##VIDEO ID:4_PEOQuU2BM## on that our just just saying I got you to bringas always forget e e um no that's true e e e e do you need water need a little water time exactly you've never seen a long came poly I've never seen what a long came poly in a movie I'm not like I seen a movie once and I forget about it so it's like how dare that that's czy like you know it's like hundreds got to make sure I'm on vi just to get my repl this one's on on good [Music] maybe it'll be in the new R disc no world no nothing ending I'm ready he likes that is here good evening ladies and gentlemen residents of miltown I'm filling in this evening for our esteemed mayor who is unfortunately not with us tonight I am your host councilman revolinsky and welcome to the August edition of a miltown council meeting uh I'd like to call the August 19th meeting 2024 uh to order will the clerk please read the open public meeting statement adequate notice of this meeting has been provided as required under chapter 231 public 1975 specifying the time date and location by posting a copy of the notice on the municipal building Municipal website providing a copy of the annual notice scheduled to the official newspapers of the bureau and is on file in the clerk's office thank you madam Clerk and would you mind calling the role council president rolinski here councilman Collins here councilman moo here councilman panski here councilman Potter here councilman zamb Brana here mayor Murray B Attorney Peter venola presid B and engineer Lanka here Bor engineer Mike mlen pres Bor administrator Fred Carr present Bor clerk Monica Orlando present thank you very much would everyone please join me for a moment of silence followed by a sleep to the flag i al to the flag United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God and indivisible with liy and justice for all all right let's see here we'll start off with um time for public comment um this is on the resolutions there will be time later on to comment on our ordinances uh the comments are limited to the resolutions on the agenda if you wish to speak please raise your hand and step on up to the microphone state your name and address for the record again this is a public portion is limited to comments only on resolutions listed on the agenda at this time going once twice thank you seeing none we'll move on close the public portion and we'll close the public portion of the uh resolutions comments on the public there you go uh next up on the agenda is approval of the minutes from our July 31st 2024 meeting does anyone have any comments or Corrections seeing none can I have a motion to accept the minutes as typed so moved second uh all in favor I I I any opposed terrific next up we have our second reading for a couple of ordinances here uh the following ordinance was introduced at the July 31st meeting on 2024 published in accordance with the law and if any member of the public wishes to comment on this ordinance they may do so after the reading will the clerk please read ordinance 24-1 1547 by title ordinance authorizing a street name change from patan Avenue to hag Avenue may I have a motion to uh adopt this ordinance so second terrific um I will now open the floor for public comments or public hearings on ordinance number 24547 I'd like to comment it's public comments public comments first sorry I'm sorry you want to see evening everybody the um uh Neil marado 54 vanl Avenue miltown New Jersey uh I'm just I think it's great you guys are putting this ordinance forward it's a long time coming um I understand some concerns about historical relevance um I I believe though that it's more important to keep those items as history and to understand what happened than in a place of acknowledgement so thank you very much thank you anybody else seeing none I will close the public comment portion of uh for this ordinance and uh will the clerk please call the role council president rolinski I councilman Collins hi councilman moo hi councilman pansy no councilman Potter I councilman Zam Brana I motion passes thank you um I know uh councilman pansy had wanted to say something in regards to this ordinance but I don't see that portion in this is uh where would be the opportune time for a council member to make a comment regarding this before the vote it already passed still not on maybe we can amend this so that's it well I mean there's a public comment SE if our Bor attorney would like to jump in but well typically you're you're open public he is for that and then if after you close to the public if there's Council comments they can typically have Council comments on the ORD before you vote Yes yeah I'd like to offer councilman py the opportunity to speak his mind at this time for sorry for the uh May skip sure okay I'm going to finish my comments on the pain matter coming up tonight past there are only two of us here tonight that have done extensive research on the Marshall Paton and the V government in the historical research I did in college in the last two months p through historical documents books numerous articles and have come to the same conclusion The Paton case is complex complicated and ambiguous it is not cut and dried I have read everything with the same intent that was to read just words but to understand not just words but to understand as a researcher without preconceived notions you read read without bias nor feelings the only blur of the truth yet to be determined by you the reader my whole point for my challenge was for the benefit of the residents the taxpayers who are paying for all the involved work from the the attorney's fees administrative work materials paying the residents on the street for their inconvenience for one man's Crusade for as he sees Justice I will point out again I will not tell you what to think nor what to feel I wanted to show that there are two sides here and that critical thinking matters more than feelings I'm letting this matter go if anyone would like to know more about this controversial man I would make myself available thank you thank you for your comments anyone else seeing none we'll move on next up is ordinance 24548 this ordinance was introduced at the July 31st 2024 M meeting published in accordance with the law and if any of the member of the public wishes to comment on the ordinance they may do so after the reading will the clerk please read ordinance 24548 by title ordinance to amend chapter 2 administration of the revised General ordinances of the burough of miltown to add article 89 flag policy thank you art Simons 308 Brook draw could you explain to me what article 89 is that's a question for that what do we what do we changing or amending there's a copy of the ordinance there I have it but it doesn't doesn't specify we previously did not have a flag policy okay so this clarifies what flags would be flown at Burrow buildings where can I find what the policy is the American flag the state flag the state of New Jersey flag uh not Pennsylvania they can f I understand so there'll be there'll be two flags allowed the P flag that's the P flag and the Killen action flag thank you and then it also permits the malti cross to be flown at the fire department which is an symbol for the fire department okay so any other entities they cannot they cannot fly a flag over our borole according to this ordinance that's correct thank you anybody else Neil mar4 Van L Avenue um into the microphone please yes sorry thank you okay uh dear council members so quite a controversial issue and I don't know that it really should have been one um I'm here before you today requesting that you vote no on this ordinance Rich back in the June Council meeting you said to me when the human Relations Committee you know requested that the I believe the juneth and the pride flag be flown that Neil it's it's you know it just came up it's days away we have to look at it we have to review it I agreed with you I thought that was a smart suggestion um however I don't see that that was followed through on okay I don't believe that the matter was reviewed with this ordinance you have a human Relations Committee they were not engaged to discuss this they were not brought before the council to get their advice to have it presented and so many different factors that may come up let's face it I I'm sure there were concerns well if we fly one flag somebody else would want to fly another flag I believe those are easy concerns to be addressed and are not really a concern the fact is that committee was put here to help you it was created for that purpose and I I don't understand why they were not brought in on that discussion so I don't know if you have anything to help us with that um you know as to why they were not engaged for that purpose at the last uh I'll comment and say that at the last council meeting we did discuss that this policy does govern burrow buildings uh the library the senior center all the burrow facilities um but it doesn't dictate that in the future we can't find another location for any specific flag so this one covers uh the burrow and while the the human Relations Committee was very vocal at the previous meeting um we've had quite a few silent or not so publicly outspoken residents also reach out to members of this Council requesting that no other flags other than our state flags before and and I appreciate that but that is more the reason to have the dialogue in the open okay uh it's even more important in that event instead of just putting it forward the way it was done uh there was no give and take in the conversation there was no discussion nobody got the opportunity I I praise um councilman panski for the research he did on the patan issue right that's that was great to go through all of that history and to I'm sure it was it was a learning experience for him as well that's how you come to really know what you're acting on you know you're fully informed at that point so the your fellow council members councilman Potter and Zen bran requested that the matter be tabled just so you can have that dialogue it wasn't taken up again I don't understand why not so I ask you again to involve the community in the process I ask you to vote no on the ordinance and I do it for two reasons first as I mentioned you did not only fail to engage the human Relations Committee you did not engage your fellow council members there was no give and take up here at this Council you went ahead Put It Forward no discussion introduced it and now tonight so far I know I'm speaking you haven't engaged with each other but the next step is probably a vote without a discussion about this ordinance I don't see the transparency here I don't see I mean how did it come about you know I don't even know if all your council members knew about this ordinance until the board packet was given two weeks ago there's no transparency with that rich I asked you to table it to really have that discussion the second reason is more concerning and in fact alarming to me there had never been a flag policy before suddenly the human Relations Committee suggests that the juneth and gay pride flag be flown and what is the reaction is it hey there may be some Merit to this let's check it out let's sit down with each other and review it and see you know what are the benefits or what are the concerns no the exact opposite occurred here you rushed in a dra measure to slowly fly the four flags that are already being flown now it is obvious the US flag and Jersey flag and the other two flags are well worth flying obviously the US flag and Jersey flag should be fly flown prominently I also don't believe there's anything requiring any other flags to be flown other than the US flag and the state flag so instead instead of embracing something new you reacted against what was proposed why was that I pray it was not because you did not agree with the sentiment that was presented by those other flags but