yeah adquate notice of this meeting of the Lawrence Township Council being held on Tuesday May 7th 2024 has been provided with the posting of the annual meeting schedule of said Council in accordance with Section 13 of the open public meetings act said notice was sported to The Trentonian the times and the Princeton packet on December 11th 2023 and I just want to make mention that may is mental health awareness month I just want to remind we all may know someone who is currently managing through a mental illness last week my family suffered suffered a terrible blow when a member of our family lost the battle to mental illness please reach out to one another you never know when someone may need a hug a phone call or an I love you hang in there I'm here for you thank you you could have the inspiration Madam CLI 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 a wonderful community in which to live I pledge alance to the flag of the United States of America and to [Music] stands IND andice for all we could have the roll call please Mr bobit here Mr Kaki here M Perry here Mr Ryan here mayor farmer here we now have a special proc recognition and presentation by the National Guard militia Museum of New Jersey to read the whole thing but they'll take it from working yes mayor council good evening thank you for having us my name is Colonel retired Bob Watson I am the President of the Board of Trustees for the National Guard militia Museum of New Jersey Incorporated with me tonight behind me to my right is Lieutenant Colonel retired Tom Smith our board Treasurer I think right behind me is my command sergeant major retired Dave Turner the board Treasurer and I'd like to recognize the staff sergeant retired Jim Kaki who is a board member also tonight we're going to present to the township of Lawrence the Robert a dennon award this award was created in 2008 to recognize one of our board members who spent many years as a member of the board uh he loved Museum he loved history and he was a big supporter not only at the Museum in seagar but especially the museum in lville um I guess Bob got a little older he became handicapped he couldn't serve in the military but his heart was always in the right place for the museum so in 2008 the Board of Trustees named the award after Robert a Denon to recognize those individuals and organizations that support contribute or dedicated to the values of the museums especially again in La so tonight I would like to present the award to Kevin for the township okay it just reads on behalf of the Board of Trustees National Guard militia Museum of New Jersey Incorporated this award is presented to the township of lawence in grateful recognition and appreciation of the significant contributions you have made to the National Guard musici militia Museum of New Jersey located in lawville April 16 2024 so Kevin thank you thank you L for all your [Applause] support thank you thank you thank you all we'll see you Memorial thank you I just say couple quick words so first of all thank you so much for for uh acknowledging Lauren's Township as a community partner which is what we are um you know as a Township manager I I serve these five elected officials and do the work that they asked me to do and I'm happy to do and I'm proud to be working with you I apologize for how I'm dressed I just left my dad who was in the hospital but as I was thinking I think the last time I was out with him in public was at the Museum really yeah when he walked through it and was just amazed at all the artifacts and the displays so I want to thank you for that experience personally and on behalf of everybody here thank you for welome you know if you haven't been to the museum please stop by you'll be surprised uh I think of what you see and I think we did a good job showing the history of the citizen soldiers so if you haven't been there please stop by again thank you with that I'm still on I'm on um next brings us to our first opportunity for public participation siia um since the renewal of the request at the last count Township council meeting by Mr bobit to review the the Tren black and hardscaped supplies operations and because uh Mr cek uh did not have the opportunity to hear us the residents of Colonial Heights speak on the record about this um we have a written document uh to present to Mr cek uh to help him with the to establishing the timeline of events the questions that we have been asking uh on the record for almost two years um the document supporting where our questions are coming from uh and also some docu uh documentation or written Communications with the township officials and if you have any additional if you have need for any additional uh information we have we have more on that so thank you very much this is the document we present okay thank you than you sir thank you very much see no additional public participation we'll move on to the review and revision of the agenda Madame mayor I would like to have a res revision to P for h720 which is a reaffirmation of the crown act we do have some special guests that will be joining us for this presentation um they are currently in rout so um being respectful of time when they arrive would we be able to um go forward uh there was an amendment to the information that was originally provided to council okay um is the amendment agreeable to the members of council do we need to take a a roll call yes okay M chair yes uh can we uh hold 18 H4 for discussion purposes 18 H4 yes thank you all right if we can have a motion for resolution reaffirming support of the crown act second Madam CL you call the RO Please Mr bobin yes Mr Kaki yes M Perry yes Mr Ryan Yes mayor farmer yes thank you all right so when the additional guests arrive we will move on to that all right very well okay adoption of the minutes in the previous meeting mayor if it's all right with counil I'll move uh 8A regular meeting of December 19th 2023 and 8B reorganization meeting January 1 2024 on a block okay I did have some revisions to the um January 1st 2024 okay just some