exactly okay [Applause] the was All right yeah name so much money
bill you good right there good evening i'd like to call the March 24th 2025 Burough Council meeting 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 law
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 bur and is on file in the clerk's office will the clerk please call the role council President Zambrana here councilman Collins here councilman
Mo here councilwoman Payne here councilman Pnansky here councilman Potter here mayor Murray present burough attorney Peter Venolo present b Engineer Mike Mlen here b Engineer Laskanka here b administrator Frederick Carr burough clerk Monaco Orlando present will
everyone please stand for a moment of silence which will be followed by the salute to the flag ice to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible
with liberty and justice for all just wall so up first we have a presentation regan would you please come up good evening Mayor and Burough Council my name is Reagan Zelahowski and I'm a seventh grader at school and a cadet
girl scout for Miltown Troop 80270 i'm working towards obtaining my silver award which is the second highest award in Girl Scouting the silver award requires me to develop a sustainable project for the Miltown community the Burough Pool has been a fixture in
Miltown for decades my friends and I learned to swim there there are limited safety precautions for people especially children that cannot swim water safety is very important to me when I was a little girl I was rescued by one of the lifeguards at
Burrow Pool i was not wearing a life jacket and struggle to stay above water i would love to build a life jacket rack at the Burough Pool i would supply a rack and life jackets based on sponsored donations from the community there would be no cost to the burrow for this
project a life jacket rack is a storage center designed to hold life jackets i would work with Miss McGrath the recreation director to select what type of life jackets would be the best for the pool i would also hold workshops on life jacket safety to the children who
attend Albert Avenue day camp during the their weekly pool day handouts will come from the American Red Cross Longfellows Whale Tales Water Safety Program that can be found online providing the children with handouts
coloring and activities i provided a link to their website below the website materials are free and readily available i would love to build a life jacket rack for this this summer for the burrow pool this project will benefit the burrow of Miltown and the pool this
project will be completed at no cost to the burrow it would be a great addition to the pool aiding in the safety of the town's little swimmers and will also increase water safety and knowledge for the children at Albert Avenue Al Avenue summer camp thank you so much for your
time happy swimming reagan if you want to come back up to the microphone um first of all congratulations and thank you uh for doing this for the community i did speak to Mrs mcgrath and she's 100% behind
this project as well and once it's up and going you know you will continue to keep her involved that would be great um I didn't have any other questions if unless any other council members did question just one go ahead okay go ahead no thank you i want to say thank you i
have four I have four sisters they're all Girl Scouts and I buy Girl Scout cookies every year i look for you guys and I appreciate what you're doing that's going to be a wonderful addition thank you you're welcome so Rean I have one question if someone wanted to donate how would they or how could they what's the best way
i think we might set up like a website okay okay amazon and Amazon good job so Amazon Amazon okay um if there's no other questions I mean is there a way we can get this on as a resolution for the next meeting if you
guys want it on the agenda we can we can put that together sounds good excellent i I think this is a great project and you just never know when you're going to need something to save somebody's life in the water i know I had that experience and I thought the person was joking they popped up and said "I can't swim." And they went down and somebody
said "No she really means it." and she was going under and it was like 100 I think she was maybe 110 pounds and it felt like about 500 pounds in the water take took two of us to drag her out so it's a very good project yeah i mean the fact that you're not only building it but also educating is tremendous so
thank you so much you're welcome thank you thanks now is a time for public comment limited to the resolutions on the agenda only if you wish to speak please step up to the microphone state your name and address for the record again the public portion
is limited to the comments only on the resolutions listed on the agenda at this time there'll be a 5m minute time limit set forth by the rules of council if someone raises their hand please come up to the microphone state your name and address for the record
um Steve Gregus 25 Lincoln Avenue uh this is concerning resolution 2025140 budget introduction when does the budget actually get um approved is that going to be done today no second meeting in April okay i just
wanted to ask if um the end of year I submitted a proposal to do some work on the museum i was wondering if that was included in the budget if you could tell me that or not not at this time Steve okay all right thank you seeing none I will close audience
comments the following ordinance was introduced on March 10th 2025 and published in accordance with law if any member of the public wishes to comment on this ordinance they must do so after the reading will the clerk please read ordinance 24158 by title ordinance to amend
chapter 22 electrical service section 22-38 general service of the revised general ordinances of the burrow of Miltown section 22-38.3 service rates may I have a motion in a second please to adopt ordinance 241558
motion second i have a motion made by Council President Zambrana seconded by Councilman Collins is there any comments yes there is i have something I want to read about um in essence I'm in agreement as far as a demand fee I am not and I'm going to speak about that um
I'd like to bring up the electric demand fee that Miltown has been set in stone as I am to understand it the initial turning on the lights in a business such as Home Depot brought the demand fee into being as electric surge brings on the need for a large amount of power the demand fee for business especially small business has put many shop owners in a
