Good evening everyone and welcome to the Piscatoaway Town Council meeting for February 10th, 2026. Could everyone please silence their cell phones? Adequate notice of has been provided as
required under chapter 231 PL1975. specifying the time, date, location, login or dial in information, and to the extent known. The agenda by posting a copy of the notice on the municipal building, the municipal court, and the
two municipal library bulletin boards, the municipal website, providing a copy to the official newspapers of the township, and by filing a copy in the office of the township clerk in accordance with a certification by the clerk, which will be entered in the minutes. There will be public comment
period for both remote and in-person attendees separately. Each member of the public shall have only one opportunity to speak during each public portion. As the technology does not allow us to know if there are multiple callers on an
individual phone line or logged in user account, we ask that if you wish to speak that you log in or dial in separately so that we can recognize you as a separate individual. Should you have any further comments or questions, the town council is always available by
email and phone, and you can always call the mayor's office during normal operating hours. Miss Cedar, can you please call the role? Council member Cahill, >> here. >> Council member Carmichael >> here.
>> Council member Espinosa >> here. >> Council member Liowitz here. Council member Rasheed >> here. >> Council member Erin >> here. >> Council President Lombardi >> here. And can everyone please join us in
the flag salute? We'll now move to number five, which will be a proclamation for Black History Month. You going to be reading that proclamation for us, mayor? >> Yes, I will, Council President. And whereas Black History Month is observed each February to celebrate the culture
and achievements of African-Americans who whose contributions have strengthened and enriched our nation. And whereas Black History Month also provides a crucial opportunity for all Americans to learn, understand, and reflect on the enormous burdens and
sacrifices placed on African-Americans, including the brutality and lasting impacts of transatlantic human trade and Jim Crow laws. And whereas historical sites and narratives related to all aspects of past and present African-American life must be preserved
to properly guide the shaping of our nation into a truly more perfect union. And whereas New Jersey and Middle Sex County in particular have been the home to a full breath of the African-American experience. Whereas where whereas
numerous slave ships brought enslaved African-Americans to destinations of subjugation through Perth Amboy and whereas Thomas Muddy Peterson of the same municipality was the first African-American man to vote after the passage of the 15th amendment of the
constitution. And whereas among the collection of historical structures of East Jersey Oldtown Village and Piscatoway, the Hogland House was home to the of a free African-American who purchased it in 1862 and lived in it until 1899. And whereas
African-Americans continue to play a vital role in shaping our nation, contribute mightily to its economic, cultural, and spiritual and political growth. Therefore, I, Brian Waller, the mayor of Piscatoy Township and the county of Middle Sex, State of New Jersey, Dubai, recognize the month of
February as Black History Month and encourage all residents to acknowledge the contributions and enduring legacy of African-Americans in our community and country. Thank you, Council President. >> Thank you. We'll now move to number six which are
comments from the administration and council regarding adjournment of any matters on this agenda. Do we see any adjournment of any matters on the agenda from council? >> I have one. I want to be clear that I support the
goal of licensing hotels and motel to ensure appropriate safety, fire, and zoning standards are met. However, I remain concerned about unintended consequences embedded in certain provisions of the ordinance. I raised these concerns prior to the first
reading and vote and I supported moving the ordinance forward at that stage with the understanding that the language would be further reviewed before final adoption and that the public would have an opportunity to review and provide meaningful feedback. I listened
carefully to the testimony from business owners and employees on January 20th. No one should feel unsafe in their place of work and I cannot imagine the fear and uncertainty they described. I'm also deeply concerned that it has taken years for meaningful action to address these
long-standing issues. Those who testify deserve better and I'm committed to ensuring their concerns are addressed in a way that is both effective and fair. Many of the issues raised, particularly loitering and criminal activity, would not be addressed through
hotel and motel licensing alone. A letter submitted by ACLU policy council, domestic violence survivor advocates, housing professionals, supportive housing practitioners, re-entry service providers, and others working at this intersection of homelessness and
community safety raises serious concerns that the ordinance, as currently written, could result in significant harm to vulnerable individuals and families without resolving the underlying problems it seeks to address. Therefore, I make a motion that the council remove the ordinance from the
agenda at this time. The township admin and council should consult with experts that have raised concerns to ensure that the provisions do not have unintentional consequences on our taxpayers and those who are housed in our hotels and motel.
>> Thank you, Miss Leitz. I'm going to call the question. >> You have to ask for a second. Is there a second? >> I second the motion. >> I'm going to call the question have a roll call vote amongst the
council to to keep this on the agenda. Miss Cedar, can you have a role to make a motion to remove the this? So, we're going to on the council. >> Okay. The council will vote.
>> All right. Council president, what what is the motion? The motion is whether you are voting to remove >> I can restate the motion >> to remove to remove it from the agenda >> remove it from today's agenda for further um further over further revision
and further um assessment. >> Council member Cahill, >> I vote to keep it on tonight's agenda. Council member Carmichael, >> no.
>> Council member Espinosa, >> I vote no. >> Council member Liowitz, yes. >> Council member Rashid, >> I vote yes. >> Council member Erin,
>> I vote to keep it on. agenda. >> Council President Lombardi, I vote no. Please keep it on the agenda this evening. >> Thank you. >> I also have a request um to remove item
um 10M from the consent agenda and let it be voted on separately. >> Okay. How we can handle that is you can either abstain from the cons the complete consent agenda or you can just abstain from that one and you can vote for the rest.
>> Okay. >> Okay. We're not going to remove it from the the agenda. Okay. She's that's from the consent agenda. Yes, that's correct. She can abstain from the whole thing or she can just vote yes on the others and abstain from
that item. Okay, we're going to move to number seven. We did number seven for the uh open to the public. These are for comments regarding the item number 10, which is the consent agenda items. Again, this is for public
comment on the consent agenda items only. So, we will open this to the public for each public comment portion. For remote attendees, if you wish to speak at this time, please raise your hand either on the Zoom app or if by phone by pressing star9. When it is your
turn to speak, you will receive or hear a request to unmute yourself. Please click the prompt or press star six on your phone to unmute yourself. At that time, please state your name and address and know that you have three minutes in which to make your comments. The council or administration will respond if
necessary. After you have completed any comments or questions, please be advised this is for the consent agenda items only. Council President, there are no remote attendees with their hand raised regarding this agenda item. So, we're
closing the uh portion for the remote attendees and we'll now open it for the public comment for inperson attendees at this time. If you wish to speak at this time, please come to the podium, state your name and address, and know you have three minutes in which to make your comments. You may take your seat after
the completion of your comments or questions, and the council or administration will respond if necessary. This is for the consent agenda items only. Anyone in the public wishing to speak on these? Seeing none, we'll close the public
portion. Number eight is an ordinance second reading amending chapter 7 track traffic section 14 parking prohibited at all times on certain streets and this will be open to the public. It's a resolution adopting ordinance. Missed the can you
please read the ordinance? Be it resolved by the township council of Piscatoaway Township, New Jersey, that an ordinance entitled ordinance to amend and supplement the revised general ordinances of the township of Piscataway, county of Middle Sex, state of New Jersey, amending chapter 7, traffic section 14, parking prohibited
at all times on certain streets, was introduced on the 20th day of January, 2026, and had passed the first reading, and was published on the 25th day of January, 2026. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the upper ordinance having second reading on February 10th, 2026 be adopted passed
and after passage be published together with a notice of the date of passenger approval in the official newspaper. We have further resolved that this ordinance shall be assigned number 2026-05. Thank you, Miss Cedar. We'll now open this for public comment for remote
attendees. And again, it's for the ordinance second reading number nine uh number eight. Council President, there are no remote individuals with their hand raised regarding this agenda item. We'll close
the remote portion and anyone wishing to speak on this ordinance uh in person, please come up at this time. Seeing none, we'll close the public the uh attendees portion. Cedar, can you please call the role?
Have a motion, please. Motion. Councilwoman Cahill. >> Second. >> Can council, >> could you please call the role? Council member Cahill. >> Yes. Council member Carmichael, >> yes. >> Council member Espinosa, >> yes.
