everyone welcome to the combined agenda and regular meeting of the Monro Township Council oh he's prepared on this date and time of March 3D please rise as we honor our flag clerk please call the role councilman
Charles deiro councilman Michael marel here councilwoman Rupa pagle Council vice president Terence vanzora council president Miriam Cohen Sunshine Law in accordance with the open public
meetings act it is hereby announced and shall be answered into the minutes of this meeting that adequate Noti has been provided by the the municipal building on December 27 2024 and remains posted at that location for public inspection two
printed in the home News Tribune and the cranberry press on December 27th 2024 three posted on the Monroe Township website and four sent to those individuals who have requested personal notice in accordance with chapter 3 section 17 of the Monroe Township Code
public comment shall be limited to 5 minutes unless further time is granted by the council president thank you item five is proclamations and presentations and the council and her colleagues have offered their congratulations to Christa Bell on her
retirement after 26 years as the Telecommunications officer with the Monroe Township Police Department and again congratulations from all of us to Scott lantia on his retirement after 25 years senior mechanic with the Monroe
Township Public Works Department item six is resolution R3 202-485-1350 amending chapter 79 police department rules and regulations by repealing articles
1-5 and 8 and amending and relocating chapter 79 article 6 to 7 and articles 9 to13 to chapter 3 administration of government article 6
Department of administration and finance subsection 3-50 division of police ordinance 01 2025 004 Bond ordinance providing for various roadway sidewalk and curb improvements by and in
the township of Monroe in the county of middlex state of New Jersey appropriating 1,700,000 therefore and authorizing the issuance of 1,619 th000 in bonds or notes of the township to finance part of the cost
thereof ordinance 0120255 Bond ordinance providing for recreation improvements on Open Space by and in the township of Monroe in the county of middlex state of New Jersey appropriating
$250,000 therefore and authorizing the issuance of 238,000 in bonds or notes of the township to finance part of the cost thereof and the ordinance for introduction please ordinances for introduction at the March 3rd regular
meeting ordinance 03 20256 Bond or orance appropriating 406,000 from developer payments to provide for the Improvement of the Southfield estate's Pump Station and the hidden pond pump station in and by the
township of Monroe in the county of middlex New Jersey thank you resolutions for consideration under our consent agenda at the March 3rd 2025 meeting resolution R3 20
25-49 through R3 2025 76 any M of the council please from have request yes M councilman deiro council president thank you R3 202-
049 first one that's it anyone else have any resolutions they wish remove from the consent agenda we will move move to the public comment section remember this is limited please to agenda items only in five minutes per speaker may I have a motion
to open the public comments for the agenda session please thank you may I have a second all in favor any opposed any residents wishing to come before the council at this time please do so
good evening president yes um I have a question about we do need to do your name and address for the record George Gelman F Kelly Court Monro Township thank you um in in the um ordinance
04 the the bonds um ordinance curious what the expected rate will be for those bonds what we're anticipating Mr wber
please thank you council president uh actually just got the uh report from the investment advisor of where what's called Bond anticipation notes that's the first thing it would go into and currently are at about 3% at this point it fluctuates month to month and these
are for how many years those are 10 those would be uh the life of of the of Road improvements would be 10 years thank you um moving on to the consent agenda 05 the second one um if
someone could explain to me um what this program for busing is about who's doing it and you know what the what the nitty-gritty of that is I don't I'm not familiar wber sure I could I'll give it a stab and the township
attorney will correct me if I'm wrong we get a significant number of uh buses from New Jersey Transit as Grant buses for seniors and the disabled and in order to get those buses for us at no cost through the New Jersey Transit which gets them through the federal government we just have to state that we
comply with uh title 6 which I believe is the Civil Right act to make sure that we don't discriminate against anyone who uses our buses so it's just keeping a door open basically saying that we don't discriminate on anyone no I mean keeping a door open to have access to this
program yeah appropriate equipment okay and then uh going down to the end 075 and 076 U temporary budget Appropriations and transfers how much money were we talking about so I I believe on 075 the uh
temporary budget Appropriations would take us to about 28 28 million um that would get us through um our plan is to obviously as as required by uh by DCA introduce at the April 7th meeting I'm sorry at at the April 7th meeting and approve at the May 3rd meeting and that
should take us through May 3rd um and then the uh transfers is I believe about 234,000 um you're allowed to at the end of 2024 any fiscal year uh for the next three months January February Mark do some transfers to move some stuff around as you can see in there um this is our
last month to do that and we did that with about $234,000 was a $73 million budget that's all I have thank you sir anyone else wishing to address the council please come forward state your name and address for the record good evening Gary Bushman five
monok Road Monro Township um 055 resolution authorizing refund of tax over payments can I know the approximate dollar amount of
that 55 55 and if you have the information 49,000 49,000 49,000 was the number 49,000 was it more or less the same amount in the previous year or you know what does that usually run you so so council president
if I can um we do this uh monthly this is for a variety of reasons this can be for people who are eligible for a veterans a tax deduction whether it be a permanently disabled veteran ta tax deduction this can be for someone who's accidentally paid their taxes twice each
each each reason is listed this can be for a uh someone who's filed a tax appeal um in State Court can show up on here and they're all listed individually about what type of uh you know what type of uh tax you know tax overpayment that they're related to okay thank you yep uh
060 uh the maintenance of salt between the Border Ved and the township um has this always been a five-year agreement and uh if
so um what is our our what What's the total cost that we share and what percentage do we share yeah so this is actually our first time officially doing this agreement but we have we have we have worked with the school district over as far as I know
going back decades as you know we have a large uh salt storage facility at the DPW yes um we allow the school district to uh have salt delivered there um and then when they when they come and pick up salt for any event that they have we deduct that
from the amount of salt that they've delivered um and therefore it's an efficient use of uh for the township because they're able to uh not have to build and operate a salt Dome um separately from the township itself so in other words we're selling salt to the
board of education at cost no doesn't that mean sharing sorry apologize no no I just need to understand you said we store the salt they come and take the salt and then they reimburse
us for the salt they're taking they if I could they pay for the salt they have like 50 tons delivered and every time they pick up a ton I understand we deduct it fine thank you good evening everyone prakash pup 33 day
night dve I have a few questions on resolution 068 and 069 um we are oping green echr of 750,000 I'm talking about resolution
068 and we are matching with 250,000 so total it will be 1 million for the playground at Monro Community Center so okay $1 million total so the
playground at Monro Community Center how much area we have for the playground Gardens community garden thank you thank you thank you councilman I don't know if Mark wants to answer that uh Mark if you
would what was the question are the question okay I will summarize both 068 and 069 we are for the 068 we are obtaining Green Acre Grant of 750,000 from the from state or whatever
it is to get that 7 50,000 we have to match 250,000 so we match it so total becomes 1 million so that 1 million is going towards a playground at Monroe Community
Garden so my question is how big is the playground at Monroe Community Garden okay that is for 068 now for 069 we are again getting green EA Grant of 469,000
to get that Grant we have to match 1,47 so total becomes 1.6 million 1.57 6 so if you add 068 and 069 we are talking about 205 million 2
million yeah so the community garden playground so I'm okay getting money and but playground how big is the playground so the inclusive playground and it and it's uh not the final design is not complete it's roughly 100 if I remember
correctly 122 ft by 80 I want to say in that General Dimension it includes a parking lot and it includes a bathroom actually two a two stall bathroom facility that's going to be in the uh community garden
so it's the entire project so it is cost it's not just a playground no no I understand so it cost 200 2.5 million if that's what I don't recall the exact number I think it was closer to 3 million actually oh close to 3 million okay if I if I recall lot of money okay
there's also a picnic area expansion of the community garden it's a whole okay area no I'm I'm very thankful we are getting Grant okay just wanted clarification don't misunderstand me so this is good thank you very much you're welcome anyone else wishing to address
this please come forward now Michelle arm min9 Nathaniel Street just uh to piggyback on that we just told I'm sorry yeah I said n okay was it the 120 by 80 feet don't hold me to that number but
it's approximate I I don't I don't have that information in front of me of the actual size but we submitted all this through Green Acres it was all submitted um we've received the Grant and this is the next step in getting the funds for the grant again I'm I'm for it as well but 120 by
80 is a very small piece of property spend 3 million doll on that's what okay if I can elaborate more on the project there's a parking lot approximately uh oh there's more more yes as as I said to the previous resident there's there's additional parts of this project and
this money goes to the entire project it includes bathrooms running sanitary Sor line there's storm water management there's a parking lot um there you go yeah there's quite a bit and it's expansion of the garden itself good very