financial bind that has seen many of them fail i counted 12 today 12 vacant stores or business fronts today that are closed out of business i also have several business owners recently that are close to giving up on their livelihoods the demand fee now climbing even higher is a main reason small
business especially is the lifeblood of a town like Miltown you need a healthy main street and ours is sadly falling short empty storefronts vacant properties such as Whitman property and the old Michelin plant property looking like Berlin 1945 it's a disgrace and it embar embarrasses all of us that love
Miltown why do we want to discourage small business in town we need them more than they need us this will be brought up again and I promise the first time I spoke here before I was elected I mentioned this great disgraceful Main Street and nothing has changed as I said I will bring this up again very soon
thank you okay I will open up the public hearing on ordinance 24158 please state your name and address for the record comments are limited to this ordinance only seeing none I will close uh public
comment uh will the clerk please call the role council President Zambrana I councilman Collins I councilman Mango I councilwoman Payne I councilman Pasnanski no councilman Potter
I authorization of payments of municipal obligations next on the agenda we have authorizing payment of municipal obligations will the clerk please read resolution 25134 by title 2025-134 authorizing the payment of bills claims and statements against the
burrow of Miltown in the total amount of $2,271,968.38 you have heard the reason reading of this resolution are there is any questions no may I have a motion in a second motion second
i have a motion made by Council President Zimbran seconded by Councilman Potter will the clerk please call the role council President Zambrana hi councilman Collins hi councilman Mango hi councilwoman Payne i councilman Pnansky hi councilman Potter i
a consent resolution has been prepared for the resolutions listed on the agenda all matters listed under the consent agenda are to be considered routine in nature and having been reviewed by burough council will be enacted on in one motion any items may be removed from
the consent agenda at the request of any council member and if so removed it'll be treated on in a separate matter any items requiring expenditures are supported by certification of funds if any member of council wants any resolutions acted upon individually
please give me the resolution number and it will be pulled from the consent resolution yes Mr mayor like 2025 139 pulled okay uh will the clerk please to cons read the consent agenda resolution
whereas pursuant to the rules of council the council may establish a consent agenda for any regular or special meeting upon certain conditions and whereas each of the following resolutions to be presented before the burough council at its March 24th 2025 meeting appear to have the unanimous approval of all members of the Burough Council
2025-136 through 2025-138 now therefore be it resolved by the Burough Council of the Bureau of Miltown that each of the above listed resolution be approved and adopted by the Burough Council with the same legal effect as though each were read in its entirety at its March 24th 2025 meeting and adopted by separate vote will the
clerk please call the role we need a motion in a second oh sorry motion in a second motion second motion made by Council President Zbrana second by Councilman Potter uh will the clerk please call the role council
President Zambrana I councilman Collins hi councilman Mango hi councilwoman Payne I councilman Pnansky I councilman Potter I will the clerk please read resolution 2025-139 authorizing shared service agreement
curbside recycling services Middle Sex County Improvement Authority 2025 through 2028 uh what's the pleasure of councel make a motion that this resolution be adopted second thank you second i have a motion made by Councilman Potter seconded by Councilwoman Payne
are there any comments yes Mr mayor i'm just trying to figure out how much money are we going to save going with the county over our one that we have now does anybody have an idea you've used the county now council what's that you have a you currently your agreement is with the county oh I thought we had a
new private county because you had a three-year agreement subject to two one-year extensions which expires um the end of this month okay all right that answers my question seeing no further comments uh will the clerk please call the role council
President Zambrana I councilman Collins I councilman Mango hi councilwoman Payne I councilman Pnansky hi councilman Potter i reports from elected officials council no budget the budget introduction
oh will the clerk please read resolution 2025140 i'll I'll be reading the entire budget summary of current fund section of appro approved budget general appropriations appropriations within caps for municipal
purposes $9,22,89 appropriations excluded from caps municipal purposes 2,654,741.94 um it's she municipal budget of the burough of Middletown count county of Middle Sex for the fiscal year 2025 be it resolved
that the following statements of revenues and appropriations shall constitute the municipal budget for the year 2025 be a further resolved that said budget be published in the home news trabune in the issue of April 202 the governing body burrow of miltown
does hereby approve the following as the budget for the year 2025 okay y so you need a motion a second motion and a second please motion second a motion made by Council
President Zbrana seconded by Councilman Potter is there any discussion seeing none will the clerk please call the role council President Zambrana I councilman Collins hi councilman Mano hi councilwoman Payne hi councilman Pnansky hi councilman Potter I reports from
elected officials council President Zimbraner thank you Mr mayor the uh the only report I have tonight is just to uh send out a thank you to our uh BA Fred Carr uh who's not able to be here with us tonight and to our CFO Joe Zena for all their work uh in putting together uh
and introducing a budget for 2025 on time thank you thank you Councilman Collins thank you Mr mayor i just have uh the library um agenda here what's uh going on at the library 3:25 is drop in play at 10:30
a.m 3:25 library book club 6 pm 3:26 2 pm movie matinea awakenings 3:27 and 41 after school game on 3:00 42 movie matinea Peggy Sue got married 2
p.m cro 45 crochet for beginners 11 a.m 47 yoga 9:15 please register 9:15 a.m is yoga please register 47 Library Concert Poets of the