>> Council member Liuititz, >> yes. >> Council member Rasheed, >> yes. Council member, >> yes. >> Council President Lombardi, >> yes. And the ordinance passes second reading. Number nine is an ordinance
second reading adding chapter 4, licensing and business regulations, section 16, hotels and motel. It's open to the public and it's a resolution adopting ordinance. Miss Cedar, can you please quote read the ordinance? Be it resolved by the township council of
Piscatoaway Township, New Jersey that an ordinance entitled an ordinance Revised General ordinances of the township of Piscatoaway, county of Middle Sex, state of New Jersey, adding chapter 4, licensing and business regulations, section 16, hotels and mot was
introduced on the 20th day of January, 2026, and had passed the first reading and was published on the 28th day of January, 2026. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the effortset ordinance, having had a second reading on February 10th, 2026, the
adopted passed and after passage be published together with the notice of the date of passenger approval in the official newspaper. Be it further resolved that this ordinance shall be assign number 2026-06. Thank you, Miss Cedar. I'd like to make a comment myself on this ordinance.
This ordinance was built for the residents and businesses owners of Piscatoaway, the very people who make our township strong. We have collaborated together and with our colleagues to ensure this ordinance was crafted responsibly and thoroughly.
Our township attorney worked tirelessly consulting with colleagues and townships across the state to ensure this ordinance reflects the strongest and most effective practices. Above all, this is about putting the people of Piscatoaway first, their
safety, their well-being, and their peace of mind. It is about protecting the quality of life in our community and ensuring that Piscataway remains a place where families and businesses can continue to thrive.
We're now going to open this for public comment for remote attendees. Anyone wishing to for remote attendees? >> Council President, I'm asking the first individual with their hand raised to unmute themselves. Please be advised you have three minutes
in which to speak. >> Hi, my name is Jessica Kraville, 1247 Brookside Road. Can you hear me? >> Yes, we can. Welcome. >> This is a poorly written ordinance that is unlikely to solve the purported issue and will have numerous other detrimental
impacts. First of all, as written, this council will be displacing totally innocent people going through hard times. Requiring them to appeal to hotel management for an extension of their stay is unreasonable and unlikely to result in many people remaining in their temporary homes. Will they have to take
on the administrative burden? Applying for repeated extensions just to stay housed. And if they can't get an extension, where are these people supposed to go? On its own, this should be enough to dissuade caring council members from proceeding. However, since I've come to understand that most of you
on this council are unconcerned with such matters, let me proceed to the other reasons to withdraw this from consideration. This ordinance violates the Fourth Amendment by allowing the government warrantless search of private guest information. Again, the relevant precedent is City of Los Angeles versus
Patel. I know I've mentioned this before, but since Mr. Boomer said this ordinance was copied from a compliant similar one in East Brunswick. I will quote the differences for him. 65-6 section A1F says the officer may
request to inspect the record log by asking the operator or operator's design who is on duty and or working at the time to inspect the record. If inspection is refused, the operator or operator's employee design shall safeguard the record in a manner
directed by the officer or authorized representative to ensure that no one can tamper with the record. Section four. If upon refusal to allow the officer to inspect the record, the officer or authorized representative may apply for the administrative subpoena,
administrative search warrant, or other such court order within 48 hours of said refusal. Moving on. I thought the incidents mentioned by the Gabrielle's ownership and employees at the last meeting were unfortunate. But of all the things they
brought up were crimes that the police should have been able to deal with. Why is this ordinance even needed? Miss Carmichael and Miss Cahill sent me an email response that indicated this measure is to quote ensure that hotels do not become de facto long-term housing
without appropriate oversight or supportive services. End quote. Why do we not offer any supportive services to those experiencing homelessness or other hardships in Pascadway? I guarantee you they'd be more effective and less costly than this trash you've presented today.
I strongly encourage you to join counselors Liowitz and Rasheed in withdrawing this proposal and coming up with something less terrible and illegal before you expose the township to more costly litigation at the taxpayers's expense.
Thank you. That will be all council president. Council President, I'd just like to clarify a couple things. I think there's a misrepresentation of what I've said in the past. Um, and u, Miss Credible actually read out the East Brunswick ordinance, not what we have written in
our ordinance. >> We do not have that language in here and we have we have language that only code enforcement can can access those guest logs specifically only for compliance with the ordinance. So, this is not a police action. It is not involved with
the police department. This is not about war searches, etc. >> Thank you for that clarification. The next caller, council president, I'm asking the next individual with their hand raised to unmute themselves. >> Please state your name and be advised
you have three minutes in which to speak. >> Hi, my name is Brian Rack. Um, this ordinance is weird. It's weird that the town is pushing on this so hard and it's weird the amount of misinformation being spread about it. It's weird. I received an identical email from Carmichael and Cahill. It's weird during the last meeting, we heard from the landlord of
Motel 6 about how much of a problem this is. It's weird that the town would get involved in what's pretty clearly a landlord tenant dispute. It's weird that during a time when Trump is kidnapping it and murdering people on the street, but this ordinance is somehow the biggest priority. It's weird that a council full of Democrats does things like parking DPW vehicles in front of
town hall during protests. And it's weird the entire parking lot was blocked off during early voting to try and stop anti-Trump protests. That's certainly something I'd expect from Trump and not Democrats. It's weird that the town puts out videos claiming this ordinance is going to do something it's not. As an example, a video was posted on January
18th implying this ordinance would somehow allow the town to know if criminals were staying in the hotel. I certainly can't find that anywhere in the ordinance that's stated. It's weird that the ordinance is compared to the one in East Brunswick when the East Brunswick one does not require giving up guest information without a warrant. It's weird our police director claims
he's never heard of a place with this many calls when both the Carlton Club Apartments and Town Hall have had more calls over the last three months than this hotel. It's weird this ordinance was originally in the same packet with an ordinance that would have criminalized homelessness. It's weird the council won't acknowledge that anymore and hopes we all forgot. It's weird that the claim is that ordinance
would protect residents. I'll quote from the dictionary. Resside now occupy a place as one's legal doicile. It's weird the only way to protect residents of the hotels could come out. It's weird getting a parking ticket will result in losing your only housing. It's weird there's nowhere in town for homeless people to shelter from the extreme cold
we've been having. It's even more weird when the official response is to shuttle those people to a different town, which is the exact same thing that was being claimed to be happening here. It's weird I have to say all this knowing that everything I say will be dismissed by the council. This ordinance is a mistake.
>> Thank you for your comments, Mr. Rock. >> Council President, I'm asking the next individual with their hand raised to unmute themselves. >> Please state your name and address and three minutes in which to speak. Hi, good evening. My name is Raisa Ruben Stanwitz and I am a policy associate for
the New Jersey Coalition to End Homelessness. Uh I just wanted to speak this evening to uh continue to raise our concerns about this ordinance and just to speak to the fact that we're particularly concerned about this ordinance in the context um that
Piscatoaway and Middle Sex County finds themselves in. We've seen homelessness rise across the state, a 57% increase. And um we've specifically know that in Middle Sex County, there are very very very few shelters. Um and so I recognize this is not an ordinance directly
focused on homelessness. However, in a county and in a municipality where we see um we see very little shelter, we know that a lot of times motel, hotels, extended stays ends up becoming shelter
by de facto. And so because of that, we want to continue to raise our concerns about this ordinance, the type of impact it will end up having. Um, and I I just want to also state that we really would love to work on trying to come with up
with a solution that isn't going to have potentially devastating impacts on people's lives in this type of extreme cold weather. uh you know this ordinance is being adopted after an incredible cold spell um where we saw 74 year old
woman in Tom's River who froze to death in her car because there was nowhere else for her to go and I recognize that this council you know is is trying to address another issue but I think that there are better ways to go about this and we've worked with other municipalities to try to address some of
these issues. I think there's a way we can balance the concerns around safety while making sure that residents who are most vulnerable are also continue to be safe. And we see that the leading causes of homelessness in Middle Sex County. Um
the leading cause is loss or reduction of job income followed by being asked to leave a shared residence followed by household breakup or a death in a household. all of which might lead to really precarious situations where someone might end up in a motel or
hotel. So, I wanted to raise all of those points. I also I may not have seen the most I don't know if there was a more recent version. I apologize if this has already been included, but I would like to know more about um the uh
reasonable documentation for uh victims of domestic violence, what that specifically requires and uh would love to continue the conversation. Thank you for listening. >> Thank you, Raya. >> We're clearly trying to solve a local
problem, not solve or criminalize homelessness. Thank you, >> Council President. I'm asking the next individual with their hand raised to unmute themselves. >> Hello. >> Please, please state your name and address and know that you have three
minutes in which to state your comments. >> Um, my name is I'm the director of system programs at Coming Home. Uh, we are in charge of the homeless systems for Middle Sex County. And um
it's really actually disturbing for us um in the system to see that so close to home the people um that we work with the vulnerable population of people that don't have homes um are being targeted
in such a way. Uh, as a previous caller was talking about, there's a lot going on with the current administration and um, we're doing everything in our power to help uh, the the homeless try and get
into a home. It's 7:27 p.m. and I'm actually just leaving work right now. Um, I work tire tirelessly to um advocate for the rights of the homeless, to try and uh work on the
system, to work with my team to actually get people into housing. Um, I I think it's so so careless and so cruel um that you would actually consider that it makes sense to evict
people from a hotel uh when they clearly have nowhere else to go. Uh we've had uh endless days of snow and ice and cold blue. It's so cold outside people will literally die in the cold.
