much will you be doing in 2027 is it the full you're charging the full 3 cents because I had heard that it was actually less you never really raised it to 3 cents >> is that right >> Mr. Mccen any other questions I'll let
Mr. Mucken, but any anything else you have? >> Uh, hold on. Oh, and so what you're going to put online is what they call the user friendly draft of the budget. >> That user friendly thing that >> Mhm. >> is all detailed and complicated and all
that kind of stuff. It's called user friendly, but I don't know. >> For you, it's user friendly for sure. >> For me, maybe. Yeah. Um, okay. That's what you're going to be putting online tonight, tomorrow, whatever with all those details. All right, that's good. Um, yeah, that's it. Okay. So, Mr. McCau, do you mind answering the three
cents thing? >> I'll go back and look at the exact language, but my recollection is it's not it's absolutely three cents. It's it was not a up to question. It was shall we raise the open space tax to the amount of blank. >> Okay.
>> For purposes of open space preservation, historical pres. >> Okay. I'm out of >> So, and I want to answer your other question. Why do I Why do I um um talk about DPW? So, previous council president, it's really up to the council president's whatever, you know, different presentations they want to give. The previous council president
used to do something from police department many times a a presentation on police studies. Um, I didn't continue that. Um, I liked the concept of some giving an update where they're holding with recycling, with snow removal, and some of the other things. Um, they they send it to me. I always have generally found it to be very interesting and it's
something I I would put up there. Um, I'm open to considering other departments sending me updates. Um, I also want to be cognizant of everyone's time and not to I love talking, but I also sometimes have to stop talking. So, but I hear I love DPW, but I I I don't mind sharing other information as it
comes up. The business administrator has been updating F1 housing, and you know, I can I can get it. We do get an update every I I think it's monthly from most of our departments. Code enforcement sends us a weekly weekly information. I could read it, but we'd be up for for a very long time. >> Okay. Um, yeah, I guess I'll just take
the other 28 seconds. So absolutely on the presentation of the budget, I remember the first time I saw it, it was um administrative wall that presented it and I offered my assistance. So I'm pretty good to PowerPoint. I remember that we used exactly it was exactly the
same PowerPoint thing before. >> Yeah. >> Anyway, >> and usually they usually CFO is here when they do it also answer questions. >> Right. Right. Right. Right. Okay. >> Mr. Martins the open space dedicated it's off it's uh set at three cents per
$100 of assessed property value right >> to fund the acquisition development and maintenance of land for conservation recreation and farmland preservation >> right okay thank you so it's at the three cents per $100 of >> yeah okay >> that's property value enter thanks
>> good evening council Elliot Shentub. I'm a resident in Jackson Township. I'm here to talk about what's happening with the 2026 budget and what's not being said about it. But before I go into that,
you know, we talk about transparency. We talk about trust. This town for the last six, seven years has had a slew of issues starting back to the DOJ lawsuits, a lot of bad stuff. The level of trust
in this town with its elected officials is at an all-time low. This is the reason why people do not trust any of you. And I don't think Councilman Pollock said anyone here was a clown. He said this was a clown show. And I'm sure you read the papers. I
mean, heck, you got the media up here questioning you. I mean, come on. Do we ever see that? So, with all due respect, nobody here is a clown. You're all elected. Well, all but one. You're appointed. So, I don't think there's any
hits on anyone here. We're talking about the process, not the people. And you talk about it being an election year. You know, it it kills me that you're sitting here talking about an election year, yet you're getting questioned by the same news sources
about budget presentation and then you go and talk about transparency. I don't I don't see how this fits, right? You'll tell residents the tax rate is flat. That's the headline. That's what you want them to hear. But
what residents deserve to hear is how the rate stayed flat. This is what an election year budget looks like. Drain the reserve accounts, affordable housing money, self- insurance funds, legal settlement reserves, even the police vehicle fund,