Prairie 6:30 p.m please register 48 drop in play 10:30 a.m 49 2 p.m matinea Movie 1 Jacks 410 Craft Corner 3 p.m 412 Breakfast Art
Club 10:30 a.m please register and 4:12 Read to a Pooch 12:30 a.m story time with Mrs ms sam is offered on Thursdays 3:27 410 is Babes and Tots at
10:30 and all ages at 11:30 please call the library at 732-22472270 if you have any questions that concludes my report Mr mayor thank you Councilman M uh just a few brief things to mention
about the water utility the uh the meters are still go moving forward in being replaced and those uh this process seems to be going well um additional to that um I do know that uh the DPW has moved to having a different testing system uh
which we're hoping to have better success with and uh other than that uh things keep moving on life is good thank you thank you Councilwoman Payne uh thank you Mr mayor i have no report but I would like to congratulate Councilman
Potter on being a brand new grandpa yes thank you [Applause] thank you Councilman Ponzanski sure um first again I I want to also thank Joe Zena um for helping us this year and last year you bailed us out last year and you're bailing us out again this
year thank you very much um I have a senior report first I want to thank the director Debbie Cuddy for 21 years of dedicated and loyal service to our valued seniors she does not get enough recognition and thanks that that her continued presence brings miss Cuddy is working with the county for a CDBG or
block grant uh for needs at the senior center she's trying to get funding for new windows they're old leaky and drafty there are other items they would like for the center they come from a different generation though and they don't ask for much um they're concerned and interested minority group and they are taxpayers they question me often if
I do not have an answer for them I make sure that I know I will get one i tell them that I will get one and relay that to them right now they're very concerned with the stored energy system and smart meters most of the seniors are lifelong residents not long ago they were young
as some of us are and vibrant like you please give them and your own family seniors the respect that they have earned and deserve uh for W DPW report i'd like to thank Ralph Desnowski for his 28 years of hard work and leadership never asking one of his men to do
something that he wouldn't do himself because he has starting with starting his career at the back of a garbage truck i have met and spoken with Ralph at his office and at the old DPW grounds i asked him as he did last year when time permits if his people can keep chipping away at the site so citizens and taxpayers feel they're seeing
something be done being done for them with their hard-earned um tax dollars the idea is to keep upgrading the site so that at some point it will no longer be the go-to junkyard um and you deserve to to be uh in a in a better state than
it is now and also I'm sorry I was wrong last meeting the heat in the DPW had not been repaired as I expected as I thought it was more problems arose fortunately warmer weather is upon us and heating is not needed but uh air conditioning season will be up here and we'll keep our fingers crossed and there is no MHPC
report tonight that concludes my report thank you thank you Councilman Potter thank you Mr mayor uh from the Middletown Recreation Department uh currently there are 70 people attending tonight's event at the New Jersey Devils game hope they're having fun uh youth
spring registrations are open please visit community pass to register we're still accepting seasonable seasonal employment applications these can be found under the forms on the Miltown website it's a fillable application so please complete it online and mail it to
kmcgrathtown.com registration for Albert Avenue camp and pool memberships will begin in midappril adult softball registration has recently opened please register on community pass the spring chess program will run from March 31st
to April 28th please register now so you don't miss out from the Miltown Planning Board the next meeting is scheduled for April 2nd and from the Miltown Fourth of July organization we'd like to extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who attended and supported the Celebrity Bartender event this past Saturday your
presence and enthusiasm made the event a success special thanks to our sponsors Maria's Mike's Country Market Garden State Bar Edible Arrangements and the American Legion Post 25 your generous contributions are greatly appreciated
and played a significant role in making this event possible finally congratulations to our 2025 Grand Marshall former fire chief councilman council president and current Miltown historian Brian
Hardo we're honored to have Brian as our grand marshal for our 100th year celebration his dedication and service to our community are truly commendable and that concludes my report thank you uh reports from Burough Professionals Mr vignola no report
tonight Mr mayor mr mccloner yeah thank you Mr mayor um two items tonight the first is an update on the water meter replacement project to date 639 meters have been replaced that's an
additional 268 since the March 10th meeting report um 25 others are being validated 33 are incomplete and 147 are currently scheduled um secondly with
regard to the Foch Avenue improvements we're pleased to report that the base mapping has been completed and we'll be reaching out to um Ralph Jazznowski of the public works to schedule a committee meeting to go over the scope of that project and that's all we have tonight
Mr mayor thank you um uh the only thing I have is for anyone who's participating in the unofficial townwide garage sale um although I'm not in the office daily there are permits and envelopes for you to put your
application in your $5 fee please put exact cash in there or check if you leave it in the dropbox I'll be in the office twice a week processing the permits and since I I won't be giving them to you right away I am I offered to um David who organizes this unofficial
thing that I will email him a list of everybody once a week who has applied for a permit so that you guys can be on the list and that's all that I have my report thank you uh does any member of council have any over business to bring before council yes um in regards the uh Schwen property
now that the Schwendamin committee is up and running have they decided what is happening with the grounds as the DPW spring cleaning is ready to commence and they'll be doing the usual trimming clearing brush mowing etc workers are expecting direction as I am the leazison to DPW I'm sure I will be informed so I