very much clearer um the ordinances and we just uh ordinances uh 20 number one uh 004 that's 10 years we got that information the bonds from that
um is that coming out of the general fund Mr or Capital fund which what fund is that coming so that would be that would be a capital ordinance which we would pay back through Debt Service and The Debt Service ultimately would come through our through our current fund
okay so and the next one 005 that's is that coming out of the open space fund council president yeah that's correct that would be part of our Recreation and open space fund what is the amount in in that fund and what is currently the debt service from that
fund we currently bring in I believe about um I want to say $1.3 million a year as part of the 1 and a. half cent tax I believe um Debt Service and other costs may be approximately about a million dollars a
year from previous previous you know land Acquisitions and to cover Debt Service and other costs and at times we have purchased some land uh pay as you go which means using actual cash on hand if the cash builds up over a million or
$2 million we can certainly at times buy land with actual cash and not Finance it over time um I don't know what the current balance is the AFS will be coming out in about a week and I'll have a better sense of it seems like if if so you're saying we're pulling in 1.3 million per year approximately correct
so and but but our debt service is almost a million a year our our debt service currently I believe is approximately a million doar and there's other costs associated yeah about a million dollars but that's almost like a break even every year right council president if I may yeah I
mean it's well the fund is supposed to be utilized I mean the goal here is to buy land and not sit on cash do but I mean we should have okay the go goal is not to sit on cash and when we do uh accumulate cash which in the past we've we've had like two million in the fund
we try and utilize that cash because the goal is to attract as much land as we can while we have the money and leverage that as best we can okay thank you I'm satisfied with that answer uh resolu oh no this ordinance for the first reading
tonight uh uh it's number 3006 um how much is in that fund and that and that's and is is that related to taking what the $177,000 out to pay for the wet Basin
okay so um those are very different things so the the wet Basin I I can answer separately that's that's to manage the basins I think there's probably 80 basins that we manage we have a trust fund um of about $1.4 million that we use to manage our basins
to cut the grass and also the wet ones to make sure there's no algae o did you say o6 well before before you go to that sorry and you're no no I'm sorry to so and that money is coming from Builder contributions correct okay so that money
okay that money is all from Builders cont this is also Builders if you're talking about 06 yes sir so I'm going to turn that over to Joe this is a this is a fully funded Capital ordinance to to actually put it into our capital budget we still have to do a capital ordinance except we're not bonding for this money
this is Cash being given to us by a developer to bring our Pump Station pump stations up to code so that we can operate them Joe do you wanna sorry okay I'm good with that thank you um right
let's see on resolution um r322 556 it's a contract to Center State for Professional Services am I done already you're done okay can you just answer the 240 is there work invoice are they
itemized so this is this is a um both to design bid and construction manage our our uh our road paving sidewalk and we're also going to be doing guide rail this summer probably somewhere in the order order of 1.7 million plus another 100,000 for guide rail so we'll probably
be doing close to a $1.8 million program this summer and we have to design it bid it and construction manage it thank you so much you're welcome anyone else wishing to address the council please come forward now seeing and hearing none I'm going to ask for motion to close the public comment section please motion
thank you second thank you all in favor any opposed public comment section is closed I'd like a motion to adjourn the agenda meeting please thank you second thank you roll call please councilman deiro
yes councilman Marquel yes councilwoman seagull yes Council vice president vanzora council president Cohen yes meeting ised 652 regular meeting of the
counil I have a motion motion thank you second second thank you roll call councilman toiro yes councilman Marquel yes councilwoman seagull yes Council vice president vanzora council president Cohen
Yesa run date of February 25th 2025 thank you second second councilman deiro abstain councilman marel yes councilwoman seagull yes Council vice president vanzora council president
Cohen yes motion carries motion to approve the minutes of the following meeting as written and present thank you these off the January 29th of the agenda and regular combined meeting May I have a second on that motion please second thank you a roll
call councilman toiro yes councilman Marquel yes councilwoman seagull yes Council vice president vanzora council president Cohen motion carries r 25-48 is a resolution authorizing
temporary 2025 capital budget may I have a motion please motion second second roll call councilman deiro yes councilman marel yes councilwoman seagull Council vice president vanzora council president
Cohen yes motion carries for 01225 d003 ordinance amending chapter 79 police department rules and regulations by repealing articles 1 through five and
8 and amending and relocating chapter 29 articles 6 to7 and articles 9 to13 to chapter 3 parenthetical administration of government article 6 Department of
Administration and finance subsection 3-50 division of police close parentheses police accreditation update we would like to have a public hearing on this may I have a motion please motion thank you second on that please
second thank you all in favor any opposed anyone wishing to address the Council on this ordinance only please come forward now Sharm min9 Nathaniel um I have seen chapter 79
coming back and forth in the last few months can you give me a like a brief description of what this is it seems to be extensive and is this part of where the council doesn't have to vote on salaries and everything and
appointments for the police department well first Council doesn't vote on salar your mic's off uh other other than the fact that they vote on collective bargaining agreements say I'm sorry that the only time Council votes on salaries for
police officers is when they vote on the colle bargaining agreement so this has nothing to do with that so it doesn't have to do with Council not voting on that and Council doesn't vote on promotions either so and is that a change since on 79 because all right I'll have to go back into my notes
answer is in this former government it's it's never the council that votes on promotions in um in any place right they only vot on but I know we've had um ordinances and resolutions with about salaries and everything um so so we do
have a salary ordinance but that only applies to certain um officers and of the and not police officers so it might be the police chief it would be but it wouldn't be anybody else because under this faulnak former government and I apologize for not knowing how long
you've been a faulnak former government the mayor sets any salary that's not required by law to be set by ordinance or set by a collective bargaining agreement is set by the mayor so that generally means department heads the chief of police are required by law to
be set by ordinance um everybody that's in the collected bargaining agreement is set by the collective bargaining agreement and everybody else is set by the mayor and since you mentioned it what type of fauler government are we we are a fauler act mayor council former government call fauler act mayor
counsel but isn't there something like strong mayor or weak counsel this is a strong mayor and weak counsel I don't like to say that because it sounds perjorative May it's a strong strong mayor and a terrific counsel that am that was a really quick
save good okay um all right so what you're so this ordinance then then is what so if you look at it a lot of it is we're going through a police accreditation so they make recommendations to kind of update our ordinance a lot of it for instance and I'm looking at it uh you know wherever
it says he they've now changed it to he or she that's a big part of it they' also where it was in the code there aren't a lot of subsi of changes it really is kind of technical changes in it okay and we are not a civil service Police Department we are not the the it would be the whole town but we're not
civil the whole town is not we not service no we are not okay thank you you're welcome anyone else wishing to address the Council on this ordinance please come forward now seeing and hearing none I'm going to
ask for a motion to close the public hearing please motion thank you second second no objection but I may I have a motion to adopt ordinance 01- 2025 d003 please motion thank you may I have a second on
that second thank you may I have the roll call please councilman deiro yes councilman marel yes councilwoman seagull yes Council vice president vanzora council president Cohen motion carries 01
202- Z4 Bond ordinance providing for various roadway sidewalk and curb improvements by and in the township of Monroe in the county of middlex state of New Jersey
appropriating 1,700,000 therefore and authorizing the issue of 1,619 th000 in bonds or notes of the township to finance part of the cost thereof like a motion to open the public hearing please motion thank you a second
on that second all in favor and no opposed anyone wishing to address us please come forward stating your name and address for the record Michelle arm min9 Nathaniel Street I I would just like actually it's
it's all also for the previous one but um what fiscal year is this Bond going to go for is this 20 2425 or 2526 well our fiscal years are calendar years can you use your mic so everybody can hear our fiscal years are oh their
calendars they not June 30th years no they're calar okay so this is 2025 correct okay and the other one if you can just answer that as well one the other Bond yeah yeah they're all they're all passed this year so this is the 2025 okay thank anyone else wishing to address us
on this ordinance only please again your name and address for our records yes uh prakash parab 33 DNR drive and understand we are having a bond for the infrastructure of 1.6 what million the question is how much money
we get every year from the state and the county for our infrastructure roads and all that how much money we get per year approximately you can answer that question please so um we usually get at
least one uh local aid grant that range is um generally it's around between 4 $500,000 sometimes as high as $600,000 um we've been also successful in getting uh uh pavement preservation grants uh through uh Freight infr
