Good evening. This is a meeting of the township committee August 11, 2025. The notice requirements provided for in the open public meetings act have been satisfied. Notice of this meeting was properly given by transmission to the Asbury Park Press since the two times by posting at the Middletown Township
Municipal Building and finally with the Township Clerk all on January 11th, 2025. Committeeman Clark here. Comm here. Committeeman Seno here. Deputy Mayor Hibbo here. Mayor Perry here. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. At this time, I'd like to ask for a
moment of silence to honor the troops serving worldwide, defending our Constitution's, freedoms, and way of life. Thank you. At this time, we have the administration of oath of office. The oath of office um to be presented to police officers. At
this time, I'd like to invite Sha Sullivan to please come forward with your family. It's the audience who's hold that three generations of uh Sullivan sitting in Yeah. Right now in the police department.
Oh yeah. Let's give it up. Three gener. Shan Sullivan I Shan Sullivan do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New
Jersey and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and that I will bear true faith and allegiance and allegiance to the same to the same and to the governments established in the United States and to the governments established in the United States and in this state and in this state
under the authority of the people under the authority of of the people. And I do swear And I do swear to faithfully to faithfully impartially impartially and justly perform and justly perform all of the duties and all of the duties of police officer of police officer according to the best of my ability.
according to the best of my ability. So help you God. So help me God. Congratulations officer. Fine. Fine. He's so excited for the job. He left it on his badge. Facebook. You forgot about
class. Congratulations. Okay. All right. At this time, I'd like to invite Stanley a back. Please come forward with your family. I, Stanley Obach, I, Stanley Obach,
do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey and the Constitution of the state of New Jersey. And that I will bear true faith And that I will bear true faith and allegiance and allegiance to the same
to the same. And to the governments established And to the governments established in the United States in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people. And I do swear And I do swear to faithfully to faithfully impartially impartially
and justly perform and justly perform all of the duties all of the duties of police officer of police officer according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability. So help you God. So help me God. Congratulations off. Fix that error.
Yeah. Frank one, two, three. Perfect. Congratulations. At this time, I'd like to invite Brandon Safi to please come forward with your family. Bible. Raise your right hand.
I, Brandon Sagafi, I, Brandon Sagafi, do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith and I will bear true faith
and allegiance and allegiance to the same to the same and to the governments established in the United States and to the governments established in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under under the authority of the people. And I do swear And I do swear to faithfully
to faithfully impartially impartially and justly perform and justly perform all of the duties all of the duties of police officer of police officer according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability. So help you God. So help me God. Congratulations.
Oh, this is easy. Let me go. You one, two, three. Congratulations. Yeah, he's going to ask bad. Sorry. At this time, I'd like to invite Jack
Chennawith to please come forward. Your family I'm sorry about Oh god, I miss him briefly every day with authority. But in my raise your right hand towards God and repeat it with me. I, Jack Chennith,
I, Jack Gentle, do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey. Constitution of the State of New Jersey. and that I will bear true faith that I will bear true faith and allegiance
and allegiance to the same to the same and to the governments established in the United States the governments established in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and I do swear I do swear to faithfully faithfully impartially
partially and justly perform justly perform all of the duties all of the duties of police officer police officer according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability still help you God There we go. Congratulations. Don't worry about it.
Don't want to mess up that pressure, but come back. Thank you. Good job. still live. Are you ready everybody? Congratulations. He's kind of getting
At this time, I'd like to invite Thomas Sh forward with your family. Yeah. I didn't want to come up for Bible right hand me. I, Thomas Short, I, Thomas Short, do solemnly swear do solemnly swear
that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey and that I will bear true faith That I will bear true faith and allegiance and allegiance to the same to the same and to the governments established in the United States
and to the governments established in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people. And I do swear And I do swear to faithfully to faithfully impartially impartially and justly perform and justly perform all of the duties all of the duties
of police officer of police officer according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability. So help you God. So help me God. Congratulations. You can see everything. What? I was like, Right.
Congratulations. Amen. Ben, just grab the rest of your other strategies. Yes. Thank you. Congratulations. Let's give it up on We have a presentation for tonight. A
presentation recognizing Linkraftoft Lightning 9U and 11U baseball teams for winning championships. If you'd like to come forward with your teams. I don't know. Can you say a few words? Whatever you guys want. All right.
All right. All right, let's give it up for our chance real quick. Perfect smile you got there. Perfect. He's holding it. He's ready to go. Um So, so real quick before before I turn
it over to your coaches for a quick word here, uh, on behalf of the township committee, on behalf of Middletown, I want to congratulate you on on a hell of a season. And not only am I allowed to say that,
Pete was like, "Oh my gosh, I can't believe you just did that. I didn't even think about it." Uh, on a heck of a season. On a heck of a season. Um because not only did you do it uh as a team, as a collective, you did it
together. And that's why I love the game of baseball because baseball is an imperfect sport, but it's a perfect definition of of America and as a community because you rely on each other. There's never a play. There's never something that is done by just one
individual, right? get getting a getting your teammates over after somebody gets on skit in the scoring position is done by a teammate. Making sure that that that ground ball to shortstop gets over to first base to end that inning. That happens as a group. So winning happens
as a group and that that is why I always talk about baseball being the perfect comparison to America. It happens as a because of a group effort. It's an imperfect game that you fail at more times than you succeed. But it is how you embrace those moments of failure and
success is what defines a team. Um so on behalf of the township committee, I want to congratulate all of you. I want to congratulate all of you um for defining what success means and what it looks like and that is as a team. So on behalf of the township committee, the the
township of Middletown congratulates the Linkraftoft Lightning 9U on winning the 2025 USB National East Division Championships. We are incredibly proud of you and your teammates for achieving an incredible playoff run and national
East Division Championship victory. Taking down not only one but two top-seated teams shows your grit, heart, and teamwork that you brought to every single pitch and inning. You played with true Linkra Lightning spirit, and you
represented Middletown like a champion. We can't wait for you to bring back this championship next year. All right. All right. I just want to say that I'm uh incredibly proud of these guys for their persistence and uh their determination. We overcame some odds that were not
great when we got into playoffs and beat a team that was undefeated at the time. We had a little bit of a brain health situation. I don't know if you guys remember the game after and uh you guys did it. You guys really
really worked hard and I really look forward to your player development as both kids, baseball players, and then as uh as young men as well, too. So, I really look forward to working with you guys. all you take quick picture and uh and
and get you back out on the field real quick because I think you're I think you're running left after this, right? Oh, wait. All right. Beautiful. I love it. We're gonna take a smiling smiling. That was my next question. You ready?
