President Marson >> here. >> Adequate notice of this meeting was provided to the daily record in the official newspapers for the township of Rockaway. Notice was posted on the official bulletin boards of Rockaway Township, the township website, and notice was filed in the office of the township clerk.
Approval of the minutes for the July 8th township council regular meeting. Can I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Clerk, please take the role. >> Councilman, >> yes. >> Councilman Sacket, >> yes. Councilman Quinn, >> yes.
>> Councilman Brooks, >> yes. >> Councilwoman N. >> Yes. >> Councilman Salbert, >> abstain. >> Council, >> abstain. >> Council President Morrison. >> Yes. That is six yeses, two abstensions.
Motion passes. Uh, okay. Before we get into the business of the meeting, I'd like to uh turn the floor over to the mayor. I'm sorry, >> Council President. >> I'm sorry. Real quick, after the mayor is done, um, we're going to take a five
minute recess so everybody can take some pictures. Go ahead. I think we should make a mistake for the whole meeting. >> We have cookies. >> Um, you would hope. It's always great to be able to honor um when the youth in our community um have a big accomplishment. Tonight we're going to
honor a group of young men uh that are backto back division seven um little league champion. So if I get all the boys come up here, come on up. Right. Before I read the proclamation, all right, I want you say your name and your
favorite. Jameson Connell Aaron Judge JJ Morgan Aaron Judy Evangelist Aaron Judge Drew Weer Moody and I guess Aaron Judge
Safio Aaron Juden Aaron Jud Rosen Aaron Judge Lucas Aaron Judge Salatthew Palano Kri Jr. Michael is not here tonight. We got no
Met fans. This would be great if he was here tonight. We give him a hard time. So, um >> great accomplishment um winning back-to-back um division titles. So, they uh this this district wins over Danville, Randolph.
>> I like that. um Chester Menum, Roxberry twice and in pool play um um once in in uh pool play and once in the championship. So during their state tournament run, the dynamic team beat the number one team in the state just me
missing out on going to the finals uh semi-finals by one run. So incredible accomplishment guys. And uh now thereby I Joe Jackson, mayor of Township of Rockway, do hereby recognize the great accomplishments of these back-to-back District 7 champs and commend the
Rockway Township 11U all-star baseball team and their coaches Joe Morgan, Brad Weiss, Bill Weir, Dave D. Roza, and Tully Evangelist for their fine efforts and extend to them a token of my admiration. Thanks guys.
Congratulations. Closer, guys. >> Everyone look here. >> All right. Congratulations. >> We're going to take a short break if anybody wants to come up and take a picture with the team. >> Yes.
>> Parents. >> Of course it's not. Good job, guys. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Excellent. >> Beautiful. Yeah, absolutely. >> Thank you guys. >> Thanks.
>> Excellent job, guys. >> Good job. All right. Thank you. >> Congratulations. Congrats, man. >> Congratulations. >> Congratulations. Good job. >> Excellent. >> Congratulations. >> Great job. Great job, man. >> Congratulations.
>> Good job, Moody. >> Great job. >> Great. We better >> Hey coaches, we expect the kids to sit down through the rest of the meeting. >> Pay attention. >> Take notes.
>> All right. council meeting in daycare. >> I'll go to pick them up in an hour. Shut the doors. Okay. Uh, Yogender, are you is he good? All right. All right, I wanted to give Yugendra Gupa uh a couple minutes to uh
speak on uh Raa Bandan. Did I say that right? >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> So thank you Howard and the entire township council uh for giving me the opportunity. So today we are here uh as part of the Hindu community uh living in
the Dhaka township. So one of the festival it's not a religious festival it's a social festival that as a Hindu community we celebrate it's called the rasha bandhan which literally means the bond of protection.
So ra means protection and the bundan means a bondage a bond of protection. So uh uh the festival symbolizes and that we all tie this uh thread on our hand to
each other and reminding that we are bound by the dharma. It means we are bound by the law. We are bound by the rules. And one saying that comes into the our scriptures says
means whoever protects the rules or the law and rule protects them. So this thread we tie to each other and we remind and tell to them that you protect me, I protect you and together
we will protect the law and the society community. So we this is the celebration that we do in our community but we have extended that celebration more than that to appreciate all our civic officials
and the first responders because they are the one who are protecting the community. So as a community we are reaching out to all the civilians and civic officials and the first responders and tying this thread of the protection a thread of the bonding with each other.
