In accordance with section meetings advised that a notice of this meeting posting on the bulletin board and forwarding to the officially designated newspapers that this meeting would take place at the Milurn Education Center at 7 p.m. on July 15th, 2025.
Meeting details and the draft agenda were also posted on our township website. Please stands one nation under God, indivisible for all. Deputy Mayor Cohen here, Costco.
Mr. Sakamandandy here, Mr. Stler. Mayor Lana here. Thank you. May I have a motion to approve the agenda? Mayor, before Mayor, before we do that, uh I'd like to make a motion to amend the agenda to consider adjourning the
public hearing of ordinance 2708-25, the ordinance amending and supplementing the township of Milbourne development regulations and zoning ordinance, and therefore wish to move its consideration to prior to our first public comment period immediately after our reports.
The reason for adjourning this hearing is because committeeman costs is unable to attend tonight and he was instrumental in working with me and Michael to come up with the provisions of the ordinance. It would be a disservice to Committeeman Costrove and the public if he is unable to respond to the public's questions on this ordinance
or participate in discussions on this matter and therefore I will be making a formal motion to adjourn it and move consideration of this ordinance uh up moving it up before public comment will spare any individuals that came out to speak on this ordinance from having to wait around just to find out that we're
adjourning it to the next meeting. Okay, so that is 2712 It's 2708-25. It would have been the second read tonight. Yeah.
Okay. So, do I have a second? Second. Uh, roll. Deputy Mayor Common. Yes. Mr. Sakamandandy. Yes. Mr. Stler.
Yes. Mayor Romano. Yes. Thank you. Now, Mayor, you're going to ask for motion and second on the right. The revised agenda. Oh, so I have a motion for the revised agenda. So moved.
Second. All in favor? I thank you. Okay. I have a motion to approve the June 3rd, 2025 township committee minutes. So move. May I have a second? Second. All those in favor? I have a motion to approve the June 3rd,
2025 special township committee minutes. So move a second. Second favor. I Okay, so we are going to do the community service award next. And before I do that, I just want to recognize some
former touch of committee members and mayors that are here. Uh, former mayor Maggie Miggins, former mayor Tom McDermott, council, uh, committee member Linda Silva. That was it.
Um, okay. So, um, Jennifer Duckworth, would you like to come up and speak? Oh, wait. Let's see. Let's see if she's on. Hold on. Stephen, can I can we turn the screen so people
can see a little bit? Thank you, Mayor Roman, and the township committee for this opportunity to speak to honor Elaine Becker for this community service award. I sit on the community service award committee and am very privileged to be able to deliver
this to you. I wanted to start by Andy, come up. Andy, come on. former mayor Ela Becker. This is her son Andy Becker. And thank you Andy for being here too. I
wanted to first read something from one of the committee members that I think will uh exemplify what former mayor Becker brought to this community. Um, this person wrote that they wanted to share their fondest memories as an
executive on the hometown TV. Elaine was always gracious to all the events and HHTV gave interviews and allowed us to visit video all the townwide events. She was there when
uh she'll never forget one Fourth of July at Taylor Park when HHTV was videoing the events and there were horses. And I asked the mayor if she would like to go on a horseback ride and she said, "Sure, yes, right away." And off we went. It was her the woman, the
um person's first ever horseback ride, and she was holding on for dear life. She doesn't know if it was Elaine's first ride, but she was a very good sport about it, and we laughed and laughed and sat these very two two very
slow horses. She was a great mayor and thank you for allowing me to share this on behalf of Dr. Janet Thank you very much. Um, and now I'd like to turn it over to uh the mayor to read the proclamation.
Thank you very much. Um, does she want does she want people to see her? Um, sure. your camera. Oh, Ellie, do you want to put your camera on
so everybody can see you? Do you want to come off? Sure. I've known Elaine for um at least 25 years. There you go. Hello. And you ever since she is hi.
Whereas the Milbourne Township Committee values the contributions of volunteers and volunteer organizations in the township and recognizes outstanding volunteers who reflect the giving spirit of our community. And whereas Margaret Lane Becker has demonstrated a track record for over 60 years of service to
the Milbour Shields community with the following positions that are not that are not noteworthy and ex exemplary of a career in giving back throughout her tenure in the community. Whereas the roles listed below just reflect some of
her leadership roles and steadfast commitment to our communities. Township Committee 1992 to 2003 and Mayor from 1996 to 2000. Board of the Brook Haven Association 1975 to 1977. President 1976
to 1977. Board of the Short Hills Association 1977 to 1986. President June of 84 to June of 86. Glenwood PTA. Milurn Middle School PTA. Milbourne High School PTA. Conference of Parent Teacher
Associations President 1979 to 1980. Milurn League of Women Voters Board of Directors 1987 to 1988. Planning Board 1989. Community Service Award 2011 to present and the chair 2014 to present. Environ
Environmental Commission 1986 to 1990. Vice Chair 1987. Chair 1998 to 1990. Trustee for Greenwood Gardens 2005 to 2022. Ameritus Trustee Greenwood Gardens 2022.
Carl Hertz Arborita board member local assistance board member board committee 2005 art advisory board member 2005 residents for traffic safety committee founder American Red Cross Milbour chapter driver and also meals on wheels
delivery. Now therefore, I Annette Romano, mayor of the township of Milbour, on behalf of the township committee and members of the Milbourne town township community on this 15th day of July 2025, extend thanks and appreciation for the good deeds and
services rendered by Margaret Ela Becker for her outstanding contributions to our community. Thank you, Elaine. Oh, the plaque is over here. It's uh it's in uh limbo until we have our new town hall.
And there's the new um Thank you very much, Mayor Romano. Thank you committee and thank you everyone for coming tonight to uh honor my mother and all her hard work and her dedication to Milbert Shore Hills. Elaine lived on Lee
Terrace with her mother and father uh before she met my father Carl Becker uh at uh Warner Lambert in Morristown. They married in 1962. They raised me and my brother Steve
who's right there. Uh and uh she uh went all in in dedicating her life to her family and to her community, Milbour Shore Hills, working on many community issues and committees.
She was mayor and stayed on uh in many different uh valued roles in the community for decades after she was mayor. Uh Carlan Elaine Becker uh my father who rode the uh worked
volunteered at the first aid squad for 42 years and drove the ambulance uh committed his life to that organization. Uh they loved this community. They loved the uh township employees, the police department, the fire department, the
department of public works, and all the residents. Um, and on behalf of me and my family, uh, my wife Laura, uh, Elaine's granddaughter Carly, my little brother Steve, and all of her cousins,
uh, we thank you so much for recognizing all my mother's efforts, and this means very much to us, and we will always cherish this. Thank you very much. I know some people want to speak publication for national night.
This is for the record. Okay. Um whereas the National Association of Town Watch sponsors a national community building campaign on Tuesday, August 5th, 2025 entitled National Night Out. And whereas the National Night Out campaign provides an opportunity for
neighbors in the Township of Milbour to join over 38 million neighbors across approximately 16,000 communities from all 50 states, US territories, and military bases worldwide. And whereas National Night Out is an annual community building campaign that
promotes police community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie to make our neighborhood safer, more caring places to live. And whereas neighbors in the township of Milbour assist the Milbour Police Department who join community building efforts and support National
Night Out 2025. And whereas it is essential that all neighbors of the township of Milbour come together with police and work together to build a safer, more daring community. And now therefore, I, Deputy Mayor Michael Cohen, do hereby call upon all neighbors
of the township Milbourne to join Milbour Police Department and National Association of Town Watch for National Night Out on Tuesday, August 5th. Further, let it be resolved that I, Michael Cohen, do hereby proclaim Tuesday, August 5th, 2025, as National
Night Out in Melbourne, New Jersey. Thank you. Okay. Um, Stephanie, you want to go? Yeah, I'll be I'll be quick. It's quieter in the summer. Um the the planning board um met as you know to uh
to approve the uh housing element of the master plan that was approved and then endorsed at a special meeting of the township committee that we held a couple of weeks ago. Um they also approved the capital review for the town hall reservation renovation.
Um and have also reviewed a zoning ordinance the one that actually we are we are carrying uh over. Um the zoning subcommittee met met a couple of times. It now meets every two weeks because there is a big backlog of work. Um currently underway are um looking at
revising the zoning code on such issues as lighting accessory uses and design standards. That's it. Maybe start. Sure. Okay. Let's start at recreation committee. I still have a couple more
summer concerts scheduled as we celebrate parks and wreck month in Milbour July 17th and July 31st. They all start at 7:00 p.m. Our swim team was moved up to a higher division this summer. They're going very strongly started the season two and one. And then the fall program registration still open
including wreck soccer, flag football, girls volleyball, cross country, and more. SID special improvement district town hall is in full swing. If you guys haven't come out, please come out. is fantastic fun food, music, open consumption. Uh we have live music every
Friday and Saturday night starting at 6:30 going to about 9:30, sometimes a little longer. Family movie night is scheduled for Tuesday, August 19th. Uh and we always say thank you to our signature sponsor Pediatrics on Morris Turnpike. Uh the Upper Milburn Avenue block party
is scheduled from 1 to 4 pm uh on July 26. This is an event uh that's going to have a theme of yacht rock. Uh this is really going to do wonders for the upper Milbour Avenue. Uh it incorporates the uh the new residents at the Metropolitan
even though they're in Springfield. They do spend their dollars in Milbour. Uh board of education uh no material updates. However, the new interim principal uh joined us this week. So you guys will see him around around the high school.
Uh join facilities, no current updates. Mountain Valley Emergency Communications Center. No updates. Flood mitigation. Um a great uh I just want to put a great thanks to MPD Milurn Police Department and the fire department for all the hard
work they did uh in the uh flooding yesterday. Uh they were fantastic. Uh just a couple projects. East Branch, that's Ridgewood and South Mountain School area. We're going to start the construction for the drainage improvement project along Greenwood Drive and Rididgewood Road. And Alex, I
saw your email to a couple residents on that as well. So, good work there. Uh, New Jersey State Senator, Senator John McKeen, uh, and the flood mitigation committee confirmed that 500 grand in state funding will help fund the enhancement of the Gilbert storm water
pump, expanding its capacity and providing favorable or failover capabilities. And then on the Van Winkle which is Glennwood and Washington the engineering firm that's the uh Princeton Hydro is set to start work in the next few weeks.
Open space tax fund of which I'm chairing. Uh we've actually gonna have our first meeting within the next month or so. Just so hard to coordinate with everybody traveling now in the middle of summer. Uh but as soon as we uh get our our timing I'll I'll announce that. And
then affordable housing I'll defer to council. Thank you. U second. Sure. Um so I'd like to report on some of the work I've been doing behind the scenes with committeemen Cohen and Costco to strengthen our zoning code as it relates to storm water detention. Uh
specifically we're working on a proposal to potentially u double the storm water detention requirements for commercial and multifamily developments. Towns in New Jersey are permitted to adopt more stringent storm water standards than those provided by the state. And given our town's history of devastating
flooding, it makes sense for our town to have more stringent regulations. This idea was actually brought to me by Charlie Bambber, who's one of the engineers that Ben and I added to the flood mitigation advisory committee last year. Starley's idea to uh to address this really underscores the importance
of having flood mitigation advisory committee members that are subject matter experts uh in their fields. Uh flooding is a complex technical challenge and it's vital that we rely on informed professional input to develop meaningful solutions that actually help
our residents. Um, so I would hope business administrator McDonald perhaps during your reports uh you could give us an update on where we are at in terms of going before the state to uh have them review uh the potential changes to our
storm water uh code. Um so that would be helpful and if you could give us a timeline as for when we might see a first reading of an ordinance that would be helpful. Um, for the Environmental Commission, tonight is the second reading of the leaf blower seasonal restriction. I've received many
letters in support of this ordinance, and I'd encourage my fellow TC members to pass it later tonight. Uh, Michael provided an update on the planning board. Uh, and finally, I wanted to speak briefly about the $500,000 allocated by the state for our pump station. I fully support the project and
the funding, but residents should know this money didn't just appear. It was added by Democrat lawmakers in Trenton as part of their opaque budget process. And it comes at a very real cost. That cost is being borne many times over by our residents, particularly here in Milbour and Short Hills through a steep
through steep tax increases, most notably the mansion tax, which was tripled from 1% to three and a half% on homes over $3.5 million. This is a massive hit to our homeowners, far outweighing the relatively small amount sent back to us for this project. Uh, at
our Fourth of July flag raising, Assemblywoman Alexan Palazos Gil, who voted through these increases, was there for a photo op. I asked her why she didn't consider cut cutting spending instead of raising taxes. Her answer indicated that this was not a factor in her thinking, and then her husband, an
Essex County freeholder, uh, quickly ran over uh, and tried to end the conversation so that she didn't have to account for her actions. Uh rather than inviting lawmakers who vote against our interest in calling their pork barrel uh scraps a gift, we should tell the truth.
This is our money and it comes at a steep cost. While Trenton Democrats mismanage funds by pursuing pet projects elsewhere. Since 2018 under Governor Murphy and the Democrats, the state budget has grown 57% from 37.4 billion
to 58.8 billion. As Ronald Reagan used to say, we could say the government spends money like drunken sailors, but that would be unfair to drunken sailors because they're spending their own money. Printing is spending your money, and our residents are the ones stuck with the bills. Our job here is to stand
up for the residents of Milbour and Short Hills to fight for fiscal responsibility, transparency, and policies that actually serve this community. And I'll continue to do exactly that. So the next time some members of the STS pat themselves on the back for bringing in $500,000, we should
also ask at what cost? Especially when that $500,000 is roughly equal to the mansion tax collected on just four homes in Short Hills and our residents already send nearly $50 million a year to the county and we get very little back to show for it. Thank you. That's all.
Thank you. Um, I wanted to uh thank our state legislators for uh understanding the importance of the Gilbert Place uh pump station and how it's going to help our South Mountain neighbors and our downtown um in the event of a
devastating storm. Um we were going to do this anyway once we lost that federal money that we were supposed to get earlier this year. So, I'm glad that $500,000 will go towards uh finishing till towards those costs.
Um I also just wanted to comment on uh last night that last night's storm left devastation in some parts of the state, particularly in Union County. So, let's keep those residents in our thought, especially the two lives that were lost in North Planefield before the storms.
Our DPW, fire, police, OEM, and our volunteer first aid squad prepared the township by cleaning out catch basins, storm drains, pipes, and grates. Taylor Park was uh drained earlier in the afternoon. So the township was fully
prepared and um the fire chief continued to monitor the path of the storm um throughout the afternoon and I think by 8 8:15 8:30 last night uh he felt that we were all clear and it was passed on.
So, I just wanted to give a huge thank you to everybody um that helped out with that storm last night and most of all, thank you for the residents that, you know, took the advice and and stayed home and stayed off the roads because it was very dangerous for some um municipalities.
Um that's all I have. M um just very briefly uh the township's 2025 roading projects are in full swing currently doing uh curb work and drainage work and the list of uh the those streets is on the
township website under our project page um if residents are interested in looking at that. But um the idea is that we'll be finished uh by the end of the summer with this uh with the 2025 roads uh as not to impact schools. As it relates to the storm water ordinance, we
have uh engaged um uh M McDonald to assist us in drafting that that ordinance. It does require uh D review. Uh I anticipate that we will have a first read um or at least a uh introduction of that ordinance to touch
committee by August um with the potential first read in in the first meeting. Thank you. There any questions from this up? No. Yes.
Yeah. So, um I guess8 the script. Yeah. So, if the mayor would introduce it as normal, I'll I'll take care of it. Hold up. Okay. So,
Mr. M second, you're scheduled to sponsor 27 ordinance 27-2. I present for Yeah. Can you hear me? Yeah. Okay. So, I present for consideration an ordinance entitled Ordinance 2708-25,
Ordinance Amending and Supplementing the Township of Milbourne Development Regulations and Zoning Ordinance. I move that this public hearing and final hearing be adjourned for final hearing and final passage on Tuesday, August 12th, 2025. Please be advised that the
public hearing of this ordinance will be held at the Milbourne Education Center located at 434 Milbourne Avenue, Milbourne. May I have a second? Are we going to discuss it at all? Well, we would we would discuss it at
the next at at the next meeting. Well, you know, which is where it's carried to more information because I'm being told that there was just some some dissenting u points at the planning board when this was set forth. You know, we were told that everyone was in agreement on this.
