adate adequate notice mic mic on right adequate notice not on no [Music] okay good evening everyone thank you for
coming this evening as notice of this meeting of the Lawrence Township Council being held on Tuesday February 18 2025 has been provided through the posting of the annual meeting schedule of said Council in accordance with
Section 13 of the open public meetings Act said notice was forwarded to The Trentonian the times and the Princeton packet on December 19th 2024 my my in um honor of Black History Month of which we're still
celebrating um just wanted to give a quote one of my favorite um persons of all time Dr Martin Luther King Jr um this is a quote subject that he wasn't necessarily always known for but it's very important and very U pertinent
to today's society where he spoke about economics and he said their wages decent housing and Economic Opportunity these are what Dr Martin Luther King believed had economic
equality as the critical to achieving genuine genuine equality he advocated for fair wages peace and health an Economic Opportunity in his own words he said we can't solve our problems unless there is a radical redistribution
of Economic and political power we can have the plge you want the inspiration first yes may we carry out our work at this meeting in a just honorable and sincere manner always bearing in mind our duties
in continuing to keep Lawrence and a wonderful community in which to live I pledge aliance to the flag United States of America and to the for it stands
na indivisible liy and justice for all have the Mr here Mr Kaki here M Perry here Mr Ryan here mayor far here okay this evening we're going to have special
presentations starting with um special 2025 department head budget presentations beginning with Chief of Police Kevin reading Jun good evening Town Council mayor wisky Mr cek
ad good to see everyone appreciate the opportunity tonight uh first I'd like to introduce the Lawrence Police Command Staff we have Captain Joseph Le Lieutenant Mike Whitmore Lieutenant Sean
ston Lieutenant Dan gladney and Lieutenant RJ l I've given everybody the 2024 year end report it's a 54 page document uh pretty much detailing all of
2024 uh just review it at your leisure in the future reach out if you have any questions at all and absolutely I know there's there's a ton of information in there I know on the front it says prepared by Kevin reading but these guys did pretty much 99% of the
work so uh let me get into the presentation so I'm going to focus on areas that I feel that we can improve throughout 2025 and pretty much moving forward obviously a few things from 2024 but
that's kind of just to roll into 2025 currently the Staffing level of the police department in 2024 64 time swarm police officers one full-time uh special law enforcement officer one code enforcement as well
five full-time SLO 3s they're retired officers in our schools two full-time records clerks one full-time confidential assistant to the chief of police two part-time records clerks and one part-time property inhabitance clerk who does all our
digital some 2024 highlights we've had a very good timely replacement of retired officers the reputation of Lawrence Police has drastically improved in the county we've participated in some County initiatives the tactical response team we have an officer uh that helps out the
homicide task force we have detective who who helped out the computer crimes unit for the county we also have a detective that helps them and the mer County rapid response team where we have Lieutenant May who who is one of the uh the main uh main coordinators of the
unit we've improved our traffic communication this was all done through prior uh Chief Longo he created a traffic email where we receive a lot of information regarding traffic complaints or information in inside the township increased social media presence
60692 followers as of the other day the officer Spotlight which has been extremely extremely popular to give a real quick it's not only here a real quick example Kanan Smith his officer Spotlight the other day I know it had a lot of activity thousand likes but
looking at the algorithm there was close to 130,000 people who actually view Spotlight um so the the activity on our social media account is is has been pretty amazing um safety messages community events and increased
leadership training for for the Command Staff these are just some of the community events uh that we've participated in um National Night Out is a big egk Hunt's a big one trunk retreat's a big one um and a few of the others citizens Police Academy is
important um and we had our first open house last year so jumping into the first topic um one of the the main topics that I want to pretty much talk about is mental health and there's currently the arve
together program this program was started by the current New Jersey attorney general uh Matthew taken so there's been a memorandum of agreement that's been signed between Capital Health prosecutor's office and Lawrence Police not all mer County agencies are participating in this program but we are
we're participating it as because of the bottom line here any officer the the department that wants to participate has to have officers trained in critical intervention training we at lawence police currently have four certified officers and one certified instructor
who teaches on the county level to other surounding agencies that participate in this program so the initiative pairs Law Enforcement Officers with mental health workers to respond to mental health related calls uh we are currently a follow-up agency so they're not going to
respond immediately but they will respond within 24 hours it's just based on Staffing and it's a new program but it uh you know it's it's a great program so this was an important quote I thought by the Attorney General regarding a r
together in in in these times we ask Law Enforcement Officers to undertake roles they never expected when choosing to serve whether it's marriage counselor addiction specialist social worker and increasingly police are asked to act like doctors or psychiatrists determining what drug a person may may have taken or what mental health
condition they may be experiencing for a police officer that's difficult we're not we're not medical professionals we're professionals but not medical professionals so when our system is structured that the same armed officer responding to a robbery is also the government's answer to the emergency call of person in Behavioral Health
crisis it should come as no surprise that negative outcomes are are possible and and likely so what we do is when we have a mental health crisis we'll refer that individual to arrive uh together and they will do a followup whether it's
phone call or in person they will still do they'll do a followup and we have other resources available to us we have the the crisis center at fold we have mobile Outreach that will will come out and assist us um and at the bottom here I did put that
you know the response times for mobile Outreach can be 60 Minutes to several hours so it's not someone that's available immediately um and that does not include obviously the necessary time for the officer on seeing to evaluate and to to to transport anywhere so our mental
health calls for for service have went up in the last 10 years I remember the chief last year kind of had a a 15 or 20 year chart but you could see they've continued to go up this number this number 205 from last year very consistent with 2023 but the one thing I
did want to point out is how our cat system works that's 205 mental health related calls that are just documented as mental health so in the event that we have a domestic violence incident a disturbance a missing person uh a narcotic
case sometimes those cases there's there's a subsequent mental crisis associated with a missing person or things like that but we have to document it all way and a missing person takes precedent so we document it as a missing person um but there is sometimes Mental
Health crisis in in involved in that so the 205 is is really a bottom bottom number because that's just documented as mental mental health but to give you an idea disturbances 116 domestic violence cases
229 um 20 229 domestic disturbances 203 domestic violence cases 36 missing people 41 narcotics so when you start to add those couple hundred more there may be a 10 20% that that are actually mental health
related so as you can see mental health is is absolutely um it's definitely Rising uh the oo addiction is pretty similar from last year as far as uh noran issued by officers we had uh little a little lower
20 20 Naran deployed three fatalities last year and 32 overdose calls year before 36 33 nor and six St hours so it's it's a little lower but it's
still so this leads me into um Lawrence is in a very unique situation we have a class one officer his name is El Dasher he also helps out code enforcement El Dasher is known throughout the state based on his his
connections and his and mainly his training there's really no officer in the state of New Jersey that has this level of training and we have him here in Lawrence Township and here for Lawrence Police when you look at some of
these these these these training topics um mental health for first aid trauma Response Team um motivational interviewing neuros signs of addiction advocacy for black communities Crisis Intervention depression
anxiety this is very this is years and years work training um so I'm sorry my goal is to make him a full-time secondary responder to the officers that
go out to the scene when I explain that we have kind of a 30 60 Minute hour delay sometimes this would allow us to get started on services for mental health cases immediately within minutes he can once the officer termines that
the scene is safe Elwood can come and provide his resources his help he's not he cannot he's not GNA he can't diagnos but he can he has a lot of networking and connections and can start the process for us to get you know the
person the help that they need and the right the right resources and the follow-up resources followup with that and you know sometimes we have repeated people so he can develop a rapport so the goal is to make him a full-time CL officer assigned to L
police as a mental health applic the next topic is traffic obviously the goal Lawrence Township is always to keep Lawrence Township roadways safe in 2024 we had 12 1,239 crashes 246 injuries 14 pedestrian
struck seven bicycle one fatality 115 Outside Agency assist meaning State Police up on the highway or any roads at border Lawrence Township uh officers are helping with traffic because obviously some of our roads are affected and uh 417 dis cars whether in their shoulder
