with section five of the open public meetings act. We advise that a notice of this meeting was made by posting on the bulletin board and town hall and forwarding to the officially designated newspapers that this meeting would take place at the Melbourne Education Center at 7 p.m. on June 17, 2025. Meeting
details in the direct agenda were also posted on our township website. Please stand to salute the flag to the flag of the United States of America to the standy for. Roll call. Roll call, please.
Deputy Mayor Cohen here. Mr. Hoffro, here. Mr. Sakamandandy here. Mr. Stler Mayor Romano here. May I have a motion to approve the agenda? May I have a second?
Second. All in favor. The board is Yeah. But what about the people in the back? Yeah. I have a motion to approve the May 20, 2025 township committee minutes. May
I have a second? Second. All those in favor? I have a motion to approve the May 20th, 2025 special township committee minutes. So move. We have a second. Second. All in favor? All right.
My favorite meeting Chief Bill, please. Yes. Like to welcome everyone for coming out for our annual police awards. I'm Chief Bill. Uh, I'd like to thank the committee, the mayor, and Mr. McDonald for allowing us to have this tonight. Uh, the first award we're going to start
off with is Officer Aliota and Detective Lieutenant Diver. On January 14th, patrol and detective units responded to the area of Mars Turnpike Broad Street on information broadcast to all units regarding uh vehicle that had been carjacked at
gunpoint in the area. Mr. Ali over then located the vehicle in question at the Wawwa Mars Turnpike and quickly backed up by Detective Lieutenant as well as Springfield PD units. Tony stop was conducted when the driver was arrested without incident and turned
over to Springfield PD along with the [Music] Next award is from February 3rd burglary and a lot of people are involved in this. So we have officer Craw, Officer Cerwin, Officer Moss, Officer Jenno, Officer Griffin, Officer Jizooi,
Sergeant Manny Wag, Detective Mitchell, and for this one we have Officer Lime was involved. So on Febru uh February 3rd, T responded to a residential address and a report of a burglary that had just occurred 10 minutes in the past. An extensive response to the scene in canvas of the
area was conducted. Troll conducted a stop of suspicious vehicle suspected to be involved in an incident. Currently, a second vehicle was stopped who stated that they were picking up someone in the area. With the assistance of our drone unit, officers were also able to locate an individual hiding in some bushes.
Further investigation by detective bureau led to the evidence that the actors were involved in other burglaries throughout the state. This resulted in two arrests to South American theft group members. So I'll be here for a lines.
up is black. responded to a presidential address for a possible burglary in progress when homeowners could see and hear the suspects about to make entry into their house via canary response to the scene resulted in one arrest of a South American theft group member who was the getaway driver that day. He was charged
with obstructing and resisting arrest. The follow investigation by our detective bureed charges for conspiracy to commit burglary, criminal attempted burglary. This is May 17th. While off duty in the area of Mars Turnpike and over, Detective Witch observed a blue Nissan
center of bearing a Virginia registration traveling at a high rate of speed weaving in and out of traffic. Further observed the vehicle driving recklessly for a double yellow line almost colliding with oncoming traffic as it disregarded the red light. He then called on duty units to see if there were any recent crimes or call with this
vehicle and learned that there had just been an armed robbery at TD Bank in Springfield and that the vehicle matched the description of the vehicle that he currently was observing. He then called dispatch and follow the vehicle at a safe distance till it hit a curb and became disabled and began chasing the
driver on foot. Which time Springfield PD and Officer Justin Ford arrived on the scene. Officer Gourd was able to locate the suspect names arrested identity. Detective Medson, Officer Renos, Officer Fish, Officer Nim, Sergeant Royce,
Officer Ali, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy. On September 9th, patrol and detective units responded to the area of the Shore Hills Post Office. Approximately 4:00 a.m. information broadcast out by Detective Melson that there was a male suspect actively seeing a mail from the
outgoing mailbox. Detective Melson put the mail's description out as units were responding. Officer Reinos was the first to respond and observe the suspect walking away from the mailbox just before he began fleeing from him. Officer Fresh was arriving as well. Officer Reinos was able to apprehend the
suspect at their short court chase with the assistant of Officer Fresh and Aliota. Sergeant Royce, officer scene with Detective Nunson, also responded to the area quickly and located a room Nissan plates. The two males in the vehicle attempting to hide. The
individual removed and apprehended successfully. The were charged with accordingly with regards to male attack. [Music] found. [Music] [Music]
Officer Renos, Officer Aliota, Sergeant Royce. [Music] Control units responded to request AB on a male with low blood pressure who was out of breath. The procos quickly responded from scene to locate the victim with a faint pulse. CPR was
manually started by officeros and shortale's first aid squad. Sergeant Royce and Officer Aliota then arrived and assisted with manual CPR till CPR was switched over to the Lucas chest compression system. The 83y old victim was ultimately transported to St. Barnabas Medical Center where he made a
full recovery. Detective Medson. Second question. On October 5th, the detective bureau responded to the short hills mall store. Suspects used sophisticated tools to enter the store. After go after gaining entry, the suspect stole a significant amount of jewelry. We wor with our
federal partners and through extensive investigation techniques, Detective Med which was able to charge multiple suspects in the burglar. Officer, Officer Hunt Miles, [Music] responded to the mall at Shore Hills for a report of theft of sunglasses but
located within the Macy store. Officer Recino was responded to the area as a suspect description broadcast over police radio. Also at this time, a separate call for services on the police radio uh looking for three individuals looking in and trying to enter vehicles in the
yellow parking there. Officer Renos was then flagged down while responding to this new call for service and told that he just saw three Hispanic males looking at the vehicles and entered a black Ford sedan. He added that one of them had hidden the trunk of
the vehicle. Mall security then witnessed on CCTV the same suspect entered a black sedan at the Baron Massachusetts. Short time later, officer Hunt Miles located the suspect vehicle within the mall property onto JFK Parkway and conducted a traffic stop.
Officer Recino as a backup along with detective visuals. Subsequent investigations learned that these individuals the individuals responsible for the original shoplifting from Sunglass Hut. Investigation and search also led to finding a firearm in the trunk along with one of the suspects
hiding in the trunk. The actions of all the officers on scene led to an arrest of five individuals for shoplifting and weapon possessions and wanted by the FBI. What's those while on patrol short of mall? Officer MTO observed several sedans
uh what he believed was a fake New Jersey tempt. He then stopped the vehicle and learned that the plate was in fact counterfeit. Subsequent investigation on scene utilized the victim in questioning proved that the vehicle was a stol vehicle. Vel was subsequently arrested and
charged accordingly counterfeit attempted possession of the stolen vehicle. Officer Sweeney, officer. All units responded to old church a report of a residential structure fire. Officer swinging the scene and fresh immediately responded to the residents to find a pulling gold house plane
shooting from the roof and windows. They quickly assessed the situation and learned that someone may be inside of a residence. Despite the house being fully engulfed, they made their way to the back side of the house to be made entry. They quickly located a female who was still inside the house and able to exit
herself. The officers used teamwork and ultimately pulled the female out of the house in the fire and began treating her to smoke inhilation and burns to the body. Officer D. Seat open. Control units. You see law enforcement
intelligence at a stormwater motor vehicle had possibly just entered the property of the short hills lawn. It was confirmed that the vehicle was stolen at a port authority and officers located the vehicle with summon police officers in block. Officers dedos it in SEO then conducted a stop with the assistance of summit PD on the vehicle and
subsequently arrested two males in the vehicle. Search incident arrest u located multiple pills credit card in someone else's name. Officer Hunt Miles, Dr. Manny Wag Tucker [Music]
has received law enforcement intelligence that have stolen me motor vehicle had possibly just entered the property at the mall short hills. Captain Delaruso quickly located the vehicle driving on ring road the mall property and began calling locations as a vehicle to allow other units to begin with felony stop. Once at a stop sign in
traffic uh a felony stop was conducted on a vehicle. Both suspects in New York were taken into custody. Sub arrest found approximately one pound mariju. Uh these are some of the the higher level arrests that were made throughout the year. Of course, our officers do a
great job every year. Um and just thank you for coming out tonight. I want to just thank you for the risks that you take every day to protect and serve our community. We are very lucky to have the police department that we
do. Um, anyone else want I second that. Thank you so much everyone. Uh, we appreciate everything you do for us. Thank you so much. Uh, I too would like to echo those those sentiments. Um, our police do a
fantastic job protecting us day in and day out. Crime is way down this year, which is fantastic. So, I think it's just a testament to folks uh at our police department. So, thank you so much for your service.
Thank you all. and the word show the the breath and diversity of all the events that occur here. Thank you for stopping all We're going to take like a three minute break so that um you don't have to stay for the rest of the meeting, but do you think somebody could just take a picture
of you with all of them somewhere? I'll take it if you just Okay, we're going to get started. We have a confirmation for parks and recreation month committee install. Great. Thanks.
Whereas parks and recreation is an integral part of communities throughout this country, including the township of Milbour. And whereas parks and recreation promotes health and wellness, improving the physical and mental health of people who participate in recreation programs. and awareness parks and recreation promotes time spent in nature
which positively impacts mental health by increasing cognitive performance and well-being and alleviating illnesses such as depression, attention deficit disorders and Alzheimer's. And whereas parks and recreation encourages physical activities by providing space for popular sports, hiking trails, swimming pools, and many other activities
designed to promote active lifestyles. And whereas parkeration's programming, education activities such as out of school time programming, youth sports and environmental education are critical to childhood development. And whereas the parks and recreation increase a community's economic prosperity through
increased property values, expansion of local tax base, increased tourism, the attraction and retention of businesses, and crime reduction. And whereas parks and immigration is fundamental to the environmental well-being of our community and is essential and adaptable infrastructure that makes our communities resilient in the face of
natural disasters and climate change. And whereas our parks and natural recreation areas ensure the ecological beauty of our community and provide a place for children and adults to connect with nature and recreate outdoors. Whereas the US House of Representatives has designated July as parks and recreation month. And now therefore be
it resolved by the township committee of the township of Milbour in the county of Essex state of New Jersey recognizes the benefits derived from parks and recreation resources claims July is park and recreation month in the township of Milbour. This is the fourth year in a row we've
declared July Parks and Recreation Month in Mil. By doing this, it has given the recck department another avenue for promote promoting their programs throughout the summer as they gear up for the busy fall season. The rec department has continued to grow their
program offering everything from sports to STEM, the clinics, camp, the special events, the Yankee bus rides in addition to everything they do at the pool and at the golf course. On behalf of the rec commission and the rec department, thank
you for recognizing the importance of park and recreation in Milberg. This year's theme is let's work together, let's build together, and let's play together. Thank you. And on a little side note, uh right now
all our programs we are at 100% capacity. So what the township needs and what the township has to go forward with generations to come, we need new fields. We need turf fields. And what what also
we need is more um parent participation. Thanks. reports. Um start. All right. First up, uh affordable housing. The fourth round housing element and fair share plan is up on the
municipal website, our township website, and it will be presented at the planning board meeting tomorrow. Um TC is scheduled to take action on it at a special public TC meeting. It'll be on Thursday, June 26th at 5:00 pm. Uh SID
subcommittee. Michael and I met with some members of the SID board and their attorney was a productive conversation about potentially making changes to SID and more conversations will follow. Uh EC uh tonight big night all been waiting
for. We're going to be voting on the seasonal leaf lower restriction. Uh so stay tuned for that. Planning board, the planning board met in close session uh and then publicly took a vote and decided uh to get its own independent engineer as opposed to using the
township engineer uh for future proceedings. So the RFP process uh is is going to be underway. Um, I've also worked with a handful of planning board members, uh, and some of the DC members here to identify deficiencies in our
zoning code, and we're going to begin tightening up those zoning codes significantly. Uh, and the first zoning related ordinance is up for first read later tonight. Um, that's all I have. Cosmo.
Yes. Thank you, Mayor. um report back on on the tree preservation committee is is looking at adding additional meetings um to their um to their agenda. Um I had a meeting with them the other day and we
have a meeting, you know, full meeting this Thursday. Um historic preservation's been a little been quiet. There was no meeting. Thank you. Sure. uh special improvement district. Town Hall Plaza is back in for its
second summer season of live music, food, games, and family fun. Uh there's going to be music every Friday and Saturday night from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Uh starting this coming weekend. Uh this weekend we have Chris Turner and Clearstream on Friday. It's a local band
Hoit section on Saturday. Uh next Saturday will be a special event instead of music. It's local 10-year-old DJ DJ Leo will be playing music for kids party. Um, just additionally, Explore has raised over $14,000 in sponsorship
for Town Hall Plaza. I want to thank the uh sponsors always do that. Conciier's Pediatrics as well as Atlantic Federal Credit Union by Design Kitchen and Bath Gem Dental uh and and Vet Veterary Emergency Group, Art of Problem Solving, Live Breads, and the and the Footer
Financial Group of Jamie Montgomery Scott, BOE, uh Board of Education Leaison. Uh great news, the BOE and the teachers agreed on a new three-year contract uh that was announced late last night.