may relay information forward um the committee um we don't have members yet i've been reaching out that was one of my comments uh still waiting for more uh participants uh from the residents uh to sign up and fill out
their uh leadership form so we can get them added to the uh committee um unless you say at this point what you have is you've authorized the creation of the committee but you haven't populated it yet okay i know the mayor had um asked
um the clerk to modify the uh the citizen leadership form to include the ability to request uh membership on that subcommittee um but I don't know where we stand with it was done the day it was requested and posted no no I know it was done i was Wow
i don't know where we stand with people applying to be members we only have uh one resident and one councilman uh that um showed interest so far
all right uh does any member of council have any new business to bring before council i do um it's it's in regards to the um battery battery energy storage system um I'd like to ask Lou and Mike if if if you want to participate in I because I
have some questions and I have some statements um does the power station need to be upgraded to deal with the battery packs no it does not okay um how are you CM prepared to deal with the fire suppression in in the event of a breakout the uh there's a couple things
there's suppression system been specified inside the battery system so it comes contained and uh we've also proposed a wall behind the units where they're close to the property lines um the only reason I I I have a lot of things to ask is as I've I've done a lot
of research on it and do do you know um there's a a place in California during the the wildfires they also had a a plant um Moss Landing do you know about that i'm not familiar but we know that the batteries have a potential issue with
regard to fires and and when we checked into it this particular product that we specified has an internal suppression system that has NFBA rating and there's a requirement in your in our bid documents and the bid docs were prepared to have that meet all the current criteria okay so and the wall itself
it's is is a fire rated wall to some extent similar to what's out there now i mean I know you're going to do your due diligence with it but the fire out there it was acres and it's it was the largest um it was the largest plant that type of facility and it handled over over three
million people and it was a huge fire you said it was much smaller than that but yeah we we also recognize the issue it's something that's came up very early on in discussions um because they actually couldn't do anything with it the only thing they could do was monitor it because you know it gave off the poisonous gases fumes that's right um
potentially do sure your your batter system though is much smaller sure still the same concerns and uh this it's inherent in the system to have that suppression system and the reason I and I I looked into this because I I feel like I need to do this i can't just I can't just sign off and vote on it and
there's there's there's good and bad in regards and I know I know you know that but uh I I'd be remiss if I didn't look into all that and especially bring it up to here bring it up here because I I think that everyone up on council should do their uh their best to to research this also before they before they get a
chance to vote on it remember we designed the substation ourselves not our firm and there's many different protections in that whole system and we feel that you're protected here both the front of the units but the back okay and if I could add on to that Councilman I
reached out to our safety representative for the GIF regarding it and once it's in place there'll be extra safety training for the fire department and for other responders okay because I do have that in my other questions here um did did you do did you do some of the work
in South River because I know they have a system there we have not our office is the engineering sector okay we did some of the site work review but not really the direct battery connection we've been more involved in your stuff okay because I I did I checked out the system it's it's it's much larger than it would be
here i know that and we tour over there we did walk the site have our staff had our electro engineer over there and the guess it's much bigger than you have but their town is much bigger than okay um some things may seem redundant but it says would it make sense to invite
representatives of Miltown Fire Department to determine their degree of readiness in handling a lithium ion fire well I think that your clerk just indicated that the GIF recommended we did the same thing with the sub when we actually uh commenced the substation of all those folks were brought in the people that made the decisions and were
shown the entire system and they'll be done that way this also would you know if they have that kind of training if they've had that kind of training with the substation yes with the batteries probably not okay yeah that doesn't mean they haven't had it somewhere else sure um and remember your system is not
really owned by you this is a system that's going to be owned by the company that's providing the service so that's their requirement and responsibility to maintain these also okay um a fire would present health environmental and structural hazards are you aware to the extent of repercussions
it could create i think that this particular installation is going to be protected because of the retaining wall we recommended put a long behind it and I think that under normal circumstances uh you have to be very careful with these type of units and installations but I
think if you remember that if you go to the substate you'll see there's a very high wall much like a sound wall on this project that's a combination wall and our suggestion and recommended plans that that be put in both for sound and for fire protection okay and and everything I'm bringing up here it's
it's not to be an alarmist but I think I think people have to be aware and actually um there's someone at the senior center had some concerns and what I told him is watch the meeting actually I told him to come to the meeting uh tonight and he said he didn't really want to do that i said please watch because I'm going to bring up your part
of his question that I looked really looked into it and remember this big bid document set up as a performance specification so the required supplier will ultimately decide he has to provide the proofs and the certifications to meet those standards okay um as a fire would present toxic