I think All right. Okay. I love you. All right. Way to be. All right. So, so lightning on two. Yeah. Okay. I anticipated that. All right.
Lightning on three. Lighting on me. One, two, three. All right. All right. All right. 11. Let's Let's do this. Come on in. All right. So So now you saw the nineu team,
right? And and and you you're you're the old you're the older team. What does that mean? You're what? You're a handful. parents. Can you verify that? Yeah, we can. Okay. Yes. Bigger heads.
Bigger heads. Well, let me just say this. You know, you know, I'm I'm glad that the the the NU team uh saw you watch them. Um because I just was talking about how baseball's a team sport. Um, it's a team sport because
when older guys and older players in every sport, both boys and girls are watching the uh the younger folks, it gives them a sense of pride and realize that that all of you are now while while you're you're 11U,
you you are you're the older you're the older team. So, you got to set that example. And this year you set that example by being champions, wearing link crawl on your uniforms, uh, and representing not only your town, your family, your team, um, but representing
the the the collective Middletown community. Um, so that you should be very proud of. Let's give it up for our champion, too. So, um, like I said, um, first first and foremost, since you said you were a handful, um, and I didn't do this with
the last team, um, turn to your parents, guardians, loved ones, and say, "Thank you for driving me to practice and games and all that good stuff." There you go. Wow. How about how about you try it again?
Thank you. Thank you. Now turn to your co- students and do the same thing. Thank you. All right. Tough crowd tonight. So on behalf of the township committee and on behalf of Middletown Township, we
want to congratulate the Linkra Lightning 11U on winning the 2025 USAPL National Shore Division Championship. We commend you for you you and your teammates on this astounding 4 nothing victory. Four nothing victory. After
experiencing one loss during this season, you came back stronger than ever and dominated the one team that had originally beat you. Your determination, teamwork, grit over the last few months has cap captured the Linkroth Lightning spirit and we appreciate you
representing our community with pride and excellence. So, let's run it back again and let's bring back another trophy to Middletown. All right, Coach Middle represent you guys. Appreciate you guys letting us use the fields. Um, and of
course, I'm extremely proud of the boys. Uh, we had a goal set forth a few years ago to bring a championship home and we finally did. So, extremely proud of you guys. Looking forward to another great season. All right, take we'll take a quick picture
and then uh hopefully you're saying is not as hard as the nine. All right. Well, after this you're going to have to stay silent. Okay. One, one, two, three. Everybody, I just
All right. All right. What's the same thing, right? Bring us down. Come on. Complete game changer. Lightning on three. Ready? Is that good? Nothing. Okay. All right.
All right. Lightning on three. One, two, three. All right. Hey guys. experience. It is not We have some more presentations on tonight's agenda for the record. A proclamation recognizing August 31st, 2025 as Overdose Awareness Day in the
Township of Middletown. We have a proclamation recognizing September 11th, 2025 as Patriot Day and National Day of Service and Remembrance in the Township of Middletown. At this time, we have minutes for approval for the July 14th, 2025 regular
meeting. All right. Motion to approve. Second. Okay. Committee Clark. Yes. Committ. Yes. Committee Seno. Yes. Deputy Mayor Half. Yes. Mayor Perry. Yes. Motion carries to approve minutes.
Our first item on tonight's agenda for public hearing, we have 2025-3473, an ordinance amending township salary ordinance setting salaries for non-contractual employees for 2025 through 2026. Heidi, that was a poll for
Oh, I thought you were going to move to table. I'm sorry. Move to table. Okay, I'm move table. Second. Pin McLaren, yes. Moman CR, yes. Senino, yes. Deputy Mayor Hibell, yes. Mayor Perry, yes.
Motion carries to table uh this ordinance and we'll be notifying the public via um public notice for the public hearing in a later date. At this time we have 2025-3474 an ordinance of the township committee
of the township of Middletown County of Mammoth State of New Jersey authorizing sale of block 276 lot 12 pursuant to NJSA 4812-1 at SEC. Any member of the public wish to speak on public ordinance number 2025-347th
work. Seeing no member of the public stepping forward move to close public portion and approve. Second. Committee Clark, yes. Committee woman cracks, yes. Sedum, yes. Deputy Mayor Hibella, yes.
Mayor Perry, yes. Motion carries to pass this ordinance on second and final reading. Assembly of 2025-3475, a bond ordinance providing an appropriation of $5,993,600 for various capital improvements by and
for the township of Middletown in the county of Mammoth, New Jersey, and authorizing the issuance of $5,241,987 in bonds or nodes of the township for financing part of the appropriation. Any member of the public wishing to speak on public ordinance number 2025-3475?
Seeing no member of the public stepping forward, move to close the public portion and approve. Second Clark, yes. Comm. Yes. Committeeman Samo, yes. Deputy Mayor Hiba, yes. Mayor, yes. Motion carries to pass this ordinance on
second and final reading. At this time, we have 2025-3476, a bond ordinance providing an appropriation of $3,413,000 for various open space improvements by and for the township of Middletown in the county of Mammoth, New Jersey, and
authorizing the issuance of $3,242,350 in bonds or notes of the township for financing part of the appropriation. Any member of the public wishing to speak on public ordinance number 2025-3476? Seeing no member of the public stepping forward, move the close public portion and approve.