Those details will come out shortly. uh but everyone's happy and that's uh we could cement that joint facilities uh we had a meeting actually today uh a sub meeting uh we're reviewing feasibility studies and created a ad hoc group to formulate the
proposal for new fields uh and looking at the fields behind the high school so that's moving along uh Alex I'll defer to you on Mountain Valley Emergency uh flood mitigation ton of work being done here um Van Winkl which is the Glenwood
area uh hydro started their work uh on looking at retention solutions. Uh that's on uh the west branch orange reservoir. Uh the numbers have come back. We're expected to drop the risk of flood downtown from 25 to 10% 10 to 15%
uh following the orange reservoir uh uh completion. Uh and then the Gilbert pump fell over Milbour and and this was actually great news. Uh we found out on Monday uh and and a big thanks to uh to everyone
involved and the mayor announced this at the flood mitigation committee. Uh she actually brought state senator John McKeon on to she announced that we're pursuing a $2 million state grant uh to replace the money the federal money for the Gilbert Place pump. Uh so we should
see that coming. decisions expected in I believe July. Uh and this is um the kind of uh support we need from the state and from the tax dollars we've got. Affordable housing as always we support and and contrifially
already covered the planning board, the zoning code and the the SID meeting and Mr. Stler has covered the field. So that leaves me I guess to talk about um the library we met for the for the June for the June meeting. The renovation of the
second floor continues on schedule. The library is closed for this week uh because some of the work uh needs to be done without the public being in the building for uh you know for safety purposes. the arboritum met to uh to
vote on and agree to their strategic goals which are quantifiable and will be implemented over the over the next three years. And then lastly, I attended a bunch of events. Uh we raised the pride flag last week. Um today I attended the
Junth presentation in the Bower Center and the third uh Eagle Scouts uh Court of Honor. So pretty busy time this time of year. Thank you. Um I just have a couple of things. Uh senior uh this
senior programming, a lot of it's going to take place at the American Legion um over the summer. Um they're going to call it workshop Wednesdays, yoga, stress release, crafts, line dancing. On Tuesday, August
5th, the ARP is going to be sponsoring a program called Carpet. I believe it's taking place up at Jurro. They're going to have an occupational therapist come in that's going to help our seniors uh make sure that their mirrors are lined up right and that their seats are
positioned right and to make sure that the cars are fit for them. There's also um senior uh water aerobics. Also, the senior citizen committee put a uh survey together, a Google survey online. I left a flyer there that's got the QR code if
anyone wants to scan it. basically asking some questions of our seniors, just trying to get a gauge of um if there's something that the senior citizen advisory committee is missing um with with you know hopefully we'll hit a lot of seniors in town with it. It's at
town hall. It's at the library. Um there's a copy here like I said with a QR code on it. Um also our uh human services coordinator uh has left so we are without one for
now until we get a new one. She in the period of January through March had uh 31 cases of assistance during that period 10 of them being seniors. She
provided them uh some um pool discounts, um some summer program discounts, SNAP assistance, um um what else? What else? What else? Pedestrian safety advisory board met.
What's going to be going on there over the summer with a CDG grant? We're going to be or township's going to be installing curb ramps. I think Alex, Mr. McDonald went over this before the different uh seven six different
streets. Hobart Connistan, Hobart and North Road, Hobart South Terrace, Hobart and Taylor Road North, Blaine with Church, Blaine at Recctor, Ridgewood at ID Terrace that's happening over the summer. Um what else?
[Music] And um finally since um this is our last meeting I guess this month I just want to congratulate the staff and the faculty of the district that's retiring this year this year and of course our senior class of 2025
and oh the pride raising the pride flag raising event last week was very well attended. Um we had a nice day and then this afternoon before here, Deputy Mayor Cohen and I attended the um Junth
celebration was also very nice with um a lot of students from the what was it called at the high school. I forgot the Black Student Union. Black Student Union and uh Black Americans of Milber Shore Hills um NAACP of Maplewood and the Oranges and a speaker from Satan Hall.
So that was a very nice afternoon and that's Thank you, mayor. Um, just a couple brief reports uh and notices. One is just so the public is aware that on Monday, June 23rd will be the President's Cup. Anybody that's familiar
with this event, um, this takes place in downtown of Milbour and shuts down uh the downtown of Milbour for a uh race. So, um, if you're planning on being downtown, I would and and not involved in that race, I would plan on being
there at a different time. Um, so, uh, also just giving some awareness well ahead of time, but, um, with the Annie says project that is taking place at the corner of Essex in Melbourne, uh, in July, uh, there will
be a lane closure by the site, um, for approximately three weeks. Uh, the township will communicate as that does take place. There will be police presence. Uh there will be one a one lane closure. Um on Sunday, June 22nd at 4 PM in Taylor
Park at the entrance by Taylor Street, there will be a uh dedication of the Forgotten Victory Trail kiosk uh which will be uh you know show the significance that Milbour and this area played in the Revolutionary War. Um, so for those that are interested in the
history of the town and want to attend, um, Sunday, June 22nd at 4 PM will be the unveiling of that kiosk. Um, just a point of clarification, last Thursday, the township, um, presented the police department staffing study, which can be found on the website, uh, of the
township under our projects page um, in addition to the presentation that took place um, and video is up on the YouTube channel. However, um I just wanted to point out a clarification that the I think it was misstated or mis misconstrued um even by by the presenter
that was at the at the meeting that uh that the the study calls for um per a reallocation of staff within the police department from patrol to special services. um and that it does project that the township will need two
additional officers come um 2029. But um but again it is it is seeking saying that we should we should add to our special services uh that there are uh things within those particularly detective bureau who have a large case load uh that could use an additional
supervisor um and that that should be reallocated through patrol. Uh again, this this is a staffing study. There's recommendations and not um but uh but it provided a lot of good information and provides a lot of good information to the township to the township committee uh and to the public as well. So I just wanted to make that point of
clarification. As far as um Mountain Valley goes, um we are currently continuing to explore. We've signed the lease with New Providence. Um so Mountain Valley Communication Center has a home for the next 10 years. However, we continue to do the work to find uh a solution that involves u Melbourne and
Summit. um as a as a as whether it's a shared service or a joint meeting continuing that um but that our two communities are like-minded communities continue to uh provide those services together um as it relates to dispatch and so that exploration continues um
particularly um you know Summit uh currently has the space potentially available to uh house a dispatch center so they are looking at uh what might be possible uh in their brand new firehouse so um we'll have uh Committ Stler uh and
myself will have continued updates on that and the progress of that. Uh it's still very early on, but uh the good news is we will be that center will be uh in uh New Providence where it's been located for the last 10 years uh for the foreseeable future until a a solution is
um vetted out. And as far as PAB goes, not much more to add except for that we do we did receive a safe routes to transit grant. Uh we did uh we are looking to um uh appoint um a a traffic uh consultant to help us uh as it
relates to uh meeting with the public uh getting input from the public at that eastbound uh side of the short house train station going through the plans and developing a plan that we can uh we can utilize that grant funding for. So that's that's forthcoming. Thank you. Mr.
Thank you, mayor. um for third round fair share housing on June 6th. Um there was a hearing. The township was represented by special counsel McMan Bman Scotland. Um at that hearing there were two motions which the court
decided. One was a motion to enforce the court's pre prior order which ordered the town of Melbourne to enter into a pilot agreement with RPM up to the BPW site. Um the township filed a cross motion for the court to reconsider um
the alternate site analysis. Um that was when the township uh had a hearing in which uh we that we we proposed alternate sites than the DPW site uh to fulfill our housing need and the court determined that the DPW site was the was
the proper site. Um the court um granted the motion to enforce RPM's order. Um the the court deems the pilot agreement in full force in effect. The court further ordered court further reaffirmed that the redevelopment
agreement is in full force effect despite the fact that this committee has never um approved it. Um the court ordered um this committee to pass resolutions adopting the pilot agreement and the redevelopment agreement um and have those agreements executed. Um so
that's pending before this committee as a as a court order. Um, as the cross motion uh for reconsideration, uh, the court denied that application in its entirety. Um, so the next step is we still don't have full compliance in the third round.
Um, the two outstanding items were the redevelopers agreement and the pilot agreement which arguably are fully satisfied. Um, I'm having a call this week with Parishure Housing Corporation, our special master and RPM who had those outstanding items. Um we're hopeful to
get compliance in the third round which will allow the township to appeal any rulings in the third round as the as the public may recall. Um we went to the appallet division following um our denial of the alternate site. Um and at that time the appellet division found that it wasn't right because we didn't
have a final order yet. Um so once we have compliance we'll have a final order. We'll be able to go to the file division as of right. Um that's my that's my for report. The only other thing I um committee Sakami mentioned that the planning board will be adopting
our fair housing element um and we'll have a special meeting later where this committee will be endorsing that fair housing element. When it comes back to this committee we this committee doesn't have any alternatives can't change it if this is a function of the planning board. Um so if you have questions the
planning board is really the place to go when it comes back to this committee. It'll be an endorsement of what the planning board adopted. So, I just want to make that clarification and I'm thinking any questions. Thank you.
Public comment. When invited to speak to offer your comments, please come to the lector. Clearly state your name and whether you are a Milurn resident and or property or business owner. Please do not provide the full addressing where meetings are recorded and readily available to the public. to help facilitate an early meeting and will
permit all to be heard. Speakers shall limit their comments to one three minute session. It will be prompted when there is 30 seconds remaining. A reminder that this is not a time for dialogue or to debate a matter and this is a time during our business meeting for the public to offer comments. I will now
open the public [Music] Good evening, deputy mayor, members of the Milbour Committee. Uh my name is Dangal. I'm a resident of Milbour and a member of the Melbourne Environmental Commission. But today I'm here representing Milbour Climate Action
Group, a citizen volunteer group. uh that was founded in 2019 and which seeks to make Milburn an earth aware community and drive sustainable initiatives through sustainability initiatives through individual and collective action. You'll find members of this
group painstakingly sort their trash at home and bring unrecyclable plastic to shop right and their food rec organic waste to our Melbourne food recycling program. We'll find the members set up water stations in different uh community events like October Fest and Strawberry
Festival just so we can eliminate plastic water bottle waste. You'll find the members of this group tending to community gardens and creating native pollinator pollinator habitats in their own homes. And they do all of this at in at you know a lot of personal time
commitment and cost not so because they enjoy it or they gain anything personally out of it. They do it because they know all of these actions create a huge positive externality for our shared environment and our community not just for the present but for a future
generation. So it's no surprise that members of this community stand very very strongly in support of the ordinance 2707-25 which would restrict gas power during the winter and summer months. So I would
like to read a very brief statement from the members of this group. Um, on behalf of Melbourne Time in Action, I urge you to support Ordinance 2707-25. This ordinance is a fair compromise that many residents have advocated over the past 5 years. It will make our
neighborhoods quieter, our air cleaner, and our environment healthier while still allowing GPLs during peak fall and spring cleanups. As a voter and a member of Melbourne Climate Action Group, a group of over 150 residents and students, I want you to know that we are
paying close attention to this issue and to your leadership. We believe this is the right thing to do for public health and our shared environment and we will remember which candidates support positive change in our community. Thank you for consideration and for standing
with residents who care about public health and the shared environment. Thank you. And I would like to hand over this letter which has already been signed by all members and the signatures keep coming in. Thank you. Thank you. Hi, I'm Eric Osman, longtime Short Hills
resident. Um I'm here again as a reminder with the reopening of the town hall plaza. Um, it's high time we honor the memory of Anthony Braa with a sign saying Anthony Brock away. We have the
technology to do that. Um, and I don't know what the holdup is, but with the reopening, I urge you to uh put this in place and we can invite uh Mrs. Brock and her family. Um, this is a man who real salt of the earth guy, died at 48
tragically. Um, I know Mayor Romano knew him, knew him well. Um, and I hope we can honor his memory. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening. I'm Robin Wenclaw. I'm a nearly 30-year resident of M
and I'm commenting on the proposed new ordinances regarding houses of worship. Uh the last house of worship um was established approximately 60 years ago in this town and since then there's only
been one application which began 30 years ago and that is for the high center and that is an Orthodox Jewish house of worship um which would
be the only Orthodox Jewish house of worship in East 30 years we've been trying to at a place to um an official house abortion. So, um
my concern is that uh Milurn Township has not really done anything to help the community establish this house of worship. And I'm wondering why Milburn is looking to adopt new ordinances that make it more difficult for house of
worship to be established, especially when the grandfathered houses of worship have received numerous variances be able to continue and have much less property than the one that uh is proposed for the high.