Now, I understand exactly what it is that you're trying to do. Um, and uh, you know, it it's terrible. There are people in motel right now that are victims of domestic violence. They are
asked to leave a shared residence. They um, they're victims of natural disaster, right? So, like hurricanes, a house fire. Um, there was a gentleman that I spoke with last year and he was living
in the streets with no coat and he had nowhere to go because his house burned down. The majority of people that I know and you can even take a a quick look on Google, majority of Americans don't have
savings, okay? they don't have money for a security deposit and then if something happens to them and you know they get sick uh someone in their their household dies the bread winner whatever if someone dies or if they get sick they're not able to pay the rent and then if
they get behind on their mortgage they get foreclosed upon. We've got seniors that are on a fixed budget and if they're living in an apartment and the rent continues to go up, they have nowhere to go but outside. And so
unfortunately, we're in a situation where landlords continuously raise the rent and people cannot afford the apartments that are in Middle Sex County, any county in New Jersey, and any state in the United States.
It's unbelievable. Okay. So, housing is not affordable. The people who live in hotels and motel don't want to live there. Okay. >> No one can wake up in a motel. >> You you've exceeded the three minutes,
but thank you so much for the work that you do. >> Council President, I'm asking the next individual their hand raised to unmute themselves. Please state your name and address and be advised you have three minutes in which to speak.
>> My name is Kapil Sha 423 Netherwood Avenue. I'm supporting this ordinance. This is not for against any homeless people but this is for safety for the start of a residents who work there nearby the
businesses. We hear hear the last meeting a lot of business people and their employees unsafe even anybody work there nearby you never know what happened something and we are
not sorry for anything happened and then after we change the ordinance this is precaution for the change the this ordinance and I'm fully supporting this ordinance for the township thank you
>> thank you Mr. Mr. Sha, Council President, there are no other individuals with their hand raised regarding this agenda item. Thank you, Miss Cedar. We'll now open it up to the public portion. Anyone wishing to speak, please
come up to the podium. State your name and address and be advised you got three minutes in which to speak. >> Hello. Good evening, mayor and council members. >> Good evening. >> My name is Sierra Hart. I'm the director of housing and economic justice with the New Jersey Coalition to End Domestic
Violence. I'm also a survivor and um we are here to urge you with the deepest concern to please remove this proposed ordinance from consideration. During the opening, I heard a council member state that this ordinance is for the residents and business owners of Piscataway. Those
residents and business owners and community members are also victims of surv and survivors of domestic violence. Statistically, everyone knows someone impacted by domestic violence, including all of you. This ordinance may sound administratively um on paper proper, but
in real life it is dangerous. It would cause significant harm, especially to survivors of domestic violence, their children, their families, and their pets. Domestic violence is one of the leading causes of homelessness today in this country in this state. Survivors
often flee with only the clothes on their back. Many cannot res return to their homes. Um the safe houses are full. There are no code blue centers in Piscataway and hotels and motel have been proven to be a safe line for many
survivors. And we know that hotels and motel have saved lives. They're not convenience. They are a lifeline. Placing an arbitrary 89day limit on hotel stays forces survivors into impossible choices. It tells someone who is actively escaping abuse that their
safety has an expiration date. It tells a parent protecting their children that they must choose between stability and survival. And in many cases, that choice is quite literally life or death. Survivors should never be forced to choose where they live based on fear of government punishment or displacement.
Safety planning is deeply personal and survivor driven. Best practices in domestic violence response says confidentiality, survivor choice, and stability, not rigid deadlines and not policed housing. determinations. This
ordinance would also put survivors at greater risk by requiring hotels to share a guest information with the township without a warrant. Privacy is not a luxury for survivors. It is a core safety need. Policies that erode privacy can expose survivors and their children
and cause retaliation, stalking, and continued violence. Both federal and New Jersey Supreme Courts have already found such warrantless access unconstitutional and for a good reason. The ordinance also allows housing decisions to be based on arrest or charge alone, not
conviction. This is deeply troubling. Survivors, particularly survivors of color, are disproportionately arrested during domestic violence incidents, sometimes for defending themselves and keeping themselves alive. Penalizing people without a conviction not only
violates due process, it retraumatizes victims and discourages them from calling for help. It also gives abusers another tool to harass and displace survivors by calling in false charges. Children among those who will suffer the most are forced they will be forced into
displacement, disrupt their lives, their schooling, um disrupt being able to heal from the trauma that they've already experienced. And we know that repeated moves compound trauma and instability for children. >> Are you almost done? >> Yes, I am. >> Okay. >> So, survivors of domestic violence
deserve dignity. People experiencing homelessness deserve dignity. dignity and their children deserve stability. Their families, their pets, and their um and themselves deserve safety. No one should be punished for choosing survival. Please listen. Please leave with compassion and please do not move forward with an ordinance that would
endanger um and possibly harm people. >> Thank you. >> Unfortunately, Sierra, many of the calls at that hotel are domestic violence calls. That's part of what's going on over there. Welcome. Please state your name and
address and be advised you have three mayor and council members. My name is Sima Torres. I'm the director of the Middle Sex County Family Justice Center um with this women aware the domestic violence agency of Middle Sex County.
I'm here to express serious concerns about the proposed ordinance limiting hotel and motel stays for victims and survivors of domestic violence and their children and sharing identifying information with the township code enforcement. Victims flee abuse because they are in
danger, often with little notice, often late at night, and often with children. Safety in those moments depend on speed, privacy, and discretion. This ordinance removes all three. Requiring a victim to
prove abuse to hotel staff who are not trained in domestic violence assessment and then requiring hotels to share personal identifying information, including names and addresses with township code enforcement places victims at immediate risk.
Any delay or disclosure increases the likelihood that an abuser can locate and harm them. Faced with these barriers, many victims will choose the only options they feel is possible. And what is that? Returning
to the abuser. This will result in continual abuse or homicide. Confidentiality is not optional in domestic violence response. It is the cornerstone of safety under the federal violence
against women act and the New Jersey prevention of domestic violence act and under longstanding best practices. Victim survivors are encouraged to seek safety without fear of retaliation, public exposure or punishment. Creating a municipal reporting
requirement for survivors identities runs directly counter to those principles and raises serious privacy and liability concerns. This ordinance also harms children. Many of the families impacted will have no
immediate safe shelter alternatives. Emergency shelters, as Sierra said, are often full or unable to accommodate all families. Hotels are frequently the only safe immediate options to keep children out of cars, unsafe spaces, or violent
homes. This ordinance risks further criminalizing homelessness and poverty. Survivors must not be treated as code violations for trying to survive a crisis. Public safety should not come at the
expense of human safety. We have used hotels and motel for victims since 2020 with positive results. It has been lifesaving for many victims. I respectfully ask you to remove the proposal ordinance from consideration and ensure that the
township policy protects victim survivors and children rather than placing them in further harm's way. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Please state your name and address. >> Good evening, members of the council. My name is Dwan Norwood and I serve as
policy council at the ACLU of New Jersey. ACLUJ strongly urges you to reject the ordinance and consideration which would limit the length of stays at hotels and motel. Last week, ACLU andJ joined in a letter to this council expressing concerns that this ordinance
as written will lead to further harm against vulnerable communities and potentially violate protections provided by the New Jersey Constitution and the law against discrimination. Tonight, we echo those concerns and the request to convene a meeting of advocates and practitioners to develop a comprehensive
approach to best serve members of this community. Several provisions in this ordinance raise significant flags on both their legality and efficacy. First, the primary enforcement mechanisms of this ordinance rely on the intrusion of privacy of hotel and motel guests in violation of the constitutions of the
United States and New Jersey. Requiring hotels and motel to provide lists of guests and granting the business administrator the sole discretion to grant an extension of stay likely violates the right to privacy extended to guests. This is a right to privacy uh in public accommodations that has been
upheld by both the Supreme Court of the United States and the New Jersey Supreme Court. Second is the barring of lensure for persons with prior convictions of crimes of moral turpitude. There are substantial case law in New Jersey that municipalities cannot legislate in an area where the state legislature has
comprehensively preempted that field. Penalties for convictions of state crimes would be such an area of preeemption as to as to prevent a municipality from placing an additional penalty on individuals with prior convictions. Lastly is the guidance on extensions provided by the ordinance.
