good evening everybody welcome to the Lacy Township Committee meeting this evening and we will begin with the statement 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 Aspbury Park Press in the beacon and was posted on the bulletin board showing the time and place of the meeting we will have our pledge of allegiance i pledge algiance 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 i forget okay uh tonight if you'll entertain me for just one moment we have a a special guest here for just two minutes um last
night I was fortunate enough to go to the courtappointed special advocates uh society and we have one of our our own residents here who was awarded um recognition at the county level uh we had four of our residents have that but we have one here tonight and I just
wanted to say a couple of words about courtappointed special advocates and what they do for uh children in very difficult circumstances so Dearra if you can come up to the microphone just for two minutes thank you hello members of the committee and people of Lazy
Township um my name is Dearra Callahan i've been a commercial art teacher at Mammoth County Vocational School for 19 years and um a few years ago I decided to become a courtappointed advocate um for Ocean County after my cousin in San Diego was a CASA and she talked me into
it so um yeah and I was like okay let me check this out let me see what this is about and there's a need for CASAs and foster parents especially in Ocean County and so I applied and I picked a case 5 minutes from my house with the
child was a Ocean County resident i mean five minutes from my work I'm sorry up in Mammoth County because there is such a lack of foster parents in Ocean County it was a Mammoth County child was placed in Mammoth which was literally around the block from my job so um it was uh I
I got to write up reports and check on the child and I had to tell the foster parents I am just the voice of this child so we make sure that the child is you know adequately taken care of we um spend like an hour or more i actually
visited the child at school um and I actually became vetted to be his foster parent because the other parents gave him up so I did have him at my house for a few weeks and I vetted I'm still advocating for him to get more help and to use the resources so as a CASA I feel like you do more because you're an
outside view uh we're we might not be taking care of the child in our house directly which I did but we are actually the voice of the child so we ask them "How do you feel how's everything going how's school?" We go to the IEP meetings um there's so much that we could do and
the judges I met with Judge Einbinder and she let me know that out of all the children they spoke to their casa was the one person in their life that was constant you could stay with this case for years so it was really interesting
that my writeups went directly to the judge and I felt like this is really really helping and I wasn't directly there sometimes I'd be online because they would do it during school if they had to have court hearings so um yeah but they awarded me with a proclamation
and the tenant was lazy and thank you so much i I really was not expecting this so thank you mayor so and that's all I have to say thank you very much which I'm I'm super proud of it thank you when people like Deedra work with
families and do it for no charge debt and keeps a kid out of the system it saves a lot of money over the years and and it helps a kid thank you for what you do item number one proclamation for child abuse awareness and prevention month
whereas children are our nation's most vulnerable members and where and as well as our nation's most valuable resources helping to shape their the future of Lacy and whereas positive childhood experiences like loving caregivers safe
stable and nurturing relationships can help mitigate trauma and negative impact of adverse childhood experiences to promote social emotional and developmental well-being of children and whereas childhood trauma can have long-term psychological emotional and physical effects throughout the
individual's lifetime and impact future generations of their family and whereas childhood trauma including abuse and neglect is serious problem affecting every community in the United States and finding solutions requires input and action from everyone and whereas
children who live in families with access to concrete economic and social supports are less likely to experience abuse and neglect and whereas prevention is possible because of the partnerships created between Prevent Child Abuse New
Jersey families prevention advocates child welfare professionals education health community and faith-based organizations businesses and law enforcement agencies and local and state and national governments and whereas we acknowledge that in order to solve the
public health issue of abuse and neglect we must work together to change the hearts and mindsets through storytelling and sharing center the needs of families break down bias and barriers and inspire action from expected and unexpected
partners in prevention and whereas we're committed to advancing equitable responsive and effective systems that ensure all children and families are healthy and thriving and whereas we recognize the need to prioritize children and invest in more prevention
initiatives like home visiting uh and family strengthening policies economic supports and community-based child abuse prevention programs at the national state and local level now therefore I Peter Curyo along with the township
committee of the township of Lacy on behalf of myself and the town township committee do hereby proclaim the month of April 2025 as National Child Abuse Prevention Month in Lacy Township and we urge all citizens to recognize this month by building a narrative of hope
for children and families through collaboration and the creation of an ecosystem of primary prevention please come up ladies Club uh we'd like to thank you for u our request for the for the proclamation the Women's Club of Lacy has been active in
the township for 60 years um doing many pro um projects to benefit children throughout our community and along those lines we just want to let you know that um on Sunday the 30th um this the uh general um the state women's club has
selected the New Jersey Children's Alliance as their charity this for the next two years and the Women's Club of Lacy will be hosting a hobby fair down at the Charles A smith Community Center where we have 30 hobbyists coming in to show their wares and we hope that um we
will raise money to uh contribute to this to this cause what are the hours for that yeah we're going to be there between 10 and 4 admission is $5 so please bring the kids and the grandkids and your admission ticket um will give you one uh chance at any raffle basket
that the vendors provide and we hope to see everyone there fantastic thank you we'll put on our board you want to take a picture with them yeah sure let's take a picture okay what is he doing move the microphone and we get ladies come on come on yes come on get up here
come on come on get up here you all came out tonight you all get your picture taken of course yeah sure you want them to face the other way then right you want them to face They're going to be facing that way they're
going to be facing that way okay okay i was supposed to say she was getting the wrong side yes no i'm trying not to I'm trying to Oh gosh i came up too early you guys look like you're misbehaving
your head's down we are we are my team up here interrupted me watching my baseball great item number two recognizing National Library Week whereas libraries offer the opportunity for everyone to connect with others
learn new skills and pursue their passions no matter where they are in life's journey whereas libraries have long served as trusted institutions striving to ensure equit equitable access to information and services for all members of the community regardless of race ethnicity
creatability sexual orientation gender identity or socioeconomic status and whereas libraries adapt the ever to everchanging needs of their communities developing and expanding collections programs and services that are as diverse as the populations they serve
whereas libraries are accessible inclusive places that promote a sense of local connection advancing understanding civic engagement and shared community goals and whereas libraries play a pivotal role in economic development by providing resources and support for job
seekers entrepreneurs and small businesses thus contributing to local prosperity and growth and whereas libraries make choices that are good for the environment and make sense economically creating thriving communities for a better tomorrow and whereas libraries are treasured
institutions that preserve our collective heritage knowledge safeguarding both physical and digital resources for present and future generations and whereas libraries are essential public good and fundamental institutions in democratic societies working to
improve society protect the right to education and literacy and promote the free exchange of information and ideas for all and whereas libraries librarians and library workers are joining library supporters and advocates across the
nation to celebrate National Library Week now therefore be it resolved that I Peter Curollola Mayor Blazy and our township committee proclaim National Library Week April 7th through 13 2025 during this week I encourage all of our
residents to visit their local library and explore the wealth of resources available [Applause] uh thank you so much uh Lacy uh committee members and also Lacy residents uh for those of you who may
not know me my name is Chris Sinatori i'm the adult information services librarian for your local branch the Lacy branch um additionally this year is our centennial 100year celebration yes we made 100 years yay not county give it up
um and as Mayor Co said um our library system is vast we cover 21 locations in Ocean County and um in this centennial year we'll be having multiple celebrations in fact um in April on April 4th we'll be having a health and
wellness fair from 1:00 p.m to 400 p.m um for Lacy residents and members of the community if you want some health and information resources and then also Thursday April 10th we have a Polynesian luau group coming to the Lacy branch it's a all ages program family of brand
a family event so bring kids childrens of all ages they'll be dancing and singing it's at um April 10th Thursday at 6:30 p.m at the Lacy branch and again I thank you the Lacy Township Committee for supporting the library we appreciate you recognize all the efforts that we do it's a joy and a pleasure to serve our
residents and provide the informations and resources that they need so thank you thank you Chris [Applause] thank you thanks Chris appreciate it mayor let me let me jump in here a
little yes sir um as I am the commissioner of the Ocean County Library the chairman of the Ocean County Library System uh our libraries are the best in the world and I was mad about two years ago I think it was um we were up for the
best library system in the country wow and we lost it to one of the counties that's directly north of us so that didn't sit too well with
