good evening ladies and gentlemen Welcome to our meeting this evening and thank you for all being here I'll open with a statement and then continue on with the business adequate notice of this meeting has been given in accordance with the open public meetings act pursuant to public laws 1975 said notice was advertised in the
Asbury Park Press in the beacon and was posted on the bulletin board showing the time and place of the meeting we'll have our Pledge of Allegiance Pledge of Allegiance indivisible all item number one Proclamation honoring Mr John Bergman of the Popcorn
Park Animal Refuge up John come on come on up Sir come up John just stand right there just stay there I'd like to read a proclamation on behalf of the really the entire town not
just the governing body so if you entertain us for a minute Mr Bergman whereas John Bergman has dedicated Decades of his life to the welfare and protection of animals serving as the executive director of The Popcorn Park Animal refuge and becoming a Beacon of Hope and compassion for countless
animals in need and whereas under his Vol his Visionary lead leadership Popcorn Park Animal Refuge has grown to become a sanctuary for wildlife farm animals Exotics and pets providing a safe haven for creatures from all walks of life and offering the community in an
in an invaluable resource in education inspiration and advocacy whereas John's tireless efforts have transformed The Refuge into a world-renowned institution exemplifying Humane treatment of animals and ensuring they receive love care and
respect that they deserve whereas his dedication extends Beyond The Refuge itself engaging with the community educating the public about animal welfare and fostering a deep appreciation for the natural world among people of all ages whereas John
bergman's Legacy is not only reflected in the thriving animals he has helped but also in the hearts and minds of those he has who have been inspired by his work ensuring that his impact will continue to be felt for Generations to come and whereas John embarks on this
new chapter of his life his retirement marks the end of an era yet his commitment and contributions will remain an enduring Testament to the difference that one person can make in the world now therefore be it resolved that I Peter Ciro mayor of lacy Township do on
behalf of myself and the entire Township committee hereby honor and celebrate the extraordinary career and retirement of John Bergman thanking him for his years of unwavering service and wishing him health happiness and fulfillment in his
future endeavors thank you thank you very much I just you know the township committee and the and and the people of Lacy have been so supportive of us out there I just want to thank everybody thank you thank you John it's been a
long ride and uh who would have thought back in the 70s we open when the township committee L us that buy that land out there for an animal shelter and a adoption center that it would have grown to this but thank you very
much to item number two Lacy and lights winner come on ahead Mr W thank you thanks all right well I just wanted to um uh thank everyone for having us here today uh we had our uh eighth annual
lacing lights holiday light decorating contest this past holiday season and I'm proud to say that for the eighth straight year we've had a different winner we've never had a repeat winner so um we are glad about that and we have here with us tonight uh the winner of
Lac and lights from 482 stubin Avenue Kyle Mitchy and the Mitchy family he's also here with his daughter Cammy wow I wasn't planning on speaking here I just love uh you know the Christmas season you know bringing everybody together and uh you know I did
it mostly for my kids but you know I like to you know bring everybody together and I you know I encourage everybody I play music too sometimes a little too loud but uh looking want to make that in front of these guys but uh looking forward to next year
I've got I actually had a bunch of stuff that was on back or that didn't make it in time for this so uh next year it's going to be a good oneth so thank you thank you I have a question for you I have a question how long did it take you to put
up all that stuff well I'll tell you the gutter lights were 16 hours away probably about 80 hours whoa y earlier don't give Daddy Secrets away item number three resolution 202-828-8303 police officers with the township of
lacy motion second second Mr McDonald yes Mr Kennon yes Mrs Juliano yes Mr lay yes and proudly mayor K yes Chief Kenny thank it's all yours first off I want to thank
everybody for coming out tonight um get a wide array of people we got our our own officers um we here in support of new hires and the promotions um what we're here for is three new hires two promotions all replacing vacancies so
rly responsible I want to thank the community members for coming out um officers from other jurisdictions you know family friends and retirees um you know are here as well in support of the L to Police Department uh we got
somebody from uh just you know another uh part of our town uh Public Works uh it's just a big family effort that's right it's uh it's just truly nice I'm glad I'm up here doing this and it couldn't be possible like I said without all of you we state troopers here we've
got members of our SWAT team thank you for coming as well their P squat team and support of one of our promotions and all of us um but it's great and uh we we can't do this without the support of everybody the community and especially uh the committee and Veronica Ray the
township administrator uh it's truly and I'm not just say I'm truly not just saying it it's been a pleasure it truly has been a pleasure uh working with the the township administrator the township committee uh they've been very supportive of the police department and
uh I can't thank them enough it's just been a true pleasure um they give us you know what we need uh they listen to us and uh you know that's why we're here tonight so with that I really want to say I don't want to take too long I know Mr Kennis doesn't like that but
we got we got a a couple of programs that that are going on right now we have the cop card program yes so it's our eighth edition uh over it's our 25 years so that is just started it started last
Friday it'll go to April 4th and our me the officer day is March 22nd at the middle school from 10:00 a.m. to 2m and what that is we have 74 cards kids go out in the community to the local sponsor uh
organizations know local businesses in town they collect the cards and they can stop an officer get a card from them and once they have all 74 they either have a teacher or a police officer check their list sign off and they get entered into a raffle at meet the officer day they can
get all the cards and there's raffle prizes at meet the officer day so all the officers on their own time they come out there and they meet you know the kids of the community um which is it's a great program what I want to say about that that wasn't pushed by me or the Command Staff we
always support our officers but we say Hey you know we know that you know you guys need um you know Manpower concerns you guys are busy we're not going to ask you to do anything that's going to you know take away from that
add more responsibility on to you and what I can say is organically by your support by giving us a staffing the equipment that we need they did it voluntarily so I take no no credit for it I know it's officer Mike hutman who's not here we bust his chops a lot uh but
he's he came through as always he always does officer radella not sure if Dan's right around here somewhere he's outside good job Dan and then officer Walsh and all the other officers involved but th those
three took the lead on it and phenomenal job we couldn't be prder of them and uh you know that's excellent the next program is a Bike Rodeo that we're going to have it's a long time that we haven't had a Bike Rodeo and uh detective Lieutenant delau who uh took the lead on that along
with uh Sergeant art and the reason is because they're in charge of the juvenile unit and the school resource officers so that's part of the detective Bureau they know that they want to get that done uh Lieutenant El s was by himself for a long time didn't have enough Staffing through the hiring
process and promotions we were able to get to where we can actually do that and that's set for uh May 31st at the Lacy High School uh they'll be a BMX demonstration from uh my what are they
call Dial Dial Dial action we're going to do a BMX demonstration and then uh with the the greater Mercer TMA going to come out do uh you know the Bike Rodeo part of it a lot of different ideas with with training pedestrian uh you know
instruction for little kids TR graffle prizes so a really good event and once again this is all extra it's not um you know um just hey that's your only position that's the only thing you have to do this is every responsibility plus
that so it's something an initiative that we want to take on and this is the stuff we're talking about about giving back to the community so we're very happy um and it's organic just happens you give us the support and they you know the officers want to support you
know the Township community so it's great uh couple other things they just the PBA just did uh volleyball at the middle school that was last Thursday and uh that turned out very well so the officers are involved they love the community the community loves us you
know we know that and can't couldn't be any more grateful thank you that being said uh we're going to move on to our our hiring and we can bring casting I have a cheat sheet so I don't miss anything a a lot here tonight so Cassy
Mai she works for us now as a police dispatcher we just got her in August of 24 so one quality employe so happy to have her and you know lo and behold she's on her Civil Service list and she's our our number one uh candidate
right now for um to hire her so big loss in our Public Safety telecommunicator position but they gain for the police department um with that even though our our dispatchers are
losing you know a traine because you still been training and they put a lot of effort into into her into that position there was no no complaints it was only the Roo order C had to go to the academy pass a physical test in order to to get into the police academy
and I heard no complaints just you know everybody for her and she's only been here since August everybody's super duper happy and can't wait for uh you know person to see so that's another reason why I like working with
L all right so Cassie's 24 years old born and raised in GL Township uh graduated Lacy high school in 2018 uh she attended the University of Tampa and got a Bachelors in Psychology and a minor in
criminology from there she wanted to follow in her Father's Footsteps George ma for corrections officer um and what she wants to say is that she wants to thank her family and friends for always supporting her and want to especially
thank her mother Laura her father GE for always pushing her to be the best uh version of herself so she' also like to thank everybody from the police department and the township for the opportunity and is going to make everybody proud so welcome award