and use them to plug routine operating costs. Take ordinary expenses, last year's winter snowstorm, this year's winter snowstorm mapping, I'm sorry, storm storm water mapping, the master plan, and convert them into multi-year deferred charges. Basically, that's
loans by another name. Future taxpayers paying back this year's bills. Fund eight new police officers, which I love the fact we're bringing in more police officers. I'm the biggest person when it comes to safety and security in the town. But
with a one-year grant, knowing the full cost that hits the local taxpayer levy next year and after the election, put $100 into the capital improvement fund while pulling $600,000 out of it. Every single move makes 2026 look
better. Every move makes 2027 worse. And in case anyone's think this is just a critic talking, your own budget produced a five-year projection that forecasts a huge multi-million dollar commulative deficit by 2031. So let's
not just talk about this year. Let's not talk about next year. We talked about kicking the can down the road and doing the right thing for the town. Let's talk about where the town will be in five years because I will tell you over the last several years we've had a very nice
surplus and right now we're on we're on target to have a huge deficit. These are your documents, your staff putting this all together. This is the part that should bother every resident, Republican, Democrat, or
unaffiliated. The numbers in this budget are not an accident. The bill is being timed. Costs are being pushed past November. The reserves are being drained for one year only. The grant funding, the new
officers, expire after the election, and the deferred charges, the loans start coming due in 2027. Voters will hear flat tax rate before they vote. They'll get the bill after. One more point. And let me tell you something. Before
you lecture anybody about what you know about foreclosures, I had family, my mother in particular, she sold the foreclosures in Mammoth County for two decades. Me and my family know a lot about foreclosures.
And we also know when you have properties behind in taxes and someone like you who's worked outside of this DS in real estate, it's a conflict of interest. It's simple. You've bragged about your
institutional investors, folks that could be lined up to buy these homes. If people don't see it, you're going to deny it. I'm sorry. You're just not being honest. But then again, you also have a history over the last three years as council president of being a
dishonest person on the record many times. Jackson is already a high tax town. Families are leaving. Well, you're introducing tonight. >> Mr. Sh, have another another 10 seconds. >> Deeper service cuts, new borrowing after November, and you're not telling voters
about today. Your own documents say so. Voters need to know the truth. >> Thank you for coming. Uh Joe Candido speaking as a resident right now for the first part. >> A little louder if you don't mind. It's hard to hear. >> Speaking as a resident for the first part. Um I'm a history buff and part of
the history of this town was back in '92 when I first moved here in the papers every year in November tax lans were posted. That's were coming up for sale. that stopped around the Broadick uh era when the Democrats took over at
that time and I've never seen it again. So, I want to thank the mayor and the council for now digging deep back into that and bringing some money back to the town because God knows what happened over the last I don't know 20 years. It disappeared. Now, part two, PSD pass
PSD. Um I'm about accuracy here, so let's be accurate about one thing. The cops grant cop grant is good for three years. It doesn't end at the end of this year. Okay. So that funding is good for three years. We can also go after the more funding next year which we plan on
doing. All right. So that money is now going to cover salaries for three years. Not total amount but a portion of it. >> It's about 70%. Right. >> Correct. First year is going to be 70. kind of scales back each year because contractual increases, but that money
that we get from the grant is steady for the next three years. Okay. So, and this is we've been very active at going after grants and getting grants. All right. So, and thank you to the mayor for that because she's the one that got us a grant writer that helped us to get this
grant. >> Was that the first time Jackson Township got that grant? We got the grant probably 101 15 years ago and it never was sought after until I went into when I was the PSD for the first year. Myself
and uh captain by Dallas uh dug down. We had 30 days to try to put the grant together. We submitted it. We didn't get it that year. The mayor then got us a grant writer and we put it together and we got it and it hired seven officers with that money for the next three years.