me but this is our centennial year and we are rolling out the red carpet there's going to be a big gala in September uh there's every library is charged with putting on events we've are fortunately we've gotten some money to
do all that but I do want to talk about our president who is a good man and does a lot of things but he has gone after the library money from the nation and if you really want to think about it the libraries throughout the nation are
supporting the school districts with the reading and writing if you go to our library at 3:00 in the afternoon what do you see tutors with the kids there and in the mornings you see the senior citizens there reading the newspapers it's not
just the library it's not back the stacks anymore it's a cultural place to meet and so we're I think we're going to be doing something with the library commission writing a letter to that uh to to keep the money flowing um we we we're fortunate here in Ocean County is
that the county commissioners how long ago was that they put the tax in 20 years ago 20 years ago if you notice on your tax bill little part of it don't get mad there's a little sliver of it that
goes to the libraries and we fight over it every year to keep it as low as possible but then at the same time we have to say what we're going to be doing with the money so go visit our libraries visit anybody there's a new library going in down at Sta uh Stafford go down
there that's opening up soon uh I don't know the exact date they haven't told me where I got to show up yet but I would suggest everybody get down there and see it it's it's from what I'm understand it's beautiful i haven't been down that way in a while but just go ahead and do that and our Lacy Library in my
opinion by far is the best of the 21 libraries thank you so much do great work with that library commission thank Thank you sir item number three zoning board of
adjustment annual report as required by the municipal land use law the zoning board of adjustment is obligated to send a report to the planning board and the governing body with regards to the cases that they heard in the previous year zoning board meets 12 times a year um which is once a month they had a total
of 26 applications submitted in 2024 before the board of those 26 applications 17 of them were heard all 17 of those applications heard by the board were approved and one application was I should yeah actually six one 16
were heard one was application was not heard and was denied the applications heard by the board including those carried over from 23 included a total of 25 variance requests comprised of 20 C type or bulk variance requests five DT type variance requests no appeals
interpretations or applications for certification of nonconformity were received in 2024 for 2024 the number of underside law applications heard was reduced to seven applications compared to a total of 12 applications in 2023 in 2022 the board heard a total of eight
undersized lot applications and in 2021 13 undersized lot applications what does that these reports do this guides the planning board and the governing body as to where we need to make adjustments in our zoning code and what we need to do with our master plan for the future based on some of the requests that we're
seeing coming before our board members in order to um make either lots conforming or non-conforming for buildable uh bu buildability so it's submitted on behalf of Irene Gasparian who is our zoning board um secretary
thank you thank you we have a motion to adjourn move it second all in favor i move on [Music]
to guys want to slip on out you can you can slip on team observance thanks for being here ladies good to see you bye thank you thank you nice to see you again robin it's getting to be pickle ball time around here weather's finally going to
break hopefully yes the blue weave something there folder um I don't know on the front
thing if it's um anything for them i was just going to say I'll see them tomorrow okay township committee meeting statement adequate notice of this meeting has been given in accordance with the Open Public Meetings Act pursuant to public laws of
1975 said notice was advertised in the Aspbury Park press in the beacon and was posted in a bulletin board showing the time and place of the meeting we'll have a salute to the flag and a moment of silence to the flag of the United States of America and to the stands one
nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all there you go thank you item number one first reading ordinance 2025-06 vacating a portion of Plumstead Avenue an ordinance of the Township of
Lacy County of Ocean State of New Jersey vacating all of the rights title and interests of the Township of Lacy in a portion of Plumstead Avenue this is to the adjoining property owner 720 Lacy Road move it second Mr kenn yes mr mcdonald yes mrs juliana yes
mr la yes mayor yes item number two first reading of ordinance 2025-07 establishing a cap bank an ordinance of the township of Lacy County of Ocean State of New Jersey authorizing to exceed the municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish a
cap bank in accordance with NJSA4A 4-45.14 this is part of our annual budget process this is um an ordinance that we adopt every year and essentially it allows the township to bank and then use um certain appropriations in future
years the state uh sets the cost of adjustment second mrs juliano yes mr mcdonald yes mr catis yes mr la yes mayor yes item number three second reading of ordinance 2025-05 amending chapter 309 entitled
towing and storage ordinance to the township of Lacy County of Ocean State of New Jersey amending and supplementing various sections of chapter 309 entitled towing and storage second reading open the floor seeing none make a motion to close it second all in favor i move it
second mr mcdonald yes mr hennis yes mrs juliano yes mr ray yes mayor yes item number four resolution 2025-115 opposing Senate Bill S1408 resolution to the township of Lacy
County of Ocean State of New Jersey opposing Senate bill S1408 which would preempt municipal zoning authority and mandate the conversion of certain commercial properties to mixeduse developments this would be for office parks um of at least 50,000 square feet and retail centers of at least 15,000
square feet uh that have a vacancy of at least 25% they could be converted to mixeduse development regardless of any local zoning laws move it we're opposing this we're opposing this opposing it this is coming out of the state and it would circumvent
us at at the planning or zoning board so we're opposing it correct move it second Mr mcdonald yes mr kenn yes mrs juliana yes mr la yes and I just want to say I know a lot of times people like to uh get a hold of your congressman and stuff
like this this is one of them times that we're not only do opposing this for this town but for a lot of neighboring towns because they got issues bigger than ours when it comes to vacant uh malls and stuff like that cuz put it in simple terms take something like the shop right
mall if 25% of that roughly between 25 and 40% depending on what they come up with the state can step in because of the vacancies that high go over our heads and turn it into mixed use which then it could be made
into housing whatever they decide over top of whatever the town says and this is if I believe it's right it's already made it through one part of Congress in the state it's up to the other so if you reach out to any of your local
congressmen or senators this is something that really needs to be opposed because this is taking it totally out of the hands of all the communities and yes thank you Mayor Kau yes and I I
want to add to that if you've never supported anything in the last several years when I saw this come across our desk you always pay attention i'm not saying this came across at a four o'clock press release on a Friday of a holiday weekend but you pay attention to this stuff this is taking regard you
know there's pe different people here as many different people are are in this room right now that's how many different points of view we have we got to stand shouldertoshoulder with this is our town this our turf and somebody can't come in here some bureaucrat from Trenton who
learned in the halls of academia and got items and thoughts in their head from a a socialist uh lab uh at some university or a faculty lounge to come and tell us what to do with our land is your land it's our place you want to have control
over it you have you want to have a say about it this is a very serious thing and I would get in touch with anybody I could to help advocate for us thank you for listening item number five resolution 2025116 expressing concern and frustration over JCPNL resolution of the
Township of Lacy County of Ocean State of New Jersey expressing the concern and frustration on behalf of the residents of the county of Ocean following numerous and lengthy electrical service outages affecting various municipalities within the county of ocean um it's happened here and in some of our
neighboring municipalities where there's been a lot very numerous and long outages that pose a huge risk um for health and safety especially to our senior population second Mrs juliano yes mr mcdonald yes
mr pennis yes mr ray yes mayor Kurt yes item number six resolution 2025-117 certifying compliance with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission resolution is a township of Lacy County of Ocean State of New Jersey certifying governing body compliance with the
United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's enforcement guidance on the consideration of arrest and conviction records in employment decisions under title 7 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 this is an annual resolution and it is required um to comply as part of the budget process
move second mr mcdonald yes mr kennet yes mrs juliano yes mr lay yes mayor yes item number seven resolution 2025-118 authorizing the self-examination of the municipal budget resolution of the township of Lacy County of Ocean State of New Jersey
authorizing the township of Lacy to assume the responsibility of conducting the annual budget examination by law every number of years the state allows municipalities to do a self-exam and we are in the self-exam process for this period move it second mr mcdonald yes mr kenn yes mr juliano
yes mr lay yes mayor Ferto yes item number eight resolution 2025-119 introducing the 2025 municipal budget resolution of the Township of Lacy County Election City New Jersey introducing the local municipal budget for the Township of Lacy for the fiscal
year 2025 general appropriations for municipal purposes is 40,210,665.71 reserve for uncollected taxes is 1,653,36529 total general appropriations is $41,864,18 less than anticipated revenues is
$18,930,121.92 an amount to be raised by taxes for support of the municipal budget is $22,933,8968 so with all that being said um for a home assessed at $300,000 uh the homeowner could expect to pay an additional $91 annually in their taxes
um which would come to $7.50 per month for the year of 2025 move it second mr do you have anything to add to any of that i gave everyone a just like um some information that I feel like you might want to see today so
it's just a comparison between the prior year's budget and this year's budget you'll see we're down um overall 3.3 million but that nothing to worry about that's just grants nothing to talk about there it's just through the year I'll be chapter 159 grants as they come through
