Good evening. Welcome to the February 10th, 2026 meeting of the Bquanic Township Council, Miss Marsh. In accordance with requirements of New Jerseys open public meetings act, notice of this meeting was included in the annual meeting notice which was filed in the office of the township clerk posted on the bulletin board of the municipal
building published as a legal notice in the suburban trends and daily record newspapers and distributed to all persons requesting notice in accordance with township policy. Please join me in the pledge of allegiance followed by a prayer and a moment of thanks for individuals serving our nation. I pledge
allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Most gracious providence, we ask that you bless this governing body with an
abundance of wisdom and understanding so that every deliberation will result in actions which will promote the common good and the general welfare of all the people of the township. Amen. >> AMEN. >> Will the clerk please call the role?
>> Mr. Tracy here. >> Mrs. Florence Lynch here. Mr. Cole here. >> Mr. Syracus here. Mayor Roso >> here. There are no presentations currently scheduled for this evening. At this time, are there any reports or comments from any of the volunteers serving our
community? PETER, PETER. Um two weeks ago I presented the first sort of idea or project for our uh puano improvement appearance appearance improvement project and today I wanted
to ask the council whether they would endorse to convert this idea into a plan not in a in action but in a plan that could be presented and then approved. place. So I think you have seen we have
more opportunities uh now listed for improvements in our community than we probably have capacity to convert. So so hopefully over time we can sort of fulfill our master plan. Yeah. That says
we should strongly improve our our public spaces. So what I would like to ask the council is to give me the uh endorsement. I don't know. I don't think I hope it's not an ordinance and a resolution or so. Just some some nodding
that I can start the project and figure out are there any safety concerns, legal concerns, how much is it costing, who is going to do that? And I wanted to start with this project and the project is of course a EDPD project. Um, but there are already ideas. I have another one here
for for rafs on house sides. Yeah, that that look ugly. And this is Jones hardware store that would hang at a big size on a on a house uh and many many other ideas. And so I I want to get the
this whole project rolling and I would like to get your endorsement. If not, I stop or you can ask for changes or or whatever you want to do. >> I'll start. I'm not in favor of the alligator. >> Anybody else in favor of alligator?
where you put an alligator. >> I should say that that all my friends text me. I told that last time that I don't have a good taste. Um so I I don't care. If you want a panther, we we put a
modern thing. If you want nothing there, we stop the project. Yeah. It's it's up to you. I I I think that we could give him the green light to tell us how much it's going to be. Explore it, but >> we're not giving you the green light to go ahead and do it. >> Correct. Correct.
>> Correct. Yeah, >> that's and and you see I I talked to Mr. >> Yeah. I I have no problem and anybody else like, you know, exploring it. Um I I don't I don't know that Panther Park
would need anything. If anything, it would be a panther. Um but I would you know it >> um I talked to Mr. Potter uh beginning of yesterday I think yesterday and the the school system could participate in
all these efforts. Yeah, I intend to talk to the Boy Scouts so we could could convert that. I hope within our business community we could come up with the funding for material and um there should be a small group of people who decide
what what we should put where you see that um >> I would like you to go ahead and do that but I'd also want to know when you do present how you feel this will create economic development for everybody. Like I understand, you know, fixing it,
making the downtown nice, making the downtown walkable. Um I know those are things in the past that everybody spoke about. You know, we want people to drive through the town and go, "Oh, it's nice. I want to go shop here. I want to eat here. I want to walk around here." I think it all comes back to the master
plan. There is a master plan that actually says we should improve our our space and it gives us actually a checklist to do and and some guidance of what to do. They didn't talk about the budget.
Yeah. But I think I think uh Yes. And you are right. We should do that. Yeah. And and justify it with what we will gain from it. >> Okay. Everybody okay with that? I do agree. I was just going to encourage you. Don't try to do it alone. Get it with a group of people that
>> Well, I would hope this was done with the economic development. >> It was. Yeah. >> No, it was. But the idea about the alligator I think was just yours. talking point. >> Yes. Thank you very much.