These gu these guidelines raise serious concerns of due process uh which is guaranteed by both the US and New Jersey constitution. The section prohibits the extension of safer guests who are arrested for or formally charged with a felony offense during their stay at a
hotel or motel and expressly states that such a determination shall be based exclusively on police records and shall not require a criminal conviction. In doing so, the ordinance inflicts punishment on individuals absent a conviction and on the whim of law enforcement and other government
officials. As written, the ordinance under consideration by the municipal council is discriminatory in various instances, treating various groups of people differently. Piscataway cannot discriminate against the residents and guest their residents and guests based on their type of dwelling, economic
status, or their interactions with the criminal legal system. The construction of the ordinance along with its enforcement mechanisms opens the door to prejuditial abuses, criminalization, and dehumanization of vulnerable communities. By passing this ordinance, the municipal council will only be
furthering the harm it claims to be addressing. We ask that you pursue policies that prioritize well-being and engage with stakeholders who can provide expertise and proven practices. Thank you for your time and consideration. >> Thank you.
Council president, I just want to say that um you know there has been and and we iterated it before there's been thorough review of this ordinance by multiple council um even for constitutional issues etc. And you know we've made a
recommendation to council on the field enforcement. >> Thank you. >> State your name and address. >> Thank you. I'm Heather Sims. I'm the deputy director of advocacy and peer services at Collaborative Support
Programs of New Jersey, 55 Morris Street, New Brunswick, New Jersey. We serve many residents of Middle Sex County and many families and individuals living in Piscataway. I am here also as someone who has once
lived in a motel with my two children while waiting for a housing voucher after fleeing an abusive relationship. Without that temporary motel placement, I would not be standing here today. I would not have built a 24-year career. I would not be a homeowner. That
short-term stability was not a threat to public safety. It was a bridge to it. Limiting hotel and motel stays does not end homelessness. It only displaces it. When individuals and families are forced out without alternatives, they do not
disappear. They become unsheltered. enter crisis systems or rely more heavily on emergency services at a far greater public cost. We see this every day in Middle Sex County through our outreach and peer support services.
Families, as mentioned before, use motel for many reasons. domestic violence, sudden evictions, house fires, medical emergencies, job loss, waiting for a voucher, transitions after incarceration or institutionalization.
And these are arbitrary deadlines that do not create housing. They create instability. There are already laws in place to address unsafe or criminal behavior. We do not need to criminalize poverty or displacement. The scattered way has an opportunity to lead with
evidence-based costeffective approaches rooted in housing stability, community partnership. I respectfully urge you to remove this ordinance and instead work collaborative collaboratively with housing providers, service systems, and
impacted residents to strengthen real resolutions. Temporary stability saved my family. Please do not take that bridge away from others. Thank you. >> Thank you. Good evening. My name is Eileen O'Donnell. I'm the executive director of
Coming Home of Middle Sex County and our address is 75 Bayard Street in New Brunswick. I apologize, but I do not have prepared remarks, but I just feel compelled to say a few things. I'm a I'm a lawyer by training. I don't practice law right now. As I said, I'm the executive director of Coming Home, and
this ordinance and discuss about it has been milling about in our community of homeless service providers for like the last couple weeks and these are a couple of things that I can't wrap my head around. Okay, so I mean I have one homeless person who came up to me and you know wants to join our people with
lived experience council and she told me about her experience staying at Motel 6 and I said to her so how did you find that? and she said, "Well," her only comment was, "It wasn't posh, but I was so happy to be able to be, you know, off the streets for a while until I found affordable housing." The other thing, so
this, as I said, I'm sort of disjointed, so I apologize for that. The other thing is I don't get the 89day rule, right? That's why I think that people are asking you to remove this from consideration until there's an examination and a study and a conferring with people who are who are working in
the field. If you are and I absolutely a laudable goal to protect the citizens of the scoutway um and and safety and and and and their well-being of course right but how does this 89day rule do that I mean I understand that the marketing of this ordinance is way different than
what the ordinance says and so maybe the public is aware of the marketing and not so much the ordinance but the what does the ordinance do the ordinance does not stop somebody who's had a criminal conviction from and I'm glad it doesn't from staying in a hotel it says if you
want an extension and you've committed a crime while there, you may not get that you won't get that extension. That's very different. So, so what's the 89day rule? You know, maybe the 89day rule is you think that that will stop them from
establishing residency and then eviction rules would have to take place as as with landlord intended. But that's not true. There's no statute in place in New Jersey that that sets a limit of duration in a hotel that make you turn you into a tenant. They It's on a
case-by case basis. There is only case law. The only code is in the tax law. And maybe that's where you got the 89day rule because after 90 days, the motel owner can't charge the room tax to the guest. So maybe that's where the 89day rule is. But I don't I don't know. It
doesn't seem to solve the issue. I mean, maybe on a case-by case basis if somebody is committing lots of crime and disruptions and disorderly conduct and there'll be a way to remove that person from the hotel, you know, and as my colleagues say, with a conviction, not
just an arrest, not just allegations, but this 89day rule is arbitrary because it doesn't do anything. I mean, you could leave the hotel for a day and come back for 89 more consecutive days. This 89day rule makes no sense. And you know my colleagues here also at the at the
network have looked at the CAD the computer assisted dispatch and the calls are so the police department are sick person welfare check there are some disorderly conducts and there are um >> are you 91 yeah I'm almost done and drop
911 calls so you know let's look into that let's look into that maybe the hotel proprietor doesn't know what to do if somebody is sick in the hotel you don't I don't know your solution one last thing because you say you give an appeal to somebody who asked for an extension and didn't get it. But I'm
sorry council the the um the ordinance as written refers you to the appeal section for the for the lensure denial of the hotel owner not of the guest. So there is there is no appeal for the guest. >> Thank you for your comments.
>> Hello. Hi. Uh, my name is Anne Thieling and I serve as the chief operating officer at Collaborative Support Programs of New Jersey, CSPJ, an agency that serves Piscataway residents in our community wellness center, our pure wellness respit house, and via our supported services. We're an agency with
over 40 years experience in supported housing. So, I want to speak briefly from an operational and data perspective about the proposed 89day hotel and motel stay cap. In our state fiscal year 2025, CSPJ served 1,744 unique individuals across the state
seeking supportive housing services. Across our programming, the average length of stay needed to stabilize and transition to permanent housing was 128 days. Some individuals required up to 364 days of support before achieving housing stability. An 89day cap would
end support well before the average individual in our system is able to secure stable housing. The primary drivers of housing instability are not criminal behavior. They are experiencing economic hardship. 42% of the individuals we serve lost income or experienced a reduction in income. 13%
were asked to leave a shared residence. 12% experienced rent increases or had insufficient income to sustain housing. These are financial crises, not public safety threats. Housing stabilization is not a 30-day process, 60-day process, or 90-day process. It requires time to
secure documentation, connect to income supports, locate units in an extremely tight rental market, and complete voucher or tenency processes. When housing is cut off prematurely, individuals do not suddenly become housed. They become unsheltered or cycle into emergency systems like ER
departments, crisis services, and law enforcement, which are far more costly to the community. The data nationally and locally is clear. Housing stability reduces emergency service utilization and improves public safety outcomes. If the goal is safety, we support targeted
property level enforcement and licensing compliance, but a broad 89-day limit would disproportionately impact individuals already working towards stability and would likely increase, not decrease, system strain. We respectfully urge consideration of alternatives that
preserve stability while addressing legitimate safety concerns. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. Good evening, Mayor Waller and members of the town council. My name is Sheila Mazar. I live at 46 Wickley Avenue in Piscataway. And besides speaking for
myself this evening, I'm here as a representative of the League of Women Voters of the Greater New Brunswick area. We do not agree with this ordinance. It is too broad and will harm many of lawfully abiding motel and hotel guests who are trying to get back on
their feet. Besides those facing domestic violence, the leading cause of homelessness in Middle Sex County is due to the loss of a job or a large cut in salary. In addition, Middle Sex County is woefully short of shelters and
resources for those facing homelessness. I'm asking you as caring people to solutions to help people facing a terrible period in their lives to remain housed instead of forcing them back onto the streets or having them shuffle
between motel every 89 days. As others have suggested, I ask you to seriously consider forming a task force which will work with housing experts, state and county officials, and those who provide direct services to the homeless so that
more stable housing can be provided. We understand your need to address the criminal activity occurring in these facilities and your responsibility to protect the safety of all the guests residing there. However, this ordinance,
as written, will not protect the safety of those who are forced to leave due to a limited stay policy. Therefore, we are asking that you take the time and make the effort to rewrite this ordinance so that you are able to remove those who are committing criminal acts or harming
others, but still allow those who are trying to better their situations to remain. Housing the homeless is not a problem that will magically get better. unfortunately is a complex problem that has many components. Two of which will
require increasing the availability of lowincome housing and providing health care for those who have little or no coverage. Lastly, I ask you to use your political influence to encourage Senator Bob Smith and Assemblyman Kevin Egan and
Joe Danielson to work on and pass legislation which will provide more rental assistance and more lower income housing for our entire state. Instead of writing ordinances that will force the homeless who live in Piscataway into other nearby
towns or to move from motel to motel, please step up and be the leaders in our state who show other town administrations the way to find real solutions to the problem and that will treat the homeless with respect and the human dignity they deserve. Thank you
for your time. >> Thank you. Good evening. I'm Stacy Burgerer, PZ Gataway resident at 233 Ellis Parkway, and I'm privileged to serve in my professional capacity as the president and CEO of the Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey. We're
the statewide association of 250 nonprofit community developers, private sector partners, and housing champions working together to make sure that New Jersey is a place everyone can afford to call home. I want to thank our members and partners for being here tonight to say that our community wants housing,
not handcuffs. I've been here a few times to raise significant questions about the legality and efficacy of this ordinance, and I still don't understand why you would choose to undermine best practices laid out by some of the smartest people I know for improving public safety and housing stability.