um and if you remember last year we got some pretty sizable grants from the county so that that's happened there but you'll notice um between the prior year and this year's revenue I had to use 14% more to um support this year's budget however that was in anticipation from
last year you I utilized less knowing that we were going to use a $1.1 million um was extra state aid extra energy receipts tax i don't know why you want to call it so I don't call any of it state aid but uh it was a oneshot revenue that I knew was not going to be
here this year so I anticipated for that last year which that's why you see a higher there um overall I'm still on target i use about 11% of surplus to support the budget and that's exactly where I would be if you um averaged it out um appropriations salaries and wages are
always up other expenses you know uh if if you're having the pain at home we're having the pain in the township everything's increased the uh drivers of that are always the same in in my eyes health benefits general liability workers comp
um the landfill went up again um on the tonnage end of it and in the contract to just haul it off um you know commodities in general electric is going up um legal and engineering that's basically what's driving some of the increases there um
next page was the tax rate so overall it's three cents that's that's the increase on the um residents what does that mean the next page is very um indicative of what I would take uh
homeowner you know what your average is amy just said 300,000 but let's use 400,000 you're going up $121.37 or $10 so still a very small increase for everything you guys um supply here I
think in the township the next couple pages just some slides and overall picture of what it looks like to support the budget the revenues um most of it is coming from your taxation 55% and then the rest is just um made up of the energy receipts
tax surplus and miscellaneous feeds and plans and if you just turn to your appropriations um employer costs I think that's in business anywhere it's any township it's anywhere you go that's that's basically
what's built up of anybody's budget so between your salary and wages your health insurance and um the stat statutory expenditures which is your social security wages that you would pay um over your pension costs um
anything related to that that's that's 63% of your rest is the operating uh debt service and miscellaneous um capital improvement stuff like that but you get a good picture of of how it breaks out there
um and that's that's really all I have to say for tonight if you have any questions the public hearing on this budget is April 24th and that evening we need to change our meeting to 3:00 in the afternoon due to a conflict at the governing body all needs to be at that evening at 6:00 so
again April 24th at 3 p.m we needed to keep it on the same date to keep everything in line with the 30 days between first reading and second reading of the budget this will be posted to the website um tomorrow once all signatures are complied with great job Linda great job
thank you for everything you and Veronica fantastic you explained it very well thank you can I please have a motion second mr mcdonald yes mr kenn yes mrs juliano yes mr lang yes mayor Ker yes m number nine resolution 2025-120 providing for an emergency
temporary operating budget resolution of the township of Lacy County of Ocean State of New Jersey providing for emergency temporary operating budget in accordance with provisions of NJSA4A 4-20 this is just to extend our temporary budget that we have in place uh just to get us through the next few
weeks before regular budget is set move it second mrs juliano yes mr kennis yes mr mcdonald yes mr laay yes mayor Kel yes item number 10 resolution 2025-121 authorizing an amendment to the existing deferred compensation plan with
Corebridge Financial resolution of the Township of Lacy County of Ocean State of New Jersey authorizing an amendment and adopting a change to the existing deferred compensation plan with Corebridge Financial this is due to um IRS regulations uh so we need to update our current plan move it second mr
mcdonald yes mr kenneth yes mr yes mr la yes may yes item number 11 resolution 2025-122 authorizing the township administrator to be the official representative US uh for US Department of Housing and Urban Development
resolution of the Township of Lacy County of Ocean State of New Jersey authorizing the township administrator to sign the application as the official representative of the Township of Lacy for the US Department of Housing and Urban Development Economic Development Initiative Community Project Funding Grant this is for the um grant that
Congressman Smith's office secured for us in 2024 with regards to the third phase and the southside of the railroad right ofway extension road whereas the federal government is um granting us a loan forgiveness it's not a loan it's a grant of $6 million to complete that project so we are through the executed
grant agreement phases on this we are now in environmental review and I'm hoping sooner than later we will be able to spend the money actually happening move it second Mr kennis no yes mr laay yes mr mcdonald yes mrs juliana yes
mayor Kurt yes it number 12 resolution 2025-123 awarding a contract under the community block development grant housing re rehabilitation program resolution of the township of Lacy County of Ocean State of New Jersey awarding a contract to SGI contracting LLC under the terms and conditions of
the community development block grant to provide a housing rehabilitation program move it second Mr mcdonald yes mr kenneth yes mrs juliano yes mr laray yes mary Keruto yes item number 13 resolution 2025-124 authorizing a change order
under the CDBG housing rehabilitation program resolution of the township of Lacy County of Ocean State of New Jersey authorizing a change order under the terms and conditions of the community development block grant to provide a housing rehabilitation program move second mr mcdonald yes mr kennet yes mrs
juliano yes mr larra yes mayor Kto yes item number 14 20 uh item number 14 resolution 2025-125 authorizing a change order to the agreement with R kmer and Sons Marine Contractors LLC resolution of the
Township of Lacy County State New Jersey authorizing the execution of an amendment to the contract with R kmer and Sun Marine Contractors for the Lakeside Drive bulkhead replacement project this is for um electrical system upgrades move second mr mcdonald yes Mr
kenneth yes Mrs juliana yes Mr lay yes Mayor Kola i just want to have you note here that this is all for properties that are being funded by the county of Ocean through the American Recovery uh program the county of Ocean has granted
us $1.5 million to do this part of the project and hopefully uh come the fall of this year we will be s doing the other side of those municipal docks thank you item number 15 resolution 2025-126 authorizing execution of a
grant agreement for the municipal alliance program resolution of the township of Lacy County of Ocean State of New Jersey authorizing the execution of a grant agreement with the county of ocean for the municipal alliance program second Mrs juliano yes mr laay yes mr
kenn yes mr mcdonald yes mayor Kl yes item number 16 resolution 2025-127 authorizing the filing of a municipal tonnage grant application resolution of the town of Lacy County of Ocean state of New Jersey authorizing the filing of a municipal recycling
tonnage grant application with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection moved second mr mcdonald yes mr kenn yes mr juliano yes mr laay yes mayor Ker yes item number 17 resolution 2025-128 authorizing the premium on tax
payments in lean in tax lean certificates to be turned over to the township treasurer resolution of the township of Lacy County of Ocean State of New Jersey authorizing the premium payments on tax lean certificates be paid be turned over to the township treasurer to become part of the funds of
the municipality in accordance with the provisions of NJSA 54.5-33 move it second Mrs juliano second yeah Mr kis yes uh Mr mcdonald yes mr laray yes mayor Keller yes item
number 18 resolution 2025-129 reappointing a municipal court judge resolution of the Township of Lacy County of Ocean State of New Jersey reappointing Benjamin H may the third as municipal court judge for the township of Lacy move it second mr r I'm sorry Mr
lay yes mr kennet yes mr mcdonald yes mrs juliana yes mayor K yes item number 18 resolution 2025-129 reappointing a boy-130 appointing an alternate member to the board of health resolution of the
township of Lacy County of Ocean State of New Jersey appointing Al Don Pier as alternate number one on the board of health for the township of Lacy move it second mr mcdonald yes mr kenn yes mrs juliano yes mr lay yes mayor yes item number 20 resolution
2025-131 authorizing 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 second Mr mcdonald yes mr kenn yes mrs juliano yes mr la yes may
yes item number 21 resolution 2025-132 authorizing the payment of township bills resolution of the Township of Lacy County motion st New Jersey authorizing the payment of township bills sorry this is in the amount of 994,654.60
took a pause move it mr mcdonald yes and I'll abstain on T0035 mr pennis yes mrs juliano yes mr laay yes mayor Gle yes item number 22 motion to approve caucus meeting minutes for
March 13 2023 move it second all in favor i item number 23 motion to approve township meeting minutes from March 13 2025 move it second all in favor i item number 24 motion to approve executive session
meeting minutes for March 13 2025 move it second all in favor i item number 25 motion to approve auxiliary membership in the Lenoka Harbor Volunteer Fire Company for Diane Mel second all in favor i
comments from the committee this evening deputy Mayor Kennes thank you Mayor just one comment this evening i just want to announce that um that the Lacy Township Environmental Commission Carol it will be sponsoring a uh Lacy Lakes cleanup on
Saturday May 31st um from 9 to 11:30 um uh we ask you to pre-register through the recck department um online and um bags and gloves will be supplied so I encourage everybody to come out and help clean up the leaks that's my comment
mayor thank you so much Committeeman McDonald thank you Mayor um the last two Saturday nights I've spent uh at the captain's in uh celebrating the induction ceremonies for River Fire Department and Lok Harbor
Fire Department and it's always a good time um and those guys for free put their lives on the line when they go out that door so uh it's well it's well worth that um just on a funny
note here uh I got an email today as you know I do taxes and I got an email today um that if you are owed money from the federal government because of taxes from 2021 you have till April 1st to claim it
or it's gone so that's all I have mayor thank you for those comments committee woman Juliana thank you Mayor um on a as far as our firemen our volunteer firemen they had 15 calls alone this um like for
the last three weeks so just to give you an idea how fast and how much they're going out a lot of them are um I don't think so you know a matter of different things here whether it's a a boater in distress a fire alarm or MV stop that