grammatical just you can just share send that to us okay so we'll just put with corrections and you can send us the correction perfect okay all right I second um but I don't think we can't vote on December 19th no have rision for January 1 mayor I'd suggest just abstaining from that Vote or I will revise um I'll make a motion to Mo December because I don't think we had a second yet so I will move at 8A regular meeting December 19th 2023 I you need a second second okay Madam cler if you call the r Please Mr Bob yes Mr Kaki yes M Perry abstain Mr Ryan Yes mayor farmer abstain all right mayor I will move 8B reorganization meeting January 1 2024 second that revisions to be submitted to the with with rision M CL if you could call the Mr Bob yes Mr Kaki yes M cry yes Mr Ryan yes may bomber yes and thank you madam okay next we have award and no rejection or bids we're going to go into the introduction of ordinances mayor if I may I'd like to move a 10A ordinance number 2468 d24 ordinance providing for various Road improvements Mill and overlay including all work and materials in and by the township of Lawrence in the county of Mercer New Jersey appropriating 3 million 69,1 1880 in capital Improvement funds second okay you call please Mr bobit yes Mr Kaki yes M Perry yes Mr Ryan Yes mayor Farm yes mayor I'll move 10B ordinance number 2469 d24 ordinance apprting 1, 14511 145 from the capital Improvement fund for various Capital Improvements in and by the township of Lawrence in the county of merer New Jersey do we have a second I second mad you call the r Please Mr Bob yes Mr Kaki yes M Perry yes Mr Ryan Yes mayor farmer yes uh we'll move uh 10c ordinance number Township lawence to revise section 522 drainage and storm water management have second second Madam CL if you could call the RO Please Mr Bobby yes Mr Kaki yes Perry yes Mr Ryan Yes mayor farmer yes I move 10d ordinance number 2471-20 ordinance providing for sidewalk improvements in and by the township by the Township in the county of Mercer say Township of Lawrence in the county of Mercer state of New Jersey appropriating $700 therefore directing the special assessment of the cost thereof second Mr bobin yes Mr Kaki yes M Perry yes Mr Ryan Yes mayor farmer yes and now we have the adoption of ordinances marrow move 11a ordinance number 2 46724 an ordinance amending chapter 435 of the Lawrence Township Administrative Code entitled motor vehicles and traffic adding a handicap parking space at 1718 Princeton Avenue thank you I second you have open the public hearing is there any public comments on this particular see none you have to move to close the public hearing we moving to close the public participation do we have a second I second M you call please Mr Bob yes Mr Kaki yes M Perry yes Mr Ryan Yes mayor farmer yes okay this brings us now to the manager's report wait did did you vote on it yes yes you vote to adopt the the the ordinance yeah they did okay just thank you okay and the manager report there anything to report have I have nothing to report uh attorney's report I have U mayor I have a couple things that I've asked to be placed in the uh closed session involving some real estate negotiations uh that we can handle very quickly at that time okay thank you Mr and mad do you have anything to report uh not at this time all right this BR us to unfinished business do we have any to report no okay is there any new business for discussion no okay this brings us to the second opportunity for public participation yes you come forward um you can write address and St your hi I'm kolley my little almost long I just have a question actually how does one get a copy of I see you introduced a whole bunch of ordinances and we adopted one so the introduced ones are still out there for consideration presumably can we have we get a copy of those we can look at it and then you'll adopt them at the next or at some point in the future the next meeting they absolutely okay and then my other question is I did see there's a real estate something in Clos session I don't know how much you're allowed to say what it is but it's simply a negotiation of a parcel the township uh is involved in it doesn't affect long AC that's no no thank you very much can I stop and just take all right seeing your additional public participation we'll close that session and now your resolutions all right Council correct me if I'm wrong but I if it's all right I think I'm okay on this okay I'd like to move resolutions 18 B1 through H3 and H5 through H9 in the block 18 correct1 M we pulled out I've pulled out H4 about the Elsa application I discussion I think for discussion yeah I think yes okay give us a moment to make sure there AR yeah I'll second it one more ready ready to go do we have a second M Mr Bob yes Mr Kaki yes M Perry yes Mr Ryan Yes mayor F yes all right mayor I'd like to move uh H4 uh number two 3 authorizing resolution to endorse Elsa application to New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection second and for a discussion have an update councilman going to give us an update I have uh concerns this is the first I saw this I'm on Ela board they talked about this but they moved this sword mine and it's going up the street where originally it was alongside uh Colonial Lake Land there and they can still put it there it's not a problem with it going there if they need more approval from the wetlands and d and stuff but you're affecting quite a bit of that road up there uh in that neighborhood it's going to be all ripped up and my thing is Elsa should have had a town hall meeting with the residents over there and they're not and and they want us to say yes to this tonight when they should have took the steps and had a town hall meeting and explain all this to the residents over there that that's what I'm looking at which what is what area specifically are you referring to what neighborhood sorry right in front of Chris's house mayor I think I think I think the two councilman on this side could speak to that may may I I I suggest it's up to the council um is to get