they're in the roadway it doesn't matter we used to have a uh we used to have a a dedicated Traffic Unit in Lawrence we do not a lot of this responsibility falls on the Zone officers so an officer working in zone will'll uh take the crash report um and
some of these are obviously when you look at any anyone with injuries pedestrians uh bicycl fatalities they're they're they're time consuming investigations they take a l time um last topic is body War cameras so
2025 I mean all officers in New Jersey are in in wearing uniforms of requiring wear body cameras we are currently in a in a 16-month program with axon we in year three of five of the program this is for Fleet and body warn cameras for the cars and for the officers um so any
encounter with someone body C obviously has to be recording so this is year 305 and it's 15500 so the 20 last slide 2025 requested expenses three additional police officers um touched on Mental Health touched on traffic and uh
community policing for us is huge so one day my my vision would be a community policing unit that would strictly uh handle all of those events that we talked about and even more and really you know get out there in the community
all day every day the class one also to assist full-time with followup Mental Health Services and act as a secondary responder supporting our officers and community members with expertise in social work there is there you know there's a very very small delay and he's
immediately start on the support services the last would be $5,500 in police barricades and Cones we do not have any barricades um this allows essentially for increased visibility during any traffic safety
issues any major events any motor vehicle crashes any natural disasters any type of emergency it allows more visibility for the officers to stay safe and for the the the public while they're driving to see what's going on
and um yeah keep everybody safe it's the go so that's the end any any questions at all just um with mental health I know that we talked about for respond
responding to events that occur um would it not support our officers um who due to tragedy yes so we the the police have have Support Services there's there's cop to cop and there's a few other um
support services that we have and there's a lot of officers we have resiliency officers here trained at Lawrence Police we have I believe two a sergeant and a detective trained and resiliency officers who can get started immediately and we have uh County
resources to uh that are involved in the cop toop program that come out of that we utied in the last few months Chief fren thank you for this um report I had a question when did we stop the
traffic um the dedicated Traffic Unit dedicated Traffic Unit I would say it's been so rough roughly 10 years 10 years Isa well I witnessed this morning a accident at WWA where we def he
definitely needed the barriers because his safety was in Jeopardy and the people that were involved only because you know how that parking lot is and there was no you know distinction so um definitely that's something that's needed
may may Chief ready uh thanks for the brief presentation thanks for the the absolutely evening read uh it's great to hear about all the good things that are going on right now um especially I think we're all fortunate um as Council and as a
community that you lead off your presentation not talking about crime stats and trying to bring them down but actually talking about mental health and sort of the next level of things so kudos to the department and sort of doing the basic stuff and then moving on
to to do the exra pieces appr yeah so I'm curious you know what your timeline is I mean you mentioned about wanting to S have a community unit at some point what what's kind of your timeline you know or Patrol Division or Staffing in
our Patrol Division takes priority obviously the calls that come in are part of priority um anything on top of that the extra you know becomes secondary so the I would have to really break down the the required
amount of officers that would be in Patrol and then the officers that we have in our detective Bureau and um that allows us to then do the the the the extra activities understood I didn't mean to put you on it's okay so uh
number wise I mean this gets us started in working towards that goal there's no doubt because my followup is also about the Traffic Division c one you know I think anyone who drives on Route One you know remembers the days when there was someone sort of keeping
the dump trucks and the people going on the right hand lane heading back across you know just wondering you know your thoughts on that so so so the the idea and I wrote this down here in my notes the the goal of a dedicated Traffic Unit obviously is to handle the
motor vehicle crashes um but be visible in the highly traveled areas and address any concerns that we get um you as far as parking concerns speeding concerns being visible on the on the streets that we're getting the most complaints we
also do we do have a the initiative that Chief Longo started three streets initiative three streets a week those are streets that we compile through the captain when as he receives complaints and those are just just streets that we're getting a lot of complaints on so
that the officers can go out be visible um you know run traffic enforcement educate things like that so there there are do stff appreciate your answers and thanks for all the hard you and Command Staff and everyone on the road so thanks
thank you thanks I have to keep you up there for two other questions one how are things coming along with the situation of shoplifting so uh shopliftings are steady they're steady I
we've seen a decrease in violent crime the stats are definitely on there decrease in violent crime but you see uh you know we have seen an increase in in shoplifting incidents we know that Mercer Mall and quier Bridge Mall are very highly
populated areas you know shopping and vs and stuff so the stores have all been great there's some a lot of uh a lot of investigative resources that we have that we've been able to
um solve some cases which we should be able to put one out this week I think today or tomorrow right a recent U uh spree of shop things that was a group so um but they have they have increased to
M biger Bridge Mall take a lot of calls for service and time they are time consuming you know some sometimes some of disorders have lost prevention some don't um so some some people some not so we have follow have
protective Bureau so but then you know someone would get C patrol officer would handle that and you it's a few hours the last question I had is uh there's been several complaints and concerns over the years about the speeding running on Route One South
between the diner and all the way to the circle yes um how what is because I've seen police officers like in the area but how is that progressing as far as safety because I did see someone on Ito
I'm sure that has absolutely been an area of concern um I do want to point out which I did not point out uh from last year the request by CH wo we did receive our traffic trailer that's a that's that's huge we're going to uh start to deploy that soon we just have
to wait for the registration and insurance um that has a sign board huge signboard on it um and that will be able to get out to those areas of concern to be able to again draw more attention to
the reduced speeds and um you know it it comes down to visibility you know marked police cars and and our traff our new traffic trailer so that's been a Hu that's going to be a huge addition to uh to our traffic uh when do you think
that'll be up not to hold you four months 6 months no within within weeks within weeks we'll have that thank you for all you do I appreciate it thank you have a couple questions hey chief
thank you for your time we talked this morning I just want to get this on the record so everybody hears it Absolut U the police are undergoing a pretty significant transition to an in-house 911 dispatch it's uh designated to start April 1st
um how are we going how are we doing with that we are on track we are on track uh Lieutenant RJ La is heading the transition he's been working with Sergeant M Rossy we're in the final stages of the background process so we
have our employees we're just finishing up some some things with the background but we are all absolutely on track and April 1 is is going to be a start the other thing that we discussed was um doing a relas Staffing study the last time that we did one was back in
2011 so I think with the Advent of Technology um and um the different um issues that we're being confronted with now with policing to mental health and all that I think this is a really good year for us to engage uh Consultants to
determine what is appropriate Staffing level also to um gear towards what you want the vision of the department to be so uh I'm looking forward to doing that um this year so we have a better sense of what
we need moving forward and and how we can approach each one of the issues that may be different than they were in 2011 you're absolutely right it you compare 2011 and 2025 in pleasing it's it's two different two different things so you're
absolutely right things have changed and uh a study would get us to understand you know areas that we didn't think about are we can change and be more efficient that's all I well I want to thank you and also also
thank you for the work that your officers do in all of our schools I know that there are five officers uh dedicated to our schools and I thank you for I app appreciate it next for a presentation we have Mr White
who will talk to us about he is the director of Public Works which we are loving right now with all the snow and ice such an awesome that's a bad word ice looks like we might be getting lucky
uh with the Thursday storm it might be staying South so um which is good for us yes Council mayor manager thank you very much for having me tonight um I go through my presentation about our
finances this year but I want to start it and just give you an idea of our thinking in public works so my staff has had a need for an outdoor forklift for some quite some time an outdoor forklift
for us moves Sanders moves plows moves equipment safely without putting Forks on another equipment but where do you get $150,000 for a piece of equipment so this this is always our
thinking we found that at a New Jersey Turnpike surplus auction we bought that for $111,000 that's $150,000 machine gets better gets
better a little a little bit more money a little paint and my guys know how so for $16,000 you know we've saved $135,000 on this machine that Lawrence
Township will have for the next decade that's I I just just wanted to start it that way because this is really our thinking and how we get by there's not always a lot of resources for Public Works we have to make things work and