gases the chemicals released would be among others hydrogen fluoride hydrochloric acid carbon monoxide soil and water testing would have to be done to determine uh safety for the residents and
uh that's it the units specified are contained all in a box so that you know the off gases that may or may occur when a fire occurs you can't always predict it but in this particular design spec has been set up to provide the best
protection you can get today mhm but make no mistake just like the substation there's always concerns with this type of equipment sure no I've I've I've read all the u the good things about them but I also So so I had to put it together the best way I thought I I should felt
like I should present here tonight so like I said and I'm not an alarmist and I don't want to scare myself either um but then I'm going to go into this um uh Salis O'Brien I know that they're they're the people tow in your town um
uh let's see it's a lithium based technology allows us to capture energy during the low cost times when energy surplus is available and I know Joe knows all about this but I I'm sure people here he's very good yeah and I but I figure out other people here don't so that's why I'm I'm saying this um but
um it takes when the the energy surplus is available then uh discharge the stored energy during the peak usage hours when energy costs rise um we have two years which the energy cost as of now may peak and then the energy we buy will hopefully be accessible at a more reasonable cost to us however the energy
situation today is not what it was a few months ago uh yet for the sake of Miltown residents the battery packs are a a possible viable option which you know we're determining um but then I want to bring up uh the Moss Landing fire
um okay so we we talked about I have one question we already talked about um but the the fire in uh Moss Landing California it's in rural area in Monterey fire started on January 16 2025 like I said it was overshadowed by uh
all the other wildfires um it's a gigantic facility serving over 3 million residential and non-residential government use users uh the likely reason for the fires was the overheating of the lithium ion batteries and uh the the lithium ion batteries are energy
dense and contain electrolytes both are highly flammable i'm sure you know all this overcharging non-compliant charging equipment overheating exposure to heat or extreme temperatures can cause uh these fire hazards um we would have to make sure the system is meticulously
observed and maintained and fire suppression readiness and vigilance is maintained um also another question do you know about a thermal runaway i've heard of it this particular project is again is monitored and and there's
control so that doesn't happen sure and and again remember you're basically bringing in an outside operator to operate the system it's Miltown's responsibility to make sure they do what they're required to do and that's where you're going to have folks you have your own electrical superintendent certainly
capable of watching these things sure um but I'm I'm going to explain what the thermal runway is it's uh the the uh charging lithium ion batteries beyond capacity brings up excessive heat buildup which leads to thermal runaway also the high temperatures destabilize
the chemical structure of the battery leading to thermal runaway which could lead to fire explosion and uh the owner of the the owner the energy storage site in California is called Vistra have you ever heard of them they're very big yeah um over a thousand people and animals
were evacuated the environmental studies uh will take play will will take years to measure the full impact of the devastating fires considering all the chemical components you'll you'll like this one the state officials claim no ill effects will come of the disaster and let the residents return to their homes the next
day and u isn't it councilski this fire occurred from the outside there were there was a a a wildfire outside that's not how it started i thought that's how it started it's not how it started but let me just tell you you have a suppression system inside the unit and a cooling system to go through and keep
the control so I it it what's specified is the best that's available today in the market that's what you specified that's what you're requiring can things happen yes they can the fire was separate from the wildfires it was it was a heat though by the
wildfire that's my Thank you okay yes Mr mayor uh we're having the environmental meeting at 7:30 p.m on Wednesday March 26th and I'll mention if you if with your approval for any openings if they want to get on the
Schwindabid Committee okay thank you all right thanks are we close uh new business open to the public public comment portion of our meeting 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 just a reminder under the rules of council individuals wishing to speak during the public input port of the meeting shall be limited to five minutes and may after other speakers have finished may be allowed to speak
for a second fiveminut period someone raises their hand please come to the microphone state your name and address for the record steve Gargas 25 Lincoln Avenue um first thing um I'm definitely still interested in joining that uh Schwin committee i just have to I'm not a computer i just
have to get online and fill out the uh I'll give you a paper application oh okay thanks i appreciate um second um last month I had uh come in front of council and ask permission to do a small beautifification project at um the uh
Parton Avenue tennis courts and um actually I talked to you last council meeting about I did i just it's it's in the works it's there's a couple questions that I had for um that I need to Oh okay so maybe maybe next meeting yeah there's been a couple other things
that came up but I can certainly try i apologize all right no no no problem okay thanks no but it is important so Okay thank you um last I just want to talk a little bit about um the flooding problem of Mil Pond um I guess about 5 years ago Spotswood met with the county
and they came up with a remediation plan and to fix the flooding problem at DVO Lake and um I would like to see the town reach out to the county maybe invite a county engineer here and open up a meeting with uh the public and maybe we