turned into an accident there's there's a lot of things they're out there doing for us our firemen so we should always be very appreciative also tomorrow is our senior lunchon at the community hall um starts at 12:00 she also asked me Heather Scallion
from the Municipal Alliance asked me to um talk about a health and wellness activity fair that she's having on Thursday um April the 3 from 5:30 to 7:30 it'll be at the high school and um there's it's got a lot to they're giving out and
they and they promote it through actually um talking about different things as far as your health choices and there'll be activities for them to do to to learn about what maybe they should do to help them you know for better health situations so it's a a good cause i'm
going to post it on Facebook so that everybody can see it and also I just wanted to put this out there again the Lacy Township PBA is having a bicycle safety rodeo on May 31st 2025 just something to keep on
there if you got grandchildren children whatever just put it on your calendar and come out for it'll be at the Lacy High School parking lot is from where I understand it's going to be so that's all mayor thank you thank you Committee committeeman Laray well first of all I want to thank uh Tim
for his comments about the library and and what the commission's doing and it's it he did a beautiful overview of uh the hundred years of uh our library and it's great to see that we're in the standings we are one of the things I w wanted to touch on is one of the reports that
we're in in tonight the board of adjustment uh which is the other arm of the uh land use you have the board of adjustment and the planning board there's a few of us up here that's got 20 plus years experience between the two
boards and I know a lot of people wonder what's going on in in town and different things like that when you add up Veronica's numbers and look at the report there was 41 total variances in 2024 which is a big decrease from what
it was back in the 80s and 90s i remember when I was on it where we went from one instead of having one meeting a night to two meeting a night and they were till 12 1:00 in the morning and we went through hundreds of variances a year so it shows how the town's getting
built up there's not as much land there's not as much stuff coming forward so it's getting tougher and tougher to manage manage the land that we have left with that said that's why it's very important the comments I made before on that on that uh bill
S1408 this is another uh thing that the state is wants to take out of to and this is not just here this is going to affect the whole state once when they start wanting to override our local zoning and land use boards and
make these decisions and like I said that's why I use the example of like the Shopright mall or even like where Kohl's is if one of them stores go out and they reach a percentage if this bill passes we don't get a choice in whether it's turned into
multi-use the state does they override you and is and then everybody comes up and they're mad at us of course but we cannot beat the state so it's imperative if you know anybody that you can reach out to talk to that uh we follow through
on this this past week uh myself Tim Veronica we did have the opportunity to meet with the school board finance committee uh this is the first time we've met this year um we've
been uh wanting to set up a meeting for a while now at the referendum's behind us uh many topics did come up we want to stay better in tune with what's going on over there even though we have no say but we want to have a better line of
communication between us and them so we know what's going on because as we know the state is not our friend and believe it or not Lacy is not the worst district with cuts but since
2018 the state has cut $14.1 million from our school budgets the last two years was over three million each so yes everybody has ideas on how
to tweak but when you get hit with those type of numbers there's almost no recovery and when you do something sometimes it's only a one-time fix so we're all very aware of this we're trying to stay on top of it
uh you know brainstorm you know back and forth but uh it's a very very serious issue and I know everybody blames it on you know Ocean County Southern Jerseyy's Republican well in the last couple years the state has not picked which ones it
goes after so now it's affecting Republican districts and Democratic districts so here again we're lobbying all our legislators and everything else because they're not even even the budget that formula they put forth that they give you to work your numbers when you
work your numbers you're not even getting that number so the state's not even standing behind what they tell you your formula is to move ahead i want to thank Veronica because I know she did a great amount of work which we weren't
Yeah you'll get your chance um with this uh housing and urban development grant that 6.1 i know she did a lot of work with this and a month ago we weren't sure if we were going to see it when you know we got the pretty
much blanket statement the grants and funings were going to be cut and we're like oh where's this one going but luckily looks like we're getting it so thank you and like Tim said you know we we all got to attend the uh installation
dinners of the firehouse the last uh two weeks Fort River Wuka Harbor and as if everybody doesn't know Bamber has now become part of Fort River so they weren't left out they just happened to consolidate with Fort River and with that I just want to thank all the
volunteers from the bottom of my heart for the work they do at no charge to this township that's it mayor great report thank you very much um I want to start some uh short comments tonight uh with stating the obvious and that is elections have consequences anybody
that's read uh anything in any part of the news media in the last week the thing that jumped out at me along with this bill 1408 to take land use decisions away from every local municipality uh was Governor Murphy um in in his mind
somehow has cognated that um uh when you get your utility bills it should you should pay what you should be able to pay so depending on your income bracket uh we it will be what you're charged now I don't know what bureaucrat in a dark
room in Trenton is going to decide what these numbers are i'm saying this publicly and being recorded for all uh time because um you can't make this stuff up and it's the truth if you've read it and I re read it and reread it
and it was from a reputable source I think that is the punishment of success it is punitive and is uncalled for and uh it's hard to even wrap your mind around it so again these elections have consequences since the 12 years I've
been up here at every juncture um there's been a different party in the state house we have not really received not only no help and you just heard Committeeman Laray talk about the schools we haven't even received consideration it was difficult getting a
US senator down here to advocate for us with uh the plant and some other issues over the years so this has been very very difficult and I always say we can control what we can control we protect our house we can disagree in this room but we need to be coming together
because there are forces out there i'm not creating a phony fake boogeyman there are forces out there that at the very best don't have your best interests in mind it's our job to be that block to protect and uh I'm hoping that we do
that well i have a lot of respect for the people up here and their experience so uh in that regard I want to thank publicly our police department i was very fortunate enough and I don't like saying I there's no I in team that's the oldest cliche in the book so I I've been
out the last uh twice in the last 10 days just at our senior communities i want to thank publicly again the board of Seabbze for inviting me have to be invited to their meetings uh it was uh standing room only but for uh the consideration of our police department
our chief our captain our lieutenants our sergeant um too numerous to name they filled that room at Seabbze as they did at Feeasant Run uh we educated our there wasn't a person in that room that didn't learn something and and there's
some bright people in our senior communities um talking specifically about senior scams and how people are getting prayed on whether you're a senior or not so I appreciated that i I concentrated and talked a little about land use i let the professionals in law
enforcement talk about what they were going to talk to you heard my colleagues say that we swore in our installation dinners for our command staff for our fire department it's a great honor each and every year as well as the policeman's benevolent association wanted to support that blue out at CFRE
i know some of my colleagues were here as well and and again when I say I or you see something posted I am the face of the committee and that's temporary and I'm grateful for them to them and you for putting me here but I'm speaking on behalf of all of us all of us do hard
work uh all of us are here at these events um and we all support not only the township people but uh our our employees are blue are red our emergency services and our DPW W it's greatly
appreciated it's never a lot to overstate it and with that cop card program too last thing about the blue if you were able to have a child and see that Denton Avenue middle school the middle school on Denton Avenue to have that first impression
with a police officer have it so positive see those kids' faces i know committeewoman Juliana was there um she may have spent a little more time there than than I did but we just we took pictures together we loved seeing each other we loved seeing those police officers and for me I don't have little children running around my house anymore
i have kids off at college i got an empty house and it was just it's nice to see that stuff again and and I'll tell you how it matters one of the police officers um in our town um don't know if he needs to get Rice noticed or not his name is Mike Hutman and he told me he he
said "Hey mayor you know what i I I'm getting me memories here because I went to this when I was a little boy." That's right and I saw these little kids and you know I said to him "Mike you know what i just left my daughter i said "Come on out come on we'll go see the police officers." And she said "You you know you're bringing back these great
memories of when I was a little girl." So Mike told me the same thing mike's a little bit older than my daughter but it was it was just nice to hear it's an important program you want to build a tree you start at the roots have the cops have a nice interaction with those kids a little long winded i thank you for your time and I'll open the floor to
public mary before you open the floor yes sir this refers to the school board last meeting that Mr la Veronic and I attended um they brought up the fact I think this is important to get out that
the formula that they used this year they capped it they straddled it to a minus 3% to a plus 6% had they not done that Lacy would have gotten another $2
million for our school think about that they have straddled it you couldn't get you couldn't be less than three go down more than 3% but you couldn't go up more than 6% over the previous year had they left the formula alone we would have gotten