[Applause] cast come on it's been a [Laughter] while I Cassy m i cast the L do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will Faithfully that I will Faithfully impartially impartially and justly and
justly perform all the duties of police officer perform all the duties of police officer according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability and that I will support the Constitution of the United States and that I will support the contition of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey
theti and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same true faith and Allegiance and to the government established in the United States and to the government established in the United States and in this state in the state under the authority of the people so help me God under the authority of the
people so help me God congratulations thank [Applause] you congratulations everyone congratulations congratulations congrats sign that for me very excited making it
official right there that's just your oath of office but you repeated to Amy we'll have some uh comments from the committee um Deputy Mayor canis we're doing them all why we wait till the end at once
okay sounds good this bring next new thank you uh as always uh the committee has been super supportive of us that's been the theme of tonight and we are very thankful for that um as a
result of that a lot of good things can happen right and you know this this department has transformed over the past several years uh we're very proud of that we're going to continue that moving forward um we take our jobs very serious and the um hiring of personnel and
promoting of personnel is certainly one of the the I'm sorry to step right here um is certainly one of one of our biggest responsibilities because you have to put the right people in the right places in order for an organization to succeed in order for the township to succeed so um with your support we've been able to do that I'm
going to bring up Jack mcke right now we're gonna all just stare at Jack we're g to allow him to to see like that color from out his face before we go on this part is super important to me um as as many of you guys know I'm what's called a legacy
member of our organization so with a father having been a police officer and a son being a police officer um I've had the benefit of actually working with my dad for several years at the same exact time so while we while Jack here is our
seventh Legacy member in ly Township history he's going to be the second person to actually get to work with his father John mcke here the reason that's important um Legacy members aren't really a thing in our field anymore and for one reason or the
other we're having recruiting issues we're having issues with our profession uh for many different areas but in our town it is a thing so it's very special to Lacy Township right um everybody loves working here right as as uh you
know committee McDonald says all the time nobody comes here and leaves here everybody goes somewhere else else and then comes here we we're continuously telling our kids that this is an outstanding place to work we are you know not without fault not without issue
here and there but overall this is an outstanding place to work and we take this job serious we take this responsibility serious so with that we're going to get Jack going here Jack is 22 years old so actually let me qualify with this Jack was supposed to submit a bio to us and he did and there
wasn't much on there so I'm making cuz he's 22 years old well it's not that he just doesn't like to be the center of attention which is why we're like really focusing on this right now which is a little bit different than Dad right a little bit different than Dad so um so Jack 22 years old graduate of lacy
Township High School uh where he played basketball football and Tennis um I I need to I need you guys be very clear on this Jack earned his way here nothing was given to this young man he wanted to uh for his own path didn't even ask his dad how to get in the police cademy Jack
figured out a way to get hired gets hired down in Beach Haven New Jersey worked there as a class one uh works his way through and gets into Police Academy as a class two graduated Police Academy this past May worked the entire summer um at which point he took the civil service test and finished in the top
seven I think you were number seven overall on civil service exam put puts himself in an outstanding position to get hired um didn't ask his dad for interview advice didn't ask his dad for any of that stuff he did this all on his own we're proud we're proud of you jack so U if you want to come up John on
this congratulations John I know is super proud of you we have high expectations of you um in return you know we will support you and your Endeavor through the rest of your career here at least thank you [Applause] raise your right hand ready I jack arm I
jack arm do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will Faithfully that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly and justly perform all the duties of police officer perform all the duties of police officer according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability and that I will support the Constitution of the United States I will
support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey the and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same I will bear true true faith and aliance to the state and to the government established in the United States United States and in this state
and in State under the authority of the people so help me God theth people congratulations [Music] [Laughter] it wasn't you it was
him it's not your fault believe me conratulations [Laughter] take a [Laughter] [Applause] picture congratulations congratulations Father and Son God well
done thank you appreciate it thank [Music] you thank you so much appreciate it good job captin [Applause] Brown so Justin BR 31 years old he's
been a res Township for 28 years right uh graduated La High School two uh 2011 I was hired in 2000 crazy I was here at was 25 years
ago morning jeez time's live so uh growing up Justin participated in many Township athletic leagues wouldn't remember him but him down uh Lacy roller hockey lacy little league Lacy soccer and boy scout a high school who's a member of the
tennis team future Business Leaders of America club and Lacy Township fishing club he also attended the Ocean County Academy of Law and public safety program which is excellent that's uh the votech for uh for high school to get into the
career of Criminal Justice in law enforcement it's exactly what we want so uh it worked out well for uh he previously worked at security guard a community uh yeah Medical Center in Tom's river which is uh sometimes a pathway into law enforcement as well I
know a lot of people who did that and uh he started his career in His official career in law enforcement at the Canon County Police Department he graduated the Canon County police department in 2020 and uh served five years uh with with Canyon County he was a patrol
officer field training officer which you know in order to be a field training officer you have to be Cut Above everybody and uh he was on a focused on a unit focused on combating narcotics and Firearm related offenses he was
going to have a little transition here you're aware of that and he is aware of that so know he's he's glad to be back home you know uh you know in his hometown he's excited we've talked to him he said hey you know
the excitement level is going to come down a little bit he knows and he's he's uh so we're very happy and he wants to thank his uh you know mother Cynthia father Gerald and brother Jason and I know know um but uh you know that's why he's
here today because of his family loves them dearly and uh you know thanks him for the support so I just want to say very happy to have [Applause] I Justin m brown I Justin m brown do
solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will Faithfully that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly and justly perform all the duties of police officer perform all the duties of police officer according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability and that I will support the Constitution of the United States and
that I will support the contitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and I will bear true faith and the allegiance to the to the same and to the government established in the United States and to
the government established in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people so help me God under the authority of the under the authority of the people so help me God [Applause] congratulations yeah I'm going to to congratulations
buddy thank you thank sign the O make it official all right thanks you were the best people from job and we want to hire any other way in Lacy than hiring the best um they had to score
well they had to sit for you know interview pass pH fitness test they did everything that we asked them and they were truly the best and the best that's why they're um I do want to say that we have another potential in the uh the pipeline um very excited about it that
we be looking for the fall um even though the interest of the job is lower I'm very excited and happy about the quality of candidates so there is hope um I haven't been this excited about a group of candidates in a long time um so we're in good hands you know
after after I retire become a civilian I I'll feel safe this generation of uh officers is here good but that go right ahead sirs yep go ahead Amy will read the resolution first and make it
official item number four swearing in police officers no number five resolution 20258 through authorizing a promotion in the police department resolution of the township of lacy County of ocean state of New Jersey promoting Anthony R Sno to the position of police Sergeant for the Lacy Township
Police Department move it second Mr kenis yes Mr McDonald yes Mrs Juliana yes Mr Laray yes mayor K yes Mr s come [Applause]
on this is a long time coming well deserved uh you can see by the own SWAT team members that are here so there's a lot to say about Anthony so I'm going to start reading couldn't be happier he's lifelong resident of Ley a 2003 graduate
of Ley High School uh he worked State Treasury Department as a criminal investigator hired by Lacy in 2013 he has a bachelor's degree development Psychology from University
he has a master's degree in management from SE Hall and on his own you know he want to get a graduate certificate recently in contemporary leadership so he has a lot of initiative education he's been in the Patrol Division pretty much his whole career uh
but he's held a lot of different responsibilities he's the longest member we've had on the Ocean County Regional SWAT team 10 years and he's our only member right now so look and pass the torch to somebody else so he's trying to Mentor some of
these new guys to come in and uh take his place eventually not out this yet but uh absolute great resource to have in our department uh he's a go-to guy he knows all the tactics he's an instructor