Elsa in here okay uh again we table it okay uh if that's all right with everybody on board and discuss it because that was the plan last time we supposed to go right through the park and hook up right there uh on that uh instead of going up and tearing up the whole street all the way up okay well it sounds like we have a majority of I'd like to add as also along with Miss Councilman Ryan a resident of the lakelands and the idea of sort of going all the way up Winchester and just putting those residents uh you know at a dis inconvenience without sort of a more full uh sort of presentation or anything like that timing and everything else um I think it's only right I agree with my my Elsa colleagues that serve on the Elsa board that we should have them come in and speak to it and just give us more information I think it's only fair to the residents of the township Mr Ryan would you wish to table this to a date certain the next meeting on May 21st and if it's it's agreeable with the rest of the council was 21st mayor I I would I would ask is that enough time is well is that enough time for you to have an meeting or to get more information Council Elsa meets in two weeks two weeks is it enough time for El to notify the residence of a town meeting probably not I would say not let's take it June we have the we're in the summer session uh on that so be the first the meeting in June we should make it a date certain so you know keep the feet to the fire so it's speak okay well why don't we um look at the meeting as an initial deadline and revisit it if there any if any new information comes forward that we need to make any other additional adjustments but I do agree that it's um imperative that we should notify their residents and at least the conversation some sort of communication with going all right so that sounds fair mayor I'd like to make a motion to table H4 please until our June meeting please and we sent out a notice to Elsa to uh come before Council yeah I'll I'll second that and I'll just add it if here's a clerk can correct me if I'm wrong that would be June 18th Tuesday June 18th and remember um I found this out the hard way that we meet we start at six o'clock during the summer so and I put it in red everybody would thank you m Carter Mr Ryan uh would it be your intent to have to hear before the June meeting or at the June meeting I I believe it at the June meeting this way uh maybe we could send out a notice that uh that Elsa notified a colon the lak lands in that area we could something out on the web page also for the township that there is meeting on on this is Council agree I think that's a good idea thank just clearing so we know thank you sir have the vote to we going to now vote to table call Mr bobit yes Mr Kaki yes M Perry yes m Ryan Yes mayor farmer yes okay I believe um we're good to go gu yes well I think that's all we have yeah okay we'll now go back [Music] to councilwoman Harry if you could reintroduce H7 number 206 H7 number 206 authorizing resolution reaffirming support of the crown Act here please thank you for coming thank you so much for coming so it is great honor since this has recently been in the news um name um our former congresswoman but for a different District Bonnie Watson Coleman has reintroduced and Senator Booker has um come on board to also reaffirm the crown act I would like to read the resolution that we are presenting to the township and we have members of the NAACP here representing um the Trenton chapter and most importantly some young ladies that will be the future of this act thank you um and I would like to thank um our councilman Bob who assisted with the uh resolution so resolution affirming support of the crown act whereas in 2019 the state of New Jersey enacted the crown the create of respectful and open workplace excuse me workspace for natural hair act also known as the crown act and whereas New Jersey became the Third state to pass this important piece of legislation and whereas the crown act amends the New Jersey law against discrimination njlad so that the term race includes traits historically associated with race including but not limited to hair texture hair type protective hair styles and whereas Lawrence Township is a multicultural and diverse Municipality of nearly 32,000 residents according to the 2022 census estimate and whereas Lawrence Township is home to over 4,000 black residents who make up more than 133% of the town's population and whereas black women are 80% women of color more likely to believe that they must change their natural hairstyles to fit into their office and environment according to a 2019 study whereas hairstyles associated with Black Culture including twists Braves cornrows afro locks banto knots are now considered protective hairstyles free from discrimination and now therefore be it resolved the township of Lawrence is committed to upholding legislation that directly impacts our community's mission to Foster equ equality and inclusion we affirm our full support of the crown act in its entirety on this day forward Mr Austin so thank you very much for joining us um those of who grew up in the culture where you you really could not express yourself through your hairstyles you know um as you know Haitian American I was never ever allowed to wear braids at all because it was not accepted so this is a beautiful thing to see how people have embraced all types of natural hairstyles from curls to braids to anything that makes you comfortable and the great thing is that here in Mercer County we have some legislators who have stepped forward and who are examples of that as our assembly woman for district 15 assembly woman randles Jackson wears her hair and me many different styles as our commissioner teren Stokes who advocately wears his braids proudly both of them I spoke to and told them I was going to talk about them this evening um they are great examples of leadership what is inside and the character has no reflection of the hairstyle that is a choice that should not be discriminated against and Mr Austin Edward