another $2 million and think about what our school district could have done with $2 million and this is this is coming out of Trenton and it's been going on since Governor Murphy took over because remember what he said he was gonna make
New Jersey the California of the East and we know that that California is an utter disaster and but when he leaves in January we'll all say New Jersey will say goodbye but we're going to look back and say New Jerseyy's a disaster we're
going to have to we're going to have to clean it up mayor that's all I have thank you for those that addended comments i forgot one thing other other than you just made me feel old myself yeah cuz Mike not intentional i know mike Hutman hung in my my house
with my kids all growing up so now I now I feel old but the one thing I did I did write down and I I I missed is this is my first uh township budget and since uh the beginning of the year when they started working on it
actually they worked on this uh they pretty much work on it for months even before the beginning of the year from what I've seen and how hard they work and I'll tell you one thing you got to really appreciate when your
CFO acts like it's her checkbook she's using to the budget he's tough so be thankful we have the people that we have working here all all our department heads from the top all the way down
because I'll tell you what they care they look out and we even look at some of our numbers compared to other communities i'm really really thankful and grateful for all the work you've done and I want to thank you for uh how much work was put into this
i thank you so much like to open the floor to public comment if we have any this evening yes sir mr martin ron Martin 44 Dunbury in Fork River uh as a member of the Seabbze community I want to thank you personally for the
comments that you made in front of our uh fellow residents truly appreciated lots of new information an opportunity to get a little closer to the police department and be able to ensure that we
remain good citizens of Fort River Lacy so thank you for attending it's an honor thank you thank you sir thank you yes sir just your name for the record sir my name is Domingos Vieiraa i reside at 14
Dolphin Court uh that's down off of uh um Parker's Point there's um large track of land there that used to be where former mayor John Parker used to live about 6 acres that's being developed with a bunch of new houses and I have no
issue with the houses going up there the issue that I have is that um that property uh is adjacent to a uh a channel that I've lived here now for 25 years along with many of my neighbors are back here behind me uh where our boats have to travel through a small
they call it a spur which is a channel that's part of the uh the center um branch of the forkid river and um it gets marked with day markers uh I don't know if it's a town that puts up the day markers throughout the season The
channel has gotten very tight the last time that it was dredged was in 2017 when all of Forkid River got dredged and I was in contact with um with the state about it uh there's a lot of stumps there's an old sunken barge and they barely were able to get it 30 ft wide
for navigable waters for safety navigable waters um so now we've uh those of us that are within 200 feet of that tract of land were the only ones that received um a letter indicating that they're applying to put 10 private docks sticking out
from that property out into that channel they need to by law to uh set the docks at uh minimum low low uh tide at 4ft depths which u they're also going to install boat lifts on the end of those docks and by the time they do this they're going to be out in the middle of
this channel uh behind my house is a 50ft boat that's uh needs a lot more than maybe 20 ft of width to safely navigate past either other boats that are docked or oncoming boats in opposite direction uh judging by my knowledge of
this uh channel and uh the condition that it's in these docks go up neither myself nor any of my neighbors uh and quite a few of them have no idea about this because they're not within 200 feet they didn't get a letter i've tried along with a couple of other my
neighbors to go up and down the street because there's probably at least I'm going to say 70 or 80 homes whose boats have to go past that property right up along that channel they're going to be affected so I've been in contact with uh I forget her last name Lady Genevese uh
she's in charge of the maritime routes in the state of New Jersey for Department of Transportation been in contact actually with uh one of her uh co-workers and uh another gentleman uh in Trenton who they've told me that
whatever they do it's going to have to be leaving a safe path for other boats to go through um the way these docks that they're pres that they're uh proposing to put there if they stick out as far as they're going to do it we're not going to be able to get past there
and I I've been living there for 25 years and that's my only path to get in and out of Fork River um if we try to if they put the docks forcing us out more it's what they call the mud line it's full of stumps because at one time they used to be all cedar trees they were all
cut down but the stumps are still there the uh the dredge was unable to go more than 30 to 35 feet wide in some points back in 2017 because of the stumps were damaging the dredge uh we barely got about maybe 30 to 35t widths in some
places there's a lot of zigzags uh they ran into the barge that's buried down there um it's an old wooden barge made out of some thick oak tim uh uh oak timbers and um I was out there every day in a small boat just monitoring the work
that was being done by the dredge so I'm very familiar with it i reached out to the engineers uh from the firm in uh Tom's River who did the drawings and are handling the proposal for those docks and he was unaware of any of the things
I was telling him about this uh channel the condition that it's in so um before you know the town and the state gives them permission to put these docks which by the way that property um has a 50-foot setback from the edge of the
water back as wetlands so these docks are going to have to have uh some kind of uh boardwalks to travel from the house through the wetlands out to the docks and it's a total of 10 of them in about an 800 foot length of channel uh
so there's a lot of things going on there with this that needs to be looked at very closely but the main part is that it's going to affect safe navigation which according to the uh department of the of uh I can't remember Miss Genevies's uh last name Clifton
clifton yes uh from her speaking with her um coworker i I didn't reach out to her but I spoke with her coworker in her office and he said that they can't impede on safe navigation for other boats to go through there i'm not going to be able to get through with my boat my boat it's a 50-footer with 15 foot
beam i have a 65-footer in Florida that is planning on coming up here to visit from time to time that boat is being used commercially uh with a captain and uh I don't see even anybody with a 20ft boat going to be able to go past these
docks cuz if they're going to stick out about 25 ft judging by these drawings and then they're the engineers said that they're going to put boat lifts at the end of every one of them that's another probably 12t 10 foot out beyond that they're going to be smack in the middle of that 30 foot wide channel it's not
going to work so a lot of now the the a big problem here is I haven't been able to reach out to a lot of the folks whose boats travel past that channel and they have no idea this is going on because they're not within 200 feet and the way the law says they only have to reach out to people within 200 feet which is me
i'm staring right at them and probably at least maybe I think only six or eight of us received the letter the rest of the folks have no idea that this is going on you might please i just want to say first of all just be very clear that the town has no say in this whatsoever
okay we we do not have any because it once it once it falls off our land area that's that's D all the way okay my suggestion is that I know uh I I read a little bit of what the letter said because I kind of seen one and I hope
that each and every person that got this letter has reached back out to the uh you know D the address that's there and let them know you're against this you don't think this should be happening you know it need you need to get everybody
on board with this okay but but anybody can put an They're not responding they can request okay excuse me one just one second we'll get you up here just one second go ahead what were you gonna say peggy's exactly right i'm the one up
here that's been a boater on this bay for over 55 years and I'm real familiar with your lagoon i boat off of Fort River it's a serious issue it is but at the same token the only thing I can
recommend at this point because uh I know in the beginning before you said that you know the town or the D issues permits the town don't have anything to do with this or issue the permits in this type of case besides the people the few people that got the letter within the 200
ft it's going to have to be a lot of leg work on the residents because I I agree with you a thousand% but you got to really you know whether it's your community as a whole right in that area or what start reaching out to all your neighbors and contacts and stuff like
this because you really got to make them aware because you read something there that is a problem all the time the people that's working in Tom's River on this aren't even aware of the issue
going on there and what's going on there so like I say this is one of the things I I agree with you a thousand% and I mean other than saying I agree with you and I'm wholeheartedly on it and I think it needs to be resolved there's not much I can do about it but I really think
because you got a serious problem down there with getting but you got to reach out and because that 200 foot letter that goes out for building that's just a land use requirement that was for that building as far as a D and stuff like that they got their own set of rules and
it's different than what the townships would be same thing yeah we um let me say something if I could sir you you know what what bugs me is you you are one of many in the in the past several years that have come up here and I'm I feel frustrated because
like my colleague said uh there's not much that we can do but I think it's incumbent on every state department you're going to lay down a law for our residents where is your ombbudsman where you you you folks are here some of you for the first time and
welcome why aren't there outreach why isn't there any outreach to you why isn't anybody returning your calls why can't you get in touch with somebody i think it's a disgrace and I'm going to drive out there i'll take a look there's won't be much I can do but maybe I can write a
letter maybe I can help you advocate it would be greatly appreciated we uh I I reached out to every phone number I could find online for the offices in Trenton and most of the numbers come back as they're no longer in use um I the only number that I was able to reach