Second. Committeeman Clark. Yes. Committee woman Kra. Yes. Committeeman Senino. Yes. Deputy Mayor Hibbo. Yes. Mayor Perry. Yes. Motion carries to pass this ordinance on second and final reading. At this time, we have ordinance 2025-3477,
an ordinance authorizing establishment of government energy aggregation program within the township of Middletown. Motion to introduce. Second. Committ Clark, yes. Committee Senino, yes. Deputy Mayor Hib, yes. Mayor Perry,
yes. Motion carries to pass this ordinance on first reading with a public hearing to be held September 15, 2025. At this time we have 2025-3478, an ordinance amending chapter 240-23 of the township code establishing special
service charge for bodywn camera footage requests. Motion to introduce. Second. Committ Clark. Yes. Committ K. Yes. Committeeman Seno. Yes. Deputy Mayor Hel. Yes. Mayor Perry. Yes. Motion carries to pass this first
uh ordinance on first reading with a public hearing to be held September 15, 2025. At this time, we have 2025-3479, an ordinance amending chapter 540-519 of the township code governing the outdoor display of goods.
Motion to introduce. Second man Clark, yes. Committee man, yes. Deputy Mayor High, yes. Mayor Perry, yes. Motion car pass this ordinance on first reading with a public hearing to be held September 15, 2025.
At this time, I'd like to ask the township committee to adopt a consent agenda which would include resolutions 25-250 through 25-268 and including firefighter appointments. Motion to approve the consent agenda. Secondman
Clark, yes. Miniwoman CR, yes. Mini Srio, yes. Deputy Mayor Hyel, yes. Mayor Perry. Yes. Motion carries to adopt a consent agenda. This time we have uh Tasha comments. All right. Committee Clark. I got to go
first. Yep. Last last meeting I got all thrown off because you went back to me being first. Um so uh first and I say it every time and having kids in the audience and hearing that uh in the pledge of allegiance otherwise is
probably my favorite part of what we do. Um so congratulations to the teams and to their families the hard work pays off. Um, last last meeting I forgot and uh my brother-in-law reminded me. Um, I had
the I had the opportunity to go down to Washington DC in the early part of July to be part of a ceremony that uh will never happen again. And it was uh the congressional gold medal ceremony for
the World War II second battalion army division uh which my wife's grandfather was a part of who took Omaha Beach in World War II. Um they for 80 years had not been recognized for the work they did to change the war. And uh after a
very long time uh they the descendants of uh those men and women uh lobbyed long and hard to have Congress recognized them. And we were lucky enough to be part of the invited group and got to hear all different types of
members of our government come up and talk about uh what our country would look like if they didn't do what they did. and it was probably the coolest thing I've ever been a part of uh away from my family, my immediate family and the birth of my
kids and stuff like that. So, um thank you to our veterans from from the earliest to today for everything that you do. And if you haven't been recognized, um somebody should recognize you every day. So, that was something that I should have brought up last
month, but I didn't. Uh we also had the opportunity to swear in four young men today into our uh ranks in the police department. Uh again, something that I'm I love seeing and uh I just wish them the best and look forward to them uh
serving our community. Uh we also had the privilege of going out to National Night Out last week and the police department did an amazing job. Uh not only showcasing what they do on a dayto day, but showcasing what they do when they're not at work. Um and some
of their interest and that was a that's a really neat part of what National Night Out is is to get a look just not at them in uniform but out of uniform and what they uh what they do. So to the chief and the rest of the gang is an amazing job. Um there was an initiative pushed out on
Friday uh by our township and uh it's going to be pushed very hard for the next month and that is uh a fundraiser for our World Trade Center memorial gardens. Uh Lifetime Fitness over in Linkraftoft has um approached the town
about a month ago asking what they could do to help with the gardens and volunteered their gym uh to do a stair climb. Uh, one of their employees is a firefighter in HLlett and gave them the idea and allowed him to run with it. Um, he approached one of our fire chiefs who
approached me. Um, I engaged Laura Mattis in our in our office who is uh the queen of getting everything done. I'm I'm looking at her. She's hiding over there. um and her and her team did an amazing job of putting together in short order
um a not only a landing page but uh a visual cue for what the fundraiser is and how we're going to deploy it. Uh they also were able to get it out on every social media channel for not only the municipality but for the fire department, the EMS and the PD. And
what's going to happen is the fire department, EMS, and PD are going to have representatives uh mimicking the stair climb from 9/11 uh when the men and women of the FDNY, NYPD, and uh PAPD
uh were going up on a um on a mission that they'll never return from. Uh, and I it's a way for us to honor what they did and uh create funds to continue to make our memorial garden one of the most amazing places in the state, if not the
country, to go remember what happened on that day. Uh, so Laura and your team, amazing job getting it set up and now it's execution time. Uh, so uh we're looking for the community to step up and get involved uh through donation and otherwise uh you'll see that on all of
our channels. Uh so thank you with that and uh that's it. Thank you. All right, committed. Thank you, mayor. Excellent comments. Thank you very much. I just want to congratulate our new officers this
evening. Uh including uh two of our legacy families, uh Solomon and Chenith. It's it's amazing to see and I don't know how many how many generations mayors three for Solomon and how many for Chennith?
four or five. So, right. So, it's important for everyone to realize that that two of those five new officers were have been families with multiple generations of PD in Middletown. And that serves as a testament both to the strength of those families and to the strength of the
police department and the chiefs here in Middletown. So, we welcome those new officers and wish them the best of luck uh in their endeavors as a new officer in Middletown. Um, secondly, I want to congratulate our Lind Croft Lightning nine new 11 new baseball teams. U, they
did a great job as usual and as always, mayor, I'm always envious of the cheer of the the teams they have. I think we should get one, but we'll we'll work on that. Yeah, that's all I have for this evening, Mayor. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Cheer. Yeah.