So that as a community when we talk about the vasuv that entire world is one family as part of that one family we are celebrating together and protecting each other. So on this occasion uh at the end of the meeting we will all have the
thread we will tie to everyone and we'll have some sweets also but we I like to appreciate all the work that civic officials and our responders are doing for the community and this is our gratitude and the appreciation for the
community. I like some young person also they want to speak uh on this occasion. >> Sure. Good evening. As Yoginda G said, we're here to today to celebrate Raksha, which is a festival that symbolizes the bond
of protection and mutual respect. In our tradition, tying Iraqi is a pledge to safeguard one another and uphold shared services like harmony, service, and unity. By tying Rockies at the township office, we hope to honor the vital role
our civic leaders play in protecting and nurturing the community. And we extend our gratitude and solidarity as fellow citizens committed committed to the well-being of all. >> All right. Uh so again there's an invitation to stay after the meeting um
which we thank you for that. Okay. Uh ordinance for introduction 02513 an ordinance amending chapter 5 general licensing article 5-5 peddlers canvasers solicitors and mobile food vendors specifically section 5-5.1
definitions of the revised general ordinances of the township of Rockaway. Can I have a motion? So moved. >> Second. >> Cler, please take the role. >> Councilman Freellander, >> yes. >> Councilman Zack, >> yes.
>> Councilman Quinn, >> yes. >> Councilman Brooks, >> yes. >> Councilwoman Non, >> yes. >> Councilman Salber, >> yes. >> Councilmanage, >> yes. >> Council President Larson, >> yes. That's eight. Yes. Motion passes.
uh consent agenda items R25-142 through and including R25-164. >> Can I have a motion? >> So move second. >> Cler, please take the role. >> Councilman Frelander, >> yes. >> Councilman Sacket,
>> yes. >> Councilman Quinn, >> yes. >> Councilman Brooks, >> yes. >> Counciloman, >> yes. Councilman Salber, >> yes. >> Councilman Boyovich, >> yes. >> Council President Marson, >> yes. That's eight yeses. Motion passes.
Uh I'm going to move up agenda item nine. Um uh fire department uh appointments. So Kevin Wells to fire company 4 for full membership and Nathan Power, fire company one for a junior membership. Can I have a motion? >> Second.
>> Clerk, please sign. >> Councilman Freellander. >> Yes. Councilman second. Yes. >> Councilman Quinn. >> Yes. >> Councilman Brooks. >> Yes. >> Counciloman. >> Yes. >> Councilman Sel.
>> Yes. >> Councilmanovich. >> Yes. >> Council President Marson. >> Yes. >> Yes. As's motion passes. Congratulations. >> Moving on to the open to the public portion. Uh, as a reminder, I will call your name. Please come up to the
microphone, state your name and address for the record. You will have three minutes uh to speak and at no point um will not be engaging in discussions with individual council members or administration.
Dom Castro Castro, 9 Lux Road Rockway. I got two things I wanted to bring up. I wanted to ask the council if you could consider Lennox Road in the Fleetwood section. The road is is starting to crack a lot. It's getting pet piece by patches. Every
street around us. It's not a big stretch from Fleetwood just forget the street that close to the top. But if you consider that in the budget, maybe we get that fixed. And the second thing I'd like to ask is the U.
How what were we doing with the bunch of ball courts in uh in Peterson Field? Are we making progress on it? >> Uh so two things. One um as far as the street, Mr. Nath is not here, but I will follow up with him and and I'll get you an answer on that if there's one
available. Um and then the second as far as the botchi um >> yeah we're we're in the process of finalizing the design to get the uh architectural drawings and all those things so we can go out today. So, we're
making progress and thank you all for >> Thanks. >> Thank you, >> Pat. Pat 88 value drive. I'm here to invite everyone um I guess for about 16 years
now I've been hosting a political candidates night for the community and it's open to all Rockaway Township residents. Um actually it's open to all residents because we try to get both the um candidates for our town but also the
uh state candidates to come. It's going to be Monday, October the 20th at 8:00 p.m. at the White Middle Clubhouse. And if you could possibly uh put that on your website or so that everybody knows that um this is open to the public.