So unfortunately the only conclusion I can draw is that Nolurn discriminates against orthodox Jews. I don't know what else to say. 30 years. Um in addition um Buddhists got a
Buddhist center, you know, approval. Uh, I don't know if I don't think it was official house of worship, but to this day, Orthodox Jews do not have an official house of worship. And I'm trying to understand
why this board should continue to stonewall us. Is the only way that I can really, the only conclusion I can draw. And in addition, over the past 30 years
that we've been trying to do this, um the township through the zoning board, uh planning board now, and now the township committee has put every possible obstacle in our way to prevent an Orthodox Jewish house of worship to
be established. It is beyond upsetting to me obviously discriminatory and really goes against everything that this country stands for which was established because of freedom to worship
and as a longtime taxpayer I would really like to understand this better and I would like some answers on the tax committee. Thank you. [Music] give your name. Y my name iski.
It has not gone unnoticed that the township recently recently denied an application for house of worship under less restrictive zoning regulations than those currently being proposed. This raises a troubling question. How can these new more burdensome regulations be
reconciled with the spirit and letter of the religious land use and institutionalized persons act known as RUPA and longstanding New Jersey land use law both of which recognize how this worshiped as inherently beneficial use at war and protection. Raulupa was enacted specifically to
prevent local governments from opposing land use regulations that substantially burden religious exercise without a compelling justification. Increasing restrictions on religious institutions, particularly after having already been denied an application under
more linear rules, appears to run run counter to both the equal treatment and least restrictive mean standards outlined in federal law. What compelling government interest can Milbourne answer to a judge of why a house of worship needs a 50-foot buffer
when every house of worship in town not only does not have any 50-foot buffer, it doesn't have any buffer at all. Yet the new houses of worship who want to apply have to have a 50-ft buffer. That
would be a clear violation of rua. Is Milbour interested in helping houses of worship establish themselves in his town? Or are they more interested in just litigating and being in court fighting not one, not two, but maybe
three or more Rupa cases? How would Milbourne Township should be able to answer a judge of why a house of worship is required to have 25% lot coverage, not 35, which is currently on the books, when every other house of worship in
this town has coverage 65, 70, 75, 80, even 85 to 90% lock coverage. Yet any new house of worship that would like to establish themselves in town would only be allowed a 25% law coverage. That is a
clear violation of a rupa. In 2024, the DOJ sent letters to every municipality including Milbour instructing their professionals and township officials to be familiar with Raulupa. I asked this
board, are you familiar with Raul Lupa? Has your attorney advised you what a lupa is? Because introducing these new ordinances will only be challenged in court another time as a violation of alupa. Thank you.
Good evening. My name is Jeff in the poet section. As my custom I sent I incorporate by reference an email that I sent to you with various questions and chronology and various documents. Um I'm I'm basically going to be focusing on
some of the resolutions consent and non-conent. First on the bill list time we've seen a summary for um attorney was in April and that was for January and February. When will we see
the March um April and May time summaries for municipal attorney. Um on the non-conent agenda, there's an extension of a lease agreement between the town and Bering
field. I understand that. However, the extension is not attached. So, I don't know how fiduciaries could understand what the new terms are if it's not attached. Um, also I believe that when we did the first lease agreement because of the local lands and building law, we
approved it by ordinance. Why are we doing this by resolution? I don't believe in the municipal law resolution can amend a ordinance and I don't know why we're delegating all the ter ability the term um delegate negotiate the terms
and the mayor. I think you as fiduciaries of public trust had to approve the terms. Um the last one is regarding this redevelopment plan study. We're going out for an RFP. We really had to go back to what
happened most in 2008 when we did a study but we never did a plan and when we in March of 2021 when we contemplated uh uh going out for redevelopment studies and I think you might want an updated opinion from various
professionals. the professionals who were involved in March 2021 are no longer involved with this. Also, I think you should be telling us whether the redevelopment plan will have condemnation power. If the law has changed significantly since 2008 and
2011, I mean 2021, you know, such as like in West Orange where they had the library where the state supreme court said the building was not obsolete and whether we were going out and I think the public should know why at this time are we
going out for a redevelopment plan study for these properties um that are located by town hall. Um, also just finally, I give a little heads up. Um, there's an ordinance later talking about apartment definition uh definitions. Are we
closing the loophole that we closed last we found out last year where we had like four separate buildings with carports? Will that be um avoided that like on one single property that's not subdivided? There'll be four separate such um property, four separate buildings
connected by a carport. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Mike Scarland. I'm a Melbourne resident and I live in the Wyoming district. I'm here to support the uh seasonal restriction on the use of gas powered leaf blowers. Um
those of you who know the area, the Wyoming district, will know that the lot sizes are quite small. Uh sometimes I hear see two, sometimes three gas power leak blowers working one small lot. But it seems to me that that is massive overkill. Um it's makes it impossible to
work. I use my ears to work and to play. Um it's very difficult. Sometimes it feels like the US Army is out there on maneuvers. In fact, um I would really urge you guys to support this seasonal restriction because it seems to me it's a very reasonable one. Um and we all
like to think we're reasonable. I think this has been worked on really really well by all of the parties involved. um and fully in support of it because first of all alternative equipment and technology exists. It's out there so we can we can make use of it. That's a good
thing. Um and I think overall it's going to be um it's going to give residents some rest bite from the noise and the toxic smells and it's going to give landscapers a chance to experiment and adapt. So please adopt this proposal. It
would be great for everyone. Thank you. Thank you. Hi, I'm Anita Goldberg. I'm from the South Mountain area. Um, I'd like to thank the environmental committee for their hard work on the leaf blowing or I personally, as a teacher of the deck,
I'm aware of the noise pollution as well as the environmental pollution perpetuated by the gas blows. I'm also concerned for the safety of our children who walk to and from school and those who wait on the curbs for camping school
buses and and all those young children bicycling in our area. The blowers may obscure the sound of traffic compromise safety. The ordinance considers our health, safety, and quality of life outdoors as well as the livelihood of
lands. Please vote to support us. Thank you. Thank you. Hello. Good evening. I'm Guang. I am a long time Melbourne resident, a very active voter. And uh resolute uh
ordinance 2707 is very very important to me. I just want to publicly thank those who very carefully and respectfully crafted the ordinance. and I hope that you the committee will pass it um and
make Milbury one of the best township that can be. Um and thank you. Thank you. Hi, I'm Bart Gordon. I've lived in Milbourne for 32 years and I read the
minutes of a planning uh board meeting and I'm very concerned that a member of the planning board and the township committee uh in discussing why the Kai center plans weren't approved basically said that even if the the Kai center
agreed to make changes, we can't trust their credibility. We have proof that these people are not reliable and they will make the changes that they say they're they're going to is are you calling a Jewish organization
bunch of liars and that's why you don't want them any to expand in your town? I mean I've done construction on my house. I can't do anything. You can't take you can't do a step without someone from the town of app proving it. What are you referring to? What could this even
relate to except discrimination? And this is this is hatred. This is calling a a group of people liars. This is not what this town is about. And this really upsets me. Why is this person on
our planning board and our town committee? Thank you. Thank you. Hello. Uh, my name is David Jacobs and I'm a 19y year resident of the township. I'm a proud senior this week and so I'll fill
in my form. Um, I'm also I also work from home. Uh, I've lived in old short hills where lawns rule and so do the loud machines of landscapers in service of their clients. I've also lived in a smaller subdivision of historic Wyoming section
where there's less grass but many landscapers with the same equipment. The issue of noise is even more acute as we all know. Um businesses certainly do not uh do need to thrive but not always at the expense of quality of life issues.
Indeed, we know there's a careful balance. Needless to say, the gas powered leaf blowers do create an annoying quality of life issue in so many ways that we've all been talking about for quite some time. And in this case, there are alternatives.
I really would like to thank the EC. Uh they developed over a long period of time an inclusive approach to research the issue, create a reasonable compromise that will allow for a seasonal restriction of gas powered leaf blowers. and I want to give my full
support to the ordinance 2707-25. Thank you very much. Thank you. My name is Alan Rush. I'm a longtime Milbour resident and voter. My wife and I have lived in the Wyoming part of town for over three decades now. wonderful
place uh to live and we have very little to complain about. But there's one issue I do want to mention here. It's the noise and exhaust from the gas powered leaf blowers. So, I've been very happy to know about the proposed ordinance restricting their use and I wish to
encourage the members of the township committee to pass it. Actually, I wish the ordinance would be a year- round ban. Um, but at least as a seasonal prohibition, it will be a big improvement. Um, I think the noise from these things
I've experienced is so bad, it's hard to imagine their use has not already been violating existing noise laws, but I'm not familiar with that. There's also the exhaust fumes, which I can very clearly smell, as well as all the dust being
kicked up. This must be very unhealthy for the landscaping company. uh workers who I appear to never be wearing any hearing or breathing protection, nor can it be good for others in proximity, including neighborhood children and the
environment uh overall. So, I'm very much in favor of this ordinance being passed. Um and thank you, by the way, um for my own personal yard work, I use an electric uh uh leaf blower as well as a good old rake. Um and I need to thank
you very much. Thank you. Jonathan Baxter uh 12 years resident of short hills and I also work from home. Uh I'm here today to speak out against the uh leak well ordinance 207 270725.
And the issue is that there weren't alternatives considered not seriously anyway. one obvious alternative that would have satisfied requirements pretty much across the board which is low-noise gas blowers and we even had a bake off
a few weeks ago where we compared uh the noise levels of low-noise gas blowers and battery electric blowers and I have the results here I've sent them to the committee and there was no difference the literature supports that that there's no difference between low noise gas blowers all of the arguments
this is the original literature All of the arguments that people put forward about the noise of gas blowers are all concerned with the traditional high noise ones, not ones that have been specifically rated by the manufacturers to be low noise. In fact, in the bake off where we were promised by the environmental commission that there
would be a huge difference between a low noise gas blower and the battery electric blower indoors. In fact, the battery electric blower measured louder than the gas leak. I'm not saying that's significant. It wasn't a controlled test, but there was certainly no perceptible difference. So if you read the five whereas clauses that justify
this ordinance all of them are either false or misleading. Whereas the use of gas powder leaf blowers creates a health has the uses of such equipment and other township of Melbourne residents by releasing harmful carbon emissions and particulate matter into the air. Well, as far as particular matter goes,
electric blowers blow just the same amount of particulate matter. That's the point, right? So that doesn't distinguish them from a lone gas blower. And the carbon emissions well it's been analyzed by California air resources board that's the original literature it's a ne negligible effect
same for the next whereas which claims that increased levels of oxygen of nox carbon dioxide non-methane hydrocarbons directly contribute to a laundry list of is health issue that's true but the question is in the concentrations emitted by gas lease blowers is it
appears it a problem and it's not so that second one is just misleading where is the harmful emissions of gas powered leaf blowers can emit more than some truck. Again, the comparison is not relative to some other piece of equipment. The relevant comparison is against is is whether they actually
cause harm and the ECF side of no studies. There are no studies. There is no harm to the users of this equipment and therefore not to residents either. And then finally on the noise issue which is the last two whereas causes again for low noise gas blowers they
have the same noise levels as the battery electrics. in fact can be quieter than a battery electric blower. So none of the five whereas causes here are actually justified by the underlying literature and I think there might be a record to have five claims justifying an ordinance all of which are either false
or misleading. Thank you. Hello Peter Harrington. I'm a Milbourne resident in the short fields area and I bear just to further support the ordinance for creating that seasonal restriction on the use of gas power.