So, I'd like a summary of any of those desending points from the planning board and how we would like to address those possible. They were in your packet and the we were wait still not gotten a a legal opinion as to whether that in of itself required
renoticing of the application. So, we're hoping to have that before. Yeah. Yeah. So, if there's adjustments that have to be made after it's passed, uh, we can certainly follow that up with a
modification if need be. So, no, I I thought the opinion was if we made those modifications, it would have to be amended and reintroduced. So, uh, the committee was going to consider the ordinance as is. Uh, it would
require majority to well, we would say that we consider the planning board's recommendations. Um, and then if we wanted to implement them, that would be a new ordinance that it could be it couldn't be amended without a reintroduction. So, I'm sorry you didn't
get that opinion. Did that answer your question? Yeah, that's and this is a mot to August meeting. Deputy Mayor Cohen. Yes. Mr. Sakamandandy. Yes,
Mr. Stler. Affirmative. Mayor Romano. Yes. Thank you. Sorry, just to the public, uh, this the public hearing has been adjourned. There will be no further notice. If you're here for that hearing, this is your notice that it is.
Can you clarify? Yes. So, what we're going to do is if you're here to speak um regarding the community service award for Elaine Becker, I'm just going to ask that you come first while I believe Elena is still on just in case she wants to go along.
They can't hear you if her microphone's on. I thought they could. So, if you're here before we open public comment, if you're here to speak um for the community service award recipient, Elaine Becker, I'm just going to ask that you speak first while Elaine is still on the line. She's not on
Oh, she's not on. Okay. So, when invited to speak to offer your comments, please come to the lector and clearly state your name and whether you are a Milburn resident and/or property or business owner. Please do not provide your full address seeing our meetings are recorded and readily available to the public. To help facilitate an orderly meeting and
do permittable to be heard, speakers shall limit their comments to one threeminut session. You will be prompted when there's 30 seconds remaining. A reminder that this is not a time for dialogue or to debate a matter and this is a time dur during our business meeting for the public to offer comments. I will now open public comment
and also you'll also have if you're here for leaf for the leaf blower ordinance there'll also be a period later on before we vote that you'll be able to speak it up. So I will now open up vote. I'm David Peter Allen AL chair ameritus of the blackana coalition. I live in
South Orange and I'm here to talk about a lane better. Good evening. I'm David Peter Allen and I serve as chair served as chair of the Lacawana Coalition which advocates for better service on New Jersey transits Morris and Essex line and elsewhere for 21 years from 2000
through 2021 through 2020. Our current chairperson Sally Jane Gel has a mandatory engagement at this time and can't be with us tonight. So she has authorized me to represent the coalition. Milbour is unquestionably the Lacawana Coalition's hometown. The organization
was founded here as the Milbour Commuter Coalition when our rail service was in crisis before New Jersey Transit was founded. When the Milbour founders expanded their geographic reach of the organization, it became the Lacawana Coalition in April 1979.
Today, our purview includes transit in all of North and Central Jersey while retaining an emphasis on the bars and Essex and its other original lines of concern. I came on board in April 1998 after Jim Luren, who had served this town in many
ways, had been coalition chair, died after a 50-year railroading career and another 19 years as an advocate for trains and for Milberg. Elaine, who was mayor at the time, welcomed me on board and so did Bob Hel, who is still a
member today. Throughout the 28 years I have known Elaine. She was always there to help the coalition and to help me when I held office there, briefly as vice chair and for many years as chair. While she did
not hold office at the coalition, Elaine was always tremendously helpful when it came to our dealings, not only with Milbourne officials, but with other towns as well. The coalition was founded in the beautiful woodpanled conference
room at Milbour Town Hall and we met there continuously for 46 years except during the CO emergency. During that entire time and continuing today, outreach to the municipalities and counties in our area of concern have
been important as part of our advocacy effort. Through her knowledge of how towns work and her contacts with other municipal officials and through the New Jersey League of Municipalities, Elaine had the expertise to help our outreach be effective as possible, and she was
always ready and willing to help improve that outreach. I'm going to modify my statement with one sentence. After we finalized it, Sally and I realized we forgot to talk about the wonderful cookies that Elaine made and brought to our meetings at
Christmas time. So, I know that Elaine has done many other things for this town. Although I can only address what she did to help the Black Along Coalition, she deserves every honor that could be bestowed upon her. What the ongo with the ongoing renovations at
town hall, the coalition has found a temporary home in Summit, but we look forward to returning to Milbour, which we have always considered our home. We continue to appreciate the assistance from the town that Elaine nurtured through the years. Things are not the
same without Elaine's active participation, but her services through the years have helped make the Lacawana Coalition what it is today, a leader among writers advocacy organizations in the United States. Thank you. Thank you.
Do anyone else like to speak? Meeting Jamie Strudo, Short Hills resident, lifelong. And um speaking of lifelong, the Strudos and the Beckers do go way back. And I Elaine has been a longtime mentor of mine. Uh and it is so
special to see her uh you know, obviously was chair of the committee as well, the awards committee. Able to see her name on the plate. Really, really special. Um, so I want to just say to the Becker family, um, amazing, amazing
family. Always love Ela. As well, just want to, um, talk about a couple of different items. One in particular, um, I just got back from Rome on a Jubilee pilgrimage and sort of was off the grid, but I want to just acknowledge that Eli Nell and his brother as well, Milurn
Shortell's family just joined the IDF and really amazing standing up. And, uh, there's many families in the military. um as we came off of July 4th um honoring those who are serving here and overseas. So, just want to acknowledge
him and his brother who were just sent. Um we got hit with uh you know a major storm yesterday and we heard about a lot of um destruction that went on in other communities and want to give a big shout out to the flood mitigation committee and our engineers um who uh have worked
really hard um Charlie Bambber, Nick Bachelli, Jim McKenna and team um and I want u you know to just acknowledge their efforts and their continuous uh push for funding and uh you know that's an area that I would really like to see
and a lot of residents have spoken about um you know continuing to support equipment and measuring devices and lots of different things that we can continue to um strengthen our preparedness. So I'd ask the district committee and and the leadership to continue to investigate that. Um and of course to
our um police and our fire and our DPW and first aid squad for their response. I had a family member who got caught in the flight in in Chadam. Actually the back of the car was ripped off uh their back bumper. So really, really scary stuff and the community should be aware,
right? Overdevelopment is making our flooding worse. More pavement, more runoff. Uh we're paving over paradise and we need to be conscious of that as uh you know, we continue to look at at leadership in place and the decisions that are being made. We heard about of
course the mansion tax already tonight. Um but we also have to acknowledge the decisions that have been made uh that have impacted the overdevelopment that'll continue to face this community. We have to be conscious of who we put in office, our representatives, and speak up for that. We may see $500,000 in a
state grant. However, how much have we put in to the state? How much have we put into the county? $15 million 50, excuse me, million dollars a year. And uh where's our return? We need to support our flood mitigation efforts and push things to the forefront. Just want
to call out the support of Frank Sec. Thank you very much and thank you for your service. Stephanie Mal resident. I just want to say um a lot of people don't realize what Ela Becker did to make sure that we didn't have a stopping shop in the
middle of our town where basically Unilab is going to be the back of the store and a loading dock. She led the charge for over 27 years to prevent that and amongst all the many other things that she did were fantastic. That stands out to me. So I just want to thank her.
So I just acknowledge somebody who was a dedicated and selfless volunteer and a model for all this. Thank you. Seal. I'm a former resident Melbourne short hills and a former member of the
tenture committee um and several of the other committees. I had the pleasure of serving with Elaine and I don't believe I've known a more dedicated thorough person um with her approach to her
duties. She was quite tireless and very gracious in everything that she did. She was the author of a number of pieces of legislation that I'm sure is still on the books. Um she would have hours for
the residents to talk to her. She was really an excellent public service servant and it was my pleasure to serve. Thank you. Would anyone else like to speak? Hi, my name is Tom Balote. I'm a
resident of downtown Milbour. I know there'll be time for this later. I may speak about the leaf blower ordinance. Um, yeah, I wanted to speak in in support of the ordinance. I would think that uh electric leaf blowers um would
be a significant quality of life improvement in downtown Milburn for the noise and for the the smell of the gas exhaust. Um, so I just want to speak tonight with my support. Thank you. Thank you.
Anyone else speaking for speaking to Phil? I also wanted to add my praise for town's response to the last storm. I think the preemptive work that's being done and the recognition of the flood threats has really helped our town. But
the main reason I'm here tonight uh members of township committee are before you tonight provide relief to the important questions for our town government, legal representation and local police force to seriously consider if they haven't already.
How are we going to respond in this town when mass men in unmarked cars heavily armed and wearing bulletproof vests show up at our local restaurants or at our homes as landscapers or roofers go about their work or at the car washer street?
Can we insist they identify themselves? Can we demand that they show their faces? What information will the township provide them if asked for registration list of contractors working locally? Will our police protect us if we peacefully protest to protect workers
who are being rounded up? Workers we have known for years as we dined at our local restaurants or picked up bagels or pizza. If you believe this is hypothetical or that our businesses have likely vetted their employees, please remember that
ICE is indiscriminately detaining workers who have legal documentation, even those who are citizens or in a lawful process of becoming citizens. I know that you agree that human rights and due process are essential and
inviable. We began this meeting by pledging allegiance to a country with liberty and justice for all. Before we think that it can't or won't happen here, we need to understand that New Jersey, the target state or ICE,
which has greatly expanded its budget and power. I therefore strongly urge you to consider the issues I have raised, and come back to us with answers so we know where we stand. Thank you. Thank you. Judy Christian
resident and um Phil had sent me a version of his um statement uh which he has revised somewhat so some of my comments don't apply but I'm here to add to and comment on Phil's uh statement
um which he sent to me before this meeting and as you know as he knows I support his intent um but I didn't necessarily support the original tone of the statement which I I found confrontational. That being said um and please bear with
me. Um my family moved to Melbourne in about 1963. I left in the 70s and I've been back now for about 20 years. Um, when we were young here, my sister asked my father if
we could join the little tennis club down the street so she could learn to play tennis. And his response was that uh we do not join anything that excludes people. We understood this to mean race,
ethnicity or religion. Um, so I wanted you to know that because my statements are from an ethical point of view, not political. And now in Milbury in on any nice evening, you'll see a great diversity of people on the streets dining in
restaurants and working in the stores and restaurants. Some of these people are people are residents. Some are visitors. Some may or may not be citizens of the United States. Some of the very hardworking and skillful men who replaced our roof last October may
or may not have been citizens. And some of those people carrying the leaf blowers that concern us today may or may not be citizens and may or may not be a targeted group. I think you get my point. It is on this basis that I
support Phil's questions um about township uh appropriate township officials and law enforcement agents to address the question of the township's response when and if ICE agents come to Milbour. Surely surely addressing this
in a proactive way could bring conflict but nothing like the conflict that could occur after the fact. I like many are somewhat ignorant of township laws, rules or ordinances regarding public gatherings or group or individual protests.
Surely the question of masked and ICE armed ICE agents entering a town is not one that can be easily addressed. But I think for the township safety and the public safety, we seek some guidance. This should not be interpreted as an attempt failed or otherwise to force the
township's political hand. It is a matter of transparency, peace, and public safety. Thank you. Hi, good evening. My name is Lina Chavar. I'm a resident of Short Hills and I'm here on behalf of my son Urgel
Jen who is a MHS student right now. He couldn't be here tonight, but I'm proud to speak on his behalf. I'm here to speak on on to support the GB ordinance. So as part of the ED foundation steam contest, Arjun did the research on GBS
and their um environmental and health impacts and he came out um thinking uh that convinced that you know they definitely need to be banned and when he learned that our township is working on an ordinance he even wrote an oped in
tab in uh to express his support. So he couldn't be as I said he couldn't be here tonight but we are thankful that you had a preliminary yes you voted a preliminary yes for that and we hope that you will pass the audience today not just for us but for young people
like Hjun um who have spoken up they they are asking us to leave them a cleaner quieter and healthier world and we owe it to them to pass this ordinance please um vote yesterday thank Thank you. Jan's our main street resident. I want
to thank Phil Kersh for his foresight and his insights in bringing up this issue to the community. I have to admit I'm one of the people who felt shrouded in the privileges of
Milburn Township as though this is not something that's going to happen here. It really opened my mind and it created a fear in me. I could be involved in a confrontation whether directly or on a periphery and
we need guidance and to give you some very very specific cases. Thursday, the day after tomorrow, I have a worker coming to do some exterior work on my house. I had hired him three years
ago. He did a great job. I called him back for another project. Three years ago, he brought a team about two or three men who offensively look to be immigrants.
Were they citizens? Were they in the process of becoming citizens? It doesn't seem to matter. But to give you a more frightening hint, three years ago, I hired a painting company, a wellestablished
painting company to paint the interior of my house. And this team also came and appeared to be immigrant. Again, citizen, I don't know. And again,
it doesn't seem to matter. The question I have, even though it's after the fact, is could I come to my home, invade my privacy because they happen to see what
they believe to be a probable cause? Could they come into my home and rams sack it, thinking I might be concealing somebody in a closet? What are our rights? What do we do?
This is a question that pertains to everybody in this community because as Phil said, you can be in a restaurant at that time when there is such a road. So I want to thank you for your attention to the matter in advance
and to say please give us some guidance. Thank you. Thank you. Hi, good evening. I'm Dr. Trina Frankle. I've lived in town over 50 years and practiced general internal medicine for 30 years. I'm a member of the local assistance board and chair of the senior
citizens advisory committee, but I am here speaking only as an individual, not for either committee. The town shares a social worker with Livingston. The social worker manages 10 to 15 cases a month. She assists clients with obtaining Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP
benefits, utility assistance, caretakers, affordable housing, homelessness, mental health issues, clothing, general assistance programs, and excessive recreational activities. Under the direction of Annette Romano, and with the help of Debbie Frank, she
runs the food pantry. The pantry serves over 22 households, including seniors. I believe the social worker is an incredibly valuable and important part of our community by aiding the most vulnerable of us. She creates a safe,
healthy, and welcoming town that benefits everyone. Recently, our social worker resigned to take another job. While we search for a replacement, her supervisor and the director of the board of health are filling in for her. I wanted to speak today to reinforce how
important it is that we fill the social worker position as quickly as possible and to thank the Pent Council for supporting this position, especially in these times where our support systems are becoming more difficult to navigate.
This role is increasingly important. So, thank you for your help in filling this critical position. And I would like to thank all those who have spoken here tonight on a very important issue. We must protect due process for everyone.
Thank you. Evening Gerard. I've been a resident of Hills 35 years. And today I happen to be a witness to a legal argument at the superior court
in Newark on a case against this town, the township committee called their properties versus township committee. Several other people involved and the argument on various motions went on
for quite a while. But the attorney for the town or the township committee almost was making a complaint to court that this is going on too long and it's
costing the township $30,000 because the insurance carrier is not participating and it's not extended coverage or uh legal funding. And it struck me that
this person would complain about that one. In fact, they are making the $30,000 that's paid by our town. And they have had two recommendations from a superior court judge that they mediate this case and they refuse to do so. And
they had two settlement offers and they refused that too. So it seems to me that they are wasting our money when a settlement of this case could be had and a mediation should be had and was actually ordered by a judge
twice. So I don't know what you can do about that but it seems to me that those costs should be reigned in that law firm should be told do what the judge said go to mediation and see if you can settle this case. Thank you.
Thank you. Anyone else? Yes. Okay. Yep. Hi everyone. Regina P with Short Hills. I'm an anomaly here. I'm speaking tonight against the leaf blower ban and I'll tell you why. Um you received my
letter. I appreciate you guys reading it. Um, in my opinion, this ordinance will result in increased landscape costs for all residents, especially impactful on those on fixed incomes. The ordinance will also be a substantial manpower burden to hardworking small business papers whose ability to maintain
multiple properties per week will be significantly hindered. My grandfather was a small business owner of blessed memory, and I remember how hard he worked to keep things going. To any landscapers here tonight, I stand in solidarity with you. Batteries are not truly eco-friendly and
the energy to charge them comes from burning fossil fuels. The proposed ordinance represents a well-intentioned effort, but it only replaces one set of environmental concerns for another. The environmental gains are nullified by the fact that landscapers will need to
recharge batteries via gas powered generators brought into our neighborhood. Lithium batteries and their charging are known fire and explosion hazards. Battle manufacturing depletes mineral and water resources throughout the world and creates toxic contaminants. Use lithium ion batteries
landfills, creating hazardous waste. One important item missing from the current version of this ordinance is the ability for residents or their landscapers to use gas powered leaf blowers under certain one-off circumstances. What we tell you one summer my lawn company um put down granules of pesticides in the
backyard. I have still a dog who eats those. I did request my landscaper to blow those granules away and used his his gas powered leaf blower because that was sufficiently powerful and I was grateful for that opportunity. Under this ban, the way it stands now, I would not be able to do that. Currently, the only provision from relief from this ban
are emergencies and permission from the mayor. I respectfully request that you add a provision to the ordinance allowing homeowners the capacity to utilize the best machine to clear heavier debris under certain circumstances. Lastly, you as elected officials need to be mindful of government overreach in
enacting excessive mandates. Too many mandates means the ones that really count, such as vaccines, will be looted, particularly those that remove consumer choice and add financial burden to all, including members of our valued small business, landscape, or workforce and your most valuable residents or
restricted incomes. I urge you to vote no on ordinance 270725, as this ordinance creates more problems than it protects. Thanks for your time. Thank you. Good evening. My name poet section for hills. Um, first I want to echo all
the praises for better. She was a major influence in inspiring me to get involved in local activities. Um, there was a court hearing today, but there was never a report given to the public. What happened today?
