here councilman Despensza councilman Dino here councilman Dodie here councilman Gray here administrator Place here and attorney here okay well tonight we have no presentations no appointments no
proclamations uh we do have an ordinance for introduction okay ordinance 214625 ordinance to exceed the municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish a cap bank okay i need a motion motion second okay uh this basically is
uh it puts it at 3 and a half% the reason that it's done is that it gives us enough funding you have to start from two two and a half then you then you're able to go another percent to get to three and a half the main reason for that is that is that it helps you when the fact that you have a lot of front
end loaded bills you know so it it's just it's standard procedure we do this every year okay um any questions you good all right uh okay um call the roll
all righty uh Council President Khan yes councilman Kin yes councilman Desenza yes councilman Dino yes councilman Dodie yes councilman Greg yes okay very good ordinance for public hearing and final adoption motion
yes read your first ordinance 214325 an ordinance amending the code of the Burough of Middle Sex County of Middle Sex New Jersey Chapter 62 Municipal Alliance Committee on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse okay a motion to open the public session second okay all in favor
i all right anyone wishing to speak come on forward okay all right motion to close the public session motion second all in favor i okay a motion to approve motion
second all right any comments all good all right uh hold the roll all right council President Conahan yes councilman K yes councilman Defense councilman Deino yes councilman Dodie yes councilman Greg yes okay very good all
right second ordinance please ordinance 214425 an ordinance amending chapters 427 and 420-59 of the municipal code regarding contractor storage yards okay all right okay motion to open the
public portion second second are all in favor all right anyone wishing to speak on this step forward okay all right uh motion to close motion second all right all in favor i okay
motion to approve motion second all right discussion we're all good good good all right good for right now perfect all right yes i don't want to you don't want to i want Can I speak
sure i think it's a mistake limiting the yards to one um one use i I agree Joe talk to Chris just to just to get it just to get it on the books and we can amend it either next meeting or the following meeting yeah there's an
amendment coming on it yes yeah we're we'll have it next it doesn't make any sense to keep it to one one one contractor one contractor yeah no yeah cuz there's guys that that share share yard you can't I mean you got a guy with
a a landscape yard he's got a trailer he needs a place to keep Right and and Butch left he just asked the same thing before the when I came in yeah so this is already in the works we're getting it on because 95% it'll be good thank you for letting me know you got it working
on it anyone else call the role please council President Conahan yes councilman K yes councilman Defendza yes councilman Defino yes councilman Dodie yes council Greg yes okay all right one more ordinance please
ordinance 214525 an ordinance amending chapter 19 of the municipal code of the bureau of Middle Sex to include the responsibilities of the beautifification committee okay motion to open the public portion second second all in favor all
right anyone wishing to step forward on this okay all right motion to close motion second all right all in favor okay motion to approve motion second all
right any discussion uh thank you for everyone who worked on this um to get it uh structured in order to bless our community in the future so thank you everybody all right good thank you all right call the RO council President Conahan yes councilman K yes councilman
Denza yes councilman Dino yes councilman Dodie yes councilman Griggs yes okay very good next we have the adoption of the minutes approval of the February 25th 2025 regular and executive communion i need a motion and a second
all right any comments all good good all right all in favor i okay let's start with the uh the mayor's report i'd like to start off with the basics saying uh Mike I know how to take uh the time
off for the meeting i appreciate the fact that you handled it for me unfortunately it was a little expensive it cost me a car but you know moving forward it'll be all right yeah just glad you're Yeah it was uh it was it was a long day especially since uh after
that I had my co-pilot navigating back from uh Virginia with me in the car slow down i got the air bra i got the hand on the dashboard i Oh yeah i got the full uh I got the full uh treatment here okay uh a couple of light-hearted things for
right now i just want to make mention that uh for those of you that don't know Carmen Modica did retire okay and uh we gave her a certificate of appreciation on behalf of the governing body of Middle Sex Burrow i'm delighted to extend our deepest appreciation to
Carmen Modica in recognition of your dedication and service to our burrow and its residents during your 9-year tenure congratulations on your retirement that was from the mayor and council and that was based on the date that she gave us
okay also uh for those of you that are on Facebook you'll notice that we had a a little uh grand reopening at Boulevard Delhi so as a little citation was given out on behalf of the governing body of Middle Sex Burough I am delighted to extend sincere congratulations to The
Taste of the Boulevard LLC Boulevard Deli Vincent Barakua Karen O' Sullivan Francisco Olivez congratulations on the grand reopening of your business may it become a shining example of success and inspire others to follow their follow
their dreams middle Sex Burough Mayor and Council March 8 2025 okay just a couple other items here geese control all right we uh we have some uh we have some decoy dogs in there that
seem to be doing uh making a a difference over at the park we are still checking into uh possibly some chemical remediation right now i have to say that the first steps on that are not not looking very practical because it would probably cost
us about $3 million a year to do all the parts and everything else and it would be ongoing because there's no permanent solution the real the real permanent solution which is not really a solution if you want to get the geese out of there is to develop the property which