structure grants uh we've got average one of those every other year which has been positive the those two have have uh been around $500,000 as well so those have significantly increased uh when I first came here way back the average grants were between two and 300,000 so they've
mostly almost doubled um in terms of the size of them the local Aid grants and they didn't have the pavement preservation grants which we've used on Costco Drive um on South Middle sex and and a few other places um in addition the county does a significant amount of
Paving each year on County Roads um we don't we don't see the bill for that although we we are the bill payers for that as County taxpayers um but they pave the county roads each and every year um separately without without sending the township a bill although the
the people who pay County taxes amongst ourselves uh pay for that as well um so so there is County Paving that happens each year as well how much it is approximate I mean every year is a little bit different Mark may know more than me sometimes they do a lot of Roads sometime you know really depends each
year uh they've done big big chunks of roads at times sort of depends what the needs are Mark do you want to answer that did they did quite a number of Roads last year um which is unusual and normally I would say about two roads they would do or portions of two roads
in town um but I think approximately 1 million something I think they did four last year three or four they they do long stretches sometimes yeah thank you anyone switching to addresses on this issue please come forward now seeing and hearing none I'd like a motion to close
the public hearing motion thank you a second on that second thank you all in favor no opposition I have a motion to adopt 01225 d004 please
motion second roll call councilman deiro yes councilman Marquel yes councilwoman seagull yes Council Vice President Van council president Cohen yes motion carries next is ordinance 01 2025
d005 Bond ordinance providing for recreation improvements on Open Space by and in the township of Monro in the county of middle SEC state of New Jersey appropriating $250,000 therefore and authorizing the
issuance of $238,000 in bonds or notes of the township to finance part of the cost thereof may I have a motion to open the public hearing please motion thank you may I have a second on that second anyone wishing to address this on this
ordinance please come forward now seeing and hearing none I'm going to request a motion to close the public hearing motion thank you second on that assuming no objections I would like a motion to adopt
01225 d005 motion please motion thank you second on second thank you roll call councilman deiro yes councilman marel yes councilwoman seagull yes Council vice president vanzora council president
Cohen yes motion carries thank you or or number six is the ordinance for first reading 03225 d006 Bond ordinance appropriating 46,000 from developer payments to
provide for the improvements of the Southfield Estates Pump Station and the hidden pump Pond station in and by the township of Monroe in the county of middle sex New Jersey motion please motion thank you a second on that second
clerk will call the role councilman Ziro yes councilman marel yes councilwoman seagull yes Council vice president vanzora council president Cohen yes motion carries thank you resolutions for consideration under the consent to
J resolutions R3 20249 through R3 20276 with the exception of R3 20249 which will be considered separately I have a
motion second on that second councilman deiro yes councilman marel yes councilwoman seagull yes Council vice president vanzora council president Cohen motion carries resolutions removed from
the consent agenda for consider resolution R3 20250 049 motion motion councilman deiro councilman Marquel yes
councilwoman seagull yes Council vice president vanzora council president Cohen motion carries thank you Mr warberg yes please thank you very much uh council president with the my administrator's report I'm going to start with uh mid-February as many of
you may know we uh on Sunday evening February 16th we had a pretty heavy uh wind storm some of you may recall it we did have a a pretty large area around Clearbrook um Encore in southern Rossmore that lost power at around 230 a.m. it was very cold night um I just
want to specially thank OEM for their action and coordination with JC cpnl and the community with the cold weather um OEM was engaged and on the scene DPW quickly responded to clear trees um police took care of some of the lights that were out of power um and when the
power wasn't quickly restored the senior center was opened by OEM um as a warming Center until the power was restored later that day our police were following around jcpnl as they worked to restore power um in other incidents where the power was out sometimes our police stay
with them if not only to monitor them but to make sure they don't leave the town until the power's on um but special thanks to OEM Public Works police and all the First Responders for their assistance um so I want to want to make a mention of that um on a similar topic jcpnl street lights which has been uh a
real challenge over the past many months and year um we probably had I know along with the mayor and uh council president and Council M deiro what's what appeared to be our most productive meeting um along with them uh in terms of from jcpnl in terms of what appears to be
progress with with uh JC pel on trying to fix some of those street lights for the first time they they're hiring outside contractors um to try and catch up on on their backlog and they appear to be making progress but you know certainly the jury's not out on that certainly have seen them in and around
town including Schoolhouse Road um and we're going to make sure that they keep that up we also worked with them to make sure that we have a meeting with them soon about doing some Led lightings on these street lights so hopefully they last longer and they don't have to be fixed as frequently we'll have to look at the cost of that but it's really
important that we have long lasting and and safe lights so we'll be working on that couple items on the agenda that were mentioned during the discussion on shared services whether it was the SALT Dome or there's a shared service item on here where we share EMS with uh Fire District number two over on Hy Reid we
made some improvements there so it's always good when we have the shared services working together also two items on the agenda for one for Landscaping on our Township owned properties another for tree services related to our shade tree commission um and uh these were actually less than our previous
contracts which isn't always the case which is great um I think part of that is because we were able to get eight bids and that's always great when we can get a lot of interest in some of our contracts so very excited about that we also had an ambulance on here um I not sure the public realizes how hard it is
now to get certain type of Public Safety Equipment like ambulances um you reading the paper also very difficult for Fire Equipment um but ambulances you know can take two to three years to actually get to the property and we have one that is made its way all the way to its last stop in uh South planfield and it should
be here this month um it replaces a 2010 Ambulance with 199,000 Miles um it can take like I said two to three years so we'll be coming to the council with um a new proposal uh because we have another ambulance that's in the queue but still a while is away but we're going to be looking to do some new ambulances where
we're just purchasing the brand new truck and cab and TR and Chassis and continuing to use the box of the ambulance itself because it's generally in very good shape that'll save us a little bit of money and hopefully speed up the process a little bit so we're we're going to try and be as creative as we can and making sure we can keep our
ambulance Fleet uh up up to speed um we closed uh this past month on the 34 acre Barnes property that's off Schoolhouse Road and backs up to Thompson park that's another property that can't be uh used as part of construction or part of round four of affordable housing which
we talked about last month and then in closing you know before I turn it over uh uh if I could ask the township attorney to just give a little update on on affordable housing as we gave the update last month and maybe you could tell us a little bit about where we're at um in that process thank you council
president yes please make sure my microphone then you can use M at EXC excuse me at our at our last meeting uh the council adopted a resolution which um uh essentially adopted a fair share number for the uh perspective need
number for our affordable housing obligation as EST sta as required by the fair housing act um we're now in we've now essentially enrolled in what's what's the replacement for COA everybody's calling it The Program the affordable housing program um uh at the
end of this month which is the 28th of February uh uh last month excuse me uh any objections that were going to be filed had to be filed there were actually two filed in Monroe um one by the New Jersey Builders Association which appears to be a a similar claim
that they' filed in in 150 odd different municipalities um and the second is fair share housing um the Builder Association appears to be just a broad uh a broad attack on the the program and the way it operates um it's
it's kind of unclear to us what what the what the point of all of it other than for them to say that they wanted everybody to adopt the number that was uh uh issued by DCA course the the the Amendments of the fair housing act specifically gives the
municipalities the ability to deviate from that so we're not thinking much of that challenge uh as to fair share housing uh we continue to work with them we've provided them a substantial amount of uh information the that part of the challenge has more to do with the fact
that dca's numbers were based upon kind of generally available data didn't have site specific information excuse me concerning any of the municipalities in the state so we of course in Monroe knowing knowing and understanding more
about the individual Parcels in our land made a different judgment with regards to what was developable and what's not um and we'll continue that the the the process in the law is that that will um play itself out over the next 30 days um and you know we'll I I can't give
anybody an idea as to how exactly the program is going to handle this because it's a new law um we've never had it before so you know we're we're just beginning now I know they're up and ready because they called me at 7:30 this morning which if you get a call from somebody in Trenton at 7:30 in the
morning it's just the most amazing thing that's ever happened to me um and they to confirm my email address so that they could start sending me notices for mediation dates so that's where we are thank you thank you I I don't know the mayor mayor has comment as well please