The judge denied the motion restrict my access to the township committee. I before each meeting, I submitted a heads up memo regarding questions and I'm now going to proceed. You asked me not never to speak about the litigation, but I can
talk about items that are on the agenda, such as the bill list. I hope it's public going to look at the bill list because there's payment to the sit attorney in excess of what they approve as the cap.
That's one thing during also tonight we're going to be approving an agreement with our union agreement with FEMA. What are the terms? I think the public is entitled to know what the basic terms of what we're agreeing to.
There's just something about approving a action compliance plan because we're not getting a clean audit this year. How come that action compliance plan was not attached to the resolution? When we talk about transparency, we talk about due process.
We are all entitled to due process. I've been standing up here for years asking about transparency. Today we're creating a trust fund for replacing planting trees. I'm all for that. However, the question is the method of approval.
Resolution are used for something that for about one year. This is going to be a long time ordinance that it's going to be a trust fund. I believe that has to be created by ordinance. Um, as my typical time, I ask that my questions that were mailed emailed to the council
will be attached to the minute so that the public sees some of the questions I'm asking before. Um, as to later on the leaf blower ordinance and appel division opinion came out yesterday talking about I've been coming
to these meetings for years. I'm not sure whether the leaf seasonal leaf plan ban is a noise ordinance or noise nuisance ordinance that was addressed yesterday by the appel division when they
upheld finding an action of a different municipality void if this is a noise ordinance it should be we should have a limit as to decibels so we know whether it's a gas blower or electric if they're all exceeding the decibb I don't if that was considered, but I think we should
look at that. Thank you. I'll be back later. Thank you. My name is Chris Tro. Uh I'm not a resident. I'm representing Climate Revolution Action Network in support of the resolution that would support the
Climate Super Fund Act. Um, we are in an organization of uh, Gen Z voices trying to uplift uh, youth voices in the climate crisis in New Jersey. Um, I work full-time in climate resilience infrastructure and policy trying to make
our state more resilient to flooding and improve our water quality. I went to school for environmental policy. I'm doing everything I can to dedicate my entire adult life to slowing down climate change and it is frankly not working. Um over the past six months,
we've seen more oil drilling leases. We're seeing coal making a comeback. We're seeing public lands and natural resources being sold off to the highest bidder. And not only is this administration actively taking steps to speed up and accelerate the impacts of
climate change, but they are dismantling the emergency services in place to uh protect residents and rebuild when disasters do strike. um and even the data that's being used to predict when these disasters occur. Uh so we may not
be prepared the next time that Hurricane Sandy is is reaching our shores. And and you saw last night, this wasn't a noraster. This wasn't a tropical storm. This was a a rain event. There were seven inches of rain across two hours in some parts of the state. Um this is
going to keep happening and it's going to keep getting worse. That is the nature of climate change. typical weather events get more extreme and more frequent. Instead of having um you know typical rain showers, we'll see extended period periods of droughts like we saw last year followed by these concentrated
heavy tight bursts of rainfall that just overwhelm any infrastructure improvements that we could possibly hope to make. Um and hurting our communities and killing people. It it's it's honestly a miracle that only two people were hurt or or passed away last night.
it. I'm surprised it wasn't a lot more based off what the turnpike looked like, based off what all these major roads look like. In my town in in in Somerville, there were cars just washing down the street. Um there was a house uh a home somewhere in North Jersey that I
think caught on fire and exploded with the poor residents being able to luckily make it out. Um climate change is happening. That's very clear. And and Trump is content with it getting worse. We can take steps to improve our infrastructure or elevate buildings. You might have heard about the New Jersey uh
real rules that have been getting talked about in the governor's office, but there's only so much we can really do. And the absolute bare minimum that we need to be doing is having a dedicated source of funding to recover from disasters. And as this administration seeks to dismantle FEMA and other
emergency service and response agencies, uh we cannot shift the burden onto workingclass taxpayers. Instead, we need to be doing it. Uh we we should be doing what we should have done a long time ago, and that's making the largest corporate careers.
Times up. Thank you so much for coming. Johnston. Um, I'm speaking tonight in opposition to the le ordinance and my primary objection is that there really is no scientific basis for the ordinance. I'm not going to go into details. I've spoken here on several occasions. I've
said several at the uh communications to the township committee outlining the science that's not behind the ordinance. Um I think it's unfortunate the science has been consistently and persistently misrepresented by members of the environmental commission. It's a shame.
I think had we had a more objective discussion, we could have considered options that may well have served the town better. In particular, as several people have mentioned, a noisebased ordinance which would address the primary negative externality of fruits, we reduce the noise. Um the other claims
about the emissions just don't hold up to scientific scrutinies. Uh and unfortunately by banning gas engines altogether, we're going to increase cost to Northern residents. We're going to really increase operational headaches for our landers, which kind of got ignored in all of this, but really no
additional benefit. As I said, I don't want to go into any more details, but I do wish to speak again with this. Um, to address the pervasive disinformation on the topic of gas leaf blowers, um, I'll be putting up a website. I registered the domain name, leaf
blowfacts.com. You'll be able to go there to get a summary of uh, all of the common claims that are made about gasoline blowers and then the actual facts which are supported by the underlying science and they do not support the claims. So finally, I just urge the committee to vote against this
ordinance. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Good evening, Commissioner. Good evening. This is County Commissioner Brendon Gil County resour. It's good to see the mayor and council. Um I came here tonight uh to speak in
favor of uh the resolution supporting the climate super fund act. uh and hoping to urge all the members of the governing body hopefully support it. Um as Chris so eloquently put it, uh this state legislation would allow the state of New Jersey if we finally hold climate
polluters accountable. Uh for decades, fossil fuel companies have polluted the state of New Jersey, uh spewing more than 1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions into our air. These greenhouse gas emissions have contributed significantly to climate change the effects of which we are
seeing firsthand each and every day. We have seen the extreme flooding. I know that we are very familiar to that here locally um and all types of other weather essentially catastrophes and most importantly uh this legislation would make sure that taxpayers aren't
the only one who have to pay for these damages. Polluters uh will be responsible to be for these damages. uh that uh these fossil fuel companies uh are causing. So I'm here very briefly uh tonight uh to say uh thank you for putting forth uh this support uh
resolution. Uh we did pass one at the county level. Uh many of us uh will be working. I know there's many issues that we uh want to work with the township on, but u this resolution um is a big step forward. So thank you for doing it. Uh it has the full support of many other
elected officials across this county. I wanted here to say that um you know again we're here to support you in pushing this issue and we plan to see this law passed so we can make sure that we can hold these companies responsible for what they're doing to our environment here in Milbert but across
this great county across our state. Thank you so much for I thank you for speaking about this potential resolution that has to do with the um the new rules for
houses. Is that appropriate or I think it's the ordinance that we postpone till our August. I don't know if you were here that gave it to you. I wasn't, but Okay. I don't think I'll be in town and I would like to just That's fine.
Is that not No, it's fine. No, it's fine. I just wanted to make sure you Okay. So, um yeah, I was uh first of all, I was going to sort of run down a whole bunch of points that we had. I'm sorry. Could you just tell us your name again? Oh,
sure. It's Robin Township. Uh, I was going to run down a number of reasons why I I don't understand the purpose of this resolution. I don't understand led to it. I was going to
uh run down all of the legal problems that you have created for us and for me personally as a taxpayer and a township resident. And then then I just decided no, no, I'm gonna say what I think that this whole procedure I think it's a
travesty. I think this is not about planning at all because if it were about planning then we would have the planning board would have just never introduced a resolution. There hasn't been an application for a house of worship since
1950 except for the high center. So why wouldn't I think that this was directed against me? I think this is really about what kind of town we want to be. Do we want to be petty? Do we want who whose
interests are you really representing here? You know, I am an American citizen, proud American citizen, proud Jewish person. All of my grandparents led oppression in Eastern Europe. My grandfather, he me rest in peace, used
to cry on July 4th when the flag would go by according to my mother because I remember he was so happy to be in this country. And I'm thinking, what would my grandfather think about this? My grandmother had to be hidden hidden
twice by gentile neighbors from pugs in her town in Russia. I'm thinking to myself, with this kind of township committee, what would you people do if God forbid something like that happened? Would I be even safe in my town? What is the purpose of all of this? So, I just
would like to respectfully ask to please consider what kind of town you really want this to be because after all of these 30 years of trying to get an established Orthodox synagogue in this town, I really am having lots of
second thoughts about wanting to live here. So, thank you for listening to me. Appreciate it. Thank you. Hello. My name is Mike Scarland. I'm a uh president of Wyoming here in Melbourne and I support the ordinance to restrict
the use of gas power to flow with this town. I believe the proposal to fair to residents and for landscapers and if approved by the township committee I I believe it will improve the quality of life town by cutting back on obnoxious
smells and unacceptable levels. I would like to remind everyone that this is not a ban it's a restriction a seasonal restriction like everyone to bear that in mind. Personally I hate noise. Personally, I hate the smell. We can do better for our
residents. Please pass the audience. Thank you. Anyone else wish to speak? Going once. I'm here. I'm excuse me. Good evening, Christine Best
Township. Um, I'm just going to speak on the leaf blower ban. U, this was a hard decision um because I know a lot of people support it, but I have to be true to my viewpoints and I fully do not support this. I just saw
quite a number of people say some very meaningful things about being convened with immigrants and the ice roundups which are quite horrifying in Los Angeles. I was very very struck by the people's pain and I clearly know what's going on. Um and you know I'm sitting
here thinking to myself, we always think about what's in our face and we wouldn't do that. we wouldn't be inhumane to somebody in our own town, but we would support slave labor in Africa and um because children mine the lithium
and other heavy rare metals and as um and also in uh Central America and certain countries in Central America, they have like basically displaced indigenous people and ruined their land um and and caused quite a few poisonings. strip mining for lithium and
rare earth metals is highly highly toxic in the footprint of that is being estimated to be way worse than a little bit of gas emissions. So I completely challenge the science on this and there's a big industry push the United States right now to move the lithium
mining to the west. Okay, we don't have a lot of lithium mining. I think China owns a few mines here. There have been 72 permits open in Nevada I believe. you can double check me because I might yaw by a few. Um, and Bloomberg actually is
quite very much behind a lot of this movement. So, I really have to question is this like a political movement to just make money for an industry and basically just switch, you know, damage to the environment to another damaging thing to an environment. So, I really am
very concerned about it. Um, this is just basically a noise issue and we're talking about 5 to 10 dB max in difference and the frequency high frequencies are more damaging to the inner ear. Um, if you ask any aiologist
um or EMT than low frequencies. So that whole argument about damaging people's hearing is is sort of ridiculous and I personally find the high frequency ones more irritating. Um, I also want to talk about the fact the presentation that was done. Um, so it looked like there was
like a science bake off. Having a rep from a company is not acceptable. Why were all the landscapers that service our town for years and have an opinion on how they want to do their jobs and they also have an opinion on their concerns that their clients are
going to be paying between 30 to 40% more. An average home in some neighborhoods, everybody's different. Some people do their own lawn, some people spend less. Some people spend $10,000. So, they're going to spend $15,000. I think you need to put this to vote if
you want to be a true democracy. Thank you so much. Thank you. Good evening. I'm David Jacobs. I'm a 19year resident of the township. I've spoken before. I'm a new senior. So, uh, do feel like I get affected by
the gas power as I get older. Um, I also work from home. Uh, and I do support the seasonal restriction. I do want to thank also the the township community committee from last month when they they all supported moving this forward. I'd
also like to thank the EC built truly inclusive uh, plan. They reached out to many people uh and created a reasonable compromise that allowed for seasonal restriction. Uh this was not something we did overnight and I know it goes back
many years. We've talked about this for quite some time. I was part of an organization a long time ago that was involved with this. So it isn't as though we're launching this on anyone. It's been discussed and if anything we benefited by learning from many communities and having a lot of
discussion. I'm going to assume we're going to move forward. Um I hope um and I move forward with one one uh piece of advice hopefully that or what if we move forward that the focus of the township and the EC should be to create an
effective outreach plan of the township residents and for uh the landscapers. I think there's a lot of misinformation that can happen with something like this and I think it's upon us uh township needs to really develop something that
can uh inform people about what's happening because I think when we realize what's going on it's a very simple idea a reasonable idea with a a a potentially um good quality of life solution. So I
thank you and uh appreciate your support. Thank you. Hi, Gan Pastor Mack President. Uh, it's great to see our representatives visiting Milbour. I hope that they heard loud and clear that we no longer wish to be the doormat for Essex County and
would appreciate their voting in favor of Milburn residents interest instead of passing legislation that is destroying our beautiful, exceptional town with affirmative votes on affordable housing laws that is resulting in vastly grotesque overdevelopment.