Esquire as well wearing his natural grades it's a great thing for the community to see that um the intelligence and integrity and the character of the person has nothing to do with their um displaying proudly their ethnicity thank you thank you thank you first want to start off with the fact that I definitely know we're in good company so I can literally go ahead and let my hair [Applause] down so first I want to thank um the entire uh City Council of Lawrence uh want to thank our uh mayor farmer as well I definitely want to thank you Council Perry Council councilman uh bobit for your tireless work and for getting us to this point today um esteemed members of our community I stand today before you with a heart full of gratitude and appreciation on behalf of the Trenton NAACP this decision to support the crown Act is not just a significant Milestone it's a testament to the commitment to equity diversity and inclusivity within our beloved City I want to extend my sincerest thanks to each member of this Council for recognizing the importance of this legislation and for taking bold steps to endorse it your dedication to upholding the rights and dignity of every individual in our community is truly commendable now as the councilwoman mentioned the crown act or the create a respectful and open workplace for natural hair Act is a crucial piece of legislation that seeks to combat discrimination based on natural hairstyles particularly targeting the systemic bias against black individuals and all people of color by prohibiting uh discrimination based on hairstyle or Texture this act not only protects individual's right to self-expression but also challenges deeply entrenched stereotypes and biases in our society as repr representatives of the Trent NAACP uh which our jurisdiction expands throughout all of Mercer County we've long been at the Forefront of the fight for civil rights and social justice since our Inception over a century ago uh the NAACP has been a Beacon of Hope and a catalyst for change tirelessly advocating for the rights of marginalized communities Across the Nation our mission rooted in the principles of equality and justice for all resonates deeply with the spirit of the crown act now I want to say that uh I'm especially happy that we uh you know it's very unexpected to have these young ladies before us today um but I think it's extremely important I myself uh being a new father got a nine-month-old I got plenty of pictures for you guys right after all but knowing that we have um in place since 2019 the passage of this Crown act here in New Jersey to protect to protect future generations and to ensure that the generations that we're raising up now won't have to face the same discrimination that we may been used to that we've internalized that we found as normal so this is a step in the right direction I'm very excited uh for this work to be done today I also want to highlight the fact that we have uh uh with NAACP uh Crown act training that's happening on Saturday June 8th at uh Shiloh Baptist Church in Trent New Jersey uh specifically from 12: to 300 p.m. uh we're having the uh division of civil rights the NJ DCR come out and give that training uh to teach about the history of hair discrimination to teach about the history of uh you know why the crown Act was passed in almost half the states in the United States and especially teach um I'm going to be Shameless here all right since she mentioned it right you know a lawyer I need some C credits they're but really for anybody just to get the background and the importance of this piece of legislation this is why we're having the training and to make sure that we're not uh carrying the same patterns into the workplace today so just wanted to plug that very quickly and uh uh just want to express again my deepest gratitude to this uh city council for their unwavering support of the crown Act uh all of your leadership and all of your guidance and dedication to the principles of equality and justice serves as an inspiration to us all together we will continue to strive towards a future where every individual regardless of race or ethnicity can live and work with dignity respect and equality thank you I just want to thank Mrs Cony for bringing her two young daughters to be here with us it's our young people who will carry this on I could only have wished that at their age I would have had people advocating on our behalf for me to be able to wear my hair however I want it beautiful curly or braids or anything like that so thank you for coming I hope you'll remember this a little bit have a great evening [Applause] than how many credits is it you got thank you again contribs team effort okay this brings us now to um Council initiative and lay on reports I was waiting for councilwoman Perry to say something but I I'll I'll say it maybe jog your memory um for the first time since 2019 the grocer why do you steal my thunder trying to report on your stuff what's on your stuff it wasn't I was there too it was great we all want to report on it all right every it's a little bit the mayor goes first yes well I was just EXC yeah there was a mayor's award this is the growth and Redevelopment committee um had their annual award ceremony which they had not had as councilman B mentioned since 2019 so it was a very exciting um opportunity I served um for two years on that committee along with councilman Bob who served much longer um and we were excited to see the awards there wheny come to okay and councilwoman paring will now report on that yes so I'm happy to say that um being the new Beyond here um councilman bobit has had more experience with the growth and Redevelopment um committee but it was great since Co they have not had the annual award which gives um Rec nition to local businesses and um Charities to uh highlight them in the growth and re development uh committee what was really great is that we were able to gather close to 60 people in a new facility called venue P that's right on the strip mall where schaer's dry cleaning is and this is