can come up with some remediation plans to fix the flooding at Mil Pond because it's something that really has to be addressed you know the flooding problem is something that's occurring a lot more often and um we just got to do something if we can at least open up a dialogue with the county and we can come up with
something um you know if you go back to when I was a kid back in the 60s and 70s um and I keep hearing they can't do this but years ago the lake was dredged they actually dredged it all the way down to the 50oot trestle and uh back then you
didn't see all the vegetation along here on the rescue squad side like you do now and a lot of people may not know this but when the trolley service went out of um went out of business and they tore down the old trolley barn they threw debris in the lake right at the base of the falls so that just the falls is just
it's so shallow there like when we have a drought I mean there's there's got to be like a number of different things we can do but if we can open up a dialogue with the county like I said if we can invite somebody here invite the public here maybe we come up with a plan so just ask to maybe consider something
like that so thank you thank you Courtney Williams uh 318 Clay Street uh good evening mayor council members of the community um I'm coming here tonight as the chair of the human relations committee and I am wanting to read two
statements that we have prepared as a committee um in recognition of our new initiative of being able to bring awareness to the lesserk known aware um observances and holidays throughout the year and hoping to really bring that and elevate that in our community um so
let's start uh the members of the human relations committee would like to recognize March as developmental disabilities awareness month and March 25th as the international day of remembrance of the victims of slavery in the transatlantic slave trade developmental disabilities month is a
time to celebrate inclusion advocate for equity and amplify the voices of individuals with developmental disabilities is an opportunity to challenge the misconceptions promote understanding and support a society where everyone can thrive as a community we hope to commit to learning listening
and fostering a more inclusive world to keep in mind as we build as we make sustainable changes in the town and keep in mind that um we need to consider all members of our community as we make those changes a recommendation for anybody wanting to learn more about this is uh it's called Far From a Tree by
Andrew Solomon it's a a wonderful book and as well as a movie it's really really enlightening it's about from 2012 and it follows many different families dealing with developmental disabilities and their uh school age children and I really recommend that for anybody
additionally uh the international day of remembrance of the victims of slave of slavery in the transatlantic slave trade um established by the UN in 2007 serves as a solemn occasion to honor the memory of the millions of women and children men women and children who suffered and perished as a result of the brutal
transatlantic slave trade for over four centuries millions of Africans were forcibly taken to the homelands traffic from their homelands trafficked across the Atlantic and sub and subject to unimaginable cruelty and exploitation this force of displacement enriched enriched by imperial powers and
entrenched false narratives of white supremacy and radical inferiority um as a community committed to justice equality and human dignity we must not view this remembrance as just a reflection of the past but of the future the legacies of slavery remain present
in and and in our community and in our world today recognizing this history is an essential step forward is dismantling the structures that keep us divided we encourage all members of our community to use this day to encourage a meaningful dialogue educate educate and
take and take up action let us reaffirm our commitment to equity and inclusion ensuring that the injustices of the past inform the policies and practices that shape our future a list of books movies and podcasts are baron the last uh black slave cargo by Zoran Neil Hursten i have
it here today it is actually the story of the last man of the last slave ship to ever come to America written by Zoran Neil Hursten is her last book um and it's a fascinating read just talking about that um additionally you can listen to Throughine it's a podcast by
NPR and you can also watch the PBS documentary The African-Americans Many Rivers to Cross by Henry Lewis Gates um I really encourage everybody um wanting to know more about just not this list but any other list to um talk with the Miltown Library the East Brunswick Public Library they have tons of
materials on both of these subjects and we've talked to them and they're really open and happy to recommend anything that they have or if you they do not have it to source it out thank you thank you thank you thank you lee Eisenberger 99 JFK drive i have a
question I because I keep coming across the problem everybody keeps referring to our attic storage area up there with stuff in there going back years does anybody have any idea what's up there
stuff lots of stuff going back how far etc far i wish I could give you a better answer all right the only the only time I went up there was a year and a half
ago uh with uh cable TV's uh Russer to um look at um categorize list and throw out equipment that was just sitting there and had been donated so but there's a lot of stuff up there it's documents it's everything yeah and you
know I'm I'm concerned about the condition of it like I said because we're running across that with a lot of things and you know you go through it at home in your attic you keep something in the attic it's going to disintegrate and not knowing what's up there that really
concerns me i'd love to know what's up there it's not a matter of not knowing what's up there i mean they've been through several several clerks since Mike Janisca left and with records retention there's a lot of box up there from different departments and there's different retention schedules and I
think through the several clerks that we've had over the past couple years it hasn't been as easy to keep organized one of the projects that I have been working on I'm still working on is getting it organized even though I'm still only here part-time I've been working with Ralph from DPW and we've just gotten all the tax duplicate books
which are permanent records that can never be destroyed and they're wrapped and they're going to be going down to the county storage system to make more room up there to work so my goal is as I'm still here um to keep working through that but as you know I'm not here very much and there's a lot up