Our town and our schools will be unrecognizable if this continues. I support Regina Tru's concern of government overreach, particularly as it relates to overdevelopment. And I can't help to note the irony of uh
Representative Brendan Gil and the young man who came to discuss climate action. What we have control over in our state by our legislators and governor is overdevelopment. And this is the singular major impact we're going to feel on our environment, our lives, and
our climate. Yet Gil, our Assemblywoman, Colo Gil and Beoli, both of whom are running for reelection, voted in favor of both the mansion tax and Murphy's budget and the affordable housing law. Miss Bevoli admitted that she would be
pushed aside for committee assignments if she didn't go along with the yes vote on affordable housing. But she had the grace to call me back after I left her a message about the mansion tax and the budget, but ended up voting in favor but of it even though she was on the fence because it it obviously hurt both her
constituents and herself personally. It's amazing. Lastly, um the Superior Court today was heartbreaking to sit back and think about spending 30 to 40k a month on litigation versus whatever it is 200 $300,000 budget for the sit
against neighbors who have a legitimate issue and are willing to resolve it through mediation. It's just wrong and it needs to end. Lastly, on a good note, I want to also recognize Elaine Becker for all her years of service on the Republican committee in town. She was a
mentor to so many of us and she really made a difference. So thank you Elaine. Good evening members of the township committee. My name is Michael Todd. I'm not a resident of Short Hills. My family businesses have been caring for properties in this community for nearly
50 years. We've walked these driveways, maintain these gardens, built long-standing relationships. many of the families who call this town home. I'm here tonight to speak from the heart and ask you to reconsider postseasonal vamp two-stroke gas power blowers. This
season has been one of the most challenging in recent memory. With relentless rain and unpredictable weather, we've lost countless working days. When the sun finally comes out, at times on a Saturday, our teams are doing everything they can do to catch up. I
know weekend noise may not be ideal for some, but for many of us in the trades, weekends are we finally get the job done. We don't have the option to wait for perfect conditions. These hardworking people, men and women, take pride in the care they give to this
community. out at 5 or take rain checks. They work in the heat, in mud, and yes, sometimes when it's inconvenient for others, because that's what it takes to keep properties and safe. And with all the rain we've had, the
properties are so grass clumps, walkways get slick, and we're left with no choice but to clean thoroughly after each visit. What work simply that work simply can't be done effectively with electric blowers. Not yet. The technology isn't
there. Not for larger properties, not in wet conditions, not for the volume we're up against during peak season. Let me be clear. We support progress. We're invested in cleaner tools. We've adapted our practices and we're committed to involving with the times, but what's
being proposed is not a thoughtful transition. It's a hard stop and it will hurt not just us, but the very residents who rely on us. This ban will create confusion, raise costs, put strain on small business owners and workers who
already operate on razor thin margins. And it feels especially disheartening considering the deep roots so many of us have in this town. Let's not penalize the people who have helped shape and maintain short hills for generations. Let's take the time to understand the realities of the work, the limitation of
alternatives, and the ripple effect of policies made without all voices at the table. We all want cleaner, quieter communities, but we have to get there together with solutions that are both environmentally and economically responsible. Thank you for your time and
for your consideration for those who proudly serve this town for decades. Thank you. Hello, my name is Bob Sachi, the owner of Discovery Landscaping. I run a business here in Melbourne Short Hills area for the last 30 years. I'm speaking
in opposition to the blower ban. Um, to my knowledge, this has not been put out to the public for input or vote. It seems that a small group are creating policy that will impact all residents and many small businesses. I fear if this ban goes through, we'll be back
here in the future facing a full blower ban or ban all two-stroke engines. The equipment we use meets state and federal mandates for noise and emissions. Adding additional local mandates on landscape industry is governmental overreach, unnecessary and unfair. Additionally, the technology is
there is not there to support battery operated tools. The batteries that the electric blowers run on last approximately 30 minutes. Therefore, multi batteries will be needed to complete simple tasks and landscapers will be forced to charge batteries. And guess what? With generators that are gas
run charging the battery um in my opinion that cancels itself out. Furthermore, these batteries have a shelf life and cannot be recycled. Um they must be replaced. They cannot be charged in hot and cold or cold weather. and creating more of a burden on the
people that keep this town beautiful included. There'll also be added cost to purchase machines and the batteries and the generators we will be forced to put on residence of Short Hills Mil. Um, thank you for listening and I encourage you
not to pass it. Thanks. Andy Becker. I've had a business in shorts for 41 years, and the time has come. The vote on the infamous blower ban is here. So, apparently, they want to ban blows uh from I believe it's
January 1st to March 15th. And then from Memorial Day to Labor Day, I believe my time frame is roughly correct. Having the ban until March 15, what that would effectively do, the Environmental Commission would basically put a
thousand people out of work and stay on unemployment for another uh approximately two weeks because most of us like to get started March 1st, weather permitting. Of course, if you get started after March 15th or March 20th, you never get caught
up. Those blowers will be running around the clock. If we can start March 1st, we can have it more spread out. People will be off unemployment, families will prosper, children will prosper, the businesses will be better
off, and we all understand that everyone has opinion on the blowers, but unfortunately they're unnecessary people. And I would encourage the uh township committee to postpone the vote and rethink the dates so we can uh keep
your township clean, organized, maintain property values, and try to limit some of the costs that are going to be incured by the homeowners who are already paying some of the largest property taxes in the state. Um, I think this job is hard enough as it is and I
think this blower ban will just make it much tougher. Thank you. Thank you. Is anyone else wish to speak? Is anyone on the line? Yes. belongs. Good evening. Good evening.
Harry Erso Short Hills. Since the May 6 meeting, I will never attend another meeting publicly because of fear. Unfortunately, due to my husband's schedule, it does not allow him to be with me unlike he was with me this afternoon. Which brings me to I
attended the consolidated bare property trial this morning. Which brings me to the arguments made by attorney Caner that this lawsuit is costing thousands of dollars. Sadly, I ask the following. Why is this body continuing to litigate
and ignore Judge Moore's two strong recommendations to mediate? Why was my husband's settlement offer from October 2023 not considered by this body? Why was our attorney's May 7th, 2024 settlement offer denied out of hand
without a counter offer? Contrary to attorney Caner's comments this morning brings me to page 59 in your audit, Township of Milbour notes to the financial statements December 31st, 2024, 2023. It states in number 11
contingent liabilities letter D litigation the township is involved in claims incident incidental to the its operations which has been referred to and are being handled by the township's liability insurance carrier.
No claims are in excess of the insurance coverage. Who then is covering the expenses for bear one bear two litigations? Is the GIF insure covering the litigation expenses or have they denied coverage? Is it an incorrect
statement within your audit? The public and the taxpayers have the right to know. And according to the bill list, why then is the township covering litigation expenses for the township and the SID? It appears that all legal fees for the six defendants in bear 2
litigation, which has been consolidated, are also being paid by the township. why we deserve answers. And lastly, it warms my heart that former mayor Elaine Becker was recognized this evening for her tremendous commitment to this community.
I personally have learned so much by her wisdom. I could only hope to grow up to be a fraction of the woman she is, a true town woman. God bless you, Madame Mayor Becker. We love you. Have a great evening. Thank you.
Good evening. This is Radhika Ayangar from the Wyoming section in Melbourne. I uh am my comment is regarding the gas leaf blower. I I'm in favor of the uh restricted use of the gas reef bo blower
and it is really amazing to see that the township committee has been considering uh this uh uh this uh um uh this restriction. Uh I also come from the Melbourne for climate action group which has more than 100 families and 61 of us
have uh uh given our details and given our approval for this restriction. So I really hope that this democracy continues and we've heard enough of discussions and I would like to see uh uh a restriction put in motion. Thank you so much.
Thank you. Evening. Good evening. Uh Sarah Sherman. I'm a member of the flood mitigation advisory committee. Um, first of all, thanks to the OEM for their work last night and uh also to committeemen Stler and Mayor
Romano for driving around and keeping very nervous residents informed of what they were seeing and and taking pictures uh Mr. Stler um and letting us know what was going on. Um, one of our recent concerns has been about timely alerts in
events like this and um, I believe that this week the township on its website really pushed out an effort to get people to sign out sign up for alerts. Um, and I think that, you know, that that has made a difference. Um, I also
want to talk about the composition of the flood mitigation advisory committee. Um I've been on since its inception and I just want to remind people that uh we serve at the pleasure of the township committee. Uh we were all interviewed by the then mayor when it was formed and we
began with five engineers. So this idea that you know there were no engineers. Um we had five engineers in addition to the M engineer and our township engineer. Uh and so uh all conversations
about what may happen, could happen, might happen, what work we could do has always been informed by discussions that involve uh professionals who know what they're uh talking about. Um our new reality seems to be flash flooding.
That's countrywide and we're going to have to find a way to address that. I know we've always been focused on storm preparedness, uh, but clearly after what we know happened in Texas and after what happened here last night with loss of
life in rainfall, um, we have we have a lot of talking to do about how we might look to that um, in the future. Um, I was also pleased to see that the uh rescue truck, which I was always hoping was not going to be used here in town
for us, especially in my neighborhood, um, was used somewhere else where it was very much uh needed last night. And I I said to Mayor Romano, I I was so glad to to see that. So, again, kudos to the OEM and our DPW, fire, and and police for
the work last night. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening. Good evening. Uh my name is Puja Periq. I live in um first, you know, I just want to thank
our police, our fire department, DPW, our volunteer first aid safety squad for all of their work and service uh especially during the storm that occurred yesterday. their work is essential and you know they deserve to have infrastructure that supports it. Um
you know where I live I live in a no flood zone now shortly after moving into my home my basement was flooded twice so I'm very familiar with what may seem like not a big issue or a little bit of water flooding can you know be detrimental for many people. Um at that
time you know it was IDA that was the one that really severely flooded our basement. uh we almost, you know, had to secure new homeowners insurance. We almost left it. Uh we had to it drove up our cost. And as new first-time homeowners, that was quite distressing
to see. Um you know, so what happened last night was only four to I think six or seven inches of rain, but it was significant. I was starting to see the water pooling up again. I saw a lot of flash flooding. I know a lot of neighbors in my part of town um you know
were documenting and witnessing what was going on. Manholes were blowing out of the of the floor of the ground of the road and there was a lot of flash flooding going on by the Shore Hills train station. So these are things I think that really kind of demonstrate
the impact that this storm and it wasn't even comparable to what we saw with Ida or Sandy. But, you know, what I saw though was that the township uh kind of defined it as uh mostly being, you know, roadway and poor drainage flooding. And
I think that that minimizes the experience and what, you know, what residents actually experience. I mean, I'm terrified to think about what could happen if we have another IDA or Sandy. I don't think we're prepared and I think we need to invest as a township. We need to invest in our infrastructure and and
make sure we commit to some long-term planning and support the efforts uh that are being done to actually effectively uh make sure that we're using all of our resources. Now, you know, as as my concerns were growing, I took the
opportunity to uh speak with members of our flood mitigation um advisory committee just to learn about the recommendations, the work, you know, some of the needs and and what we might need to do. Now, I learned that many of the committee members have submitted uh evidence-based solutions and some
concrete proposals, but things seem stalled. Nothing has really moved forward. Um, and then I further learned that they are not funded and that there is really no other funding that's supporting the work for ongoing um dedicated work towards the flood mitigation. And that's problematic
because, you know, we're seeing a lot more highdensity overdevelopment going on. And that's Thank you. Your time's up. So I would urge that we have leadership that I'm sorry your time is up. Thank you. Not performing. Thank you.
[Music] Good evening. Good evening everyone. My name is Prii Arya. I'm the resident of Melbourne. I am talking to all of you in support of the ordinance for restricting the use of gas blowers. And as we all have already
discussed, they cause not only noise pollution, gas pollution and create aggravate the allergies of people like me and my son. We are highly allergic and it's very difficult to breathe sometimes when those are being um around
us. Moreover, if other cities in New Jersey are able to you, they have um eliminated the use of those, they have restricted. So, shorts and Melbourne can surely do
it. And there are several options, electrical, battery operated, good quality options available in different stores and as well as online. So, that is something we can look into. So, uh that's all I have to say. Thank you so much. You all have a good evening. Thank
you. Good evening. Good evening. Um, thank you so much members of the the township committee. My name is Doug Mali. I serve as director executive director of environment New Jersey. We represent 80,000 citizen members and activists across this great state, including many
uh here in Milbour. I first off, I just wanted to thank the environmental commission for their work on this and the true engagement of members of of the township committee on this issue, including uh those of you that had a chance to attend the the blowoff um in Taylor Park uh just, you know, you know,
almost two months ago. Um that was really kind of embodiment of of obviously what the township committee has in front of us, this this active debate. Um I I wanted to, you know, echo um the sentiments that we've heard in favor of the restriction um for
gas-powered leaf blowers, which I I I want to note is obviously a a compromise. It is also very similar to the efforts that have successfully moved forward and been in place in communities like Morristown, South Orange, and Princeton. And and this is part of obviously not just a broader trend in
New Jersey but across the country where you have uh you know a wide variety of states and cities uh that number in the hundreds um that that are taking action on this issue. Um, we we've heard a variety of of of issues and some of the that came up at the blowoff. But I
really want to focus less on the noise, although you know, that was one of the I think the interesting aspects of the blowoff is you literally went inside and you know, it's not nec necessarily a question of the decibb is a question of the frequency. Um, and what you can cure through a wall obviously matters. But I
I want to talk about something that's you know in my mind even more important that that very clear quality of life issue which is obviously the health impact of the emissions that are being uh that that come out of a gas powered leaf blower. And I think one of the advantages of the blowoff is that you know standing there by a gas powered
leaf blower you immediately realize which one was gas and which was one electric. And obviously for any resident um that suffer suffers from asthma that's an immediate trigger. Even if you don't suffer from asthma, you know, I I found myself gagging. Um, now the the
key thing, of course, is what what is actually emitted by a gas powered leaf blower and it it includes, you know, really, you know, a set of air pollutants you don't want to be breathing. That includes benzene, formaldahhide, carbon monoxide. Those
are things that obviously directly impact worker health. But this pollution doesn't just disappear. It ends up sitting in our community. So, we just heard from a resident in town who talked about her impact of of from air pollution, especially on hot summer days. And I want to kind of really drive home the point that the restriction in
the summer is especially critical because you're looking at days that are going to be ozone alert days that are especially hot. That's that's essentially adding a local trigger, local ground level pollution that's not just out on the street, it's literally in our yards and ultimately it seeps uh
into our homes. So th this is kind of another reminder of why while this is a kind of a hard fra compromise, it especially makes sense to have this restriction in the summer months. Thank you. Yep. Thank you. Appreciate that.
Okay. Going to close public comments. Um before we have comments, can we go to the restroom for finance? We're gonna get started. [Music] Excuse me. Thank you everybody. Um who committee m
start. Uh sure. I think I know where I want to start. Uh the gentleman Chris um and uh and representative Gil. Um, listen, the energy and enthusiasm you guys show
is fantastic, but literally we got to get to the bottom line, which is the affordable housing nonsensible over development in New Jersey, you know, that's where the heavy lifting really needs to be done. Uh, because when you're making all of the pvious ground impervious and you have water runoff,
and the reason we were spared yesterday is not because, uh, we're we are so unprepared. because the waters in West Orange and above us didn't rain as hard as it did in Milburn, but it ran all down to Planefield, Scotch Plains, etc.
So, I'd love to bottle that energy, that enthusiasm for the environment, and for everything we're doing, but really hit the ground where it matters. when you look at the state funds and the federal funds that are spent on floods uh mitigation and after the fact, we're so
much better being prepared and and fixing the causes versus the root causes uh versus the cleanup. Uh so I just want to mention that. Um we're going to go into GB the gas leaf blower later. So I'll wait until that's
up to there. Uh Elaine Becker uh just fantastic. Selfless, tireless, I I don't have enough good adjectives. She always said, "Cultivate a level of professionalism, civility after Frank and I won and were put onto the township committee and
we've tried to maintain that." Just the best words of wisdom and thank her. So, and we thank her so much for her service and Andy, good to see you. I know you're here for um uh and then on the uh Mr. failed on on
the bare properties. Uh you know I would love to go into discussion from you know the mediation you know just getting all the facts on public is it's a yes or no and what are the offers you know an offer of we don't want to pay our taxes
or something that is just not acceptable cannot be accepted by the township committee. Uh I'm huge for no governmental overreach. uh a lot of the things we'll get into later on on the GLB. Uh but you know, at the end of the day too, you know, let's give all the
information to the public that uh you know, we've accom tried to accommodate in every way which every manner that we can and we just not come to a resolution. Uh and and for Miss Per Esso, I don't want you to fear coming here. Trust me, uh they'll have to go
through through me before you get harmed. Uh, I do not want you to fear uh coming to township committee meetings. Uh, Deputy Mayor. Sure. A couple of things. First of all, on the I want to thank Mr. Satiro and Commissioner Gil for coming tonight. Um,
I was the one that was made aware of the Climate Super Fund Act that's currently sitting in Trenton. Um, and so I brought it up as a new business year. We agreed to refer to the environmental commission who then passed it unanimously and now it's back and I certainly hope uh that
it will uh it will pass tonight. Um I also want to thank Mr. Kersian and Miss Pizar and and Miss Christian for their their comments about the eye situation. I think as a township we need to put together some kind of material that we
can distribute to the public to assure everybody what their rights are. Um there is certainly not the case that it can't happen here. It can happen anywhere and and people need to understand what what they're allowed to do. Um and lastly, um Elaine Becker.
Elaine Becker is one of my neighbors and um I lived in this town almost 30 36 almost 37 years and Elaine Becker was probably one of the first people I met when I when my wife and I moved here. Um we're we are part of the Brook Haven
neighborhood if you might amongst our many accomplishments. One of them that was mentioned early on was the Brook Haven Association which you'd only know if you live in uh the three blocks uh that are uh kind of crossed cut off by the train tracks. Um we had a uh good
association was you know incredibly welcoming. She told us the way to the shortcut to get to Kings without without driving, which was which I wouldn't say I it was a way to walk to Kings with but you know since I don't drive I think people know that that was real useful to
me. I wouldn't say I did it a lot but certainly uh when uh when my wife came home with our first child and we needed uh stuff for uh for the baby. That's one of the times that I that I walked over to Kes and uh I wouldn't have known how
to do that without she was uh you know she's always was tireless and always very gracious and since we both live in district three we sat many election night um having a nice conversation as at the polls and I want to thank her for all of her service.
Thank you. Um come in second. Sure. Um, so I first want to take a moment to recognize Elaine Becker, whose years of service to our community have truly set the standard for what it means to be a dedicated public servant. Her tireless volunteer work and quiet leadership have inspired so many of us,
me included, to give back and to always put our residents first. Elaine embodies the spirit of this town. Selfless, committed, and always working to make Milbourne a better place for everyone. We're all grateful for her example and her unwavering dedication.