no one really wants to do myself included okay all right just to let you know also one of the other things that we're working on is that we're we're moving along on the budget all right and that's going to be introduced coming up our
goal is to be significantly less than an increase that we had last year i'd like to say that we're targeting 2 1/2% i got to tell you that is going to be very difficult to get to our state aid number has come in we've gotten an increase of
exactly zero that makes over the last five years the state has ponyied up exactly $21,000 in total over that period of time um you know when you're looking at health and coverage increases of 16.8%
8% wage increases of 3% to get down to 2 and a half is going to be it it's going to be a challenge but we're we have a plan and you know we got it to I I believe it was uh I believe it was Mr polvich asking if we had our own Doge
going and we do so that's that that's where we are with that um I know Jeremiah is going to talk about the the film thing with uh but we also have one other thing that uh we had some
questions from uh Mr rosinski last time uh he gave us a lead at the at the Federal Railroad Administration james Payne got a hold of him i talked to him um basically what they're talking about
is possibly getting us some grants for what they call deliminators between the tracks which I think is what they were supposed to already be doing anyway we were looking at Ballards he calls them deliminators they have a project in Florida that he referred to he's going to be sending me all the information uh
once I get it to to look at it he hasn't sent it yet um you know one of the things that does come out of this you know that's that that's interesting is that even though the railroads own the track we own the crossing so if there's a problem there
it falls on our lap that's why it's important for us to keep pushing away at this um although the the the Federal Railroad administrator James Payne was clear to tell me that oh by the way the railroads are terrible partners that's a
hell of a way for them to explain it to us okay um you know but he he did mention that you know the gap it should basically you put the deliminators in it's supposed to be like 4 ft away from the track so it's a 12t gap I guess cuz
the tracks are what 4 1/2 ft wideish so it's about 12 ft wide um a car should be able to recognize that it's there he did take a a a view of of what we've done so far he was fairly impressed on the fact that we did the
lighting we did the the the striping so he's going to try and help us how much help we got out of this remains to be seen because like I said one of the things that I mentioned to him that one of the things that's a a problem to us is that it's one of these because it's
Amtrak on the one side is Jersey Transit on the other side no one wants to take take the credit for what happens in the middle um so we'll we'll see where we go from there um we did approach actually attorney Christini on
the speed limit thing and although it is a a statute I believe I have this correct where how easily or how readily it's it's enforced in the state of New Jersey when you have other regulatory other regulatory things going on but at least they know that it's
there and it's something that potentially you know we get a little further down the road we can uh we can use um outside of that I know a lot these guys have a lot of things that they want to talk about so that's my report for today council President okay um All
right thanks Mayor not much i want to uh congratulate and and thank Councilman Casino for the Hometown Heroes it just went up he's worked on that for uh I would say two years two years um it's off the ground registration's on the burough website i can't wait to see the
first banners go up uh they're going to be on the decorative light poles throughout town uh the parks committee will host the first Victor Kra Park public input meeting it's Tuesday April 1st 7:30 I'm sorry 6:30 to 8:30 uh it's
at the library community room uh that'll be the first of four we have the annual recreation bunny hop it's one of our biggest events will be Saturday March 29th i don't know Joe if they talked about it last night okay you have more on that uh the friends of the library had the a jazz program last week
uh they had actually over 70 people attend which is is about double their normal amount um I was at the library meeting last night um and then May 3rd I keep talking about this i I just hope everybody saves this date is our second
annual Burrow Volunteer Fair it's in the library community room from 10:00 a.m to 3 p.m and then uh you'll see on the workshop topic tonight we ran out of time remember last week the um emergency service volunteer fee waiver um I think
a fee waiver would help our all volunteer active members that's all that's fire department fire police uh rescue squad and OEM uh that would be for that would help with relief in some of our burrow uh
only fees like permits there's obviously other permits and there's other fees that go to the state and the county this would be burrow only this could help with retaining our existing members and help in recruiting new members uh all volunteers which we drastically need
that's it mayor okay very good all right next up Councilman KS thank you Mayor um for the board of education there's a special meeting tonight um regarding fencing which I was going to go attend but here I am i hold my obligations here
first and I'll find out and update later on that um so I'll continue to commit to fostering a strong collaboration with them and open communication so that we can uh get along with our counterparts on that side to better serve our constituents um for our disabled and
senior services there's been an update um to the state for New Jersey Reading Seniors for the freeze booklets and property tax relief program applications uh mailed application booklets will begin shipping in mid-March please allow until April 15th
for delivery uh new in 2025 single combined um application we have made it easier for seniors and those receiving social security disabilities in New Jersey to apply for property tax relief with a new simplified process our goal
is to make the filing experience more straightforward and and experience they have a single combined application for the senior freeze property tax reimbursement anchor and stay NJ programs for residents 65 and over or those collecting social security