sir thank you council president I just wanted to follow up a little bit with uh our legal council said in regards to the uh um one action uh from the U developers Association um and I I have to share I I
share this feeling with I'm sure all of us here that Monroe Township takes its um fair share obligation very very serious um but we don't need a for-profit Association inflating the
numbers and warping the process that we followed um so with that being said just wanted to make a few comments tonight we'll be com I'll be coming out with a um public um um press release in regards to this uh
lobbying group uh of for professional developers um the um I think their action is could be called disingenuous at best um I stand stand by the process the
vetting process the professional process that we came to with our numbers and quite frankly we don't need developers coming in in here telling us what to do with these inflated numbers doing what they do and then walking out leaving us
with to deal with the infrastructure while they walk out with their coffers filled so with that being said um highly disappointed in this um you know you know our our Council might take
it a little more lightly but you know in regards to what their actions are it's diluted because they're you know blanketing over a 100 towns in regards to this but they're messing with M row now so therefore the strong mayor has to come out with some strong words I guess
buck up his um again every town in their obligation for affordable housing I'm sure does right thing and that's how we feel here in Monroe Township about doing the right thing for affordable housing we stand behind what
we do what we've done and what we want to do uh so I will be reaching out to a few other Mayors in regards to potentially coming together with a uh more of a joint statement in regards to this but I just we just wanted to get
some public comments out thank you Mr warber are you needing to comment yeah so that completed my report the affordable housing thank you like to say I certainly agree with our very strong and very tall mayor uh
that this is how we all feel about all the work that we do that we stand behind it and agree with it and believe that we always intemp to do the right thing and that is how we function uh Mr R thank you council
president uh quick update on on some of the projects uh as the cold weather is hopefully leaving us and warm weather is in our near future to get some construction done but the uh Monroe police station building that's moving
along well right now um we do have a roof we do have uh have windows so it is enclosed uh they're starting to work on the interior with electrical work and uh and and and soon that'll be uh uh hopefully wrapping up but uh getting
worked done on the inside is a good thing right now uh next the James Monroe Park concession and park improvements uh that was awarded at a previous council meeting that's getting started uh paperwork is uh is is going back and
forth shop drawings contractors working on construction permits so you might not see uh anything out in the field yet um you know they are getting everything in order so that once the warm weather gets here they can get started and and lastly the prospect ples Applegarth Road
intersection uh traffic signal Improvement again this is a middle sex County project and um the word from the county is it's still at the state for uh final approval before going out to bid I feel like I say that every month but um
you know it it it's down in Trenton waiting for final approval to go to bid and that's my report we'd like to move to council reports councilwoman seagull please hello good evening everyone thank you council president uh just a couple
short updates I did want to thank the Muslims for peace for a beautiful Crescent lighting ceremony last week um over near across from the stoping shop we even had a double rainbow and a beautiful sunset but it was a nice opportunity to see the community to come together and it personally for me I got
to learn a little more about Ramadan and the holidays so wishing all those celebrate a Ramadan Mubarak and I also went to the library uh back on February 23rd the AG seak Kendra had uh organized a celebration for Black History Month
and it was a very interesting lecture they had a presentation by Nicole Dr Nicole burrow who's an assistant professor at recers University in African and Caribbean studies so she shared a whole historical timeline of African Indian relations in British
Guyana from the early 1900s to today which was very fascinating being I have some friends that are guyane and I had no idea of anything around their background and um the country so that was very interesting um and I also want to share the second annual something for
your calendar second annual seniors at play the Monroe Township Community Theater Arts Consortium and the Monroe Township Cultural Arts commission present the Performing Arts Club of greenb Whittingham Concordia players the Rossmore players and the pwns players s
Saturday March 18th sorry Saturday March 15th 2 p.m. at the senior center so if you're interested this was a big play they had put on last year um tickets are available at the Monroe Township library for $10 so do check that out and mark your calendars and then I wanted to send
out a quick congratulations to bearded one barbecue for winning New jersey.com Jersey Wing 2025 Wing off so congratulations to them it's pretty neat when you see a local business um when something like that so that
concludes my report thank you very much well um councilman seagull kind of took the wind out of my sales I was with her at the library I was with her at the uh Crescent lighting um which was absolutely wonderful um as the rainbow
kind of came out on Queue it was just a beautiful uh celebration and um I'd like to wish the uh Community a joyful Ramadan and a peaceful Ramadan um one thing I did do uh everybody didn't know
this but you yesterday was Dr Seuss's birthday um very important day in my life actually as I grew up so this week is read Across America week um so I had the honor of being at Brook uh Brookside school this morning with the kids the
kids are fantastic I absolutely loved it wish I could stay there all day but they threw me out um I'm one thing I'm going to hit on before uh councilman seagull says it I'm going to say something about April be I'm way ahead of the schedule
so I'm going to say it before her on April 27th at the senior center at 2:00 there's going to be a holocaust remembrance uh ceremony um mark your calendars right now it last year we had um Holocaust
Survivors there and it was absolutely beautiful and a lot of them spoke and told stories of what they went through so that's April 27th I figured I get to jump on uh the on the councilman before she says anything that's really all I
wanted to touch on thank you very much um I wanted to start out by saying um there's a new business in town at 365 Spotswood English Town Road it's uh called kids
kids and Kaboodle and it's a party place that uh replaced the Chase Bank in Suburban Plaza so I stopped by a couple times to to meet with the uh with the owners and um suggested that they reach
to the mayor's office so they can get official ribbon cutting and also uh we can support our local businesses as we should like I like to say always shop local um that's a that will help a new business in our community um also on a
good note uh I just got um noticed that our Varsity um hockey ice hockey team uh they won the uh GMC Champs but they just beat uh Middletown to go to the state
finals uh They just won five to four and uh I think it's something that maybe um the mayor's office uh could reach out or Rex Center could reach out to the mayor's office and we could bring these young fellas in and their their coaches
and also their families because this is a group of um hockey players that they play together for for many years and um it's something when they become varsity and they make it to the states so that's something that we should uh show appreciation to I know that's will help
uh help them along their way or some of them if they go to a career it will will help them encourage to stay with the sport um I had a um also the volunteer program I I spoke to Allan before I
noticed the uh State Senate passed the bill for volunteers uh 39 to0 if you're a volunteer first responder and you use your own vehicles um they're going to have a $500 annual tax credit and if you
if you um joint will be a $1,000 tax uh credit so it's something I've been watching closely as a uh fire commissioner with a career and a Volunteer Fire Company it's something that if we can pass that along
to our volunteers to to help them uh have programs like marbor and Allan and I spoke about it and we try to put something together in Monroe we can help our volunteers on a local level but I wanted to let every everybody know that the Senate passed the a bill in
reference to volunteers uh water main brakes uh as our engineer said it's starting to get warmer uh when you when you see water and you see subzero temperatures you really get concerned when you open up a
faucet and make sure that the water comes out you you got to be very concerned when Joe runs his his uh crew and I just want wanted to get an update on I know we had some water main breaks you know recently I just wanted to make
sure that everything's back to normal and if there's anything that that's you're waiting on parts or repairs on the water main breaks in the from this winter Joe sir may have to turn it on grab a
mic thank you uh uh councilman welc uh yes this winter has been uh exceedingly difficult with the uh extremely cold weather and those little bit of warm-ups that we do have you get the freeze thaw cycle and we do have a number of main braks uh I'm obviously uh very biased
towards an extremely talented skilled and experienced group of professionals that we have in the utility department and we do 99% of all the work throughout the township with close to a th000 miles of mains and uh uh both in and sewer and
uh yes all of the uh the mains and uh repairs that uh were necessary have been done and we've been able to uh you know accomplish that with our inventory and uh and our staff well thank thank you and your staff for everything for this winter because uh it's not easy work in
the middle of the night in subzero temperatures so wanted to say thank you to you and your staff thank you um Saturday we had a uh rabi Clinic I visited uh the rec center got there little before it started
stayed for a little while and uh we had 404 cats and dogs that uh came for the clinic and it's just um just want to shout out to everybody at the rec center the DPW our dog catchers and our clerk's
office and and and our employees that helped along from all other offices helped to make that a you know a service for a community uh at at no expense so it was real uh real nice to see a lot of dogs and and cats run you know well
organized and and well job job well done rather thank you I noticed um State funding for the U Board of Education it it didn't look like we got a a big
