Okay. I'd like to call to order the township the regular meeting for the township below Pacon for July 1st, 2026. Uh please bow your head for a moment of prayer, please. Pledge of Allegiance to the flag
of America to the stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. Adequate notice of this meeting has been provided indicating the time and place of the meeting in accordance with chapter 72 of the public laws of 2025 by
advertising a notice on the township website and by posting a copy on the bulletin board in the municipal building and is accessible by direct hyperlink placed on the New Jersey Secretary of State portal. >> A roll call, please. Yes. Councilman
Delaro >> here. >> Councilman Marinelli >> here. >> Councilman McUade here. >> Council President >> here. Uh Wade, would you summarize executive session, please? >> Yes. Uh the township of council met in executive session where it discussed the following privileged matters. Attorney
client privilege, the Pacong Park project contractual LAA contract update. Attorney client privilege, the cubes warehouse fees agreement with Pohatong, litigation, harbor management, breakley gardens update, and personnel PBA grievance. Minutes from the executive
session will be released as released at such time as the council deems no public harm will come from it and no official action was taken. Uh there is a motion uh from the discussions and executive. Uh if someone wants to make a motion to reject the Bakong Park pool project as
discussed in executive, >> I'll make that motion. >> Second it. Call that. >> Call. >> Councilman Delcara. >> Yes. >> Councilman Marinelli. >> Yes. >> Councilman. >> Yes. >> Council President. >> Yes. >> You're right. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Um before we do public
comment, Lori, would you like to talk? >> Good evening. Uh Commissioner Lori Tesla. We have a little bit of a surprise for everybody in the county, and you guys are the first ones that we're presenting this to. We've had um
two back-to-back momentous years. Last year was the 200th birthday of Warren County which everybody participated in and now this year is the semiquincentennial of the 250th birthday of America which is coming on Saturday. Um so what we wanted to do is just give a little recognition to everybody so
that we had you had something that people could look and um remember that these two momentous occasions occurred back toback. So we're presenting to each town a plaque that's just showing that it's to the township of La Pacon and it
talks about like our bsentennial and our semiquincentennial and we have both of our logos on here so you could hang it up and we just wanted to uh I don't know if you want to come down or if you want me to come up there. >> Yeah. No, don't come up. I'm going to
take a picture with the whole group. >> Yeah, I would love that. >> I'll come up here. And as we like to say, we truly do believe that Warren County is the best county in the state. >> Thank you.
>> Thank you very much. >> I'm happy for it. All right. Thank you, Lori. >> And thank Jason and Jim also. I appreciate it. Okay. Public comment on agenda items only. >> Anyone?
Seeing none, we'll move on. Old business. Number one, approve minutes from June 3rd, 2026, executive and regular sessions. Have a motion in a second. Please. >> Motion. >> Second. Roll call vote, please. >> Councilman Delcara, >> yes.
>> Councilman Marinelli, >> yes. >> Councilman McCain, >> yes. >> Council President, >> yes. Mayor, >> right? >> Yes. Number two, resolution setting forth the reasons of the township council adopting an ordinance 2006 amending the township
zoning ordinance to prohibit data centers notwithstanding the planning board's determination that the ordinance is inconsistent with the township master plan pursuant to NJSA 40 semicolon 555D62A.
I have a motion and second please. >> Motion. >> I'll make the second roll call vote. Yes. >> Councilman Valero. >> Yes. >> Councilman Marinelli. >> Yes. >> Councilman. >> Yes. >> Council President. >> Yes. >> Mayor Right. >> Yes. Number three. Ordinance number
2606. Second reading and public hearing ordinance of the township of Pacon County of Warren and the state of New Jersey amending chapter 243 of the municipal code to prohibit data centers as a principal conditional or accessory use within the research office or
manufacturing zones. Could I have a motion second to hold public hearing, please? >> Motion. >> I'll second that. All in favor? I >> I uh comment from the public. Anybody? >> My name is Mosowski.
>> Yeah, you are stand. I'm not I'm new to this. Sorry if I'm >> Spell your last name. >> S A R N O S K I. >> So, in regards to uh >> Can I have your address, please? >> 841 Uniontown Road. >> Thank you.
>> Um like again, I'm sorry if I sound a little off. It's my first time here. Um, so in regards to the uh data centers and stuff like that, I thought this what I looked at it looked like it was the area was zone. It's not by residential. I'm a big advocate for expansion and opportunity. The only reason I bring
this up is I had some friends that were out in uh and uh say east end of uh the state and they knocked down a uh big business opportunity town, voted it down and not 6 months later they were complaining they had no jobs. I was
like, well, you guys just vote it down. One of the biggest job opportunities there. I'm not playing advocate for or against. I understand there's a lot of uh lot of um debate that's with this with the uh utility usage something that I read that you guys sent out. This is
going to be a and a uh a strain on the electric and water consumption. So, I understand um that there's going to be some resources that are going to be needed for data center. Um, I don't know if there's something that the town could implement like maybe a stressful tax on that over utility, something on that
>> along those times or maybe uh an update on uh how they can resource or uh maybe recycle that water opportunity so that they they consume it once and they can recycle it for their cooling cooling capabilities that they have going on with the data centers. I know there's a lot of heat exchange. I just don't want
to I would like to keep the opportunity open. Maybe we put it on a on hold or something like that if there it comes to our attention because why would we want to turn something down that could be a tax resource or a or job revenue, you know, producing some people for jobs and
uh just want to keep that opportunity. I'm not pro for it or against it, you know, I'm still trying to get my my uh all my research done together. I talked about some people, most people are against it, but uh again, I don't want us to shoot ourselves in the foot basically something like that. and uh
you know put something down that could be a beneficial opportunity for our town, you know. But thank you for letting me share. Appreciate it. >> Appreciate your help. >> Okay, >> John. John Ketcherson, 38 Lane. Uh first off, I fully support the ban on uh data
centers and the resolution number two. Um it's talking about notwithstanding the planning board's determination that it goes against their the master plan. Um I have a copy of the uh the recommendation report from the 2012 uh re-examination and it actually
specifically seeks uh data center. I don't know if there's a later uh re-examination, but it actually seeks data center nurse is one of the one of the key points. And I was just wondering if we go ahead and pass this ordinance, are we going to follow up with changing that master plan so we don't
get sued in the future to put in a data center? >> Yeah. So, uh at the last meeting, in addition to introducing this ordinance, there was a resolution uh authorizing the re-examination of the master plan. >> Well, that's a reexam by re-examination. What do you mean?