I'm tasking the deputy mayor with coming up at that woman. Thank you, mayor. I will echo very many of the same sentiments as my colleagues and congratulate our five officers. I will correct you, Rod. Uh, five
officers that were that were sworn in this evening. Um, it's always wonderful to hear them take that oath that never gets old and we're we're real proud of them and and congratulations to both the Solvens and the Chennowiths for again um adding yet another officer to their legacy. Um, we're really quite proud to
have them all and wish them all well. Uh, congratulations to our two to our two teams tonight. Always fun. I like to hear the mayor try and and get that get their their uh their chant or saying quite right. It was it was fun. And uh I'm just curious though if our two I
like to call them former chiefs, not exchiefs, are going to participate in this stairmaster challenge. It will be awesome. I love it. So hopeful um hopefully the community will will absolutely embrace uh the fundraiser and and be welcome to see everyone there. I
will be a a part not a participant but more of a a cheerleader from the side. So I shall be there for sure. So thanks so much. Did you want to name those former chiefs specifically tonight to watch out for? I'm gonna call them out too for the
record. Oh boy. Oh boy. I already corrected one tonight. I'm good. Thank you. All right, I'm gonna end this this uh DM. Go ahead. All right. Guess Kim called me out, so I guess I got to do it, huh? Mark came up
so fast. So, um I just congratulations to the officers. Uh we truly truly truly find the best. And the fact that we can get multiple uh generations from one family officer here is a is a big deal. Um, I actually thought I was going to
see uh Michael uh shed a tear. Uh Michael Chennowith that is um he he when he reached out to me couldn't have been more more proud to see his son. Uh I served as fire chief with Michael. Um great family, great people all around.
So I'm excited to have him and obviously the Sullivan family, third generation, pretty amazing. So great job uh great job to our sports teams as always. We we do truly have the best in this town here all the time. And uh mayor, I'm hoping
that there's a spot for you to do 111 steps there. Right. But I'm pretty signed up, pal. Don't worry about me. Wow. Okay. Have a good night, everyone. All right. Um I'll I'll open it up for public comment. Oh, Laura had Laura had me uh signed up
first. Good. All right. I'll open up for public comment. Any member of the public wish to make a public comment may do so. ask that you state your name for the record and that you keep your comments to five minutes. At four minutes, I'll let you know that you have one minute remaining. I knew a little my time.
Go ahead. Good evening, Mayor, council members, and members of the public. My name is Susan Mckinus, and I live on P Drive in the NA section of Middletown. I am so happy to see that a resolution in opposition to Nessie the Transco
Williams pipeline um was approved tonight. So thank you very very much on behalf of Food and Water Watch uh and as myself as a Middletown resident, I really appreciate his support. So thank you very much and uh we'll see you
again. All right. Thank you very much. Uh yes, ma'am. Right on. How are you this evening? Fine. Pat Miller. How are you? I'm Pat Miller and I live at 151 Bordon
Road. I haven't been here in a long time. I know. I haven't seen you in a while. Good to see you. I have two two things to uh discuss. I'll follow up the uh comment about Nessie because that that was one of the ones. Um I thank you for the opportunity
to speak. I'm co-chair of the building electrification committee and a member of the Jersey Shore Group executive committee with the New Jersey Sierra Club. I'm speaking also for my husband
as well as Sierra Club. Sierra Club is the oldest and largest environmental nonprofit organization in the country with almost 4 million members nationwide. I commend you for approving
the resolution oppo opposing Nessie a gas pipeline proposed to run through Ron Bay next to our bayshore. We defeated it six years ago, but now it's back. This proposal includes a new gas
compressor station in Franklin along with a new pipeline branch connecting to the existing old bridge compressor. The new pipeline would cut through Oldridge, Seville, South Amboy, then run under the Raron Bay to ultimately arrive in Long
Island. The Madison loop part of the fossil fuel project would cut under Route 9, the New Jersey Parkway, Route 36, and the train tracks that New Jersey Transit uses. New Jersey will not be receiving any gas from this project. We
will be getting we would be getting the compressor station and pipeline instead. These areas include major roads, railways, housing developments and businesses that will be impacted as well as critical freshwater ecosystems,
coastal wetlands, tidal wetlands and cheese quake creek. The construction of the pipeline will have significant impacts on the raron bay slack super fun site and potentially dread up contamination in the bay that we have
worked diligently to clean up. Rejuvenation of marine life in the Rton Bay would be reversed if this project were to happen. Opposition to the project is growing among towns. So now Middletown has added to this. So far,
Keyport, Hasllet, Aberdine, Madawan, Union Beach, Jack T, Atlantic Highlands, Highlands, Franklin, South Brunswick, and Montgomery have all recently passed resolutions in opposition to Dunes. Oldbridge and Rumson have have the
resolution to oppose it on their agenda for tomorrow. I hope that everyone here understands why we must oppose this project via this resolution and that this project must go down. And the second thing I'd like to talk
about is uh your first proposed ordinance which I believe refers to the program that the BPU calls municipal community solar. Is that correct? Yes. Um, no,
no. Energy aggregation is not community solar. Um, well, the municipal community solar with automatic enrollment is the name that the BPU calls it.