unfortunately that is how it looks there was no discussion about it you just reacted it was a reactionary measure that's what this ordinance is I'd like to go to the substance of the matter itself and why I really believe you should not adopt this ordinance because I think you're missing an opportunity to do right by the community it's great opportunity you have a chance now to show that Midtown is truly a friendly Community I remember when my girls were in the second grade I don't know if they still do it but they had International Food day do they still do that rich it's been a while since I've been in second grade it was great though it was great they they you everybody would bring an example of the food from their culture okay there was so much papash and zii that I think I gained 10 pounds that day I bought Sarma which is an Armenian dish because my mother's arm minion it was great and it was a wonderful event because everybody got to share cultures of different countries and really isn't that what America is all about and that's what brings us together everybody here is from a different country everybody the children would bring in the dishes representing the countries everybody had a great time this was not done to replace the fact that this is the United States it was to celebrate the fact that we were all Americans and we bring something special this is the opportunity you have now the human relations committee is not asking you that you supplant the Stars and Stripes that is our flag that's what all Americans are here for but you have an opportunity to acknowledge people and make them welcome I ask you please don't adopt this I'm not asking you to fly to somebody else's flag forever just an acknowledgement you have a little celebration the juneth flag these are flags that this government our government passed holidays for how important is that don't send the wrong message send the right message thank you very much thank you AC mayor does anyone get to speak from up here tonight I just one second I want to see if anyone else from the audience would like to step up the microphone seeing none I'll open it for Council comments close the public portion and close the public portion first thank can I speak I'm going to do some reading these aren't my opinions they're facts anyone can look this up I'd like to speak about the flag laws locally and nationally that have significance I've looked into different flag laws into different uh towns in New Jersey and towns or small cities around the country there's a flag ordinance in the city of San Jose for instance it States flag polls are not intended to serve as a form for free expression by the public from the United States flag code municipalities can regular flag flying on public property and create local policies that identify which flags can and can't be flown what messages those flags can communicate these policies should be content agnostic location based and not single out specific subject matter for different treatment Sparta Township has an ordinance 2023 which is very much aligned with miltown ordinance 24548 in ordinance 2023 Section 1 part C the township flag polls are not intended to serve as a form for free expression by the public rather the Township's flag polls are to be used exclusively by the township where the council May display a commemorative flag as an expression of the Township's official sentiments which shall constitute government speech the township may not display a commemorative flag based on a request from the third party nor will the township use its flag poles to sponsor the expression of a third party as mayor Dan shirell said this ordinance is not about public speech it is about government speech that is why it would be up to the council to decide which flags are flown I'd also like to discuss the Boston flag Boston unconstitutionally banned a Christian flag from flying at City Hall and this is relevant here also it's from the case shirt left versus the city of Boston it was about a city of Boston not allowing a Christian flag to be flown at City Hall Boston for years allowed many different flags to be flown as many as 50 to be flown at City Hall the director of was called Camp Constitution Harold schleff wanted to hold the flag raising ceremony and was denied by the city the politicians feared a Christian flag would be viewed as unconstitutional government endorsement of a particular religion shortle challenged the rejection losing two cases in the in the lower courts but winning in the Supreme Court the decision which was written by Justice Brier said the key he said was to what extent the Boston control the messages on the flags his answer not at all the city's lack of meaningful involvement created the problems the court concluded the flags were not government speech which is controlled but rather private speech which is not and I conclude with that thank you councilman does anyone else have anything to add I got a question Council Z BR please uh what was that first uh city councilman P get at you San Jose San Jose and then it was Sparta Sparta and Boston Boston okay there are others but that's what I have with me I I have a lot of material somebody wants to read it do we really want to be like San Jose like Sparta or Boston or do we want to be unique we want to be different that's my question well I mean well this is for the residents if you if you pull many residents you'll find a lot of them think the way that I'm bring this up tonight I just asked a question okay no need to we got this isn't about exclud this isn't about excluding anyone and the American flag doesn't exclude anyone and it should be seen as inclusion so you know in in bearing in both of these points um I don't care what the rest of the world does I don't care about other towns um when this first was presented my immediate thought was uh you know that means that any petition that comes before us would have to be looked at upon the idea that I can't say no to anyone and my way around that is simply that let's say no to everyone because if everyone's equal in the eyes of the law which was the premise and we are a government agency then simply said I find it clean and easy to say this is what it is beyond that there was much discussion when this uh matter was first presented and there were some differing viewpoints um and after last week where I did hear several members of the HRC present all of their rationals and there was certainly validity to what they were saying but the main thing that I thought of and I still think that and I've double checked myself over the past few weeks was that when I walked to town this summer and I spoke to people about what they would change what they wanted what they saw from miltown what would you like me to do if I could do three things I never heard this and this year with all of the actions or inactions that have occurred from the water bills to some streets being one way During certain times of the street terms of the day every other matter that's come up Christopher Street being built on people have come here and clearly expressed their viewpoints and I did not hear anyone other than the HRC seem the proponent of this in fact when I when I voted against it I heard directly from people who agreed with me and I heard that from I mean not an overwhelming response but it certainly outweighed the amount of people no one who reached out to me and said Mr Moo I'd like you to reconsider or think about this aspect of it I didn't have any of those people Outreach me other people did who also said of all the pressing matters before this town this seems to um if we could do one thing today let's magically make curves appear everywhere uh with that said I feel that as a representative of a town I obligated to use my information of what the town is looking for it seems that the HRC has their goal and what they like and I get that however the HRC can make the recommendation but is the HRC to speak for the town or is the town to speak to the HRC and have them tell me what they like and as far as I can see the town has not been a great proponent of this and as for tonight where there have certainly been nights where there were there were people waiting at the door to get up and speak tonight we've moved through uh public comments in a rather timely manner so that reiterates my initial thought that it doesn't seem like the town is big on it with that said I was elected by the town I do understand your points about what you're saying but I also think in the eyes of the law everybody's equal which is why in a courtroom no one talks the judge decides it everybody's equal so with that said that's how I still feel so I I'll make a comment too and and councilman M I don't know if you understand the HRC they're an advisory Council to us just like the environmental so they will they're supposed to we're supposed to ask them and get information from them you're right we can decide if we're going to uh decide to go with it or not but none of this in this ordinance has any review of the HRC and like I said if this was anything like we need to get their input before we before we vote on it and that's why we uh Council councilman Zen Brown and I tabled it just to push it because like you said you know we we're rushing to get this in we're being we're being more reactive than proactive so I think we really should be proactive and get a good solid ordinance before we decide to vote and adopt so but the thing that I think of and I I get what you're saying as well that I get the feeling that the HRC um feels like they were gone around and that I get is separate than my conversation with this what I do think though is that when the initial presentation of the idea of flags in City Hall started there was conversation among council members and there was that's when my thought process started so I wasn't particularly surprised to see this come out and it in that respect if the HRC is to review it and their input in the same way the historical committee you know says that they want to be a commission they they make their recommendations they make their thoughts um and we listen to them as I did last week to the HRC and several of its members and I considered it and just like you know uh just like other departments and committees that have made recommendations or expressed their thoughts sometimes we don't go with them I'd like to say something I can appreciate the the HRC but I'm going to tell you how I got here I I ran two years the first year I ran I walked every single day September October into November election night previous for election Eve I was out till 8:00 at night I spent a lot of time trying to to help the people in this town I care about the people in the town that's why I did that and I ran two years in a row last year I didn't I I couldn't walk as much I broke my kneecap while I was out walking and when I could walk with the cane I continued to walk and that's what got me up here I care about the people and the HRC it's it's somebody that's appointed and understand they want to do good but we do good up here we put a lot of time in here time that people do not see and I don't want to be told by someone what we have to do it's not they're not just advising they're being told yes you can laugh Neil he's the chairman of the party so he understands not is your name Neil sir will the audience please excuse me will the audience please refrain from comments thank you you'll be the jack that will leave sir excuse me sir you leave right now one more councilman pause please please don't engage with the audience at this time thank you if I may acting mayor counc council president um is there a format where litigation even like that tree ordinance that we passed STM order the tree uh that was a couple couple sessions ago it was mentioned by the environmental committee that they felt slighted that even though that was