>> That's how you would uh reex that's I mean then you might want to look uh the railroad planner here. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. So the 2012 report that you're looking at now is a re-examination of the master plan which is required to be done at least every 10 years. Okay. >> Um and that's an opportunity to review
the master plan to update it see if there's any inconsistencies or things that need to be updated and that will be one of the items that the planning board will look at. >> Okay. I know that some of the folks on the planning board were kind of pro data center which concerns me a little bit. Um
>> we wanted to strip the conditional. >> Yeah. Yeah. Uh former mayor Muchi kind of lamented the fact that we lost the data center that they were going to build at one point. Uh so you know sending it back to the planning board
worries me just a little bit when that's the uh the view. So >> I just let me just address what what your comment is. >> In 2012, the data center came came on scene. >> All right. And that was because Bank of America uh was exploring the area. There
was a potential >> looking at you know to move to LOAC. >> However, that never happened. >> Okay. For whatever reason. As a matter of fact, I followed them and didn't go anywhere. So they were just testing the waters. >> So we have to remember that data center
back then. All right. It's a different definition than data center today. >> Completely different. Data center for the bank of America would have been for Bank of America only. You know, files, records, sure, whatever. >> So, today it's a whole different thing. Right now, data centers are the
headlines >> across the country. >> I I agree 100%. >> Okay. So, and what happened with that is so what the planning board did, >> right? They putting restrictions, right? In the event an applicant decided to come in, >> right?
>> All right. Right. And I I I attended the uh >> right. So we never okay never had an applicant all right or even proposed or approve a data center >> because it it was already approved. It was already in the master plan. So we
were not approving that. >> We were just following uh the uh recommendation from the planning board in the event. >> Right. >> And that was the reason. So misinformation or disinformation went out there. >> I don't >> Okay, that to say that we were approving
a data center. That's the misinformation part or disinformation and you know the difference between the two. So we just want to clear the error here. There was no such thing. >> I understand that. >> Okay. >> Mhm. >> Okay. >> That's it. >> No, I understand and I agree with you
100%. 2012 data centers world a lot different 2026 and that's what scares me if that would have happened in 2012 if bank of America would have come in >> all right the potential for uh to help the taxpayers and lower pack would have
been huge but that's all hearsay >> you know but it never came to futition >> okay okay >> thank you thank you >> question one time I'm sorry >> you get your three minutes proposed to come in or is this No, no, no. Nothing's been proposed.
>> Yes, ma'am. >> Hi. Uh, Loretta Walsdorf, W M E L S D O RF, at 218 Beer Street. I will make no confusion about the fact that I am deeply negative towards data centers. I'll speak to this again. I
spoke last time. I'm uh I was not going to say this at all, but I'll touch on it because it was brought up by someone else. data centers do not provide many long-term jobs. So even that which is one of the only positives that you know could be put forward as like oh well
this is a reason for it. They don't make that many long-term jobs is very very few. It doesn't take a lot of people to operate a data center. Like for like a massive massive data center, you're looking at maybe maybe like a 100 people for a huge one
like a giant one like one of the like the one that's going in Utah, you know, but for one here that we barely have any room for even a a small one which would cause immense harm, ecologically, water, electricity, so many reasons not worth the maybe like 10
or 20 highpaying jobs due to all the harm. Now, I only brought that up because someone just brought up that jobs are a potential. I don't agree and I have no qualms being extremely open about the fact that I don't agree. The reason that I'm up here mainly and why I
wanted to come here is because I did watch the planning board meeting from last week where they said that it was inconsistent and yes, that is correct. Obviously, it it's inconsistent. I'm wondering what's the timeline for re-examining. I know that the amendment
was put forward to re-examine it. What kind of timeline are we looking at for like months, several months, 3 months, 6 months? Like what's the Cuz I don't have any insight and because I can't go and comment at the planning board meetings, you know, unfortunately I have to waste
your time because I can't comment there. There's no guarantee that I'll be able to speak. If I could, I would. >> Uh it's probably going to be in the next couple months. There will be public hearing on that. So, you can't make comments on that. >> Okay. But like at the normal unfortunately at the regular planning board meetings that's not guaranteed.
>> But when they take this action uh they're going to have all the time. >> Okay, that's great. But like I'm just saying I wouldn't have to waste your time and everyone else's time if we could comment which is a reason why people would like to be able to comment normally. You know, just throwing it out there. >> Dan, do you have a more specific
timeline? I assume it's going to be in the next couple months. >> Yeah, probably in the next four months. I mean, we just started looking at it. Um, and then it would have to be put out for public notice for for the public hearing. I mean, >> so like August, September most likely >> potentially. I mean, there's there's no
set deadline or schedule. >> I think that's a reasonable time. >> Yeah. No, I'm just, you know, I'm wondering in the meantime, we are kind of open to potentially being under threat of lawsuit. So, I'm wondering if >> there's there's no threat. This is uh a
valid ordinance. The law allows us to adopt this with the law makes for a specific provision that if there's an ordinance that's inconsistent with master plan, that resolution that we passed on number two uh makes it a valid ordinance and
anyone can sue for anything, but we are as airtight as we can be by following the law. >> Okay. All right. That's all I was wondering because I you know I just wanted to it's just a little bit the whole process is a little bit confusing because it's very heavy on the legal jargon. So thank you.