Um anything that can be done uh in this area to help with noise pollution and air pollution. Um, this is a big part that impacts all of our lives who live in the city of Milbour. So, it's a
benefit for everyone. As noted before, there's technologies that exist now to be able to do it. Uh, and I'd ask the committee, I know sometimes it's difficult to make decisions to change the status quo, but I think this is an
opportunity where uh, you can all help us move forward. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening. Um my name is Nathan Pande. I'm a resident of Milbour. Um three years uh in this beautiful town. Uh live by a river. It's beautiful. Um
I'm here in support of the ordinance 270725 uh supporting the seasonal restriction on the use of uh gas flows. Um um similar reasons to what the committee has been hearing this evening. um noise
pollution and the advancement of technology. I mean there is technology available now where you could um use these battery powered devices which last you long which can be quickly charged um which are probably healthier uh for the person who's operating it and is
probably lighter to use as well. So it's it's probably uh it's probably making for a better experience on the part of the landscape or doing the landscape as well. And by going with the seasonal approach, I mean the the lean months when we are suggesting that um you know
you don't use gas flowers are really the months when you're not seeing that much leaf movement anyway, right? So if if there are these devices which aren't going to need a tank full of gas or not have a tank full of gas, they could still pretty much last pretty long given that you're not, you know, raking out a
bulk of leaves during those seasons. So I believe it's a balanced compromise that takes into consideration the interests of our landscaping community as well as the interests of residents. So I just wanted to bring forth those points to the committee and thank you very much for taking up this bill this
cost. I appreciate it. Ed Maer, local resident. Um, like to just take a minute, first of all, to thank you for your uh service to the town. I'd like to comment on the proposed revisions to the uh house of
worship ordinance. Uh I believe that this is a discriminatory uh action that is being directed against only one potential house of worship that has tried to establish a house of worship in
this community more than 30 years. Uh Mrs. Bodilski uh referring to a letter from the Justice Department dated March 19, 2024 that was sent to every municipality in the country, including
presumably Milburn. Uh in this it uh reads in part, it heard testimony that houses of worship, particularly those of minority religions and startup churches were disproportionately affected in an adverse way. and in fact
were often treated worse than secular places of assembly by community centers etc. I think that uh certainly describes uh the high center and uh what has happened in this community uh that it's
been asked to uh even before this to meet a standard that uh no one else has been asked to do. Uh the letter goes on to date the to date the department has opened over 155 formal investigations
and has also filed 36 friend of court briefs addressing the interpretation and in application of ROA in privately filed lawsuits. Milbour has the distinction of being one of the few, if not the only
one, that was subject to both a uh longrunning uh private investigation by the uh justice department in Washington and also in Newark and also being the recipient of an amicus brief opposing uh
Milbourne's efforts to uh have a case dismissed. Uh Milburn spent uh several million dollars defending the uh DOJ investigation and uh it appears that there's going to
be significant exposure on the uh rejection of the uh current uh high appeal of the zoning board high center application. The current uh uh zoning that you have I
believe is violative of Brupa. This is only going to be even more violative of RUPA. I would suggest that you have this reviewed by your council and you have a uh detailed sitdown discussion with him
before you adopt this legislation, this ordinance. Thank you. Uh, good evening. Um, excuse my throat. Um, excuse me. My name is Bill Brazelle. I'm a resident of the South Mountain neighborhood here and a member of the environmental commission. Um, I'm also
rising to support the uh restriction, the evening restriction on the use of gas powered leaf blowers. Uh, this is a very reasonable restriction as has been discussed. Um, I just want to respond to the claims that have been made. Uh I have emailed the township committee
members about this uh the claims that low-noise gas blowers are somehow an adequate substitute. Um and to just let the commission know that when I tried to find one for a demonstration here in the state of New Jersey, I went all over New Jersey trying to find one that we could
use in our town for a demonstration and I went to the biggest rental landscape rental organizations in the state and they said, "Bill, we don't carry those. No one wants them." The reason no one wants them is they're more expensive than normal gas blowers and they're much
less powerful. So there's no point in owning them. Uh it's also not true at all that the studies that have been cited show no harm on the air pollution caused by these. Um I commissioned a doctor of toxicology to analyze uh the
statements that have been made by opponents to this ordinance and he found that they were clearly misleading. Uh I'll say just a few quick examples. Um one the claim has been made that there is negligible air pollution that is not damaging to people's health. Uh that is
not true. The results are actually clearly a public health concern as laid out by the California Air Resources Board. Um the report uh the opponent claimed that the mom's clean air force uh report was misleading when it said
that the operating gas powered leaf blowers uh could raise cancer risks. Uh the toxicology uh doctor said to me that uh operators of gas powered devices could indeed potentially double their
current cancer risks from the benzene and butadamine which are estimated uh to to raise it to 115 possible additional cancers per million that are exposed. Therefore, that quote is not misleading uh but can reasonably be interpreted
based on the California Air Resources Board. In addition, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has found that the sources of ozone precursors that are put out by gas powered leaf blowers uh are indeed the largest contributor to the state's ozone
problem. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection notes that ground level ozone is an air pollutant known to cause a number of health effects and negatively impact air quality in the environment in the state of New Jersey. It can irritate any set of lungs but anybody with lung related
deficiencies has to worry particularly. Uh thank you so much uh committee members. I know you thought a lot about this issue. Appreciate it. Thank you. Hello. Uh my name is Jim Fines. I'm a longtime South Mountain resident friend here from Wyoming South Mountains where
the houses are very close together. If I time it just right, they can hear a leaf blower for hours on end when the house is perfectly and I don't like to time it just right. Um I uh I majored in economics. This is
pollution. Pollution is what's called a negative externality. It's a um it's a bad byproduct. Legitimate economic activity sometimes produces lousy byproducts like a factory opening up on a river, dumping sludge into the river.
People that used to enjoy fishing and swimming can't anymore. Their quality of life goes down. This is what governments do. They regulate pollution for the good of all. Um, the factory owner may have to invest in filters and cleaners and
things like that, but it helps the quality of life of the entire community. Got to stop the bad byproduct. I'm happy to have followed Bill. You heard the kind of things that this committee did. Commissioning studies, talking to different uh people, finding
out what different products do. We take for granted a lot what these volunteer committees do. It's not sitting down and saying, "Geez, I wonder what a good ordinance would look like." They did a ton of research. They held tons of meetings. They did a lot of work and they came up with a compromise. I would
love to never hear another leaf blower again in my life. I'm I'm willing I am more than happy to settle for a threemonth respit during the summer. I think it's very fair. I think it's reasonable. And I think it solves a lot of uh a lot of the pollution and noise
problems that we've been talking about. Um, I'll just close by. We all love quiet. We all love clean air. I don't think there's an argument about something like that. And, you know, going out on my deck in the morning, piping hot cup of coffee and my
newspaper, and hearing the birds chirp with a little Merlin app on so I know what birds they are. There's nothing better. And I am not calling me crazy, but I am not at that moment hoping for a jackhammer to open up next door. really
it's it's something we all love. I think I think you can at least sympathize with that and I think at least I hope you will vote for this. Thank you very much. I can't reach this so maybe I will be loud enough. I'm Radika, a Wyoming
resident and have been coming to this township to make a comment on this ban on leaf gas leaf blowers since probably over 5 years. So there's nothing new that I want to say today again to say
that I am for this restriction. Please make a vote for the environment in Melbourne. And I really would appreciate if we can all think about the environment and people's health and uh vote for a ban today. Thank you.
Hi, my name is Rabbi Benowski, resident 33 years of Mil Township and I work in town too. I'm here uh because of uh the ordinance Mr. Sakamandi indicated earlier was going to be considered. I'm
also here first to stand up for an insult that was given in public to a member of the township committee's professionals, the engineer Martha, who I have found over the 30 years that well we've been dealing with her to always be not only professional but also
knowledgeable. And um I'll quote from the official minutes. I also have serious concerns about the accuracy and efficacy of the professionals that are supposed to be working on behalf of this board. That is a quote by Mr. Sakamandi.
I believe he should probably have um recused himself from the uh obvious an obvious bias there. Um I will say I will say that the township as Mr. Maser said
earlier as spent millions of dollars taxpayer money and there is a song that goes there were 10 little ones in a bed one said roll over they all rolled over one fell out and it counts down it's song what tends to happen or all too
often is you have 1 2 3 four gad flies get up and they say things they're not informed they live mile and a half to two and a half miles away and then somebody decides well Indian orphans to fix that because they appear time in
time out they take two bites of the apple they come to the planning board meeting they come to the township committee meeting to make up stuff and then Mr. to second he can say it's been proven. It has not been proven that we are unreliable. Nobody spoke to me. Nobody asked me what my side of the
story was and it's frankly liable um bordering and liel anyway. And I'm here because I realized that if you don't get up and make a fuss, you don't exist in Mr. Sangamandi's view anyway. So, I'm here to put my foot down to tell you
that it's on an evening when we hear that the judge is about to slap Milbour with a huge, huge loss. And I'm not in favor at all by any stretch of the imagination of the fair share housing in the dump. illconceived, ill advised,
plus a lot of money. You guys are about to do it again. And the question is, who is running the ship? Who is in charge of this boat? Thank you. [Music]
Good evening. Leah Cruz, 25 year shorts resident. I agree with Mayor Romano. I love the meeting where the police get their awards. When I see them up here, I'm so grateful for their service. And as Frank said, um, crime is down. I don't have facts regarding that, but it
does feel like it's down and so that's a great thing. But I have to ask about the police bladder. It's been one month and there has been no update as crime is down as you said, but I'm sure it's not down where there's nothing to report. So I do check and I just
wonder, you know, why it's just not done on a consistent basis. Thank you. Thank you, Gene Pastnac, resident. Um, I want to agree with Eric Austerman on Nebraska Plaza naming. I think that's a great idea and I hope it happens. Uh, also on
the police study, I have a question. Um, I don't understand why there was an elimination of getting public input on the study. I still didn't hear a clear explanation as to why that was eliminated. Um, and also the train station uh, Short Hills train station project. What form will public input
take? Uh, I have that question. Um I also want to say that um I want to commend the planning board for their thoroughess, their flexibility. They're going far beyond the norms for applicants before them with the application by high center. They met for
over a year uh on that application. They allowed multiple submissions and reubmissions. It was very difficult for members of the public who were interested to follow uh all these revisions that were done based on uh directions given to the applicant by uh
the various um experts and members of the planning board. They allowed uh them to uh go toward a conforming application. It was the applicant's choice not to uh go with those all those recommendations and therefore it did not
conform and it did not pass. uh it is their job to adhere to our master plan as a land use board and that is exactly what they did and I thank them as a resident. I also am very troubled to hear um a a leader in our community and
our religious community the rabbi who just spoke calling members of this community gadfly to come and choose to uh speak both before yourselves as well as the planning board and uh get labeled as such. That is not what I would call neighborly. Thank you.
Good evening everyone. My name Yeah. Good evening everyone. My name is Veneta, resident in 101 Old Har Road. I'm here to talk about the proposed ordinance for gas blowers being removed. uh as you are aware about it after the
pandemic and people returning back to work the I live on the main county road that connects uh 78 to 280 and there has been lot of gas uh vehicles that travels on this road. Uh typical size of a gas
blower is 150 cc to 300cc and most of these vehicles are like four cylinders 2.4 4 liters and as high as like 4150 or 250 or 350 that go up to 4.5 L. So you're talking like a scale that is
enormous that is there although it is a step in the direction to conserve environment protect the people who are working. I think so like that is the function of uh federal authorities such as EPA who are going to look into these
aspects and pass related measures. Um as a precursor to banning of u gas blows for these specific time periods would also the committee members consider certain roadblocks to be put in so that there is going to be a reduction in
traffic that would improve the life or quality of life for people living on old shorts or on Melbourne Avenue. So what starts as a an idea and being a proposal for renewal of gas lure
although it is um friendly as well as environmentally patronaging but we've seen that in the long term run is like trying to put out a hand to stop a tsunami. Thank you. Have a nice day.
Good evening everyone. Richard Cyber local resident. Uh I just have a few questions not comments. Um are landscapers allowed to work on Sunday in town? Um the landscapers in town have to be
licensed to work in this town. Garbage cans. Are they put out the night before and the next day when the garbage is picked up? How long do people have put the garbage cans back behind their house? Is it one day, two days? Three days
reported. And I just want to second the I hope for today's Tuesday and we have a local sign maker according to township deputy mayor
Michael Cohen then it would be a nice surprise to see Rockaway posted for the opening of the weekend music. Thank you. Thank you.