this this just goes to the staff at Public Works Clyde D'Angelo and his staff you know this was a project over a few months this didn't happen overnight but with that kind of thinking we can save a lot of tax dollars
so let's go ahead and get into it our division summary is me uh uh Jan and Clyde and then we have 16 in the street division we have four people in buildings and grounds 10 in parks and we
have four vehicle maintenance the eological facility is staffed by the street Division and we share that with with Princeton Township things we've done over time
uh to help uh uh save money Contracting out services like janitorial and grass cutting cross trining our staff to be able to help out during busy time so we're not using overtime and add a title
money computerizing our Public Works operation work order system the flow of our work how we dispatch work has become more efficient over the years and our division crossover everybody in
our department knows how to snowplow mechanic snowplow Building Maintenance snow plows the whole park Department snow plows we could not cover a 22 square mile town if we didn't have
every single employee cross train our leaf collection program is an 8we program where the whole departments collecting leaves whether it's in the Parks or out on the road and our Ecological Facility a lot of work goes on there and I have to have a lot of
different employees that know how to work our office down there the credit card machine all our D logs we have a 2526 page uh permit uh rules we have to follow with the EP a lot of people need
to know what those rules are to work the facility 2025 Work Staffing request no new Staffing uh for this budget cycle 2025 snow and ice events as everybody knows we've had a little nag
in Winter um we had four snow events total of 8 Ines that means we we were plowing snow uh some of these storms even though it's not a lot the roads have to be plowed to get it off the road you can't salt through two Ines of snap
you have to scrape it off then salt uh eight salting events we've used over 2,000 tons of salt 1400 hours in plowing and 1,400 hours in salting this winter
already and we're not done hopefully hopefully we get to March quick our Parks division uh zero increase in the operating budget cap Capital request
we're looking for uh working with Nancy a long nagging problem at the football field right now we use temporary fencing to keep the parents off the field from where the kids are and the coaches we're
recommending to put a permanent fencing on both sides of the field for for player parent safety um two zero term mower and a new compactor truck this compactor
truck is probably one of the most used things in Lawrence Township during the Spring and Summer it operates six days a week it Services all the public bathrooms in the Parks and empties about a 100 garbage cans throughout our Park
system just a list of our parks that we service everything from ster Park uh gilin Colonial Lake Eldridge so we're we're responsible for all the park
LS Park maintenance activities we do everything in house and Lawrence we only contract out some lawn mowing to save staff hours um the the islands on federal City we
have 12 detention basins the federal city is everything else we cut ground maintenance walking paths parking lots tree pruning Leaf removable mulching we do all our own air rating and seeding we
do all our own irrigation work we have a lot of Athletics in Lawrence which is great but requires a lot of work 12 soccer fields football two football practice fields baseball BX
lacrosse 24 playground equipment 11 tennis courts so we got our for the the guys we have our work cut out for us buildings and grounds zero increase in the operating
budget for 2025 Capital request our hbac replacement program we try to fund that every year for Replacements in the building uh we've been very lucky with psng over
the last few years replacing a lot of equipment but we still have some old equipment in our buildings and we have to be diligent on replacing those items as we go um through time now here's one of
our our bigger request the police fueling equipment and tank so for years up here at Town Hall we had a police tank where the police filled and didn't have to drive the public
works when we renovated this building it had to be removed it was underground and had to go at the time but at that moment in time there wasn't funding to replace it we've hit a point where with the
flooding at Public Works and only having one fueling site is a problem now it's happened a few times this year when our fueling site goes offline and it could be a computer problem it could be
electrical there's no fuel there's nowhere to get fuel the police either have to resort to our do contract which is using their yard which is not a very friendly setup system
or we're going to Wawa and we've done that we desperately need to have a second fueling site which we always had got put on the back burner but it's got
to come to the Forefront now we need a second fueling site we we've had too many instances where we couldn't get fuel ambulances fire trucks police carsnow plow equipment this really is a
vital request that we really need to look at this would go exactly out back where the old one was not any new place not something new it would go in the same spot next to the generator that it
already was for years and years this is something we should definitely keep on the table and talk about as we go through the budgetary process process our buildings and grounds we got
nearly 145,000 square feet public works Town Hall the Police Court facility Senior Center EMS the Nature Center the brely house the things we do at the firehouses and we do this with two
Building Maintenance Personnel they're they're really great um they really uh know their work and and and they're they're efficient now as we go through time we'll look at if we're adding buildings
and what that might look like down the road uh we we do everything electrical repairs drywall floor tile carar andry we also monitor a lot of the generator
service the uh monthly Pest Control the fir War systems all get pump testing all get monthly uh churns all get inspected on a monthly basis by law all that has to be coordinated to let them in our
buildings to inspect it to make repairs when needed Street division zero increase for 2025 the only Capital request we have is keeping up with our a in snow plow equipment and replacing a dump truck
with a plow and sand I have some trucks that date back uh 25 years in our Fleet to some newer models we have so each year we try to add something replace something that has something to do with
snow now a lot of our equipment is always looked at if it could clear snow the garbage truck we're buying for the parks I'll have a plow on it when we buy a tractor for the parks it's got to
have some type of plow on it everything we do we think about snow because I've said a number of times it's 2 am on a Sunday nobody's coming to help us in a snow storm we have to deal with it
ourselves um so snow is very important in terms of planning we don't start looking at snow in December we're looking at snow year round my wheel of Labor I like to show this because you
can see leaf collection and brush collection dominate our hours of Labor all right it's it's a a service the mayor and Council want to give to the residents and we do and we've tried to
make it as efficient as possible over the years with equipment with employees with our Ecological Facility with our contract with Britain Industries we we really try to make this
process our leaf collection we windro to leaves we make Leaf compost and then we sell it or we give it to the residents for free wood chips I have to be a little creative getting
rid of those the D only allows us one year of storage at our facility and it has to be gone so that gives us 12 months to figure out where all this stuff's going ecological Center you could see
the number of hours are were committed to this facility and tree work now tree work over the last several years has started to D dominate our Workforce we have a full-time uh tree
person he has a Helper and we're inundated with tree crust whether it's trimming or removals we're really on top of it but you see how these things start to dominate and things like Road repair
start to shrink so it's really juggling these things to know what's important and what we have to get to Street division handles 200 M Lane miles the road and they do everything from crack sealing to
tree removal to stream maintenance to storm prep to trash cart replacement they're the cat allw of all our divisions not only are they doing Paving and black top work and pipe work and
sink holes and stump removal and fence repairs and uh uh putting up street signs we're doing all these other things as well it's really a great crew tree removal we talked about we
removed 158 dead Street trees trimmed 152 in our Parks we removed 30 dead trees and trimmed 579 trees right now we're on Johnson Avenue
pruning all all those cherry trees brush collection we talked about leaf collection street sweeping we try in the spring and summer to keep the street sweeper out every day so uh you
over 700 miles of street sweeping Jimmy Gorski does a great job white goods so we still collect white goods every Wednesday by appointment last year we picked up
56,000 pounds of white goods from residents roadside mowing storm drain snow removal um that's last year not this year I was talking about this year before that's 2024 I think we had four snow storms
last year here electronic recycling this is every Wednesday at our Ecological Facility we took in 2500 pounds of computers
18,000 Pounds of TVs and 4,000 pounds of printers we do get a little bit of money back on the computer end not the not not the other on our mulch delivery program was a
success we're going to do it again this year we might add Leaf compost this year we had over 171 deliveries and took in almost $10,000 the money is very nominal in
this program it's really getting rid of our double ground wood chips and getting them back into the community that's what we're really trying to do vehicle maintenance same thing Z
increased Capital request for postmobile vehicle lift our underground lifts are aged out they're underwater we really trying to get everything above above ground pneumatic tire changer that's
just the replacement of an old unit vehicle maintenance the guys do all our basically all our house are work inhouse uh over a thousand work orders the guys really do a great
job and those there the capital requests Central Park fencing two zero ter mowers the compactor truck HVAC the police fueling the dump truck the forpost and the pneumatic tire changer that's our ecological Center
numbers that's you guys have those numbers um it's a very busy uh site um we're asked by other towns constantly if they could join us our problem is we're five acres and and