Community solar is a a project that we've we've discussed in the past and applied for it in the past for for energy aggregation. more thought about energy aggregation and and you know as as everyone knows they're all getting more and more expensive electric bills
uh these last two months and go ahead go ahead um my comments specifically refer to this municipal uh community solar um program but let let me speak in favor of it. I s strongly
import support the providing of clean electricity to the people of Middletown. As we all have become aware, New Jersey's electric rates have skyrocketed recently. The main reason is because data centers being built across our
multi-state region are causing demand to grow at an astronomical rate and supply or electric capacity can't keep up. The only solution in the near term is to increase electric supply and the fastest
cheapest way to build that capacity as is with clean energy such as solar, wind, and battery storage. New Jersey's community solar program requires that all community solar projects offer at
least a 20% minimum bill credit. To roll out this clean solar energy even faster and to more customers, the New Jersey BPU is offering municipalities the opportunity to create their own
municipal community solar automatic enrollment program. Residents selected for inclusion in this project will receive a guaranteed discount on their electric bill for the 20ome year life of the project. Residents can opt out of
the program at any time without a fee or penalty. Billing is done in just the same way as it is currently by JCPNL, our local utility. This will be a huge benefit to Middletown residents, especially those with low or moderate
incomes who get first preference with automatic enrollment. We also urge anyone listening tonight to opt in to community solar now and get yourselves in the queue to a share of community solar and a large discount on your
electricity bill by going to the sustainable Jersey website and searching for the New Jersey community solar project finder tool. Thank you. Thank you Pat. Appreciate your comments. Any other member of the public wish?
Yes, sir. I'm Don Adler. I live in Wait till you come to the microphone. Pardon? Wait till you come to the microphone. I'm Don Adler. I live in Leonardo. Um on here uh in support of the resolution um
in support of the two previous speakers um who are in support of the resolution the proposed message. Um the board actually this body 6 years ago passed a
more detailed resolution uh opposing nesting and that resolution is incorporated uh and embedded in your current resolution. Uh I don't have much more to say than u
Miss Miller. She's very articulate. The damage that would occur to our community from the mere construction of the uh pipeline is significant
and the operation of the pipeline would be also uh dangerous to our community. the construction would uh bring up tons of material that has been
buried under uh New York Harbor under Ritton Bay for the last two plus hundred years. That material uh would then as it is dug up that material that toxic
material would uh come to our shores come down uh based upon the current currents would come down to our shores and have uh possible uh toxic implications.
uh this would and I think it's important for the municipality to understand that this would uh damage uh very possibly damage uh and reduce the property values along the shore
and this is a municipal issue reduction of property values uh means reduction in municipal property tax so uh I don't have much more to say other than any support um this body and it
opposition. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Appreciate it. Any other me? Yes, sir. How are you today? All right. Good day of soccer, bad day off.
Diverging interests. Um sorry, quick five minutes. My name is Evan Rafferty. from Florida. Um, I enjoyed what you had to say about baseball, how maybe with errors we can collectively, right? Because it fail
seven out of 10 times and make the Hall of Fame. That's right. Exactly right. Where we can make errors, but if we collectively cooperate, we can get to a championship. Although with the way the Mets are going, that's a whole other story. You're talking to a Phillies plan.
who by the way are winning four to one right now. Just saying. This was the week that the Mets were this. Yeah. Well, Milwaukee is a great team, though. Milwaukee is a great team. Yeah.
I wanted to talk about the notice that went out in the property tax. Okay. Um, and it'll get to errors, but collectively improving ourselves if we work together. Um,
wasn't sure if you were the finance person. Uh, in regard to this notice that went out telling everybody about where the average residential values are coming from, what the property tax increases are, who's responsible for things like that. Uh, who wrote it?
The administration. The administration. uh who CFO is not is not here today. Is not okay. Uh who authorized it? Who who ultimately signs off on this going out in the property tax bill? It gets authorized by the administration.
Okay. By the by the So this body by the administrator, by the township committee, by the CFO, everybody has to have a to and then you naturally have delegated authority unto it.
Correct. delegated the authority onto it's a shared it's a shared responsibility that has to happen there's a lot of information in it from tax assessor's office from the finance office okay who ultimately approves it
as I mentioned to your point it's a collective okay discussion um what was the intent of it most at least from the most here. Most most residents call us or call the township
to issue complaints about property taxes. It is was rightfully fair for the township to ensure that it was demonstrated to the public what the breakdown of your property taxes are. Unfortunately, the township bears
normally the entirety of calls and complaints when it comes to residents that are calling with questions about their property tax bill. We cannot answer questions about the board of education's portion of their of the
bill. We don't have that information. And up until now, no one has told or or publicly provided information to the public as to what numbers they need to call for. And as you see at the bottom there, it
has the board of education's number and it has the tax assessor's number. What's the name of the Mammoth County government on there? I guess we locked them out. The the tax assessor is is actually While they are
paid by the township, they are quasi underneath of the county government. County Board of Taxation. County Coron board taxation. I have to assume that the purpose of this was to provide helpful and correct information to the residents and
homeowners of Middletown. Correct. Okay. Um, then to cut to the chase, there's a major error in this. And the major error in this document is that it says based on the average residential value of
2025, nobody in their right mind would ever use the average property values, especially in a community where you have diverse home values. And this is simple. You can Google it. You could Google it. Should you use median? The township uses
the average assessed value for all of its calculations. You do that. That's how you should not be doing that. This is covered in AP statistics. It's covered in AP economics. It's you should not be using the average. You
should be using the median. There's a difference. Okay, let me enlighten. Maybe let's take three people. Let's say one person makes $100,000, one person makes $200,000, one person makes $300,000. The average would
be $200,000. So would be the median. The median is the middle number, right? Okay. Now let's say that third person doesn't make $300,000 but rather is Bill Gates or Elon Musk right suddenly the average becomes astronomical
which means that when you are taxing that number it would become some astronomical number which is why when it comes to property values you use the median and you report on the median what I'm trying to say here is that when
you tell everyone that it's going up 600 68 annually based on average residential values. What you're overstating to the community is how much they're actually going to see their property tax bill go up. What this does is it biases it
upwards. There's a difference between the median and the average value. all the huge homes in Middletown, the ones that are worth $15 million, $20 million, that pulls the average value up and that's how you get to this 668,
but nobody in River Plaza or Leonardo or North Middletown or Fair View, they're not going to be paying them. In fact, if you take the median value, it would be the increase in the property would be far far lower.
the increase in the property tax if take the median that's not how the ADP program works that's because because while you bring up Ner Road in 1520$20 million homes we have homes all across this town that 50% of them fall below that number
so the the average you you're you're talking about River Plaza and Leonardo if you were to go to other areas of town they fall below that number so so while you while you want to sit there and say that a $15 million home, which if you if
you had to calculate how many $15 million homes there are in Middletown versus homes that fall well below that number, the number that falls below is much greater than the one $15 million home that you're referring to. So, thank
you for making my point because the number of homes that would fall below the average is a far greater quantity than the number of homes that would be creating that high average.
