you didn't have to hi Brian and [Music] [Music] that still [Music] [Music] spe just
[Music] everybody Council unit States remember police officer weekend [Music] thank you very much uh this meeting is
being held in compliance J open public meetings adver downstairs all official social media channels I ask youone pleas silent speak with somebody while business counc
Chambers choll call please Mr Benjamin Mr fitgerald Mr M yes Mr perno Mr W thank you very much all right uh exciting evening uh here we're going to go a little bit out
of order Council okay first item the agenda is resolution 2537 proving the higher also I have a motion Mr first call please Mr Benjamin yes
Mr M yes Mr wood yes thank you very much all right so officer up we're hold here [Music] S I will
Faithfully partially and just perform perform all of the duties all theill police offic police offic according to the best of my ability to the best of my abil congratulations
okay uh next it uh is something that in now 11 years that I've been mayor I have not had an opportunity to do yet but um I'm happy to be able to uh bring both um purple rabo and
officer Queen up uh to provide them proclamations and chief gra you would please come up too so uh ladies and gentlemen who are here joining us this evening uh we have the honor of recognizing these two officers here quick thinking courage and
dedication to duty directly resulting saving of a life on December 20th 2024 Corporal Austin Ruto and officer John Queen responded to a distress call at a residence in the burrow involving an unresponsive individual who had no pulse
and was not breathing without hesitation these officers took immediate action demonstrating exceptional skill and composure Under Pressure through their decisive intervention ministering CPR and additional life-saving first aid
measures these officers ensured that a life was not lost that day cor regab buo and officer Queen's actions embody the varing essence of their duty to Serve and Protect no matter the circumstances it is with great pride to present the life saving accommodation which the
chief has here Corporal Austin reg budo and officer John Queen in recognition of their extraordinary bravery and dedication gentlemen your heroism is an inspiration to us all congratulations and thank you for your unwavering commitment to our community thank
you each of you again thank you very much for everything you do what you did that to save that want some pictures getes [Applause] all right now before I get started with reg agenda please don't feel like you
have to stay for the rest of this it's quite War so if you were here foration please feel free you won't us [Music] uh right coun we'll get back into uh next
[Music] May de what is essentially attractive nuisance has become much also more of a public nuisance as of late um as you may recall um one of my neighbors has set up
a portable basketball net not in one the property in the driveway like a lot of my neighbors have now done since raising this attention to I had four neighbors set up basketball court actually in the driveway room kids are playing there out the street it's not a Nuance not a
problem you can hear some noise one property out of the way unfortunately uh the neighbors that's directly across from me still has not decided to do anything about fact that she has this basketball net out here and um now the kids that are playing out on the net are
coming all it's not just kids she knows she comes home she sees like 10 kids out there playing basketball hoops she doesn't even acknowledge them she just looks and then turns um you know I tried to reason with her I tried to say dangerous and I
brought some photos because pictures words so this is how the net is situated as you can see it's like right against the edge of actually out over stream it's um and that's not even I don't believe her her private property
actually situated on I think about that clear andet um and this gives you a perspective of How It's situated the street as you can see she has a very large driveway that's very
handful it goes all the way the back there even more space the back drive drive here and all of my neighbors that's where they set up out of the street this is um an example of the kids playing there
at night um as you can see the cars come right by they're like small kids some like five six seven years old these cars come by at night it's not particular night in fact here's a video you're going down
the street this is at night turning off the and I to see the net it comes up at you right at the last minute one of the officers also that's what I've done you can see you almost have to actually go up on the
net see it and at night the kids are out there you know playing ball sometimes as late as 9 9:30 they start usually around this is um these are the kids out there playing and as you can see uh they
frequently um trespass onto my cousin's property across the street they run onto their lawn they dribble the basketball on the lawn when they're out there playing in the street the ball several times has hit Park vehicles on the lawn my a UNC the next door they have a son
Bronco was uh was hit with the ball just today um and Cas you have kids and this is the uh this is what you hear when you're out there and now they're not only bringing like one basketball there at night they're bringing multiple basketballs and
there's multiple kids so they'll bring two to three basketballs around there groups of five to 10 you I want to point out that um there is a a public basketball court just around four blocks down uh I can't recall the name of the
street it's the name of that street goes by the 7-Eleven that's down there um it's near that the middle school if you go right down the street there that thare there's like actually a public basketball court there there's also another one and also as I said my other
neighbors have um thises today um so what they've done today as you'll see there's about four or five out there today had two basketballs they were thrown back and forth they also decided now they play the street also bring a football that they were like you thrown