we're very limited to the quantities we could take in so we really can't expand um so we're kind of landlocked on where we are right now we're going I'm working with Jim far we're going through a whole new D
change where they want they have storm water requirements now we were always exempt now we're in this world of storm water they have us testing the water and doing these other tests to see what storm water facility we might need there
so we don't know which way that's going yet we're still working on that uh working with engineer engineering for this year um from last year's budget uh Glenn Avenue and soner
Paving 2025 the state aid project Titus Phillips Craven Gordon James Street and George Street and our regular 2025 row program princess Bergen Cold Soil Florest Rossa us Lum Park Point Court
and Tor that's all I got I'm try to be quick I see work TRS everywhere thank you very much thanks oh any I'm sorry any questions I'm not gonna get off all right Mr Whitehead um first of all I just want to
say publicly I'm impressed that all that happens with 37 people including you um the idea that our parks Clinic they are that um you know so plowing all all the accolades that you've heard over the
years that we all share it's just incredible um I also have to say that having visited your facility recently it is spotless it is incredible how you know from from the storage areas to the mechanic spays to where where materials
are put it's bous it's incredible um so I just want to say thank you I had do have a few questions um first on the replacement for the hbac units yes are are we looking into making them more energy efficient as well as using
whatever the municipal version of uh direct install is from yeah so we've used direct install quite a bit um the problem with direct install it's got to be a large enough package for it to work usually with lighting and a lot of
equipment when it comes to one offs it doesn't really work for them but yeah anything we're putting in is of the highest efficiency that's available right now in the market wonderful um and then I don't think you should have a problem with the the police fueling I
mean we have a zero budget right now I think the manager and the CFO have done a great job so that should be a problem um I had a couple uh questions about uh also about the dump truck lead time is that something how how easy is it to get
pieces of equipment it's not it's not it's gotten worse since Co um so it's about a twoyear process for me to get a new P new dump truck in so by the time we do this process we do the budget we
get our capital in this late spring then it's about then and then we we need to either bid it out or buy it off a co-op then it's about another year to get the truck another year so it's a it's a
twoyear process of get so I you know that's one of the hard things about snow we we have to be ahead of the curve with the equipment uh because it takes so long I cannot wait till it's junk in the
garage and say gez I need a new truck all our trucks are on a route if you come to Public Work store in a snowstorm you're going to see very little there now I over the years I've kept a couple Surplus pieces as backups
and that's really saved us so when a guy breaks down which happens a lot he comes into the garage and then the the mechanics got to assess what's wrong I put him into something else and get him out the door and he gets back into his rout when I first started here that
didn't happen that guy would sit in the garage and wait and if it was a transmission or something bigger that truck wouldn't go back out so that's one of the things we've changed over the years is trying to keep a few Surplus
pieces of equipment that we already own and just leave it there for the sake of snow removal when we need it so yeah it's a twoyear process of getting a truck well I was just reading this article about how long it takes to get
fire apparatus these days so I was curious about for you even longer so yeah and Jack's been waiting for an ambulance for what two years two years and it's not the ambulance it's the chassis of the truck
so and I just want to end with you um that I appreciate the leaf collection I know I've seen the guys in the lakelands with their rakes out getting stuff under the curb I mean the extra mile that they do is incredible so so thank you and then I did have a question so don't go
away of the manager as well about how the Public Works um uh the building and maintenance piece works with the firehouses I'm trying to understand in terms of the firehouses are they all owned by the township or how that
agreement yeah how does that work so so we own slackwood Firehouse Lawrence bille firehouse and Lawrence Road Firehouse are owned by the volunteer fire companies all right so the we when we use the um the main base um you know
we use with our our people and our equipment and as a result Public Works is often uh responding to calls for varying uh maintenance requests and services gotcha I just wanted to understand that Dynamic so thank you both C anything you want to add on that
or yeah no it's perfect we we try never to say no we always try to help and then there's some of the gray areas but like Kevin said we're we're there to try to solve the problem and get everybody safe and doing what they need to do
definitely a team concept because if not if I mean they're allowing us to use this to serve the community they're serving the team so we're all in it together so yeah I I I completely agree manager mayor and and Mr White head that I appreciate that I see it especially
tonight's uh group of of presentations all groups that work together hand in hand to make absolutely I just have a quick question um you mention the football field central part there's some fencing new
fencing that's going up there for dividing um the parents in the field or something like that I had gotten a question regarding lighting of that field is that something well the field the field is lit oh okay the field does
have lighting I think a little bit of the problem is with the volunteer staff knowing all the time and I'm I'm talking for Nancy now but she can certainly speak on it but I think part of the problem with so many different
volunteers sometime there's a lack of communication when those lights need to be on or off okay and I think Nancy goes out of her way nights weekends to try to facilitate all those last minute request okay so because we could do that remote
from the phone that's the system with mus she can call that in and put the lights on or off but then that requires her eight at night seven at night you know the constantly be servicing everybody so and then just
one last question I had received a question from a resident regarding the salt that we use I guess on the roads okay I don't know environmentally well look Sal salt in general uh I don't think we're were an
abuser of of salt but Salt's not over salting everything isn't great for the environment I think we all know that but I think we're all waiting what's going to replace it and when and I think we'll
be open to that so we do brine now brining is a way to get the salt right on the road without runoff so it goes down with water then the water evaporates and we're left with salt right on the road there's no boun off so
we've been using brine for I think we were the first maybe the first ones with Hamilton to start using Brian years ago and that that has really changed our game because now when the police are out patrolling there's
already a layer of salt on all our main roads so when it starts snowing that gives us a little extra time to get guys in to get trucks out because our main roads are already salted and that salt is placed right on the road it didn't go
anywhere so yeah I think that's a work in progress uh we've been reading a lot on it of course they're trying to come up with substitutes but until until that happens I think we're stuck with so thank you for that explanation I appreciate
it thank you thank you thank you and I have to come out virtu abs and now have super Oher Peter good evening everyone tonight I'm going to be presenting the 2025 budget
presentation for the recreation department special events and our senior center office oning these are the three budgets that we have and this slideshow just allocates our request uh for 2025 the recreation
department special events and our Senior Center office enging and I'm just going to go through what each department does our Recreation Department mission is to promote healthy and active Lifestyles while fostering a community
engagement our team includes three staff me Members which is Jeff bris Emily sudam and myself uh Jeff and Emily are very dedicated employees and very lucky to have them there's a lot of words here so we I think give you guys a presentation but
the recreation department is operating budget breakdown most of our budget for the recreation department is essential for programs such as Youth Sports Camps and playground equipment it also covers the cost of sports equipment and technology that helps us manage registration and
and communication effectively you know so some of our events that we have our the travel camp and things like that as well these are our Recreation programs and we offer a wide r a wide range of uh yearr round programs
including basketball swim lessons exercise classes summer camp walking programs and our programs are all designed for for to cater all ages and interests so you can see these are a lot of our different programs that we offer through through the recreation
department there is something for everybody in the community that that's some most of our programs our department uh partners with many Community collaborations and we have um like Hamet soccer lacrosse baseball and softball uh Lawrence
Lawrence Environmental Education and these help provide more engaging programs for the township like like Greg said we do work closely with them we do all of their um most of their scheduling and then put lighting schedule field scheduling and everything
like that in between this is um our Recreation Office of our hours of operation our office here is open from 8:30 to 4:30 but we do have um we have our Park facilities the
pool po we we do manage the pool at night where we have the lifeguards and we have swim team and things like that so most of our programs are open we're open till 9:30 and that's like like right was saying with the lights we do get a lot of calls at Night the Lights
aren't on or shut the lights off but different activities but we do have a lot of activities at night our senior center office in J the senior center is managed by Lilian s the executive director s with staff
members our Recreation ronsky is our senior van trans uh Transportation driver and this group's worked very hard to provide a wide variety of programs and social events for our seniors that's our new sign too out