because of that our active school shooter said instructor he has great sound tactics uh takes that position you know um very serious always improving increasing you know our officers
abilities when it comes to Firearms when it comes to tactics he's our goto guy he's part of the simunition train a shooter I said one big thing is field training officer so what happens is you know some of our best officers get
promoted up got you know few training officers we got a you know it's a big loss you got fill that spot but uh Aion train so many different offic um are around this room right now um very happy with what he's done with
those officers and I know they appreciate everything you've done for them so the other things that Anthony's done he's a police academy instructor uh he's uh received the Medal of Honor a drug Buster award Marksmanship and life saving
departmental citations he was the officer of the year in 2017 and uh joining him today is his beautiful Elena his daughtera and his just so you know as m to
me and's birthday is tomorrow oh wow yes it is but uh I I do want to say yeah this is a long time coming and I couldn't be happier um
name ex to the rank of sant he's a great guy and he you know an absolute you know you know you know asset to this [Applause] organization Daddy's babies best it is I Anthony r s i Anthony R Sno
do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will Faithfully that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly and justly perform all the duties of police Sergeant perform all the duties of police Sergeant according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability and that I will support the
Constitution of the United States and I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the government established in the United States and the government
established in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people so help me God under the authority of people so help me [Applause] God y I was to say Chief you can want the baby
right she wanted daddy anyway she was trying to get to him perfect new shiny thing to play with I know in all pictures you're such a jerk [Laughter] [Music]
sign here for me make it official perfect thanks so item number seven resolution 20258 authorizing promotion in the police department resolution of the
township of lacy County of ocean state of New Jersey promoting Daryl P Nick to the position of police Lieutenant for the Lacy Township Police Department move it second Mr Kennis yes Mr McDonald yes Mrs Juliano yes Mr lay yes mayor K
yes all right Sergeant Nick from Center please [Applause] So This truly truly is a long time coming and no no more deserving person very hard again
uh long time res your life seven years in clion all right grew up here graduated L High School 1997 uh from there we went to M University where gradu
2001's degree in while there to read this tribute for you he played four years for the football team as a punter ging B Team all conference his Junior and senior years achieved All American Senior Year and then he participated in
several Regional combine Tri outs for the NFL senior year we got is good as the I'm glad we so in 2003 we H we went to County Police Academy uh he was assigned to Patrol Division pretty much
his whole career um and he was promoted to the rank of Serge in 2020 right before hit so we had to deal with all that soon hit everything changed World changed and he was able to adapt that um he's a member of our fast team which our
fatal accident support team that goes out on major motor vehicle crashes so either significant injury or fatals it takes a lot of schooling a lot of patience and you get called out inconveniently you know 14 14 people but
if it's the weekend if it's the middle of night you know go out there and investigate accidents there's a lot of B there a lot of responsibility a traditional traffic accident we just hand write you know a diagram here
laser taking actual measurements and you have to be exact he goes you know to litigation a lot of times so it's a lot of you know specialty a lot of responsibility and he's done it for uh eight years has been Serge to devis in
the program so he does an excellent job he's one of our goodto you know guys with that he's also been in fto since 2009 we're losing you know now we lost another fto when wew the sergeant but having that skill set you know at the different ranks is important because
they know what to expect um and what you know the program you know requires so just because we lose him as an actual field training officer we gain the experience as a supervisor but with that you know Sergeant Nick wanted me to tell you he trained nine different officers
over that time three the officers are now Sergeant to were detec so he did a really good job and he uh he mentors the officers still even after they're well you know out of uh you know his tutelage they can go to him with any questions and he's always going to health uh he's
one of our certified child passenger safety seat technicians so that's anybody who gets a child seat he's installed he's running the program and has been an intricate part of it since his Inception and he runs you know he see something out from the
firehouses Walmart Walmart in September y yep um that's who's doing it going to be soon be Lieutenant uh he recently graduated from our Command and Leadership Academy from the state Chiefs Association 13 weeks it's an additional responsibility you
don't have to do it he's willing to do it um you go weekly you take tests you do a lot of homework you know this is as a you know a 40 something year old man you got homework willing to do it pass it and gained a lot of knowledge
that re in uh 2011 he received the life saving award for resuscitating a man collaps off shoving snow so he's there's a lot that sun to be Lieutenant Nick has done for this organization and uh now
with his new position he's replacing Lieutenant resar who's uh retired and uh he's learning how busy his position is so what he does now he oversees the record Bureau and open
public records body cameras um our stman computer system our radios you name it he does it he's going to be he's the patrol Services Lieutenant a lot of responsibility little help unfortunately for him one
man show but he's uh since taking over the position even as a sergeant right now's been filling in he's doing a phenomenal job couldn't be happier couldn't be prder um just the right guy position you know it's we're in good hands and lastly he's
been married to his wife to me for 15 years wants a Daner for the support sacrifice that the J bands and then they have three dogs yes and and this is good to know for you animal lovers me being one of them uh for
several years they rescued adopted out approximately 50 to 75 dogs to God bless you [Applause] that's the kind of person darl is he's just a great guy has nothing say about
anybody never has never heard him say a bad thing about anybody he's just a great character um well well mannered well tempered better tempered than I am great congratulations thank you you're
up andew come yeah of course he wants his family come on he wants his family up everybody get up there Mom call Mama come ly
come come here sure thank you I Daryl P Nick I Daryl P Nick do solemly swear do solemnly swear that I will Faithfully that I will faithfully impartially impartially and justly and justly W Ley perform all the duties of police Lieutenant perform all
the duties of police Lieutenant according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability and that I will support the Constitution of the United States and that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and that I will
will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and to the government established in the United States to the government established in the United States and in this state and in this state under the author of the people so help me God under the authority of the people so help me God
[Applause] congratulations yeah want your sister up here Andrea that's beautiful thank you conratulations congratulations
congratulations congratulations congratulations so proud congratulations thank you sign all right ladies and gentlemen before I open up uh the uh comments to our our committee members up here do
want to be appropriate and and mention uh and recognize uh former mayor Lyn Nick who is in the audience tonight so uh we just wanted to say thank you for that and thank you for being here some comments from the committee
now Deputy Mayor Kennis thank you mayor um we really tried to put a renewed focus on the police department over the last couple years um we've tried to increase the resources as best we can and um I I you could see it's bearing uh bearing fruit um I talk to the chief regularly and um whenever we do have
concerns from the public um and I talk to him about it usually on you know a b andc are getting done before I have it you know before I can uh ask him what is being done about it he's on top of it so it all seems to be working for all the new hires and promotions I wish you all the best of luck and we're happy to have you and um I want to thank everybody
else for coming out today thank you Deputy Mayor committe man McDonald thank you mayor um if you want to know why the captain and the chief were especially nice to the committee tonight is because the budget's not done
[Laughter] yet no seriously smarter than you think what's that smarter than you think uh for Cassie Jack and Justin welcome uh I have said all along this is
your last spot you will not leave here you will not leave you will retire from here and whoever is sitting up here will pay you all kinds of accolades and they will be well deserved you are joining what I have considered to be the finest police force in the state of New Jersey and people say to me why do you say that
to them because they don't leave if it's a bad police force these guys will get out if it's a good police force they're not leaving it's that plain and that simple so welcome aboard to our guess Sergeant sonno where is he right
there with all your with all you do I don't know why we need any more people no but congratulations well deserved well well well uh earned and Mr Nick where do you go right here there he is right there I had the pleasure of serving with your father on the board of
adjustment great man great man um again between you two guys we don't need any more people are you guys hearing this no no we do need a couple more people we made the commitment a few years back um to ramp up the police force why
because we were well under staff we were still back in 15 years ago when we should have been ramping it up and we didn't do it and we couldn't do it for a variety of reasons but now we're there I think we got one or two more to go and we should be should be good to go and it's been a long struggle to do it we've
had to find the money to do it and that sometimes that's just not easy but well but I have said all along this is the best police force in the state of New Jersey and I welcome everybody here these guys are unbelievable so if you want to know how safe this town is just go look at the stats and you'll find out
we have one of the safest towns in the state of New Jersey it's because of these guys in Blue and guys like Daryl Nick and SAR and the other guys here so thank you that's all I have to say wonderful words thank you committee committee woman Juliana thank you mayor well obviously you see I have my blue on