estate program and however these things trickle down uses this not the same but similar they didn't get the first review then and it does make sense bearing in mind with what councilman Potter said that a matter that is directly related to the actions or recommendations or the specific knowledge of a committee that is designed to impart an opinion about a subject should perhaps be read in earlier upon matters that they weigh upon it it makes sense that you know the environmental commission probably should be apprised of this is the new state thing and we're looking at it to pass it if you guys think it's good enough or bad enough someone should say that and it makes sense that we are we're opening these committees and if we're not going to use them or we're not going to involve them to a point where at least you know even to agree to disagree is going to happen but it does seem that our system is not bringing in not bringing into Focus the points of the people that are supposed to be specialized into it if there's some way that that works into those in the future I don't think that's a bad idea because otherwise why would anybody even join a committee or sign up right exactly if we want the interaction of the town we want to get the town's voice in there and in the same respect that is I I get where the HRC wants this I haven't heard the town however if we don't put things in front of the town I think the HRC it's it's not that the HRC wants this the HRC just wants to have a conversation that's all they want to have a conversation and you know municipal government you know historically runs very slowly I think we've set a new record here in pushing this through without having a conversation with the very committee that we've we supposed to lean on for this type of advice correct I can't disagree with that councilman Collins did you have something you wanted to add I I say there was no disrespect to the the human Relations Committee I introduced this ordinance because of what cille did and we saw the outcome what happened there if you go to the record that's what it will show there was no disrespect and nobody up here said nothing about the hrc's being just to disrespect them so I don't know where this came from I don't think that I don't think the HRC felt disrespected uh councilman Collins at all but again do we want to be sville no we want to be miltown we want to set an example just like just like Mr marada said there's an opportunity I haven't spoken to one resident that said we were wrong with this except the HRC that came up last meeting every other resident said we're doing the right thing how how many residents did you talk to a lot a lot well instead of going back and forth here um I agree as a as a council member I'm going to make my comments and I'm going to call for a roll call on this uh ordinance um I think there was a significant amount of transparency here we did receive a request to fly certain Flags only a few days before they were requested to be flown um I thought it was good that we promulgate that I think that uh at the last council meeting when this ordinance was introduced we had quite a few members of the public stand up to the microphone and voice their opinion they're showing that we are listening we've seen the council members go back and forth here this evening with their viewpoints on it as well uh I'm going to share my viewpoints which are quite simple um this flag policy governs borrow B buildings it governs the property of the borrow it does not prohibit you from flying whatever flag you want at your home wearing whatever shirt you want asking people to call you by a pronoun of whatever you want these days those choices are still yours yours to make yours to choose alone I on the other hand don't ask for that and I don't think it's the the purpose of the government to promote that either I think we all have freedoms here um as councilman Collins had stated I have gotten inundated with phone calls from residents saying that we're on the right track here and they would like to see only those flags flown and for the same sentiments I've just expressed uh that's my opinion on it I've listened to the HRC and the comments they made at the last meeting I've considered them and I have thought heavily on this um but my opinion on the matter has not changed so uh will the clerk please call the role uh we need a motion in a second first ah yes I'll ask for a motion I'll make the motion I'll second council president rolinski I councilman Collins I councilman moo I councilman pansi hi councilman Potter no councilman Zen Brana no motion passes thank you next we'll move on to authorization of Municipal obligations AKA paying the bills will the clerk please read the resolution by title authorizing the payment of bills claims and statements against the burrow of miltown in a total amount of $ 4,335 n881 you have heard the res reading of this resolution are there any comments seeing none may I have a motion so moved second um motion by Council councilman Potter second by councilman Collins and will the clerk please call the RO council president rolinski I councilman Collins councilman moo I councilman pansy councilman Potter I councilman zamb BR I so move thank you next up we have a consent agenda and before I get started reading this one I know at the last meeting we had a couple comments about how much I talk I'm going to try and keep it short this evening so are you I just two roles you're doing well sir I appreciate that thank you coun keep consent resolution has been prepared for the resolutions listed on the agenda all matters listed under the consent agenda are to are considered to be routine in nature and having been reviewed by The Boro Council will be enacted upon in one motion any item may be removed from the consent agenda at the request of a council member and if so removed will be treated as a separate matter any items requiring expenditure are supported by a certification of funds if any count member of the council wants any resolution acted upon individually please give me the resolution number and it will be pulled from the consent resolution council president if I could just jump in real quick uh all of you on on the day should have received an updated copy of resolution 2024 d248 for the RFP uh when I typed it I did I inadvertently left risk manager off because we had just done that for this year uh that professional position does end at the end of this year so same resolution highlight and yellows all that was changed that was adding risk manager for the rfps so I just wanted to point that out before thank you for the clarification I just I just like to pull uh 2024 242 so we can clarify that I'm sorry which one 2024 d242 242 the popup parties anybody else yes I'd like to have uh 2024 48 request for proposals rfps anybody else going once going twice seeing none will the clerk please read the consent agenda resolution whereas pursuant to the rules of council the council May establish a consent agenda for any regular or special meetings upon certain conditions and whereas the following resolutions to be presented before the burough council at its August 19th 2024 regular meeting appear to have the unanimous approval of all members of the burrow Council 2024-25 through 241 2024 243 through 247 and then 20242 49 250 through 250 now therefore be resolved by the burrow Council of the burrow of miltown that each of the above listed resolutions be approved and adopted by the burrow Council with the same legal effect as though each were read its entirety at the august 19 2024 meeting and adopted by separate vote thank you you've heard the reading of this consent resolution what is your pleasure I make a motion these resolutions be adopted second I have a motion by councilman Potter and a second by councilman Collins will the clerk please call the RO council president rolinski councilman Collins councilman moo hi councilman pansy councilman Potter councilman Z Brana I all right moving on uh resolution uh P resolutions will the clerk please read resolution 202 24-24 by title 202 24-2 42 accepting the 2024 popup party prevention and response initiative Grant you've heard the reading of this resolution what is your pleasure I make a motion this resolution be adopted second I have a motion made by councilman Potter and a second councilman Collins is there any discussion yes Mr Mayor uh Mr acting mayor call uh like to clarify Dave you're in charge of Public Safety what's pop-up party include so we know so councilman uh we can answer that question so as youve if you read in the newspaper uh there have been significant activities and financial challenges in places like Long Branch Wildwood where social media has um sort of blown up and then next thing you know there's whole bunch of people out there having a good time now this is not about people not having a good time there's occasionally Bad actors a percentage uh where for instance uh just recently we had social media came up and there was going to be a car rally uh I think at the Acme parking lot or something like that and police got wind of it and just sent over a couple of police cars to sort of just happen to be there when the car started showing up saying you're not supposed to be here but thanks for coming anyway welcome to miltown and they all went away the idea behind this popup party incentive Grant is that if costs are incurred by miltown to police one of these popup parties that is an opportunity to be reimbursed through this grant program there's no money it's reimbursable we've had one uh popup opportunity if you will uh since this that the chief's already filed the paperwork and we'll get our money back that's all that is so this is a good thing absolutely good thing kudos to the chief for doing yes absolutely and it's it's Kos for you know the prosecutor's office and the state police to find some money to put this out there because some communities have had significant uh popup party challenges financially Long Ranch a good example you know where there were you know 20 30 40,000 people there jumping up and down on cars and police and riot gear and just out of control I just said one question and it's a more of just a procedural but does that run through OEM at a certain point or is it more of police a police function it's a police function thank you I guess if it really got out of hand it could turn into an oem matter well yes but then then then the chief would put on his OEM jacket and continue to run the show so you know it's not like we have thank you Mr do that got question Council yep thank you for let's vot I appreciate it any other uh questions or comments no okay council president revolinski uh I think we oh yeah we have that's right y I'm an i councilman Collins I councilman moo I councilman posnansky I councilman Potter I councilman Zam Brana I thank you uh next we have will the clerk plead read please read resolution number 2024 0248 by title 202 24-248129 and if you could let us know right away yeah so this is just authorizing for it to be put together I have to work with the qpa uh I spoke to her today we have to get it put together I my goal is to publish it sometime in September with a due date at the end of October and then uh generally wait until after the election and then we kind of send everything out to everybody and Council then decid and then Council decides okay but what what typically H you you'll be notified when they when it gets published thank you I have a a quick question um if you could refresh my memory you know last year we with the amendment that you had made to this resolution we added risk manager uh the GIF that we are in currently does not require uh risk manager is that correct I would have to go back and look that was before I was fund commissioner I think that they don't require but they highly highly recommend it if I remember correctly that's