>> Thank you for clarifying the record. Deb Jones Jackson. Um, I have quite a few. >> You just move closer for a second. Sorry. Here. >> I'll be standing on it, but sure. Um, I have a few things to say. Um, first of all, I've stood in front of you guys
before and I'm gonna have to say it again. You guys are on Facebook all the time. It's embarrassing. You are held to a higher standard than the residents. You're paid by the residents. This constant tit fortat and
calling this one out and calling that one out, it's got to end it. I feel like I'm watching romper room. When I'm not watching romper room, I feel like I'm playing battleship because who's connected to who and where's that and who's sinking whose ship and who's
doing what. I don't know about other residents. I'm over it. You need to do what's right for Jackson and only what's right for Jackson. Again, like Mr. Selectia said, I don't care what goes on in other towns. I hope them I hope that they do
well and I wish them well, but I'm worried about here. It's ridiculous. I wasn't going to bring up the police officers. I'm all for hiring police officers and I understand that they're paid by a grant and it's for three years, but I do have a
question about it. And my question is, I know it pays their salary. Who pays the benefits? And how much are we paying a grant writer to get these grants? Which I'm all for, but not when we don't have a budget. I don't even understand why we
have a vehicle on our agenda tonight when we have no budget. I'd like a new car. I don't get it till my bills are paid. Until my house is in order. You guys are in charge of our house. Get it in order before you start
doing stuff. And then I wasn't able to be at the last meeting, but I'm going to stand here and talk as a mother because I watched it. I was on vacation, but I took the time to watch it and I was appalled while a mother, whether you agree with her, don't agree with her,
you want to argue your point, you don't want to argue your points, her son is missing. That's the only thing that matters at the end of the day. If you promise something and you were told that you shouldn't by our town attorney, well, that's embarrassing because no one's in
charge of your personal finances. So, if it was coming from your finances to the family, our town attorney should have nothing to say about it. If you're trying to take it from township funds, then I could see him. And I'm not saying
you are, but I'm just saying he has nothing to say about how you spend your money and how you support someone in our town who's missing a child. That argument should have never happened. I watched it with people who aren't from here.
and they actually gasped at somebody going at a mother who has a missing child. Maybe her maybe all her facts weren't right, but her child's missing. I don't know if I'd know how to get up and put my shoes on the right feet if
one of my children were missing. We owe them to let them vent if they need to vent. It's just embarrassing. And I've noticed in this meeting and other meetings and online because it's always on Facebook, which for years I've
heard Facebook, Facebook, Facebook, but now that's all I ever see is Facebook, Facebook, Facebook. And some things you guys say, "Oh, that that's because of the other administration." And I'm not here to argue that. Did they make mistakes?
Yeah, but you guys are picking and choosing. Well, we're going to change this because the other administration didn't do it. But then when something doesn't fall in line and people question you guys about the budget and why it's not here and why the public isn't seeing it, well, that's happened in the past.
I don't care how many times it happened in the past. If it's wrong, it's wrong just like everything else. I I'm just very frustrated and it's very disappointing that it's just constant. And that's where it comes to. we are kicking the can down the road
>> because we're so busy trying to say it's not us, it was them. Well, you know what? I don't care who it was. It's you guys now. You're the ones that are being held accountable. >> So, some Mr. Jones, I just want to say I didn't mention before when I when I said
the line, I said it is hypocritical because you are correct. Just because something was done in the past does not mean we shouldn't revisit it. And that's why um like I said I com I'll admit when I when when when I think we did when we did something wrong and going looking back in hindsight we should have and we
are committing to um for sure um pres I don't I'm committing Mr. Terano I hope that's okay to having the presentation before I would consider doing a special meeting but I think anytime we've done a special meeting then the rhetoric is it's a special meeting it's we're hiding
something we're not doing something on a regular schedule time so being that we still have to wait to June 9th anyways before we vote for it and there is a council meeting before I think that would give ample time to have a proper presentation but you are correct in that point >> and in all due respect you have till June 9th but the budget was already due
so you know I'm going to bring it back to education when someone's homework is due. It's due. >> Thank you. >> But I'd like to know about the benefits. >> Mr. Terafenko, do you mind answering about the the new officers and their benefits?