because it runs through me it's it's part of who I am and I'm so proud of all of you when you walk in this room it just makes us feel so good and to the folks that got promoted tonight we're so happy to have you moving up the ladder there cuz we know how this goes you know so we're we're real proud of both of you
and to our three new hires how lucky are we to have them joining us it's a wonderful thing and we're so proud of all of you and to the families out there this is why we are who we are here because we're lazy and we're strong and we just keep building this town to the
where it's supposed to be and to Mama Nick out there there's only four of us remember that there's only been four women Mayors in this town and you and I are one of them and we're we're keeping it going right thank you mayor thank you so much
committee men lay thank you first I want to address uh one of Chris's early comments thank you uh the committee and all past committees for supporting your department we have a department this this fine wonderful and
professional no thanks is needed you guys really make the job easy and uh we're we're proud of that to Jack Cassidy and Justin welcome aboard the one thing is most people that know me know I have a lot of Pride for
this town I love this place and nothing warms my heart more than seeing every new hire and promotion tonight are all pretty much even though you had first seven years you weren't here Daryl you're a lifeone lazy resident and to
your mom I seen her smiling when I first came in I've known Lyn a long time and I know Captain Sullivan talked about Legacy members she might not have been a police officer but she's a legacy in this town
so to me you're also a legacy member but uh Tim pretty much covered on how we got here how the how we uh got the money the funds and been working forward to it but I just want to welcome everybody you gentlemen with the promotions some of you grew up with my
kids so I'm starting to feel old uh even when you do see the officers I'm sure well of course the crowd in here pretty much looks young too but it's it's funny because sometimes you look up and you see the name on the
shirt and you go wow when did you grow 3 feet but it it's really heartwarming and I can't even explain it enough on how great it is to know you lived here you grew up here you went to school
here you chose to bring your families up here and the most important part in the roles you got is you chose to protect the residents of this community thank you thank you thank you so much coming so A lot's been said already by my
colleagues up here um 12 years ago when I was fortunate enough to be put here by all of you um I think we had 39 officers and tonight I believe Mark's 50 so we are really growing the right way and it's it's homegrown a lot of the folks
I've seen here have been promoted over over my time on this committee and they've been hired on that same time timetable so I I always say my family my daughter's here I feel safe and some of the most memorable nights I've I have had on committee and I hope there are
many more are these blue nights you we don't have favorites in town but to see all the blue here it's uh it's it's definitely heartening there was some great Comedy Tonight by uh Captain Sullivan and our great Chief they kept
it light I enjoyed that and I would be remiss if I didn't recognize these two little children here that are wearing Daddy's my D daddy is my hero blue tutu for sergeant Sno it's just the greatest thing my daughter's 20 she doesn't wear
that stuff anymore barely talks to me and it's sad so I got yeah it's sad it's sad house is empty anyway so we got wonderful police here and uh great great families and it's that these Ties That Bind that
makes Lacy the great place that it is I love it I I don't want to leave here and I hope I grow old here so I'm very very grateful and fortunate to serve with these good people and to be protected by these wonderful people in the audience God bless you and I hope God walks with
you thank you unless you really enjoy Municipal proceedings and and you might I want to invite every everyone to uh to exit now unless you love us going to pause it recess and pause the tape do a pause and
a res paing the tape okay item number nine permission to place pin wheel Gardens on Township property in recognition of Child Abuse Prevention month move it want me to explain it I'll do that again I'm sorry that's okay the Women's Club of lacy is requesting permission to post pin um to
place pin Wheels in front of the municipal building in recognition of Child Abuse Prevention mon month they'll be posted from April 1st until April 30th and they will remove them the following day move it second all in favor I I item number 10 storage pot extension
request 2241 lell and Parkway uh a resident came in to request a 60-day extension for his small storage pod that is on his property um he came in uh right after the last meeting so 60 days from the date of his request would allow him to have the storage pod until March
25th is this his first or second request for accept this is his first request for just Le yes correct I want to be sure okay move it move it all in favor I M number 11 special use permit Elks Lodge Fire and Ice event March 1st and 2nd the
Elks Lodge is seeking permission to host an event at their facility on March 1st and March 2nd um March 1st will be 10:00 a.m. to 10: p.m. and March 2nd will be 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. it will include ice sculptures fire pits games food trucks and music and they're also asking permission to post signs two weeks prior
to the event in order to promote it mov second all in favor I that is all I have else motion to adjourn move it second all in favor I okay Township Lacy Township meeting
February 13 2025 adequate notice of this meeting is been given in accordance with the open public meetings Act pursuant of public laws 1975 said notice was advertised in the Asbury Park Press in the beacon and posted in the bullettin board showing the time and place of the meeting we'll have a salute to the flag
and a moment of silence I pledge ALG to the flag of the United States of America and to theic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with libery and justice for all
[Music] item number one first reading ordinance 2025-the public records ordinance of the township of lacy County of ocean state of New Jersey establishing new chapter 241 entitled municipal buildings restricted areas so as to safeguard public records
the purpose of this ordinance again is to safeguard records um that might contain confidential information that would be exempt from disclosure under Oprah and it would also um Safeguard employees second Mr McDonald yes Mr Kennis yes Mrs Juliana yes Mr Laray yes
may C yes item number two resolution 2025 -85 appointing an affordable housing consultant for any affordable housing projects designated by the township resolution of the township of lacy County of ocean state of New Jersey appointing affordable housing
administrators as Lacy Township's affordable housing consultant for The Preserve at barnegate Bay and any affordable housing projects designated by the township of lacy and assigned to affordable housing administrators this is the same consultant um who manages our affordable housing rehabilitation program and by appointing her to this
position she would manage the resale of the affordable housing units um to make sure that we're in compliance with State guidelines second Mr McDonald yes Mr lay yes Mr kenis yes Mrs Juliana yes mayor KIRO yes item number three resolution
2025-the the employment of a part-time Municipal Treasurer resolution of the township of lacy County of ocean state of New Jersey authorizing the employment of Christine manio as part-time assistant Municipal treasurer for the township of lacy this is to fill a vacancy no
second Mr McDonald yes Mr kenis yes Mrs Juliano yes Mr Laray yes mayor K yes M number four resolution yes item number five resolution 2025889760 C agreement resolution of the township
of lacy County of ocean state of New Jersey authorizing an amendment with the county of ocean for the schedule C agreement this amendment um will now have the county take over the service and maintenance for the traffic signal at Lake barnegate Drive and ha Street move second Mrs Juliano yes Mr Kennis
yes Mr McDonald yes Mr Laray yes mayor KERO yes item number seven Resolution 2025-the Drive bulkhead replacement project resolution of the township of lacy County of ocean state of New Jersey authorizing the execution of an
amendment to the contract with r Cramer and sunm Marine Contractors for the Lakeside Drive bulkhead replacement project this is for various um electrical upgrades second Mrs Juliano yes Mr Kennis yes Mr McDonald yes Mr Laray yes
mayor KIRO yes I'm number8 resolution 2025-the the reduction of a performance guarantee resolution of the township of lacy County of ocean state of New Jersey authorizing the reduction of a performance guarantee for dream homes in the Pines for Lacy Pines LLC conditioned
upon the posting of a new performance guarantee this is after um an inspection by the engineer second Mrs Juliano yes Mr McDonald yes Mr Kenneth yes lay yes mayor KOLO yes item number nine resolution
[Music] of lacy County of ocean state of New Jersey authorizing the tax collector to refund a tax overpayment Mo it second Mrs Juliano yes Mr Kenneth yes Mr McDonald yes Mr Laray yes mayor KIRO yes M number 10 resolution
2025-the the refund of deposit monies resolution of the township of lacy County of ocean state of New Jersey authorizing the refund of deposits held for the use of Municipal facilities move it second Mr Laray yes Mr Kennis yes Mr McDonald yes Mrs Juliana yes mayor K yes
I'm number 11 resolution 2025949158 o sorry fell down on the job um Municipal clerk's office the yearly report for um 20124 collected receipts the amount of $139,450 for the year 2024 the um public works department collected receipts for
o road openings in the amount of $36,500 recycling and clothing bins in the amount of$ 4,145 120 tires in the amount of $2,50 truck parking in the amount of2 $ 6,693 Municipal docks for the year 2024
collected receipts in the amount of $17,250 1891 in annual um uh Revenue uh motion to accept the report annual reports no second all in favor I item number 13 monthly
reports monthly reports for the month of January the municipal clerk's office collect CED receipts in the amount of 30 $ 32,43 Municipal Court in the amount of $2,557 71 road openings in the amount of $794
3.50 uh recycling commodity in the amount of $2,361 tires in the amount of $171 for January Community Development for the month of January collected receipts the amount of $4,980 motion to accept the reports as
read all in favor I 14 motion to approve Caucus meeting minutes of January 23rd 2025 move it second in favor I item number 15 motion to approve Township meeting minutes of January 23rd
2025 second all in favor I item number 16 motion to approve executive session meeting minutes of January 23rd 2025 move it second all in favor I ad number 17 motion to approve budget meeting