>> Yeah. Thank you. It's good idea. >> Any other reports or comments from any of the volunteers? The next item on the agenda is public comments. This comment period will be limited to a total of 30 minutes. Additional time is reserved later in the meeting. We welcome comments,
suggestions, and questions. However, the purpose of this time is to allow public comment, not to engage in a dialogue. If you have a specific question, please feel free to pose it and then follow up with staff via telephone or email. Comments are limited to 3 minutes. If anyone wishes to address the council,
please wait to be recognized to come to the microphone and provide your name for the record. Okay, there being none, the next item on our agenda. Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't see you. >> What? >> I'm just waiting for you to ask.
>> Okay. I didn't see your hand. I didn't see your hand. >> What? >> Good evening, Paul Mailer County, your president. Tonight I have just one question. Which 2026 Trump supporter type are you?
Feel free to raise your hand. Should you hear your type? The first is the Trump is my redeemer type. They know he is deeply flawed but believe him to be sent by God. They reject all what would Jesus do teachings of love and kindness from the New
Testament, but hold fiercely to the retribution they and hate they find in the Old. They're pro-life until the baby is born and reject government food assistant as just for the lazy. They think Renee Good deserved to die for a traffic violation that a trained police
officer would have handled with calm professionalism and a ticket rather than three shots to the head from a deranged ICE murderer. The second type are the you're fired acolytes. They see Trump as the TV personality strongman who will
tear it all down to build a better America. They tape Fox and Friends every day to strengthen their resolve while ignoring the more than $700 million Fox News paid for repeatedly lying to them. They outline or they continue to believe
Trump's stop to steal lies despite all evidence to the contrary, including 60 federal and state court decisions. They think Trump depicting the Obamas as apes, was all in good fun. They own at least one AR-15 for sport and think the
Second Amendment needed to be sacrianked. Unless your name is Alex Prey. For him, they'll tell you his weapon was to blame, even though it was confiscated before he was shot 10 times in the back by masked ICE goons. The
third type are the Moms for Liberty affluence. They think public schools must bend to their white, heterosexual, narrow-minded privilege. They demand age appropriate LGBTQ plus books be removed from school libraries so their kids don't catch being gay.
They wouldn't wear masks during COVID and railed against the government and their employers for demanding written proof they cared enough about their colleagues to get vaccinated without any semblance of irony. They now think it's okay for masked ICE goons to maraud otherwise peaceful neighborhoods. They
giggle as they take selfies under the alligator Alcatraz signs along the Florida Highway without any regard to human beings who simply disappeared in the swamps. They can't wait for the new high school act to be built in nearby Roxbury
and think the $45 billion allocated to private enterprise for such purposes in the big beautiful bill is capitalism at its finest. The fourth and most pathetic type are the self-proclaimed moderates. These are the lifelong Republicans who
watch as the rule of law and every social and constitutional norm is destroyed by their truth social repbate. They know Trump is mentioned by name more than 38,000 times in the Epstein files, but obey Reagan's 11th commandment to never never
speak ill of a fellow Republican. They think our Olympic athletes should just shut up rather than tell the world their government doesn't represent their values. They'll meekly tell you they're in the middle while condoning by their silence the cruelty, the lies, and the
sexual abuse of children. The Redeemer and TV personality types have been duped by charlatans blathering from a pulpit and liars spewing disinformation in front of a Fox TV camera or behind a Dan Bonino microphone. For them, it took years of mindbending
indoctrination from which they're unlikely to heal. By contrast, the affluent and moderate types have consciously chosen their ongoing support. Boasted by their wealth and white privilege, they ignore the burgeoning authoritarianism destroying
American values. They have the power to stop the madness, but instead secretly revel in the cruelty while hiding behind a false flag of patriotism. History and their children will hold these types
accountable and so should we. Anyone else for public comment? >> The next item on our agenda is the manager's report. Mr. Thank you, mayor. Uh, the most items in my written report pertain to procurement activities scheduled for potential
action of the council later this evening. Um, we have two concessions associated with the late negative phase to comply with local public contracts law and the fireworks for the first time based upon the costs increasing have exceeded the paytoplay threshold of $17,500.