right okay but I can double check that and let you know um seeing no further discussion last chance F no council president rolinski I didn't get to say my favorite part with the clerk please call the vot council president rolinski councilman Collins councilman moo I councilman posnanski hi councilman Potter I councilman Z BR hi all righty thank you now we'll move on to uh reports from the elected officials uh start off council president revolinski thank you Mr Mayor you're welcome um can't help myself come on I got a microphone um now very short uh with the adoption of the budget uh at the July 31st meeting uh reached out to the our CFO and he has begun discussions with the various department heads to make sure that they fully comprehend all the items that are included in that bu how much money they've spent to date and how much money they've got left um that is an ongoing discussion we've also been continuing our discussions and Analysis for the upcoming uh water rate Amendment uh which we're hoping to get on here for the first meeting in September and hopefully adopted at the second meeting in September to be effective uh for October 1 and those would be bills that are going out in uh January for all the residents uh other than that forth uh Fort Avenue we are uh still waiting on a September meeting which is the anticipated trial date for Fort Avenue again this is the one that was supposed to be in July or June or I don't know 2012 um but we're moving it on uh the judge has uh made a determination on the expert Witnesses who can and cannot testify which was like the big hang-up at the time um and we're looking forward to that starting in September with that we will move on to councilman Collins no report Mr Mayor thank you for the short and sweet one uh councilman Mana uh let's see so the uh Rick report uh I will mention that they recently had their movie night uh and I believe that was run also with the palal uh big success a lot of fun a lot of people went and uh good time was had by one and all uh just the other updates will be uh only a few weeks left to enjoy the burrow burrow pool so let's hope for great great weather and sure to join them for the Labor Day bash they are also happy to announc that the miltown splash Squad had a very successful first season and the kids had a lot of fun they learned a lot from the highly qualified staff the last meet was on Sunday August 18th and they're looking forward to next year Albert AB summer camp was extended for three extra days due to the days missed from the horrible storms from Hurricane Debbie the kids and staff were happy to have those last few days to spend together with their friends friends and they continued making memories and had a blast on Carnival Day fall registration has opened for all of the youth and adult programs please visit Community pass to see all the exciting things being offered this season uh there is a recreation web page uh on the midtown.com programs and new activities along with park locations and to register for any of the programs you can you can also do that through burough of miltown on the capture point.com portion of that help us continue to make miltown Recreation of community in motion um so on the library up side the adventures in art a catchall dishcraft for tween on Wednesday August 21st uh registration required Story Time by sator martial art instructors uh ages 3 to 6 years uh the people there should be 3 to six years not the instructors on Thursday August 22nd uh registration is required you'll hear that a lot it does help the library maximize its punch on everything they do uh martial arts for kids ages seven and up on Thursday August 22nd on Saturday August 24th there'll be a crocheting with Sam G and also a re to the pooch the library book club meets the last Tuesday of each month drop in play on Wednesday August 28th Reed to AO will be back on Saturday September 7th uh please check out the spectrum of Art Exhibit on display until the end of August the library will be closed on Saturday August 31st and Monday September 2 uh and the staff wishes everyone a happy and safe Labor Day weekend uh in the other quick mentioned that uh the Green Team uh did some really nice work uh for as I understand at the senior center I'm sure Gary has more details on that but uh things moving forward and cleaning things up and I believe it also does some good stuff for some storm water management over there thank you thank you councilman moo and I do appreciate the little punch there for the uh for the library when you're talking about the stor reading uh next up we have councilman pan sure uh first I'll discuss the DPW the uh Main Street Road is is done from one end to the other psng with the uh lower end and County with the upper end crosswalks need to be redone they will not be able to be redone I would assume this year uh Ralph and I looked at uh 12 that were very needy and uh he's very resourceful I don't know that he can make it happen right now um so so the cross will be painted before school for the kids and Highland Drive is coming up uh the road work will starve very soon we have the uh the okay to do that the approval and uh so it'll be Highland driving the feeder streets and I'll I hope to let you know at next meeting um Oaks and Clay we have the four-way stop Street um I did have a complaint the person doesn't like that it's a four-way now uh for for no reason they just don't like change uh the old DPW uh the vehicles were auctioned off uh thank you to to Chief Johnson and the schwinderman property is being discussed as we speak for feasibility study the senior center um on the discussions with Ralph we've been working on uh our side uh they're they're wanting a shed watering system and possible window replacement and uh I'm done with my report sir thank you Council pansy Council Potter thank you uh Mr council president from the miltown police department uh solic solor permits as of August 2024 there are currently no individuals who have been issued solicitor permits by the burrow of miltown through the police department it is important to note that companies cannot obtain solicitor permits only individuals each solicitor must pay a fee and go through a criminal background check to obtain a burough issued solicitor permit when in doubt please call the police out do not be a victim of a scam regarding crossing guard uh the miltown police department is still in need of crossing guards for the 2024 2025 school year the position is parttime with very flexible hours and if interested apply now as training will take place soon as our new guards can be ready for the September school year applications can be found on the burrow website for more information about the position please contact Lieutenant dorenzo at C dorenzo mtown pd.org uh and with the stter school right around the corner residents are reminded to watch for children walking and riding their bicycles to and from school please pay extra attention when driving through intersections and crosswalks to remind motorists to drive through miltown we will be placing message boards on both ends of Main Street to remind drivers that miltown is a walking District if any member of the public wishes to be a part of our back to school driver reminder message please send the miltown Police Department some slogan ideas and your slogan may be used on our message boards submissions can be emailed to Lieutenant dorenzo and please have them in no late no later than August 30th from the miltown fire department uh two members of the fire department recently completed and passed fire the firefighter one program and members are needed candidates that are interested in joining the miltown fire department are encouraged to stop down to the firehouse on Monday evenings at 6:30 or email join miltown fire.com and from the miltown rescue squad uh as we are still in the summer months please remember to check on friends and neighbors during heat waves be alert for signs of heat exhaustion and heat stroke you can learn more by visiting the CDC website and if anyone has any building questions please call our Building Company Cornerstone and you can also visit their we uh the squad's website to get to their website please do not contact the miltown police department with any bill or recruitment questions and regarding recruitment anyone who's interested in joining the miltown rescue squad or becoming an EMT should contact us via email at recruit Milltown rescu squad. org to learn more and we are happy to answer any questions and that concludes my report thank you councilman Potter and last but not least councilman Zam BR thank you Mr council president uh our environmental commission will be meeting uh next Wednesday uh August 28th 7:30 p.m. via Zoom all are always welcome uh Board of Health next meeting will be uh the 27th that will be at 6:30 p.m. in um not not via zoom in person um our next uh revitalization committee meeting will be the same day on the 27th 7:30 p.m. via Zoom I'm going to make a short plug here uh 39 or so days left until miltown day which is September 28th Saturday September 28th um from 10: to 3:00 p.m. uh obviously the uh registration will run through September 1st and uh hope that uh folks come through um uh sponsorships registrations uh before then uh so we can plan accordingly uh with all our volunteers um last but not least uh the human Relations Committee we had our last meeting last uh Thursday which was rescheduled due to the summer holidays um very uh good meeting uh we uh discussed pain Avenue uh we discussed the flag policy uh we discussed um providing a calendar of events uh to the burough Council um so that they would know or be aware of uh certain um uh events related not only to um race ethnicity but also disabilities uh so forth and so on and um as that calendar becomes available we'll make sure to share it with everyone and that concludes my report thank you councilman uh filling in for mayor Murray uh Personnel nothing to report at this time moving on reports from our burrow professionals and we're going to start off with our burrow attorney Mr Peter venol no report tonight microphone if you could speak into the microphone pleas no no report tonight council president thank you Mr venola our burrow engineer I don't know if it's going to be Mr mlen or Mr Panka if you guys want to wrestle for it we can do that just a short report tonight Mr President uh basically to update you regarding the uh permit application for uh Albert Avenue we did receive comments from on Friday from NJ do regarding the project they've got some comments for us we should have responses back to them out by the end of the week terrific uh will you be sharing those comments out with the rest of the councel I thought they were s we can certainly do that thank you I just want to say one of those trees fell down in the list I just read that in in your report so I'm wondering which tree it was no the Big Pine Tree by the volleyball Council M Colin's microphone please sorry the big tree up by the volleyball court I saw in one of the reports we'll check it out too find out a huge tree I didn't realize it was that big yeah I I bet you okay we'll take a look at it thank you sorry save some trouble next we'll have our borrow administrator Mr Fred Carr council president I normally don't have much to say but I think tonight it's uh make sure that the council all receive the email that I sent this morning regarding the misplaced if you will or the misdelivered mail uh for the purpose of the public and for people out is on last Friday there's a unlabeled box behind the police department which police officer came out of the back door and it was full of mail it appears that the mail the mail delivery person was you know filled the mail up and it's been going on for a while that mail now has to be sorted by the tax collector's office who is last I checked was hanging