We will now call to order uh the township of Piscatoaway council meeting of June 17, 2025. Adequate notice of this meeting has been provided as required under chapter 231 PL1975 specifying the time, date,
location, login or dialin information and to the extent known the agenda by posting a copy of the notice on the municipal building, municipal court and the two municipal library bulletin boards, municipal website, providing a copy of the official newspapers of of
the township and by filing a copy in the office of the township clerk. In accordance with the certification by clerk which will be entered in the minutes. There will be a public comment periods for both remote and in-person attendees separately. Each member of the public shall only have one opportunity
to speak during the each public portion. As the technology does not allow us to know if there are multiple callers on an individual line phone line or logged in user account. We ask that you if you wish to speak that you log in or dial in
separately so that way we can recognize you as a separate individual. Should you have any further comments or questions, the township council is always available by email and phone and you can always call the mayor's office during normal operating hours.
May I have a roll call, please? Council member Cahill. Council member Carmichael present. Council member Liowitz here. Council member Lombardi here. Council member Rashid here. Council member Erin here.
Council President Espinosa here. Please join me in saluting the flag. Open to the public comments regarding item number eight. I'm sorry. Um are any comments uh from administration and council regarding adjourment of any
matters of this agenda? None. I see none. Thank you. Wait, I have a question. I'm sorry, Council Member Leeutz. Hello. I wanted to take um item I off the consent agenda.
Absolutely not, Council President. That's the ammunition for the fire department, the police department. I just had a question about it since this is my first time on the council. So, I was just curious, is this a one-time? Is this kind of standard? I know we're
actively recruiting new um police, which is great. So, I'm just looking for a little history and just that's all the history. The the history is pretty simple. Every year, we purchase ammunition because in order to attain their accreditation, they have to go to the firing range to fire by to get
certified by the state. Perfect. Thank you for the background on that. I appreciate it. Yeah. Yeah. And mayor also ammunition expires also, so they have to replace the ammunition. Thank you. Anyone else? Appreciate that. We're Are we leaving this on? Yes. Okay.
I wasn't asking to take it off. I was taking it out of consent to discuss it. That's all. I just wanted some background and thank you for the background. in the future if the council president can call the administrator, maybe she'll get the answers up front
and or read the packets that that are in your things. I understand. But did you know there are other people in the town that might be interested as well, but thank you for that. Okay, thank you. Open to the public comments regarding item number eight, consent agenda items.
Opening to the remote attendees. If you wish to speak at this time, please raise your hand or either on the Zoom app or by phone by pressing star 9. When it's your turn to speak, you will receive or or hear a request to unmute yourself. Please click the prompt or press star six on your phone to unmute yourself. At
the 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. Miss Cedar, do we have anybody in queue?
Council President, there are no remote attendees with their hand raised regarding this agenda item. Thank you. Closing to the remote attendees. Opening up to the inerson attendees. If you wish to speak at this time, please come to the podium, state your name and address, and know that you have three minutes in which to make your comments. You may
take a seat after completion of your comments or questions, and the council or administration will then respond if necessary. David Akens and Bro Valley Lane. Good evening,
council. Good evening. Under item uh under the consent agenda, item eight for Fox. The extension is always good to have, but is it an extension? because you
anticipate there's going to be an increase in the property taxes. Uh David, unfortunately, because of the board of education, yes, there's going to be a massive increase. Um and the extension right now is just in case because we're
waiting for county to do the final numbers so the bills can go out. But I want people in this town to brace for that impact. Uh I know I told uh Councilman Espinosa his taxes are going to be going through the roof. Frank Erns is going through the roof. Sharon, yours is going through the roof. Uh
Gabrielle's is going through the roof. I don't announce it's shameful what they did at the board of education. Well, what I'm going to ask too, does what can the township or the residents do because it sounds like you don't have much, David? What they need to do is
start showing up at the board of ed meetings. Uh bottom line is they're sitting on over $36 million worth of capital improvement funds. They they have more than enough money to cover teacher salaries, uh other expenses and everything and to make sure that the kids get their education that they
should get. And what they're doing is I believe I think they're hoarding money right now and they're not being upfront with the residents on why they're hoarding the money. What can be done other than what you just mentioned? I tell you, when the tax bills go out, there's going to be a lot of people with
pitchforks going around this town and they're going to be coming to this council meeting because they're going to be very upset. Okay. I want to make sure that we don't get the blame for what they did. Is there anything more that the township can do to
The answer is no, David. So, in other words, the There's nobody telling them no. So what what you're saying directly is the township but where does it stop? That's a good question.