>> Thank you. Yes, >> we're not on Manning time. >> Um, >> is there anybody from the public that did not fill out this uh the sheet that wishes to speak? Okay. Uh, we are going to move on to
reports and we will start with Councilman Freeland. >> Okay. It's a quick one because it's the beginning of the month. Library programs have been going great. Uh if you go into the library and you go downstairs and up, you'll see a completed mural by an
artist, a local artist that just came out fantastic and he's going to do another one in the upstairs library. Uh historical uh society uh met uh uh we had our open house uh a soft opening for
a couple week couple days uh because now we're closed. We're going to be starting uh another phase of the grant to clean up the the downstairs and administration. We got a push push to get it uh done so we can go to the
second uh phase. And uh just want to thank administration Lisa and DPW for getting back to me on some questions with up north streets and in White Metal Lake. some answers. Uh they understood
uh the timing, but at least uh we gave them answers, so they were appreciative. And thank you, >> Councilman Brooks. >> Thank you, Council President. Um number one, I just wanted to thank administration. I know it took a year,
but thank you for at least getting all the lights on Mount Hope Avenue changed out because they were out for a while. Uh so, thank you for that. Got some um else in reference to that from some of my constituents. Uh secondly, um I know we spoke about it
last year and I know Halloween's coming up and I'd love to speak with the chief uh again uh to consider Circle Drive for the Halloween event to be one way and maybe we could sit down and figure that out. maybe one way in on circle and then exiting off so everyone could park the
same way because last year there was an issue um with the police officers trying to get in there and it being very congested. So if we can work that out, I know the uh the residents within Midway Court and Circle Drive would really appreciate that. So that is it.
>> Councilwoman, >> uh yes, I just wanted to thank we had another successful national night out. It was great. I was glad to the kines there this year. Um, so that was a success. I had a good time at that. Um,
the other thing that I have, I'm glad that Richard Street is done and paved. I drove by there. It looks nice. Um, and the other two things I think I don't know if you can answer, Lisa, but um, do we have any updates on any plans for
lane >> or is that for Allison? >> I'll check on that. I will list all the roads that you know, we're paved this year. I don't have the list upcoming for 2026, but I'll get >> Well, not for paving for the they want to make it either a oneway for the
traffic. >> Allison's not here. And then the other thing is is do you have anything on helmet updates? Any updates on how the project that's going to go on there? >> I have an update, but
I'm sure That's it. >> Councilman Quint. >> Yes. Thank you. Uh the ordinance committee, we've been working on a couple things. So the
ebikes that everybody sees the adults and kids riding. Um, we're coming up with an ordinance dealing with that with helmets, insurance, and uh, these people have to learn that they have to obey by the law
and and traffic law. If a kid hits a car on a bike and dents a car, they're going to be held responsible for it. And so, we're coming up with an ordinance. The state has started to work it. we're
ahead of them right now and I hope to have that on the next agenda to get that out. All right, so there's that one and then also the property maintenance or ordinance. Uh I understand we just have to do some
resolutions to upgrade that which I want to see on the next agenda also. So those are the two main ordinances that we're going to be pushing forward. at the next meeting. The football and uh
cheerleading has been going. Football is five nights a week. A cheerleading is four nights a week and they're getting ready to start scrimmages. This Saturday is a scrimmage. So, yeah, it's it's that
time of year. So, I have grandkids and both, so we're busy busy. All right. So, the weather's been hot and crazy. So, make sure everybody hydrates. Check on your neighbors, especially your senior neighbors to make
sure that they're all right. And other than that, uh, everybody stay healthy, stay well. Thank you, >> Councilman. Second. >> Thank you, Council President. Uh, since it's summertime, uh, since our
last meeting, we had the festival weekend and parade. I was happy to be able to march in it and speak with all the residents and just a great weekend by White Middle Lake as always with the fireworks and everything. So, great job to the team there. Um, National Night Out, you know, definitely super improved
from last year was great. Great job to everyone involved with that. Um, I went down there with, you know, my mom and my wife and my kids and just a great great job. Everyone is doing great. I stopped by the Rock White Burough one after that to do a little compare and contrast. So, um,
you know, there's just, you know, they have no parking over there. We get some nice parking and uh but it's good everyone working hard there. So, kudos to them as well. Um we uh myself and Councilman Freedellander stopped by last Wednesday,
the ribe eyes with the rabbis of Kabad and Rockway. They had over 90 residents there. So, very good event. Um I saw an officer walking around there, so that was good. Hopefully, he got some rib eyes while I was there. But uh great event put on by the Kabad and Rockway last Wednesday. We have the pep rally
coming up talking about football and cheer. My daughter is varsity cheer. So we have the pep rally on the 29th Peterson Field I think to be determined the time. also um reached out to administration on some paving that was
going on at Senica and thank you for getting back to me so quickly to uh you know some questions by a few of the residents and also um spoke to administration about Willow Park as well and some stuff that's going to be going on over there in uh over there in the fourth ward. So, thank you for your
help, >> Councilman Sber. >> Thank you, Council President. All right. First, our county commissioners uh had a substance abuse prevention grant of $50,000. Res um resolution 2025-598.