>> Thank you. Anyone else? >> Yes ma'am. >> Rosemary Paulace 1240 Fair View Overlook. Now, I live in Overlook. Can you hear me? >> Yes, ma'am. I'm good. >> I live in Overlook and have for about
nine years. Um, it's really a nice community and we weren't happy when we heard the warehouse was going to go up and back and there were a lot of problems with that. I've >> Sorry, this is a public hearing for the data center ordinance,
>> right? So, I just want to get to the point that we were upset about that, but now nothing happened with that. But the all of the um there's activity on the property. Someone owns that property and removing
the panels. >> So is there actually a work being forward? >> I'm this is for the this is there's going to be another comment for that >> comment down the end. >> Yeah, this is for data center ordinance. >> That's what I'm concerned about. >> There's no no work being done for a data
center. >> Oh, >> none. >> Oh, all right. everyone proposed. I don't know. >> All right. No, I'm against the data center mainly because of the water usage. Um I know there was an issue with that
uh the supply of water, electricity when there was going to be other buildings there. So I think the data center consumes more. Um and of course it's a noise ordinance issue. They're very loud and um I really wish that it doesn't
come in. So, I just want you to voice my opinion on >> Thank you. >> not having the data center there. >> Thank you. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. >> Anyone else? >> That's good. >> Sarah Hair, H
Delaware Road and Hope. and I spoke last time and I just want to say thank you to this council for doing the right thing in passing an ordinance to prohibit data centers. You are now one of I believe it's 12 other townships in Warren County
that have either passed an ordinance um based on Commissioner Kern's model or they updated their existing ordinance or are updating their master plan. So, you might have heard that Philipsburg right now is in process of uh updating their
master plan to go along with the ordinance that they previously pass. And I assume that's what will happen with this ordinance. So, thank you so much. >> Thank you, Miss Anyone else? >> Okay. If not, um have a motion in a
second to close the public hearing. >> Motion. Second. >> All in favor? I >> motion and second to adopt this ordinance. >> Motion second. >> Second it. >> Uh roll call. >> Callo. >> Yes. >> Councilman Marinelli. >> Yes. Councilman. >> Yes.
>> Council President. >> Yes. Mayor. >> Yes. Ordinance number 26-07. Second reading and public hearing of bond ordinance providing an appropriation of 727,500 for various capital improvements in by
the township of Lakon in the county of Warren, New Jersey and by authorizing issuance of $691,125 in bonds or notes for the township financial part of the appropriation. Have a motion, a second to hold public hearing.
>> Motion. >> Second. Um, all in favor? >> I. >> Um, public comment from the public on it. >> Seeing none, motion to second to close the public hearing. >> Motion. >> Second. >> All in favor?
>> I. >> Motion in a second to adopt this ordinance. >> Motion. >> Second. >> Roll call vote, please. >> Yes. >> Councilman Delcara. >> Yes. >> Councilman Marinelli. >> Yes. >> Councilman. >> Yes. >> Council President. >> Yes. Mayor Right.
>> Yes. Number five, ordinance number 26-08, second reading and public hearing of bond ordinance providing an appropriation of $650,000 for various road improvements in and by the township of Pacon in the county of Warren, New Jersey, and authorizing an
issuance of $495,610 in bonds or notes of the township for financing part of the appropriation. Motion in a second to hold a public hearing. Motion >> second. All in favor? I.
>> Any uh comment from the public? >> Seeing none, motion in a second to close the public hearing. >> Motion. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> And a motion in a second to adopt this ordinance. >> Motion. >> Second. >> Roll call vote, please.
>> Councilman Delcara. >> Yes. >> Councilman Marinelli. >> Yes. >> Councilman McCain, >> yes. >> Council President, >> yes. Mayor, >> yes. New business ordinance number 2609, first reading to adopt the redevelopment plan for the property referred to as the
Lakon Park redevelopment area, commonly known as block 2, lots 30.07, 30.08, and 30.09 on the tax map in the township of Pakan. Have a motion in a second, please. >> I'll make that motion. >> Second.
>> Roll call vote. >> Yes. >> Councilman Delcaro. >> Yes. >> Councilman Marinelli. >> Yes. Councilman Mcquade. >> Yes. >> Council President, >> yes. >> Yes. Consent agenda items 1 through 11.
Um, everybody is okay with them. A motion second, please. >> Motion. >> Second. >> Roll call vote. >> Councilman Valaro. >> Yes. >> Councilman Marinelli. >> Yes. >> Councilman Muade. >> Yes. >> Council President.
>> Yes. >> Yes. Uh, council report. Uh, mayor, I don't have anything this evening. Lou, >> I don't have a report, but I just have a comment. This is all based on in our society
today with misinformation and disinformation. I want to echo what the mayor has said u a number of occasions and that is if you want to know the facts and if you want to know the truth please contact uh the municipal building you could speak to
Beth you can contact any one of us if you're not sure if you have a question but please be aware of what you hear what you see what you're being told via media via hearsay or fear mongers
whatever ever because what happened at the last meeting and I understand all of you showed up because of what you heard and as you come to know we were not um approving a data
center and that's the truth. Okay, you may have heard that we were approving it and you know uh you know permits were already granted and we had a a client. This is mis that's disinformation and disinformation is is a lie is
intentional to manipulate to deceive. Misinformation is a person believes the facts that they have but their facts are incorrect. So there's a difference between the two. And I don't know which is which or who's
doing and why they're doing it. So the fact of the matter is please don't just hear what other people's tell you. Seek us out here if you want to know the truth and the facts. And if we can legally answer you, we will do that. And
but we will give you the best answer to what we know. And if we don't have an answer, we'll get you one. We have emails, we have phone numbers. Okay? And that's my comment. Thank you. Scott
>> 9 nothing at this time. Mayor uh community day is August 29th. Rain date September 12th. I'm looking to schedule the townwide yard sale for September 19th. And I recently received an email from a resident from the Rose
Hill section uh complaint about traffic being fast and requested stop signs. I like to look into that. Certain uh streets on Rose Hill. >> What street on there? Uh, and I just know they're in the Rose Hill section. Matt, >> Pete, I'll let the chief know.