I mean is the township and the residents being held hostage? Well in this case I believe they are. That was my question. So, you got me started. Well, I just Thank you, David. I just wanted to know what because
that's what it sounds like. Here's part of the problem, David, is that listen, I'm not going to fault any government agency, whether the county, the school district like that for going by. But you have rising costs for homeowners uh
electrical bills going this summer. You have people with their car insurance going up, with their insurance for their homes like that going up. The last thing they need to do is other government entities just getting totally out of control. I mean, I I just
I saw the numbers. They could have easily halfed that increase by far easily. All right, that's that's all I had. Thank I see no one closing in in person. I have a motion, please.
Sorry about that. Here we go. Ordinance. Second reading amending chapter 2 administration section 18 division of police open to the public. Open to the public. Resolution adopting ordinance. Be a 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 2 administration section 18, Division of Police, was introduced on the 5th day of June, 2025, and had passed the first
reading. that was published on the 6th day of June 2025. Now therefore, be it resolved that the efforts at ordinance having had a second reading on June 17th, 2025 be adopted passed and after passage be published together with a notice of the date of passage or approval in the official newspaper. Be
it further resolved that this ordinance shall be assign number 2025-16. I have a motion. Sorry. opening for the uh portion for the remote attendees. If you wish to speak at this time, please raise your hand either by on the Zoom app or by phone by
pressing star9. When it's 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 the time at that time, please state your name and address and know that you will have three minutes in which to make your
comments. The council or administration will respond if necessary after you completed any comments or questions. See, do we have anybody in queue? Council president, there are no remote attendees with their hand raised regarding this agenda item. Thank you, Miss Cedar. Opening up closing to the
remote attendees, opening to the inerson attendees. If you wish to speak at this time, please come to the podium, state your name and address or and know that you have three minutes in which to make your comments. You may take a seat at the completion of your comments or questions and the council or administration would then respond if
necessary. Please state your name and address please. Costas 58 Curtis. My issue is property maintenance. Is this uh regarding the uh division of
police across the street from your beautiful cathedral at Lake View Avenue? Sorry, sir. Are you Are you mentioning item number seven? No, we're at the bottom. This is the second reading for ordinance
number seven. I'm sorry. There'll be another public portion. I see no one else at the podium. May I have a motion, please? Councilwoman Lombardi. Second. Councilman Aron, make
your roll call, please. Council member Carmichael. Yes. Council member Lieowitz. Yes. Council member Lombardi. Yes. Council member Rasheed. Yes. Council member Erin, yes. Council President
Espinosa, yes. Item number eight, consent agenda resolution 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 for the consent agenda? Motion. Councilwoman Lombardi. Can I have a second, please? Second, Councilman Owen.
Thank you, Ro. Council member Carmichael, yes. Council member Liowitz, yes. Council member Lombardi, yes. Council member Rasheed, yes. Council member Erin, yes. Council President
Espinosa, yes. Item number nine, announcements and comments from officials. Council member Sharon Carmichael. I would just like to just thank everyone who uh came out yesterday to the uh
Junth flag raising uh and who acknowledged uh the celebration and the mayor was there. he spoke and uh um council president was there as well as as well as as well as a lot of other people. So, I just thank you for your
support and I'm just uh proud to be in a town that allows different cultures and religions and races to celebrate their particular holidays and respect them and show up. Thank you.