increase um looks like it was about $33,000 uh give or take a little so it's not what what they expected with the additional cost inflation and the increase of uh or schools expenses along
with the uh staff and increase with the students so uh we'll see what what they propose uh going forward uh or if there going to be any Cuts but um it looks like it's only $33,000 uh the way I the way I read it
uh Rue Road and Federal Road Bridges I've sent out a couple emails in reference to Federal Road it's something that maybe we should notify the county on resurfacing those bridges because they're they're in U
pretty pretty uh dire need to um not just keep patching concrete with asphalt they're concrete surfaces and they're just putting Asphalt in the in the holes so maybe we can notify the county as one of our residents asked
about roads uh they also take care of bridges and Federal Road um there's a couple Bridges but uh the one that's down by the gasos by Monro Boulevard is in real bad shape the water
tower on 522 are we planning on doing any any repairs or painting on that water tower this year Joe please uh yes councilman we uh that tank was originally I think as we've talked about
in previous Council meetings was originally thought to need to be raised in order to be functional uh throughout our system uh as a result of some different hydraulic studies that I authorized we were able to find out that by creating a third pressure Zone within
the township we don't have to raise it uh so now we're going to based again on detailed inspection both inside and outside the water tower we're going to prioritize that and put that as part of our capital budget for 20125 to go ahead and paint that tank inside and out but
there's no need to raise it saving uh you know quite a few million dollars uh as it relates to cost from a capital expenditure standpoint thank you thank you um the last question I had was on the budget are we going to have any
workshops or planning anything for the budget or any hearings for the public uh or directors we usually we've done it different ways since I've been up here sometimes we had workshops with the directors and then we open it to the public is anything planned I haven't
heard anything yet sure president so I think uh we'll we'll be doing it the way we've done it the last uh several years um the budget will be introduced um on April April 7th you'll get uh materials uh in advance uh to look at and then
there'll be the uh the appropriate uh budg uh formal budget hearing on uh I believe it's May 3rd which has to be a minimum of no less than 28 Days Later and so we'll have that budget hearing and then uh and then the vote will be on vote will be on May 3rd May 3d okay
thank you that's a council president thank you Council vice president Hi evening good evening thank you president microphone we need a class in microphone not too often people don't
get to hear me this is true um first of all I also was at the uh the Crescent lighting uh the other evening that you know rup and Mike mentioned it's a nice thing you know and it it shows the diversity in our town we had a lot of different people there and uh um it's
nice to see people of different religions supporting people of other religions just as we support um you know we have our annual lighting of the manure and our Christmas tree and things of that nature so it it just shows that a lot of us have differences but at the
same time uh we're all supportive of each other um we also had our uh uh police wearing in ceremony uh earlier in the month which was uh I know uh all the council and the mayor were there and uh it's always a nice thing as uh new
officers are are brought on board and other officers are promoted and uh it's always nice to see that you know they're there with their families and you could see the pride and uh the pride comes from their families who uh both the parents that raised them and uh you know
the the rest of the the family um really makes it for a nice event and we're always proud of them too they they do a great job so um having said that I'm trying going to try and say this in in a nice sensitive way because I've been on
the council maybe about four years now we come to these meetings and we listen to people and we don't always agree with everybody but we have a council and we work together and every single person that comes forward and you know you guys
know who you are Dr perab and George and you know Michelle ormeno back there we don't always agree sometimes we have differences but that's that's what it's about and that's why we have these hearings I have no doubt in my mind that every single person that comes here though and speaks I just want to let
this out says it because they have the best interest of Monroe in their hearts and in their minds and that's why they come forward to be heard and that's something that I'm always proud of we all have our moments where you know we're we're you know we could be a little shortsighted we could be whatever
nobody's perfect but I know that people do the right thing and as we sit here today we're just went through the third anniversary of the Russian invasion of uh Ukraine I started on that when it first happened and every year that it's
happened the first annual anniversary of it the second and now the third and all of a sudden there's a there's a a aversion going out there as if it was Ukraine's fault that they got invaded by the Russians it wasn't the Russians
invaded them they were the persons that got invaded and they fought for their own country and for three years the United States has help Ukraine by supplying weaponry and things that they needed the Ukrainian soldiers fought and they've held off the Russians thus far
it pains me to to know end to see what's happened over the last couple of weeks not only do we have the debacle at the White House that happened over the weekend where um president zinsky came ready to sign a an agreement with the United States only to be discarded and
and denigrated by both the president and the vice president ironically it was at a meeting when the Associated Press is not allowed anymore Rutters is Reuters is not allowed anymore but yet the Russian agency task somehow
managed to make its way into that meeting wasn't that just a coincidence the way this was all set up and for them to denigrate him I I thought was terrible but that's not the one thing earlier about a week before for the
first time in history that I can think of there was a vote there was a resolution presented at the United Nations uh supporting Ukraine and the only countries to vote against that resolution were Russia North Korea
bellarus and the United States of America since when are we aligned with Russia and those countries as opposed to all our allies who have stuck up for us over the many many years going all the way back to World War I we've never had
anything like this in our country and the reason I say that I'm trying to be temperate although I'm not obviously it bothers me to no end I see what's happening in our country I see cuts to the FBI the CIA the top people
in the Department of Justice including uh many of the top attorney generals our nuclear Security Administration was um cut back until they realized what a what a mistake that was the FCC the foreign aid usaid why do we want
that that's not just to help other people even though it's the right thing to do and to help people that are sick and dying around the world but it's also to help the United States because it gives us a presence in those countries and if there's a void in doing that
guess what this is where terrorists move in that's when you start seeing Isis and and and colonies like that the FAA has been cut as if we don't have enough problems there the department of energy which controls our nuclear program they
want to cut that and dare I say and I look at my the gentleman in the back the VA they cut back funding on the VA for things like the crisis head crisis uh hotlines and and the amount of people that can come there and the doctors that
work there Department of Education Medicaid all of these things cause our country more and more and more to become weaker now a lot of people and there's no doubt where I come from I'm on the one side I'm a Democrat I'm not going to
you know deny that and I appreciate that and I and I'm proud of that I have a lot of my friends I can't take it I don't want to look at it I don't watch TV anymore and they take the bury the hand bury their heads in the sand approach but as someone said the other day and I
heard when good people do nothing that's when evil will prevail we have to stand up you may not agree with me I don't think this is a Democratic or a republican thing it's a democracy versus autocracy thing please do what you think
is appropriate if you don't agree with me you're entitled to that because right now you could still do that that may not happen forever though if you start to disagree so please don't do nothing stand up be what you are and and stand for what you believe in and that's
that's my statement on that thank you before I ask our mayor if he wishes to comment I also myself wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed the the Ramadan ceremony and we were joined by one of our our state senator was there and
several of the officials from Cranberry Township were there as well and it was a very nice and it wasn't cold that was also welcome but it was and one of the students from our Public School System here spoke and that itself was a delight to
hear her speak about um what she enjoys at Monroe Township High School so all in all it was indeed a lovely lovely experience and uh one we would hope to see more of and the mayor spoke
eloquently about the joy of how we all managed to get along and move forward in our town and that itself was also very nice to hear on that note I would like to also thank our I was very pleased with the work of
OEM the day of the storm when so many folks were without power and heat and a variety of things for comfort that our office of OEM stepped up as I expected they would and did such a good job feels good to know that we can count on the
resources that we have here in our town to provide services when we need them uh Mr Mayor your time please thank you Madame council president for allowing me a couple minutes just to uh provide some uh short report and remarks um
couple um events that I did go to this last month I did want to recognize our Fire District 3 our for their swearing in and promotion ceremony obviously congratulations to all of the uh the new firefighters as well as those who were
promoted um from Fire District 3 um on February 13th we had our police do another presentation about uh uh break-ins crime prevention um scams that was held at the
library this year I'd like to thank detective Bennett for again um uh facilitating presenting uh it is on uh YouTube or video there so please take a look at that it's ever evolving and the more information that you have as a