>> And then that's all for now. Thank you. >> Um, I really don't have anything. Um, we did, um, celebrate a retirement for Eileen Apple. She had 26 years with us, >> 26 years,
>> and she's retiring. And what a great asset to the township. and sad to see her go, but we're also happy to see her go. So, it's that was a nice day we had yesterday with her. Um, okay. Uh, engineering
report. Adam. >> Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Give everyone an update. Um, we currently, uh, started in the last month started a further efforts on the Fox Farm Road storm damage repair project. We had our
environmental scientists on site to inspect the area for wetlands and other features and our survey crews have been out there as well. Uh so we're in the process of finalizing permits and the design for that. Um the salore project continues. There's
sort of odds and ends that are going on finalizing some of the interior improvements and we're waiting on the uh the rick facing. It's been delayed uh in at the supplier level. So we're waiting on that till that project gets wrapped up. Hopefully in August we'll be wrapping that project up once the
materials arrive. Um the Stonehenge Drive project has been completed and and this month the final payments being made that council just authorized that. So we'll be closing out the project this month with the NJ DOT and getting the township reimbursement through the grant program with the
state. Uh and then finally our next um well our next DOT funded road project is Striker Road phase one improvements project and uh we've scheduled the survey and we're beginning design efforts this week uh with the hope of uh fall construction as soon as we get the design into DOT and get authorization.
We'll be working to get that project constructed. Um and then finally um well two final items. Uh our next grant through the DOT that we'll be seeking is uh the Pudding Stone Way and Brier Place Improvements Project. That grant application was filed yesterday. Uh the
deadline for those grants were today. So that's been submitted to the NJ DOT and we'll be working with them to uh get that grant approved and hopefully we'll have some news in November about the November time frame about how much uh it might have been awarded to the town to the township. We'll be able to proceed
with the improvements on putting stone away. And then finally, uh, one project we discussed over the last few months, uh, we'll be advancing this month is scoping the design and repair requirements and what's required to improve reservoir
road. So, uh, the target is from my perspective is to have a proposal to the to the council for the August meeting so that following the August meeting, we can begin work on the repairs on res designing the repairs for Reservoir Road. >> Great. >> That's all I have.
Uh, hey, we're from Toby's. >> Nothing. Huh? >> Interesting. >> Where? All right. Uh, please go. Chief's not here, right? >> Uh, DPW. Bye.
uh just go over a little bit of what we did. All right. Uh we did meet with Adam to go over all the roads and different things. All right. For year projects and uh some directions and stuff. Um so we're he's moving forward on the rest that he needs. Um we did install some
storm drains. We've had some issues on some of them. They when they put them in the grates um way way back, they did not set them back in correctly. Um, so we had a meet again, come up with some ideas and I sat back and thought
about it for about 24 hours where I'm going to go with it. And I'm pretty sure I got an answer for you and I take a look at it tomorrow and it's it's pretty good. All right. So I think we saved a lot a lot of money cuz it would have been probably around three $4,000 to fix each train. >> Wow. >> All right. There's probably close to
what, 1200, 1300 trains in this town. >> Catch basins. you know, in the catch basin, you know what I mean? They didn't set the drains back. So, um, we redesigned some things and make it meet the codes and and everything else. So, um, we don't know if we're going to
change out the rest of the heads or we're going to get the grates that go on it and call it even. All right. Might be the direction we go. Um, so anyway, we picked up all this stuff for uh the election booze and and the workman is back. All right. Turned it over to to
the LAA. Um, so that's been back for a couple weeks now. Um, um, we, uh, uh, went out and, uh, asphalted and different things and potholed in the areas that needed it. We'll be going out again in a short period of time here. All right. Um, I
got a lot of guys going on vacation, so it's we're going to be some short-handed, so we'll figure it out and put it together when I get enough manpower for direction and all that stuff. All right. Um, we did go out once a year. We got to do all our detention basins. Um they've got to be cleaned.
They got to be uh meet criteria for storm water regulations. Um that is done. Also the uh storm drains. Um we just talked about the heads and all that. Every one of them has to be uh cleaned and everything. All that is
done. All right. Um and uh um just clean up from the storm that we had and all that. Um, just basic basically the rest of the stuff was was maintenance and keeping up with the the grass and all that needs to be done. So, all right.