there for our electric sign as you can see what the budget is used for the senior center uh we have different cost of programs entertainment foods and supplies this allocates and ensures that our senior residents have access engaging activities and support service
year round these are all of our senior programs that we've had in 2024 with a wide range we have um art classes line dancing exercise programs and group Bings and these these are all designed to promote
promote Health creativity and social interaction with our seniors and these are all the social events our seniors love social events so we have a we host a numerous social events including quality celebrations
education seminars we do a lot also work with the health department and this really um keeps our seniors connected and very active yes the senior center also works with several group the lawrenville school the
county erser which does the lunch program everyday ARP and these are to help uh with all of the resources and enriching activities next is our special events our special events that the recreation
department hosts several successful events throughout the year the department works closely with other departments such as Public Works police and emergency services to ensure that events run smoothly and what the budget goes for with the most of the special events it's
usually rentals food entertainment or other supplies that we need for to make our community event successful and these are a lot of our these are our special events that we do run we go for Memorial Day Independence a lot of holiday events the
911 um our Jolly Trolley ride which was a success we added the third one this year so we're hoping to do that again next year and we um we plan these events throughout the year and they're an impact to the community
um in conclusion just wanted to our 25 budget 2025 budget request uh supports all of our programs like I said special events and we really are here to serve the community there are a couple groups that I'd really like to thank that for
their ongoing support our Lawrence patriotic committee for their contributions to Veterans Day Memorial Day our senior executive committee for the valuable input and volunteer efforts and our Recreation advisory committee I can't say enough about our Recreation advisory committee they're always
showing up one um and they're showing up for our special events and they're helping whenever they need us one but that's I mean I could go on and on but these are all of our different
events that we have if you have any questions thank you for all your support when you show up to our events it does me a lot to us thank you so much for all that you do and absolutely to your committee kudos for the tremendous support that they
provide on a vye basis for a resident I don't know if this the right question but regards to income tell any income or fees that come into I must commend you and your staff and
the senior Senter staff to do all that you do with $18,500 I can't wait to be a senior I was tired just looking at the list of activities and as we've seen those line dancers are no
joke tremendous and just one other question I have do we have any demographic information that captures all the the residents that we reach throughout the township well it's hard to do it with with our special events I mean that's
something that's we do get a lot of people um like we just had our Valentine's Day oh my God but we had that I mean we do you know it's hard to to get a number for those special events I mean our seniors we do have numbers for um senior centers
because they do can sign in and things like that I mean in different our different programs yes we do have numbers yeah be interested in that um I just want to say first off thank you for all that you do um I'm
impressed I remember when uh a while ago pre pandemic um we raised taxes yes we raised taxes and it was to add someone to to help you in the recreation department and so that you wouldn't have to answer the phones anymore and you could start to think strategically about
what the the recreation well maybe you need another person but but what I'm getting at is it's great to see the fruits of that and that all the things that you've done especially sort of keeping us all together through the pandemic and you
know thinking creatively about outdoor activities back then and and all the things I mean the list I see Mrs S here all the things that she does to keep the community connected it's really it's really a wonderful service that you do we do have um our total staff is we have
six full-time and we do have a lot of parttime but yeah with six with six people we do do it there's a lot things that we can cover we do cover so and and although my children have gotten older I just want to ask how the the sort of enrollment is with uh the the sort of
the camps and the other Recreation programs is that sort of back up to pre-pandemic levels is it growing even more it is it's definitely growing more um you know we did we we just build up our we did we sometimes we just do like travel Camp is is a little expensive um
because of the trips and have gone up and so busing so we just opened up travel Camp which was filled up um within two days so we'll probably open up a second one but all of our camps yeah our camps are definitely have increased a lot even before they're
they're even higher than they were um before and and our programs you know we do uh fluctuate some of our programs by swimming is up basketball's basketball's always been up um wrestling is a little bit lower this year but um but yeah we'll get that back up and but a lot of
our programs people are looking for other things our nature detectives program has been very successful so people definitely interested in and and I just want to also say because I see a school board person here um it's great to to see that partnership between the
school district and and the Township in terms of sharing facilities and things like that again and everyone pitching together for the sake of the community yeah we are lucky that we're able to use the um the facilities you know um that
we great thank you thank you well again thank you so much for all that you do the senior center I can't wait to become senior although I do participate but um tremendous work that you all do with the resources so thank
you so much for your contribution to our community thank you thank you I think that wraps up all of our presentations for this evening thank you all and as all of the presentations have been completed you're welcome to
with that being said brings us now to our first opportunity for public participation minute hi Jim hooker um I'm a Executive Board member and family member of the friends of colonial Lake Park which is a nonprofit
501c3 um and we like to look after the park as best we can and advocate for the park so I would be remiss not to get up here and I'm with Tom rter by the way also who's our president um and thank uh as I have
before not only the Council of manager but these great folks who have come up today talk about all they do and being on the ground as it were um to use a phrase they do that and much more and
um every one of them you know Nancy just had the Valentine's Day at the park uh Friday night Greg is incredible with what he does we had some banners made up because of the 100th anniversary of the park Greg was kind enough to uh go ahead
and put them up for us they're beautiful they're still out there today uh mayor um Councilman Ryan councilman bobit you guys were at the 100th anniversary Council Perry Council Kaki you guys have been supporters over the
many years and we appreciate it uh and the police too the police sent an officer a wonderful young man whose name I forget one of you guys might know I don't know wonderful young man um who was at the squad car at the 100th anniversary uh Nancy I think helped
there too Nancy B with Recreation um to talk with residents and make folks feel more comfortable and things like that so um yeah it's just there's just so much um from a personal level of interacting
and then from what these folks do not only of course at at the park that we Advocate most for but all these other parks that have been identified and talked about tonight and we can't believe we're sitting over there saying how can so few people do so much right
and I know you guys are saying the same so I would have been remiss not to get up and thank um these great folks and we appreciate it and uh the council as always we appreciate it mam clerk so that's all I have to say thank you thank you thank you if you could just did you
sign the sheet for sign see n other for public participation closing public participation review and revision of the uh the agenda um I had two questions one uh I
have for the municipal attorney uh 1886 the resolution to direct the resolution Township Council directing municipal clerk to solicit an advertise for the position of Deputy municipal clerk I thought we were still trying to figure out who's the
appointing authority which based on your November sort of your November uh research to council and sort of our inability to um pass an ordinance one way or another it would
seem that it's sort of in limbo right now well working I uh sorry I think you know we we did discuss you know the the language within not
just the um Administrative Code but the statute and I'm sorry I don't have my memo in front of me but my recollection is uh that the the my opinion was that the uh council did have
the authority uh to to a point based on both the statute and certain language and administrative code subject two subject two if the council were to pass an ordinance otherwise that would give
that authority to the municipal manager um so I I think and I've consulted you know since that time uh with some other Municipal attorneys and while I
gave you a wide variety of uh instances throughout the state of New Jersey I think I had 50 or 60 municipalities uh including many with our form of government uh the predominant number were showed that the
council has that Authority uh I I do not see any reason and from my research that it's otherwise unless Council were to pass the ordin orance number excuse me number
108 no I'm sorry that's not the the ordinance that that's on 10 with regard to the 10na that would give that authority to to the manager thank you Mr C I just want to be
clear before we sure went down that so okay and then um I think with the mayor's permission we were going to remove uh item h 7 18 H7 authorizing the appointment of the diversity accuity inclusion
committee person because typically we just make that yeah so I with the mayor's okay I'll make a motion to remove that from from the agenda and then we'll you'll make a motion at a later also we wanted to amend the agenda