around football and basketball and as you can see there's still traffic going by this even during the day these kids have to like step run out the way step out of the way some of those cars when they turn bowan Street there and they make that left course they're not slowing down they're running the stop sign they swinging that left trying to
get out to so it's really become again a nuisance of dangerous situation this is my uh my neighbor across the street on ban see how you can tell the picture I have here but he has the basketball court set at the end of his driveway
this is my other neighbor there who's put the basketball court in their Drive the kids play their kids play that's that's an extra neighbor and um I have two other neighbors that have also the basketball drive so what I've done your
honor is I've prepared for the you know council's review I pr propos ordinance to address this issue which basically says that um when a party puts up a a portable basketball net like this and part of the net actually extends over
and out to the street thus um essentially obstructing the the right away that that's prohibited that if they have a private property they have a driveway has to be placed on their private property in the driveway right right away pass
yes my name is Ed and I 13 streety and again I'm thir generation in actually found generation days I myfa
down um so you know I I definitely U like to find you know amable Solutions these are my neighbors you know I certainly don't want to make enemies with my neighbors our whole entire life we've never had an issu like this never had a neighbor just put a court like
this and everybody from the the neighborhood to just come in and use that at all times again these aren't her children kids coming in it's obstructing a public Street and as you know that street incredbly now because you have Park on one side and then the vehicles
pass between the park cars on the left and then the curk area so especially at night you know it's it's again it's a really dangerous condition and you know to be very honest um you know we constantly hear the town in multiple
basket at all hours and that's inent I mean when it goes on from like you know 4 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. at night that's just not right that that's not how this people in this town are more czy at each other I love this to here I think the council and the mar done a great job creating like a peaceful enable
environment but this is an owner that could care L what happens you know outside of her property she put the net up she never around when she does come in like I said she just looks looks over the kids and just goes into her house she doesn't know who so I'm I'm cleaning you know with the uh B Council
police pass something that's reasonable that addresses this issue and prevents these kids from being out stre at all hours with on property like I said five six six my neighbors they all inv cours and I drove around I drove around ban I drove around
all the way down moris I also drove to other areas and I have not seen anyone that's put a basketball court on the curb like this long I haven't seen three pardon westmin three
westmin okay just like Stu just like that in the street they are they used by children are the owner or I don't know I didn't want am I the only resident that's ever come for we've never had anybody come forward on this issue we did after you
came in December we researched other communities not a single one I don't I mean look if you can find somebody who has an ordinance of the books about this not a single one not even the gyms people would call the fields and the C other places that they think are made
better than Merchantville so it's not reasonable ask them their D property it's not inance currently okay you're asking us now provided a proposed ordinance um that would appear to solve
your problem well we have yet and I don't know I had I know that the chief went out and looked some of the public safety issues there that were you were concerned with I don't recall us finding public safety
issues as a result these children utilizing there I me the chief is right here and I asked him to stay for five minutes conversation so night limited lighting little kids around the street six seven eight years old and they're playing out
there cars are coming down street you they come that's not a danger K think anybody walking in the street be conscious of that's responsility not that's the problem parents aren't there none of these kids parents are there
there's no supervising the children and so so who's who's responsible children are engaging in a recreational activity not harming anybody not defacing anything
they that's your your suggestion it's a public news not defacing anything not creating problems within our community just understand on on the whole when we're dealing with young folks with juveniles who are running around town
who are maybe potentially doing things to make the town worse these kids are in the street they're trespassing they're in the public right away they might go on to your okay
so you're this are they damaging your property are they they harming your property are you have civil remedies if you so choose I'm sure you well that's what I wanted to I wanted to laws neighbor you want
us Council would take some sort of action just I don't believe I mean the council is free to take whatever action they want we went through this ordinances there are none and not a single other community that we can find okay there's not a single other one we
could find we researched it uh I had my staff do that not able to find anything stricted or prohibited these being in the street or on the grass curb in the right away it was nothing the chief went out and had his his people do a public
safety review he found no public safety issues if there there is an ordinance in town that requires people to begin by 10 p.m. I believe Jun by 10:00 if they after 10:00 there's things that are
actionable we be able to do and so I will ask councel based upon your request that we review proposed ordinance um but I don't know Ian I don't person see well I don't know Westminster set