minutes of January 30th 20 25 second all in favor I it number 18 motion to approve executive session meeting minutes of January 30th 2025 second all in favor add-ons next
page motion to approve membership in the loka harbor F Volunteer Fire Company for Ricardo biano Richard biano apologize second all in favor I item number 20 motion to approve junior membership in the loka harbor Volunteer Fire Company
for Daniel toner all in favor I thank you comments from the committee Deputy Mayor tennis thank you mayor um so uh so uh we I've been rehabbing a
house uh an old house in town um and uh we've been taking a sheetrock off the walls and they've been filled with old newspapers really old newspapers so as you know we're pulling the sheet down and new newspapers are falling out you can't help but look at them and so you go down rabbit holes you just you
know the stuff is so old so um uh you know wasted a lot of time reading old newspapers but I brought one but I brought one with me so this is this is halfway decent shape it's from the Asbury Park evening press from October 14th 1969 but the reason
why I brought it it's so the it's during it was during the governor's uh uh debates and so the headline is heckler's mar debate for the Govern and then the guy I never even heard of this guy but a guy named Miner
was a former Governor says Miner so the head the the other headline is Miner says State faces fiscal ruin it says former Governor Robert B Miner the Democratic candidate for governor says New Jersey faces quote financial disaster if it does not have tax reform
so the more stuff changes the more it stays the same that's why brought that that's right if anybody wants the rest of it they can have it um also uh just in the news the uh this week in asby Park Press the uh Lakewood school district is $230 million
in debt um they were requested $100 million this year and they only rece say only they received $65 million and they said that might not be enough to to sustain the school year um and I'm bringing this up because you have all these schools in Ocean County that are
getting cut from their and and Lakewood is getting vast amounts of money and I'm not picking on Lakewood but there's something seriously flawed with with all the the school finances sometimes I I you know talk to talk to my friends and family members I wish I was in some of
the the school board meetings just to see how they do their finances um they're just some of these numbers are just staggering I just do wonder how the how the money is spent and another as a also a segue to that um we got our the 2024 Ocean County um the residential tax
bill rankings so the our our average the Lacy Township average residential tax tax bill is 23rd out of 30 towns 30 towns just let me double check 33 33 towns however our school tax rate our school or our portion of our school bill
is our six highest so uh again um not exactly picking on anybody that's on the boards or how the the finances work but there seems to me that there should be serious reform on on school financing doesn't seem to be working for anybody those are my comments thank you Deputy
Mayor committee M McDonald thank you mayor couple of things here um I was uh perusing the uh on the web new jersey.com and has something that really stuck out
to me the budget the New Jersey budget there's a third A3 billion hold in the budget three billion with all the money they take in $3 billion and you know who's going
to pay for it they have to balance the budget technically by July 1 but uh they kick it on down the road until sometime in October to make this thing balance which is crazy considering you're your four or five months into your budget
anyhow so that's I got a problem with that and I'm going to follow up with Mr kenis here um the $65 million loan to Lakewood that's a way to get around the school aid cuz if you think Lakewood is going to be able to pay back the $200
million loans cuz that's what it is there's no way in the world they're ever going to be able to do that somehow someway the state will magically wipe it away so it's just a way to get around school aid and it kind of irks me when I look at all the Ocean County
schools that have gotten screwed by the state with all of this I mean poor Jackson they're selling going to have to sell two schools and it's crazy and here's the thing when you sell a school who's going to buy it a charter school which is then you're
going to be in competition with because that's what it's built for unless they're going to knock it down and put something else and most of these you can't do it because they're in residential areas particularly the elementary schools that's why they built these things so that's a mess and then I got
this on top of it so my blood pressure was a little was a little up electric costs in New Jersey to increase again a minimum as of June 1st 177% think about that
177% and all all of whom expect at least a 177% increase for the consumer in a monthly electronic costs and they it's hard I couldn't believe it it was it's because of data centers these companies are putting up these Big Data Centers and I get it that's part of the business
but these data centers eat electricity it's like they drink it like water and that's coming back on us that's another problem okay so I got an email from an old friend of
mine who lives here in town and they sent me this and I'm not sure where they got it from but I thought it was worth worth excuse me thought it was worth reading and it's this local local government has spent years bending over
backers to get more public engagement we've expanded meetings flooded social media with updates and hosted town halls and created endless platforms for feedback and yet after all the effort participation is still abysmal misinformation is still rampant and the
loudest voices still drive the conversation while the majority remain disengaged I saying I'm going to say what no one wants to say out loud public engagement is broken we pretend that more meetings more Outreach and more listening sessions will magically create
a well-informed engaged public but that's not what is happening instead we're empowering the same small group of activists political opportunists and professional complainers while failing to reach the people who actually make up the majority of our communities the people who show the people who show up
to the meetings aren't always representative of the people who live in the city they're the ones with the time and the loudest opinions or the strongest personal agendas yet cities still make decisions based on who whoever shows up terrified of bad press or public outrage even if the outrage
comes from the same 10 people every week at some point we have to ask are we actually engaging the public or are we just giving a microphone to the loudest and most extreme voices the problem isn't that people don't care about their communities the problem is that the public engagement has been hijacked by a
process that rewards outrage ignores expertise and creates the illusion of representation while sidelighting the M the silent majority we cannot run cities based on on whoever yells the loudest we cannot let misinformation dominate the policy we
cannot keep acting as if every opinion is equally informed when they are based on a real on reality or others based on reality or others are fueled by nonsense they saw on Facebook engagement should be about educa educating as much as listening it should be about ensuring
the facts carry more weight than feelings it should be about making space for real participation not creating a stage for those who thrive on outrage if local government doesn't fix this we will continue to be held hostage by a by a vocal minority while the people who
actually need us the Working Families and the business owners the residents who trust to do trust us to do our jobs are left behind the goal of public engagement isn't to validate the loudest voices it's to govern efficiently thank you m thank you great comments committee
woman Juliana thank you mayor thank you Mr McDonald that was very interesting um um okay so I have a couple little things right now our Lacy Township High School art students have um been designing coffee cups at Starbucks and
um it's working it's a work in progress but the nice thing is they've informed us that you can go there and vote on which one you like so it's it's something that our art students are doing at the high school and I thought it was pretty interesting that they shared with us for that to come out um
again what a wonderful night it was with all of our police being here and the promotions and The Hires we are a lucky town we have a lot to be grateful for and a lot to be thankful for and we should always remember that always keep in mind that we have a a fantastic
Volunteer Fire Company in our town they run a fantastic organization and they do their job and that they are volunteers so we should always be thanking them on another note there will be a meeting on
February 24th at the Community Hall at 6:00 at night and that is for the Bayfront vegetation meeting we've worked hard to schedule this I hope the en entire group of
people can get there and um I'm looking forward to it to get something accomplished and open up the dialect of getting some things talked about that need to be talked about so again to 2425 6:00 at night Community Hall
Bayfront vegetation meeting thank you thank you mayor thank you very much committee Juliano committee L thank you uh first of all I want to thank public works for the fine job they did with the storm the other
day job I mean it it hit us overnight you woke up early in the morning and surpris the roads were clear it was beautiful I mean it took take some time to clean all the roads in this town but uh uh they were up early they cleared the roads
quickly uh salted them and uh of course after all that it rained last night and washed the rest of it away but that's that's the way life is Mr Kenneth hit on a a really important point right now and it's it's
got to do with these School finances I mean every District seems to be in a problem I know Jackson and Lakewood they're way way over heads and one thing with towns like Lakewood the one thing like we try to do even with Redevelopment and zoning and
everything else in this town is we try to get the most out of our tax dollars because the one problem lakewood's got is they got tremendous amount of buildings homes residents for different reasons that are taxed
exempt and that just snowballs the problem when you got homes sending kids to school and they're taxed exempt with that I keep mentioning this I want everybody to keep in mind that
March 9th is a school referendum 92 11 March 11 actually why don't everybody come March 9th that it will probably work out better March 11th it's n yeah the nine came from the 92 million um this is a biggie it's
three questions um the email that uh Tim just wrote showed a big a big concern with today's society because whether you're Pro or con for this referendum or
anything on the 28th the school put together a really good program they had the professionals there they had breakout sessions everything they were really thorough you might have got maybe you didn't get your answers or whatever they really worked