to have an executive session yeah we we've provided uh mayor if I may under h n we have our standard uh language with regard to authorizing a Clos session if necessary and in com in
conversation uh with you and the manager there is certain negotiations that are imminent uh that should not wait until the next meeting in March and I think it appropriate and within the statute for us to have a probably a brief close
session involving u a negotiation that you should be made aware of thank you I do have one other item potentially if you if you tell me if you are all in a position to make a selection with regard to the tax
assessor I believe I'm it's important for us to go into close session to discuss that we we did that we did already we did okay mayor I'm now confused what the motion actually is because I I mely Mo I
thought I motion for the removal of 18 H7 Mr Ryan seconded and then we didn't take a vote on that so order so we will now call the RO thank you madam CL could call the RO please so for the removal of
the 1887 Comm okay so who moved in okay and who second I did thank you and I'll call it Mr bobin yes Mr
Kaki yes M Perry yes Mr Ryan yeah and may yes yes I can have a motion we have the adoption of minutes from the regular meeting October 1st 2024 I'll make a motion to adopt uh make a motion for adoption of uh 8 a regular
meeting October 1st 2012 second second motion second second is byoun call please Mr B yes Mr K
yes yes Mr R yes mayor yes rejection we do not have any so bring us to the introduction of ordinances mayor I'd like to introduce uh 10 a or ordance number 24852 an ordinance amending chapter 10 article 6
of The Lawrence Township Administrative Code entitled officers employees section 10-38 municipal clerk Deputy municipal clerk [Music] position is there a second second M call mayor if I may I'd like to
State why I'm putting this on if I may um thank you um the reason why adding the I introduced this ordinance uh asking for the the deputy municipal clerk position to be appointed by the township manager is because
that's typically what we've done in the past for the past 54 years the person in that seat would always be appointed by the manager part of this reason is because we are a civil service uh uh Township we have uh Civil Service rules
and um this position does not is an un is considered unclassified within civil service so the deputy municipal clerk position is unclassified meaning it doesn't have the protections of other um other positions
in this Township um and so I have serious concerns about about having an unclassified position within the cl's office um where that person is only answerable to council with no term set
um and not understanding who's the sort of who would you know sort of watch over them oversee them discipline them anything like that and so I just have a I I have a deep concern that's why I put this on because I felt as if having the
manager um make the appointment in in combination with the clerk that seem seems to be something that has worked well in the past and I don't think Council needs to get involved so thank you mayor for allowing me to speak Madame mayor yeah sure um
Council Mr cek can you clear for me um East Windsor having the same type of form of government as we do they do and um they currently have this in place where the council does appoint the clerk and the Deputy clerk correct yeah my
research uh which I included in my memorandum uh did indicate that okay thank you mayor may I ask one follow question and Miss Perry's question okay um are you asking the I I
would ask uh well I'll ask this in general um I will state this and then someone can correct me if I'm I'm misspeaking but my understanding is East Windsor is not a civil service uh municipality is that correct I I don't know that
does so it's in a way the employment piece is different than than here any other questions Madam CL if you call the all please Mr Bob yes Mr Kaki yes Miss Perry no Mr Ryan no mayor
farmer no there is another orance we have on the agenda okay oh was there mayor I'd like to introduce 10B ordinance number 24862 ordinance providing for sidewalk improvements in it by the township of
wars in the county of Mercer New Jersey appropriating $ 57,5 therefore and directing the special assessment of the cost thereof you have a second a second mad call the Please Mr Bob yes
Mr Kaki yes M Perry yes Mr Ryan Yes mayor farmer yes we don't have any other additional adoption no so we will go now to the manager's report oh thank you I do not have anything to report tonight okay the
attorney report I have nothing the nothing nothing right now we in executive session we'll have a discussion okay and mam CL uh the only thing I would like to report just to remind everyone that March 11th is the school
board election today is the cut off for the registration our office was open to s for that um and that it will hopefully we're gearing up for it that's it
thank you madam clerk unfinish [Music] business and then for new business I'd like to on the new business since we looking for tax assessor oh okay we need to take a vote on that
is that correct nominate I nominate uh Henry is it hungenberg all right is there a second I second Madam call please excuse me um I'm really surprised by all this and I
apologize we didn't get the vote yet hold can no I don't the vote I have a voice so I'm speaking on this issue I'm I'm surprised there there was a close session meeting that happened today where the discussion took place on
who is going to be appointed who is going to be appointed as tax assessor no no the the close session this uh evening was just as a followup discussion councilman uh Bob did not attend the intrview so we were bringing him up to
speed and giving him an opportunity to to provide any input as well as just okay so so no so there was no there's no agreement as we don't know how you guys are going to vote no right now okay Mr I just want to just just for the
record the tax assessor position is is an extraordinarily important position it is definitely the appointment um authority of the of the council however um it would behoove any Council to to have the discussion about qualifications
and who's best suited to include the municipal manager whether it's me or somebody else because we're going to be directly involved in um very significant financial situations that can impact this town in terms of tax appeals that
come cyclical and um it would just seem to me that there should be some broader discussion as who is the the appropriate candidate to meet the challenges for this town um for those very critical uh situations
and I I don't know how much uh Mr cyck has been involved in the conversation but I know he knows about tax appeals and how critical they are to our town and how critical it is to have institutional knowledge of our Township uh when we have uh relying upon the
testimony and work product of a tax assessor so I just thought that we probably should have a a broader discussion about this before before there's an appointment because I want you to have the basis of all input and knowledge with regard to the position
because it's an important position um so that's I just express my voice you don't have to listen to me um at all you can you can take the vote but I just feel like a broader discussion should take place for the good of the community moving forward um Mr manager according to your
email did you not feel that they were equally qualified to to sir I would like the opportunity to discuss both of the qualifications but it's it's council's appointment on ab and we did interview and everybody was
there except Mr counc if you all fully understand the the the position of what a tax assessor does and its nature of the work and all that then then that's that's fine I just wanted to offer my um experience and understanding of the
position if you wanted it it's fine if you don't I just um that's Mr Mr cek was in the back and we did not discuss it on that we just do keep I'm not making any allegations like
no allegations like I understand it I was involved in the meeting uh there was no violation the open and please please I'm not saying that that at all I'm just saying if if there were were a discussion in closed session I would have liked to have participated in it
but there wasn't and I'm fine with that mayor I I will simply say that I think this underlines what I was trying to accomplish in tenant that's all thank you we have a nomination and a second we
ready to call V May the second all right i' like to nominate uh Dave Le I'll second now we're ready to call wait the first motion the first
motion by Councilman Ryan second it by councilwoman Perry you have that for the nomination of oh that's Mr new yeah so that was by you correct and I second it
yes okay so we call the rooll on that Mr bobin no Mr Kaki no M Barry yes Mr Ryan Yes mayor farmer
yes mayor may I may I say something real quick yes has has this gentleman in made the offer and accepted it because I don't know no we just voting on it for the first time voting on appointing him for making an offer to appoint him
because I thought the vote was to appoint him and I don't know if we should be appointing anybody that has not accepted the offer this Mr if you can make the clarification clear no I I I'm
sorry I think that there is a a reason that I understand what Mr nowinsky saying and I think it's proper you're authorizing an offer to him I mean he can he can say yes or no we can't appoint him if he says no so yeah
I think that is correct there has to be an offer made uh uh that he would either agree to or not agree to so that's what you're doing tonight thank you may if there's an offer made by the the manager could youc us Council on
please and Mr cek are you instructing me to make an offer voting on it no I'm saying I don't be making an offer come from the okay no it comes from our office okay you yeah I had a I guess a point of
question um typically in these the in these job offers don't we go through our HR person or is this okay it's council's appointment understood Mr Ryan thank you all right any
additional check there should be absolutely there there so the offer is not going to be made until there's that was in your email yeah it will follow check your email all protocols don't need to tell me about my email it will follow all
protocols that we have for employment office that point is closed okay this brings us that's all finish this brings us now to the second opportunity for public
[Music] participation now we we'll finish out the votes mad point of order uh M mayor uh I think Mr cek knows the answer as well but typically when nominations are made and the first person passes the post it's
irrelevant yeah thank you very minutes [Music] good evening um you mentioned um you
mentioned oh Jim Jim 7 St sorry you mentioned the uh referendum election yeah now the uh nail out ballots have gone out and