Good evening, township committee members. My name is Matt Growler. I'm a township resident and member of the environmental commissioner at EC. I'm here in support of leaf blower ordinance 2707. This ordinance is a compromise. It's only a seasonal restriction. It has the
full support of the EC, which does not now nor in the near future support implementing a year- round ban. The EC learned from the best practices and pitfalls of over 200 communities nationwide with leaf blower laws. These
include big cities like Baltimore, Miami, Washington DC, but more importantly for Milbour, they include upscale communities like Scarsdale, New York, Greenwich, Connecticut, both of which have the top ranked schools in their states. They have very large
properties, very expensive homes, and they also have seasonal restrictions on gasard leaf blowers. Six New Jersey towns have laws on the books with seasonal restrictions. Glenidge, Morristown, uh Princeton, and South
Orange, and there are two with uh year round vans, Mont Clair and Maple. The EC specifically avoided the failures of Summit's short-sighted pilot project and West Orange's difficult enforcement and
phased in full ban. This ordinance is a compromise for landscapers and residents. It simply seeks to limit the use of gas power leaf blowers when they are used the least, the winter and the summer, but it still
allows them when they're used the most, the fall and the spring. Lastly, I just want to comment on the leaf blower demonstration from May. The use of so-called leaf uh low-noise leaf blowers is not a viable solution. They're more expensive. They're not
widely available. They're as polluting as other gas models. And they still emit low frequency sound that penetrates homes. A good analogy for the frequency issue is a loud radio from a passing car. At a distance, you can hear and you
can feel the loud thumping bass, which is low frequency, but you can't understand the lyrics, which are high frequency, and they dissipate over distance. The bass travels far. It passes through windows just like the low frequency sound from the leaf blowers
and that causes residents to complain. This is also about pollution. The pollution from these engines emit PM2.5. We just had um bad air quality days. That comes from PM2.5. Do we want more pollution or do we want
residents to enjoy peace and quiet? Do we want residents to enjoy summer barbecues? Do we want them to do homework at home or do their business at home? Please support cleaner and quieter winters and summers by supporting this
ordinance. Thank you. two online. Good. Good evening. You're muted. Hello. Hi. How's that? That's perfect. I'm sorry. I'm in the car because I had to pick up my daughter. My name is uh
Jonathan Shrank and I own a local lawn maintenance service company in your municipality that services approximately 59 to 60s something homes and um I'm not
going to get into the back and forths of the arguments on pollution and sound and this and whether or not there's effective alternatives to gas versus electric. I urge you to consider putting
it on the ballot and let the residents decide for themselves and not have to decipher all the back and forths and the allegations and claims. I can talk to you about some of the claims myself, not
within three minutes, obviously. So, um I emailed all of my clients in your municipality. Hopefully, they'll be reaching out, but um rather than go with the back and
forth, just let the people decide and put it to vote if it's something that they feel it is because there will be an impact that every everybody's trying to downplay it, but there will be an impact. So, if they're okay with the
impact, there's a um you know, risk versus rewards sort of a thing. Let them decide if they want that. Okay, that's it. Thank you. Thank you so much.
mute. Hi everyone. Start video. Is your camera on? Yep. Yep. There we go. Hi everyone. Hi, I'm Regina Truit. I live in Short Hills on Heartturn Drive and I am zooming in from my childhood bedroom. I'm actually out of town for a family memorial service,
so forgive the pink walls. Um, I'm uh zooming in tonight to express uh several concerns about the proposed ordinance 2707-25 and also to dispel the myth that this is a partisan issue. I think this uh I think I'm about to uh dispel that. Um,
yeah. So, my concerns begin with, um, while this ordinance, um, which I hope you're still open-minded about, is well intended intentioned, I think there are unintended consequences that need to be considered. Uh, landscapers will need to purchase and maintain new blowers in
spite of the seasonal restriction. They will still need something for the summer and winter. Um, and they'll need, of course, batteries, which will wear out over time with repeated charging and discharging. Additionally, the completion of each salon will take longer due to the time needed to
recharge batteries and the decreased efficiency of battery operated equipment. The cost of new equipment, charging, and increased man-hour will be passed on to homeowners. Um the financial uh hardships will of course be particularly burdensome for those uh
residents of our township that are on fixed income such as senior citizens. Uh yard debris is a year-round concern. Um it's an issue that has both health and safety implications. In the spring and summer, vegetable and plant material
can create fire fire hazards. During the hot, dry months, harbor ticks, including those that carry Limeme disease, increase mold, and hinder the evaporation of standing water where mosquitoes breed. The safety imperative of removing debris from paths, walkways,
and steps in warm weather is obvious, as is the need for blowing snow and ice in the winter. Um, at present, no matter what you've heard, there is no electric or battery operated leaf blower that offers the same sustained power and
durable capabilities of units using a combustion engine. While we all might wish otherwise, the facts are what they are. The alternative technology doesn't yet exist. Hopefully, it will someday, but we're not there. As for the concerns with noise, lawnmowers, snowblowers,
chainsaws, generators, I think someone mentioned a jackhammer, construction equipment, and outdoor summer evening parties are also loud, but I hope the next move won't be to ban these as well. In addition, as sound waves are reflected and absorbed and dissipate over distance, the noise from leaf
blowers can vary based on lot size and the number of blowers operating at the same time. The presence of solid barriers such as walls, structures, building fences, etc., and trees further decrease the decibb that actually reach your ears. Unless you're standing outside next to a blower, you may be annoyed, but your hearing will not be
damaged. Um, further, if the battery operated blowers um are mandated, if gas powered blowers are are are forbidden in a seasonal manner. I'm sorry you're I'm sorry. All right, I'll email you. Thank
you. Now close public. Are we going to have a discussion period on the guest list that rabbit hole at this point? The only the only comment I have and you know I'm sitting here listening to uh
some of the uh comments on Rupa and and others. You know Milbour should not be a place where anyone feels uh that they're being treated unfairly or uh uh feel any modum of hate. Just want to put that on
the record. Um I haven't confirmed or going down and seeing all the marks etc. But uh you know right now we're about community. There's a lot that brings us all together and it starts with our children and our neighbors and community
why we all moved here. So I just want to make sure we all remember that when we're discussing these topics because we are a family in Milber Hills. We're going to talk about the guest leakers later. I had stuff to say there.
I certainly agree with Mola and the zoning ordinance that we're considering is for it's not for particular it's for conditional uses. So it's religious institutions that are building and schools that are building in a residential zone. It would not
apply in a commercial zone and that was the crux of a lot of the argument as a family. So I just wanted to clear that committee. All right. So
I I want to be clear so that everyone hears it directly from me. Milbour does not discriminate against anyone based on their religion. That means the planning board doesn't discriminate against anyone based on their religion. the township committee
doesn't discriminate against anyone based on their religion and I think the individuals that came up and made claims to the contrary are misguided. Um so I'm going to address some of this. Um Miss Blumenthal, you indicated that for the past 30 years
the high center has been trying to build a house of worship. Yes, that is true. However, you failed to mention is that every one of the applications the high center has put before the township have had problems.
When you tried to build on Milbour A, they would have required dozens of variances and presumably the applicants knew that going into it. They bought a piece of property that was not the right size and they tried to build something too big
for that size of property. So the planning uh the zoning board I think rejected that at the time. Then it's my understanding that the applicant came back with an even larger design. Uh and the zoning board again rejected that.
Fast forward to the past eight months. Uh the high center came and presented an application to the planning board. They claimed it was fully conforming. It turns out it wasn't. It did not conform with our buffer requirements. the applicant was given every single opportunity to make changes. I can't
remember the time that we've had an application in front of the planning board that was allowed to submit as many provisions as this one did. The planning board bent over backwards trying to accommodate this application. And in the end, it came down to the fact that the applicant was unwilling to erect a
properly sized fence and build a proper bunker. So that was denied. So to say that the township or the planning board or the zoning board or any of the township committee members are biased against
them is ludicrous. If you simply follow the rules and follow the ordinances, then you can build what you want to build. But you have to do so within the boundaries of the zoning code. Um, additionally, the changes that we're making to the zoning code tonight are
not designed to target any individual, uh, any religion, anything like that. The reason that we're making these changes is because we have identified deficiencies in the zoning code that affect single family neighborhoods. Okay? If you have a commercial building
or a building that looks like a commercial building going into a single family residential neighborhood, you want to make sure that there's proper buffers between that commercial building and the residences. Why should individuals who are in a single family
neighborhood and bought into that single family neighborhood um knowing it was going to be a single family neighborhood be subjected to headlights coming into their windows at at all hours from parking lots? It's it's just it doesn't make sense and we shouldn't allow it and that's why we're going to update our
zoning code. Um, additionally, I'd like to point out that many of the existing houses of worship in town predated the residences around them. That's just a simple fact. They were here before the houses were around them. So, when the houses were erected and people moved
into those houses, they moved into those houses knowing what was in the neighborhood. Right? But if you have a commercial building all of a sudden being dropped into a residential neighborhood, that's going to cause some consternation amongst the residents. Uh and we need to make sure that our zoning
codes are designed to protect against uh you know unnecessary uh encroachment on these single family residences. If you wanted to build a conforming house of worship, go right ahead. Just make sure it follows the zoning codes. It's quite
simple. Um, all right. We're going to talk about the leaf blowers in a bit, so I will uh defer on that. Um, and Mr. Horn, um, I believe you misqued me. I think you should go back to the transcript of that planning board
meeting, and I believe you should rewatch the video. uh because if I recall what was said at the meeting was that evidence was presented that may call into question the credibility of the applicant and testimony was given
that may call in to question the credibility of the applicant. Um so before you go mission uh members on this day make sure you have all your facts correct. That's all I have to say. Thank you. Thank you.
Um no comments. I I do have comments on the leap low orders, but I'll save those. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Thank you, mayor. Uh there was a question for a resident regarding uh resolution 25-169,
which is the uh extension of the lease. Um that lease was adopted by ordinance 2652-23. It was a two-year term within the very terms of lease are provided for a 5-year extension. Um all the terms remain the same. the rent is 2,000 a month. Um, and
the rest remain unchanged. Um, the case law was clear that if a term or extension is provided for and approved by an ordinance, you only need a resolution to ex to execute that extension. Um, so that's why it's being done by resolution tonight and that's why there was no substantial
negotiations done. Those negotiations those negotiations took place when the original lease was adopted and this 5-year exemption was negotiated into that lease. Um, as far as garbage, um, I don't that was a serious question, but I think it was. Um, all garbage
receptacles, I still code is 14-2.2 are to be put out no earlier than 6 p.m. on the day before garbage pickup, and they're to be returned the same day in which the garbage is picked up. So, it's 6 p.m. the day before, and the day in
which they're picked up, the receptacles are supposed to be brought back. And that's 14-2.2 2 and 2.3. As far as landscaping activities, they're currently restricted in our code to weekdays from 8 to 7. Um,
Saturdays 9 to 5. Um, Sundays, the only people who can perform landscaping activities on Sundays are an owner occupant or a relative of the owner occupant of the residence. And so that's that's our what our current code
states for those few questions. I'm not going to say one thing. I forgot to add one thing. Anthony Brockway, I believe that three of at least three of the TC members um supported the uh the renaming of the ceremonial naming of
Town Hall Plaza to Anthony Brockway. So, um perhaps Mr. McDonald when it's time uh it's his turn could could explain to us what the timeline will be to get that accomplished or what steps are required for this township committee to take if
any uh to move that. Thanks. Anyone else? I don't know if we intended to make that a permanent sign. I think maybe just something I don't know. I maybe I I thought that maybe the
committee installer could go back to explore and see if they want to do something that it's not going to be done this weekend because this weekend's right. So something just ceremonial. I'm in full agreement that something should be done. Not, you know, I I think people
conflicted a ceremonial uh way to celebrate a man who has an infectious smile. A picture of this actually popped up on my Facebook with with a great family that grew up here in Boring Pro town. So with a rename street
whatever needs to be done, I can do it. Well, somebody has to just like kind of come up with an idea of what you want to do. So I believe in other towns they they have the official street name stay as it is below it they didn't put the ceremonial name and I believe that's
what we had discussed kind of permanent I don't think it should be permanent we could we could authorize it for a year and then reevaluate after I would I would just caution the township committee um and I'm not making any judgment about the individual order but
if you are going to go down this particular the road, I would suggest that you come up with some sort of policy or some sort of standard in which you are going to make future decisions regarding the naming or the ceremonial naming or memorial naming of the street.
Um because you will deal with this request on a consistent basis. Yeah. Great. So, why don't we empower Alex to come up with that uh with that with that process of what needs to be done with the positives, negatives, and and you
know, this correct evaluation. Other counts do this. It's not like you'd be the first. So, take a look at what they do and what their policies are to give us some insight as to what option may be available. I know Livingston does it because I've seen so that would be a good place to Yeah.
Again, I I think you just I think my my my my thought process is that you should have some sort of um process or or standard in which you're addressing uh requests like this, right? So, let's
just create the process and we'll follow it through and see where it goes. But just like honor him and his wife, right? That would be part of the process. The township committee will now consider
consent consent agenda resolution. Are there any comments from the committee in regard to any items listed on the consent agenda? They have a motion to approve resolution 25-157 through resolution 25-166 and resolution 25-171
which are listed under consecutive move a second please deputy mayor Cohen yes Mr. Costco yes Mr. Sakamandi yes Mr. Stler. Mayor Romano. Yes. Thank you. Are there any comments from the committee in
regard to resolution 25-167? I have a motion to approve resolution 25-167. May I have a second? Second. Deputy Mayor Cohen. Yes. Mr. Cosgrove. Yes. Mr. Mandy. Yes. Mr. Stler.