Now, uh, in response to those that came out tonight to voice their concerns about ICE, I can say this. I know that this is a stressful and confusing topic for many. First, as a township, we don't enforce federal immigration law. We are not in a position to investigate or
speculate on anyone's immigration status. As for federal authorities, they cannot simply ransack someone's home only on a suspicion uh or the fact that they hired a worker they believe might not have legal status. Under the fourth amendment of the US Constitution,
federal agents generally need a judicial warrant signed by a judge to enter and search a private home without consent. Probable cause alone does not give them the automatic entry into a private residence without a warrant or consent. It's also important to note that in the
US, employers are expected to verify employees work authorization through federal forms like the I-9. It is my understanding that an individual hiring a housekeeper, landscaper, or contractor who turns out to lack proper status does not make the homeowner automatically
subject to criminal penalties in most ordinary situations. If you or anyone else is concerned about specific legal exposure, the best course of action is to speak with an attorney experienced in employment and immigration law. I want to assure everyone that no one should
panic or feel unsafe asking questions. That our township's role is to keep this community safe, treat everyone with dignity, and comply with the law at all levels. And that's all the comments I have for tonight on this matter.
Thank you. Um I just want to add, you know, in reference to the comments that were made about ICE, the comments from um Mrs. Blumenthal, uh we are one community. Everyone is welcome here and it is our responsibility um like deputy mayor said or uh committee second to make sure that
everyone feels safe. Um and we we will we make that our priority. Um and uh Dr. Frankle I think we're going to look into I don't know if they've hired a new social worker yet. I think yeah I I'll
have to double check that tomorrow. Um, but even though we haven't hired one, we still have someone here. I believe two days two days a week. I think she's here. Um, and that's all I have. Um, Mr.
Yeah, I just want to address some of the comments um, as it relates to flood mitigation and the storm last night. So, uh, the township did sort of quantify that storm as poor drainage and roadway flooding because that's what it
was. Uh, we did not have any flash flooding in rivers or small streams. And again, I think Mr. Stler uh put it correctly is that some of it was that we received 3.06 inches of rain as compared to six plus uh that was received in Union County and many of our our
neighbors in Union County. Um, also that those upstream um, communities did not have as much rain either. Um, which also helped in uh, the way that uh, things went here. Uh, I want to also just provide credit to the fire chief, Robert
Chavaria, who is our OEM coordinator in the township, uh, who I think made a very, um, uh, helpful and wise decision last night when, uh, he realized that the township was in good shape. Uh, and he offered assistance with the township's high water vehicle to those
res to those individuals that were stuck on Route 22 in Scotch Plains. our fire department acted uh extremely well and uh pulled uh about 50 people uh from those flooded roadways and cars. So,
um, obviously there's always work to do when it comes to flood mitigation and I think I do have, you know, you have to credit the township committee for their commitment to the flood mitigation advisory committee and the start of that committee and the fact that Milber no longer hides from the fact that it does flood. Um, and the recognition that it
floods and I think that is one of the most important things that came from that. um as well as the hard work of people on that committee and the amount of effort that goes forward uh with that. Uh to say that the the committee is not funded I think is not an accurate statement. I do not want people to think
that uh there is uh funding available for not only the home elevation projects that we are working on for three homes in the south mountain area as well as the drainage projects the projects that have been done in the south mountain area in Greenwood and Ridgewood and Ridgewood and Locust. Um uh but there is
also funding available in addition to the funding that was received from the state uh to move forward with the Gilbert replace uh pump station improvements. Um although that does it is it is a big project and it will take some work and it will take some effort and some time but um but these are some
of these projects are things that was were conceptualized in 2014 after hurricane Irene. uh they never came to fruition but through the efforts of uh recent township committees this township committee that flow mitigation advisory committee is working well they're doing
great work they're educating they're investigating various areas including small streams that and tributaries that exist in our township brook Taylorbrook all of those things as well as the van winkle uh that is being currently looked at by princ hydro so uh I just you know
encourage everyone to visit the Township's flood page uh to visit the flood mitigation advisory committee page, visit the OEM page, educate yourself about these matters. Um and one of the big things that is currently being worked on is the Orange Reservoir bypass uh which is a uh
multi-jurisdictional cooperation to somehow to put together a bypass of the Orange Reservoir that would allow it to be drained during prior to a storm. um that uh would create significant um downstream capacity and potentially
reduce flooding particularly in the downtown area significantly. Uh this is a long process. These things take time. Um this is currently at the D being reviewed uh and I'm sure they'll have plenty of comments um as it relates to that project. But a lot of things are
being worked on and I just wanted to be clear uh that that has happened. Thank you, Mr. K. Thank you, mayor. Um, I think that both deputy mayor and community Sacramento did a good job of addressing the ICE
questions. I was going to address those. Um, I have no further response unless the committee has any questions. Do you want to address Mr. Feld's comments about the settlement and the and the uh lack of mediation?
You make any comment about that tonight, but I mean I mean so I'm I'm happy to address um it is interesting that you have you know one taxpayer doesn't want to pay their taxes and they're the one resident who comes up and says that we should have settled or the case is a
waste. I mean, it's there's what I said in court today and I believe that uh this is a huge waste of the resident's taxpayer dollars that the case is frivolous. Um and I believe when when the the case is frivolous, I believe that when the court makes this decision,
I'm going to advise this committee that we should exercise our rights under our rule 148 letter and seek all the return of all legal fees that have been spent on this matter. Okay. And uh actually Mr. I think Mr. P is correct. It was Miss Ursa who brought up the two uh the two offers for settlement and the lack of mediation.
Can you address those three just so everyone has transparency of what happened? Yes. So it's my recollection properties one. Um there was there were the court ordered the parties to mediate. Um Mr. Feld came to my office. Um also there was this administrator
Alice McDonald. Uh one or two of my associates. Um currently uh special improvement district Um it is made up of multiple districts. I believe the offer was to eliminate all the districts that to eliminate the city
and re reconfigure it to only be the downtown. Um that offer was rejected. There was no further offer made. Um again, you know, the tax role for the city is multiple businesses. This is one owner who doesn't want to pay uh their
taxes uh and that it's incurring all these fees. Uh bare properties one has already had trial. Um so that mediation is is coming past. This is now a second litigation filed by the same individual. Um and again increasing cost. Um there
was a procedural defect that could have been cured by a simple consent order. Even Mr. Fel calls it a ministerial default. If anybody looks up what the word ministerial means, it means inconsequential of no moment having no no burden. Um most of these are
typically resolved through cooperation among parties. Even the judge admonished Mr. Fellow today. Um the judge asked Mr. Bo, well you knew the township participated in bare properties one. They heavily litigated it. Did you think they weren't going to participate in bare properties too? Um and by holding
the township to have to file motions just cost, you know, all the residents money as to Mr. Bell's clients. Um so again um we have we'll get rulings from the court hopefully in two weeks. Um, and once we get those rulings, I will certainly uh advise the public as to
those rulings. Um, but we simply can't mediate a resident who doesn't want to pay their taxes. Otherwise, everybody can file a lawsuit and say they don't want to pay their taxes and then we could calculate the legal fees and do more than their taxes and collect any taxes.
Thank you. Okay. Okay. The township committee will now consider consent agenda resolutions. Are there any comments from the committee in regard to any of the items listed on the consent agenda? I have one. Um I'd like to comment on 25-18
which confirms the appointment of Mr. Cosbro to the Haron Barberum. Uh in the interest of stopping the spread of of misinformation, I would like to point out that Mrs. Cerudo who was the former township uh committee representative has
now become a regular member of the board of trustees rather than the exicial member that township committee members are. So she remains on the arboritum board the bylaws of the arboritum require two township committee representatives and Mr. Kasco will be
the second one. I will be remaining. Thank you. Thank you. May if you would like I would just provide some some clarification on some of the resolutions as well. Yeah. Um just first and foremost I'd like to make the public aware that um we again
this year went out for uh a bid for our crossing guard services. Um over the last three years this contract has been working out very well. Um what we did in this year's contract is we reduced the number of hours um that each crossing
guard would be at their posts. Uh it was three and a half hours. Um and if some people may have seen um I think crossing guards were at those posts for a long period of time beyond when school children were coming and going from uh the schools. We reduced that to two and
a half hours and we saved approximately $300,000 on this contract. Um, in addition, I think the terms of the uh FNBA contract were um were asked about. We just like to provide some clarification on that contract for the
public. Um, the contract is a 4-year um contract with our fire department. They will receive a 3% um cost of living adjustment across the board. In the third year, um the rank of firefighter will receive an additional $1,250.
The rank of captain will receive $750 and the rank of battalion chief will receive $500. Um in addition, there will be stipen increases that haven't been increased quite honestly for quite some time, about 10 years um in most cases with the fire department. In addition,
township will receive uh two and a half steps um uh in for new hires uh which will lower the step increases yeartoyear as well as create a probationary step for those firefighters that are in the academy when they are hired. Um that is
the terms of that. That's how we Okay. And just for the record, I just want to say how much we appreciate our crosswalk guards. I mean we know them all by name. They're always the most helpful. And listen, I don't want any kids crossing
Wyoming, uh, you know, unattended. And anyone who lives seeing a lot of my neighbors that was such in an audience is, you know, better safe than sorry. So, appreciate what you did getting that wrapped up. Okay. Uh, I have a motion to approve
resolution 25-174 through resolution 25-184 which are listed on the consent agenda. So move. May I have a second? Second. Roll call vote, please. Deputy Mayor Cohen. Yes. Mr. Simandandy.
Yes. Mr. Stler. Mayor Romano. Yes. Thank you. Are there any comments from the committee in regard to resolution 25-185? May I have a motion to approve resolution 25-95? So move. May I have a second?
Second. Roll call, please. Second. Mayor Cohen. Yes. Mr. Sakandandy. Yes. Mr. Stler, affirm. Mayor Romano. Yes. Thank you. Okay. Uh, copies of the audit info are
available in town hall upon request and have also been posted on our website. I'd like to introduce our CFO Matt Loresy to so he may provide a brief overview and you introduce our auditor if they wish to comment as well. Thank you Mark. um our auditor RMA uh
Dave Ganon is here and he's going to give a little overview of the audit and also the bill. Thank you. Good evening. Uh one thing I would like to mention in our opinion we state this is common
throughout the state that we're did not follow generally accepted accounting principle of the United States of America. Uh that's because all um all municipalities and counties throughout the state are required to follow a different basis of accounting.
Uh another basis of accounting commonly referred to as the regulatory basis. Uh that regulatory basis was uh formed probably approximately 80 years ago by the state of New Jersey. Uh it probably hasn't changed much in those 80 years.
uh so it's regulatory basis importance of division services we found township's accounting practices follow that regulatory basis account uh you know overall I would say the township's financial position this is healthy uh the current fund fund balance
at the end of 24 was $16.6 6 million. Uh but that was a decrease 2.1 from 18.7 from the prior year. Uh keep in mind, you know, with every budget you utilize some fund balance to balance that budget from year to year. Uh so in 24 you did
utilize $7.6 million of fund balance. um of that the township was also able to um build that part of that fund balance that it utilized as part of that process. Uh from the 23 budget $2.7 million lapsed through the fund balance
of $2.7 million of the of the funds from the 23 budget were outspent and returned back to surplus. Revenues from from budgetary purposes exceeded the budget by $2 million. Uh and there was other miscellaneous revenue not anticipated of $850,000. I
built back that surplus. But again, surplus did uh decrease $2.1 million from the prior year. Uh and really the most significant reason for that decrease uh is that the taxes receivable increase from year-to-year about by $2.2
million. Uh there was a few commercial properties in particular that didn't pay their taxes by the end of 24. Uh so that in essence uh was the cause why fund balance decreased. Uh on that regulatory basis of accounting uh revenues need to
be recognized in cash prior to end year. Uh so those monies were collected after year end it it doesn't count as revenue. All receivables are offset with reserves. Um so you know with that when that money is collected that will return back the fund balance.
I I would like to mention in addition to the fund balance, township does have uh a number of reserves both in the current fund and trust fund uh that act to mitigate against future risk. Uh so there's a reserve for litigation of approximately $539,000.
Uh reserve for tax appeals of $2.4 million, a reserve for self insurance deductibles of $1.8 million, a reserve for Q8 absences. So when people retire, they have sick vacation payouts. Uh there's almost $700,000 in
reserve for that. Uh and then the reserve for storm recovery probably $670,000. It's important to note those because not all towns necessarily have the financial strength to have those type of reserves to mitigate against, you know, future risk. Uh the town will also operate a
utility, a market utility. Its fund balance at the end of 24 was $370,000. Uh and that was a decrease of approximately 300 thou I'm sorry it was an increase of approximately $300,000 prior year was $73,000. You know there was a number of years uh
during co after co parking utility u didn't cut the revenue that had had previously been uh there was all the funds that were needed to uh support the budget. Uh but there was also a significant payown of debt that occurred a couple years ago to eliminate all debt
in the park building. Uh so during 24 you see the park utility fund balance kind of bounce back. Uh it's also important to note your tax collection rate normally is 99.6 or great percentage but as I mentioned
there was an APC tax receivable. Uh so the collection rate for 24 was 98.5 you know those a few commercial properties you know impacted by one%. Um, the other thing I would mention is
the net debt of the township was $38.6 million at the end of four. Uh, to put that into context, what's permit what's allowed under the law is $416 million, you know. So, not that I would ever, you know, advise you to
incur that much debt. Uh, but the amount that you're allowed to have versus actual you have your remaining borrowing power is roughly $377 million. So in general generally speaking the township's debt load is really not that significant. Uh one other item to note during our
testing we do test for uh laws um contracts regulations grant agreements. Uh so we look at a variety of different things. Uh so we did find we did have one item that we requiring to take direct action corction on. Uh so uh in
New Jersey every municipality is required to uh operate an encumbrance accounting system and the township generally does operate you know encumbent accounting system. Um we did find some exceptions to that during our transactional testing over smaller
dollar value items not not bigger dollar value items but smaller dollar value items mostly for uh repairs to vehicles or equipment but there were some there. I just think that you know the township could um strengthening those procedures uh strengthening the uh education over
individuals in the different departments just to reinforce uh what the requirements are you know generally speaking what I would tell you is that you know in during a lot of audits this is a common type finding so it's not necessarily unusual in nature with that I'd be more than happy to
answer any questions any questions Could you just review the dollar amount that I I did read your report, but it was uh rather small, but I would just like you to say that as far as the exceptions go. Yeah. Yeah. I don't have the number exactly off the top of my head. I don't think I
me mentioned it was it was four items and I I would say that the dollar value was from $300 to maybe uh $1,500 just from my recollection. So in a in a a rather you know infinite you know not necessarily the material to the size of
our not to say that we shouldn't tighten our controls but the dollar amount about correct and I would generally say the larger contracts we didn't see any issues with long yeah um you know Michael and I sit on
the finance committee and I tell you I'm always impressed by our by our CFO Matt Lar and the information he helps us digest. You know, when we got elected, Frank and I, we spent Saturdays going to municipal financing uh conferences and Met Life
Stadium or thereby spend our Saturdays doing that because it is difficult to understand municipal finance versus you know general accounting principles which I deal with day-to-day in my business. Uh so you know understanding that how it works through is very important because there are significant differences that
we have to we have to understand. Um one of the things I really want to state to the public is we are in a great fiscal position. Uh we have a ton of debt capacity if we need it. We have reserves
and we have a ton of assets that are off the books. We have the paper mill playhouse. five continuous acres downtown noburn. We have parking lots. We have a parking utility we could monetize if we wanted to. So there's significant significant uh dare I say
wealth in the community that exists uh for providing services to the residents that they deserve and they expect to live in this this in this uh in this Milbour Short Hills community. This includes safety uh and includes um all
the reasons we we move to this community. So, I just want to say thank you to Matt. Oh, and also to uh I remember this from the state, the level of materiality. I mean, based on our revenues and such, the incumbrance you were talking about
we have listed here, does that go anywhere near materiality? No. Was I? No. Thank you. Committee and second, do you have anything to add? No. No question. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Thank you,
Matt. Thank you very much. Thank you. I have a motion to approve resolution 25-186. May I have a second? Second. Second. Please. Thank you. Deputy Mayor Cohen. Yes. Mr. Sakamandandy.
Yes, Mr. Stler. Mayor Romano. Yes. Are there any comments or questions from the committee pertaining to the corrective action plan? May I have a motion to approve resolution 25-187? So moved.