from the ceiling uh because she's trying to do tax sales water bills and a whole lot of other things and now she has to individually evaluate a couple two or three hundred pieces of mail to determine whether or not it needs to be returned to the sender or returned to the in you know it's been processed already or whatever I provided for her a letter uh under my hand to return to the residents in case we need to return their check or their payment for their property taxes and those kinds of things so that they understand that we're returning the mail that we can't process it um and if they have any complaints about the delivery of the mail they need to talk to the post office since we have no control over the post office uh and that's all I want us to just reach out to the council make sure that you got that anybody has any constituents they call you all these people you talk to that they need to you know does mail delivery is responsibility the post office not ours unfortunately we're constrained by the law the law says very simply you the individual responsible to get your bills here on time if you give it to the mail Department the mail Department the mail company post office and they fail it's still your responsibility to get it here on time so that incurs penalties cancel checks and all the rest of that aggravation that we're now dealing with u so happy Monday uh and there you go so Mr car I I also read in your email that you did talk to the postmaster correct correct we reached out to the postmaster and they and they you know they basically said that U you know they're sorry but there's not much they can do about it except fix the issue well they they are going to they have they have they're going to fix the issue and you know we have fixed the issue by putting a big plastic bag on top of the mailbox and we're going to formally take it away take the box down but it didn't have a label on it it didn't say anything it was just a black box yeah and so thank you Mr Carr um and before some of those go out I I think it would be good for the uh is this close enough now yes uh I think it'd be good for uh for us to meet the finance committee if there are any other bills and things like that because I think our hand should be on there as well um especially dealing with some of the residents too and if if we find absorbent in amount maybe we're working through that one at a time there's not much we can do about it because we we're we're constrained by the law understood I agree passed by you guys uh and our borrow clerk miss Monica orando thank you um as always we thank everyone for your patience with the clerk's office because we're still under staffed and it is summer time uh with kids going off to college I just want to remind you that we do offer free notary services in our office that's especially important now I've had a few residents reach out to me to set up appointments we do ask that you call ahead and try and set up appointment if you can uh summer hours are still in effect burrow Halls open 8 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 Monday to Thursday and 8: to 12 on Fridays we'll be closed on September 2nd in observance of Labor Day once we reopen on September 3rd we will be back to regular hours Monday to Friday 8:30 to 4:30 uh poll workers we're always looking for them uh we hired for the general election I still have one spot open for anybody who's interested in being a poll worker you can work as a poll worker in any any Town within mle sex County if you reside in Middle sex County you did get paid training if you go to the borrow website on my Clerk's page under elections there's an application or you can stop by the clerk's office and say hello and drop it off in person as a reminder and I'll be doing this all the way through November the general election is Tuesday November 5th if you have moved please make sure you update your address with the county commissioner paper applications are available on the clerk's office as well as online on the borrow website clerk page under elections October 15th is a deadline to register to vote paper applications available in the clerk's office and I'm just thinking now as I said about college students earlier if you have a student that's going off to college get them a mail get them to apply for their mail and ballot uh October 29th is the deadline to apply for your mail and ballot I also have those applications in my office early voting is October 26th through November 3rd I have a list of early voting polling locations on the website and also by on the table by the agenda is a list of all the early polling locations and last but not least uh I know it sounds early but we are coming close to the end of the year and we have a lot of boards and committees that are going to have vacancies starting January 1st so if you're interested in volunteering and being part of your town and having a voice fill out a citizen leadership application I have paper copies in the office there's paper copies here and you can go online fill one out and email it and I can get it to council and that concludes my report uh Miss Orlando could you move closer to the microphone repeat everything you just said oh I'm very loud thank you uh moving on to Old business does any member of the council have any old business to bring before councel old business really none yes just misdirect may there you go I just was wondering if I remember there was some talk about some uh flood control problems on South Brook Drive you know if there's any progress on that uh I know our mayor uh Murray was was looking looking into some things I believe he spoke with uh our bur engineer with regards to that so I'll pass that over to Mike if there's any any updates any news they find that gas M the county decides they're going to build the Culver or nothing as good news as that no I know that there's a um the mayor is working on uh a possible Grant to desilt and Des snag the bug Brook to try and go through and clear it up so we'll wait for him go through give us further Direction but that's where he's he's said headed thanks Mike thank you vaguely connected to that little conversation I was at the uh for each fair or county fair whatever you want to call it and I talked to the middle sex County people and um and I introduced myself and I said uh you know any you ever seen anybody get any how do you get dredging done what's a good where's the first place to try and kick in a door on that and uh they said good luck it is the D and but where it really seemed to start for the couple places that they had action they said it started with the the mosquito commission which I thought was interesting but um I was just kind of like I don't know what to do with that but I might know some smart people who might and I'm hoping one of them are listening so anybody in the audience um but uh just I thought that was an interesting statement that yeah I mean it's a health it's a health concern and a health concern well I mean you know that that gets action so uh perhaps councilman Zam BR that's something the environmental commission could look into sure that'd be great I figure mosquitoes environment maybe maybe that's a good start anybody else for old business old business I'll go with a little bit of old business because it is old um this morning we received the report regarding the schwendeman cabin architects report I've asked that our uh burrow clerk I know I directed it towards our burrow administrator but if they could be posted on the burrow website the uh the report here from the architect uh what I find most interesting and I actually did take the time today while sitting in a dentist chair to read this entire report page four which basically is the executive summary the last paragraph kind of conf confirms what I I've been thinking all along with regards to this building is overall this building is an impractical candidate for renovation to a public facility of any type also if such a renovation were to be implemented extensive site improvements would be required to support the public facility which also do not currently exist on the site feel free to take a look at this one uh there's a lot of pictures of the current condition the interior of the cabin as well coincidentally what came in this morning was also I'm I'm keeping it under old business cuz the cabin's old uh is a statement here it looks like the New Jersey something Insurance Fund I didn't recognize I it's R jef right but it doesn't say I can't make out the other I they didn't sign it anyway um they looked at and thank you Miss Orlando for reaching out to them and having them take a look at this and answer in some of their follow-up questions their thoughts on the schwendeman property neither building is of historical note there is some consideration to the use of the buildings for small group meetings which would likely require compliance with current codes for Ada access could include an elevator for the third story section as well as fire detection and protection skip a couple sentences in addition into the buildings there are parking and Paving needs that would need to be addressed depending on the occupancy and use um I'll let that resonate or resonate not resignate I'm not resigning um with the rest of council and hopefully we can uh look to take some action there I know we have about $100,000 left in Grant funds from the county for that property whether it's to do improvements to the building and the grounds but uh you know the concern here is that it is an attractive nuisance for uh for delinquents a lot of vandalism that occurred over there and currently it's just sitting there getting older if if it were to be used for meetings and there had to be Bing and then that area as an existing Park and foliage and trees does that create its own environmental where we'd have to replace every tree that's taken down and all that's a good question um I know there's a clearing as much as there is now uh the GIF kind of focused more on the hazard or our liabilities with it not being as secure as it possibly could be or the pond that's around there with a semi fence and not really visible from the road because of all the foliage that's grown up and blocked visibility um the other concerns are you know that the Electric's on uh that powers the light out there so that we can kind of keep at least some presence uh but the power is all the uh gas and uh and water are also shut off to there so we don't know the condition of those um it took a little while to get that report going along the some miscommunications between emails between the Architects and the burrow but uh happy to have the report and like I said I hope people will take a look at it and kind of put their thinking caps on and determine what we should be doing there uh next I will move on to new business new business I have two items uh both have to do with Public Safety so during our last meeting we had this nice pamphlet on all of our chairs um regarding the uh MPS solar Speed Stick um for legal parking I did talk to the chief um Chief Johnson about it and he's actually the one that brought it to our attention um he's in favor of it um it's basically free to the town uh the company will install and but however there is information we still need to look into so all I would like to do is oh and and Mr Carr and I had a meeting with the company uh last week I believe so we still have some questions but I just want to make sure I just want to see if we can get just um agreement from the council that we can move on I know Pete we sent him the agreement as well he has a lot of questions as well so it's not something that's going to be implemented tomorrow but I just want to make sure we're okay with basically moving it on to the next step so Peter and and any other of our professionals can look into it and for those of you that uh might not be aware of listening