citizen the more safe you can be uh obviously it was mentioned before by some of our council members about the um uh event last Thursday uh the lighting of the Crescent very first time in Monroe Township and
this was brought about locally uh local organizations Monroe residents came together to um to to see this through um so it was a great EV a great event I have to say about 200 people on the corner there um and yeah that uh that
rainbow that that occurred was was certainly spectacular all right JC L our stalwart business administrator brought that up um and and yes we have made some progress in regards to the street lights
I hope but I don't know if you saw jcpnl 20% the announcement of increasing their prices which is ridiculous especially from the services and obviously the experiences that we had in regards to
that uh be crafting a uh strong mayor letter uh to the BPU as well as jcpnl and again trying to get some other Mayors together and in in regards to this I think it's just outrageous that they're asking for 20% increase in in
Energy prices um so what can we do um as as as a Township as as Citizens um uh you may have received in the mail uh something regarding uh solar uh the solar landscape mailing did go out and I
understand there were some addresses that were incorrect flipped people out a little bit in regards to getting mail with somebody else's name on there or a previous owner and they were thinking it was coming directly from the town it didn't mess people up a little bit thinking that you know maybe their taxes
aren't being paid or whatever the deal is it's Monroe people get a little wacky in regards to that um but the intent of it was uh just to let residents know that this solar program is available to them so that's something we can think
about then obviously this is also the time of the year uh that we go out uh to look for uh to reintroduce our energy aggregation program which has been highly successful in the past obviously
we have not been able to get a good rate uh uh pricing with with the rate in the last couple years because the the rate actually has been lower from JCP but with this 20% increase potentially we can we can work on a uh on a new energy
aggregation program so that's kind of what we're working with um obviously tonight we saw on the agenda I was very pleased with the improvements for the James Monroe Park to move forward um there will be some pain points uh in
regards to baseball it's going to interrupt their uh uh concession area it's going to interrupt the playground it might uh uh we they might have some issues with some lighting during the course of the season but obviously the end goal is to have an uh updated ad
compliant uh better situation for all Monroe residents uh as well as Monroe baseball to enjoy a state-of-the-art facility with the improvements that were uh were on the agenda um upcoming I did want to highlight on March 7th the mid6
County Office of Aging and disabled um as well as the township will be holding a senior broad prevention conference uh 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at our senior center uh information is on our website or you can just call the senior center
as well um on the uh coming up as well I've joined with the New Jersey Department of military Affairs uh to hold a New Jersey state medal ceremony for our residents uh who are veterans uh we've had clear Brock and there was a
there was a another community that that did it internally but I thought this is something that we should roll out to the entire uh Township so uh if you are a veteran um and you would like to get uh a medal from the state in regards to
recognition of your service to our country please um check out the website or stop by my office uh or call uh applications will be do due on June 24th and uh I do want to join councilwoman
Rupa seagull's accolades on the bearded one for winning the uh the the the contest for um uh the uh the wings and if you have not been there you really should try the wings they are outstanding I'm getting hungry so I'm
done you're done thank you so much I've never the address for is is Route 33 it's on Route 33 you you got to don't don't do speed because you're going to you're going to pass it it's on the
Route 33 heading west we move to the public comment portion five minutes per speaker please as you are all aware I have a motion to open public comment session mo may I have a second on that all in favor no
opposition please come forward your name and address for our records you cannot fight go next yeah Gary busman s of monar rout so we were uh addressing for the moment uh
affordable housing so I would like to uh receive some information regarding the uh veterans housing that is presently uh completed its construction and taking applications I'd like to know when the
first resident will move in I would like to also know how many are actual veterans uh and based upon the original allotment uh I'm hoping that there are more veterans applying than we can uh
accommodate so that affordable housing is secondary to the veterans thank you actually had a call today on that issue so happy to update on it um we currently have I believe nine veterans uh living inside the
facility um I believe they're processing currently uh 14 14 veterans applications so they're working through that um and as many people recall uh 37 of these units uh as part of our court settlement as round three of affordable housing
have to be for veterans and then uh 43 units are what's called Veterans Preference which means we want to find veterans to put in them but if we are not able to find veterans we would have to fill them otherwise yes right we have to do that so right now we're in the process of trying to get as many
veterans in as we can through Conifer um so people should hopefully spread the word because that's our goal and that's our that's our ambition through the uh Conor for realy and they're working with veterans organizations throughout middle sex County and the state um to fill that
up so um people can go directly to the facility themselves um right on Halfacre Road um where they can get as much information as they need I believe a whole bunch of uh veterans service organiz ations are going to be there I believe on Friday for more of an open house and they're going to continue to
do their Outreach on that council president over the coming weeks but we can use as much help from everyone to spread the word um as much as possible um I know there's an incredible amount of Outreach going we want to do everything that we can yeah but I have uh I personally have not witnessed any
uh attempt by the municipality nor the developer to move this item forward to uh to be stressful I think we just I think that's it's not fair to say why not because they've been doing a lot and they've been attending every event and
we and actually we meet with them on a regular basis and communicate with them on a regular that's exactly what I'm trying to find out I don't know that and I'm hearing it I'm hearing it now for the first time and I was on that original committee being the only veteran that attended with everybody
else that was professional and right now I'm out of the loop and I want to be part of that Loop right so what we've been doing is um besides an incredible amount of Outreach to organizations um this has been something we put in the Monroe News this is something we've eblast um to every member who's on our
email list this is something we've sent to our senior citizen Community list our rec center list this is something we've put on Facebook Instagram we've utilized every tool that we can to put it out and we'll continue if I can just I see your okay go ahead and I greatly appreciate that I I you know I don't want to press
the issue I'm just so Pro veteran housing uh that I find it very very important that we provide that type of service to our veterans thank you sir thank you prakash purup 33 din Drive uh
regarding affordable housing there is a new lack come mayor talked about it we as a public want to know how we can if this Builders Association are pushing numbers on us
not only mayor and Council can fight but we also public would like to represent and we I want to get more information because I don't want to take my five minutes I'll talk and how with the public can go and speak in Trenton and
speak at meetings wherever necessary and this 20% increase in price in electricity wow that is bad we don't even get 3% increase in salaries and inflation so how we can Lobby and go and
talk against it you know this jcpp cannot rule the country cannot town we had to stop them uh and what we did you'll not believe the lights front of the Rossmore on firstgate Road near the
bus station there were not available our friend samit B called jcpl followed up and we they install the lights so we public also can call jcpl and get there back together okay so get
the number call them even if you don't see the street lights call them and chase them they will do the work so another one thing coming about Federal cuts the federal Cuts in the jobs are happening both for the you know
Democrats and Republicans it is impacting all the citizens across they are not migrants we are the citizens of the country here and you know you would have seen that you know house representative Tom
Suzie from New York this morning on CNN BC how he answered the questions he said they are cutting the jobs of the new starters who started in one and one and a half years how much savings you're going to get you know just musk who's
that guy Elan Musk gets up in the night and says cut these jobs with no strategy there is a strategy if there is a federal government naturally there is over flooded there's a strategy how to do it look at where the fat is give the
notice and cut how much saving are going to cut but the new starters the youngsters they worked in the kitchens and all they went to the college find federal government job and they get it and they are fired this billionaire how much he getting money of the federal
government how much Cuts he's going to get I think here no doubt we have to be efficient at the federal government but who is this Elon Musk whether he knows this guy's billionaire he knows how much
it gets to get foood on the table of the people getting in the night time giving advice to the president I think we represent Republicans and Democrats we are to stand up the country has to go in
the right direction but when you are cutting the jobs of the youngsters now ni programs are cut PHD programs are cut where the hell our country is a front runner in technology and science because of the universities you cut them where
the bloody Wall Street will go Wall Street will go down the hill because of the knowledge we are the best and your you're cutting the education the applications for the now phds graduate PR GRS they are going to be rejected
where we are going I think we are talking we have to go and speak up okay and I want everyone to stand there as a civic duty let them do the where the fat is cut efficiently have some brains and