Affirmative. Mayor Romano. Yes. Are there any comments from the committee in regard to resolution 25-168? I have a motion to motion. May I have a second? Yes. David Costco. Roll call vote, please. Deputy Mayor
Cohen. Yes. Mr. Costco. Yes. Mr. Sakamandi. Yes. Mr. Stoler. Permanent. Mayor Romano. Yes. Are there any comments from the committee in regard to resolution 25-169? I have a motion to approve resolution 25-169.
So move. May I have a second? Second. Roll call vote, please. Secret mayor comment. Yes. Mr. Costrell. Yes. Mr. Sak. Yes. Mr. Mayor Romano. Yes. Are there any comments from the committee in regard to the resolution 25-17?
They have a motion to approve resolution 25-170. So move. I have a second. Second. Roll call vote, please. Deputy Mayor Cohen. Yes. Mr. Cosro. Yes, Mr. Sakamandandy. Yes, Mr. Stler. Mayor Romano. Yes. Can Secondmen, you
are scheduled to sponsor Ordinance 2707-25. I would like to present an ordinance entitled ordinance number 2707-25, an ordinance to amend and supplement the revised general ordinances of townships of Melbourne, chapter
uh XD II um environmental regulations to add article 18.4 seasonal restriction of gas powered leaf blowers. Um, so I'm just going to briefly explain the purpose of this ordinance. Write a little something. So, uh, colleagues,
neighbors, and friends, well, actually save that. Um, the purpose of this ordinance, uh, is to introduce a seasonal restriction on gas power leaf blowers. Um, it's a it's a compromise and and we'll we'll get into the pluses and minuses of that in a moment, but I
think you all know what it's for. Um, so that's what it is. 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 hearing and final
passage on Tuesday, July 15, 2025. Please be advised that the public hearing of this ordinance will be held at the Milbourne Education Center located at 434 Milbourne Avenue. We have a second. Well, don't we discuss
Oh, do we have to? You can send get a second second discussion. All right. Colleagues, neighbors, and friends, over the past year and a half, I have been working closely with the environmental
commission on the gas powered leaf board issue. We've heard from dozens of residents, landscapers, and business owners. When Benon and I ran for township committee, we promised to take meaningful action on gas powered leak flows. Listening is part of that promise, and what I heard was clear.
People want relief from the noise and fumes, but they also want a solution that is practical for property owners and the hardworking landscape crews who keep motoring beautiful. Tonight's ordinance is that solution. Instead of motorb, it creates a seasonal pause only
during the two stretches when blowers are used the least. January 1st, March 15th, and Memorial Day to Labor Day. During the heavy cleanup months of spring and fall, gas powered blowers remain allowed, but with reasonable hours, 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., and on
weekdays, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Uh, on weekends, emergency waiverss are available when storms hit, and the Department of Public Works keeps its fall collection tools. The language of the ordinance before you reflects this balance. It reflects a compromise. Now,
you may ask, why are we tackling this issue to begin with? And the answer is twofold. First, health and air quality. Two-stroke engines vent roughly 30% of their fuel unburned. In under an hour, one backpack blower can emit more nitrogen oxides and fine particullet.
To be clear, particulates coming from the exhaust, not not out of the blower. Uh fine particulates in a pickup truck driving hundreds of miles. These pollutants are tied to asthma, cardiac disease, and cognitive decline, and they hit our seniors the hardest. Second,
noise. A low frequency roar of gas blowers punches through walls and windows and carries blocks. Electric blowers have a higher frequency sound, and that fades quickly with distance. That's why at 7 a.m. you can hear a gas powered leaf blower three straights away. Three
streets away even when the windows are shut. Are quieter gas models the answer? Well, even these so-called low-noise gas blowers still run on the same two-stroke gas technology. They pollute. They pollute the same as the high of their
high-noise brethren, and they cost more than the units they replace. A decel limit would be nearly impossible to enforce fairly. So, it's not a viable solution. We're also not the first to take action on gas powered leaf blowers. More than 200 cities nationwide have some form of
restriction, including Annapolis, Portland, Washington DC, and six of our New Jersey neighbors. Morristown voters approved a 9-month prohibition by referendum last year, and Maplewood and Montlair now have full bands. Commercial grade battery blowers now match gas
units in air speed and cubic feet per minute, and they have a fast payback because batteries cost less over time than gallons of gasoline and carburetor repairs. Our ordinance encourages state, county, and local rebate programs, and we are working on creating a landscaper
registry so crews get clear, timely information. This ordinance also uh provides for enforcement that educates first. The first violation earns only a warning. Fines gradually escalate and extreme weather can trigger a temporary suspension so yards can be
made safe. Finally, let me address the elephant in the room. If we reject this compromise tonight, the question does not disappear. It will likely move to the ballot box. Morristown's experience shows that voters, when asked, go further than what is before us this
evening. Their ref uh their referendum was for a 9-month ban. A referendum would bring Milburn a much longer, even permanent ban. Joining together around this ordinance means cleaner air, quieter summers, and predictable rules that give every stakeholder time to adapt. I believe the seasonal
restriction ordinance is fair and measured. It's a compromise that keeps faith with both the concerns of the EC members and environmental advocates and the concerns of landscapers and homeowners in town. I respectfully urge my fellow committee members to vote yes. Let's move forward thoughtfully,
sustainably, and together. Thank you. Thank you, mayor. I support the ordinance as well. Um, I've thought long and hard about it. Uh, and I truly appreciate all the emails I've gotten on both sides of the equation, the conversations I've had with people about
it and the research and and all the work that's been done by both sides. Uh, I cut my own lawn still. I have my own gas blower. I have an electric one as a boom bell. I can tell you from my personal experience, my electric one is quieter, but that's that's me listening to it in
the air. Um, but but on balance, I think this is a compromise. Um, and I think it's a good compromise that the ones when you really need that the extra power, uh, you can use these. Um, and so on balance, I understand both sides. I
think I do support it. Thank you. committ. Sure. Um, so, so this topic and I know it, you know, it it has strong emotions on both sides and I've sat with everyone. I like
to do the work. I like to roll my sleeves. Uh, it truly was is a compromise. Um, you know, the whole idea of driving a Ford Raptor from Texas to Alaska is the same detriment that blowing a gas leak blower for half hour is ridiculous. It's not true. uh you're
not going to not going to create more damage to our environment and you know I spoke to people in that etc. But that's not the decision we're making where how do we meet a fair compromise to have the peace and the quiet as well as a
forward thinking lead New Jersey with good good positions. When we I sat with Mr. er and and Renee and Bill and I talked about it. We did three things to get me to to really come around. One is we tightened the period in the summer
from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Uh instead of having an elongated summer, uh we tightened that uph quite a bit, especially when a lot of us residents are on vacation. Um, additionally, uh, we changed a couple of the wording
on responsible parties and who would be responsible for the fees or the penalties or the fines. Uh, and, you know, if the landscaper is not complying, it's on them, not on the resident. Uh, I thought it'd be unfair
to to punish a resident when they really don't know what the what the the landscaper is doing. And then third was to explore economic um uh incentives for landscapers to be able to purchase or have incentives or have help uh moving
to some of this equipment even, you know, for the summer months and then for the winter months. Uh I even took it so far as to go out and buy three batterypowered blowers and compare them to my gas blower. Uh the 40 volt was the
most expensive by far, probably the most powerful thing I've had in my hand, much more than my gas blower. Uh however, it was expensive and it lasted not a long time. The 20 volt and the 12vt uh 20 volt was was in constant didn't work and
the 12 volt absolutely didn't work. Uh, but for blowing off small amounts of debris in the summer months, I've never seen anyone in my life use a snow blower or a a leaf blower in the winter. I just haven't. Um, and I do live in a Wyoming
section. Um, so for all those reasons, I'm I'm gonna I'm going with it. I love, you know, Anita and put up with their children. I look in their faces when we go to the clubs, the plants settled, etc. uh it's generating a lot of energy for our community uh and we're setting a
good precedent going forward. Uh and it's not a ban, it's a seasonal restriction on the use of of blowers and and you know in terms of uh further enforcement, things along those lines. I think that has to be looked at. But um
I'm going to support First of all, I know how to count and I can see we're at 30. Um, it would be it would be um, you know, I recognize the passion on on both sides of this issue. Um, but it would be wrong to say I don't have reservations. I I attended the
leafblower comparison and I was standing next to someone tonight, Mr. Bambber. I looked over his shoulder. the readings were the same and anecdotally I did not hear a difference. I also I also um I have some
concerns about forcing the uh people that do their own landscaping to go out and buy another set of equipment, you know, to impose that on them. Um, I don't feel that way about the uh the landscaping companies because chances
are if they're doing work in um in in town, they're also doing work in Maplewood and they probably have that equipment anyway. And if they raise their prices, that's the market will settle whether that's justified or not. However, um you know, I I think maybe
what Mr. Frank said, putting it putting it up for the for the to a referendum and it doesn't have to be more restrictive. The referendum could be anything we want it to be. Um, you know, maybe that's a better answer, but you know, and the per for the purposes of tonight, uh, you know, I think this is
going to go ahead and allow vote in favor of it. Um like committee like uh Deputy Mayor Cohen said um this is it is a it's a tough decision because it's going to affect you know 6300 households. Um not
everyone does their own law on lawns but a lot of people do do their own lawns. So, um, it it is a tough decision and, uh, for anybody that thought that I was the hold out or that it was political or it was partisan, none of that is true because I really did. I was torn. I went
I was back and forth with it the whole time. So, um, I'm going to support it on the first reading and, um, you know, let's hope that it it all uh, it all goes well. So, okay. Roll call, please. Deputy Mayor Cohen. Yes. Mr. Costco.
Yes. Mr. Sakamandandy. Yes. Mr. Stler. Mayor Romano. Yes. We announce public. Yes. would like to present an ordinance entitled ordinance number 2708-25
ordinance amending and supplementing the township of Milburn development regulations and zoning ordinance. Um so this this change is a change to our zoning code uh to
take care of some deficiencies that existed in the code. Uh what it will do is it'll protect residential um residential homes from having commercial buildings drop in without
proper wipers. uh and uh you know it'll also prevent commercial buildings and residential zones from being way too big. Um so it's something that I think um we will all all welcome. Um, you
know, we are a fully developed town, but as we see, sometimes, you know, lots get acquired, things get torn down, and then something new goes in its place. And we need to make sure that our ordinances are protecting our our uh our residents
uh from from having giant monstrosities right next to them. And uh this ordinance goes a long way to meeting up those zoning deficiencies. Um, so 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 and the item and for hearing and final passage on Tuesday, July 15th, 2025. Please be advised the public hearing of this ordinance will be held at the Milbourne Education Center located at 434 Milurn Avenue.
May I have a second? Second. Roll, please. I just want I just want to point out too that the purpose of this ordinance also was to clear up some ambiguities because you know and and to put an end to some subjectivity as to whether something was
okay or not okay in the planning board. It was the intent here was to make things clear and I think that's what this does coming out of the zoning code review committee. So yeah, I just also want to say that in addition to u voting for introduction
and for public hearing, you also be referred to the planning board for me consistency as part of this vote. Yes. Roll. Deputy Mayor Cohen. Yes. Mr. Cosro, yes. Mr. Sakamandi, yes. Mr. solar.
Yeah, I I've been traveling a lot. I've been traveling a lot. I've not had a chance to roll my sleeves and go through it with a fine tooth comb. So, I'm going to abstain until I get a chance to actually review it and understand what the actual drivers are. No one called me on it to to be prepared for a sign. I apologize, but I need to understand all
the moving pieces and there seems to be a lot of negativity surrounding it. So, I need to understand it and do the work before I vote on it. Mayor Romano. Yes. Deputy Mayor Cohen, you are scheduled to sponsor 2709-25.
I would like to present an ordinance titled ordinance number 2709-25 capital ordinance of the township of Milburn in the county of Essex, New Jersey, authorizing the making of various public approvements and acquisitions in by and for the township
appropriating therefore the sum of 1,36,000 and providing that such sum so appropriated shall be raised from the capital improvement fund of the township. Um, and just to give you some examples of what's going on, there's there's money going toward the fire
department for new fire apparatus to the department of public works for new apparatus there as well. The police department for new police equipment and machinery and the rec department for again more equip equipment and machinery. So all capital projects
across the various departments. Now, uh, I move that this ordinance be taken up and passed on the first reading and that the township clerk be authorized to have the ordinance published in accordance with the law of the item and for hearing and final passage on Tuesday, July 15, 2025. Please be advised of public
hearing of this ordinance will be held at the Milbert Education Center located at 434 Milurn Avenue. May have a second. Second roll. Deputy Mayor Cohen. Yes. Mr. Costro.