Instead, you're scapegoating people and misleading our neighbors about what is actually in this ordinance when you have much better choices you could make. The crime update sent by the township on January 30th stated that agencies from other towns and other counties have been placing people at these hotels,
including, and I quote, those being released from incarceration. Is there anything in this ordinance at all that addresses people being released from incarceration? No. No, there is not. I'm curious though why you would mention that specific
constituency without addressing any of their needs or their concerns. It certainly is open to speculation. I'm also wondering about the mayor's interview and video message with officer Capshik in which he says we should know whether people convicted of domestic abuse are moving here. Does this
ordinance do that? Nope. No, it does not. So why do you imply that? Ms. Carmichael and Miss Cahill's response to my email regarding this proposal raised even more questions. They both stated that this ordinance is very similar to those in other towns. And I'm curious if they
looked at East Brunswick, South Brunswick, and Woodbridge. In case you didn't have a chance, let me clarify. East Brunswick is somewhat similar, but I think we all know our mom said just because your friends are jumping off a bridge doesn't mean you should do that, too. So, just because someone else is doing something doesn't make it a good
idea. South Brunswick doesn't seem to have any ordinance that anyone could find at all. So, I'm not sure what you're read. I'm extremely curious about Woodbridge, though, because their ordinance is not a thing like what you all have proposed. In fact, it's the exact opposite, and it's terrific. Kudos
to Woodbridge Mayor John McCormack and the council there for adopting an ordinance that puts responsibility for community safety on hotels and motel through their licensing process. Woodbridge doesn't limit length of stay because it's ineffective and harmful. As you've heard, while guests are given
notice that their registration information might be shared with the police, those interactions are much less significant the way they are described in their ordinance than what you are all proposing. Most importantly, Woodbridge requires hotels, motel, and others to become certified in crime prevention through environmental design, SEPTED,
and to take additional SEPTAD training when there's a problem at their location. Woodbridge has taken a comprehensive, cutting edge approach to this situation. SEPTED and programs like it center proven strategies and collaborative efforts to improve the built environment to strengthen business
and resident connections. And I completely and totally understand that businesses in town need a solution to this. But this ordinance is not it. It will not solve your problem. Our network has been a certified Sept trainer since 2017 and we continue to do that around. Can you please
>> I'm going to I'm going to >> I'm curious whether any of you considered the Woodbridge model as an alternative. Woodbridge has demonstrated that Middle Sex County towns can put people first without regard for how they arrived at their current housing situation. It also shows that good
public policy can be developed when the government and its residents work collaboratively together to address the solution. Everyone here tonight stands ready to work together to do just that because we believe that people need housing and not handcuffs. We hope that
you do, too. Thank you. Anyone else? >> Hi, my name is Dana Gabriel. I am the business owner of Gabriel's Barn Grill. And um my employees were here at the LA first reading. They shared their experiences with you. And I just want to make sure you guys all understand that
nothing was exaggerated. Those are personal experiences. Um, Ben Gabriel's for 29 years. In the past five years, it's changed a lot. Those are the facts. Um, with all due respect to domestic violence and the housing issue, I'm very
compassionate to it. But I can't imagine that housing experts would want to place somebody that has something trauma like that in that hotel. It's not safe there. And it goes into our businesses and we're not So, we were not weird by
coming to the council and asking for help. We've been asking for help for two years. I'm grateful that you guys came up with the first reading of the ordinance. At first, I was like, "Wow, 89 days, that's still a long time for somebody with misbehavior to keep acting
up." But then I understood it. You guys are trying to like work together. I appreciate everything you guys are doing. I appreciate what you guys are saying, but I haven't seen you guys at Gabriel's. I haven't seen you guys when the ambulance are there. I want to know
I'm and I'm sorry. I don't want anybody to think that it's an exaggeration. They're not calling the ambulance for high blood pressure. They're calling for fentanyl overdose. We know the the people that are staying there. They're lovely people. I've met
some people that have actually helped me and my husband. People are trying to break into on our ceiling and the people are like, "We've seen the guy and we can go look at the camera or we're waving to a gentleman that's handicapped that's staying in the in the hotel and we're shocked that he had a fentanyl overdose. We wave to him every day. This is a
gentleman with housing that's being placed there. It's not a safe hotel. We've asked for the owner of the hotel to meet publicly with the police department and with the mayor. He has not showed up. We are the property owners. I'm embarrassed. We're a nuisance to the town. We've gone to
court. We're going to do whatever we can, but we're here asking for help and you've come together and you've come up with an ordinance. Maybe it's not perfect. Maybe they could work on it a little more, but we appreciate what you guys are doing and we I I respect what you guys are saying, but please stop
placing people there. They're not safe there. They are NOT Can Can we please have public order? Public order, please. >> Public order. >> Danielle, thank you very much. Um, most of you know me. My name is Ralph
Johnson. I'm a res >> Excuse me, sir. Would you like to address me? You're addressing the council, sir. >> Okay. >> Please. >> Thank you. No, I I don't tolerate disrespect. >> Please handle it. >> Thank you.
>> As I stated, I'm a former command law enforcement officer, a longtime resident who cares deeply about safety and stability. I'm here tonight to offer perspective that I believe can strengthen the response to the ongoing issue at the Motel 6 and the surrounding corridor. I
want to be clear. I understand understand the desire to take action, but the ordinance as written so far does not even address the underlying issues that were just brought up. So across New Jersey municipalities, they've used evidence-based data strategies, not
relying solely on punitive measures. So the most effective approaches from a police perspective is one data-driven policies in policing. Identify the hot spots, repeat locations, offender patterns. Two, focus deterrence that
target the small number of individuals that are really driving those incidences. Community partnerships and rapid communication build trust around reporting. I hate the fact that you had to wait two years >> to to even get it addressed.
Environmental design and improvement, lighting, surveillance in those areas. All right. uh vegetation movement, code enforcement that doesn't actually violate uh civil rights or any type of statutory cross agency collaboration
working with the county prosecutor, state police, social services, and the local businesses. That's how this drives it. Transparency through reporting and crime trends, long-term preventions with our youth programs and social services partnerships would address these issues.