So, they're now required to be awarded by resolution. Um, couple quick things that I didn't include in my written report. I apologize. I typically have language in there explaining the cat bank ordinance and articulating the fact that this doesn't actually authorize the exceedence of anything. It establishes
basically an insurance policy for detention. Uh, any appropriation increase or any spending author authority is provided through the municipal budget. Um, so this is as I mentioned an insurance policy that we do each year uh and is is consistent with best practice to provide options moving
forward. Uh the other two quick items. One, we have an opportunity to convert LED lights, our lights to LED for a number of facilities in the township free of cost associated with the JCPNL program for the BPU. Um this will even include Washington Park uh and and the
heavy hidden expensive lights. So we we will be moving forward. We're waiting for one last potential cost. If they have to rent a lift, there may be some cost sharing there, but otherwise it's essentially free of charge. Um so with respect the parking lights in the past the council may recall we did the boiler
here through a program like this and um the lights in the building were converted to LED but this is now the the exterior lights. >> So we do it and they just give us the bulbs or >> no they there's a contractor that makes an application of the BPU on our behalf that we work with that gets approval and
uh they procure install and we work with them to make sure everything's done right. Lincoln Park just did this at Burough Field uh last fall. So in addition to getting the equipment without cost, the benefit of decreased use of electricity is tremendous, right? >> Both cost and environmental. So so
that's a win. And then at the last council meeting, there was some question regarding uh the relationship between the county's referendum for the potential use of open space and the local. Uh and I think where the confusion lies is typically if we make an application to utilize county open
space funds, we use our open space trust as match. So, if we were to do something like that, we would have to change the uses of our uh open space trust through a referendum. Um, but we could get a grant without that using unrestricted funds. So, I think that's where kind of the message got a little murky. Um, Mrs.
Russell serves on that committee for the count for the county. Uh, I did confirm with county staff there will not be an application until 2027, the soonest. >> Hopefully, hopefully soonest. Uh so just to clear that up from from a piece of uh discussion that came up at the last meeting and I appreciated the open space
committee's efforts and staying on top of that engagement. >> So are you looking for us to recommend to change it so it gets on the ballot or >> the last meeting the council said they wanted to consider making sure and I think we should add a couple things
come up with some draft language and what's the timeline on that? >> We need an ordinance, right? We need to work on this. We have to get it's 2 months. >> I don't know. I'd have to look it up. It's a ways early. Yeah, we can look it up. But if we created something for discussion,
>> we have time yet to do it at some point. Might be in March for November. November. Well, it's probably submitted by June, doesn't it? >> They can't do the >> We'll do research and get back to the council with the specific timeline associated with making that change.
>> Perfect. Any other questions? Thank you very much. That's where it is. >> Do you have a date for the fireworks? >> I know I caught you off guard. I'm sorry. I didn't even think about it as earlier. I just saw fireworks. >> Um, it's in the contract. Is the contract. >> Is it in there?
>> Is this the company that did it last year just like June 26th? >> June 26th. >> Okay. Sounds right. >> It's a Saturday before Saturday. That is June 26th. It's on there.
>> I heard about that company with the LED lights. They they wanted to come 26. >> Yeah. Oh, >> 626. >> Friday. >> I knew I read it somewhere. >> So, it's a Friday. >> Is that the same company that we've had in the past or a new company? Okay.
>> All right. So, Friday and we're going to get all the thing on the LED lights and remote on it. for >> there's no vote necessary. There's no legislative action. That's free. Not for this. >> Next on the agenda is the introduction
of ordinances. Miss Marsh. >> Ordinance number 202601 is an ordinance to establish and preserve a cat bank accordance with NJSA 4A44514. >> Mr. Burr, any comments? Uh nothing more than again it's an uh insurance policy associated with the appropriations cap
not the levy cap and it is good policy moving forward to preserve options. >> Are there any comments from council? >> No. >> Nope. We good. Is there a motion to introduce this ordinance on first reading? >> I'll make that motion. >> Second. >> Roll call, please.
>> Mr. Drey, >> yes. >> Mrs. Lawrence Lynch, >> yes. >> Mr. Cole, >> yes. >> Mr. Syracus, >> yes. >> Mayor Russell, >> yes. The next agenda item is resolutions. Miss Marsh, I'm beginning with resolution R202670 awarding a contract for concession providers for
food trucks on late Tuesday, the second Tuesday of each identified month to those vendors who submitted proposals in accordance with the request for proposals. 202671, awarding contracts for concession providers for various events of the parks and recreation department to those
vendors who submitted proposals in accordance with the request for proposals. 72 authorizing the discretionary word of a contract for fireworks to International Fireworks in an amount of $17,875. 202673 approving change order number one
for the Manor Avenue sidewalks increasing the contract with Cedar Contracting Company Incorporated of Hillside New Jersey by $20,70 to a revised contract price of $121,66 $66
and just never mind. 202674 authorizing the purchase of 44 SCDA with associated equipment from designated vendors awarded contracts by the New Jersey state contract 202675 authorizing release of refundable permit bonds and
R202676 approving payment of the itemized claims is set forth on the February 5th 2026 bill list and FEMA elevation escro list. >> Are there any comments on the resolutions from council? No. I'm good.