at home the Speed Stick is an automated parking ticket camera uh basically records your your license plate and information when you park illegally shoots it off to the police department so that we can issue a summons and hopefully prevent it do you don't have any uh of these you want to put up in miltown can I can't hear you I'm sorry Dave do you know how many they're going they want to put up these cameras as yet we're going to Pilot it so um like I said we're not even at that step we just want to make sure that we're all in agreement that it's a it's a good idea and if it works for the town it's free for the town and basically it helps our Police Department so we don't they don't have to run out there and U get a ticket it actually goes right into headquarters and the the police officer at headquarters can decide if it's a ticket that should be that can be issued or not and they're and they're M um I did thank you councilman poter I know you've got another one I'd like to make a couple of comments on this um just uh I think it's a good idea I did uh talk to the chief about this as well initially when he brought it up he gathered some more information down in Atlantic City during the convention um one of the nice things is that these are mobile um I don't believe they even require power so as long as we have a place to mount them and secure the base unit uh I guess it works off Wifi the company that manages this and provides the cameras no charge only invoices us uh a portion of the ticket fee uh the nice thing is that you know if someone pulls in for a minute gets out sees the sign they can pop back in and that would be recorded so we know okay they weren't really there it's not an automated process there is uh officer review of those tickets uh one of the issues that also did come up and I spoke to our labor Council about this because the our labor council is also the uh the attorney for South River uh South River had looked at these several years ago when they were one of the first in uh in the state that was approached with these speed sticks they had some of their own concerns um as some folks might be aware the red light cameras were kind of overturned by the state in some regards with you know did the person come to a complete stop was it really red was there extenda circumstances Etc so they kind of moved away from automated ticketing um they had similar concerns and South River actually held back on Institute this program but that was several years ago uh since then I believe there's been a multitude of other towns within New Jersey U so we I would highly recommend that we look at those towns and reach out to their departments and find out if these tickets are being fought or not um my gut tells me a red light camera with possible points of moving violations would be a little bit more extensive of a fine rather than a $40 parking ticket that you get and you learn your lesson so yeah so so you bring up a great point and this is something we did we did get recommendations from the company and chief Johnson's going to reach out to them um and also to Peter's actually that was something that Peter brought up too he's going to look into that as well as long as we get permission from the council that he can go ahead and look into it I heard the big quick exit on the lights and that moving thing was because every time a stoplight goes out for a short period of time and they fix it if it hasn't been recalibrated and it's time like there's a certain minimum time for a yellow um that becomes a very that could have been very costly to the state if there was ever a class action lawsuit so they were kind of like you know what once someone mentioned that point and they realized that they had the volume that they could face with that it was quickly abandoned but in the parking you shouldn't have that issue the technology and I and I like this too because it's kind of at our discretion you know if you see someone that pulls in for two minutes or three minutes and then leaves you know we can probably issue a uh not necessarily a ticket but kind of a warning um and I like the mobility of it too that you could put it in locations in town that might have handicapp parking um where you know you could tell people look you're going down to the pool you don't belong parking there and you know you should have a permanent and also too it's a public safety issue if they're parking in a crosswalk you know so you know that's another reason but so do I have we have agreement that they can move forward and any minimum um right now there they didn't say there is a minimum um I know we're looking at two um but they they would like for us to at least I'm sorry start off with 10 um but we'll see we'll see but like we're going to Pilot it see that would be what we would think about doing if I I'm sorry so what I'd ask uh is eventually when the chief gets back after the 21st uh to go through the police department and come up with maybe a couple of years of history of compl complaints at dispatch where people have called complaints and then go through Civic plus to the report of concern and come up with some areas in town where there seems to be habitual places where people complain about people illegally parking uh it's basically if you see the the brochure it's pretty simple it's just a 30° camera angle at two or three feet off the ground looking at the license place that's it and then it takes the picture and then a couple of minutes later it takes the picture again so if someone comes in and says hey I was I was not there I was just in and out you know we could show them 23 pictures in a row where they were parked there for an hour and a half okay and say just a still boom picture 35 seconds 45 seconds later another picture of just the license plate that's it we're not saying who was there we're not saying who was driving we're just saying the car was there it becomes you know that becomes a conversation for the owner of the car later on uh but that's what we're looking at right now and it's a it'll be a test system it'll be test we'll see if it works or not and if it doesn't work we pull them have conversation yeah no obligation got a question uh since you brought up reporter concern when somebody a resident anybody um submits a report of concern who gets it in the B uh I get it the mayor gets it the police if it's a police matter goes to the police it's public works it goes to public works if it's electric Monica gets them I get them and then if their property maintenance concerns things like that you know Martin O'Neal gives them so there's a rather substantial list of people that get them based on what kind of complaint it is and and every single one of them is followed up on and ticked off a ticket basically the ticket looks at somebody looks at them yeah okay I just think this is an overreach and I and I don't think this is it's it's going to reduce pedestrian fatalities but that's that's just false because people are going to get hit anyway no we're not saying that we're just saying this is predominatly council person the idea being is a maybe we need to teach people to pay attention to where they Park okay there are Parts in town where people just park everywhere and you know and they just don't get it and perhaps we could use some technology instead of dragging an officer out there to do that I mean we all know for instance that back in the old days uh Peter will confirm this that not that he's old but back in the days of parking attendant would drive by uh and Mark your car your tire with a piece of chalk well that's been now deemed illegal because you're you know defacing somebody's car Jesus with a piece of chalk to prove that they've been parking there soort of okay this is just a picture uh I was here during the red light camera conversation Al in another municipality I got a couple of great photos of me blowing through stop lights in Germany it's not invasive at all you know it's beautiful 8 by10 glossy both hands on the wheel paying attention to the line you know 25k over the speed limit you know they they do it all over Europe it's simple we don't like it here that's okay and every one of those tickets here in in the red light camera is going to have a physical police officer looking at that license plate and making a determination whether or not that person gets a ticket or whether that person gets a warning or just a sharp note of protest it's not an automatic system sort of like a referee correct there is absolute interaction on yes this person would get a citation or not we could provide a list of all the police cars we could provide a list of all the EMS on the fire trucks so that they're parked and get the camera the officer knows well that's an EMS that's a police car we won't send a ticket to ourselves but again human interaction yeah I mean I I'd like to hear more public input on this because I mean I don't want to wind up like China you know where there's a camera on every corner we have those already we probably do come on we want to know about them and uh stay out the mail room what's that what's that first stay out of the mail room I'm done I'm sorry I don't want to go there I don't want to go there how that councilman Potter you had a second item yes on that note thank you uh so we are our nio count will be expiring at the end of November and I and I Know Chief Johnson is is has mentioned to us regarding this uh Civic ready emergency alert system which currently East fic's using and and other towns it's a very it it you can get much more with the system um and it's actually less expensive um so we want to make sure that we just want to let chief chief know he can look into um looking into this new system and eventually retiring to nixel Y so that was the next next the nixel The the nixel pro platform um has its pros and cons it does um and uh it appears that the Civic plus program that works uh in concert with our burrow website or the the company that manages our burrow website Civic plus um would have more advantages to the burrow so I asked him to revisit that and I'm glad that uh it's catching some legs again exactly anybody else for new business new business nothing new okay moving on we'll move to the public comment portion of our meeting the public comment portion of our meeting is is to allow the public to bring to the council's attention their concerns or comments the council will respect the Public's Time by refraining from any comment until the speaker is finished it should be further noted that the public comment portion of our meeting is not structured as a question and answer session please state your name and address for the record when you come to the podium yes sir good evening Alan godber for third place and I've got two uh events upcoming that I'd like to speak about which are to do with the L BR Ware partnership and also well concerned with the environment the first one is um an annual event which is being organized at the um earth center down in um the border of North brunwick and South brunwick is at U 42 River Avenue uh at davon's milant Park and this is called the garden Arts and Music Festival 2024 it's this Saturday the 20 24th and it is from 11:00 a.m. until 300 p.m. and the launch for watch partnership will have a table there along with probably 30 others so it's usually a fun event with all kinds of different things to do with arts and to do with the environment nature and uh music so um you're all invited to attend that it's it is a free event uh but I would recommend uh getting there fairly early because parking can get a little bit complicated if you arrive late and the second event is not until September and this is um an annual event that the launch for watch partnership has been doing for 20 years this is the 21st annual water Watershed bike ride being organized by Michael shikan as he has been doing for many years so it's