>> All right. Great. Thanks, B. >> Fire chief's report, Chief. >> All right. Thank you, council. Uh, month of June, uh, we responded to 22 calls for service, bringing our 2026 total to
128 calls. Uh so far this past month, uh everything's been going very smooth. No issues at all. Uh one thing I do have to share is tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. in the uh the park field inside Delaware Park on
Park Square, uh Delaware Park Fire Company will be hosting a community wet down um for the kids to come cool off or anyone really to come cool off. We'll have the uh the tower ladder set up and flow water for about an hour. Uh we have
popsicles for all the kids to uh come grab and it's just a community event we put together every year when it gets real hot so everyone can have an opportunity to cool down and uh have some fun together and uh yeah so that will be 5:30 to 6:30 tomorrow at the uh
Park Square Field in Del Park. >> That's all. Thanks. Appreciate it. EMS. No one's here from EMS. Robin, you know, board education report. >> Hello. Thank you for allowing me to be
here. Um, so summer break is here. Well, at least for our students. Our eighth grade student promotion was celebrated on June the 11th. Once again, it was a special ceremony with moving speeches from students Jasmine Gruell and Ella Schutz given um they to their
classmates, their teachers, and gathered guests. 96 students in all are moving on to high school. A huge congratulations to the Philipsburg graduating senior Alina Joseph, who's from Lacong and as valadictorian for her class, had a GPA
of 4.72. Alina mentioned lacon schools in her speech and she will be attending Harvard's university this fall. Cong congratulations also to Francesca D. Marcelo also from Latakong who was
chosen as salutarian of her class. So Lacon was pretty well represented. Additionally we would like to recognize one of our outgoing eighth grade students who you might have seen featured into in um Tap into. So, Dus,
I'm gonna murder his last name, Jaw Ranth, who was uh one of 250 students nationwide who were recognized in America's field trip essay contest. This was celebrating the 250th birthday. His essay reflected on the meaning of
America and his own journey overcoming adversity and that earned him a second prize cash award. In the theme of congratulations, we would like to recognize our esteemed and gifted and talented teacher, Mrs. Widleck, for her
work with Pikatini Arsenal. She has been involved in a year-long professional development program, which won our district access to Fusion 360, which works with Tinkercad and our current hardware and software. Normally, this
program costs $2,000, and our students will be reaping the benefits for free. So, thank you to Mrs. Widick. Like the businesses of our town, the business that you all do, the school district also has plenty of work to accomplish over the summer. If you've driven by the
elementary school on Striker Road, you may have noticed that work has begun on a rod grant project replacing the roof on our fourth grade pod. Additionally, we now have lights installed on the rear parking lot, which was an item that was
highlighted by the school community um in the strategic planning sessions that we held. Our extended school year program will start this coming Monday, July the 6th. The purpose of an extended school year program is to prevent
substantial skill regression during the summer break and to maintain progress on critical individ individualized education program goals. Approximately 30 to 45 students will be engaged in this program through the month of July.
Our board of education met for 5 hours in a retreat session that was held on June the 20th. We reviewed our board self- evaluation and worked towards setting new goals for the 2026 2027 school year. Both the board of education
and our superintendent as he develops the district goals are working to ensure that our goals this year are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timebound. Action steps will be created over the summer to meet these
objectives. As always, we appreciate the time allotted to us at this meeting. We hope that you are receiving a broad view of the events, the successes, and the work efforts happening in the district. Thank you very much. >> Thank you very much.
>> LAA report. Mark, is he there? No. >> Okay. Approval. Approved department reports. Motion to second, please. >> Motion. >> Second. All in favor? I. >> Statement of bills. Everybody check the bills. Is there anything be removed?
Otherwise, can I have a motion to second, please? >> Motion. Second. >> Second. >> Roll call vote. >> Councilman Belcaro. >> Yes. >> Councilman Marinelli. >> Yes. >> Councilman Mcuade. >> Yes. >> Council President. >> Yes. >> Yes. Okay. Public comment.
Lori. >> Hello. Commissioner Lori Tesla again. I did want to um talk about some of the events that we have going on. Anything we have um explorewarren.org which is our website and we have the newsletter that shows about all the events that are
going on in all the different towns. But we have a few events that I wanted to bring your attention to. On 7-Eleven on Saturday in Belvadier at the memorial, we're doing a veterans recognition. Um, we have a new veterans officer and we've been going through and trying to reach out to all the veterans in the county
and make sure we're doing a recognition ceremony for them. That's at 11 a.m. On during the fair, the first Sunday of the fair, which I believe is July 26, the county, as you know, we had a very big event last year. It took a lot of our
time to plan and it it did take, you know, it was not the cheapest event we've ever held. So this year, what we're doing to honor the 250, we're doing a a few little things. We are going to have fireworks at the county fair, which they haven't had in years.
So the the commissioner, uh board is supporting those. So the they should be Sunday, uh July 26, or a rain date of Monday. So we're happy about that. Then there are a few things if you go on our
website or even warren.com at or ship and manner she has four separate um seminars that go back and it's it's talking about life during the revolutionary war. One the one that's um this Sunday is actually about sanitation during the revolutionary war which is
actually a big issue. And then um I think on Sunday or Saturday, whatever the 12th is, uh Sunday, they're doing another one about children in the Revolutionary War. And that actually is not they don't do not suggest that you bring children to it because it talks about what they went
through during the war. And then um there's a couple others in August. I'm not sure of those. But then on 911, we are doing a ceremony at our memorial on the the tech school grounds. um sometime during the day. We don't have the time
set yet. You'll all be invited. As you know, it is the 25th anniversary. So, we wanted to make sure that we mark that for everybody. Um the only other thing I have is that we we did our budget a while ago. We kept the total county rate flat. We were able to lower the library
rate and the county general tax rate and we did increase the open space rate to level it out. So, it's a flat increase, but we did raise the open space because we are having more of a demand for preserving and properties and buying
open space. The thing is is we calculate the value of towns a little differently than you do. Like you have the last assessed value. We have to equalize it every year. So, we have to figure out what the value of the county is and and put that out there. So, you might not see that
that it's flat. It might go up a little. It might go down. It depends on when your house was last assessed here. But we did, we were able to keep the county rate flat. Like I said, lowering the general rate and the library rate, but bringing up the uh open space so we can continue to preserve land here. And everybody have a nice Fourth of July.