May I have a second? Second. Roll call vote, please. Deputy Mayor Cohen, yes. Mr. Sinandandy, yes. Mr. Stler, Mayor Romano, yes. Thank you. Committee second. You are scheduled to
sponsor ordinance 2711-25. I'd like to present an ordinance entitled ordinance number 2711-25, ordinance designating the Paper Mill Playhouse, 22 Brookside Drive as a historic landmark pursuant to the historic preservation ordinance of the
township of Melbourne. I move that this ordinance be taken up and passed on first reading and that the township clerk be authorized to have the ordinance published in accordance with law in the item and for for hearing and final passage on Tuesday, August 12th, 2025. Please be advised that the public
hearing of this ordinance will be held at the Milbourne Education Center located at 434 Milbour Avenue. May I have a second? Second. Roll call vote, please. Deputy Mayor Cohen. Yes. Mr. Sakamandandy. Yes,
Mr. Stler. Based on the written affirmative from Barton Ross that this would not affect existing projects underway, I will quote confirm it. Mayor Romano, yes. Thank you,
Deputy May. Mayor Cohen, you're scheduled to sponsor 2712-25. I would like to present an ordinance entitle 2712-25 ordinance designating the Milbour Town Hall 375 Milburn Avenue as a historic landmark pursuant to the historic
preservation ordinance of the township of Milbour. I move that this ordinance be taken up and passed on first reading and that the township clerk be authorized to have the ordinance published in accordance with law in the item and for a hearing and for final passage on Tuesday, August 12th, 2025.
Please be advised that the public hearing on this this ordinance will be held at the Milbourne Education Center located at 434 Milbourne Avenue. May I have a second? Second. Roll call vote, please. Deputy Mayor Cohen.
Yes. Mr. Sakamandandy. Yes, Mr. Stler. Once again, based on the written approval that uh written documentation that this will not affect any current township or Milbourne town hall project that's currently underway to renovate
it, I voted affirmative, Mayor Romano. Yes. Thank you, Okay. I'm sorry. Um, we did 271325. 27. Yeah. 2713, Mr.
Okay. Uh, your I'm sorry, we did that. That's right. 2713. I'm sorry. Um, committee may second amend your schedule to sponsor 2713-25. I would like to present an ordinance entitled ordinance number 2713-25,
ordinance designating Taylor Park, which is 100 Main Street as a historic landmark pursuant to the historic preservation ordinance of the township of Milbour. I move that this ordinance be taken up and passed on first reading. that the township clerk be authorized to have the ordinance published in
accordance with law and the item and for hearing and final passage on Tuesday, August 12th, 2025. Please be advised that the public hearing of this ordinance will be located at the Milbourne Education Center located at 434 Milurn Avenue. Do I have a second?
Second. Roll call, please. Deputy Mayor Cohen. Yes. Mr. Mandy, yes. Mr. Stler. Mayor Romano. Yes. Thank you. Okay, I'm going to uh sponsor ordinance 2714-25.
I would like to present an ordinance entitled Ordinance 2714-25, an ordinance to amend and supplement chapter 5, I'm sorry, chapter 4, general licensing of the code of the township of Milbour, by adding section 4-43, commercial landscaping and lawn
maintenance licensing. I move that this ordinance be taken up and passed on first reading and that the township clerk be authorized to have the ordinance published in accordance with law in the item and for hearing and final passage on Tuesday, August 12th, 2025. Please be advised that the public
hearing of this ordinance will be held at the Milbourne Education Center located at 434 Milurn Avenue in May I have a second? Second. Roll call, please. Deputy Mayor Cohen. Yes,
Mr. Sakamandandy. Yes, Mr. Stler. Permanent. Mayor Romano. Yes. Second, you are scheduled to sponsor 2707-25. I present for consideration an ordinance entitled Ordinance Number 2707-25,
an ordinance to amend and supplement the revised general ordinances of the Township of Melbourne. Chapter XVI, environmental regulations to add article 18.4 seasonal restriction of gas powered
leaf blowers. The purpose of this ordinance is to amend chapter 18 environmental regulations to implement within the township of Melbourne a seasonal restriction on the use of gas powered leaf blowers and to prohibit the use of gas powered leaf blowers during certain times. Tonight is the time set
for public hearing and final passage as advertised in accordance with law. I declare the hearing over. Anyone like to comment? Good evening. My name is Rene Papin. I'm the resident.
I am also the chair of the environmental commission. Last week, we witnessed horrendous destruction and heartbreaking loss of life, including that of young, helpless children in the torrential Texas flooding caused by tremendous amounts of rain quickly falling. Closer to home,
last night's storm caused floods that swamped the New York City subway system and took two lives in Plane. Thankfully, yesterday's storms caused no loss of life in Milburn. But we certainly experienced torrential rains, surging waters, and flooding. But don't be
fooled into thinking that the good fortune that we had last night provides the security needed to feel complacent. I am not attempting to change anyone's mind or argue the point, but I fully accept science's determination that the burning of fossil fuels, the emissions
caused by that action, which by the way includes the use of the two-stroke engines found in gas-powered leaf blowers, have and continue to exacerbate climate change, which heavily impacts on not only the storms we are experiencing, but also the increase in average
temperatures we are currently in the midst of enduring. We privileged, educated residents of Milbourne and Short Hills can and should do all we can individually and collectively to lower greenhouse gas emissions. What will it take to realize
that every little bit less of fossil fuels burned combined with the little bit less burned by more individuals, communities, states, and countries will collectively make a difference to our future. The passing of ordinance 2707-25
seasonal restriction on gas powered leaf blowers lies in each of your hands. You're our elected officials. This determination is up to you. Let's recognize the reality and not emulate
the environmentally destructive national policy trend. You've heard all of the arguments pro and con over and over again. This has been going on for a while. No one here tonight is going to present anything new. Nothing that you haven't heard
before. The time is now to do our part in Milbour and vote for the compromise ordinance that the EC has crafted. That's the Environmental Commission to appease as many people as possible and still make a change that matters. The
bottom line is every little bit helps. Thank you very much. Thank you. Good evening. I'm Tammy Long. I am a longtime resident of Northern Hill and I'm here to strongly support prop uh
ordinance 2707-25 seasonal restrictions on gas power vehicles. Um this has been a yearslong process. You've heard all the arguments. Thank you for all of your time and effort. Um it's getting late. We don't need to go through all of what we've
been through many times before, but I just wanted to underline one thing and that is that the science is there. I am a physician. I'm a I have deep respect for science and the the ill effects of the noise and the emissions are
incontrovertible. They've been well documented. There's there one cannot argue with that. What one can argue with is the significance of that and that's what is a matter of opinion but I can tell you that it is not zero
and the science is there. So I hope you will work to make our town as good as can be. Thank you very much. Thank you. Hi Bill Brazelle a resident of South Mountain. Um, and I appreciate what Dr.
Fong was just talking about. I want to say that I also appreciate Mr. Todd's words about the hard work that is done by landscape laborers. Uh, I know how hard that work is. Um, I worked as a landscape laborer myself for more than
half a year. I dug holes. I planted trees in 100 degree heat in the pouring rain. I'm in decent shape today, but I doubt I could do the work today at the level I did when I was 20. Uh, it's because I sympathize with laborers that
I support the ordinance restricting gas powered leaf blowers. Because this is a matter of public health, the health especially of the laborers who work with gas leaf blowers all day long. Some have accused the environmental commission of misinformation.
That is not true. To the contrary, I asked Dr. Mark Fukyama, who earned a PhD in toxicology from the University of California at Davis, to please review the arguments that one opponent has been sharing at some length with this
committee and with the public. Uh Dr. Fukyama having conducted a rigorous review found that the opponent had consistently underestimated the air pollution and particulate matter PM2.5 which is the one that causes asthma and
harms particularly the elderly had underestimated the pollution uh emitted by gas leaf blowers had drastically underestimated the increase in cancer risks caused by gas leaf blowers and because of those two errors dramatically
understated the danger that gasp powered leaf blowers pose to residents and landscape laborers. Um I am happy to share Dr. Fukyama's findings in detail with anyone who would like to see them, but I won't dump them on anyone who doesn't want to see them.
Uh I urge the township committee to please pass the gas powered leaf blower restriction 2707-25. Please do this not just for our residents, but also for the workers who are the ones most exposed to the ear damaging noise and the cancer-causing
poisons that leaf blowers produce. Thank you. Thank you. Hi. uh Debbie Frank uh township president. Um I also hope that you uh pass this. I think it is long overdue and as I said when it first came up we
are certainly not an outlier. We are in many ways at least you know in our fairly uh close neighbors a little bit following in their footsteps. So this is not something that landscapers have not
had to deal with before. Um, but I also want to say that um, as far as I'm concerned, and I don't know that there's anybody else who feels the same way I do, I would be perfectly happy if my landscaper used no leaf blower
whatsoever. I don't need to have every single leaf blown out of my side off my sidewalk, out of my driveway, off of my lawn, other than at those massive cleanup times. They come, they mow,
I'm happy. I don't I don't need any um any leaf blowing electric leaf blower to take the place of a um gas blow. I'm just going to address some of the comments that were addressed to be you
were explicitly addressed to me. Um I don't know who this Dr. Fukyama is. My I didn't estimate anything. I based my analysis on the published literature. The published literature on bottle organic compounds from gas leaf blowers simply states that the increase in
cancer rate is six part six incidents per million for landscape workers using gas leaf blowers continuously. The background rate of cancers from volatile organic compounds in the environment all around us all the time is 115.
So that's a basically a six a 6% increase for landscapers who use them continuously and hence no impact on the rest of us and no measurable impact on landscape because the only way they can come up with this is they have a model for how volatile organic compounds actually affect things. So love to see
comments but they don't they're not supported by the literature at all. Um I'll just end with a question since we've been talking about the CO2 emissions. Even if we ban gasoline blowers altogether, we'll still have 99.95% of the CO2 emissions in the United
States. It will not change anything. Sometimes things just are negligible. And if you think that CO2 is affecting temperatures today, like the heat we're experiencing at the moment, you can't attribute individual weather events. I'm not denying that CO2 does increase the temperature. It's done so very, very
little. And if you want to see how little for New Jersey, I can ask you when was the highest or what was the highest recorded temperature in New Jersey was 110° F, which is pretty hot. When? 1936.
So, it hasn't been recorded almost for a 100red years higher than the record that still stands today from 1936 when CO2 was barely above pre-industrial levels. So attributing any individual events to climate change is bad science and it's
known to be bad science. [Music] Good evening, Macer, Milurn Township resident. I'm distributing a letter from Assemblywoman Colasso Skill. I just want to read it into the record. Uh she wrote, "I write today in support of ordinance 270725,
which will seemly restrict the use of gas powered leaf blowers in Milbourne Township from January 1 through March 15th and from Memorial Day to Labor Day. As a state assembly woman representing the 27th Legislative District, which includes Milbour, I understand the
importance of enacting policies that protect public health and improve the quality of life for our residents. The noise and pollution generated by gas powered leaf blowers have long posed serious concerns, particularly for
vulnerable populations such as seniors, young children, and those with respiratory conditions. This ordinance is a thoughtful and balanced step forward that preserves necessary landscaping work while also prioritizing
environmental sustainability and community well-being. I commend the township committee for its leadership on this issue and strongly urge the adoption of this ordinance. Thank you. Thank you.
Good evening again. Michael Todd, owner of um Todd Group and Peter Incorporated. Um we've my family has been in business since the early 20s um in the treeare industry and my father started the Todd group which was once the teal and Todd
back in the early 70s roughly 20 probably close to 20 competitors in the town were once employees of ours there is a lot of talk about health we understand health but I'm I'm happy to say that my workers
comp mod is probably one of the lowest in the states And we have people that have worked with us for decades that have used this equipment that have no signs of any cancer, have no signs of any type of illness brought on by two stroke uh blowers.
My involvement with this cause was because I read it again um was about not having all the voices at the table. There are probably roughly I would say close to 150 contractors that serve this town. um a lot of them without a voice
and a lot of them without infrastructure like I have. Um if I had to adopt, you know, I worked with Bill and and said, you know what, I'm I'm not I'm not in favor of this, but if I had to based on my perspective, I could weather it because I have a large enough facility. I have I have the cash to invest. I have
facility to charge the batteries. It would be a nuisance like it was in Summit years ago. Um however, there's a lot of people that that don't have that luxury and they don't have the ability to charge the batteries. they might have to bring them home. You might have to send them with their employees to get charged at home. Then, you know, you have to rely on employees bringing the
batteries back the next day. And like you see in other towns, the reality is there are gas generators that are going to be running in order to charge these batteries because there's not facilities um for these people to charge overnight. Um we are stewards to the environment.
We care deeply about the environment. We follow all of the licensing and all of the guidelines by the DP and OSHA and just feel that you know this is this is the first step for our industry. Um there's a lot of good technologies coming out there. There's a lot of
blowers out there that that meet ARB standards in California and uh the technology and the manufacturers are evolving. However, even at a seasonal ban, it'll it'll make a financial hardship on a lot of small businesses. Um, and I just want I just came here and
got involved to be the voice of all those small businesses. Thank you for your time. Just want to add a few more things that I didn't get to speak about on the um seasonal gas blower ban um restriction, whatever you want to put on that for
language. Um I want to talk about again going back because I didn't really speak about the presentation that was done at Taylor Park. We have to actually do scientific research when we make decisions. So just like you do market research before you start a company and
you go out and you look at all the data and market shares, you didn't do that type of research, okay? It wasn't done. You didn't have people that were experienced and skilled there. You didn't have the right equipment to compare. You should have had probably 10 or 12 different options. And it should and you should have had materials that
you could practice blowing. So you should have had stone dust that was wet. You should have had wet leaves. There was nothing to blow. So you didn't do any testing to prove any evidence. That is my biggest call out on this issue. You need to go back to the drawing table and present the research. In terms of
health, um I'm somebody that spends a lot of time reading white papers and I go to a toxicologist because I have heavy metal poisoning. So, you know, we can sit and talk about all the health issues. I have asthma, too. It's really tough. Um I also have Lyme disease. I
don't want bugs and ticks all over my lawn and I don't want to use pesticides. as one member of the township committee expressed to me to um kill everything. And if you're talking about pollinators, I think it's a lot better to blow thing blow, you know, ticks off the lawn
versus using pesticides to kill them. I also want to talk about the focus on this is concerning to me because we just dropped two major chemicals down out of the sky. Duvet EPA and Zenex E4. That happened on Friday night. for people
that don't know about that. It was posted on the township website like two people go to and like. So I have a huge problem with that. Why are we not focusing on things like that? That's a major environmental thing. That's like literally a blanket of kill. That's a kill blanket on insects. So when we have this group talking about pollinators and
then we're worried about a micro thing. I am about big wins. This is not a big win. Okay. This is an inconvenience for residents. It's going to jack up our our prices. There's lots of people that are on fixed incomes. Not everybody can, you know, buy new cars every three years. I
also want to talk about the leave the leaves. You leave leaves around your house. Buyers that started this past fall. I was very concerned about that. I was like constantly worrying about like is somebody going to burn down at my house because there leaves all over the place. There's also miccotoxin poisoning. When you leave the leaves,
doctor, you actually can get mcotoxin poison because some people can't clear micotoxins. There's a lot of other public health issues that um you're not presenting. And I find that even disturbing. Thank you so much. Thank you. The air is risky. Christine,
I'm do you call me risky? Mr. Chair, you should be talking. Good evening everyone. I'll listen to you. My name is Venita. I'm a president as well as member of the commission. So I'm really not going to uh dwell on the
scientific evidence presented both ways. I truly am of the belief that there is overwhelming scientific evidence that proves that gas leak uh blowers are in a class of really class of themselves in terms of the excessive air and noise
pollution they cause for the benefit they that we all get out of them. What I'm here to talk to you about is very simply you have heard people's opinions on both sides. I'm here to represent a group of uh over 150 Melbourne
residents, Melbourne Climate Action, who have written several letters to you, have showed up at various council meetings on this matter, and who would have really wanted a year- round ban on gasoline lowers period. But in the interest of compromise, a fair and
reasonable balance between what people want in this township, they all agree to this reasonable seasonal restriction on gas floors. And we are really um a lot of those people are clued into their Zoom tonight just to see this pass tonight. We have waited too long. It's
been going on for a number of years and it truly is a fair compromise that we need to just get through tonight. Thank you. Thank you. Hello again. Uh Regina Truit Short Hills in the in the name of saving your sanity. I won't read my comment again even though it's now official public
hearing. I'm going to quote the late J great great Jesse Lou who I work with on the board of ed. He always said you always remember the last one. So let me be the last one. Um first I want to say that um I don't doubt any of your comments with the science. I know you've all thought that we researched
everything on pro and con, but I would say that if the battery powered gas clovers were better then I think our landscapers would be using them already. And I think that's just common sense. The other common sense thing I want to consider is that if they need to bring gas powered generators into our
neighborhoods to charge the batteries, where is the game? I'm just thinking this doesn't make sense. And then lastly, I have to say that it's a wishful thinking ordinance. I hope that science will continue to advance. This should be something that we want to strive for in the future, but the
reality is science isn't there yet. Gap battery power leak blowers are not as efficient. You need fossil fuels to charge them. It's not the right time. Thanks for all of your service. Thank you. So, I guess I'll be online. So,
I just want to respond to something. We're going to have gas gas generators on the streets and neighborhoods powering electric floors. That's not necessarily your name again. Oh, David Jacobs, I'm sorry. Resident section. And that's just not
necessary. We spoke to landscapers, I think three or four of them, who do not need to do that. They have methods for getting it done. That is a little bit of a scare tactic and something I I cannot sign on to. I just want to close by saying this, and that is that um this is
a quality of life issue. We're talking a lot about chemicals, and I trust the science. Uh and and but putting that aside, I also work from home and and this all started really during COVID or postco realized that the gas power
reforms were ridiculously annoying and and and problematic in in just that sense and that started a little bit of a movement down. So, uh, we we we looked into it, we studied it, formed a group,
the EC took it on, ran with it, presented it to you guys. You were very careful in your analysis. And I think we're at this point where we're saying, "Hey, let's deal with a quality of life issue. We don't want to burn the lands the the landscapers. We've come up with a compromise. Let's let's do something
right. It's simple. Please pass the bill." Thank you. Thank you. Hi, my name is Lois Kraen from Westfield, New Jersey, but I am part of a group called Advocates Transforming Landscaping and have um really have to
commend this group for the environmental commission for all the work they've done with outreach to everybody. So I think in balance this is a very thoughtful compromise. I do want to say that it I wish there was more discussion around
everybody giving a little. So what I always advocate for is don't blow. So I know one woman talked about she doesn't need blowers in the off season and I would argue that yes, we shouldn't blow during the times that you're saying that
there should be no blow. So landscapers don't have to buy other equipment. I like that there's a period for transition and we believe that the equipment will get better over time. So I did want to highlight that and thank
you for um looking at this. There are eight other towns actively working on this and you are a leader and they're looking to you and they have similar ordinances that they're working on now. Thank you. Anyone
before we go online? You want to read? I I spoke by reading a letter. Can I speak for my three minutes? That was my three minutes. Okay. Sorry. Anybody want to read what I wrote?