So, I'm actually glad that this is here and it's kind of confrontational because we're really trying to say the same thing. Mayor, I'm a local business owner. Address my issues. I've waited two years for this and now we have this social services programs. What are your
expertise to help us drive these things and really address the problem? >> Can you speak with us instead of the whole audience, too? >> Well, the reason I'm doing this because it's funny to me, I'm listening to local business establishment. I love I love being a patron to ask for years for help
then all these media social services but I've yet to actually see a discussion amongst council that actually says how do we address this let's talk about that I've never seen discussion about it other than just let's read the ordinance table it not table it yes or no I've
never had a real discussion until I actually heard these concerned citizens here today mention it so if this is the start of it and this is the reason the ask is could we at least look at it again, address it and address the needs from the concerned citizens. So, I hope I can
bring you all together and not that we're divisive. So, >> thank you, Mr. Johnson. >> You're quite welcome. Thank you very much. >> Anyone else? Hi, council. My name's Nancy Cordino, 14 Jefferson Drive. Uh, former board of
education member. Yeah. Hi, Ralph. Um, I'm glad you don't tolerate disrespect. You should put that on a t-shirt. >> Um, but oh, I wasn't on the board of at that time. >> Okay, let's >> I know you like to control the meeting,
but anyway, >> let's state your My point of being a former former board of education member and a resident for 30 years as a board of ed member our primary responsibility was educating our students and keeping
our students and staff safe. Your primary responsibility is keeping our community safe. Thank you. >> Thank you. Anyone else? Seeing none, I'll close the public
portion. Okay, I would like to speak. Sorry. Um, my name is Reena Patel. I'm a social worker and a peer advocate for Middle Sex County. So, first, there's a reason why town council meetings aren't exclusive just to your town. It impacts everyone around you, which is why it's
open to the public. Second, you all keep saying you're not targeting any individuals, and I just want to start by saying you are most definitely targeting certain individuals. You're using labels and stigmatiz stigmatizing terms such as criminals, drug addicts, and homeless when you should be addressing these individuals as returning citizens or
formerally incarcerated individuals who are experiencing a substance use issue or in recovery and individuals who are unhoused because these individuals are people and are more than just a label and their circumstances. They are human and deserve the same dignity and respect as all of us receive. Returning citizens
or formerly incarcerated are the one of the most stigmatized and discriminated against individuals. So to automatically assume that those returning from prison are going to reaffend is stigma. I urge you to look up the reasons for recidivism in which you'll find that the ordinances you are u proposing are the
exact reason why recidivism rates are the way that they are. Whether you like it or not, once an individual has served their time, they have the absolute right to reintegrate back into society and turn their lives around as I've seen so many do. and live happy, healthy lives. And just so you know, you already all
live with the formerly incarcerated in your neighborhood, pay the same taxes as them. You work with them, your children, go to school and college and vocational school with them, go to church with them, and you hold a door open for them when you pass them and when you walk into grocery stores. And the best part about it, you have no idea and you have
no reason to know. No reason to know a person with criminal background or their past for these exact reasons that they are stigmatized and discriminated against. Band the box movement existed for a reason. The people that you need to know, there's already a registry out there for the public. It's called the National Sex Offender Registry. Everyone
else, it's none of your business. The registry you propose in your ordinance for the police to have a list of names of individuals staying at hotel room or motel or provide them to the police on demand is an easy way for you to target people and throw them in jail for no reason, especially people of color, as we have historically seen with racial
profiling. This is not just out in the streets, but a place of shelter instead. Because you can't tell me that a someone won't look at a name like mine and automatically know where that individual come from because I've had it happen to me multiple times. And stop blaming social services and hindering our ability to fight the crisises we are
facing as we work just as hard as our police and face high turnover and burnout rates and are not nearly as recognized for the hard work we do. Work with us, not against us. As I assume your solution when everyone ends up back on the streets again if you pass this ordinance was to conveniently
reintroduce ordinance 3-23.1 unlawful acts which would find and jail individuals using public property to sleep on but you had to take away due to public opposition three months ago. there are more viable solutions to this as an example is Newton Township Police Department in Sussex count Sussex County
which is working with social service agencies and created a homelessness task force to combat issues like homelessness and substance use to ensure people are getting housed and receiving treatment that they need instead of the inhumane way that you are proposing of shoving everyone in jail and continue to get
nowhere as the cycle will just continue. So please work with us and not against us. There's nothing we can't do together. Thank you. Thank you. >> We closed the public portion. >> Oh, didn't she speak in the public portion? >> This is it. Go ahead.
>> Oh, okay. Thank you. I'm going to set my own timer so I know. So, um, my name is Nancy Salgado Cow and I live at 124 Stanton Avenue, Piscatoaway, New Jersey. As the current president of the school board, I just want to mention two things. Number one, we do at the school
board think about safety of course, right? And in that it entitles all the whole part of the person, not just policing, not just the um you know it entails social services and mental
health and every part of the person, the whole. Okay. When you talk about safety, it's not just the drug offender, as you say. It's not just the recovering addict. It's not all of these things. It's every part of the person. You have
to address the mental health portion. What does this ordinance do for those people who are historically needing help, right? You're talking about a domestic violence person. You're talking about the person who just um came out of
jail. What are we doing to help them? Okay, with their mental health, what are we doing? Are we providing any services for them? Are we providing any institutional help? No. Right? So, that's what you need to talk about. That's part of safety because that will help them to get out of those
situations. Okay? No, no ordinance, your ordinance does not address those issues. Okay? Another thing, a task force, a committee. Okay? You have plenty of committees in this town, right? And in the school board, we have committees, too. But I see that you don't really
allow for community members to just be part of that committee. They can attend, but they can't be part of that committee. Whereas the school board, any person can actually be part of the solution. It would be nice if the
community members could be part of and take part and make decisions, help the council with these type of things. Like people have mentioned, a task force would be wonderful. So that everyone here who has certain issues could actually work together to come up with
great solutions because we have lots of really smart individuals that live in this town who have heart for these children, for all of the people in this town, including you guys in the town council. And I know that you guys have a heart to do this work. So you should
also think about making a task force to address these issues before you decide to make some blanket ordinance that's not going to do much to lead to the wellness and the overall safety of this town. And I leave 26 minutes on the clock
>> seconds >> before council president. I just sense the board president. No, no, the public portion. >> We're proposing the public portion. >> I promise to be very brief. >> No, I >> Let's go. >> Okay.
>> One, this is it. This will be it. >> Good evening, Mayor Waller, members of town council. My name is Richard at Mubert and I live at 48 Wagner Avenue in Piscato. First of all, I want to sincerely thank the mayor and the council for the steps taken in this
proposed amendment or ordinance and I hope that it will receive approval today as it did in the first reading. The ordinance may not be perfect, but I think it's a great first step to help deter criminal activity that was well
documented in January 20th meeting. And I think that's what all the business owners and the others that spoke at that time are really concerned about. It's not it's not the people that are homeless. It's not the people that are living in under dire times. It's the
criminal activity that they're concerned about. And what I haven't heard from the council or the township is the plans to be taken to increase police surveillance and the presence in motel 6 area. In a January council meeting, a former
Piscataway police officer spoke and mentioned that Piscataway had a vice narcotics unit at one time, but that was disbanded in 2020. It would seem to me that reconstituting this unit might be a major proactive step as opposed to being
reactive to help address the criminal activity at the hotel and elsewhere. What steps I'd like to know what steps the township or council can take with regards to policing the problem. Finally, does the town have any
financial recourse to the county or the state? This is really a problem because the county and the state are not doing their jobs. Do we have any financial recourse to recoup the cost of the police work and the EMS that we send
there so that the burden doesn't be become one just for the Piscataway taxpayer but something that should be filtered back up to the county and state. Thank you for the time. >> Thank you. >> The public portion is now closed.
>> Council President, just uh in regard to the question what the police doing. I've had numerous conversation as well as the mayor has with our director of public safety on on what we can do. I mean, I think it's been reiterated multiple times that there's been over 700 calls
in just in the past year at that location. That's literally twice a day, twice a day nearly um to the extent that that we've talked to to director of public safety about increasing just regular patrols in the area and they've continued to do that over the past few
months. uh it hasn't resolved the issues which is why you know we're taking additional steps. >> Thank you. >> Can I have an offer? >> I will offer Councilwoman Cahill. >> Can I have a second?
>> Second. Councilman Erin. >> Miss Cedar, can you please call the role? Council member Cahill. >> Yes. >> Council member Carmichael. >> Yes. Council member Espinosa, >> yes. >> Council member Liowitz,
>> no. >> Council member Rashid, >> no. >> Council member Erin, >> yes. >> Council President Lombardi, >> yes. And the ordinance passes on second reading. We'll move to number 10, which are the
consent agenda resolutions. For efficiency, items have been consolidated into a consent agenda to be voted on together, and the materials for these items have been distributed to the council in advance of the meeting. Do I have a motion to accept the consent agenda?