they I assume I'm just this question really that they can either be mailed in in time or dropped here just as it would be with a regular municipal elction yes the Box is open and has been open for a while okay now I should have been asking this at
Schoolboard meetings but since I forgot you know where I don't know if you would even be the right person to ask but since I'm here if you're voting in person where's it going to be it's going to be the same voting places oh it's Oh I thought it
would all be one location for the whole municipality no the school board asked for all the locations to be open so there's going to be all the locations okay noral District all district and when last thing when the
uh Municipal presentation was made I noticed that that there was on mentioned that parts of ster Drive I think was paided
past year and then when it talked about 2025 they were talked about other moves and as I don't live on sonre drive at all but we walk on it all the time although
I'm going to walk on it less and less as you can tell but part of it is in terrible condition especially especially as regards around Glenn and uh you know what I'm talking about and I even mentioned that this
time same time last year it's on there for this year oh is it okay I didn't see it when you mention it because I know they had not long ago the wi break that even compounded it for the four people live around there I can imagine thank
you much thank you so much see know other public comments at this time we closing public comments [Music] all right mayor I like to move 18 B1 through H5 and h8 through H9 and
block can I make a comment on the one the deputy so I I'll repeat uh moving 18 B1 through H5 and then h8 and H9 and a block I'll
second Mo second call please Mr Bob yes Mr Kaki yes M Barry yes Mr Ryan Yes mayor bur yes okay do we have another motion mayor I'd like to move H six
please authorizing a resolution Town Council directing mpal clerk to solicit advertise for position of Deputy clerk we have a second I second mad CL call Mayor I I think
think there's discussione Council involed I'll defer to the the clerk because I think she wanted to speak I think that if you want to speak up Council should this is not okay I I will speak up then I will speak
up about this because I don't think I think as evidenced by what we just saw with the tax assessor I don't I I have series of reservations about this body making this appointment I also have questions about why sort of a that the
that this needs to be um closed by a certain dat what was it it feels as if we we want to to move this along fairly quickly and and not give enough time uh to be reviewed as well as I I'm trying
to understand why um the five years experience in the RMC are are needed for this position when by Statute it's not and so I'm just wondering if someone who who's the author of this because I didn't see oh
yeah there you go I think counil woman um it's not that it's not it's required it's it's what I put in and this is what I'm asking that it be certified on just like your resolution that have Mr doisy
appoint and doing some research and speaking to the Past president of the municipal Association of um Deputy clerks it is a good recommendation and a lot of townships are moving towards that
um simply for a higher caliber of um a point I just pulled this off of Deputy Clerk and this is the same thing from Somerset County with their the language understood and we are within our rights to um include the requirements that
we're looking to uh form is that correct Mr cbec if you could just comment on that it's up to council to and I completely understand that I'm just asking the question of why that's included especially since I I believe it it excludes everyone in the clerk's
office right now um I would that and so I I I I yeah okay Mr Bob it was not a point of excluding anyone because this position which was added to the budget has been open for quite some time so it was
behooved to anyone could have applied for it based on the the um if if they wanted to but again reviewing with the caliber that we want to um align with even with the current clerk with her
caliber and her experience we would we would like our pointt to be at a higher level which is in line with many municipalities as I have done the research going through the association and thank you councilwoman
Perry can I follow up with one more question then um and I know I'm I know Mr cyc looking me because I'm getting quite a few bites of the apple right now so thank you thank you um but I also wondered do we expect a higher level a
higher caliber of applicant for a a unclassified position that is basically at the whim of council's appointment so say say Council decides a year down the road we don't like you you're gone
there's no protection for that person do you think I I'm I'm just putting out there that that I don't know if we're going to get the caliber of candidate that you're thinking we're going to get in an unclassified position that is it
honestly just basically based on sort of the the changeable nature of this this this body thank you for your comments councilman are there any other the last the last comment I will make again we are in line with the association of
Municipal Deputy clerks we are not going by a whim the statute is out there in the entire state of New Jersey and we are within our rights to make this appointment and to put the requirements that we are looking to fill
the position yeah okay I just want to say a couple things first for for the audience to understand um the position was not vacant the title was not given to a
person we have an assistant Township Clerk performing the duties along with another Clerk of the so the position was not open I think there's a general consensus out there that the the clerk's office has and doing without a deputy
municipal clerk the functions and as I stated to you previously you know I wrote you a long memo with regard to it it was the title that was not given it's not that there is an open position I don't know I know this is Mr Ryan's um
resolution I don't know if there was ever a discussion by Mr Ryan with the clerk there was never a discussion with me there was never a discussion with our our CFO um I don't we have discussing this I think let me just can I just just talk
um um okay but get to your point well I first of all the code allows me to have a voice in this and I want to make sure you know that you do not agree with us on this position May point of order I just want to Robert's Rules of Order he he has his
time thank you I think that I think that how and I agree with Mr cek with regard to what the state law provid provides but you're trying to accomplish this through a resolution it should not be done through
a resolution that expires after a year if we're going to change our code and amend it to clearly set forth that the governing body is the appointing authority and that has to be done by an
ordinance not a resolution I've never seen a resolution look like this I don't this person this new person and the reason why it's in the budget is because I didn't know where you guys are going to go and we have to forecast the worst scenario that's why it's in there uh
whether there's a need for it is a whole different thing um but who supervises this person who disciplines this person who terminates this person I if if it goes off the rails not not you maybe
Generations in in advance what if somebody just a majority three people put their pal in there and it's just like a no-show position how is that person how is there ever going to be a level of discipline or removal if
it's not in the ordinance and that's one of my concerns is is that we're creating um a municipal clerk's office that is more politicized than it should be my personal opinion but legally this should not be a resolution this should be an
ordinance if we're altering our code to expressly provide the governing body with the authority to appoint it should be by ordinance and that ordinance should provide enough detail to give us all guidance on on who's supervising who's
disciplining who's removing how long the term is this resolution doesn't come close to setting forth that Mr Mr s if you can address that thank you well there there is provision within our the Lawrence Township
uh Administrative Code that says there shall be a deputy municipal clerk that is in there it does it Define all the areas that Mr nnsky just spoke of it does not uh but um in terms of of
clarifying this it's up to council how how to uh how to react uh but there is as I stated in my memorandum back I believe in November uh that the our Administrative Code clearly has language
there shall be a deputy municipal clerk this is not something new tonight and whether or not there should be more clarity we can certainly look at that and I I certainly uh you know for the benefit of
council look at this issue as to whether or not we could we should supersede with an ordinance but but there my my recollection um of the research on it is that that language does exist within the code for
the for the position uh and I understand what Mr winsky is talking about so there may be uh an opportunity to uh refine this position but it's it's something that does exist within our code right
now whether or not the at some point you want to have further revision and place in an ordinance you know I can certainly look at that mayor and Council their rights to yeah it's a council I I I think based
on on my research uh and based on uh you know looking at many many many municipalities throughout the the state and specifically those other are former government majority do have Council
point I I will be candidate at somehow the municipal manager right I think it was about 2third had the council appoint the deputy Clerk and what criteria there were I didn't go into what criteria or any anything like that it's not myview
can I ask Mr CC one followup question sure um so it sounds to me as if currently there's no Clarity in the in the Township Code about who the appointing authority is that just merely States in section B of of the the deputy of the clerk that there shall be a
deputy clerk correct yeah I don't have that I'm sorry I don't have yeah I don't I don't have it in front of me as well shall be a deputy Clerk and the statute that I refer to in the memorandum which I can actually pull up uh does indicate
uh the authority of of of a Township Council to appoint but in following up in the past the manager has made this appointment so what is to prevent and I'm not suggesting that he would do this but what currently would prevent the
township manager tomorrow from appointing a deputy municipal clerk and filling that title well there there's really nothing in in the code or or in by ordinance that allows that right now I mean it was I understand in my