Anyone else before we go online? [Music] Good evening. Good evening. Um, I wanted to thank all the residents that obviously have stayed. Um, can you just give us your name one more time? I'm sorry. Of course. Um Doug Omala D O U G O Ali O
a procopy capital M A L O A L L E Y serve as the director of environment New Jersey. Wanted to thank all all the residents um who've stayed to testify both pro and con on this. I do want to kind of extend the time for the township committee. I do want to make kind of two points. Um one in terms of research uh
happy to refer members of the township committee to a report longare goes electric. I wanted to kind of cite you know this is not actually an insignificant issue just in terms of uh the carbon impact as a whole. Uh lawn equipment is actually one of the one of the larger climate pollutants in the
state is also air one of the largest sources of air pollutants. So nitro nitrogen oxide known as um you know NOx essentially lawn and garden equipment emits the equivalent of 2,000 more than 2,000 tons. That's equivalent to nearly
a million uh vehicles uh the amount of nitrogen oxide they they emit per year in the state. For CO2 lawn and garden equipment emits 834,000 tons. That's equivalent smaller equivalent of 183,000 cars. And then for fine particular it's
PM2.5 which director Wang testified on and this is hugely important because um PM2.5 is especially dangerous at a ground level. Um lawn and guard equipment emits quote unquote only 689 tons. That's equivalent to 7 million
vehicles. So this is not a small issue even though it feels like it. And and finally, I just want to conclude my testimony by referencing that as part of the trrenium 2 process through the board of public utilities, PSENG has uh incentives for the purchase of not only
residential uh lawn equipment and leaf blowers, but commercial uh leaf blowers uh up to $450. So that that is new and that is available right now. So thank you. Thank you again to members of the township committee for all of your work on this registration.
Thank you. Is there anyone else online? No. All right. I move that this public hearing be closed and the ordinance be adopted on final reading and that the township clerk be directed to publish the ordinance by title as passed on final reading in accordance with law.
May I have a second? Can we make statements? Yeah, I have a statement I'd like to make as well. You want to do that? Go ahead. Go ahead, Brian. All right.
When we introduced this ordinance at our last meeting, I spoke at length about the careful balance we struck when crafting this ordinance. Tonight, I'll be brief. This ordinance represents 18 months of listening through multiple public sessions where residents and landscapers shared their perspectives.
In fact, the seasonal restriction approach came directly from a landscaper who told us at one of these sessions, quote, "If you want to ban them in the summer, that's fine. We'll adapt." End quote. That insight shaped this compromise, causing gas blowers only during winter
months and summer months when usage is minimal while preserving the heavy cleanup periods of spring and fall when they're needed most. Since our first reading, I've heard from more residents supporting this measured approach. They recognize that doing nothing isn't an option. The health impacts from
two-stroke engines and the disruption from low frequency noise demand action. Let me emphasize what hasn't changed. This remains a compromise born from community input. Six neighboring towns have already acted, some with full year round bans. If we fail to pass this
balance ordinance tonight, we risk a referendum that could impose far stricter limits as Morristown discovered when voters approved a 9-month ban. The ordinance includes reasonable hours, emergency waiverss, education first enforcement, and time for everyone to
adapt. commercial-grade electric alternatives are market ready and cost-effective. There are also plenty of portable battery solutions that would negate the need for any sort of generators on trucks. This ordinance is our opportunity to lead responsibly with a
solution suggested by the very people it affects the most. I urge my colleagues to vote yes and move forward with a sensible communitydriven solution. Thank you. Thank you. Sure.
Um, where to start? Okay. So, you know, I did a lot of work on on this because I need to understand the implications and and the effects and and everything that we're being told by two pretty vocal parties or sides to this. Um, I spoke to
a lot of landscapers, a lot of folks on the on the environmental commission as well as other folks like Mr. Baxter, etc. Uh, I think we lose a lot when we start conflating loss of life with banning leaf blowers. You know, for me, it's
really about doing something for the community and it's about the kids and the and the just the smiles and the gleam in their eyes when you talk about affecting the environment. I know Bonita's here and her and her two children and spent a lot
of time with them, but understanding the different pieces. Somebody told me uh burning a uh spending a half hour on a gas leaf blower two-stroke is equivalent to driving a Ford rapper Raptor from Texas to Alaska. I don't believe that
for one second. It's just not plausible. If you did that, you may as well never light a candle because you'll die instantly. So, you know, the science, everyone puts the science towards the science fit their narrative, etc. Um,
that being said, when you look at the compromise, and I use that word, you know, pretty strongly because I did talk to everyone and understand the different issues. There is a real compromise here and and we even got more out of it when I met with uh Bill and and Renee that,
you know, it's Memorial Day to Labor Day. It's, you know, not an elongated summer. U, it's the winter months where typically there's no snow. I heard from Mr. Becca earlier that uh I guess two weeks is going to put a thousand people on unemployment etc etc. I don't believe
that but you know from those standpoints you have to weigh the balance the differences when you're on this township committee we're we're actually governing for all residents uh and the future residents which are our children. So, I just want to make sure that everybody
understands that there are financial incentives out there. Um, uh, that we do want to, uh, make sure that the time periods are compressed. And I think I heard from Mr. Michael Todd that he views this as a creeping tender. Uh, and
that's in my line of work, it's a creeping tender. Get a little to take a lot later. It will be a big decision a lot later uh to to get me to vote to go 100% 100% of the time etc. But to give a little now
to give the children you know there to help the children to help the environment to do everything we can do and I think Jonathan you use the number 99.95% u are outside of gas um leaf blowers. Well, to me that tells me there's a very little amount that's
impacted for a seasonal restriction on leaf blowers. So, you know, I look at the look at it both ways. Um, but I appreciate all the work, all the comments. Public fantastic. We love to see the engagement. Uh, this has probably been some of the best engagement we've seen in a while. So, I
appreciate you guys, Mr. Sagada back there. Kids went to school with my kids. Uh, we appreciate everything the the landscapers mean to our town and can do for our town. So, I have to say that when this uh first came up, when this came first came
up, I was kind of skeptical um uh as to uh how this all worked. But I want to I want to say that with all of the public comment and as Miss Paparian pointed out, we've heard it all on both sides. I' I've come to I've come to accept the fact that this is something that the
people in town want to have and so I have to go vote to yes. Thank you. Um, yes, we have heard uh about this for a very long time. Um, I want to thank all the residents that reached out both um for it, for and
against it. I appreciate all those conversations. Um, and uh I think we all care about the environment. We want to do what we can to protect ourselves, our families, and our and our children. Um, I did have some concerns also, and I
want to thank Mr. uh Mr. Brazelle, um Mr. Careller for addressing a lot of those. Um and thank you to um Bill for reaching out to the schools like I suggested because that that was a big part of it. Um and um you know, we're
all going to continue to do our part um the best that we can. So um I will also plan to support it. Okay, with that, a roll call vote. Deputy Mayor Cohen. Yes, Mr. Sakamandandy.
Yes, Mr. Stler. Mayor Romano. Yes. Thank you. Next. The effective date is January 1, 2026. And I know the Environmental Commission is going to continue to um community
outreach over the summer moving forward and Okay. Deputy Mayor Cohen, you're scheduled to sponsor 2709-25. I present for for consideration an ordinance entitled ordinance number 2709-25
capital ordinance of the township of Milburn in the county of Essex, New Jersey, authorizing the making of various public improvements and acquisition in by and for the township appropriating therefore the sum of $1,36,000 providing that such sum so appropriated
shall be raised from the capital improvement fund of the township. And as we said before, this is for various projects um affecting the fire department, the DPW, the police department, and the department of rack engineering, just about everybody and
general buildings. So, kind of covers projects everywhere. And now I declare the hearing open. Oh, sorry. Tonight is the 22nd public hearing and final passage as advertised in accordance with law.
Okay. I move that this public hearing be closed and that the ordinance be adopted on final reading and that the township clerk be directed to publish this ordinance by Kaido as passed on final reading in accordance with law. May I have a second? Roll call. Deputy Mayor Cohen.
Yes. Mr. Sakamandi. Yes, Mr. Stler. Mayor Romano. Yes. Thank you. Committee St. Scheduled to sponsor ordinance 2710-25. Thank you. I present to consideration ordinance entitled ordinance number
2710-25 capital ordinance of the township of Milbourne and the county of Essex, New Jersey, authorizing the making of various improvements and acquisition in and by and for the park utility of the township appropriating therefore the sum of $200,000 and praying that such sum so appropriated shall be raised from the
park utility capital improvement fund. Tonight is the time set for the public hearing and final passage as advertised in law. I declare the hearing open. I move that this public hearing be closed and the ordinance be adopted on final reading and that the township
clerk be directed to publish the ordinance by title as passed and final on final reading in accordance with the law. May I have a second? Second vote, please. Deputy Mayor Cohen, yes. Mr. Sakamandi, yes.
Mr. Stler, mayor, yes. Thank you, Mr. McDonald. All business. Thank you, Mayor. Um, under old business tonight, uh, we have a draft B ordinance, um, for the township
committee. As I think was explained in previous meetings, what we wanted to do was provide an ordinance or an appendix to the township's code that listed all of the fees that we have um for ease of use uh for ease of change for uh more
clarity in the fees that are charged by the township. Uh this is a model that is done in several most if not all communities um that they have uh the fees broken out. uh we had provided the test committee with a comparison of
those fees that were applicable or the same uh to some of our neighbors such as Summit Westfield and Verona. Um just wanted to take this opportunity if the township committee had any questions. Um, one of the things I think that was brought up by committee manny that is
also being addressed here is certainly the escro fees and the things that are needed to increase those fees um as it relates to planning, zoning and and various applications before the land use boards also historic preservation commission as well. Um and so um what we
want to sort of drive towards is certainly getting to a point where more and more of our fees are ranges uh so that they can be established by resolution as opposed to making legislative changes through ordinance to to change fees. Um that that that at the
beginning of the year uh the township committee and its reorganization meeting could have a fee resolution that could establish the fees for for that particular year. Um but at this point happy to take any questions or um feedback on the draft ordinance uh so that we can get some people for the
township committ when you do when you do have the draft ordinance that will highlight any of the things that are changing this the old business document doesn't do that correct the the document that was in the you know that had the comparison to
indicate the ones that would uh would be changing um you know it did indicate where we are low on fees. It indicated uh as well um the the proposed change for those fees. Um that was only because
it was difficult. You could print that out comm deputy mayor. So um it's in it's in the dropbox. So if you want to take a look at that and provide any feedback that you have um only because it's more visible there by color and also you know by the size of the actual
spreadsheet. So I I would say I think this is something we should advance. Um let's you know in my opinion I think we should go ahead with getting the draft ordinance uh in front of us so that we can have first reading at at the next
meeting and you know if we have any issues with individual fees or questions um you know the sooner you can get that draft ordinance to us the better because then we can address those. But I see no reason not to move forward with this. Okay. All right. Thank you.
And just for if someone can't afford the fees, you know, there's ways to be able to help reimburse and help. So, a child who's living who wants to play baseball, recreation, and other things. There is a way to help that family, make sure that
child participates, i.e., you know, whether it's some of the affordable housings we're bringing, etc. I don't want to do leave anyone behind because they can't afford to do the sport or No, of course. And and that's that's a discussion with either the social worker or or the recreation department. They
have a they have a a waiver waiver or partial waiver system based on on the need of the individual or the individual. Okay. The uh the next uh item under hold business is uh the abandoned properties ordinance. We had had a discussion uh
regarding the fees um for the abandoned properties ordinance. Abandoned properties ordinance uh to my knowledge was first adopted um back in 2016. Uh those fees for being registered on the abandoned properties uh list have not
been adjusted since that time. kind of goes to the the previous ordinance, but um the the idea here is to increase those fees. Um when you are registered on the abandoned properties list, uh you are pay an initial uh applica, you know,
um fee um to be on that list and registration fee. Then you pay a first renewal, a second renewal, and then a third or and every subsequent renewal. Um the current fee level for that is a $500 registration fee. The first renewal was
$1,500. The second renewal was $3,000 and the uh third uh renewal is 5,000. Every subsequent renewal is 5,000 after that. I think one of the things that um has become clear and although we don't have many abandoned properties on this
list um is that abandoned properties are have been sitting on this list for quite some time. Um, you know, there are several that come to mind quickly, uh, that have may have been on maybe on this list for, you know, seven to 10 years plus. Um, so I think what we have to do
is strike a balance between increasing those fees, but also making sure that those fees are justifiable. Um, and so what I've provided to the town committee and certainly, you know, um, this is just a draft and and up for your discussion, but was to increase those
fees three-fold. So, initial registration will be $1,500. Uh, first renewal will be $4,500. Second renewal will be $9,000 and the subsequent the final renewal and every subsequent renewal after that would be 15,000 per year. Um, so uh the idea would be that
this would incentivize people to move that property quicker um do something with that property uh and enhance that property get for land use for whatever it may be to to to utilize that property. Two questions. First of all, um can you
just give the public a brief definition of what constitutes an abandoned property as opposed to a vacant storefront? Yeah. Yes. Um so an abandoned property is there are several criteria within the ordinance that um that only one of those
needs to be met to be um to be considered abandoned. And while I'm trying to quote this off the top of my head, those are things like they have not paid their taxes. Um they are a blank on the community. Um they are um
have not been in use and do not have any active permits or active uh active land use applications. Um all the any one of those can get a uh a property on the abandoned properties list. And the abandoned properties list is a a
registration as was indicated and then it gets advertised in the paper. It indicates that the property is abandoned on the township's ordinance and then if it continues to be abandoned uh it will you know go through those subsequent renewals. Also we found that there are some excuse
me some properties that proactively you know and these are more these generally are more residential properties. don't proactively register themselves for the abandoned property if it if the if they feel like the house is going to be vacant for more than you know what would be a typical sale period. Um but um but those are some of
the reasons. So if you had a vacant store uh you know vacant storefront on on the downtown business district that's been vacant for many many years would that qualify? So there's a there's a there's a bit of a distinction and and
that oftent times those properties um often times not all the time they have some other use above them whether it's an apartment residential use or whether it's a another commercial use but the storefront that you're seeing at ground
level may be vacant not being utilized but the but the other part of the property is and so those would not necessarily qualify but Yes, those storefronts that you see that have been vacant for a long time may become blighted. Uh, a good example, I'm not trying to call any property out in
particular, but is the old hobby store um that's on Main Street. Um, that is one of the properties that is on a on the abandoned properties list. It has been that way for quite some time. Um, and it is a first level vacant storefront. Yeah. And so they continue to pay every year.