>> The uh the cost of benefits are absorbed by the township. >> Okay. So again, on a budget we don't have. Now, if I could clarify one thing, obviously depending on the tier that the employee selects, they do pay for their benefits
as well, a percentage. >> I understand it's a percentage, but it's still money going out that in a budget we don't have. >> Uh, Mrs. Jones, thank you as always for your uh wisdom, for you coming up here and speaking uh on behalf of the
residents. I think you do very calmly and nicely usually. And uh I think it's a frustration that we all feel. You see it here with me. I'm not up here to be a politician. I don't like it. I hate it. I'm disgusted by this. I get sick to my stomach every day because I'm involved
in this. And you hear me up here and yeah, you know what? I'm brash. Uh you know, I'll argue, I'll fight. Um but I think that's why I'm elected here because I'm airing the frustration of most of the residents who live here. And I'm just going to keep fighting and I'm going to keep being me and I'm not going
to let this whatever this is change me. So I'm just going to keep fighting for the people of Jackson. And you know, sometimes I'm right, sometimes I'm wrong. I'll admit when I'm wrong, but there's been bad going on in this government for a while. There's deep connections. Things need to change. And
you know, keep speaking up. We need more people at these meetings, more people speaking. We need to hear from you, the people. And if I'm wrong, come tell me I'm wrong. I want to hear it. We all need to hear it. Thank you. Next, Fred Mororrow Jackson.
Um, Mr. Bernstein, I realize I'm supposed to be addressing you, but Mr. McGuckin, you gave me some advice to download the duties of the mayor and the town council and I have and I'm studying and I still haven't found anything that gives
anybody the right to just sign off money for no reason nowhere. But I'll look at it. Um because you're mentioning the snowfall and the emergency and it cost $4 million for contractors.
Three. Okay, I stand corrected. three million for contractors. You didn't say anything about what it cost for the township employees, the equipment, the fuel, the whole nine yards. Um, so that figure could be really really low as to
what was actually spent over that whole catastrophe. Uh, but that doesn't bother me half as much as what I haven't heard said today. I've heard that people are in a rears of taxes for 40 years. I lived in this town
41 and I paid my taxes every year. Why was it allowed to go so long without being picked up? Whose responsibility was it? Now I understand definitely previous administrations.
All right, these guys have been here for a couple years. Nobody has ever seen that we were owed money that we never collected as a township. Uh uh who's responsible and what are we going to do to correct
it in the future? Because really right now the past is past. The money is owed. You got to collect it. How much you're going to get? It could be pennies on a dollar. Who knows? But what are you going to do in the future? In the days of computers, if person's three months,
four months behind should send a red flag to the tax collector, shouldn't it? And shouldn't it go to legal and say, "Hey, not that we're going to foreclose on you, but hey, where's your money?" I mean, I feel insulted paying my taxes
41 years and having somebody in the same amount of time not pay a dime. Now, if they're developers and the developers are developing properties and stuff like that, why are they still developing? Why can't they be stopped and said,
"Hey, until you pay your taxes, you're done. Stop right where you are. Take everybody out. Until you pay your taxes, we're holding you up. If it's businesses, hey, you know, get somebody to go visit the business and say, "Hey,
look, you've got to address this and you got to address it now." I mean, I'm hearing all kinds of shortfalls, the possibilities of next year being in a deficit, and I'm thinking, I'm on a fixed income. Where's my taxes going to go next year? Is it
going to go up even more? I mean, uh, from what it was when I first moved here till now, it's been a big jump, but I haven't complained about it because, hey, everything was real nice. I I I mean, and now all of a
sudden I hear that people owe this town money and nobody nobody wants to collect it. That that doesn't make sense to me, you know? Um, especially when I'm worried about the dollars and cents that were spent on a snowstorm that really
there should be an emergency fund that >> is earmarked for stuff just like that. Put aside from the rest of the budget because forget about it. You put it into the budget, it's going to get spent somewhere, you know, and $655,000
for a truck. We can't afford it right now. Or I don't know. Was it six? It was 159. >> 159. Okay. 159 for a truck right now. >> Can we afford it? >> Do you have to pay for that truck full
out or is it go on a a payment plan where you're being charged interest for it? Because, you know, I can't afford a new vehicle right now, especially at $150,000 on a payment plan. That's looking at over $1,000 a month just for me, you
know. So, I really think we need to look at the things that have happened in the past and correct them for the future, especially when it comes to collecting taxes. Somebody's got to be on on, you know, on the hot seat for it. They
didn't do their job then or did somewhere and along the line the files got lost? You know, I don't know. That's what we got used for to sit back and and figure out what's going to
happen and and to approach us with it. >> So I I want to respond to a couple things that you said. First of all, with regard to putting money into a snow emergency fund. I think that's one of the conversations I want to have with council. I absolutely obviously we hope we don't have a winter like this for a long time again. We have to be prepared.