there and there's also a lot up there that is eligible for destruction but nobody ever took the time to get around to do it so prior to Mary resigning in January um we had started a system and there's boxes that are marked for destruction
but I only have so many hours in a day and I'm doing my best to get through the records up there as best as I can but I also can't account for records that were here long you know I I there's stuff that's up there there's some boxes that are labeled correctly there's some boxes
that you know need to be relabeled and that's part of the project that we've been working on so is there going to be a list of what is there though what paperwork and stuff because you you're saying stuff's going to get destroyed might not be valuable to whoever is looking well when I say destroyed well
that when I say destroyed it's within the you have to get it approved by the state i can't just go up there and start shredding documents there's there's certain records and there's a retention schedule state set in by the state division of treasury that oversees records retention and prior to anything
being shredded or disposed of you have to put in for approval i can tell you right now one thing that we did recently was um dog licenses are three years so after three years you can get for destruction so I was able to get rid of about eight
to 10 years of old dog license documents that were didn't have to be sitting around anymore but what happens is you enter the documents and you there's certain record series for them you enter that in there's a certain retention and then once I send that to the state the state has to review it give me
permission and then tell me that I can destroy it same thing with any record that's here but there are things like ordinances minutes original resolutions that can't be destroyed but you know personnel is 40 years um there's certain things that have to be kept i agree with
that that's fine but like ordinance and stuff like you said when it goes to the state then to be archived no it does not go to the state to be archived i go to the state to get permission to destroy it if it's within if if it's in the years that it says it no longer needs to be retained anymore not to destroy it
the stuff that's going to be archived there is an itemized list each year for what's in that box that can be opened by a citizen through the archives so I'm not sure what archives you're
talking about what what I'm working on don't get frustrated with me i'm trying to explain the process just because it's not the way that you like it doesn't mean that it's wrong no no no i I've read I've read the state rules and that's why um that's fine but there there are again we've been through
several clerks and there's a lot of documents up there so I am one person that can get up there in the short time that I'm here to try and organize what's in there there's also all the tax and utility that takes up the majority of it all their statements payroll um invoices contracts
all the things that you can think of you know bids and proposals when they go out we have to hold that for a certain amount of time what's nice is we're going digital with a lot of things so you know for 2025s professionals I have everything on a USB drive and it's not big boxes of papers taking things up um so I have somewhat of a list as I'm
slowly going through it but my list is more of the stuff that I have found that's past its retention and it's a list of things that I'm entering into the state database to get approval for destruction because my first goal was getting those tax duplicate books out which was three pallets worth of stuff which opened up a ton of shelving my
next one is the project that again Mary and I worked on before she left and taking those documents that we we have earmarked that are able to be destroyed get those out of there and then we can start looking at all these other boxes and seeing are they labeled correctly is this from 20 years ago is it something that has to be kept forever but it's a
very arduous process and I get that but you touched on deeds so the deeds are up there there there is a bar a box marked easements and deeds um I can't I obviously if they they're permanent they're there it's a matter of
what box are they in and how were they filed by the previous CL like I know my filing system you know but I would then have to look like I brought down two boxes of deeds I don't know three weeks ago and and it was just kind of in alphabetical order you know and and so
okay because when you request something if you want to open it that's fine but you you know if it's going to take a while it'll be an extension and there may be things like special fees charged because that's time and research and everything else and that's all part of the open that's fine
but Mil Pond was brought up again tonight and I'm going to bring it up tonight and I'm going to ask it's going to be a question to the council professionals that are in this room tonight does anybody disagree that Mil Pond is owned by Mr burgerer
and family you can ask Peter about that why would Peter i I can I can answer that i don't know who owns Mil Pond so I I know that according to the tax office the bureau does i know that according to a record owner search uh it's owned by
believe two different entities but frankly I you know all I wanted I'm not I'm not a title service so that's that's enough for me tonight i appreciate Have you reached out to the county we're reaching out to you seeing no further uh public comments
does any member of council have anything that they would like to bring up at this time uh for council comments yes uh first I'd like to recognize a friend of mine he's uh councilman Ken Griggs from Middle Sex he's he wanted to come here and
observe um this is about our BA i appreciate that our former BA has agreed to stay on though on a part-time basis this however has created a dilemma for me as I do have concerns and questions that the BA can answer and as councilman I have a
right to converse with him if he cannot be here for council meetings concerning he is employed elsewhere can we accommodate him until a suitable replacement is found can we move our meetings to Tuesday if that works for him if and he could attend would anybody be interested in possibly changing our
our time temporarily no because your clerk wouldn't be able to do it sorry well you know the reason I bring this up is because there are things that are happening that I know about or I see and I I I sent an email to to to Fred i