hard they advertised this they promoted this they expected hundreds of people and my guess is there might have been at a 30,000 residents in this town 120 it's appalling it's
appalling so you know it's one thing to uh get on a computer hide behind the screen and complain but if you really want the facts come to the meetings I said this the other night and get to the meetings that H that are appropriate for
where our concerns are and right now with the school funding like Mr Kennis just said when we got that report the other day there's 33 towns in this uh County we ranked 23 as far as the township with their taxes which is
pretty good but we're up at number six for our school taxes that's got us up there and we know there's going to be another budget issue this year we've already been warned so with that I want to
mention uh next Thursday the 20th at 5:00 there's another uh public referendum session at the school lecture hall and also there's a community group having two sessions at the library one
on February 20th and March 6th and I believe that's at 700 p.m. so I want to mention that to everybody I mean this there's nothing wrong with having issues with things but the biggest thing is you got
to go and pull them levers and be informed because misinformation is dangerous and we really need people to get the facts and make the right decision that's right for them in their hearts and with that uh everybody just
have a good rest of your evening and we'll see you next time thank you very much committeeman uh Dove tail on some of the things my colleague set up here today fortunate enough uh to work right up the hallway from assemblyman rump in Tom's River uh during the day so on
these Thursdays I will talk to him and ask him we're all in receive of emails from The Ninth District but I'll ask him if anything's hot what's heavy what's going on and uh committee men uh McDonald touched on uh one of the things that uh the ninth is continuing to
advocate for us and we're talking specifically about these rates going up um that's an expensive nut in the summertime electricity and we for many years as a county have uh wanted one of the five members of the Board of Public
Utilities to be from Ocean County and we have not had that yet I don't know how often those seats come up maybe I should maybe Senator knows how often or if they're lifetime appointments I'm not sure they're not they're not so I'm hopeful that somebody from Ocean County gets put on there to advocate for us um
it's very very important we're an integral part of the County uh with boat loads of Tourism money going into the state coffers um this past Saturday I unknowingly and I'm disappointed in myself and I'm going to admit that to
the town I uh was at a mammoth University basketball game at exit 105 I noticed Governor Murphy sitting in the front row uh right courts side I went up I said hi to to president Ley of the university and I struck up a conversation and with Governor Murphy
and he was cordial but as I left my wife often tells me try to cut the Italian out try to try to bite your tongue every now and then it'll do you well so I didn't bring up anything about our schools I didn't think it was the place the gentlemen were there with their wives I was there with my daughter my
daughter's playing in the band it was a jovial evening but Governor Murphy will probably attend there again as I understand he frequents it sometimes and if I have the opportunity I will cordially a as mayor ask the governor if I have an opportunity I owe you all that
and I'll do that um I don't know what type of answer I'll get but at least he'll remember the name and put the name with the face and remember the township and uh because we deserve some type of after many many years explanation on things want to congratulate our police
officers new and newly appointed as well as listen our Police Department our Public Works our schools talked to um our association presidents at both and I know several of us did at both of our Senior Communities uh talked
to the Department of publics nobody in Lacy Township was working in a silo during that snowstorm it could have been a lot worse I'm grateful that it wasn't everyone knew what everyone else was doing uh we all had uh roles when I say we they all did um and I watched but
they were wonderful people and they deserve good credit specifically Department of Public Works um this Administration here sitting up here my colleagues to my left and my right um our Police Department our Ocean County Sheriff uh and I went out of my way to mention Bamber because I don't want to
forget those folks and they deserve the services that uh that we get over here I'll close my comments tonight by saying uh I read our our annual tax report we are in receipt of 99.51% of our taxes so that's a pretty
good rate we're talking about a curve of 100 100% we're trying to do the best we can folks uh we are separate from the schools we want we want our schools to flourish but I want our schools to be strong academically as well so we're keeping an open dialogue with our
schools we got great liaison here uh that are in contact with our schools and any one of us at any time could speak with our schools I'd be remiss if I didn't close my comments with thanking the folks from seab breze uh about 10 days ago
week ago Monday we sat down um with Mr Martin and Paul talked about uh some items uh that they had concerns with they brought some items to us we're grateful for that we drafted a letter um the very next morning and got to comment
commend uh Miss lay publicly for that um because 12 hours later a letter was drafted and responses started going back and forth and there's not much we can talk about in that regard some of it's being litig ated but I want to thank uh the Acumen and the stiiven and Persistence of the folks at sebres
because without them we wouldn't have some of that information so I'm grateful for that partnership Ron Paul Joe Brans for and other folks Matt that were involved in that effort and with that I will open the microphone to the public for comment this evening Mr Mr mer yes
sir Miss Juliano forgot to say something I apologize that that we all forgot we all forgot Happy Valentine's Day sorry that's tomorrow yes yes this is so on the way home from here you can go home and get cookies everything else you're supposed
to do not perfect yes Mr sza Mr Bender thank you sir thank you Barry I appreciate you thank you too much noise when I stand up we got the cord fixed it came in so the new cord's here
the wiring was re done you can push it back a [Music] little that's really the right altitude that's the perfect TI
um Regina descends a Sunset Drive Sunrise Beach good evening I'd like to say thank you to this governing body for saying no to taking more money from the LMU surplus funds to give to the school district I forget which commissioner said it last week but he said the school
district needs to stand on its own two feet and I've been saying that for quite a while and if the MUA ever does have surplus funds in the future it should be returned to their rate payers who created that Surplus I think by now it's no secret
that I find the $92 million School District referendum slated for March 11 2025 a little out of line also these big bucks in the referendum cannot restore the cuts to Curtis to see busing I hope everyone realizes that it is also not
going to provide AC in all six buildings it is replacement HVAC items not upgrades after what happened in 2008 2009 with the previous solar referendum promised at no cost to the taxpayers
that line fell through the trapdoor the district wanted to own their solar panels to reap the srex the solar renewable energy credits the problem was solar was beginning to take off at that time at the onset the srex
were very profitable and this was why the public was told the project would pay for itself the SRE income was supposed to cover the bond payments but as luck would have it this was like playing the stock market a few years after the project settled in yes the
district was getting onethird of their electricity from the solar panels but the SRE values tank this is when the taxpayers were stuck paying nearly the full Bond payment the srex were anticipated to last at an
unrealistic value and I didn't learn that till much later in the game so here's the school district now proposing to throw your money in the trash by discarding all the solar panels and going back to the grid for the full price of electricity when they couldn't
afford that bill back in 2009 really makes you wonder and you guys just said there going to be a 17% increase in electricity I would imagine that includes commercial electric as well as residential something is terribly wrong with the pricing of this referendum and
that's why I'm against it it's not that I don't know the roofs need work but where's the breakdown of all the anticipated cost I think fvhd has taken lessons from darcar Rabino and inflated all the cost the taxpayers are stuck for
20 years with 3.5 5 million in interest against the over borrowed 8.2 million from the $19.8 million solar project this is 3.5 million reasons not to trust the $92 million solar
referendum also please try and remember the 2008 2009 referendum was the brainchild of Mr stard of and Mr Savage our old retired superintendent MBA the current Administration interim superintendent zalinski was hired by Mr
sardab worked under Vanessa Clark Pier who was somewhat trained hired and mented by Rich sardab where is Vanessa Clark Pi now she retired from the public school system a year earlier than her contract expiration in Lacy and she is now working at redband Catholic High
School as the principal she really didn't retire she's now working on a new pension with the Catholic AR Arch dicese if she stays long enough who ran the Lacy School District since Mr wiggley left Vanessa then will her assistant got the interim
job when Mr stard duub left and Dr Sandra Anthony Brower came in a superintendent one of the first things she did was remove will zalinsky as principal of the high school I went to talk to her about the go dog on staff she didn't know the district had a
four-legged employee and she hardly believed me but I had proof she then told me why she had to remove will as principal and that she would have fired him if he wasn't in the Union let that sink in she also told me she created the district supervisor position
so he could stay and I'm not breaking any confidentiality rules because I wasn't a board member at the time when she told me this and I was not held to any type of confidence at that time the school district has a long history of fiscal incompetence which I personally
witnessed and bad decision-making which has led them to where they are right now the referendum in its current form is unsupportable and UNS salvageable except for those who have this one track agenda the school district can Gaslight at all they want while we are at this juncture
but ultimately it's time to put up or shut up the taxpayers of lacy really need to stand up and show up at this election send a strong message to the school board and the district that they are totally misguided in their actions the lesson they need to learn is the