Thank you, Council Member Carmichael. Council member Laura Lee Woods. Hello everybody. Um I just had a few comments. First of all, I wanted to officially welcome, congratulate and say thank you
um to Paula on her official appointment. She's already proven herself to be very responsive and professional and I know she's going to serve our township well. Um secondly, I was very proud to be a part of our township a Memorial Day
parade. Um it was fantastic to really just see so many people from the town out celebrating and honoring um our those we've lost to um serving our country and the American Legion did a
great job. Um, another point I wanted to make is that I was out of the country on a trip to India and I know we have many residents in our town from India and I was truly able to appreciate and learn
so much about the culture. Um, and it was a wonderful trip and I'm very proud of our residents. Um, the street fair, thank you to the committee that works so hard. We can't arrange the weather, but it was really well organized and there
were a lot of great booths. Um, I was very happy that we once again were able to host a free speech event on the No Kings rally on Saturday afternoon. Piscataway residents as well as
residents from throughout the region um came to our town to speak out against the anti-democratic policies that are being uh put forth out of Washington and I was very proud to be there. I know many of our council members were there
and many of our PDO committee members were there and good for us and good for them. Um, I certainly echo Miss Carmichael's remarks about Junth and honoring Pride in the month of June. We are a wonderfully diverse town. We
certainly are very proud of that and we refer represent ourselves well there. So, thank you. Thank you, Council Member Council Member Michelle Lombardi. Well, she probably said most of what I was going to say, but I would love to um
thank the public relations advisory commission along with all of the emergency services personnel that was out there on Saturday at our street fair. Again, you cannot help the weather, but I will tell you it was uh
very well organized and people were showing up, but we couldn't do anything with the weather. So, thank you to Lgina and her crew over at the public relations and everybody else who helped to make that uh day possible. Thank you.
Thank member. Council member Rash. Hello everyone. I'm going to keep it very short and simple. Welcome Paula. So excited to have you on the team. Um I am excited for summer. Summer is about to start. Schools are closing. So looking forward to that. everyone wishing
everyone a safe and enjoyable summer. Um there's a lot of stuff to talk about um the mayor brought up, but we will discuss those things later. Um a lot of yikes if there are property taxes going up, but we will be discussing that more. Thank you. Thank you, council member.
Council member Ern. Yes. I just want to say we had our T-ball trophy presentation yesterday. We handed out over 170 trophies. Great job, Frank. Thank Council uh Council Member Ern Waller. Uh thank you, Council President.
I want to congratulate both uh Lieutenant Smith and Lieutenant Capture to being promoted to captain uh to run in the uh department, help uh Keith Stiff, run the police department. Uh welldeserved promotions. Uh also, we have the Fourth of July celebration
coming up. Uh OEM's working very closely with all the responsible parties to put that on. Uh we also I want to thank Regina and her team uh with the other volunteers at the public relations all the work that they did. And last but not least, I want to congratulate the uh
tomorrow's graduation for the Skyway High graduates. I want to congratulate them there. We'll have that out on the sign boards. Uh I know I know normally around 11 o'clock in the morning they do their um uh their balloon fest out on Green Acres where they throw water
balloons all over the place. So hopefully they'll keep up with the tradition and public works will street sweep that afterwards. And then uh I believe this is going to be the first time in 33 years I'm going to miss the graduation because there was a we had a extended relative that passed away in
our family. So we had to tend to something. So but I want to congratulate the uh the grads there. Thank you, Mayor Business Administrator Paulo Cas Casarelli. Thank you. You got it.
Council President, thank you so much. First, I'd like to thank Council members Leaitz and Rasheed for your kind words. And I would also like to extend a big thank you to Mayor Waller for believing in me and trusting in me to hold this position uh and then advancing his
belief in me to all of you and for all of you voting me in as the next business administrator for Piscataway. This position means a lot to me. Um, I truly believe that I uh our 63 res 63,000 residents don't have a seat at the
table, but I do and I will make a commitment to always be there for the residents of Piscataway and to carry out and execute the vision that the mayor and the council has for our township and I'm looking forward to working with all of you making Piscataway even better.