one of the gentlemen in in uh Trenton um a lot of those folks are still work from home believe it or not it sounded like it it's when I was talking to the two two people I spoke with you can hear the background sound it sounded like they were home that is true um that's the
problem so it is Go ahead yes um very very familiar with this stuff um so um you know I know you're coming here looking for answers and and trying to get guidance but this again this is a state rule so it has nothing to do it's a state permit we don't issue the permit
not to belabor that point but um it's specific in what you have to do in order to to put in your comments or objections to the state you have 15 days to put in from receiving that letter to issue your comments you know for or against the project so I would suggest that um you
don't make calls and you do written you get as many neighbors as you can and and write as many letters as you can and send them to the address that's on that letter as quickly as you can well I I was surprised to find out the one I spoke to I'm trying to remember his name uh Mark something um in the uh
Department of Environmental Protection and Mark Davis mark Davis i spoke with him and I gave him the uh the D uh the number which is the application number that's on here he had no knowledge of it and I'd sent out certified letters to uh
according to the letters the this letter states you have to send a letter to uh the um oh it's the uh I don't have my glasses with me the something of Ocean County um
doesn't give a name but it gives you a title ocean County Supervisor yes Ocean County Supervisor so I tried to find out who is this no one can tell me who the Ocean County Supervisor is i would just advise you to send the letters to both these addresses or as quickly as you can
as many people as you can emails a lot of emails no they don't there's no email it's regular mail that's why I'm saying I know you're coming here looking for answers and what you know some guidance on what to do or what we have control over i would send as many letters as you can to to those addresses by you know it
has to be by regular mail as quickly as you can my suggestion my fear it's going to go to blind eyes and deaf ears because uh that land has been under environmental protection for probably almost two decades uh it was applied for uh for environmental protection which it
wasn't supposed to be used for anything and all of us in that area were told nothing was ever going to get done there during COVID shutdown when this office was closed Trenton was closed everything someone got a reversal where they were able to get permission to put buildings back there somebody had a lot of uh
power to get that done so my fear is because none of our efforts with trying to reach Trenton are being responded back to and And I'm speaking with Mark Davis he has no idea what's going on he's completely concerned about it from the conversation we had but I just worry
that the same way that they got that reversed out of being under environmental protection and put an answer i got an answer for you get your neighbors together sign a petition go to Senator Amato we all know Senator Amato he's a striden advocate for the people
of Lacy Township i know him personally and it's not just me we all do he will advocate for you i don't speak for our senator but I I know the man and I know the ninth district they have different liaons that work with if a constituent
calls a district office with a specific issue they have people that work with the people in Trenton depending on the issue it may be unemployment so they'll call the Department of Labor and Workforce Development whatever the issue is get your ducks in a in a row get your
items on paper go to Senator Romano senator Romano ha has those relationships in Trenton okay that's my best advice and get a hold of Simon Rump and the other offices they're in Man of Hawken
now they're all in the same office you got to come up when he's done sir yeah they're in Man Hawken now senator Armato's office will they keep the same phone number yes 6936700 you will be heard i promise you i I hope so i I moved down here with my family
and relocated from North Jersey 20 in 2000 enjoyed the quiet peacefulness back there in that spot where I live Dolphin Court and um I live and let live i you know I don't get involved in what my neighbors are doing just so long as
they're not throwing stones my way but in this particular case now this has gotten my attention that um if I have to bring in law firms from outside of Ocean County whatever I got to do I'm prepared and I can afford it i'll do it uh well we're going to open up a can of worms
and see how many snakes come jumping out of there is what's going to happen because then we'll dig back and see how far this goes but um they're going to wish they didn't meet me if they put me in that position but all they all I need to do is not be blocked from me and my neighbors being
able to travel past their the life that we moved down here for was a boating life to have live on the water and have the ability to use boats these docks the way they're going to do it if they get through if they get successful at it they're going to impede our safe travel through there and I'm going to do my
best to stop it uh whatever it is I got to do go talk to Senator i mean we're we're all very sympathetic to this for sure and the mayor's suggestion with Senator Armato because I'll tell you even when he was picked to
run for Senate one of the biggest things that impressed me about him was he's very passionate and knowledgeable about the waterways and this bay is very near and dear to his heart and anything his office can do for you they will do
that's that that's I mean Steve's idea write them letters hammer them with that Senator Motto because he is and what's nice is he's also on top of these topics like he might not be totally familiar with yours but he's when it
comes to the waterways along Barnagate Bay he's really on top of it so that that's really sounds like the person I need to speak to then i and I wait I just don't want to belabor the point and it's all good advice for what they're saying to go out and get other people involved get the letters out you have 15
days to do it follow those rules we sent the letters and got no response i assume that they're getting the letters but send the letters that's that's my advice sending letters what happens is when those letters are sent because the township makes applications and we um have a dredging application out right now to dredge various uh
channels with New Jersey DOT as our partner so again anybody within 200 feet of the state channel that we were going to dredge got these similar letters for our dredging project and we had several comments so the comments go to whomever at DP might not be Mark Davis is your
point person on this application we the applicant also get copies of those letters from the people that put in the residents or concerned citizens you don't have to be just because you didn't get a letter doesn't mean you can't write a letter so we do as an applicant get copies of those letters and we have
to justify and answer them as to you know what do you have to say about that and so the applicant's going to have to respond and maybe possibly make adjustments to his application or or and or it could get denied what I'm concerned is the what I'm concerned is the point that only a half a dozen of us
got the letters but there's almost a hundred of us we justffected that you've got to get in touch with your neighbors but that that's the point I was going to bring up is past the 15 days you know we couldn't Did you just all send at least the ones that did get it
everybody sent in I would still do my due diligence and have other people send letters and go to Senator Connor's office i would send all kinds of letters that's the concern I have because so many people who are going to be affected were not notified to have that opportunity to
send the letters you know it's not like we're looking at uh six houses who are going to stare at other six houses going up we're talking about traffic that has to come through there maritime traffic that we're not notified that that route that they leave their house to get to the Barneut Bay has to go through that
path it's going to be impeded but they didn't have the opportunity so those 15 days go by now what would their voices won't count letters i would still storm them with letters that's just my opinion i really would i would continue to write the letter
is that the notice he received is that the notice he received this is the notice it doesn't have the We have a copy you have a copy i'll read from this copy can't talk i I I would suggest highly because of the importance
of this that you do retain legal counsel and respond to this notice um just to preserve any rights that you have and you don't get it tossed because of some uh administrative regulation um and I
think in addition I agree with the mayor um that a petition from as many people that you can get as quickly as he possibly can get it uh to deliver it to uh Senator Motto because he can reach out to the commissioner of educ
commissioner of D and D on this matter um you know to kind of get you a little bit more of a a voice in a in it um strange thing was that I found that uh Mark uh Mark's uh office had no
knowledge of it as of when did I speak with him um see if he's not your lead person though he might not know about it there might be somebody else who does know about it who's the lead person on it is I'm just trying to say this is how those things can be done too you know
how many days past the 15 days do you can ask i don't have my glasses on me but you 15 days from RJ so it was the 23rd then okay but there were regular there were
letters that were sent but within that 15 days was a letter sent to DP yes okay was it sent by certified return receiver i did yep okay i would I would provide that u to your legal counsel but I would retain legal
counsel i re I really think that you should have that in your We're going to open up that can of worms well let me be open you know you you made a substantial investment where you live as well as other people that live along that area and I pay a lot of taxes so that tax and
your voice is important and just because someone comes in and builds on a property and they have their rights to it obviously but the the reality of it is is there's impacts that may not be viewed within the narrow scope of within 200 feet and I think the more people
that can be engaged hey listen if there's people are going to feel uncomfortable so be it but this is your your home this is your you know your investment And so you and I were treated as such thank you thank you for
just to add a little bit to Randy McMillan 48 Beacon Road just to add a little bit to what was going on i was here for the meeting two years or so ago about the development and they were going to build the houses and Okay that's fine you know you can't stop
progress we have to move forward but the agreement you said that day was they're not allowed to touch anything from 50 feet from the first route that comes out of the ground they're not allowed to touch anything that was the agreement that's what I heard and I walked away