buck stops here with the taxpayers people cannot afford these increases and I just had a friend this past week sell her home because she cannot afford to live here thank you thank you for your comments anyone else this
evening Mr belly you sure that's [Music] good oh okay um different topic um recently the Army Corps of Engineers
have come out with a report they call it the Back Bay study and on this report uh they're showing areas that are within the fiveyear what they refer to as the five-year flood plane um if you go down Beach Boulevard
there's not much Beach Boulevard that's not in the five-year flood plane uh we have uh there's a comment period for the um report that ends next Tuesday we've been going around to folks on Beach
Boulevard with a petition getting their names we're going to submit them to the Army Corps of Engineers uh but I'd like to read a letter real quickly as quickly as I can read and hopefully I don't screw up any words uh that was put together by person most of you probably
know she's been up here in numerous times it's from uh Kelly sanowski and it's to a Mr ly who is with with the Army Corps of Engineers I'm going to take this up a little bit more not too much okay she writes Dear Mr ly I am
writing you to express my concerns regarding the New Jersey Back Bay supplemental draft integrated feasibility report I got that out an environmental impact statement the abbrevi I'm not even abbreviation particularly as it relates to the forkid River Beach area along Beach Boulevard
for more than 15 years our community has sought critical restoration support yet we continually find ourselves excluded from recent mapping and planning efforts the urgency of our situation cannot be overstated ongoing shoreline erosion threatens not only our homes but also
the health of our local EOS ecosystem leaving us increas increasingly vulnerable to storm damage the receipt fi the research findings of Dr Stuart Farrell from the Stockton University Coastal Research Center underscore the alarming rates of Shoreline retreat in
this region highlighting the pressing need for immediate intervention in reviewing the plans for the back Bas study I am greatly disappointed that the plan does not include forkid River Beach in Lacy Township the issues here have been brought to the attention of the njd
and discuss discussed with representatives from the Army Corps of Engineers there has already been a project deployed here to mitigate wave action conducted by the literal society and the Stockton Coastal Research Center this area is at extremely high risk due
to existing erosion and is reaching a a critical point where homeowners May soon lose their properties to Rising tide levels in the bay I believe this should be prioritized early in the project leeching of the shoreline along forca river Beach exacerbated by man-made fill
on salt marches and a lack of natural sediment has been ongoing for decades and was intensified by superstorm sanding raising structures in the flood zone is critical to uh ensuring resiliency and we applaud efforts to elevate as many homes as possible
possible however raising structures alone will not suffice as erosion will persist and the homes currently only 30 ft from the Shoreline May soon be sitting in the bay we are not just a shoreline we are a community with lagoons directly behind our homes these lagoons which used to have 12 to 15 fet
deep used to be 12 to 15 feet deep have also suffered over the years levels at high tide are now in the 4 to 5 foot range verified by a summer 2024 survey and at times the water level is too low to launch a boat dredging alone is not
the answer as the lagoons fill with sand and silt within one to two years experts advise that groins are needed at each end of the beach to maintain sustainability sustainable measures and help mitigate the need for constant costly dredging we the understand that
Dre we while we understand that dredge remains required testing we are hopeful that Solutions can be found it is evident that the entire barnegate Bay Shoreline is eroding and requires has prompt attention if this Coastal property is not addressed soon we may face a dire situation in another decade
of waiting for action and this disappearing natural resource while the T tentatively selected plan tsp addresses certain key infrastructure needs it falls short in addressing the specific challenges facing Beach Boulevard in our
community given the gravity of the situation I respectfully urge the US Army Corps of Engineers to consider the following recommend ations in your ongoing assessments number one explicit inclusion of forkid River Beach the tsp must prioritize restoration and
protection measures for forkid River beach erosion and flooding have caused significant harm here and the community urgently requires investment in Beach replenishment groins and other protective Solutions number two Community engagement and collaboration we strongly encourage the court to
engage directly with local residents and stakeholders to better understand the specific challenges we Face Community input is crucial to shaping practical effective and Sustainable Solutions number three Implement implementation of
long-term resilient Solutions in addition to traditional engineering measures we urge the court to incorporate nature-based solu Solutions such as the rest restoration of marshlands and dune systems to enhance the resilience of our Coastline against
future storm events we greatly appreciate the core's ongoing effort to mitigate coastal flooding and erosion across the region however it is critical that all impacted communities included Fork including Fork River Beach receive the attention and resources they deserve
in these vital planning processes thank you for your time and consideration I look forward to your response and to R newed commitment to include Fork River Beach in the forthcoming restoration effort sincerely Kelly SM cowy n Norton she lives on Beach Boulevard and you've met Kelly she's been know Kelly will
very well uh I have couple of now in the plan that as it exists presently they plan on uh reinforcing old sort Old salort Salt marshes I'll put my teeth back in
thank you um there the way things sit there are no new projects but it's important that we're in their face that they hear from us that they see us that we're not forgotten because need to know
there is a situation and again the I refer to it as the island because when you get reach a certain point at down Beach boulard you are on an island that's 100% in the 5year coastal flood plane back to the lagoons where the
planet streets and the bird streets are they're there too so it's not just the people sitting right on bar and get pay so we need to let the Army Corps of Engineers know that it's critical for our town because again that part of the Town
there's a lot of ratables there there's a lot of tax dollars coming in there and we can't afford to lose those those tax dollars so that's what we're working on we've put together a petition I was doing it yesterday I was going to do it today but work interrupted uh I'm going out Saturday
and I'm going to read this real quick just very quickly petition to the Army Corps of Engineers requesting the inclusion of fork rer beach in their backbase study remediation plan we the undersigned residents of forkid River New Jersey support the efforts to submit comments to the Army Corps of
Engineers regarding the ongoing issues affecting our community we believe it is imperative that our area be included in the plans for assistance and restoration as part of the remediation plans of their Back Bay study and we're somewhere around 70 signatures
now we plan to get 100 200 signatures from people there's lots of families out there on that island lots of homes back on the lagoons so we need to make sure that those who are are doing the work at the higher levels that we're in their
face that they know that we're here and they know that the problems that we are having so that's are you including out the other streets off of Beach or or are you just concentrating on that area well what I want to say if people get to see this meeting okay you want to sign this
petition you let us know I'll come to your door and you'll sign a petition I think someone put together an electronic one so so we're we're going we're working on that also but we want to get this the deadline is next Tuesday we want to get things pretty much wrapped up by Sunday uh get as many signatures
that we can and get this to the Army Corps of Engineers saying it's nice that you're fixing the salt marshes but people are living here and there's homes and Etc so har I have news for you what and there'll be more coming by April
okay so every year um in in April uh the State Department of Environmental Protection meets at one of the coastal counties this year it's in Ocean so there's four Coastal monitoring managers one for each County Cape May Atlantic Ocean Monmouth I'm one for ocean on
April 8th we're meeting with the D it's a business meeting so public not involed got it and they're meeting in Tom's River each year at that initial meeting they give us the complete rundown of what the US Ace US Army Corps of Engineers is going to be doing my
understanding this year and I will have certainty uh after April 8th and we you can call me or we can talk publicly here in front of everyone is that the Army Corps of Engineers is planning projects starting up in Toms River but the primary Coastline in the um in that part
of Ocean County and they're working their way down now if they're not focusing completely on forkid River Beach or the interior Estuary area my understanding what I've what I've been understanding and I will get complete Clarity at any am on April 8th as the
coastal manager I will get complete Clarity on is when they work on that outer part of with beach replenishment with the big boys Toms River Island Beach State Park and they're working their way down the coastline that will affect positively the interior estuaries
of barnegate bay and then it'll be like a domino effect and it will improve the the flow and reduce the erosion in some of those other areas do I know that with certainty that's what my understanding of these projects are they're starting
very soon unfortunately they're going to go into August that's a problem the ocean doesn't freeze they should be doing that stuff in the dead of winter or in the fall when it's not tourism season because they can do that that Machinery can run they don't need to
make the beach waterer look like a Slurpee in barnegate Bay or Island Beach State Park or any of that by kicking it up and dredging with those huge barges but I think you're going to be pleased because because I'm going to get a solid update as a coastal manager on April 8th at 8:00 a.m. and I will share that with
everybody if I'm allowed to but I'm you know what I'm going to be allowed to and I'm going to do it public information I would think it's public information so before we press you do what you're doing I'm going to advocate for our people too but before we push any Panic buttons they got a lot of projects that's going to help barnegate Bay this year com my
my understanding this is really long term but to me the key thing is we need to be in their face we they need to hear us projects squeaky wheel gets degrease we need to be the squeaky wheel because uh I mean just in in the time I've been