on this time is on a Sunday September the 15th and this starts early in the morning so the uh registration is at 8:30 and the ride starts at 9:00 a.m. and it starts just up the hill here at the Lawrence Brook W part headquarters on the open space it's a uh 26 Mile ride but it's not all done at high speed so if you're a reasonable bike rider come and join us we've done it for many years we're not forcing anybody to go at any great speeds you all have some fun I think and we normally stop at the down in South brunwick and have some food to eat and um I guess I would driving my car is there um as I'm not riding bike anymore these days uh to help anybody who has a mess up or an accident so we we try and take care of making sure that this safe event but it is lasts about 3 hours or so 3 3 and a half hours but starting at 9:00 a.m. on September the 15th so thank you thank you thank you yes sir uh good evening Keith cook 219 North Brook Drive uh I wanted to originally uh come up and just talk about miltown day on September 28th I was going to ask the council to revisit their uh passing of ordinance 24548 in light of the fact that uh the miltown uh flag is not included in there and I thought that that was a missed opportunity on miltown day to be able to have the burrow flag in looking at the uh ordinance that was passed section 2- 892 display requirements at Burrow buildings sub paragraphs A and B uh designate the front of the buildings and then they designate four specific Flags uh miltown FLAG NOR the county of middlex flag are included in there I'm not sure if that was only meant to be on the front of the building or if it was all public facing parts of public buildings so either we'd need to revisit it to include the county and and the uh Township flag to be able to be flown inside uh or if not then if it's only meant to be in the front of the building then I think that there's opportunities to have Flags displayed in public sections of public buildings according to this ordinance so I just wanted the council to uh have the opportunity to revisit that in advance of miltown day thank you thank you yes sir hello d r act 322 South Main Street um first I want to apologize for my upir before it's just that some of you guys really make these meetings entertaining so um I have some I know it's not question answer but I I still just have some comment questions um during um when a phone call is placed to the burrow and I I don't know does it when somebody presses zero does it automatically go to the clerk or oh yes okay is that logged is what do you mean is it logged like is the the phone call logged like who called what time when what the conversation was about no all right um is the information discussed uh considered confidential well I mean if it's confidential matter then sure but if it's asking me why the red light's not working I don't think that's really confidential a matter I don't I would need more context okay um like like regarding um possible uh uh lawsuits uh against a town where a lawyer might be calling to ask if the if they if the town is responsible for something like is that something you decide or is it something that goes to council or specific council members or Mayors or I'm going to step in and say that if we're have discussions that are uh you know hypothetical discussions about potential lawsuits we're going to go back to that this is a public comment section and not a Q&A okay okay thank you um is there a policy regarding social media and um whether or not burough council members and such can comment on it cuz I I recall a few years ago there was something about it yes there is um and and in part that was because of the op request and the ability to document anything that the burrow may be putting out there okay um you know as an official form of communication to the residents so that's why it was prohibited okay um next is the all right that was answered sorry I'm going through my notes um with the schwamman c cabin um you said there's about 100,000 left in the schwamman account I I believe I think we started off with 120 and some monies were spent thus far but was was it was the um architecture stuff that came out of that yeah there was uh I think what did we max out 7,000 on that one7 okay umone now okay and that money was was grant money from the county right that that wasn't paid by miltown taxpayers okay and money's like that's saved just for the I mean it says it was supposed to be spent by a certain time and that time has passed years ago and we haven't done anything yet so figured it's probably good to get a professional report okay um that I'm sorry I'm are uh are council members allowed to I I want to say hang out but are they allowed to visit uh burough offices and stuff during burough hours or is that like is there a set times where they're allowed to be in the offices and such I would assume not after closing say I you know council members are certainly allowed to interact with public the the employees of the buau because part of their tasks involve you know attending to Municipal functions Okay so all right so I'm going to go to something that's that is specific that is uh has been bothering me for some time um during a recent thing um on good old social media um a council member was asking me about how my lawsuit is going and that lawsuit was not supposed to be known by anybody um so that that's where my question about the phone calls and if it's confidential and if they're logged was coming from um because that was not privy to anybody's knowledge so my concern is that when my lawyer called the burrow asking inquiring about this stuff that somebody else found out and he leaked the information online and that that can qualify possibly as a state ethics violation if he is going around I'm sorry the councilman question was Gary uh his name is Gary panski is that right yes it is believe it or not so um he keeps asking he replied several times to um something how is your lawsuit going how's your lawsuit going so if he is divulging information that shouldn't be public then is that a state ethics violation again I'm going to go back to this is not a question and answer session if you have some issue you'd like to bring to the attention of the council or you you know where you're I mean this is not the Forum to do this so you can certainly make your comments but it's not going to be a Q&A on things that have to do with litigation okay I believe Gary panski is a violating State ethics statutes and that um he needs to be investigated for doing so I believe that Monica is also in on this somehow because I'm sorry who who is I'm sorry Monica Orlando um because that that's only if she's the one answering the phone calls and he's hanging out in the office and he's commenting and talking about lawsuits that he shouldn't be that he should actually keep his mouth shut about I think we're going to we're going to wrap this one up you've asked quite a few questions and I think you made your point so if you have a different matter to discuss by all means but this one's going to go nother thank you just want in Cabin um do you know the date that that money was uh what was supposed to be used by by chance uh I I don't recall off the top of my head it was a county Grant um when they had given us the property we we purchased it several years ago uh and paid the county about $350,000 for a land swap in order to construct a new uh electric substation up the hill uh after construction of that substation the county said here take the TR property back and uh then it was requested for some additional funds to repair it and maintain the facility they gave us about 120,000 said use it by this date I think uh I want to say was last year or the year before I had made the inquiry about do we have the money still is it still good they said yes we decided that we would investigate it unfortunately no one really wanted to put pen to paper about what their thoughts were on the condition so the next logical step was to hire a professional have them write a report and make the determination okay thank you for hiring the arct and having that information done so thank you yes Sir Richard Ry 6 South Main Street miltown New Jersey ladies and gentlemen council president members um there's been a lot of talk this evening about Public Safety here we go school starting soon I get it um various stages of road work uh done to date some still needed I get it crosswalks um there's even a town there's even a barrel ordinance that says if you are building a new neighborhood for example um there are requirements for streets with regard to the the ability to have uh cold tox instead of dead ends for the purposes of turning vehicles around um I bring these points up because I've come here before and asked for help with regard to certain issues I've received help on certain issues others have been completely ignored and I too have a couple of questions I will defer to council and council president um before I attempt to ask them um but I have another point because the subject came up about report of concern so I have a couple of questions that I think fall to the business administrator and I'd like to know can I ask those questions I have no problem with you asking but please do understand if he they can't be answered for legal reasons that they won't be answered I understand thank you so uh Mr Carr um my understanding of the report of concern application on the Burl website um asks for very specific information and you've pointed out based on a question by councilman Zan BR that um the way it's formatted that each concern is specifically addressed and um to whichever person that may that may be their responsibility but does all that information ultimately come through your office the information that's reported on the report of concern or the correct correct that as you fill out that form I get it the mayor gets it Monica gets it and whomever is out on the distribution gets that public information yes sir and so whether or not there's reason to contact for any veral employee to contact the resident issuing the concern um when it's addressed in whatever fashion that information also comes back to you at that point no no so for instance if you were to let's say you were to place the report a concern and concern about St Paul's okay and you provided all that information and I went to the zoning guy and he reached out to you unless he reached out to me and says look I called gentleman up we had a lovely chat or it's in the courts as we all know um it would not come back in the report of concern as a response or anything like that it' be a separate discussion I see I thank you for that information no problem I use that example since you know you chatted about that I know it's a favorite topic and um it seems uh appropriate that you uh chose that particular example that's a good example um with regard to the other information the reason I asked the questions the way I do is because there's an ongoing concern um with placement of a garbage dumpster and the method with which that garbage is picked up and um it's picked up usually the same day every week um the time that it's picked up varies a little bit I guess that's based on their schedule um the vehicle that picks up that trash barely fits like I've stated before it's not even a driveway that goes around the school it's really a fire lane um depending on the driver there are many occasions where the driver has to um maneuver on three or four different spots in order to get the truck in and out without either hitting the fence that's on my property line or the school itself also even though obviously the vehicles are equipped with with um emergency reverse signals um there are occasions where it's completely blind backing out alongside a school and aside from the reverse signals they have to lay on the horn um sometimes the driver doesn't even do that