disability benefits we will determine your eligibility for you and send a letter with specifics the burrow has a link with all that information I just said um posted so click away um we remain steadfast in our dedication for our communities um elders and we will
love them and explore every way possible to ensure their well-being is cared for for the film committee the current commission is eager to explore new ideas with um a workshop tonight aimed to expanding the creative possibilities with Mr renski is the president of
roadmap to greatness for middle snack for middle sex um cultural arts and beautifification committee um I'm excited about the ordinance 214525 um which promises a bright future for this committee a big thank you to the mayor and council for the support of
this and as we start working on murals art um color flower festivals and there's a plethora of other um familyfriendly events and community friendly events that are on their way uh and that is it ma'am thank you okay Jar quick question are we the film is is
next meeting the next next right Kevin next okay that's why we can start at the okay so I figured there'd be a light conversation people and if there's any type of other communication that anybody would like give it to me and I can communicate with Kelly keep that
simplified and continue next week right so basically that's going to be covered when like during the open session you're going to come up and say a couple words yeah okay gotcha get the ball rolling yep perfect good council Joe registration is open forms are
available same cost as last year the best buy in the state of New Jersey you can't beat the price it is absolutely the lowest in some cases by many hundreds of dollars of any of the surrounding communities so if you're
interested in joining a pool we recommend it highly uh we do have their results for 2024 and they actually did cover their expenses we first looked looked like there was a little bit of a a loss there um we have a meeting next week and we're
going to discuss the repairs that are ongoing to the hot water here we're going to see maybe we can put that off for a year or two uh recreation report uh one of the most vibrant committees in town they always something going on
there have two pages of things i'm not going to bore you with it wrestling yoga line dancing is now really starting to take off and it will start on uh April the uh April
4th basketball baseball softball for all ages uh summer playground is going to be a location change to Cook Field because of the work going on at the park and that will start June 30th to August 8th
um we do have tickets for the Patriots game May 30th um is that Middle Sex Night is that Middle Sex Night uh doesn't say it just says Somerville league she didn't mention
um reason that the uh Summer playground is going to be at Cook Field couple of things number one the construction that's going on and number two there's a specus remediation going on at the high school so they cannot use that in case
of inclement weather uh bunny hop is uh April 29th 10 to 12 at park memorial day parade it's May 26th community day September
13th oh here's a good one anybody body interested in hockey we have available devils tickets um spring break week which is
April 16th $39 a ticket we have 36 tickets available anybody interested in going please go to section 104 rows 11 to13 go see uh Melissa over in rec center and she'll be happy to take
care of you um the hometown hero banners the first day it came out we had six already said there were people waiting for her when she got to the office at 9:00 waiting to to uh sign up awesome so it's going to be very popular i think we
have what about 60 60 spots we have 55 60 60 oh 65 so once that's gone it's gone so get your money in and we have discount movie tickets and gift cards for the reading cinema
only okay parks thank you Mike for mentioning about the first public engagement event which is April 1st the second one which may be even more important will be on May the 6th from 6:00 to 8:00 at night and it will be
held at the annex building at Victor Crow Park and we may need the tent there because we don't watch the weather if we have inclement weather we may want to have the tent i don't know if we get a
big crowd even how suitable the annex might be too big but too big of a crowd yeah for for the annex building so we may need the tech probably um good idea to have it available for that
night and uh what else we have here surveys out we have a lot of responses hopefully we'll be moving forward that's it that's it that's all what else did you do with your free time
all right councilman Dino a couple things uh DFW we talked about the hometown heroes which will be transitioning to Golden Heritage make sure we had the ball rolling so we generalize just continue running with it and we'll incorporate it next
year also uh the playground at Cookfield is going up it's 90% finished so that's a good thing also there's a pre-construction meeting on Thursday i'm getting this because I go through plenty so that's why it's not really my purp um
at 10 o'clock for that for me for the bathroom playground um for Jub tomorrow's public hearing revise master plan examination re-examination for Jub tomorrow so that's
interesting not much going um for environmental they're asking if we can make April 21st to 28th dark sky week and we have a proclamation also for that so is that okay with that mayor Dark Sky Dark
Sky the light pollution um presentation will they come here all right that'll be May 31st if that's okay may 31st all right and uh that's all I have so we So it's our own personal uh townwide eclipse is
that what we're trying to accomplish no the the proclamation is just about making multipleware oh no no no i No no i was saying the week the the the proclamation for the week was it dark dark cloud dark dark sky yeah okay
all right i'm game the presentation going to be at community oh I'm not here is it on is it on a council meeting night no no i mean you better might be better at meeting oh oh might be better in uh might be
more comfortable in the the community room yeah the community room might be might be a better spot for you okay anything else Bobby all right Councilman Dodie yeah I have the uh fire
report 29 calls for February two building fires two motor vehicle accidents with uh injuries one without they had seven uh gas leaks natural or LP chief also want a couple
things mentioned um they were dispatched on February 4th to the area of Lincoln at 217 Lincoln Boulevard um they established operations cuz there was a fire