>> Everybody good? Is there a motion to adopt these resolutions? >> I'll make a motion to adopt resolution 2026-70 through 2026-76. >> Is there a second? Any second roll call, please? >> Mr. Tracy, >> yes. >> Mrs. Florence Lynch, >> yes.
>> Mr. Cole, >> yes. >> Mr. Syracus, >> yes. >> Mayor Russell, >> yes. >> There are no items for discussion and there are no reports or notices. Um, Carol, did you want to ask? >> Oh, sure. Um, I just want to know if
everybody's okay doing a proclamation. It's an April proclamation for the Suburban Women's Club's latest anniversary. >> Fine. Fine by me. Okay. Yeah. All right. Thank you. >> The next item on our agenda is council reports and announcements. Councilman
Jerusi. >> Thank you, mayor. Um, the committee, the shy committee did not meet next month. We have to set it up for next month or this month rather later on. So, we'll get that done. And that's all I got. Thank you. >> Councilwoman Florence Lynch. Uh yes. Uh
the planning board met uh last night. Um the board of edges had a courtesy review on a property that's purchasing across from PB School. Um we're putting a small addition on a existing building and using it for administrative offices.
So, we did that last night. Um, the historic district commission met. Um, they met on February 4th. Their next meeting is March 4th. Uh, really the only thing um that came up and you might have already been asked about this, um,
Mr. Brewer. Apparently, a light came down in the wind outside and I think DPW is aware of it and looked at it. They could probably have to wait for warmer weather to fix it, but maybe you could follow up on that. >> Sure, >> I know they were aware. >> Yeah, they were aware of it. So, they
just want to make sure it doesn't fall off the uh schedule. Um, what else? And they'll have the museum open on February 22nd from 12 to 3 uh for the public. They're trying to be open at
least once a month. Uh, what else? And then the only other thing I wanted me to bring up that maybe we can get on the next agenda and I might have brought this up at a previous meeting last year. They want to make just a proposed change to their ordinance. Right now their ordinate the
ordinance for the historic district commission members says no more than 12 members but they always had a couple of vacancies or if somebody doesn't show up they want to propose a change. Number one, uh, one change would be instead of
5-year terms, threeear terms, cuz five is quite long and they'd like to make two of the members be alternates so it does not affect voting, like if they're voting on something, they need a quorum. So the
proposed thing with it, if the council's willing to do it, is out of those 12 members, two would be alternates and they would be designated at the time of the appointment. The alternate members would attend the meetings and vote when there's a
vacancy. So not that they vote on a lot of things, but you said is there openings now? >> Uh right now where they are I think there's two. Yeah, I think it's something for the future. It's not. >> So the alternates would be automatically
on cuz we would point to the open spaces and the alternates. >> We would but they but you have to change it cuz it doesn't say that we have alternates. I guess you have to change the word. Would you have to change it to say that >> if you want to promote? Yes. If you want people to be specifically alternates,
>> right? So at least something we have time for. Do you understand what I'm saying? >> I don't understand why they'd want specifically to be alternates. They want to reduce the number of organizations. >> Yeah. And this way. >> Yeah. >> That's the only reason. >> Yeah.