i'm I'm happy with that they're allowed to have their neighborhood but you can't touch that property there's no way so whoever So I I would assume that would be planning would that planning or zoning yeah was that PL it was planning board but it was planning okay so so so
you know I knew we were going to lose i don't hear the owls at night anymore i don't see the foxes playing on the beach anymore i don't see the deer over there anymore this is my house right don't mess with it no that's all I got to say we're on board we're on board and that's
that that's that goes with I know the gentleman said opening up a can of worms this this is this is important enough to open up a can of worms you know state your name please james Sanford a Dolphin
Court thanks for copping out there's hundreds of Fork River residents that we elected you to represent what I'm seeing here is this i don't want to touch it city don't want to know nothing about it we can't do
nothing but yet those docks go in guess who's going to get more money tax-wise the city oh yes no no don't tell me waterfront repairarian rights do affect the property value you're talking $900,000 houses at a minimum going up there what
is this city going to get from those houses and property taxes what are the couple hundred residents that live on the river that the navigation is going to be disturbed we can't get the city of the C council to turn around the mayor
to contact the DP and say "Hey we got too many questions going on here we don't under fully understand what's going on how about we all have a meeting?" I did it with Mayor Sippelin in lower township you might want to ask him about me it cost him I cost him a
lot of money and D violations now my point here is is that we elected you to represent us we have a problem okay the problem affects not just six people a couple hundred people that use that
river i want to make a motion that the city council turn around and uh contact the DP contact Aria Properties and have a meeting with and not and post that meeting where the residents on the river
can come down and get educated we may not have a problem we may not we may find out there's resolutions in the work but everybody up here don't know nothing how do you not know what's going on on your river i mean it it blows my mind
because it doesn't come before us what well we get notified about it until you came up until you came up tonight well we did get notified about it we did there is a notification of it right but because it has we don't have control over D we're not involved with the D in
this part of it that doesn't mean it's right don't misunderstand me that I'm not telling you that it's I'm not saying you have control all I'm saying is request a meeting with your residents and the city council with the D yeah please i think the mayor had
already indicated that he's going down there to take a look at and and to see and get better knowledge of what was happening down there okay and I believe that upon his return based on what he sees and what he learns that he will come back to the township committee and
they will advocate on your behalf if they if they feel they need to advocate on your behalf okay so I think the mayor's already indicated that he's going to go down there all right and so they will the governing body will advocate where it needs to advocate so is there a problem with even requesting
a meeting with the D with the city no there's no problem whatsoever then how about does anybody want to second a motion I made well Robert's rules no it's not Robert no well I'm just saying I made a motion anybody want to second it here i got
people everybody over there agrees what and the governing body wants to work with the with with the I mean we're trying to make we're trying to make suggestions that you can do immediately right okay get you out of the environment get Okay
listen i don't want to be contentious we're trying to help okay and the mayor said he was going to go down he's going to take a look and I'm certainly forth with there'll be advocacy on part of this township governing body to help the residents that are down there to make sure that navigable waters are
maintained and kept open for all residents of Lacy Township okay so what you just told me was uh Mayor How do you pronounce it smith it's easy no Mayor Smith okay is going to come back at the next planning uh next city
council meeting and he's going to tell us what we found what he found i don't he he's not obligated to wait until the next township committee meeting he can he can he can send a letter as mayor on behalf of the governing body right to the D commissioner and request whatever
meetings are necessary okay does not need to have action of the governing body to do that well I'm just saying we're on a time we're on a time frame right so why wait until the next committee by the time we get a petition to get get it to our motto you know sir sir I'm trying to So okay that's why the
mayor has indicated that he would be going down to take a look to become familiar so that he can become an advocate on part of the township governing body okay trying to help trying to help in every way possible and the one thing the mayor is really good at and the whole board our meetings
aren't the only time we talk right right it's constant it's Saturday it's Sunday it's emails i know the you know short time he's been mayor this year he goes he does something almost immediately it's followed up with what he's seen
what his opinion is or what the reaction is we we're constantly emailing talking all week long not every two weeks just when we show up here so with what he sees we'll relay because unless if you
were paying attention which I know you were everybody up here is very concerned about this there's not even a question between us of whether it's an issue and I stated right in the beginning I vote that area i know it's an issue okay what
we can do we're going to try to help you with but we're not the controlling body o over this we under we we understand it and uh I don't think anybody disagrees with you so B let me finish it up if I
could i need people to talk me big boy i gave you the advice of Senator Amato because frankly he he weighs more than we do not literally but in the eyes of Trenton he is an authority that oversees many municipalities and he's a state
senator he has a direct line to the state department so he's put pressure on he's good i'm before the next meeting I'm going to go down there i will at least write a letter to Commissioner Lerette in the interim you got good
legal advice this is our attorney former mayor great reputation former senator Senator Armados um before Senator Motto won election was Senator Connors for many many years so my advice to you is be follow what he said with the
gentleman who preceded you uh at the same time concurrently I'll go down there i'll write a letter you'll be able to call 693100 to get in touch with me you could always send an email as Mr laray has said I mean 7 8 in the morning 6:00 in
the morning 12 at night i'm sending emails veronica will tell you no I understand so this is going to happen so you've got a game plan now you've got some people here you've got some leg work to do with other people that were out of the 200 foot zone at the same time I'll go down there and I want one
of your gentlemen to contact Senator Amato and we'll move forward from there that's a good game plan for a nighttime meeting that's not leaving here empty-handed trying to help you out okay all right all right thank you for your time thank you sir thank you
yes sir listen to Peter please he's a big boy he can handle it your name sir my name is John Kusky i live at 457 Dock Road uh I am not one of the privileged uh people within 200 feet uh I'm next to one of them fortunately
for me and the rest of us we did communicate quite a bit about this uh I'm concerned about one thing that I heard uh amongst what's going on here that the town has no control over any of
this and my concern about that is did the town not give the permits to the people who were building these houses and with saying within that that the privilege of having this permit is
that you cannot touch the wetlands that was part of the deal a deal that I'm told now I'm not saying it's on paper but this is the way it was presented back to us that yes we can't stop the houses but the town has given permits
for them to build if you gave them permits to build then you're included in this you're part of this so it I it just annoyed me to say well we can't do anything about it the wetlands I think you can the wetlands and the water are actually two separate distinction i
understand that once it hits the navigable water it understand but I also understand that you gave them permits knowing the knowledge of what could possibly happen and that they were not allowed to build in the wetlands you can't deny you
didn't know that on the uplands portion permit they had to come and get local approvals once it hits the navigable water it's outside our juris i understand that but again you had knowledge of the fact that they were not part of the deal was not to be able to
build on the wetlands that was part of them getting their permits two different things mr that's why there's a separate permit that's been requested it's not a building permit it's a permit to put the docks in and that's a different agency it's not a permit that's been issued no
no I don't think you do understand go ahead i'm sorry it's not it's not this township committee or any of its boards that gave a permit for what it is that they're seeking right now they don't have a permit from the town and if the town had the opportunity to give a permit it would probably deny it okay
all I'm trying to clear up sir is the fact that it was said that the town has nothing no awareness of this at all we didn't say that we didn't have an awareness sir we said that we have no control over what is being done in Okay then I then I misinterpreted what you said and I apologize but it didn't come
across that way to me the town has no jurisdiction but it has a voice okay and it can exercise it and it sounds to me like it it's going to well again I apologize if I misunderstood but you can understand my concern absolutely thank you very much we're on the same team
[Music] speak at the podium please only Mr senza [Music] regina Desenza Sunrise Beach um I have a question about item three the ordinance of chapter 309 entitled towing and
storage do you have prices on the towing and storage handy or do I have to look it up well if she has it handy it's better than me looking it up online the annual application fee is $500 mhm and you do mean like how much the actual
price for towing and storage daily first mile or less $200 each additional mile $5 really on a oneway charge maximum storage fee charges um secured outside or inside 20 to 40 spaces $50 per day that's interesting okay thank you and
then um by any chance were you ever able to find out how the drains got clogged at Home Depot underneath the Sunrise Boulevard extension from the rain no information because the MUA was going to look into it also no I have no information on that i just hate for the
township to pay some pay for something that might have been their fault that's the only reason I'm asking well it was you know what a hour or two on a Sunday there Sunday morning calling people out of their house it was in the roadway and we tried to backtrack it as