Um, so thank you so much for that. And I just want to say that I just received confirmation from the uh disaster mitigation uh department at the DCA that the township will be receiving $1 million. Thank you to Mayor Waller in
working with our legislative leaders to uh getting uh a million dollars through the Corona virus state fiscal recovery fund. And this money is being used to offset the cost of our new 911 dispatch center. So a big thank you. And there's
more grant monies in the uh line to yet to come. So that's excellent news for us. We welcome you and look forward to working with you. Welcome. Great news. Thank you. Um, attorney um, Goomer, just
wanted to welcome Paula, even though we've been working well together already, so I'm looking forward to continuing working with you and getting stuff done. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Um, I just want to say that uh, this
past weekend for the street fair, a lot of residents came out despite the weather. Uh as we said uh before um it just shows that everyone's you know despite the weather they came out they were interested in in uh um in uh uh
attending community affairs. So that's that's great. It was great to see our neighbors there, our community and our residents there. Um I will also like to congratulate the students of class of 2025. Uh I'm the proud father of a uh a
um a graduate of high of Piscatoaway High School. So very eager to attend that tomorrow. So you know again I've always I'm always an advocate of safe driving out there. So please be careful. There's going to be a lot of traffic around Ruckers uh where where the gradu
uh the graduation's going to be and so just be please be careful. I also want to give a personal shout out to my soccer team from the Piscatoi soccer club. Uh my team uh and my assistant coach uh Yavanni. Um we have won the
championship for uh suburbanly uh Sicil uh first place. So I want to give a personal shout out to them. So thank you very much team. You did an awesome job this season. Uh grateful for being there. It was my last game. So we'll see what happens next year. Um so thank you
very much. Congratulations to your family, your son, and your team. Thank you. Okay. Announce, I'm sorry. Agenda session for July 1st, 2025. Ordinance, second reading, amending
chapter 7, traffic section 26, chapter 31, streets and sidewalk section 1.12. Open to the public resolution adopting ordinance. Ordinance second reading adopt adoption of redevelopment plan for block 5701
lots 11 and 12700 South Washington Avenue open to the public resolution adopting ordinance just for by way of knowledge council president everybody that's that's the age restricted housing sorry what was that mayor ordinance first reading amending various
chapters of the revised general ordinance of the township of Piscatoaway resolution adopted owners. Any questions on that one? Council, this is um we're still working on it um with the DPW. This is mainly storm water regulation changes um that have been uh asked by
the D for us to implement. Said every town in the state has to do this. Thank you. Resolution appointing uh Paula Casarelli as township representative and commissioner of Central Jersey Joint Insurance Fund.
Resolution designation of agent of township for filing applications with state D for flood hazard area permit authorizations. Any questions on that one? Resolution designation of agent of township for filing applications with
freehold soil conservation district. Resolution designation of agent of township for filing applications for with state D for extension of sanitary sewers. Questions on that one?
Resolution appointment of Paula Casarelli to library board of trustees. Resolution appointment of Paula Casserelli as public agency compliance officer. Resolution appointment of Paula Paula Casarelli to Senior Citizens Housing
Board of Trustees. Resolution designation of signatures of signing checks. Next resolution authorizing installation of operation of temporary traffic signal of at the driveway of 1690 South
Washington Avenue. So uh one is the county is going to build a trap fully signalized intersection out there by where the echological park is going. So they're going to they want to install a temporary light out there, but they're
going to build a fullblown light out there. that a temporary going to perm potentially. Um the the developer there was meant to run their traffic through Knox Drive, but it's private. I think the county is condemning that that
driveway to make a public road. Um so they're working on those details, but meanwhile there's going to be a temporary intersection there. Any further questions on that? Okay. Uh, next motion accept council meeting minutes May 6, 2025. Okay. We would now open this to the to
the public. For remote attendees, if you wish to speak at this time, please raise your hand either on Zoom app or by phone by pressing star 9. When it's 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. Miss, do we have anybody in queue? Council President, there are no remote
attendees with their hand raised regarding this agenda item. Thank you, Miss Closing to the remote attendees. Opening to the inerson attendees. If you wish to speak at this time, please come to the podium. State your name and address and know that you have three minutes in which to make your comments.