Thank you. >> Just to keep you up to date on I spoke with Beth with Scott today. Um for the Clifford Falcon farm that you guys helped us with. Um we're going to get a sign there. >> Oh, good. >> Like you did the Vanata farm. >> We're going to model it after that.
>> Oh. Oh, that's awesome. So, you know, hopefully >> Oh, let us know when you do that. We'd love to to publicize it for you. >> A nice little thing. It's a nice piece of ground. >> Yes, it is. Definitely. That does bring me to one other issue. I served with Councilman Belcaro and when we were up here, it was it was fighting a lot of
disinformation and misinformation and I think the best thing for anybody to do is really talk to you guys, call the office. Same thing with the county. We try to put out as much information as we can so that this way people get the correct information. So, and I appreciate you guys doing that, too. Thank you.
>> Anyone else? >> Question. How do we find out if there's a burn ban? >> Can you stand up? >> Yes. I know the fire chief was just here and I missed you, but how do we update or find out there's a burn ban or not? Regards to like fire pits in the backyard or family gatherings.
>> Chief, do you have any idea that >> that's released by the state for fire service? >> Um, and that can be found on their website and they update on social media. Also, there's a burn ban, but we do not have any call on that. That's all state level. >> All right. Thank you. Appreciate you,
>> John. Sorry. >> Yeah. Sorry. >> So, not from the board of education. Pam Thomas, Six Wordssworth Lane. Um, again, anything that I say tonight does not reflect any uh position from the board of education. But I just wanted to give
a shout out that on Sunday, June the 14th, which was Flag Day, local scout troops 56 and 54 did a flag retirement. Um I believe that they also had Air Patrol helping them at um it was held at Veterans Pavilion in the park. It was
just such a well done, really respectful um ceremony and I just wanted to give them a little shout out. Um I was there a lot. I wouldn't say there was a big crowd, but it was just very nicely done and I appreciate the work that they did towards that. I wanted to share that.
>> All right, John, try again. >> Sorry. John Ketcherson 38 Jade Lane. Le, I'm glad you brought up this information and uh misinformation uh because it leads into what I wanted to talk about
tonight. Um so, Bill, in May, at the May meeting, the last time I was here, you re reiterated that this council does not support where when we were talking about the warehouse on the uh farmland behind the mall, uh the council does not support warehouses and the township has nothing to do with the redevelopment
area application that went before the Highlands Council. Um, I asked if you'd attend the Highlands Council meeting to speak out against the warehouse. Uh, and you said you would before you backed out and said you might be working. Um, not surprisingly, you did not attend, but the attorney for Leakong, Mike Levery,
did attend. Um, representing Leakong Township, not the developer, and pleaded for the warehouse development. The Highlands Council asked Levery if he represented the wishes of the Lakong officials and if they
supported the proposal. He answered yes. As a matter of fact, I wrote a letter in July of 2025 because this has been going on for quite some time saying our position has not changed. This is the same letter, Bill, that you repeatedly denied the township sent. Paul Sturbins
also attended the meeting via phone uh explaining how Leakong is requesting this redeveloping redevelopment area so a warehouse could be built on prime farmland. So go this goes back for years. I've been attending council meetings for years and I've been asking about these
warehouses for years and I always get the same misinformation and dare I say outright lies about this. Um, so prior to revealing the redevelopment plan when this first started, um, for the mall and the farmland to the public, uh, Bill,
you told us that Pakon was getting a warehouse and we'd get a parking lot or a piece of grass. Uh, you also said, "I've made the statement a couple times. We get a parking lot. It's going to come right up to our property line where they could do it. It's going to be a building of theirs." Um, you said we're getting
our information from social media. uh you repeatedly denied any knowledge of what was in the redevelopment plan. Then the township planners told us you were on a subcommittee that drafted the plan for the warehouses. Um and as you know
this subcommittee was reporting back to the council. So everybody sat and listened to these this this information from this council that we're supposed to approach and ask questions. and I've been doing it for years and years and I've been
misguided by you guys the entire time. And this council touts every time there's an election, this council touts their tough anti-warehouse ordinance. Um yet after passing this ordinance that removed warehousing from the ROM zoning,
the same council unanimously voted to build warehouses on the mall and the farmland behind it. That's why we can't come to you guys for straight answers. Lou, just to let you know. >> Hold on. Stay right there. >> You know where I stand with warehouses.
>> I know. I You've been the most honest. You you said, "I don't I'll do whatever I can. I'll bring in whatever I can to lower taxes." And >> that's right. >> But you also sat up there and listened to the lies and the misinformation and didn't say a thing.
>> We're also built out. We're built out as far as warehouses. We have enough. >> Okay. I've made that comment. >> Okay. Cuz we are. >> When did you make that comment? I don't recall that. >> Because we're getting we're getting what? >> That comments we're getting three more. We're getting three more of them right
now. Well, they've been approved. >> They've been approved. >> That doesn't change the fact that you guys passed an ordinance banning them and then turned around and passed an ordin pass an ordinance specifically to build one. And that doesn't change the fact that you guys set up here and told
me time and time and time again for years that you couldn't build a warehouse. You didn't have any plans. You had no idea was in the redevelopment plan. And we're supposed to come to you for answers. Here's the thing. It can't happen. >> NFI sued us. And guess what they want? >> I'm not talking about NFI. I'm talking
about Bridge. I'm talking about the mall warehouse and I'm talking about the warehouse and the farmland behind it. I'm sorry. >> Bridge is NFI. >> NFI was going to build another warehouse behind the bridge. >> Yeah. Okay. Well, they're the same. >> But there was two warehouses there.