another one thing is we should have affordable grocery store in Monroe Township Stop and Shop is enough the bottle of milk cost 5 50 to 650 where you go to ALDI same thing is available for
$3.50 we need a Aldi store on Apple G or wherever it is we need a Aldi store that is the request whatever we can do get the good affordable grocery store in the town and burgies January we had three
burglaries in our Township they are reducing I'm looking I'll be looking at the statistics every month how the bulgar is how the you know how many cars are stolen and all the data is looking good but you know it is always fluctuates like this with the weather so
look forward for our Police Department to do best job thank you thank you please uh my name is uh Susan Cohen I live at five Cricut Court in the Stonebridge Community uh I'm uh January
29th I sent an email to uh mayor Delina on January 30th I sent the same email I forward it to um the councilman uh let's see uh
vanusa uh M Cohen R seagull uh M Mar Marco um yeah those are the ones I sent it to and um I didn't get any response except M con did respond thanks no one answered the email uh anything so I'd
like to read what I wrote okay um it's yeah it's regarding the uh the removal of the nurse ordinance from Monro toown from the Stonebridge Community uh I was told by the Stonebridge board that you want another survey vote that is not
does not include enough residents okay all right we had a vote and 53% wanted the nurse ordinance removed I'm confused I lived in Monroe Township for 44 years and I'm sure there has been times that not 75% of the residents here
voted whether it was for mayor councilman board me memberships education and I didn't call up the office and say well I need another vote and so I don't understand why they're dragging their feet we hear nothing from
the councilman and uh it's very discouraging when you send emails and I never had that before I've been in contact uh when my kids went to school here in the town I was on uh many uh committees if I called up I got an
answer people called back I never heard of something like this that you don't get any answer from anybody it's very disappointing good even my name is Fred Ruchi uh I'm a on board with Stonebridge I'm also a CPA I've an
active I'm active one and have an office in Clifton over 55 years I'm here representing Stonebridge I'm also speaking about the nurse's mandate theic okay I'm also speaking about the nurse's mandate I'm
requesting the Monroe Township municipal Council to exempt the Stonebridge Community from a mandate that requires Stonebridge Community to have a 24-hour 7-Day a week registered nurse on duty it costs the Stonebridge Community approximately
$442,000 a year or approximately $36,000 a month Stonebridge Community is in the PRC 2 Zone the larger communities are in the PRC 1 Zone Stonebridge Community is
the only over five community in the prc1 or prc2 Zone that's required to have a registered nurse 24 hours a day 7 days a week Regency which has homes in both categories the cumulative number of
homes in prc2 is too small to have the Mandate and the remaining homes which are in prc1 does not require the Mandate obviously it's an in my opinion it's an example of unreasonableness and unfair treatment to the Stonebridge
community this mandate was made by the municipal Council approximately 17 years ago at that time Stonebridge Community was under the operation and control of the lenar organization since 17 years ago an
emergency medical building and staff with state-of-the-art medical equipment and training is Now quickly available 24 hours a day seven days a week and is less than five minutes away actually it's cross the street from by the senior
center actually uh in addition the 911 telephone call to the police and the medical alert system is also available recently last week the mayor presented a slideshow at the Stonebridge men's club and indicated that this
emergency medical team is a wonderful benefit to all the residents of the community the mayor highlighted the quickness and availability of the great Emergency Medical Services and the quick police response that is always available in Monro
Township foremost Stonebridge would like the municipal Council to exempt our community or delete the arm and nurse mandate and allow our community to self-structure and vote on our own Community Emergency Medical Services and
procedures of course a new Stonebridge emergency medical system and procedure would be created the new medical structure and procedures would be submitted to the Stonebridge Community for an approval by a vote of the
residents okay I was recently asked if if we would guarantee that a vote would be made and of course I know on the board our community would definitely want to vote on this and as the previous woman just said there is the votes if the municipal Council will not allow us
to structure our own Emergency Medical Services System the Stonebridge re request the municipal Council to allow the community to change our current Emergency Medical Services as follows to change the Emergency Medical
Services which requires a registered nurse on duty 24 hours 7 days a week and replace the required hours to possibly 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. uh of a registered nurse and the remaining hours by the Monroe Township
emergency medical team and Monroe Township police or to change the Emergency Medical Services Mandate of a registered nurse to now require the Emergency Medical Services of a licensed practical nurse or a certified nursing
nursing assistant if this was allowed any emergency medical situation which needs a higher level of medical attention could be assisted by the med by the township Medical Services System the 911 medical call system and the
minro Township police or if the Mandate of 24 hours a day and 7 days a week is a Monroe Township Council necessity then Monroe Township should reimburse the Stonebridge a portion of the
$442,000 extend expended by snowbridge the reimbursement should be cons should be considered since the mandro township Council mandates this requirement without an apparent substantial reason to acquire to require the Stonebridge
Community to pay for the EM the Emergency Medical Services that Stonebridge is is providing this is like the monreal township expense reimbursement system that is currently in place for Township expenses that the Stonebridge Community
pays for such as snow sanitation roads and utilities since many Emergency Medical Services are provided by our community registered nurse and not the Township emergency medical team minutes up pleas okay thank you for your
comments okay okay Barbara LaVine 38 timber Hill Drive Monroe Stonebridge I did speak last month at length I will not be speaking at length again this time uh Mr Ruchi addressed some of the
issues basically we are just asking that the Town Council put the ordinance back up to a vote so that we in Stonebridge can
then bring it back to our residents to make our own decision the vote or the removal of the ordinance and the Mandate will not let me stress will not change the nursing in
Stonebridge the vote has to go before the community to make any change 67% is what is needed to make a change the point is there are 15 55 and
older communities 14 of them can make their own decisions Stonebridge is the only community that is not given that opportunity and it is based on 17
yearold situation that no longer longer exists there are Emergency Services there is a fire station there are several urgent cares within walking and driving distance to
Stonebridge we have met with the mayor several times we have implored the council we hope that we will finally get an answer that you are willing to put this back up for a vote thank you thank you for your comments
anyone else wishing to address the council please come forward now your name and address for our records please Deborah Schneider 23 Harwood Road uh councilman van derer my
family was from the Ukraine little town called SMA that is still on my bucket list I don't care what your political persuasion is I found your remarks distaste ful and disgusting and not for
this venue um to your opinion that is correct as you were to yours that that's what we still have right now that is correct please let her I'm just voicing my opinion as you did just let her speak
it's a public portion um mayor Delina um the letter that I got from um jcpnl stated that there was going to be a 19% increase but that was only for if you use
777 kilow if you went above that um as several of my friends called and said Debbie I did there will be another increase above that so I guess everybody has to start walking around with their lights off or
God knows what else we have to do I mean I got my heating bill and that was $250 I keep my thermostat at 6 degrees um I take Navy showers so I don't use the hot water I cut back on
how much time I do for my laundry I cut back to only doing laundry twice a month I don't know how many more cutbacks seniors can do who live on fixed incomes this is getting ridiculous I I sent a letter to JCP andl
never got a response um we're getting increases all over the place what are we supposed to do we're all you know HOA want an increase jcpnl wants an increase now if you pay your bills online they charge you a fee everybody's got their their hands in
our pockets so I have no idea where we're supposed to go for help thank you thank you for your comments sir please your name and address for our records good evening uh Father Michael
Coral uh 112 day Grove Road yes sir uh good evening uh Madam Madame President uh mayor Delina uh council members and Township officials as I said my name is Father
Michael soel I'm a citizen of this beautiful town uh I've called home since 2013 and serve as the priest of St ananis Coptic Orthodox Church here in town beyond my pastoral moral responsibilities I also consider it my
spiritual and moral obligation uh to think about the well-being not only of my parishioners but of the community of Monroe the people who live work worship and raise their families here uh I'm here today once again to bring attention
to the ongoing dangers at the intersection of Federal Road and North Brig and Mills Road a location that has become too familiar uh to emergency responders local residents and unfortunately to families in my congregation including my own as I
represented uh the last time I was here before this body since I last spoke before this Council I do want to acknowledge the Township's effort to increase the size of the stop sign at that intersection uh it is clearly larger however the evidence is clear the
adjustment has not sufficiently address the core safety issues the larger stop sign does mitigate does not mitigate the danger posed by cross traffic on Federal Road particularly from Vehicles approaching at high speeds from both
directions over the past several years and particularly even since the larger sign was installed accidents have continued to occur at an alarming ratees there are these are not just numbers or data points these are real people real families who are being