and he's just backing out blind completely I think it's something that should be addressed and since it wasn't it seems to me maybe if I put in a report of concern that then it will follow a proper Channel sounds appropriate seems right thank you for your help anyone else yes the gentleman in the back right corner Dave nkin 59 West f I want to commend the council for the street name change to excuse me again to haav a lot of hands went into this in particular I want to recognize Council liaison Paretti and councilman Zam Brana for their help with this um but I'd also especially like to recognize a 15-year-old student 15-year-old student in 2010 Evan goddman who took the time to write a letter to Mayor Bradford about an issue that he cared about about a street street sign issue he wasn't looking for any attention he was just practicing active citizenship and letting his voice be heard I'm glad he did that he started the whole process and he's a good example for all of us Evan goddman thank you very much thank you thank you anybody yes yes well at least we have one mayor in the building this evening you're doing just fine the Trina mayor 21 RoR Avenue um I came up to thank councilman Potter for the uh ideas from the police department about the uh the parking and about the nixel I think that they're both great ideas and I thank you for for bringing that up um the parking if you're not aware councilman Collins uh is an issue not necessarily for pedestrians but also for drivers as well as council president revolinsky is well aware his mother has been coming to uh Council meetings and doing reporter concerns for many many years to ask people not to park on the corner of Maine and uh John she does a great job of the reporter concerns here too exactly so that is one place right there by Maria where people park on the corner um the other thing is there's many streets where people Park too close to the corner and then in order for cars to get out you need to go around and get into oncoming traffic so something like that I think is a great addition to the town especially because it's at at no cost and you can see how it works so thank you so much for doing that appreciate I'd like to add to that too um councilman moo and myself uh connected last night we were over on Garver place um we've been going around looking at uh I know this is public comments I'm just going to interject a little bit it's one of the Privileges wearing two hats tonight um the uh there's been a big problem with the the no parking on the corners um where you're just you're you're facing oncoming traffic as you're trying to pull off of Main Street so we've identified a multitude of streets we had a draft ordinance prepared with uh with our burough attorney um we had a final question over there regarding Garver because of the turn um councilman moo did look over at the uh police department and asked for their recommendation because it is a sharp curvature in that road and they said you know it's really recommended that there is no parking on the curvature so that the emergency vehicles can get through we wheeled that off gave some information over to our uh burrow attorney and uh hopefully we'll see that draft going out to the rest of council very shortly and uh with an introduction in September hopefully would it be possible for the public safety group because I don't believe you or councilman Mano are on Public Safety be good if um we had mentioned this during the last Council uh meeting and you know by all means you CH provide us with that information yeah coun I just I just said yeah but you can send it to us before we send it to but I'll get it he's got he's got the nice dra I'll get it from attorney thank you there you go thank you he's waiting for the final component yeah that did late last night again transparency is key being transparent very good any other public comments buer going once going twice seeing none we'll move on to the public portion closing the public portion I don't really like to close the public portion kind of like open but okay we'll close the public portion um and we're going to move on to council comments and I see councilman panski was quick on the draw there well I'm actually G ask if I can go last if there's anyone else I go last that counts as a comment of you going first as well I'm going to mark it down put it in the minutes first me laugh anyone else I got a really quick one sure maybe two uh the first one was that um I walked out of my house the other day there was a guy walking up my driveway to go to my front door and um Windows Doors electric whatever it was I think it was solar and um and I said to him you know sir actually happened to be on the council and has been clearly stated to me that we do not give solicitation permits to companies so I mean I understand your boss told you probably to come up and walk this street but you really don't really have any reason to be here and walking up to people's houses just something I think you should know uh and then I turned around and walked away and he walked down my driveway uh and stood on his phone by a tree for about 15 minutes and then they left thank you appreciate that you know uh but I just think that's a nice way to deal with it was rather than any kind of angry or hostility did you know that you could go to you know it's not really so I thought that was useful um and I do think we um the idea that yeah Public Safety gets read in at some point um I don't know when those should be I do know that as we've been trying to do throw in what will be coming at the end of these meetings which you had mentioned earlier in the year we've been doing that but some of the things it does stand a reason that we should be it seems like it it's happens enough that we got to find we do have to find some kind of like generically hey everybody this is on a on the hot scene or in the in the next 30 days whatever we pick but it wouldn't be a bad idea to go is you know this is what's something that's you know being talked about just so you know if you got any questions and you want to dive right into it talk to this person or that person because there is sometimes we're crossing over I'm sure Ralph is getting a phone call that is related to two or three things from people with the same intentions and all the same goals uh so um it bye FR I had a question um senior councilman Collins you may go oh I'm sorry proper uh Council edate I had a question from the senior center that we used to get a county grant for uh Improvement down the senior center and we haven't gotten in a couple years maybe Phil you know anything about that have you checked that out on you you were in a senior center last year yeah and you're the senior senator liaison now I'm I'm missing your point I'm just wondering what happened to the grant down there we used to get like $10,000 in the county in order in order to get a grant you have to apply for it so did anyone apply for it uh yes I have okay and we're working on it okay and I'll let you know what goes on with that councilman counil will let you know all and everyone else yeah Grant two years so I know you will thanks Gary okay oh I had a couple other things too I had some I got some bad news I got some bad news I just got a notice today that the Wells Fargo branch on Main Street is closing November 20th I got put glasses on this year here U so and also that U my condolences to the U ricardi family on the loss of their father Anthony he was a on Farms Road Circle I don't know if anybody goes over there but he had a fabulous Christmas decorations out every year was the yellow house on farmone Circle people used to come from all over the area and go there and uh he passed away on August 15th so it's uh sorry to report that that concludes my comments anybody else okay I'm I mean I'm going to go before councilman pansy goes I'm gonna go all right um my comment is that uh last time I bragged about my daughter my son on the other hand got his uh you know got a little aggravated with that so I will just say happy birthday to him on uh on Wednesday August uh 21st you know and it and it brings to mind the fact that uh when my son was born I was actually sharing pictures of uh of him in the hospital when I first joined the Fourth of July committee and first decided to try and Endeavor to public service so uh 12 years later um I'm thankful for the opportunity it's been it's been great and uh thankful that he is healthy happy and you know we're moving forward um I'm going to leave it at that I'll let councilman P nansy wrap us up before we go to Executive session U first I'd like to thank um Mr arinac who came here tonight to Delight all of us um but I don't appreciate what he did um with with um M Orlando she's to me she's the best clerk that I've seen here in years she's very professional she has not mentioned anything to me about the lawsuit that he told everyone here about he told everyone here he was if we could just he made a lot of accusations tonight about me and about M Orlando I understand and so I so should I leave him alone I would say that discretion is sometimes better left not speaking I can't tell you not to talk I can tell you that you probably would be better suited not talking okay okay he can say what he wants about me I don't appreciate what he says about Miss Orlando I'll let it go with that and then I will read this I'd like to give thanks to all those who have bravely fought for our flag for almost 250 years the found fathers who sacrificed everything to create the country we live in today they fought the superior British forces against tyranny creating in America they fought the Civil War brother against brother for all men to be equal they fought in foreign countries against hate and again against tyranny for their fellow man they were young innocent never to grow old become parents have families all that is left are memories of who they were and the lives they saved and generations that continued because of their lost lives and sacrifice one day year is too little in which we reflect on these Brave patriotic American soldiers who gave their service loyalty sacrifice and love of country I pale by comparison to any of these Heroes what I do have in common as do the police the fire department and rescue squad and the reason I have earned a place up here is my belief in service sacrifice loyalty and a very special word selflessness thank you thank you and I believe believe that wraps up Council comments mayor's comments no he says he's sorry that he couldn't be here tonight um but he looks forward to seeing you all in September with that will the clerk please read resolution number 2024 251 andent during executive session whereas the open public meetings ACT public law 1975 chapter 231 fromit the exclusion of the public from a meeting in certain circumstances and whereas this public bies of the opinion that such circumstan presently exist and whereas the governing body wishes to discuss pending litigation and whereas minutes will be kept and once the matter involving the confidentiality of the above no longer requires that confidentiality and the minutes can be made public now therefore be resolved by the burough Council of the bur of mtown County of middlex state of New Jersey at the public be excluded from this meeting thank you you've heard the reading of this resolution um what is your pleasure I make a motion this resolution be adopted second it because I get to do that is still councilman will the clerk please call the role council president revolinski councilman Collins I councilman moo councilman posnanski I councilman Potter Council it's going to be quick right can we just in here we will be moving uh are we going to move to the conference room we going wrap this up in here wrap it up in here folks if any action is to be taken which there is none anticipated it will occur in Open Session thanks sure