there and I don't know why they a lack of crime dver I'm not sure I'm not sure how much traffic gets how quickly traffic is is I'm also unaware of how many children actually gather there to use those Hoops but when you have 5 to 10 children who are underage and not
being supervised by any adult out at night while there traffic passing through more Street G offic commented on that I do believe it presents um problem attractive nuisance and that if a child go is injured in the future we may not think that's going to happen but in
these conditions it could happen you know I think an aloun prevention here and I'm just asking the council to take reasonable steps to say that if you have a private driver on your property that's really who should place if you have the room if people want to use a portable I
don't know they need a bigger report or something they need Tire Street you get sh where I live then you know uh maybe remove it at the end of the day if they're during daytime hours has plac back into the that be responsible but
just having this nuisance out there that's attracting children children don't know any better and they're just out there with all hours especially at night does by I do think that's a danger meeting go to public hearing on
ordinance 2 2 N close the public hearing onance 252 move towards adoption 2 25 any discussion n roll please Mr Benjamin yes
Mr Mr M yes Mr yes thank you counil next it public hearing on ordinance 25 amend chapter 6 Property Maintenance
uh anyone here wants to speak on that okay none close that meeting adoption ordinance 253 [Music] [Music] benj yes yes thank you very much next
the agenda public hearing 254 amending chapter 29 fire prevention anyone wishes come forward speak on that ordinance uh please for hearing none we'll close public hearing Onin 24 and we'll
movein 25 second any discuss Benjamin mrgd Mr M yes Mr yes thank you very much uh next theenda public hearing 2505 amending 73 streets and sidewalks anyone from the public
come forward speak for your name that and will go towards [Music] adoption second Mr Woods
first any discussion on this Mr Benjamin yes Mr Fitzgerald Mr M yes Mr yes thank you and finally public hearing address none uh
[Music] pleas yes yes yes thank you very much uh next the agenda is the approval of minutes first meeting is the February 10th
2025 uh regular council meeting all Mr Benjamin yes Mr bgal M yes thank you very much next is the February 2 uh
everyone here Mr Benjamin yes thank you very all right next time on the agenda is thank you Council well couple updates on the engine report checked the upm system earlier today and we in final
approval stages of getting reur no no no PM it's the do side the director of the secretary sign we're um a proposal for phase two of suen resurfacing um
along with that we've already started some surveys of the suggestions for the next set streets to be done we have completed the maintenance of
station on Thursday morning we have virtual meeting with our representa the multi Trail and Friday we have survey schedul to review the E
description for 45 ch um related unrelated you put a colls um and I spoke with Chief PTY because I feel like the want
proposed um really don't provide any safety for anybody who's in that area uh and I don't know if there's a robust B system that is removable that we could maybe look
there I know that that was an easy cheap option um but I don't want to you know I guess we can consider if you of options have REM or just on
spr will collapse to Chief that ISS okay great thank uh any other questions thank you [Music] FS your honor quick update from sh TR
this Thursday we Reed notification from the state that we are accredited for the prior in coming year uh and additionally we receive notification that
our TR to USA application first part that was to receive that accreditation and now the organization that issues certification has to what approved appliation which I will bece
sometime and that yeah questions for the month of March 3,5 turned over 2 7 cases added 187 exposed and two virtual sessions
for uh diversity committee um welcoming women's history month this month uh with a speaker at the library on March 24th 5:30 uh their next meeting is scheduled for April 15th they did finalize their
mission statement in count of events um sure copies are here tonight but uh feel free to take a look see if with anything but finalize that uh last Senor committee uh had an initial meeting with the resent from bur who's interested in
working with setting up the committee I a call set tomorrow with the county um services are available and I would like to put the word after for membership for [Music] the this individual senior
believe he's working with the Health [Music] commission we it's been it was Henry [Music] [Music] okay thank you very much Mr thank you honor uh s that the
last meeting was held on February 3rd next meeting is slated for March 17th as of yet there's still no indication of the search beun having begun several Place Mr strong they have three and a half months to go uh from the communications and new website is almost
complete um they did set up a temporary site for us to go and take a look at it's looking good there's still is in the process of ping over the last of the information that needed to be taken from what was left over from the old site and moving over to the new one and once that's all completed should be back up
and running fulltime uh Department of Health met on February 13th um next meeting will be March 13 uh the Department of Health was uh having a report that uh through the New Jersey Healthcare quality Institute the bur of
bville was uh listed as a healthy Town up incoming 20124 under the mayor Wellness campaign so thank you to everybody involved with that that's a lot of work just kind of letting back in uh organization be aware of all the different things that are going on in the bur to to gain his point towards
that accreditation and uh also this uh councilman Benjamin noted he's been in contact with Andrew Carell who's been a member of the uh oh yeah so we met on February 20th two main points of focus um the the