you noticed because you were using the roadway um into that to the one base or the one trying to Yeah catch basins that are in the parking lot to see and there was no clog at their end it wasn't no not the from what we can determine interesting all right well the weather
has been very windy and I'd like to ask everyone in town to please secure your trash and recyclables cover your cans please pick up what blows around the street and your property let's keep the town clean and green i'd appreciate it because I can only do so much in my
neighborhood thank you thank you Mr sunset any other comments this evening yes sir mr bick mr bender yes good evening good evening i got to adjust this i know how to do it
barry Bender southern end of Lacy Township um I'm going to do my regular spiel but I have a a question s1408 yes sir is it It's out of committee it had a hearing on Monday damn it
excuse me we already we we sent our our resolution in early just to get there for Monday so there there's going to be no other public hearings on this there's no assembly companion bill that has made it to committee yet so they still have to go through that side all right so yeah I think people need to be kept
alert what number that is but I just saw that posted a day or so ago so this is not a uh I mean it's out of committee in the Senate but in the Assembly itself i haven't gotten a follow-up to what happened on Monday there's been no posting of a follow-up right because when it comes to the assembly people
have to show up and speak because you say socialism I say fascism is what this is well that's the world go around yes absolutely um and a question with the folks back here why has there never been
a a voters's commission or something like that formed so that in a situation like this they have lists of people that they can email to immediately let everyone who owns a boat in the township of Lacy know that excuse me I'm going to
call it what it is nonsense is going on okay and they can get petitions signed really quick and get it out there and I I mean I know you guys with the 15 days the 200 people within 200 feet but we need something like that in Lacy Township just a recommendation anyway
I'm here to talk about Relay for Life may 31st Relay for Life uh we're up to 11 teams it would be nice if we can make it to 20 teams the last couple year we've been short of teams so anybody out there that watches the meetings please
if you're having interest in Relay for Life uh we need teams money is starting to come in um our goal for this year the American Cancer Society initially gave us a goal of $100,000 which I think once in the time
and this is my 16th year that we came close to uh so we talked to them the goal now is $40,000 so if we go past it that will be wonderful um as I said we have 11 teams anybody
out there who is a cancer survivor okay we have that survivors lunch every year i'm going to be talking to Fork River Butcher again it's good stuff one survivor and one guest you're welcome to come and join us on that day
that starts at noon the uh initial ceremony starts at 2:00 and for those who don't know we call it Relay for Life it's not a run you walk around the track and it's as you wish to but we go till 6:00 a.m on the following morning so
question yes sir did I read correctly that you may have a some type of partnership with Jersey Shore car shows absolutely they'll be there it's going to be a car show they And I They were at our meeting last night we had a meeting last night i tell you they'll get 200 cars there several well he asked me last night he
was asking where can we put the cars and so they'll be if you're familiar the softball field is there they'll be lined up there and going all the way around get a lot of people there that's the deal that's the deal so Yep yeah we appreciate having them as partners this year i actually have another question
because the last two years friends are starting to get married that time of year so I keep having a wedding that day right which I know I can't make the What time does the relay start this year it well the the survivor lunch starts at noon runs till
2 o'clock 2 o'clock is opening ceremony and then we go all night long till 6:00 a.m usually the last it earlier so I can make it because I as you know I am a survivor and uh Well you can Well what
time is the wedding we're there all night long you can come 1:00 2 o'clock in the morning we usually we have a tradition when you want to come after you're sitting in a wedding all night well we have a tradition of midnight Zumba so if you want to show up for midnight Zumba you'd be more than
welcome okay but the lunchon starts at lunch starts at noon yeah i thought it was earlier because I was going to try to do this and then Well here let's put it this way the last couple years we've had so much stuff left over if you come at midnight 1:00 in the morning we'll have
food for you we'll do it a proclamation too Barry great appreciate it i'll be there for sure all right thank you much thank you for Thank you for your time and that good cause any other comments this evening good evening good evening mayor council
and Lacy citizens i wasn't even going to speak tonight but I hear things and that come up so first of all it was great to hear the National Library Week proclamation as many people know that's been my life profession and we have a great library here in Lacy i mean I can
tell you I just did an inter library loan on a DVD a foreign DVD that they had to get from the New York Public Library and the girls over there got it for me within three or four days i don't know if they do that for everybody but I know for me they do it was like I mean
how quickly I'm talking about for every special well I know he's special but we do it for everybody so anyway public libraries are the people's university they're open to everybody people who don't go to college it's a place where a lot of people get the information that they need so it's like
we need to support them they're you know a great cultural asset for every community that we have in our country so salute our libraries and that's a great thing okay couple questions here um first a comment that uh Bob said about
the school's budget okay um they claimed that they lost $14 million in state aid but that's not really correct because during COVID they took $8.2 million to mask our children in the schools that was in 21 and 22 uh I'd like to really know what they did with all that money
because that wasn't even like part of their budget this was extra money that they got and they lied to us when they told us that they weren't getting any money to mask the children but when we did the research and we saw the grants there was a condition that you had to follow the the state's masking rules for the kids which was damaging to a lot of
our young young people too but so when you take that out they only really lost about um $6 million over the last seven years just so you know that's the real number okay um another question I had
was the shared service agreement that you have with the school can you put a dollar amount on what the township donates to our schools because we're act this is taxation that we actually pay that you services that
the township offers the school that they don't have to pay for and I would like to know what the dollar amount of that is can anybody come up with that what are you talking about the shared services agreement multiple five resolutions with numbers in them all of them with numbers in it yes okay but I'm
asking you off the top of your head do you know what the value dollar value is of those shared services not off the top of my head because there's multiple ones besides shared services that we do with other towns and other agencies yes I understand i'm talking about the school no I don't have them sitting here in
front of me i believe um so I I just because we just renewed I think two weeks ago the one for class 3es I think that's annually about $190,000 where they actually pay for it but we supply the employees okay because
by law that's how it has to be and I do believe they also so another shared service they wanted an additional crossing guard they paid $13,000 for that we supply them with garbage pickup and recycling pickup and that's about No no it's about
$150,000 a year for that yeah actually the numbers cuz I was looking into that okay in December we were up to between garbage and recycling was $178,000 okay that we cover for the schools right they at one time used to pay for that
right but we pick that up for them now right so that's and then we do a lot of other ancillary things like again they need a lift to change out lights we send our our ours over there i don't have dollar amounts for those little things but no I mean this is the thing about appreciation that I want people because
I was thinking about you know the township supplies services to the schools and they're getting their own tax entity which you know they're 60% of our taxes so this is actually more that we're indirectly from
what we're giving in our taxes to the township that's going to the school and I just want people to understand they may not even recognize that so I wanted people in our community to understand that also so um now on your budget I have a question so can you since you're
here I appreciate that uh what is the pension cost amount that the township is paying for the the coming year's budget you have two pension systems one for public employee retirement yes
employees work right 1,36,48 right and police and fire is 2,192,67 so is that like 3.6 million something like that it's 3.2 oh 3.2 okay somewhere around there all right all right very good now
health benefits increase what was that because last year I remember um 500,000 it was over 500,000 so what is the total cost for the health benefits for the employees for the township so we budgeted uh 6,253,000 6 million and the schools is now what
going to be 16 or 17 million because they're having the $3 million increase in theirs okay so all right thank you for that now debt service amount what is the debt service amount in the budget this year's is 2,623,64
okay and how much debt do we actually have on the books 24 million 24 million okay those are my questions thank you very much thanks any other comments yes ma'am hi Melody Prior 1619 with Comb Road
Frooid River um I just wanted to thank Regina Jennifer speaking about the garbage i can't tell you how many times I and I I've come from North Jersey so if any of you have lived up there I used to chase around garbage everywhere and I
when I finally came down here I'm like "Wow what a beautiful town." And slowly I've watched it disappear so uh between that and then chasing around everybody's garbage all all over the street I just don't want it to end up like where I had to where I came from and fought really
hard to buy a home here in this town made the mistake of buying it outright but you know these things happen we make mistakes but anyway so um if you could just keep doing what you're doing and try to keep control on the litter please I'd really appreciate it thank you thank you for everything you guys did thank
you any other comments this evening seeing none motion to close the floor second all in favor i do we have motion to adjurnn motion to adjurnn move it second second all in favor i we'rejourn no further
business no we don't