Which means that the property tax increase would apply not as significantly to a far greater quantity of homes. one more time that there's 23,000 houses and through the ADP program they are assessed
based on their on the on their assessed they're they're done based on comps andor oneif of the town is inspected or or has inspections that can be done or can be refused to be done oneif of that of the town gets done every single year
so the others are done based on comps and I would encourage you to if if you do have questions on that Chris Ans or or Alex Worth or the CFO would be happy to discuss with you the ADP program that
creates that formula that determines how homes are assessed in Middleton. I am familiar with some of those formulas. You can tweak a variable here and there. My point is that when you get into the statistics, which we don't have
to, and maybe I'll do it with the CFO, that might be nice. But what I'm trying to convey to you is that this notice which went out to all the homeowners of Middletown, right, is telling them that based on an average
value, they're the schools school levy is bringing it up $668. But that won't apply to the vast majority of houses in Middletown because it's using the average instead of the
median which biases it upwards. But every single person is receiving a tax bill. That's going to tell them exactly what happens. The average assessed value of Middletown went up 11 12% last year. 11 and a half%. Now some people mis
misconrue that information by thinking that their taxes are going to go up 11 and a half%. That is not what that means. It means that the average value went up by 11 and a half%. Correct? And so now we would be okay. Thank you. So the point being is
that just because your assessed value goes up does not mean your taxes go up. Is not what that means. Correct. You were saying something different. Yes. What I'm saying is that So I'm I'm confused. Is it correct or is
it or is are you saying something different? I'm saying to you that this notice that is based upon telling which tells people that their their taxes are going to be going up $668
is based upon an average residential value for 2025. And when it comes to home values, nobody would use average. It's irresponsible to do it. we would use the median
as he might be pointing to you on the Zillow. Actually, no. Um, this is the the presentation um from the the school board's presentation by Amy Doherty that says the 2025 average assessed value of a home is 728,537.
2024 was $653,900. And it showed broke down the exact impact. And if you read what exactly what the school boards put out, it's exactly the same number that we put out. Oh, thank you. That means they also do
not have a financial literacy. Uh well, my let me just let me just say this. my CFO would would not agree. And I think it's condescending to assume that my chief financial officer who has over 23 years
as a chief financial officer in the state of New Jersey and who leads a lot of the discussions about municipal um valuations and financial planning would would differ with you on that. And it's a sh it's really a shame that she's not
here because I would have, you know, really appreciated her input on this because you're arguing uh over the word average and median and exactly what the school board put out is exactly what is
written in there. Oh, I understand by by pointing to that it's what aboutism and and what aboutism is technically changing the subject. I remember debate teams but what about is okay it's what about us? Yeah. Okay. I mean it was what about
this? No just showing you they said the is there a number or an email that I could contact? I'm happy to have Laura Mattis connect you directly with the chief financial officer. The it seems that in your last response to
me there was a bit of ambiguity maybe or minimizing that there is a significant difference between median and average and it's taught on the second day of statistics
class. I'm not I I'm not debating it at all. What I'm what I'm saying is that the ADP program, you can say that it should be X, but when it's Y, it's based on why, whether we like it or not. I may
say that I don't think my home is is assessed for what I believe it's it's worth. And there's a process that you can go through with that. But it just because you say something doesn't mean it's true. And what you're saying is that the the public is not going to see
a potentially $668 increase in their in their property taxes. And I'm saying that that's not accurate because I'd bet you that if you looked at the average property taxpayer,
they're pretty annoyed at their tax bill. Currently, I would say that the average stereotypical pick someone in Middletown will not be getting a $668
increase driven by funding a public school system that should be funded correctly as Hayek and Adam Smith said. Uh, sir, let me I I've let you go way over.
You know, I just one quote I swear nice is it if I meet with the CFO and we have a nice we have our discussion and if she she she if she agrees that it's more
appropriate that we should be using the median and that this is biasing upwards which is creating fear amongst the Middletown homeowners. Would you agree to send out a revision? Because the goal is to have accurate
information. If you could convince her of that if we agreed to it when I meet with her. She's she approved that letter. She approved the what the contents of that letter and there was much discussion on m ensuring that it was
properly phrased. So you can talk to her all you want. Um, but she's going to continue to maintain that that was accurately depicted. Maybe she'll take free country. Maybe she'll change her mind. Maybe. Okay. Would you agree to that?
Well, Laura will will happily connect you with colony. Okay. But would you agree to that? As I said, no, we're not going to send out aision. We are not going to send out a permission. that that information is is exactly what it need what it needs to
say per the CFO and the tax assessor of this town approved by the administrator I have thank you very much and thank you thank you I hope they get the information they should thank you any other member of the public
wish to make public comment come on Hey Rich Isacson place me down. The taxes got me pretty upset. I don't know why we have to raise the taxes. Same way the school needed more money, but then everybody else jumped on
the bandwagon. We're probably collecting more money in this town we've ever collected. We got condos on 35. We got condos on 36. We got building going all over. We're getting more money all the time. What are we doing with our money? That's what I want to know. My tax came
up $1,000. I don't $600, $1,000. I want to know. What are we doing with our money? We can't keep throwing money at everything. People want to live in this town. People who lived here most of their life are unable to stay here now. They got a lot of people coming. They
got to move. They can't afford it. It keeps going up. North Middletown used to be a cheaper place to live. That's skyrocketing. I don't know why, but it's skyrocket all over down by the shore. Build these big houses. Oh, they're selling for a
million dollars. Everybody's house was small. It's all going up. Why should the guy's house alongside just because he built a big one worth a million dollars? That don't mean that house is hundred years old is worth a million dollars. What what are we doing with our money?