>> John, you could swing it any way you want. All right. We are We have responsibilities that we can't It's a lawyers. I mean, it's all done with judges and stuff that we can't help it. I mean, >> look, Bill, you you you sat here and repeatedly told me you had nothing to do
with that redevelopment plan >> before the Highlands Council and then Levery went and said, "Yes, I represent the Packong and they want a warehouse there." >> Where do you base your information? >> Where? >> From the >> From the Highlands. >> From where? >> You from the Highlands Council.
>> From the Highlands Council. >> Yeah. When Leavery went there. >> So, they know what Po had did. So >> they know that Wavery went there and said, "I represent Leak Kong and Leak Kong wants a warehouse." That's what they know, Bill. >> Your position and that's the way we stood from day one. That's it. It's over.
>> And your position is what? >> Specifically, what is your position? You want warehouses. >> The three minutes are up. >> Okay. Okay. >> And John, let me just comment to this because you thought people have a conversation. >> No, let's not. >> Listen, I just I just want to comment.
Okay. You said Mike Levery advocated for the White House to go behind the mall. Is that what you're saying? >> For the Paccom advocating for >> Pac. Okay. Here's a here's >> the warehouse. There was going to be a low. >> Here's the quote Mike Levery made at the
Highlands. He goes, this is quote verbatim. He's not suggesting or advocating. Nobody wants a warehouse, but if you're going to locate one in Warren County because of uh the accessibility to Route 22 State Highway, this is where you
would put it. So, you're not advocating. This is where you put it if you were. I just want to mention this. Listen, I want to mention this. We are lacking at the crossroads in Warren County. You have Route 57. >> Stop talking. >> No. Route 57, 519, and 22. Do you know how many trucks come through these
intersections? >> Hundreds, right? Hundreds. So >> hundreds. >> All right. >> No, no, but but hundreds of trucks. >> It is a council meeting. If Mr. Ber wants to make a comment, he can, but your three minutes are up and until you're at the podium. >> Okay. So, there's hundreds of trucks
that come through these roads throughout town. Hundreds. >> Okay. The the few warehouses that that that are there right now will be a fraction of trucks coming out of those in comparison with trucks come through low pack and we get nothing for it.
Zero. Okay, at least we're going to get revenue. Okay, which will support a lot of the taxpayers. All right, because we live in the most expensive property taxes in the country. TR New Jersey Trenton was an article. They just lost
between from 2004 to now because they chased away businesses 48 over 48 billion. Okay, because of the regulations and over taxations. People are leaving New Jersey because they can't afford to live here anymore, nor do they want to. Okay?
And I put this in four groups of people that live in New Jersey that reside. The first group of people, I'm going to say they're the wealthy people. They can afford whatever rates you want to raise. That's group number one. Group number two, we're talking about uh public employees and private sector employees.
Okay? They they they have their careers here. They make a good living. They could afford to live here, but they choose to move. They moved to South Carolina, Georgia, you know, Florida, whatever, where they pay a fraction of property taxes. I got friends that live
down in South Carolina. The same house I had in country hills, right? I'm paying like 10,000. He's paying under a,000. If you want to talk about an incentive to move out of New Jersey, and then we have a third group of people. And this group of people uh they don't support
anything in the state but they receive all kinds of benefit from the state >> and and the system is broken and nobody cares to entrrench to fix it. And then we have the a fourth group of people the one I'm concerned with and that is the ones that just struggle. They're on
fixed income that's you know they're just making ends meet. So if we can help in any small way, okay, by bringing some kind of revenue to this town that we didn't have for years, I support that and that's where I stand when it comes
to warehouses. But few listen, yes, there's going to be a tradeoff. Okay? You're going to have some additional trucks, but not in comparison what comes through our town. And that's where I stand. So you know where I stand. >> Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> Yes, ma'am. I just >> madam, please come up here. Give your name and address. >> Mary Alanchi A L T has to be on the microphone. >> It's Mary. Last name is A L T O N J I. And I'm on Honeybrook Circle in
Overlook. A lot of what you guys talk about over my head because it involves governance and I'm not in that. But I have to tell you that I am profoundly disturbed by the report that that gentleman gave
about the contradictions in the information that you guys have been given giving over the years. And he seems to me to be pretty uh specific in in what he was saying. And the only response aside from you, sir, was you
can swing it whatever way you want. Which respectfully I have to tell you that's rude. So I >> take it as you want. >> I don't like that either. >> But you got to understand something. I'm still talking. >> What makes his um information correct off the
>> You know what? You know what's absent? What's absent is that after he was finished, I didn't hear any of you clarifying anything he said. I didn't hear you offering any alternative. You just sat there quietly. And that speaks
volume. We're not even supposed to answer you. Well, he did. >> I Well, we go out far. We shouldn't because that's not what we're supposed to do. It's public comment. You hear your um ideas, your complaints, whatever. We're not even supposed to answer you, but we do. And that's
sometimes that's our own fault for trying to >> Okay. So, then my last comment would be what you heard him say, if that resonates in each one of you, the conscience of each one of you, you know what your actions have been. If that resonates, I implore you as our
representatives to cut it out and to be honest with us and to not be doing things that contradict something you said before. If you contradict something you said before, say you're contradicting it and give it the reason because if you don't, all you do is
build mistrust and mistrust and mistrust. And let's face it, that's going on all over the country. But that's my say, that's my comment. and I hope you take me seriously. >> Have a good day. Thank you very much. >> Bob Bruce wrote, um, I can uh attest to
everything that John said about being here for over four years dating back to the Muchi administration. uh and uh the warehouses have been an issue that long and and I don't feel that um as the
previous woman had indicated that um we were um leveled with uh instead that I feel that uh we've always been um misled. Um but uh I'm going to go in a different direction and ask some questions that perhaps the planner,
perhaps the lawyer, perhaps Mr. with Nazki can answer. Uh I believe this room these are two foot ceiling tiles. I think this is a a 30 foot room >> ceiling tile. >> 30 foot wide. So the uh uh minimum total
width for a standard local public street way in Lakon is 50 ft and for collector roads it's 60 ft. Uh that means there's a 10-ft buffer of a public ride of way on each side of the paved road that extends past the pavement directly into
what appears to be the front of the property, the adjoining property. in which case I'm talking about the warehouse work a fence had been arrested uh uh erected and another fence had been erected for this additional warehouse
that's going to be going in despite the fact that the uh public the uh postal warehouse is is out of business and they're looking to lease uh but we're going to get this new warehouse and um that fence encroaches uh I believe on
the public legal right of way. Um, have we had any permits that were issued for allowing the erection of that fence? Because, uh, it seems to me that, um, they put a fence up in a public right of
way. Okay. And I'm being, uh, understood that, uh, the municipal engineer, Mr. Lnowski um if there weren't that you should be issuing a stop work or code enforcement violation if the right of way is being illegally compromised.