>> Because they're getting people coming to the meetings, but it might not be enough of four quarum. So they figured if they could make two members alternates, then that would help. That's all. So if
everybody's okay with it, we can they're supposed to come in also and present it. you know, if you'd like them to make sense, you know, I don't know if you want to >> I I appreciate the desire to create a quorum, but it's essentially an advisory committee. So, it's one of those questions with respect to the
publication of the ordinance >> whether the effort justifies the action, >> right? Cuz it's an advisory committee. >> So, you know, unless Mr. Rustic wants to contradict me, whether whether they have four people or seven people, if the group president makes a recommendation,
that is the power that the group has. whether it's a quorum of the body or not. >> I mean, if you'd rather, I'll have them come in and present it and see if it makes sense. They keep asking me and >> maybe we can explain that to them and alleviate some of their concerns. >> I would also ask that if they're going
to reduce the terms from 5 to three, >> they should probably make a recommendation for what to do with the people currently serving a 5-year term. >> Right. Okay. >> Yeah, that was the only thing that was brought up there for no reason, >> right? But anyway, I'll have them uh
come in. Uh was there anything else? I think that was it. Um the flight committee has not met yet, but I will reach out to see if they're going to have a quarterly meeting in March because they were talking about meeting quarterly, but I haven't heard yet. Snow. Exactly.
>> Um yes. So, other than that, I don't have anything. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Cole. >> Thank you, Mayor. Uh, company one met this past Friday. Uh, company 2 will meet this Thursday. Um, company one was very happy with the
purchase of the the uh SCBA >> SCBAs and I'm sure company 2 will be as well. Uh, I'll report that when I see them on this Thursday. They the chief knows already, but I don't know if the rest of the department knows. And I just
like to thank all of our first responders, especially for this past weekend. It was not easy with the temperature uh dealing with uh all the calls that they had. So that's it. Thank you very much. >> Thank you, Councilman Sarah Cruz. >> So good evening, mayor, even open space
did not meet uh for the parks and recreation. Uh we had discussions on recognizing students that had x amount of community hours. So I'm just going to get with Adam offline. We're going to talk about whether or not we post a board event to recognize, you know, high high performing students that put a lot
of time in uh for volunteer hours. Uh they are hiring lifeguards right now so they can get them trained and ready for the season and uh they're asking about the basketball court and I know that we have some some funds set aside for that for for this year. Get the basketball
court squared away and I have nothing further to report. >> Thank you. um for myself environmental um is meeting tomorrow. Tom knew was supposed to come here tonight. Unfortunately, the day got away from him and make a presentation. A lot of the things that I
told you guys last year that they did over the year, they really do a lot and they are very helpful. And hopefully he'll be able to make it to the next meeting to bring us up to speed. Uh library meets on the 18th. We are still under construction. We don't have a definite timeline as to when that's
going to be done, but we're moving right along. It looks amazing. um first aid met last night. They had a total of 95 calls in the month of January. 35 of those calls were to Cedar Crust and they have I don't know if you guys have been seeing the picture.
They've really there's been a lot more of the to the airlift to the helicopter lifts. Um so they were working on that. There's a wilderness first aid March 21st and 22nd in Newton that is open to the public that they can sign up for.
Also some dates we have uh June 14th is the Rotary 5K. April 18th is the library fest. I also talked to Adam earlier. They were concerned about the Opticon. Is it com Opticon lights? Those are the lights.
>> That's what I kept thinking. I I told I thought he said Optimum. I was like, "Yeah, don't worry. We have Optimum." So, we're getting other stuff. It's okay. So anyway, the opticon lights, the for those of you who don't know, that's when the police uh and not the police because they can do it on their own. The
fire department and the first aid go to a light and it can shut it can go green on their side so they can go to where they're going. So So they stated that that there's many of those that are no longer working. Um so they requested we repair those and um Adam said he'd be
more than happy to look into that. So I'm happy about that. And that's ALL I HAVE. NEXT ON THE AGENDA IS public comment. As a reminder, we welcome comments, suggestions, and questions rather than dialogue. Comments are limited to 3 minutes. If anyone wishes to address the
council, please wait to be recognized to come to the microphone and provide your name for the record. Next on the agenda is minutes for approval. We have October 14th, 2025. October 28th, 2025 25 November 25th,
2025 regular meetings and the November 25th 2025 board of health meeting. Um I will be abstaining from the 28th and John, you're abstaining from the November 25th board meeting. Are there any comments on these minutes?
No. >> Is there a motion to approve these minutes? I'll make a motion to approve the minutes from October 14th regular meeting, October 28th, regular, November 25th word of health, and November 25th regular. May I have a second?
>> All in favor? >> I I with abstain from the 28th. OPPOSE. There is no closed session for this evening. There being no further business, is there a motion to adjurnn? >> I'll make that motion. Second. >> All in favor?
>> Opposed? Meeting adjourned at 7:30.