Well, Rich, you know, you know that our budget is out there for 30 days that that you can review before we can even hold a public hearing on it. So you you know you know exactly where to look at our budget and I can tell you absolutely having done my seventh budget
now uh when when I'm sitting there looking at $5,000 at a time we cut out of the budget. You're you're cutting it out $5,000 at a time in a budget like ours. It takes a lot of $5,000 cuts to get it down to where we need to. when
you have a 7 and 12% increase in health insurance premiums. Now, sounds like a lot compared to the state health benefits plan that went up what was it 34% 36%. You know, when when you can when you see a win like that, it it's a win.
When you see increases in the in different wages and different requirements and pension obligations, you you got to you got to it goes up. And just like the cost of everything else, you do you do work down uh on the boats, you do work anywhere else, you do anything, everything's costing more.
Everything is costing more. And we got to maintain the things that we have, at least try and catch up to the things that we have. And every single thing is costing more and more. If all these people living in these big house pay all this big money, I mean, but remember the town the town gets the
town gets 23% of it. Town gets 23% of that. 23% comes to the municipality, right? So, the county jumps on the bandwagon. Well, the county gets less than us. Yeah, I know. They deserve less than you. They deserve zero. Get rid of them.
They're a leech to what the county is. Look, we have to do something to keep the taxes down. We can't spend money. We spend money like Governor Style. Look at this building. We need this building. We didn't need this building. Well, it was going to cost us nearly the
same amount to fix the old building. The same amount to fix the old building it cost to build this building. It nearly cost the same amount of money to try and fix the and bring up the code of the old building that it was going to cost to build this building. That sounds awesome. What this building
costs? What's this building again? 54 million. 54 million. And you're telling me we're costing 54 million to rebuild that building we had here? The old building? Yeah. Someone someone sneezed the bait the the the entire detectives unit flooded. We
didn't we had not one facility for a single female police officer that we had. Middletown's now home to the most female police officers in the county. They didn't have a a locker room because that building was built when there were no female police officers. There's
there's things that happen things that I remember when that building was built. I remember where the first police station was. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm I'm just saying when you when you think about what you have to do to expand, what you have to do to to bring it up to code, all the different AOC requirements, the D requirements, all these different fancy
acronym requirements that are out there, you know, better than most. That's the problem. I hear we keep making ordinance after ordinance. No, it's not township ordinance. We make an ordinance. It's not a township or to enforce that ordinance. It's not It's not a township ordinance.
The township doesn't implement those. The state implements them. Yeah, I don't have an a we don't have an administrative officer of the courts that that that made that made changes to an application for this building 16 months after they received it on their desk. You know, these are different
things. Every single thing the municipality is is also responsible for just like every other homeowner is responsible for. We're not we're not immune to those state state laws and those are things that you have to do. There are certain requirements. We're
spending too much money. We're taking in more money all the time. I remember back in 1985, same place, right? The old town hall. Guy told me, "Bitch, we need your revenue. We need your revenue. We have to build." Well, we built. What
happened? Taxes went up every year. And they don't stop going up. They keep on going up. Up and up and up. I'm sure you'll be another two or three years look for more money. It's got to stop someplace. Somebody's
got to take a change. It's got to be a change. We can't keep blowing money or whatever like we do. Just can't It's got to stop. Well, I encourage you to take a look at the budget and show me where you think we should cut. I'd like to look at that budget and see exactly what it's unlike the states. It's out there
for 30 days. I think there's plenty of places we can cut. Go ahead, take a look at it and give me a suggestion. I'm I'm I'm willing to hear anyone and everyone. There's plenty of places to We We spend a lot of money on staff. Okay. We It's easy to It's easy and I understand what you're saying. It's easy to say that. Tell me where you want me
to cut. You want me to start cutting police officers? You want me to start cutting park staff? You want me to start good police officers. We got the best police reports around outside of New York. It's also the thing we spend the most money on. Yeah. What? Number one cost. Most money on. It's the most expensive thing we got.
And I have no problem spend. And I bet you every single township committee member up here would would say that they're absolutely no problem spending the the most money on on police offic. Okay. So you want me to start cutting the parks? Parks? Yeah. Maintenance on parks. Cut it out. Tell me where you want me to cut
a lot of parks. Listen, Rich, here's my thing. It is the requirement of state law that I have to have my budget out for 30 days. We had to move our township committee meeting two days because it wasn't out there for 30 days. Introduce it. Sits out in the public for 30 days.
Okay. Hold a public hearing. You had 30 days to look at that budget and to show me where you thought we should make a cut. Make a cut. Tell me where you want to cut. I ain't got all that time. I got other things to do. I got to make a living to pay my taxes. So, you got the money.
Me, too. I got time to go through all that stuff. We're supposed to be looking at every single possible thing for the people of Mil County. And but you're automatically assuming that we're not automatically assume that we're not. And all of us up here have to make the same living that you have to make.
There's That's right. You're there now. You're This is This is what you Well, but you're not going to hear us But you're not going to hear us complain about it. But I encourage you take a look at that budget. You call me up and you tell me where you want you think we should start cutting. All right. I'll look at it. All right.
I'll get some other guys look at it, too. See where you got it. All right. You go ahead. Read this building. I haven't built another one. Thank you. All right. Thanks, Rich. Any other member of the public wish? Yes, ma'am. How are you? Good. How are you? Good. Thank you. Glad it's here. There's another Phillies
fan. There you go. Kyle Stewart, you you are not disqualified in any way. Kyle with another home run tonight. All right. There we go. That's good to hear. Um, I'm going to shift us back to Nessie, but um, so my name is Madison
Worst and I'm here on behalf of Clean Ocean Action. Can we just have your name for the record? Yes, my name is Madison Worst. Um, and I'm here on behalf of Clean Ocean Action um, which is a broad-based coalition group in based in Long Branch focusing on water quality from Montalk to Kate
May. Are they event tonight? H they have an event tonight. No, next week. Oh, next I thought it was I think they have something tonight. The summer. No, there's something else. Sunset Suarez on the 19th of September. Yes. Yeah.