You may take a seat after completion of your comments or questions and the council or administration will then respond if necessary. Please state your name and address please. Costas 58 Curtis Pisc New Jersey.
My issue is property maintenance and negligence. Each one of you district leaders do not know what's going on in your district. Not any issues with blind spots and
intersections, dead trees, potholes, so on. You don't know anything about it, junkyard homes. And so
across the street from your cathedral, your beautiful cathedral on Lake View Avenue, is a for sale sign on that piece of property. Jump on it, mayor. Now is your chance. Maybe you can get a good deal
out. Strip it. Make it virgin. Plant a few trees. I would love to see that. It is an ugly saw. It's been like that for years. So on
on Curtis and Mansfield, there's a tree that's leaning on a power line pole. Big cavity there. It's ready to fall.
You don't see it. Negligence is also work ethics. Any kind of work ethic that whatever is going on in your district, any kind of construction, you
must oversee it. All of you make sure the job is done right. They skip a lot of steps. I don't have to go very far. Right in front of this building going into the courthouse, there's concrete two lines that are
decomposing. It's a trip edge. There's a tree right there is being tied up with a steel strap that's been like that for years. The cherry trees along the street are a mess.
The parking lot is a mess. You don't see it. Thank you. Can Can I respond? I I'll respond. I I can I can say right now for the residents that I I personally and I'm pretty sure that the
rest of the council members always remind our residents to tell us to call the office if they see anything that's that is broken that needs fixing from roads to trees uh to everything in the pavement. We ask the residents to call
in the office to let us know. We are not around 247 and we would like to hear from you, but if there's a complaint and there's no official notice to us or official call in, then we're not going to know what the issue is and we cannot
attend to it. So, please call the office, let us know, and we'll go and investigate what the issue is. else have any comments? I just 99% of what that gentleman just said is incorrect and it doesn't exist the problem. I agree, mayor. I just don't
want want to interrupt him, but I agree 100%. Again, I encourage the residents to call into the office to let us know. We're not there 24/7. There may be trees that maybe I had residents tell me that there are trees covering stop signs. I had the DPW go out and they immediately
took care of that. So, you know, your your response or your inquiry will be welcomed when you call the office and let us know of these situations. Thank you. Hey Curtis, good evening. Uh yes, Curtis
Grub, 1750 West. Mayor, my condolence for the family, sir. Curtis while you're there. We just uh tonight council just awarded uh appraisal services for uh professional
services for roadway improvements on Hazlewood. Do the acquisition of the temporary construction ements out there. So, we're getting there. So, Curtis, uh once we get the appraisal back, which they usually turn it around in a few few weeks, um then then you'll be getting
letters from my office. So all the residents began getting letters from my office regarding the acquisition of those easements. Thank you. The commitment was your neighbors. I got you. And you're going to move it along. So if you want to get the road reconstructed next year, you
got we need a little help out. I will do my part. Um just wanted to find out a couple things. Um who and when sprays for the mosquitoes that is county mosquito control commission. Um
when it's raining hopefully within the next couple of weeks they they'll be out spraying and we always put notices out on our township Facebook when we get noticed by them. Um a couple of my neighbors on Hazerwood
told me that this their sanitary is running slow. I know a couple years ago I called mine is so we need to know if that's done not the storm sanitary we have uh we have the sewer division go out and take a look at that.
Are you saying out on west third? Yeah the one well they usually clean the one on west third and haz take a look at it this week. Okay. And we need to do I know we're going to get to the road, but we need to fix
Hazelwood so we can stop slowing speeding down some kind of radar or something because I know once this road gets done, we won't really have a problem. So with that, Mr. Frank.
Um, please tell your wife, my friend. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Grubs. I just want to highlight that this is the way you actually come to the council meeting and
tell us exactly what's going on around the neighborhood. And as the mayor responded, he would have somebody check uh this situation out and this is what we do if you know I just want to reflect that. Thank you Mr. RS.
I see no one else at the podium. Motion to adjurnn. Motion Councilwoman Lombardi. Second Laura Lee Woods. Thank you.
All in favor? I I post I turn. Thank you. Have a good evening everyone.