mayor kind of touched on one of them briefly with our engineer uh was crowd control issues Chief had stopped in speak with those two um with incidences of cars driving into parage routes and other um issues that have been coming up
locally within some of our neighboring towns um there I asked CH graia and Lieutenant callway if there's been any updates or uh pieces of advice that have been passed down through the Chiefs Association or any other to help with crowd control issues they are
staying in contact with them and doing the best they can in terms of the events that we're holding to keep them safe looking into things like BS during the last event that we had at the um at the triangle they blocked off the entrance ways with police cars they continue on
taking that stance um until further advice and recommendations or material can be made available to make sure that all events are controlled to the best of their ability um we also spoke briefly on the focus through the year we're going to be looking at potentially uh
procuring a generator for the police station Hall we're be looking for grant opportunities through Homeland Security through femas long as that may be available um and also uh with I know it's a few months off of the plan has already begun um it was brought to my
attention that this was would be Halloween passed in 2024 this was the second time now that large crowds have gathered at the end of um the the Halloween festivities taking place and that some issues had Arisen as
a result of that it was the recommendation of Lieutenant Callaway and chief R to see us try to pull back um the end time for Halloween uh triport treat to 6 p.m from the campon just to try to assist in in dispersing those
crowds and creating safer environment downtown as a result this a professional meeting was held on February 12th mayor Brandon was in attendance um did thank you from the the group for that to do a Q&A um just
went over some questions about different things going on in the buau welcome the new business cheese Stakes over at the Circle they've been doing phenomenal business as far as everything uh there social media has been putting out there I think they say they sold 600 sheet sticks in one day 600 pounds of wings so
let's uh let's hope that that maintains um and also was noted that one of the Avenues of advertisement the all newspaper that is delivered throughout the bur um has been absorbed into the township H where before it was something of anend paper and as a result they kind
of lost that as an advertising a so we're going to be looking between them and maybe some other entities to see if there might be some other type of publishing Aven or to see if there might be some routs working with P to get that advertising
back that is all I have for this uh thank you very much the only question I have is have schooling nothing especially the [Music] okay well hopefully we can
[Music] find I know the preschool has been something they've been discussing um it's been one of those things that's been background discussion meetings attended
[Music] yet but you know to the extent you strong Poli and for attracting families to our community to be on the Leading
Edge even half now is great and it's something that a lot ofun don't have but I don't want to be on the other side don't have full day and everybody that's for a
lot just any other questions thank your honor mer police for the month of February responded to1 calls service which includes 131i with members of the community they
conducted 181 traffic stops there was 106 incidents involving par refor 10 arrest and three Wiest in the month of February um the U the police department
continues to um have strategic traffic enforcement in the area of ches and Center Street they were through the month of January and through the month of February they've had 227 proactive enforcements uh and no observable
violation reported by Lieutenant con during that during that they will continue to have mandatory enforcement deployments on a rotating basis in March and mon there after um and then last
thing mentioned BR last month butly we'll be pursuing new opportunity with prosecuted office uh we do have three applicants for replacement thaten ISU background checks uh so have SW in
officer work this evening he started his his training on Street training but once we will still have what the chief is considering a critical staff level so
um we will have to address La enforcement drug officer uh and also understanding how address those cases those situations that um require respon so again it will be critical but
hopefully something works out [Music] well we yes um uh I don't schu should have been sent to [Music]
everybody and I know um so [Music] report thank you your honor I just wanted to remind everyone that volunteer tonight will be on March 19th at Center
I hope you can join us have questions about that let me know Bec uh the a is scheduled for April 12 and a remind [Music] that and we will be having Mony at 12:00
125 on Friday all right thank you very much [Music] questions all right um develop report opening cheese sticks um get in
45 minut it's [Music] delicious [Music] out anticipating that already
um CF report me business nothing new business facili we can move all those at the same [Music] time their field day Spirit Day May 28 for the day right before that P also asked for
annual tradition of the this will be on May 23rd small siid and then we have two regards to the market off center the first one is for the Dr uh first
Friday thank you so much uh first Friday through October except for July will be second Friday Friday and then last not least they have one of special um Market the holiday season that's Saturday
November um thank you okay C we have [Music] see [Music] none the record resol 25
CH 29 service resol 254 service Please Mr Benjamin Mr fitgerald before the tax uh Financial reports [Music]
bills 61814 discussion Mr Benjamin yes Mr M yes yes okay very good um any [Music]
else um happy St um [Music] all favor [Music] me sounds a lot like my there's a whole there's a whole movie Wings world on all
[Music] good e [Music]