There was a meeting. There was a rally for the waterways meeting. Yeah, that was at at our headquarters. Yeah. Um but so we just wanted to thank you for passing the resolution in opposition to the Nessie pipeline. this pipeline is
arguably completely unnecessary um for the state of New Jersey specifically, but also in the fact that there is no consider consideration for um turnover for the national grid once it gets to New York. So there are a lot of things about this pipeline that are in the
resolution that um cause opposition to it. And then the most important thing I think for here is the water quality issues that Don Ather had brought up before the resuspension of this toxic mud essentially at the bottom of the Rarian Bay for when they would dig this
trench would uh cause water quality issues for years to come. So we really appreciate the committee taking on that opposition and joining the other townships that have passed it. So thank you so much. Thank you very much. Any other member of the public wishing me? Yes, sir.
How are you today? Very well. Yourselves? Good. Thank you. Good evening to the mayor and township committee and Laura again. No, you want to ask you my wife and I live at the 914 nut.
Um my two concerns are my wife and I two concerns is motorbikes on street on streets on the walkways. Um working my tent about 10 days ago my wife is picking a mail in a mailbox and one of the bikes went by and those things were
by probably seen them 10 15 18 miles an hour run by kids 12 15 16 years old. Yep. Um, 30 seconds later, another one runs by, she turns around again. You know, when you buy a car and you say, "I
haven't seen that kind of car in the road ever." You buy a car and then sudden you notice there's a whole bunch of cars. Well, then I noticed a whole bunch of motorbikes going around. Um, like yesterday by the um by Chris Drive uh
the jug jugler right there. Bring bikes coming south by the bike on 35 spun around hill north. Two cars coming up going north and be spun around the light. You said there was not wasn't a light. They just
come around. They they didn't go to the junk. Okay. They coming down north and took that little gap in the road. Yeah. To the U-turn. Yeah. and did that and one went really wide and then two cars stopped and beat and they break
fairly otherwise they teenagers would have been on on the ground and I know it's a couple other ones going up and down the swamp road and the kids they jump on it it's a great looking thing to do high at it but pretty dangerous to pedestrians who are walking down the
street especially seniors that maybe not walk that fast um so if it's possible to put out public notice or something. Make people aware that these things are are out there. Just be careful. Look, look left and right. Maybe on your own walkway. Yeah. That they're they're popping up
more and more. And you know, we we we are going to have to work with our police department on managing that in some way, shape, or form. Um because we just we just completed a public service announcement on that exact thing. Uh and it gives a lot of good information. It should be online.
Turn your mic off. I'm sorry. Uh, we just did a public service announcement on that exact thing because we're having big issues with it, but it should be online this week. That goes out on hard copy, too, right? The one that goes out on hard copy. Oh, we'll mention it in there for sure.
But this is a the one that goes online. This is done live by a police officer showing examples of the different types of um bikes bikes. There's three classes of bikes um and explains the differences between all those, what's required for the different different types of bikes.
So we we we're putting a lot of information out about it. We'll make sure that Laura Laura emails you. Um you can Laura her card and u Oh okay good. And just keep getting me informed about the 250 committee. Oh good good.
Um second thing. Yes sir. And red lights. I um wrote a letter that was published in the two river times six months ago and it was entitled uh don't go on green because they go on green in
this area any area really uh goes don't stop and I saw issues on uh I guess by Thompson Avenue so by about outside the police building outside the building um
any main drive on 520 caused just what they do. Just one car doesn't stop the red light. They pile on now. Well, Joe went Mike went three or four cars on a road and it just seems like it just getting worse and worse and worse. Um in
Redbank when they were doing some pedestrian um announcements, they said if we if you don't stop for pedestrians points and so on. And they they I guess they got some state money or county money that did that on the electrical
signs. Uh you talking about the ones over by the hospital? Um they had it on by by bonus error. Had a sign up saying if you're if you're a pedestrian you got you got to stop for a pedestrian outside the police office. Yep. Okay.
Um that seemed to be effective according to the officers in Redbank. You know where they stopped they got number of cars that stopped and they didn't stop. Yeah. Unfortunately, unfortunately, it's it became an even bigger issue uh in in other parts of the town and that's why
you saw the investment that was made uh on Front Street outside the hospital that has now blaring red lights um that go across because that's actually the busiest um crosswalk in in Mammoth County.
Got it. Um and uh and the county did that project and um so so it it's still an issue and and that's why they're they're utilizing those resources that they implemented over by over by Riverview to push pedestrians to utilize
this but also be able to signal to um signal to oncoming traffic both from uh in both directions um you know well in advance that there were pedestrians crossing uh crossing the street over there. What I was going to suggest if it is all feasible, same kind of e signs
that could be put up those kind of to say for drivers stop on red or there's a $500 fine or three points or six points. Um without some kind of notification guy driving down the street, I'm just going to go right through because it's
nobody's going to stop me or very very little people going to stop me. Just Well, tonight we we did just approve four portable message boards. So I'm sure that's one of the one of certainly one of the things. Great timer. So number 18 on the agenda. So I knew it
was on there. So so certainly take a look at that. All right. I appreciate that. Thanks for your time. Appreciate your comments. Thank you. Any other member of the public wish make full comment. Seeing no other member of the public stepping forward, we move to close the public portion and adjourn. Second
clar. Yes. Crack. Yes. Senino, yes. Deputy Mayor Hyel, yes. Mayor K, yes. Motion carries. Have a good night everybody. Thank you all so much.