We're trying to put an end to that. But at the end, if they don't pay, the town then takes to take over the property. That's correct. The township has the ability then to force condomation. Yeah, I can't see a better path. I mean,
a better path. You see what happened to Charlie Browns and I would have abandoned that a long time ago and now it's such a thriving central part of downtown and the apartments that were built above it are fantastic. And then Simple Fair. So that
really incentivizes and the owners to put money into to the into the building and you know become a become very uh profitable I guess in terms of how they operate inside of that business or somebody who will
yeah I think a three-fold increase in fees is not sufficient enough um you know so 15,000 a year might not be enough to motivate some people uh to deal with their abandoned properties, I would recommend either a five to 10fold increase. If you've let your property
sit abandoned for more than three years, you should be paying a hefty fee. Uh because we really need to give these property owners incentive to do something with those properties. We don't want to continue to have abandoned properties. We don't want to continue to have blight. Um so I would advocate that
we increase the fees even higher than what's been proposed. There any legal issues with that such a you know a 10 increase? I mean, you have to be able to substantiate um that there's some cost
involved with the municipality. Um me and Alex had a discussion about it. Um, if you guys came up with a recommendation, I certainly could look at it whether it was between the case and how they figured out their piece determined whether or not it
I would like to see a comparison to maybe summit uh maybe I think I think what I showed the committee was that right I think there's got to be there's
you You know, certainly there's there's there's a um uh a balancing point there between what you can uh based on the number of properties, based on how you're administering those properties, the costs that are involved in doing administering this ordinance like there
has to be ability to should it be not there would be but should it be in any way uh challenged you have to be able to justify. Yeah. I answer question but I'm holding this but I wouldn't want to behold it to court over which yeah again that's that's the
balance point that we're trying to trying to reach here but certainly we can do a quick comparison of of similar hill communities that may have an abandoned property not not all of them necessarily will but we'll take it. Yeah, I I think we should take that look
and I agree with Frank. You know, right now our town is operating in all cylinders. Businesses are thriving. Uh you know, now's the time to invest in business and be part of the community. Um the last item I'm just uh I'm going
to um again I will to let committee know that this is for awareness. This ordinance has been um uh developed by the zoning code subcommittee as and and um drafted. I've asked you to take a
look at it as it relates to accessory use of conditional uses. U please provide any comments that you may have um and um and then we can look to potentially introduce this on August 12th.
Okay. Public comment. This public comment period is to allow for final comments from the community. When invited to speak to all of your comments, please come to the clearly state your name and whether you are a Melbourne resident and or property business owner. Please do not provide your full address senior.
Our meetings are recorded and readily available to the public. A reminder that in order to help facilitate an orderly meeting and to commit all to be heard, speakers shall limit their comments to one group. Jamie Sudo, um, Short Hills resident. Uh, just wanted to comment on July 4th
and just say on behalf of the Fourth of July committee, thank you to the community for making it a very safe and enjoyable celebration and a reverent celebration that is. And thank you to my township partners and to the police and fire and the DPW and our volunteer first
aid squad. Fortunately, it turned out to be a wonderful evening. Um and looking forward to um as we hear more and more and more is discussed about 250th uh celebration of the township uh excuse me
of the township celebration I should say of independence 250 years of independence of the country. That's it. Just want to say thank you and also thank you to the community sponsors. I encourage and I encourage everybody to uh support those sponsors and also support all the local
businesses this see at national resident. Uh just wanted to mention something a little bit further on the um on the whole thing about ICE coming into the community.
I I I have no idea whether or not that is a probable thing. But I think at this point with um what's going on in the country, you cannot say that it is an impossible thing. My concern there although I I know I would never let anybody I sent to my house unless they
had a judicial warrant. I know that I my concern is more um as we all know our demographics have been changing. I have no idea nor should I how many people who have moved into town are permanent residents as opposed
to citizens. I do not need to know that and it is not an important distinction for me. However, it may be dice because they have not really shown a propensity to um necessarily honor
whether or not somebody is a legal resident of this country absent citizenship and I'm not even sure about the citizenship ankle sometimes as well. I worry about this in terms of the people that you know who live here. I
worry about that in terms of the kids who go into are in our schools. It seems to me that this issue has been used as a they targeted communities. I do not know obviously whether ours
would be among those that could be targeted, but again I would not categorically rule it out. What I hope you would do is to speak with as business administrator, as the as the
township administrator, as the um township committee itself. Speak with the police. Speak with the board of education and try to come up with a strategy what of what how you would
react should this happen. Should we be presented with this in our schools, in our town, in our neighborhoods. It doesn't necessarily mean that, you know, you're going to be running around saying, "Oh my god, oh my god, ice may
be here. It's that you want to be prepared and you want to have you want to have some sort of a plan that all the different authorities in the town can act together should this
happen. Thank you. Um J um poet section. Jamie, I want to thank you for the 4th of July celebration and by irony when you read the
Declaration of Independence, which really an indictment against King George, one of the things they talk about is imposing taxes without our consent. And that's what the heart of the bear one bear 2 lawsuits are about.
Everyone should read, get a copy of the transcript and understand what happened today. Judge reserve decision on five I think motions. One motion she deny the motion of the town to basically
just say impose restrict my freedom of speech addressing this body. Um to the community please have a healthy skepticism of authority. Go carefully and look at the footnote of the audit.
No one's ever explained why the lease, the second lease for the paper mill is not disclosed in their notes. They only talk about the 2008 lease. What about the new lease that we had? It's not disclosed. Nor does it disclose our obligation to fund nine Main Street,
which could be anywhere what 50 $80 million. That's an obligation. It's not disclosed in the foot though. These are things I've raised. No, but we really did not have an opportunity to hear the order. You saw how quickly he ran out of the room. This is something
that happens historically. Um, please keep an open mind. Not everyone is evil in this community. Read the footnotes. Look at the rights that we're trying to protect.
We have a lot of different rights that are going on today. The hearing There's some interesting things Paul said that this New Jersey Civil Rights Act only applies to individual doesn't apply to entities, business entities.
And I asked the judge that's different what's the federal law federal states are. And in the last few days, there's been some really interesting opinions coming out of the United States Supreme Court about what is the duty to execute and enforce the law. You overtook an oath in office. You have to remember to
enforce the law. Thank you. Sorry, I had a little accident. So, um I'm just going to drop this off and you guys can disseminate. There's some that I don't have as many copies. I apologize. I was in a bit of a rush. I'm just um giving you some fact-based
information. It's like an easy read for everybody. Um before I start, um I just wanted to I mean I know my time's going. Um thank you Jamie for your amazing speech tonight and for the amazing work. I had no idea all the great things you do as I'm learning about you as a
candidate. So thank you for the work of the live fireworks. I also want to say um thank you to Ben and Frank. Um, while I don't agree with you on um the gas blower, I love the fact that you guys as
Republicans came in and really tried to bring everybody together and worked across party lines to accomplish something that was a compromise. So, I'm very impressed with what you did working with everybody. So, I just want to put that out there. I dropped off a packet.
Um, I don't know. I have not been talking about um 5G towers for a long time because I've decided that people want to have be surrounded by 5G wireless technology get it radiated. That's fine. Um I'm not going to sit and try to convince people, but when one
lands very close to my home, uh I have a problem with that. And there is one that is about to go up. I might quote the address wrong at 332 Old Hills Road. It it has part of it um done and it's very clearly going to be small cell tower. Um, I don't like the fact that people
are not notified. I didn't see a public notice even though it was voted on on September 2nd. I don't I also don't like the fact things are voted on literally the day after Labor Day when no one's around. Um, I think you have an obligation to notify people. I mean, you can give somebody you had a not you had
almost a whole year. You could have told me, you know, it bothers me and I highly doubt it's,200 feet from my house. Um, in the packet that I gave you, there's a committee in New Hampshire that is, I believe it's fedally funded or state funded. Um, so it's not, you know, just
a bunch of random scientists having fun. And there's a lot of really, really good information, but they talk about the safe distance from any cell tower, whether it's a small cell or a larger pole, is 1640t approximately. Okay, so there's a lot of that not going on. We
have a cell tower, a small cell tower of 150 ft from where children sit in a classroom. Um, I recently posted on Milurn Politics. Um, you know, how there's a cancer cluster in a school where there's a poll next to it. You really should read through all of this.
Um, I also want to talk about how certain towns in one um, piece of literature on page two, I'm not even going to read it because I'm done. Um, they talked about ordin townships that had ordinances with strong um, instant installation setback restrictions. Shelurn, Massachusetts, 3,000 ft for
schools, 1500 feet for home. Hope cake, New York, 1500 feet for home. Salisaw, Oklahoma, no commercial wireless telecommunications within 1500 feet of homes. Um, I'm going to also call out Palo Alto, California, a place that I spent a lot of time when I was developing the N for Barnes & Noble with
all the techy people is the tech center. They actually don't even allow it in residential areas. So, most of those people are smarter. I think I think we need to reook at it. Thank you. And I'm I'm walking away. Thank you, Jean Pastnet. Um, I just want to address
the comments that were made by Mr. Stler and Mr. Mr. Caner about the bare properties. I've been to each of the I've been to every single thing practically that has to do with this for five years, including sitting in a courtroom. I honestly this isn't about
property and not wanting to pay taxes. It really isn't. And I think you saying that is really harmful for our community and people live here. They are our friends. They are our neighbors. They've run a business here for 30 years. You are saying that Mr. Caner is really not okay.
Yeah. I think this is becoming a personal vendetta funded on the backs of our taxpayers. I really do. I think there's a solution that could have been had with mediation a long time ago. We all live here. You don't. We see each other. We
go into people's businesses. We walk on our streets and we see our neighbors. It's not okay to behave this way. When you characterize something as people don't want to pay their taxes, it's clear that the issues are far beyond that is about whether this entity was
formed by properly by New Jersey statute. You know that they've put into the documentation whether a feasibility study should have been done. It was talked about again today. You have one viewpoint, they have a different one, and the judge will decide. That's an
issue. It's not about them not paying their taxes. Okay? Why do residents have to fund the SI SID executive director salary that wasn't even disclosed in the notice to uh the township when the ordinance was was was formed. I mean,
there's so many different issues that have nothing to do with people not wanting to pay their tax and it's just not fair. I'm sorry. It just isn't. Um I think you should step away from the personal issues and think about what you're doing with our tax dollars. All of you. Um, on the topic of transparency, I'd like to remind Mayor
Romano that she's violating the First Amendment rights of her constituents by blocking them on her Facebook pages that she uses for township business and informing residents about government business. You might think it's funny, but it's kind of serious, right? Because people don't agree with you doesn't
block them to give people information through your channels and Facebook page. Okay? So, I would just ask that you stop doing that. I can be your test case because I know you block me. Obviously, we have different points of view. Um, I think that you should look into the
rules. I gave them to Mr. Caner. You have an attorney here and you should look into what you're supposed to do as an elected official, okay? On social media. And lastly, maybe both you and Michael should follow the town rules. It's been over a month since the um uh
election and there's still signs all over town. I know people that are running opposing you have made it their business to collect those signs. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else before we go online? Good evening. Perry Ursa Short Hills.
So what is it? Has a GIFsur denied to defend this litigation for the bear property? If so, why? Why not disclose pertinent information? This is not a matter of not wanting to pay a tax. This is a matter about being taxed without
representation. A theft by ordinance matter. This is a matter about an ordinance which was passed in the height of COVID during 2020. This is a matter that if a commercial property owners do not pay their assessment, the township can seize
our properties by way of tax remedies. This is a matter where the SID executive director publicly stated that there's not enough foot traffic in certain areas and he doesn't want to waste taxpayers money. But the the property owners have
been silenced because our ability to make decisions have been taken away by way of ordinance, but yet would allow the four other districts to subsidize the downtown. This is a matter where it was withheld
during a where it was failed to mention during arguments that the TC and the SID are undergoing a review. If there is nothing wrong with this entity in this ordinance, then why is there a need to review? This is a matter
where it was failed to state the facts that the state directed the city executive director that the boundaries were too large for the main street application and must be modified to the downtown area only and that was done. In my opinion, this is a matter that the
fidiciaries refuse to recognize other objectors to the SID ordinance. Thankfully, they are in the pleadings and attorney Caner is aware. There is no need for them to join this lawsuit. This is a matter of taking away my
fundamental fundamental rights away to choose my attorney by trying to have our attorney removed from representing us. In my opinion, this is fear-mongering. And lastly, our settlement offer was not that we do not want to pay our taxes.
That is a false statement. And since attorney Caner's defamatory statements this evening that we as one property property owners do not want to pay our taxes, can he inform the public that
whether our property or sit assessment taxes are paid in full or are we delinquent to support his claims? Thank you and have a nice evening. Thank you. I will now close public with
comments. Anyone want to comment? I have one comment. I uh I I attended the events on July 4th and I just want to say I noticed about a dozen people in red shirts who helped pull that whole thing together. So it the the credit
goes to that entire committee and also some praise to Dorothy Kelly who received the Patriot. Yes. Sure. Okay. Um, you know, talking about our economics
and and you know, people who have done non-effective governance, etc. We signed we signed into we signed an agreement to spend $50 million on 75 affordable housing units. That's $800,000 per unit thereabouts.
I went out looked like any business person would do and we can get a built between 250 and 300. And really to me, who the hell's monitoring this situation, etc., and looking at those numbers. So, you know, there's a lot of materiality in in a lot of things we
speak about. Um, I love Vinnie and and Perry to death. I mean, honestly, if I'm paying $3,000 in SID assessments, $1,500, whatever it is, I'm getting $30,000 of benefit from it or more. You know, I'm going to push them to a legal limit in terms of what they're going to
do. They're going to work for me and pick up every call I make. Um, Miss Best, uh, you called called me a Republican up here. You know, when I got elected by 68% of this town, I left any
Republican or Democratic titles behind. We're here to govern for 100% of the Milberites that exist. And and that's how we have to look at every decision we make. U and that's really what I try to do, to do the work, roll up the sleeves, and understand the issues. Um
uh I agree with you on on on the mosquito drop. I mean, honestly, they should give us a lot more warning and tell us exactly what's in that before they're choking us out. And, you know, I have I have, you know, two dogs. I'd rather know and be able to bring them
in, etc. Uh, well, in advance of that happening. So, maybe it's something we can do, mayor, with your relationship with Essex County to find out if we can't get additional notice of when that's going to happen and understand exactly what they're dropping on their
homes. Um, what else? I don't know. The July 4th was amazing. I put a I put a post up that showed the finale. It was fantastic. Uh, what the July 4th committee as a group put
together and put forth every year. It's just just it's fantastic. Thank you, committee. Mandy. Nothing further for tonight. Um, I just want to add that my social media is my personal social media. It's
not representative of the township in any way. Um, and Miss Pastnack, you are also an elected official, just to remind you of that. And as far as our lawns, our signs on Mullins, those residents chose to keep those signs on. And I
believe that um, our opponent's signs are also up. So, we removed the ones that wanted to be removed and those that wanted to stay are allowed to keep signs on the propert. So, with that, we have a motion. Oh, do you want to comment?
Yeah. I just want the public be aware that um I was criticized for u a resident is not only suing this township a resident is also suing our mayor and deputy mayor and our business administrator I'm here to defend them and comparing setting up
taxation without representation like declaration of independence as far as I know the colonies didn't have any parliamentary representation nor was the king voted for I think that every resident here has a vote which is a representation and it was a vote of this committ to pass both the ordinance and the sit
assessment. So saying there's no representation. I mean we're sitting at a public meeting of governing and you're saying there's no representation. Clearly there is the colonies which Mr. Fel represented the Declaration of Independence is like taxation without representation. That's not what's going on here. have elected committee and
everybody got their vote and if a resident if a resident attacks the mayor, deputy mayor and the business administrator and the township I have an independence township as long as I'm the township attorney whether they're resident or not resident doesn't matter. May I have a motion to
motion? I have a second. Second.