reading of the ordinance as the Township Code as it stands now there's no clarity as to the appointing body for counil we're reading it to we're reading the state statute the state statute would Prevail State Statute always prevails and and my my reading of it is that the
uh State Statute does Clearly say uh the township Council has that Authority uh now as to the particulars and the areas of concern you're correct and that the our code does not go into that can I just mayor thank you and
thank you Mr Mayor can I just read something on the record just so we're clear on it Anda 49-13 Deputy municipal clerk the governing body of any municipality by ordinance May create the office of Deputy municipal clerk and provide for
the appointments there too as compensation term thereof and the powers duties and functions of such office our ordinance does not provide for the governing body to make
the appointment in fact it's it it and and because of that our code specifically says subordinates who are not appointed by the governing body are appointed by the municipal manager this will be the first subordinate position ever created
that was the governing body's appointment and so I think if we're going to do that well within your right you have your three votes it should absolutely be done by ordinance and Mr cyck I I don't I think you're going to agree with me I think you're going to
agree with me that a resolution is a lot less of authority than an ordinance and if we have ambiguity in our current code as to who does it because the manager was doing it by default because it was not expressly stated I don't see why we
should not just because it looks like three there's a majority why don't we just do it by ordinance and do it right um we have a motion on the table we're ready to vote no I would like to speak you to speak speak I am I'm I will
speak okay why do I need to speak at the podium because this is related to the work that you do and this is a personel matter so you I'll speak and this is with all due respect can you
introduce your I am the municipal clerk Carter of lordship um I would like to address this because this has been disaffected my office and has been going on for months and months and
months I disagree that um with this the way I read the statute it's just what it is 4 A9 Cod I mean -135 the governing body of any
municipality by ordinance May create the office of a deputy municipal clerk and provide for appointments there to meaning to that office his compensation turn thereof and Powers duties and
function of such office during the absence or ability of the municipal CLK and Deputy municipal clerk shall have all the powers of municipal clerk and shall perform the functions of the duties of this such office
now back in November you had the uh our attorney look over and do a to to determine who was the appointing author during that time he did a survey of about 40
municipalities and one thing that is very clear and every just about every last one of them there should be a Office of the Deputy Clerk or clerks the number of Clerks there shall be and I can this is
I can go over and over and over every single one he's done that I have highlighted there should be a established I'm sorry this is britin there is hereby established the office of the Deputy Municipal to be appointed
and every last one of them State who the appointing authority is uh we can go to um B BM I think it is the Deputy C shall be appointed Ed by the council it has every one of them
creates the office the reason it creates because the office of the municipal clerk and the position of the municipal clerk is two separate things 2017 when I was appointed as if to they did assign
uh ordinance number 19217 Appo provided for the title and the salary for the position of Deputy clerk that's it it didn't provide who's
going to be the appointing authority the term or anything in here it provides for the office meaning that you can say hey I am that the term is this I am the appointing authority the township
Council the township committee or the township manager that is clear in just about every last one of them not only that when you create the office you create more than one position which B
does which allows some municipalities to have multiple clerks multiple vises of Clerks and to appoint one of those clerks as an acting clerk so in my opinion as of today as it
stands Lawrence Township and this is just my professional opinion the Township Council without doing a by Ordinance do not have the appointed Authority now do do we need a
um Deputy C because our say the sh yes um just the doing this almost 30 years does the deputy clerk should be S uh certified absolutely that's why the person in my office takes the courses because we are in a time where they need
to be certified because of all the legal leads that they need to know um and uh that's just about what I have to say there is a few other items that I would like to address in that resolution with regards to um me being
the one to do the classification this is a civil service town I don't know all the rules and regulations and the roles of it uh we have a manager's office a Personnel officer she does the arm boarding she
does all the posting she does all the classification and resumés if is pertaining to the C just like the assessors we just did all of that was done through the manager's office the resume was sent to me I notified the
council and set up the interviews because of how the laws are set up with civil service uh the third thing that I wanted to address address is the fact that I think it's just very upsetting to me
this whole matter has been upsetting to me um to an unconscionable that any member of council would put forth a resolution that would disqualify and alienate somebody from
the clerk's office a staff from the clerk's office that could be and possibly well qualified so that is what I have to say publicly and that is my com thank you for your comments you're
welcome the lawence T administrative code is gr by ordinance that ordinance does state that there shall be a deputy municipal clerk I understand the comments certainly from the clerk and
from the manager but um I will certainly you know review uh this this issue of whether or not that is sufficient within the ordinance of the administrative code and make a recommendation to council but and I don't necessarily disagree from a
legal standpoint Mr nnsky as to the U the fact that an ordinance would would have more weight than a resolution but the resolution is is an act of council that that is legal so uh it is a situation of
interpretation and one that may need more clarity in the future but that's up to it's up to council as to how you want to proceed several months ago when this came up and it got dropped because there was no second to a couple months back a
month back but prior to that I told you I was against the ordinance The Way It Was Written the resolution resolu okay because it was too over ended and I asked you to review it and tighten it up well what's in
front of us tonight is worse than what was in front of us a month ago all I'm asking for is you do the study come up with the answers and present it to council so we could then move forward with happy
medium in here all right that's all I asked you that a c a couple months ago I I understand and I I I remember that and uh I was uh you've been busy no it's not a question of being busy it's not a question I have been busy but it's not a
question of being busy it's it's I was instructed uh by a council member to uh place the ordinance excuse me the resolution as was previously presented the council uh to
the agenda and uh I don't necessarily disagree that that maybe we we can review it and see if if we want to supplement it by ordinance but the act of of council by resolution is legal but I I appreciate what you're saying in your
comments proving out all the comments Engish you can take a vote Mr Bob no Mr Kaki no M Perry yes s Ryan Yes
mayor yes yes let's do we have to um we're now going into our [Music] session we can recommend an appointment for a new member on the D
committee no that was removed you removed it from to make the appointment we're just making the appointment that's not what you said we removed it from the resolution to make does it need to be a resolution it's a committee
appointment the resolution when you make it just so you know when you make the appointment you could have if you didn't want to make it what that person you could have just voted that one down if that's not the person that you wanted to uh appoint um but that's the that was
the I think the [Music] yeah now if we can have any Council initiatives LS rep um I have a few let's see the trails
open space stewardship committee met um we had a a visitor um who made a presentation her I'm sorry her name was um Becky Taylor who was the co-chair of
CH W and she was a former cois of the Lawrence C Trail she came to the um trails in based meeting and gave a lovely presentation and shared with us some of the work that's being done in Trenton that I thought was quite impressive also the planning board met
um last Monday um the stakeholder meetings have been scheduled for the uh through the end of February there's actually one tonight going on right now um so that should be forthcoming with some additional uh information on the master
plan um the historical preservation committee also met um last week and they we are currently working on a new brochure to share with the community on uh historical facts and some requirements that are needed when
purchasing a historical home in law I I have a question that Mr Ryan's back after an absence so welcome back back in the thick of things great being here with you wonderful um as as the as the Lea's on to Elsa I had a question
for you about the sewer band and how that is progressing if you can sort of give us an update sure sewer band is lifted and we're doing well any any applications are coming in already to
hook up and is there going to be how how did you get the sewer band lifted I'm trying to find out for the public to understand is there are there going to be changes at Elsa right are do you have to do things to deal with the nitrates that's been going on for a
while yeah we're switching to nitrates thanks yep we met the requirements and they lifted it nitrates any other updates on to written communication we did get a a lovely thank you note um I
think probably everyone has in I just want to share Lawrence Township Council thank you for your beautiful gardan in honor of my head K Johnson your thoughtful gesture means so much to me and I deeply appreciate your support during this difficult time um sincerely
Pat Johnson any other communication okay if we can have a motion then for session um session to discuss um a negotiation just thank you all for coming out this
evening we appreciate