Yes. Mr. Sakamandandy. Yes. Mr. Stler. Mayor Romano. Yes. Committee and Stone are scheduled to sponsor ordinance 2710-25. Thank you. I'd like to present an ordinance entitled Ordinance number 2710-25 capital ordinance of the township of
Milbourne in the county of Essex, New Jersey, authorizing the making of various improvements and acquisitions in by and for the parking utility of the township appropriated there for the sum of $200,000 and providing that such sum so appropriated shall be raised from the parking utility capital improvement
fund. Um, as it states, uh, it's used to support the utility fund. So, um, any question? 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 and the item and for hearing and
final passes on Tuesday July 15th 2025. Please be advised that the public hearing of this ordinance will be held at the Milbour Education Center located at 434 Milbourne Avenue. May I have a second? Second. Roll call vote, please. Deputy Mayor Cohen. Yes. Mr. Costco.
Yes. Mr. Sakamandi. Yes. Mr. Stler. Mayor Romano. Yes. Thank you. Ordinance number 2705-25, an ordinance to amend and supplement the revised general ordinances of the township of Milbourne, chapter 2 of Spoon, article 2-16.9,
offduty employment of police officers for public related activities. The purpose of this ordinance to is to amend 2-16.9 offduty employment of police officers for police related activities. Specifically, subsection D, rates of
compensation, administrative fees, and paying for service. This minor change will increase the rate of pay for all off duty officers as it relates to security functions to increase participation in this category by being more in line with rates of pay for other offduty functions. Tonight is the time
to set the public meeting, public hearing, and final passage as advertised in accordance with law. Declare the hearing over. I move that this public hearing be closed and the ordinance be adopted on final reading and the township per directed to public the ordinance by
title as passed on final reading in accordance with law. May I have a second? Second. Roll call, please. Deputy Mayor Cohen. Yes. Mr. Cosgrove. Yes. Mr. Sakamandandy. Yes. Mr. Stler. Mayor Romano. Yes. Deputy Mayor Cohen,
you scheduled to sponsor 2706-P5. I present for consideration the ordinance entitled ordinance 2706-25 ordinance amending and supplementing the township of Milburn development regulations and zoning ordinance. Tonight is the time step for the public
hearing and final passage as advertised in accordance with law. Um and just to note um this is the one with definitions that define apartments and multi what multifamily means. In answer to a question that was raised uh a building
such as the one with four four units only connected by a carport would not uh would not be allowed under this order. Thank you. [Music] I declare open. Okay. I move that the public hearing be
closed and the ordinance be adopted on final reading and that the township clerk be directed to publish this ordinance by title as passed on final reading in accordance with law. May I have a second? Second. Roll call. Vote, please.
Deputy Mayor Cohen. Yes. Mr. Clrol, yes. Mr. Sakamandandy, yes. Mr. Stler, Mayor Romano, yes. Um, all business landscape registration. Um, yes. So, we just put a draft of a registration ordinance before the town
committee. Just wanted to see if uh there was any questions or comments. Essentially what the registration will do I was outlined in Mr. Sackendy's comments uh will provide the township should the uh leaf blower restriction
take place a way to effectively and uh efficiently communicate with landscapers in the township regarding that rule change other rule changes anything that may take place. Um but also um you know does provide you know
and I think that we can we we'll have to end up changing the fees. Um we had I think in there some some sort of incentive but again if depending on the the status of that ordinance we'll make sure that that is um consistent uh with that um getting the uh information of EV
making sure that trucks are identified. One of the things that we tried to capture uh in this what and I don't know whether it will be possible or not is really trying to promote some sort of safety um when it comes to landscaper vehicles on the roadways. Um if you've
ever driven on uh one of the uh particularly in narrow streets when there are multiple landscapers in a location is very difficult. So we're going to see if we can uh assist with that through this process as well. So just if there's any questions or comments or anything that needs to be adjusted or ended there with the
ordinance, you know, please please let me know. Happy to discuss. I think I think it's I do I personally think we'll be passing the the lower ordinance, but even if we don't, I think the landscape registration is something we should have anyway. It's not conditional on that.
Well, just the things just the things were just kind of we that's going to be imperative to uh communicate with them if there is a uh a storm or an emergency that allows the lifting for more heavy use of gas blowers etc. So definitely
need a way to communicate with them at large. It's also useful for the ones that you know double park and block streets and whatnot to be able to get in touch with them more easily than it is today. Yeah. Uh yes. So um planning board
those sessions um are things that came out of it. Uh was that our town actually has some of the lowest escrow fees of any town in the state of New Jersey. Um we haven't kept up with the times. uh when you have a large application before
the planning board, you oftentimes might need to bring in outside experts. Uh the applicants are supposed to pay for those outside experts and if there's not enough escrow, it can then be difficult to um get payment after the fact. Um so
our board of professionals that were um involved uh had indicated uh that we should increase um was a lean that was was there indicated that we should probably increase the escrow um the planning board agreed uh and so bring it
to our attention so that we then effectuate a change and increase those so they're commensurate with uh what you find in other house. Can you uh articulate on what the fees are today and what you expect would like
them to go to? Um so I think that's something that we have to determine as we craft. What are they today? So, so sorry if you So for for like a site plan application, it's $2,500. But
you know the the issue becomes that and to Mr. segment's point is that the the ordinance itself did not keep up with the the the increase in rates of various professionals. So, you know, this is one particular reason that we're going to have a fee ordinance in front of the
town committee so that we can have all of our fees in one place so that it's easier to go through that process of adjusting fees because this particular part of the of the code. It is it is necessary to continue to increase those
fees as professional fees increase as size of applications increase as you know um particularly also here where you're you're now making a change in a professional that is going to be built against escrow like these need to be um
I think adjusted every two to three years um so uh but right now for for a site plan application it's 2500 bucks it's it I mean it's there's a lot of different categories to, you know, subdivision application $1250 plus $500 per lot. Um, so there, you know, the uh
the historic preservation also has escrow fees. So all of these should be adjusted um on a regular basis. And um because what does happen is uh the um those whatever individual supporting the
board and collecting those fees, they're always I think there's always going to be an instance where they have to go back and ask for fees. However, the frequency in which they have to do that obviously is difficult when they if they don't get those fees. Um but but also I think an understanding that um
you know a larger fee up front will make sure that those applications get to a point and then you can continue to ask for fees as you see that get below a certain threshold. Um, so, um, yeah, this is, I think, long overdue and it's escrow. So, if at the end of the process
there's money left that goes back to the the Well, yes, it has to actually be put in an interesting account. What was the last date we were updated? Um, it looks like 23. So, we're about to um plus I think
there's the way you guys are talking about I thought it be like 1975 some but not all of them but some of them have been updated. But even so if we're even if it is only 30 years if we're out of step with our neighboring communities there's I think there's also added fees being add
there's going to be fees added into this as well. So I think that the the starting point is going to be higher. But yeah, I mean I just want to understand them and you know 2023 is two years a year and a half ago.
Two years ago but but you know whatever you know it seems procedural to me. Uh and you know we don't want to keep going back. It's inconvenience to everyone to go back and ask for more money. Y but uh I would like to see a breakdown of what
other towns charge. Yeah. So we we we will provide a uh we will provide that when we provide the committee with the draft of that fee ordinance. So look at a few other communities about their fees for for a whole host of things not just escrow but you know everything that we
we deal with. My my partner put a pole in his living but it was all right final public comment. This public comment period is to allow for final comments from the community. When invited to speak to your comments, please public
state your name and whether you are no resident member of property and business owner. Please do not provide your full addressing or meetings are reported and readily available public. A reminder that in order to help facilitate a meeting to prem
speaker comments one minute back president I understand it's largely moot at this point the leaf law ordinance but I just want to make a couple of comments against what some of the supporters said
and and just to make it clear I'm just in favor of the science I think this is based on I mean I'm not putting in all this work hours and hours to rebuff the claims cuz I'm just an orying pantress or whatever. It really is misleading and disinformation and it's set out now in
the ordinance. The claims are misleading. Um, and it's not based on science. So, I'm only interested in science in this case. So, just to go with what Mr. Brazelle said about the 115 being the increase in cancer rate per
million. It's just not true. I have the original study here. I've read it more than once and it very explicit 115 possible additional cancers due to baseline exposures. So they go through analysis they determine that on average
if you use chainsaws you'll have an increase of 81. The baseline is 115. So they say well roughly twice as much. That's where that number comes from. It comes from chainsaw use. And the baseline is 115. That's all of us around there are exposed to this 115 per
million. And the point being chainsaws are on the top of the graph there with 158 being the peak number they estimate increase in cancer rate. That's the top line. You can't read it but I'll tell you it's 158 and there's the leaf blowers. It's six. So that's
just an outright lie. It's an outright misrepresentation of the science once again. Um the other issue on affordability of the I because the the low noise gas are slightly more expensive than an ordinary gas. Not when you take into account batteries that just not so. Um the argument that
they're not available. There were 56 available at Home Depot when I got online when we were trying to rush one get it available in the bake off. Um yes, you had to order them online. Yes, they're not that popular because you got a choice in your landscaper. You got a choice between a backpack battery blower
that's been slightly downgraded in order to get it quiet and a full powered one which is unrestricted in noise that's actually cheaper. Obviously you're going to go for the unrestricted one. It's got to do with and they're not going for the battery blowers. The only way they're going to buy the battery blowers with this kind of ordinance passes. So that
again is a a sperious argument. Uh second argument by Mr. Grella talked about the low frequency sounds. I believe man Cohen addressed this. It really is almost no difference between the low noise blower and the electric blowers. In fact, the electric blowers
are louder at short range and that's more damaging to your hearing at short range. So again, I'm not claiming one wins over the other. And finally, just to address the issue of is a noise ordinance workable? It was given one sense not. I think that's the way we should go. Let people decide on the
technology, limit the amount of noise given the health effects are not what they claim to be. All right. Thank you very much. Rabbi very so uh look there's a lot of misleading claims that was made I can talk
much I tell you the ordinance as proposed has four different components that are more strict by the current ordinance. It doubles the buffer from 25 to 50 ft.
It adds in that buffer to move the fence 5 ft away from the property line. In our case, we'd be losing 2,000 square ft of property behind the sixt high fence and we'd be required to put up trees which we could not take care of in any way because they're behind the fence. You
understand? And so we lose the 5t of property. why we didn't agree to it. We lose the 5t of property. The ordinance specifies that you have to put up a row of trees in between the fence and the property line in that 5 ft. There's no way to maintain them cuz you're not
going to get behind the fence. And then you have to put up another row of trees in front of the fence. And then in the rest of the 50 ft, you got to put up as many plantings as you possibly can up to the discretion of the board. Whole thing makes no sense. When you
take a look around town, there is not a single use. I know you say you're protecting baloney. There's not a single use in town that has plantings in front of their fence. Every single house of worship, school, shorts,
club, doesn't make a difference. Uh business that abuts the the B4 zones abut all the residences. Nobody has any plantings. There's a fence and that's sufficient for the whole town. Comes the Kai Center and for 30 years
we're trying to find a piece of property that actually meets the town's very very ownorous ordinances. We find one. We come before the planning board. We get a report from Graham that says no
variances, no waiverss. We go for 11 meetings. We actually went for one meeting and one at that meeting we asked you guys, should we change our plans? There was an informal vote. Yes, if you change your driveways, you like it
better. We went back. We spent $60,000 changing our plans. Complete new engineering. Instead of engineering with a swale, engineering under the ground. Instead of driveways here, remove completely new engineering. Not to mention, we paid for your guys, too. We
paid over $75,000 in escrow for your experts, which you made us pay, by the way, because we agreed. We said it. You guys said if you do it, we'll we'll like it. So, we did and you guys actually took an informal vote. Thank you. I'm sorry. You
know, I I want to tell you, mayor, it's it's unfortunate that I have to come and spend three minutes. I get it. It's I get it. It's unfortunate. But you know what? You guys have no mechanism for dialogue except in front of the judge.
Is that bad? Yes. Hi. Um I would like to address Mr. Sakamandi because he makes a statement. I'm sorry. And he says just submit a conforming application and we will approve it. Mr.