So 10-ft right of way on presumably a 30ft road minimum 50 ft 10 on each side where the sidewalk is not but the curbside is 10 ft from the curbside in their fence is like within 2 ft. It's in
the public right away. Did you guys issue a permit to allow that to happen? Because if not, I would like to know now if you can whether or not any permits were issued to allow that to happen.
>> So, I'm not familiar with the project off the top of my head. I can certainly look into it and see if there's any offenses in the public right away. >> Can you confirm that the public >> department handles all of that? >> I'm sorry, what? construction handles all the permit.
>> Okay. And and I'm at the council which governs this county this town. Okay. And I'm asking about a 30 foot. >> That is your 3 by the way. >> Yeah. Okay. I understand. But I believe other people but I just want to end with this.
>> This I believe is a 30foot ceiling. Okay. Maybe that's uh the minimum road distance. I believe strikers might be a collector road in which case it's 60 ft.
And there's a 10t right away. I think that fence is illegal. Who should I be calling? Because I've been told that the council engineer can issue that. >> You made your final point, but your three minutes are up. >> Who's going to answer me? >> The building is public. This is not a
public hearing. This is public comment. >> Okay. So, I'll check with Mr. Wiznooki and then I'll check with your construction office to see if there's been a permit issued. And if there's not been a permit issued, then you, sir, are entitled to issue a stopwalk order. And I'm going to demand that that happen.
>> Okay. You you can certainly issue an over request. >> All right. Anyone else? Brian. So, I'd like to change it a little bit. Um, for what we're talking about, I want to say uh
Eileen retired. She was great. I liked working with her. I enjoyed working with her. And on public, I want to uh let it be known that I wish her best of luck of everything that happens past. All right. And uh Heather also for coming in and
you know what I mean. And I'm there for her if she needs me. >> So, thank you. I just want it on now. Appreciate it. Thank you. Anyone else? >> Yes, ma'am. >> Hello. I'm still Loretta Wlesorf WF 218. Um, I just and I don't want to be
confrontational about this. It's just that misinformation and disinformation has come up this meeting and also the last meeting as well. I don't know what you're talking about. Genuinely, I have only told people that
the 2026, I believe 04, the previous ordinance that died on the floor last meeting, that would allow data centers. >> No, it would not allow. >> It would allow them with provisions. That's allowing them. >> The data center, >> the new one 2026 stands. Yes, that's
correct. >> No, but you're talking about the old one. >> Yes, the the older one. Yes. It was already approved just putting restrictions on it. That's all it was for. >> Yes, that's correct. You're correct. But that would still allow them. That's >> It doesn't allow them to build. >> It allows them to be built.
>> No, it doesn't because it was already approved to be built. >> Yes, that's correct. You're correct. I'm not arguing with you on that. >> That was in 2012. >> Yes, I know. I know. You're correct. >> And what we did is put restrictions in the vents that were to belts. >> Yes. and that >> and there's a difference between the
two. >> 10,00% accurate. You are correct. But there's also a big difference between 20264 which allowed them to be built with provisions and 2026 which bans them. Those are
different. Those are different ordinances. Yes, I know they're already they were already allowed. I'm aware of that and I feel like most people were. So, I'm kind of confused about why stating the fact that this is not a ban
20264. I'm confused about why stating 20264 not being a ban would be considered disinformation cuz I don't think that is. I think it's just a different way of saying the same thing. >> We're not allowed to do both. >> No, I know. I know. I know we're not.
And I'm aware of that. I just It's come up so many times. >> I'm confused on what you're saying. I'm not clearly understanding what you're saying. >> Okay. Um, what I'm saying is is that it keeps coming up and I'd like to know explicitly. Well, I know you're you said
earlier you're not required to answer. I just want to see the screenshots of someone saying they're going to build a warehouse. They're or they're going to build a data center cuz I didn't see anything like that. And I only again I only bring this up because it's come up so many times and it just feels a little
weird to me as a resident. And >> you know what? We all have perceptions, right? What we read, what we see, what we hear. Yes. >> Right. Every one of us will have a different perception. >> Yeah. >> Okay. And that's just a fact of life. >> All right. And I use the analogy of watching a football game. I consider my
friend and a referee make a call an interference pass. Yeah. And I would argue, "No, that was not interference." And he would argue to the end of the day is that there was interference. You see the perception. >> Yes. >> And that's what goes on a lot. >> Okay. I get that. I'm just giving you my perspective as well. And I think that
it's shared by a lot of people and that's why there's this miscommunication happening. >> It's your perspective and I respect that. >> Okay. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Of course. >> Anyone else? >> See none. Motion for motion. Second. All
in favor? All right. >> Thank you for coming out everyone. >> Thank you for all you do. >> Thank you everybody.