working with people down there for it's 16 years now and to see what has got has happened and how the shoreline has changed in those 16 years is frightening it's frightening it's going to help I think there's going to be some assistance coming soon I'd like
to if you don't mind um can we uh would you mind if we are allowed to sign that Senator would we be allowed to Chris allowed to sign that there'd be no problem right or if there's one sent from the town I am diligently working on one okay wonderful I have a
question I got a I got it right here um you mentioned uh you mentioned the uh Public Presentation on the 24th do do you want us to make flyers to
hand out I didn't make them yet okay if you get them ready you get them to me I'm going door to door with Kelly too so she said and I have a bunch of email addresses of the residents so people we don't want six people there we want Stan will will be uh coordinating the meeting with with us um you know uh so we've met
with him several times um with Mr Connors as well so I think we've come up with a good plan great wonderful wonderful yeah we just want to get the message out there we did a lot of and you were talking about uh committee McDonald was commenting about the lack of participation I have an
expression it's people are too busy watching Dancing with the Stars to know what's going on around them and they need to be here there needs to be butts there needs to be butts in these seats okay I've gone to meetings up in the in the cities in the northern part of the state and they have a lot more people
than we have so people have to realize if you got something on your mind come here and say it nobody here is going to bite your head off and we can put this out W this out on Facebook and all that too so um get the appreciate it yeah okay thank you more
news for on April we're going to have good new I hope it's good news it's going to be good news big projects yeah yes sir I really want to thank you for bringing this up tonight because even when we running our campaign Mr uh McDonald can understand this when they were talking about
pitures as long as we've been in town our dad had Marina last summer was my 56th summer on this Bay as a boater I mean both sides of the forkid river the shame of it is there's a shing issue I mean I can tell that just by boating it
difference but the thing about the shoreline most people don't always realize in this town that's what made for the river what it is Harbor the bay we are a sure community and believe it or not most people don't realize outside
of the Chesapeake Bay from here all the way to Florida and all the way up the north Coastline there's not many Bay days there's a lot of water there's inter coals y but there's not many places in the world that's got the unique
opportunity like we do with the Bays the lagoons the barrier islands and then the oceans so it's something we really got to take serious and work on because that's a big part of our community and why people do come here and spend money
here it's our history and our heritage that's what it is absolutely yep absolutely absolutely one quick plug May 31st Relay for Life I'll be saying more I'll be saying more I use too much time today thank you thank you anybody else
yes sir thank you good evening mayor Township committee members Lacy citizens and the people out there in TV Land um I'm glad it was brought up tonight about taxes because
um there's a lot of things going on right now that could affect all of us in a in a big way in our community so uh everyone pretty much knows how I feel about the referendum the it's become more acute to
me now after looking at the tax list from the tax Lan list that just happened and when I saw all the number of people who are having problems paying their property taxes and I personally know two individuals who are their properties
have leans on them now and one of them is going to lose their home and when it becomes personal like this it's like it becomes an issue of do we care about the people in our community and whether they're going to lose their basic home
or is the structure of a school because it may have possibly a leak here or there in a roof more important at this time and an issue was brought up about the the the U tax money as far as where
the state is going with school aid now anybody who knows anything about education will understand what I'm going to say right now regionalization is only is the only sustainable way for
education to continue in the state of New Jersey I can go on with a number of reasons of why that is part of it is unions health insurance costs which are outrageous when I was just looking at
what we paid from the school for insurance costs for the months month of January um salaries that continue to rise because of inflation keeping that all out of control uh these are actually most of the school's budget is just what
I mentioned to you it's salaries and benefits and the school district has been over the last s years especially since they knew about S2 which was the Senate bill that was passed which changed the funding for our school
districts the school board knew about all of these changes and what was coming down the pike I've been going to the meetings and they've been talking about this but there was no plan you know and I'm sorry I do not reward fiscal incompetence and I don't think that the
citizens of lacy Township should be rewarding fiscal incompetence and then on top of that having to have more of their taxes going toward the school now a comment was made that we have the sixth you know what was the sixth highest well actually we have the second
highest tax assessment for a school district now in Ocean County and probably is going to be first coming up pretty soon you know if things continue to be the way that they are now people have asked me you know what's your solution to some of the school's problems well okay you know what we can
basically peace meal the projects at the school we can basically look at and prioritize what are the most important issues that need to be addressed now I spoke with the CFO she told me that the most pertinent issue is basically the roofing at the high school and I asked
her exactly how much that would cost and she explained that to me they could take out a loan for a number of years a low interest loan and pay that off and include that in their operating budget now there's another misst understanding that's been going out on the internet
about this whole project with the referendum like you know um that you know if we'll if we don't pass this we're going to lose this 40% from the state well I'm I have news for everybody we're not going to get the 40% because
not all of the uh bond issue is actually um not all of it is approvable for the 40% so it's going to be less than that um also I want the taxpayers of lacy to know I asked this question um Mr McDonald was there I asked what was the
interest that we would pay on this 20-year Bond it's $46 million so when you add that in it comes up to $138,500 th000 so even if we got 40% paid by the state we the taxpayers of lacy would
have to pay $83 million over 20 years which comes out to 4.155 million a year in new taxable Revenue that has to be that the school district has to come up with to be able to pay for the referendum the other issue too
is that people have mentioned is this oh if the referendum doesn't pass you know blah blah blah I have news for everybody they're going to be paying off one of their major Bonds in the next year or so and if the referendum isn't approved they actually have to return
some of that money that they're not going to be using for bonds any longer back to the taxpayer via a reduction in the assessment which means all of our taxes would go down and basically quite frankly we just had almost a 10% tax increase inflicted on us by five people
uh who voted for this and um which is causing one of my friends who I know to now be losing your home so as an issue goes I just want everybody to understand we will be having our meeting on the 20th and on March the 6 at the library
please come um I don't want to have a debate about this I basically just want to have a question and answer scenario because some people are very strong they have you know it's their agenda they don't care they don't care about the people in the town who may lose their
homes and I do because you know this is our community there are rich people in our town there are poor people in our community but the people who really are struggling we need to think about them and there has to be a bigger picture so I hope that the taxpayers of this town
will do the right thing and we start looking out for all of our community instead of special interests and quite frankly I've been fighting with the school for years about academic achievement we all know that
but only 2third onethird of this town has children in our schools we looked at the census figures two-thirds of the community does not and we're doing everything for the kids and you know what there comes a time when we have to think about
everybody in the community and there needs to be major reforms I wish this this body would actually push the school board into looking into the regionalization grants which are available which I have talked about at school board meetings which they don't
want to do but it is the way that it's going to have to go even the CFO and private conversation had told me she understood exactly where the vision that I have she said to me what would you think who would we regionalize with well I said probably Southern Regional and
she said what do you think the benefits of that would be well I explain it to you the the benefits would be the kids would actually have a much broader education because we can't afford to offer them six foreign languages I'm just using this for an example we can't
afford to have a class like I had when I was in high school about designing your own home well that's exactly what I ended up doing when I built my house here in Lacy Township nice to thank you very much and see these are the type of things our kids are not getting today
and they could get if we had a broader education for them and I think we need to look at this on the broader picture do we really care about the education that our children are getting and what are we as leaders all of you being leaders in this town doing to make that
happen and you can push the school board into the direction that needs to happen because it's going to happen the the state is pushing you can see you're just talking about Lakewood and these other towns they're pushing for this and there is legislation right now if I'm not if
I'm not mistaken that's being talked about in the Senate to do more with regionalization so Lacy citizens we need to look out for everyone just please remember that on March 11th and please do come to our meetings at the library and you know let's do this as a
community what's right for everyone thank you very much thank than you any other comments this evening seeing none motion to close the floor second all in favor I resolution 2025954464 to motion move it second all in favor I
no further business