get a one-word answer um but there's things I would like to talk to him about and when he's here I can bring this up and aside from that he has no time for us he's very He's very part-time so I'll continue um I have to say I disagree with that um but but I'm in a different
position than you are but he's not very part-time he's very responsive to emails just as I are we we both are working other full-time careers and staying on continue with his comments and then we can go from there go ahead Gary i appreciate that you're defending him Monica i'm not I'm
not Okay there was a grant issued for plants i'm trying to I'm trying to get some clarity and I cannot get it if I can't get it from Fred and I'm going to continue there was a grant issued for the senior center for plants and tools some of the
plants were placed in the ground many were not and I have proof because I have pictures there there were our plants in pots in a wagon tools were left all over the grounds i saw pots flying across the parking lot and I have pictures my question would be who is overseeing the
taxpayer funded grant too many people don't understand that grant money comes from you the taxpayers i'm the leazison to the senior center and people come to me with their issues and I do address the issues also the CDBG grant for the second year in a row i've gone to the BA
in February to ask me to apply for the CDBG grant block grant for needs at the senior center the only thing that was received last year was a partial coverage of the director's salary to free room on the budget this year the grant was due to be filed in February 14th however on March 15th the BA
emailed the director to relay to her that she was now responsible for sub submitting the grant when it's not generally done by her she's never done a grant she's quite capable filled out and submitted the grant to the county she asked me to look at it and I saw that
there was no information to go by i do not see the senior center receiving any money any grant money this year i've been told they have not received any grant money for a few years i care very much to help the forgotten men and women at the senior center the situation disheartens me my only hope is that a new qualified PA will be found who can
handle issues as they arise thank you if I can step in that they have received funds and I can print out the CDBG things that they have received over the past couple years there has been money that has been allocated only for the senior center what for what because I I
I went to Fred last year and and nothing and anything that I asked for was not was not given to them so I would like to see what you do have i will email you copies okay i can say that uh to that some of the uh
the plantings that were done uh I know that some of that was done through environmental or sorry through uh through uh the green team uh and I know some of the Girl Scouts had worked on that and I believe so like that that cart and some of the other items that are there that were kind of hidden
behind that bench uh were left there because there is apparently more work that is expected to be done i I can show you I can show you the wagon and it's full of plants dead plants there are plants sitting in pots there were there were pots running going across the parking lot and I do have pictures so if
anybody wants to see that you're more than welcome i didn't go looking for trouble there trouble came to me oh no i was just saying that I'm talking about you i'm just saying but the plants I'm sure that there's somebody we could probably find an answer from well I if you go there you'll see the answer
you'll see them all there do you have anything Councilman Thomas i'd just like to thank our professionals that are filling in here part-time Joe and Monica and Fred because uh thank goodness you're doing you know double duty for us in Miltown and we really
appreciate it and a lot of at least we do up here as the council i don't know about the residents but I think most of them appreciate you filling in for us and you're doing a great job so I just like to say thank you uh I would like to make a comment and
echo John's sentiments and that you know being new to the council my experience with working with our professionals they do an outstanding job and I think as a council we need to trust their
professional judgment and not constantly question their expertise and I find it disappointing that that happens on a regular basis because we are only as efficient as a council and mayor as they are at running
the burrow i'd like to close uh council comments i only have a couple comments uh first of all I'd like to congratulate Councilman Potter again thank you uh for for being the grandfather
um I would like to personally congratulate Brian Hardo is being selected as the grand marshall uh congratulations and thank you for being such a uh great part of Miltown um Mr mlone quick question for the Dvau
Lake uh did CME engineer that or no yes we did did um was the count was that a county project or no municipal project it was project did the county support it at all or no i think there was some county support on define it was that
okay uh thank you when that's done through the county sorry when that's done through the county uh because it involves water it's environmental it's water it's watershed is that D or what what is Well the D permit's required anytime you do a drench property a large
permit large permitting effort i'm not I'm going through one right now about a year it took us but uh uh yes there's a permitting it was done through the town county may provided some funding through the open space fund but the bulk of it was done through the town thank you will the clerk please read resolution
2025141 please whereas the open public meetings act public law 1975 chapter 231 permits the exclusion of the public from a meeting in certain circumstances and whereas this bodies of the opinion that such circumstances presently exist and whereas the governing body which is discussed pending litigation bless you
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 burough of Middletown County and Middle Sex State New Jersey that the public be excluded from this meeting may I have a motion in a second please
motion second i have a motion made by Councilman Potter second by Councilman Collins is there any comments council President Zambrana hi councilman Collins hi councilman Mango hi councilwoman Payne hi councilman Posnansky hi councilman
Potter hi mr vinhol are we staying in here i think staying in here is probably the best way to handle it okay