>> Motion, council, >> second, Esposa, >> could you please call the role? Council member Cahill, >> yes. >> Council member Carmichael, >> yes. >> Council member Espinosa, >> yes.
>> Council member Liowitz, >> yes. >> Council member Rasheed, >> yes to all abstate from M. >> Thank you. Council member Erin, >> yes. >> Council President Lombardi, send the
consent agenda passes. We'll now move to number 11, which are announcements and comments from officials. Miss Gabrielle Cahill. Thank you, council president. I want to thank all the residents who came out tonight,
those who um voiced their concerns. I can tell that no amendment is perfect and this council will work together to find improvements, ways to work together. But primarily here we are here today to solve the issue of this high
activity of crime in our town. Um the public safety of even unhoused um that have been placed there which they should not be placed in that Motel 6 as it currently is. That said um as I stated
we will always work together. We do have conversations to the resident who mentioned that that's what the council does. It's conversations that we have with the professionals in town, our lawyers, the mayor, um to continue to
improve. That said, I'm hoping um that everyone will have a happy and safe holiday weekend, a good uh happy Valentine's Day. Um, but I can uh rest assured to those people who are here from Piscataway who are looking for this
council to respond that we do and we will. >> Sharon Carmichael. >> Thank you, Madam President. Um, I just want to uh echo uh what uh Councilwoman K Cahill said. we are are looking at the
safety of our residents and our and u our community. Um and this is not the end all. Uh it's a good step in the right direction, I believe. And and we are not going to start stop working and leave people uh where they should not be. We do care. Thank you. Have a good
weekend. >> Thank you, >> Dennis Espinosa. >> Thank you, Madam Madam President. I I'm looking forward to working with everyone as well. I I echo uh um Council Member Kah Hills. I mean, it's it's the first
step. Um and it's not just selective residents that we take care of. It's all residents that we take care of. So, although this may be the first step, it is a step. So, I'm looking forward to working with everyone. Thank you,
>> Laura Le. First, I want to acknowledge the importance of our proclamation and thank the mayor in support of Black History Month. Uh the valuable contributions and struggles of African-Americans should never be overlooked. We can certainly be proud of our own neighbors, residents,
the veterans, and even some of the Tuskegee airmen that I've met here in Piscatoaway. Secondly, I'd like to remind everyone that registration for a free table at our first autism resource fair um and our sponsorships at 125 are still being
accepted through Saturday, February 14th. The event will consist of a large variety of resources for people with autism across all ages and support needs. We have 25 uh table folks at this time and several sponsors. So, you have
till Saturday to get your name on the t-shirt. There will also be a room of fun engagement with music, crafts, and giveaways. Finally, I reiterate that the safety of our residents and the success of our local businesses is of great importance to me. I truly believe it is
time for us to continue to educate ourselves in the areas of safety, security, and the unhoused for our best outcomes. Um, I also looked at the security and safety training that Woodbridge provides. I think that would be a great step for us. I also feel that
our town of course is a wonderful place for everyone from young professionals to families and seniors. I truly appreciate the open communication and engagement with a wide variety of residents of Piscatoaway as well as experts in the field of housing advocacy and hotel
motel legality including the ACLU. And I would encourage this council to push forward on establishing a task force, educating ourselves, and looking for areas of additional support for the unhoused in
Piscataway and our county. While this ordinance establishes guidelines for accountability and regulation at our local hotels and motel, its creation certainly brought to light the needs of the unhoused in our own town and region. Monarch housing point in time homeless
counts from January in indicate an increase in homelessness in the state and 48 people in Piscataway. This ordinance has now put us in a position to establish relationships with professionals across a variety of fields to truly make a difference in this
arena. Thank you Sarah Rashid. I wanted to thank everyone for coming out um and sharing their concerns and their views. um nobody um should feel unsafe in their place of work and I I
just I cannot imagine um what they go through and definitely action has to be taken. I support licensing hotels and motel and holding anybody involved in any criminal activity fully responsible.
But to believe that we can only protect our residents by creating um you know unsafe and undesirable uh unintended
consequences for vulnerable populations is not okay. Um everybody on this panel is sitting here saying yes this is a great first step but this is a great first step. We could have taken one more meeting and we could have made this even
better. We could have taken all the concerns that were raised today and we could have made this ordinance even better. So, I hope that we will continue to work together and make sure that we keep all our residents safe. Thank you,
>> Frank Eron. >> Yes. I just want to echo the words of Councilman Cahill and Councilman Espinosa. Very well said. Also, as a member of our community outreach board, I would publicly like to thank the Piscato elves for the generous donation
again they gave to our commission. >> Mayor Waller, >> very brief. Just want to notify the council. We got notification from Senator Booker's office that we received a federal grant uh for a new senior citizen bus.
>> Business administrator Paula Kazerelli. >> Thank you, council president. The mayor uh used one of my uh announcements. He is the mayor. He could do that. He was the reason why uh we got that money.
Um, in any event, uh, again, thank you and and for the support of that was Dana Corbin, the mayor's chief of staff, as well as Amy Bowman, our director of office on aging, was also, uh, part of that process. I also would like to say there's a resolution on there for the
local recreation improvement grant. We're going to continue in reducing our carbon footprint by replacing our sodium uh, vapor lights with um, our LEDs at Quibbletown Park. And we'll probably start putting some security cameras as
well on those lighting poles and uh we're going to be doing that. I mean, this this application is for 2026. So, um that won't go into the capital budget until next year, but this year we are working on the LED replacements at
Riverside Park. So, that is in the budget for this year. And uh thank you very much. >> Thank you. Our township attorney, Raj Gumar, >> no comments. Thank you. And that leads me to me.
I want to thank you all for coming out this evening. The dialogue is great and as uh Councilwoman Cahill said, this was a start and we can continue to amend and work on this as we go. But in honor of public safety and to help our businesses
in this town, it was necessary. and we couldn't keep pushing it back and pushing it back and making them wait and making them wait. I'd also like to take a moment to personally thank and to commend on behalf of myself and the council the
Piscatoaway Police Department and our office of emergency management for their remarkable work during this weekend's extremely dangerous temperatures. Because of their preparation, coordination, dedication, the safe and
safety to our residents, we were able to respond swiftly and effectively. I want to highlight a few key actions that happened this weekend. All three of our warming centers were open to the public. Westerard Library, JFK Library, and the
Piscatoaway Community Center. In the evening hours, an overnight shelter was established at the community center so that anyone in need had a safe and warm place to go. At every police shift change, officers proactively rode
through the township, knocking on car doors and personally offering transportation to the commun community center for warmth and shelter. The community center was staffed around the clock by three OEM personnel for the
entire weekend, ensuring continuous support and supervision. Police officers were also present and involved throughout the weekend, further reinforcing our commitment to resident safety. Only one individual accepted shelter,
and he was provided with a warm blanket and food with assistance from a YMCA personnel and the mayor's wife and myself. This weekend, we truly took care of our own. Our community came together and
every department involved showed professionalism, compassion, and dedication. I am extremely proud of the work everyone did and I want to extend my deepest gratitude to all who stepped up during this weather emergency this
weekend. We'll now move which is the agenda session for the upcoming March 12th, 2026 meeting. On that agenda session will be an ordinance second reading vacating all of
the rights, title, and interest of the township of Piscatoaway in the entirety of Roth Place open. It will be open to the public and it will be a resolution adopting. Do we have any questions or concern from council members? Also on that meeting will be a
resolution authorizing award of professional services for tax appeal attorney Venezia and Nolan PC not to exceed 35,000. Do we have any questions or concerns? At this point, we will be open to the
public for any matters for our remote attendees. Are there any remote attendees on the queue? >> Council President, I'm asking the first individual with their hand raised to unmute themselves. >> Please state your name and address and be advised you have three minutes in
which to speak. >> Ryan Rag, 1247 Brookside Road. Again, this is the first I'm hearing that the YMCA was open all night. I just checked on the town Facebook page. I don't see it posted. I just went on the town website and searched for code blue. I don't see it posted there either. So, I
don't know how you expected people to show up to a thing you didn't announce anywhere. That was it. >> Well, I don't think that any of our local homeless have social media nor a television in their car.
>> What tele what? What? A television in their car? I'm sure they have cell phones. >> Yeah. >> Okay.