impacted physically emotionally and financially and they are not alone neighbors Church families and local drivers have experienced fear and harm caused by the current conditions at this intersection tonight I come before you
with a clear and reasonable request for the council to authorize the installation of a four-way stop sign at Federal Road and North Bergen Mills Road this is not just a personal Appeal on behalf of my family or my church members it is a CommunityWide safety need
four-way sto have a proven track record of reducing accidents at dangerous intersections particularly in Suburban communities with similar traffic patterns to hours according to a study published by the Federal Highway
Administration converting two-way stops to four-way stops at high-risk intersections reduces severe crashes by as much as 77% when drivers are required to stop in all directions it forces caution
enhances visibility and slows speeds at critical points for this reason the council if for this reason the council does not feel to approve a four-way stop tonight I'm asking for a clear alternative step I respectfully request
that the township file in Oprah request to obtain the full records of accidents violations and speeding citations at this intersection over the past five years I further request that the that the results of this data review be
presented at the next public council meeting so residents and stakeholders can understand the full scope of the danger we're dealing with I made my own attempt to obtain this data but as a priest not an attorney I lack the technical expertise to navigate the
complexities of the legal request I'm hopeful that the township has both the resources and the responsibility to conduct this review transparently on behalf of its residents let me be clear I'm not here as an adversary but as an advocate I have the utmost respect for
the work that each of you does and I know you all share the same commitment to Public Safety there is a growing moral urgency here though each accident it's not just a statistic it's a family shaken a life disrupted a reminder of
what could have been prevented as a priest I have prayed with families after these accidents I've counseled children afraid to drive past that that intersection again I have gone into hospitals and into homes comforting those who were simply driving home
through that intersection and were confronted with an accident I'm confident that this Council does not want to be in position of explaining to Future victims why further action was delayed when all warning signs were there I'm hopeful and frankly I'm
expecting the council will take the compassionate and prudent step I understand my time is over thank you thank you you for your comment sir good evening oops be careful the chair really is there your name and address for our records please Adam Elias 93 Old Church Road I had some
questions regarding the um affordable housing mandate from last month um I think I don't want to misspeak what the numbers were I believe the planner had indicated there was an original list of about 1,200 Parcels that was uh that was recommended by uh Department of
Community Affairs was that right Mr Weinberg not recommended no 1,200 Parcels that made up what they considered to be developable land in the township got it not recommended for development is that list made public yes it's on dca's website okay um Department
of Community Affairs I don't do well with abbreviations I apologize just tell you as well sorry I wasn't sure TCA I know it could be two different things so um is that um now I understand that so that list now I understand is made public is the owners
of those properties are they put on notice privately like through the mail just like you would for a zoning application is that no because that's it wasn't that kind of study it was just the the state study was from excuse the expression from 40,000 feet literally because they were looking at you know
Statewide Maps they just identified Parcels that they believed were vacant and subject to development it was left to the township to go and individually go through each one of those Maps using what what I consider better data because we we have Planning and Zoning records and those things to determine which
properties were actually developable so for instance they listed properties that already had developments on them they couldn't tell that from some of the databases they were using but we knew that they already had development on it or it had a single family home on it or
it was um subject to our uh conservation or deed restriction so we we had that information they probably could have gotten that information I'm assuming they just didn't have time in their study so that's that was the Township's role okay all right thank you so much you're
welcome anyone else wishing to address this this evening please come forward your name and address for our records please thank you madam council president Paul Onish 10 Aqueduct Road Monroe Township in the Stone Bridge development
I have a couple of questions regarding safety and beautification in Monroe for the council to think about uh the woff road and Brickyard Road which was recently repaired to put in new water
system I believe has not been completely I guess I'll say resurfaced it's very dangerous driving on that and cars traveling north on that road will Veer over the double yellow lines to a
avoid the ruts in that road I'd like to see some action there uh Federal Road near mailbox or house number 285 the guard rail has been hit by a very big tree that tree is hanging
on the guard rail and the possibility of guard rail repair is needed I I do believe number three tree limbs uh that are that are hang H in that are really dead if you will can
have a tendency of falling off and it could cause a hitting a car in an accident so I'm trying to be proactive that someone should look at the canopies of the trees now this is just on Federal Road which I drive
frequently and the dead branches on these trees that overhang the road should be attended to by Monroe Township it is uh not middle sex County problem thank you thank you
anyone else wishing to comment before the council please come forward now sh arm min9 Nathaniel Street um I want to thank the mayor for your words regarding um the affordable housing uh I hope we can stick to those words it
seems that every time the affordable housing uh coalitions and again the the for-profit builders come to town we seem to lose ground literally and figuratively in terms of uh the cases so
I hope that when we start having to pay our attorneys to do uh litigation or or or stand up to litigation that we finally win some of them because um it's time that yes we Supply our affordable housing in and I and I've always been an
advocate for the affordable housing but it's also time to put pressure on these developers to provide the affordable housing sooner than later and and maybe we can change the Dynamics about them getting the affordable housing first and then the rables next because they're
only concerned about their bottom line and we should be concerned about putting uh people in in need into those houses as soon as possible um I'd like to go to um posos I see that resolution uh
065 has to do with treatment design uh for posos on two Wells a well 17 and well 19 again I know I asked this last month are they the only two Wells that have tested for high levels of posos and
if I'm misstating could you correct me I see we have nearly $500,000 uh for some engineering issues Mr strin please don't take up that much time putting that
on no thank you uh we we test for uh Wells we're required to do that as part of the unregulated contaminant rule because as you know uh posos has not been regulated throughout the entire nation New Jersey has very strict standards so we test for all of our
wells on a quarterly basis uh to ensure that we are within the New Jersey regulatory requirements uh these two particular Wells again because of the aquifers they're in and because uh con contamination has come from other sources which we have no control over we
have seen creep up through the years because of our proactive testing so in order to meet the regulatory mandate going down the four parts per trillion we are going to go ahead and design and put in the best available treatment technology for those two Wells which are the only ones at this particular point
that require that and you've tested all the other Wells for that for them absolutely yes okay thank you I'm I'm very interested in our potable water and and our aquifers especially I always thought the cleanest water came from our aquifers but as are they starting also to get saline which is salt in the
waters luckily our our our acers do not have a lot of chlorides in them so okay good because you know and again going back to affordable housing and all the development here um aquifers as much as they may get recharge and I am not an expert you are but as much as they get
may get recharged we may get recharged with a little more contaminants and we're pulling a lot more out the more population we we bring in so we really need to have a Stern and like big plan on how to protect our natural resources
so that should be something else that we can take to the affordable housing Coalition um and and ask them that we want to protect the people coming in and those who are already here uh going back to the resolution 0 58 and
059 uh 16,000 on the first one and five uh 95,000 to Center State Engineering for construction management on 059 are these only soft costs or will they be doing um
actual improvements these are council president these are just soft soft costs 95,000 for soft cost will they be on on 059 will will they be farming that out the inform you know the actual like what
what is the 95,000 going to get get us right so if I could council president so the the contract for improvements to James Monroe Park is I think just a little over $2 million so this is the construction management um component of it to make sure that the project as constructed there's three parts to
there's design bidding and construction management this represents you know as approximately 5% of the project to make sure that uh that the project is being built to the specifications and managed correctly um when it's when it's being uh constructed our construction
inspectors certainly do a certain level of instruction as I've explained before uh inspection as I've explained before but this is having a construction manager on site to make sure it's being managed properly which you know every town has a design bid and construction and no offense 58 or and and really I
said it seemed like the five minutes goes so fast for me um can can they just answer the question or is also soft minutes is up please question anyone else wishing to address the council please come forward
now seeing and hearing none I'd entertain a motion to close the public portion all second on that please thank you all in favor any opposed no I have a motion to adjourn the
meeting please thank you a second on that second thank you what time is this now we are adjourned the time is 8:22