exactly what we wanted to do highlight a new business that's been there for six years that 90% of us that were at the um event did not know was there so it was a great opportunity to celebrate all the um the winners the attendees and most importantly to show that despite being um not being able to do it during the pandemic that we are pushing forward and want to continue to highlight entrepreneurs and growing businesses one of the highlights of the evening is um a great entrepreneur um forgive me uh the owner of crave vieta and I I will butcher her last name she gave the uh introductory and uh keynote speech but she also focused on what one of the greatest things that most of us have experienced as an immigrant that came here that did not speak any English she took the Bold move to start her own business now she has five businesses so it's a wonderful thing to see that I can do it too and she did it as a single mom struggling but did not give up and that was a great thing for all the entrepreneurs for everyone in the room to hear because our nation is built on the backs of small businesses and that is the great thing about our community we are a community of small businesses we do have some big ones but we all shop our small business businesses and that's what we want to continue to do and that's the Legacy that um mayor farmer and councilman bobit started with the committee and I hope to carry on anything that I leave out Mr BR no I I will I will say this um I thought it was a wonderful event um it was great to be there it's also kind of um strange to me um to to look out and see uh both uh for May PID as well as former clerk noria um in the audience I remember um being someone new to this community in 2004 and signing up to serve on the growth and Redevelopment Committee in 2005 um and I joke with people that if you keep showing up to things they'll keep making you chair and then ask you to run for councel so careful what you wish for but I just want to say it was it was a pleasure to to serve on the committee as both a volunteer and then as a councilman and I I think it's in great hands and I I applaud you for for bringing it back this year and getting it going so thank you thank you I think well done thank you I must give all the credit to Melissa Clark and her team and the um the the very strong uh working relationship she has with the committee um I just tagged along and set things up and it was it was good but we're looking forward to next year so um please buy your tickets early because we probably will sell out yeah um I have one more report so um the Public Safety Committee will be um subcommittee will be meeting tomorrow uh we will be reviewing the November 2023 fire safety report and as I had mentioned before that is a foundation and a guiding um document the council has charged the committee to come up with recommendations to do what would be best best or suggest what would be best for our community and that's what we will be doing so um as we gather information and get some um recommendations we will periodically um give information to council but at this time it will take several months this is not something that's going to happen overnight so we ask that you be patient with us and um give us your support so that we can make sure that we are getting all the information we need and present the best plan for our community thank you I was just going to report on my own committees um uh environmental resource advisory committee has been looking at uh in uh sort of we we're talking about uh improving the storm water um ordinances in the township they're also looking at what we could do to also enhance those ordinances um and then shry is um really just reviewing some things right now um you know the usual day-to-day stuff but also was very pleased that when we had the uh the free treat sampling giveaway that we had 15 I believe trees and they were gobbled up um within hours so a lot of trees in L I just want to say some successes so thanks man that was great okay and I will just report last Friday I had the um Prestige honor of attending the suain stainability New Jersey um conference and was able to report for Lawrence Township on our EV our electric vehicles and it was well received um by the members at the workshop um which is Kudos did a great work that has been done here in Lawrence and as I understand we are silver members of the sustainability New Jersey we're going for gold so but um it was a tremendous opportunity to see uh what other um areas are are working on but we definitely um are at the Forefront and we will continue our work with electric vehicles and all that is need fors Su state New Jersey so wanted to just report on that and also thank the members of Kevin staff who were very helpful um with the presentation I couldn't have done it without them they um were tremendous and that's Brenda and Jennifer in the planning department engineering right pass the thank you want to make that public very helpful okay and now is there anything else to report um I just say the planning board did meet on Monday and we are continuing to um develop the dates for our community um meetings with regards to the planning um the revisions at the planning master plan sorry my so um that information should come out shortly um there too there is a subcommittee that is working on the details so we should hear something shortly looking forward to that the master plan okay else okay all right um written communication we have uh I think an application came in is that right from um that's correct if it's all right with americ think I would like to just leave that tabled for right now um so that we could also discuss and and and and maybe bring it back in okay thank you I'm in agreement with that okay so we have a motion to table at this time do we need to call no you don't the table I get my ERS and with that um we will now be going into executive session do I have a motion some second second okay thank you members of the audience for coming out this evening there's still some daylight that you