>> I would just like to that that I council president if I could. You know that might have been taken in a certain way but our police department has patrolled. >> Correct. They know where they were. if if the caller had listened to what you had said, it was at every shift that the
police were around town. >> And unfortunately, many of them do not want to leave where they are. They don't want to leave their car. They don't want to leave their worldly possessions. And one man was brought there and said, "I'm not staying here." It's it's very sad.
Trust me, it's very sad. Okay? But they do not want to leave at times and we cannot physically pull them out of their cars. >> But they did. They know where they are. >> Council President, I'm asking the next individual with their hand raised to
unmute themselves. >> Good evening. This is Jessica, 1247 Brookside Road. I think what my husband was trying to indicate is that there's more ways you can do outreach. And you might have greater success if you use someone other than police officers whose
most people interact with only on very um unfortunate occasions. If you had maybe homeless services or some kind of social work or do that kind of outreach, you would have perhaps greater acceptance because people wouldn't be
afraid of being arrested or uh their items discarded in like a homeless camp clearing, which is what I think a lot of people fear when they have that kind of interaction. So, that's just um something to think about and and I'm
sure that people experiencing homelessness can use the internet to find out what services are available. So if you made them more publicly available like this is the only time I heard about it and I'm very fortunate to not be experiencing homelessness but uh if
people don't know about it maybe I could have told somebody if I saw them over the weekend if I knew that the warming centers were open. So, I think it's just about trying to um get the word out and and maybe use the least confrontational
way to do that would be a more effective method. And I wanted to thank Mr. Goomer if if he listened to my comments. I was highlighting the differences between the ordinance that we were discussing and the East Brunswick ordinance, which I believe does not violate the Fourth
Amendment. So, thank you so much. I hope you have a great evening. Thank you. Council President, there are no other remote individuals with their hand raised. >> Thank you, Mr. Cedar. We'll close the remote attendees. And now for anyone
from the public wishing to speak. Please state your name and address. >> Good evening everyone. My name is Carlos Alama. I'm the president of PBA Local 93 here in Piscatoaway. I represent 84 officers who work with integrity, honor,
and respect. I was there this weekend when I spoke to our homeless population. Uh they're over by I'm not going to say where they're at. Uh I I offered them help. I have great relationship with them. They call me Carlos. I am on a
firstname basis with many of them. I offered them help. Some of them said that they would come. Many did not. It could be out of pride. could be out of many things. They didn't want to leave their belongings, maybe. I'm not sure. Uh the offer was made. Mayor Waller, I want to thank you for uh
opening the YMCA, the town council. Thank you for everything that you do to uh improve the quality of life in town. Uh business administrator Paul as well. Uh thank you guys for for taking the steps to improve the quality of life in town. I've been a law enforcement officer here now for 21 years, and uh
during the last couple of years, I've watched the quality of life kind of go down. Uh I don't know what the cause is. We are lacking uh a proactive unit. I have spoken with Director Stith. We have quarterly meetings and he did state that
uh that will be coming back. So that will be coming back. It's just the the the staffing resources need to we're working on it. We're working on it. Uh I listen to everybody here tonight. I appreciate the dialogue. I appreciate the comments that everyone made. We are
listening. We we we even we're on the Piscataway page. You know, a lot of our residents live in town. Uh a lot of our uh police officers live in town. Sorry. Uh we care. We want to make the the the best possible decisions for the township residents and for the homeless
population. I do want to say homeless people are not criminals. We have a criminal problem in town and I appreciate everything that you guys are doing to try to uh to solve that. So, thank you guys for your time. Thank you. >> Thank you. My name is Gustas Epios.
I live at 58 Curtis. 100 meters of our street is half frozen from 7 and Curtis to seventh and Mansfield
made complaints about this before. My complaint is non-existent. A lot of ordinance violations concerning residents in a township are not taken care of.
I'm a resident in Piscato since 1971. Before our mayor was in gram school, I suffered. I struggle to get this complaint resolved
all these years. property maintenance and you miss Burger have my complaint. Yes, you do in your hand. I gave it to you myself six years ago. Nothing happened.
My complaint is non-existent. There's a lot of ordinance violations in my from 7th and Curtis to seven in Mansville. None of it is being taken care of for
six years I've been coming here. This is an old veteran with a purple heart that got finally established. They have my DD214. They know what I've been through.
Not one of them cares. Just take a look around this lot. What do you see? Thank you. >> Hello, Nancy Salgado Cowen, 124 Stanton Avenue, Piscatoaway, New Jersey. Um, I'm
speaking today in my um personal capacity as a resident, not in my capacity as a school board member. I wanted to bring two um facts up. Number one, I was perusing the um township
council page. I did notice that there are bios up for all of the uh council members except for council member Laura Liowitz and Sarah Rasheed. They've uh been on the council for over a year. It did take over six months for their
pictures to get up. So thankfully their pictures are up and I know that our um council members have provided those bios over a year ago and it was interesting that every other council person has a beautiful bio and um it's unfortunate
that although as a taxpayer you know I pay for you know all of the PR for all of the town council and the two of those town council persons do not enjoy the same PR that everyone else enjoys. I
would like some equity in reference to that PR like when there's photographs of the town council that all town council persons should be included in those photographs. Would you like I think I would be nice for it to be equitable. Um, I would like that when events are
created for all of the town council people like the autism um event that the said town council person who is um hosting it, her name should be associated with it just like when you know other town council persons have their events, their names are associated
with it and even their picture. That would be nice that it would be all equitable for all town council peoples seeing as you know our funds are all being used. I don't think that certain town council persons should be treated differently than other town council
persons. I think that it's just a good idea that since they were all equally elected and that they all should be afforded the same privileges because they were all elected and I give my taxes for all of them and I just think
it's unfortunate that they're being treated differently and I just don't like it. I like when people are all treated equally. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Council KZ if I may. If Miss Algado, can
you please come back up to the mic? Can you come back to the mic? Um, she was here in December. She said that she would uh take a look into right now, I don't know if folks know this or not because the board of ed is going to be doing some construction or displacing three election districts. And right now,
we do not have three election districts are going to have a place to vote because they're going to shut down fellowship farm. Please put a task force together with the county board election. You guys figure that out. We are already working on it. >> Okay. It has to happen. It has to happen over at Fellowship School because
there's no other area right now where that can be accommodated. Okay. >> Thank you. >> We're working on it. >> Clock is ticking. >> Hello. Um my name is Ryan Espinosa. I live one High Point Way. Um, I honestly don't know where to start, but since the board of education is here, I just want
you to let uh to you guys to know I'm not scared of you anymore. I've been in high school for four years. I just graduated this year. I've heard of this um most recent protest for ICE that got shut down by the school. I do um
acknowledge and see the, you know, liability to the issue. However, you gave no second plan to the students and you just shut them down and basically shut them up. You have, excuse me, you have scared people in the high school
for four years. I want to let the board of ed know, nobody likes you. Nobody likes you guys. All the students despise you and they know that you guys are evil trying to shut them up. And what else?
Um, I don't know. I'm I'm the youngest person here in probably this entire room. I see all of you guys look so good for your age, by the way. Thank you. Um um I see a couple of 90year-olds in the
um front. Uh you know, younger in the back, but you know, it's important to keep everybody's ver voice heard, I feel. And um shutting them up won't really do anything. So, please stop shutting your students up. They're better than that. And I do want to thank
you on one thing, though. Thank you for making your students resilient because without you, you know, patronizing them and shutting them up and silencing them, they wouldn't be as resilient resilient and determined as they are today. So, thank you.
>> You you you should save that for a board of ed meeting. Good evening, Curtis Grub, 1750 West Third. Thank the council on passing that ordinance. First of all, thank you. Second of all, I just want to commend
the township and the mayor and you guys on salt and everything you did. Last meeting when I was there, the mayor said he had a problem about getting solved. Sometimes it's not, you know, doing the right thing to, you know, and I was going to offer that
help, but I called my councilman Frank and I found out he got salt on that Saturday cuz I know construction I could have got him some salt, but they would have caught. >> Oh, now we know. >> Oh, yeah. >> You Curtis, we'll be calling you next time.
>> It's not free, though. Thank you. >> Thank you, Curtis. >> I'm now going to close the public portion. This time I will adjourn the meeting and I will end with a quote. Can I have a motion to
>> motion >> second? All those in favor say I. >> I. >> The meeting is now closed. Thank you again everybody for coming and the only thing more powerful than hate is love. Happy Valentine's Day. >> Thank you M Council President.
>> Have a good evening. All