Kamandi, do you know how many lots there are in Milbert Township? Over 5,000. Do you know how many logs have three acres or more? No, you don't. I do. Yeah. What's the
number? The number is four. Four out of 5,000 lots conform. That's called spot zoning because a house of worship can only be
in these four lots in only to conform. What happens when those lots are not for sale? Oh, well then, too bad. No house aversion. So, you go in front of the designing board and you ask for a variance because that's what they're supposed to do. If you want to build a pool and you don't have enough coverage,
you get a variance. If you want to build a patio, you get a variance. If you want to build a garage, you get a variance. If you want to put an addition, you get a variance. But a house of worship goes before the zoning board for variance because there are no 3acre lots for sale. No, you can't get a variance. You
have to conform. But it's impossible to conform. Too bad. No house of worship. So I ask you, Mr. Seamandandy, submit a conforming application. Is it possible? No. You have four laws that conform. We
finally purchased one of the four laws. So don't say submit an application that conforms and we'll approve it. It's not possible. And that's why you're in front of a judge. and you're going to be in front of a in front of a judge again because the DOJ
is getting involved again because Milbour just doesn't learn from their mistakes. When when are you going to say enough is enough? Thank you. Oops. Robin Blumenthal,
can you hear me? Yep. Yes. Thanks. Uh, so thank you for giving me another opportunity. I just wanted to set the record straight on the application that we made because this is all relevant to this new ordinance that's been proposed.
First of all, the town engineer and the planner both signed off on our application. Second of all, the planning board was supposed to u deliberate over 95 days. And the reason that it was extended so many times was because of
all of these things that the planning board brought up, not us. And as the rabbi said, we kept we kept changing the you know, dancing to the tune, changing the application, trying to fulfill what you wanted. But the problem is I don't
think it's possible. I really don't. So in terms of why it dragged on for eight months instead of whatever it is, three months, you can blame the planning board on that. That also came at great expense to us. And now you're also these
ordinances are already being challenged for it. And I hate to say it and I really don't want this to happen, but the judge is already considering damages against Melbourne because of what's been going on with this application. And I
really hope that this committee will carefully consider this because it will have tremendous effect on us as community members, taxpayers, and just the town in general because I don't think it's, you know, it's it's not it's
not a good look. It really isn't. So, thank you, Ed Maser, resident. Uh, Mr. Sakamandi, I'd also like to uh discuss one of your comments. You mentioned that Milburn uh
does not and has never discriminated. Uh there was one uh one of the few lots in town uh that did conform many years ago and uh one of our supporters mentioned this as a matter of courtesy to the
township committee that we were considering buying the lot. A few weeks later with no public discussion, legal notice in the item uh for first read it read subparagraph 606.2D1
providing for houses of worship as conditional uses in the R3, R4, R5 and R six zones is repealed in paragraph 606.2D2 and 606.22D2. It's a typo in there are reumbered as
606.2 2D1 and 606.2D2 respectively in effect with the township committee with no discussion in effect said houses of worship new houses of worship are not permitted in Milbour anywhere in the town under any
circumstances. I would I you have a different perspective than I do. I do see that as discrimination. As I mentioned, uh when I uh testified before the uh
planning board, uh there was another lot that we were considering buying uh adjacent to Old Short Hills Park. Litigation ensued. There was sworn testimony by the planner that the mayor at the time said to him uh that if the
rabbi were to buy the property, the township could always condemn it. Again, I would see that as discrimination. Maybe you don't. I look at the fact that the DOJ got involved one of the few cases in 25 years they've done basically
250. So, there's only about 10 a year. Milbour happened to be one of them. The investigation lasted four and a half years. They say there was nothing there, but your own attorney uh uh sent a uh a
reply statement uh for mediation and it says in part, "Given this reality, in Milbour's potentially catastrophic $13 million monetary damage exposure, Milbour notified the Mel in December 10, 2015 letter that the policy limits of
the primary P policy may be exceeded. and directed that the MEL place all excess and reinsurance carriers on notice of this claim. Apparently, even your own attorneys thought that there would be exposure here. Thank you very
much. Thank you. Good evening. Uh Richard Cyber, President, thank you very much for um making clear um one thing that I would like you to add is who is in charge of enforcing.
Thank you. Thank you. Jeffrey build poet section like five comments. First, I want to thank you for the two clarifications that you did about the um lease and the change of the ordinance. Um
the other thing I too attended the Junth celebration today. Uh my family again received a shout out from the NAACP. But when the get the major speaker, the professor talked about the sin of silence in one of his speeches and I
think that has to be remembered on what we're doing. That ties into tomorrow when we have the fourth round public hearing before the planning board. That's the public's only time to make a comment on that. And I think public really should understand that really understand it and to give comments on
the on the element plan. Um I attended public forum last Thursday on the police on staffing. I was there when the slide deck and we asked specific questions about you know how many do they the consultant
recommended it was my clear understanding from that presentation that they recommended that we have six additional officers and and then here's today that there was a mistake misstatement a misunderstanding I'm sort of confused because I was at a public
forum there was a slide deck specifically that we needed six additional police officers Um, as to the third round, um, there was a hearing on June 6th. Um, I was out of town. Hopefully, we get a
transcript to understand what the judge's thinking was, why he denied the grant and the various applications. Um, one thing that I did notice when the order that granted the litigants rights, I think we might want to change it because it says it was not opposed. I
think I think based on by following the cross motion that the record should be clear when this goes up which I think everyone anticipates that it shows that we didn't did oppose the litigation rights motion regardless of what it says on the order and also hopefully there
will be a final notice hearing notice that the public standard has the opportunity to appear and put our objections onto the record as to uh the issues. Thank you. Thank you. Jean Pastnac, I just had a couple
followup uh regarding Alex. Um I did ask about why uh and the police study that the residents were omitted from giving their input. Um I didn't hear an answer. Uh and and then also about the train station uh project at Short Hills. I
wondered again what what's the scope of that and also how we will give input to that. And then the third thought was about the Barraa Plaza. We are currently allowing I guess various flags to be raised in front of town hall. So what policy guides that? Is that not the
similar or same type of issue? So if we have a policy for that, can't that be used for this situation as well? Um and if we don't, then maybe we need one for that too. Um the other thing I wanted to bring up is there are a lot of threads being made. um I'm finding about so many
different things in this room tonight and elsewhere, but one thing that I u want to bring to the attention, there was some um back and forth about the Memorial Day parade. And I want to make it clear, we only got uh information about a week before the parade, maybe 10
days, that that there was going to be a waiver of the insurance requirement for different groups. So that then set off a whole different process for us in terms of our committee and participation because the amount that we had to pay was ownorous for us. So we decided not to participate for that reason and then
it was overturned changed. So at the last minute we had to get people there figure out a banner blah blah blah. So I just like to understand what is the policy can you make it more clear as to what is going to happen in the future and then what is allowed? What is
political free speech? What isn't? Because what this set off was a series of uh press releases, one that came out from the Democratic committee, response from the Republican committee, and what it resulted in was uh uh the TAP, which is the only newspaper really that our
community has uh to put out a policy now eliminating letters to the editor. So, it's really a shame. I think it came from a threat. I'm reading from an email that Elise, who is the editor at the top, sent to me. Um this was from
Michael um um sorry uh Malin who is a member of the Democratic committee. Elise, their release is clearly filled with inaccuracies and baseless accusation. As an attorney, I try not to lean fast into legal threats, but these are actionable statements and I feel the need to now ask you to more firmly
remove their release. They can post an updated one that sticks to the facts. If this release is not removed, I think legal action will be our only remaining option. I really don't want to go down that path as you and I have been able to work things out in the past, but defamatory lies can stay up. So, the the response to all this is no more letters
to the editor that are critical of incumbents or any uh political figure. That's that's a terrible outcome and it really needs to be uh rooted in making policies clear and not threatening people with lawsuits. That's ridiculous.
Thank you. Good evening. Uh Jerry Kung, short house resident. I wasn't as usual, I wasn't intending to come up to speak today, but something that Miss Pastor Neck stated uh triggered something in my mind. So I I don't want to congratulate myself for,
you know, giving us the Zoom, but you know, I spoke up here several months ago asking for the Zoom, and now we have the Zoom. So, thank you very much for taking action on that. As part of my civic activism, so to speak, um I did submit a letter to the editor explaining what had
happened in this room the day that Zoom was decided. And I thought that it was a fair description of what had happened. You know, I I said that uh Frank Sacy, my husband, agreed to the Zoom, David Cosgrove agreed to the Zoom, and then
Mr. Solar agreed to the Zoom. And as Mr. Cohen said earlier today, he can count three out of five as a majority. And so as a result, not as a result, following Mr. Stler's agreeing to the Zoom, Mr. Cohen um also agreed. So I believe at
the time our mayor said that she wanted to see if it would be a problem. Um and in my letter to the editor, I said that waiting for it to be a problem just removes the mechanism for the problem to arise in the first place. because if someone cannot attend, they cannot tell you that they cannot attend. So, you
know, I think it's just really a shame that my letter to the editor got removed. I wasn't trying to make it negative. I was trying to, you know, hold hold TC members accountable for their actions on the days. And unfortunately,
if members of our community think that, you know, their their own actions on the day can be considered negative and have that be censored in what is nominally our only newspaper in town, I think that's a shame. Um, you know, I don't want to sound cliche, but as the Washington Post's motto is, democracy
dies in darkness. And if we're all so committed to preserving our democracy, I think we should all take a very close look at what is happening to the letters to the editor and the tap because I think that censorship is very serious. And you know, ju just to move back a
bit, the reason I'm so fired about the fired up about the Zoom issue is because it strikes at the heart of, you know, giving people access and letting me TC members be held accountable for their decisions. And you know, I think Zoom just encapsulates
the the need for giving members of the public access to be able to speak their minds. Now, you know, I welcome people to say things that I don't agree with. I think the way we come to a better decision is to talk to people we disagree with, come up with compromises.
I think what we saw with the leaf the se the seasonal restriction on leaf blowers is a good you know example of everything that can be done when we sit down at a table and talk to each other as opposed to shutting out the voices that we disagree with. Thank you. Thank you.
Anyone on? No public comment. Does anyone want to respond? I have nothing to add at this time. Um, uh, nothing. Thank you. Nothing to add. May I have a motion to
Oh, I'm sorry. Okay. Um, just to answer a few of of the inquiries. Um, one in particular I'm not going to get into tap tap into. That's one that's their that's their decision and that's not all within my realm.
However, I will speak about the memorial labor. So last year in 2024, I think the exact same question came up and our response was the same as it was this year, which
was we do not have the expectation that every group that decides to walk in the Memorial Day parade is going to be able to acquire insurance. This is a business decision quite honestly, right? based on the fact that it is very difficult for
groups to obtain insurance for a one-day community event that is not meant to be um a slog for our small groups that want to participate um you know friends of the library you know the various
committees it's it's difficult I think I think we provided that exact same answer last year um as far as it relates to the rules. I would say that it is a township event that has very clear rules
associated with the form and application to participate and that is the responsibility of those participating and um I am again without a
dog in any fight so to speak somewhat concerned about the fact that it is a Memorial It is a parade based on a uh a day of remembrance and sacrifice and all of that. And I don't
just don't like we we wrote into the rules to make sure that politics on that particular day. you understand? Look, people are going to come to the, you know, the shredding event or whatever and they're going to do the but today that day that's that's the rule and that's what's in the rules and the
township has the right, I think, and the attorney can correct me to provide rules for a particular event. So, that's that's my that's my answer on that. Um, as far as it relates to the train
station, we will set up a public we will set up public information sessions with a with a consultant um about the east side of the uh short hills train station to have residents provide input. We've done a lot of these in the past where they're like, you know, sort of sharets
like you can come in, you can tell us what you think. We have a base plan at this point. Um people can say you know we don't like that we we like that we want to see more of this we want to see that hoping you think about this whatever it might be um you know and we can we we would our anticipation is to
do that uh twice um you know to have that that type of uh interaction twice um and as far as the police stabbing study you know Mr. Fel, I I I certainly understand your confusion, but it was it's very clear in the executive summary
um that they uh which that was posted on the website prior to the the public information session as well as um the full study that is published on the website that it states that they're they're calling for a reallocation of of police department of patrol uh staff
into those special service units. um you know and I think at Thursday night the same question was asked about the public participation and the answer is is that this was a police staffing study that we um wanted to make sure that the public
was involved in some way which was that information session to provide the results to provide an opportunity to ask questions about the results to discuss that. Um and so you know the idea and the purpose behind that study was to get to a sense or an idea in a in a
data-driven way that is not you know a a group from New Jersey or a group from SS like that was very separate from our community to be able to provide that information and that information uh those those data points to to us um and
provide that. So those are my answers. Thank you. Thank you. Uh so for completeness as for the garbage cans it's uh the middle police department of public works the recycling coordinator and the health officer and for the landscaper noise it's the police
department and the construction also um were you were discussing that that was your question Mr. Okay. I have one thing too. Um all the positivity that we see in this in this uh town uh and we need to you
know really call these out. We had two individuals accepted to the US Military Academy and they'll be going in the fall. That's Inzo Gurajala and Andrew Zang. Uh both we're very proud of them and that's a great accomplishment
uh for them. So, let's just honor them as well. Have a motion to adjourn. So, move second. I'm back with the allair.