Um, and we came into this winter illprepared and um, to no fault of anyone on on on this ZAS, but we have to be more prepared going forward. Um, and um, I think the the intention of the mayor and the business administrator with trying to have more within DPW was
try to lower the costs of the private contractor because it's about three times. Again, I know you and I had this conversation about the gas and the fuel, but it's absolutely still cheaper, but we can debate that. That that being said, with regard to the taxes, I read the letter in the beginning of the meeting and um I'm happy if you want to
reach out to me later, I can give you a copy of the letter that the tax that the tax collector office did. I just want to be very clear, she's doing her job. She's 100% doing her job. I went in there with the mayor and I'm going to defend this lady because she is working very very hard. She sent it to the right
places. We had a a administration and a a an attorney who unfortunately for some reason I can't answer why decided it wasn't they didn't ex they didn't move it to the next next level. It is unacceptable and at the end of the day going forward it doesn't fall on this council because we're a legislative
body. It falls on the mayor and the business administrator to do their job. And if we're turn around next year and she's the mayor and we turn around and we and we're at the same place, point the fingers at her because it is completely her responsib. But it the buck stops in in this form of
government with the mayor and it's her responsibility to making sure that our municipal employees when they send something to the attorneys and they need the authorization to go ahead and go after those taxes for those developers. Now, with regard to development, um we do have, it's my understanding, an
ordinance um which I discussed with Mr. mcuckin that an application before they come in front I think it's in front of the zoning board does have to pay their pay their taxes but there are so many loopholes which is something a resolution we discussed by the last meeting which I think unanimously passed here there are so many loopholes you you
can owe tax under under one LLC you could you could apply for a development under a different LLC there are so many ways you can get around that and um we did reach out to the state because these are where this is where we need the state to work with us to making sure that we are able to enforce it
completely agree no one should be developing if they owe taxes to the township they're looking to develop in. And the mayor actually reached out asking us to adopt an ordinance, which we're looking into with our legal team um about a um that it's someone who about getting your permits if you owe taxes if you if there's a way of
penalizing someone from getting their permits to develop. You might not be able to stop someone from coming in front of a land use board, but maybe you can stop them from getting their their permits. So, there's a lot of different avenues that we can look at and a lot of different ways we we can try to make sure that our residents, everyone is paying their fair share of taxes and no
one's taking advantage of of the system. But I hear you. I think everyone here is equally disgusted that certain people took advantage of the system and I'm hoping we turn around in a couple months and um we have a nice amount of either property given back to the township that we that
we can take off the tax roll or hopefully tax payment. Well, I think we all can agree 40 years is a little bit too long to >> even even a year is too long. But yes, >> I thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else council?
>> Seeing no one come forward. I motion to close public forum. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Could I have a motion to close, please? >> Motion. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Everyone have a wonderful night and thank you for coming.