We got 2,000, so we'll take it. Uh the Mars County Historic Pre preservation Trust um awarded 2.63 million in total to towns across Mars County. The Hiburnia Library Project was awarded uh 13,760 for preservation. So, that'll certainly
help. Um, I did want to discuss uh actually a bill which recently went through uh the assembly. Uh, the reason I bring it up is since I'm your representative for our zone in the open space trust fund. Um, assembly bill A5649, which did pass the assembly and is going
to the uh the Senate, is opening up open space trust fund monies for sinkhole um repairs and basically road damage repairs. Um, not quite sure if this was in the the breadth of what we all originally voted for to approve the open
space trust fund. So, I do have calls in to Senator Buco, but kind of playing a little telephone tag, but I'm hoping to get some more answers. I just want to make sure that again our monies that are put aside uh for the preservation of open land continue to be used for that uh for that purpose. Uh, other than
that, again, was able to attend uh the White Lake Parade with fellow council people and the National Night Out, which was great. Um, and one last point, um, guess Dave, this might be for you. Uh, got a couple calls, uh, just regarding the, um, uh, the safety or I guess the the condition of the stairs at the
gazebo. Haven't been there in a while, but they're telling me could uh, it might need a little work, so I was just hoping maybe someone could take a look and just make sure that that that remains safe. And that's all I have. >> Council member. >> Yes. Uh, thank you. Yeah, the National Night Out again. This was the second
year Rockway Township started. It was was a great success, but Uh the big thank you goes to the administration the chief uh I believe speaking for the chief they had over 70% volunteer rate with the uh police officers which is huge. I mean I don't know any other
department so many volunteers. So and I think that speaks volumes to the leadership of the police department. So job uh well done and hopefully it's going to get better year after year and uh we will steal some u some residents from the borrow. Um, and I have a
question for the administration when it comes to the grants. I know we hired a grant writer, so get an update on, you know, what kind of grants were we able to secure and how well have been they uh working out for us. That's >> um
I notice again we're we're on a backup camera again. I I know that we checked it during the day and is it working now? >> No, >> it's not. um official notice and I'm going to start being a real PIA.
Um painted something. Uh we we're done. We we got to get this fixed. I know we've been talking about it for a few months now and we owe it to the residents. I I mean there's much more people that watch this online than than come here and I don't want to lose that.
So Lisa, you and I will talk, but we have to move on this sooner rather than later. So, >> Mr. Report, >> Mr. Mayor, >> thank you, Council President. Um, a few things I wanted to go over. First, we have a letter from a resident. Um, they
completed a series of more than 30 cardiac rehab sessions at St. Clair's Hospital in Denville. Um, he was dependent on Rockway Township um, Dileride Senior Service Transportation to get to those appointments. My reessions have ended, but not my
appreciation for the care and understanding provided by several drivers involved to get me to and from St. Claire's. Courteous, prompt, downear, and friendly. The men and women who drove the buses and limos were exceptional. Special kudos to Brian who managed the schedule and was responsible
for the timely appearance of those buses and autos. Tax money well spent. Very much appreciated. Um, had four weddings this month. Uh, I think the ship did a Medicare program this month. As many council members mentioned, we all marched in the white
metal lake parade. Alor, which does a great job coordinating white metal lake festival days. Um, even it was like 170 degrees. Um, it was a fun parade. Um uh we had a substance alliance abuse
event at Orange Theory um in the mall and uh certain members actually did the class. Um it looked kind of brutal. So I I believe we raised close to $1,000 um in the event and uh it was a well attended event. Really really good time.
Um Eileen Horwitz again ran a blood drive in White Lake this month. Um, so National Nightly Out, I'd like to thank first of all, um, Allison, Sue, and Shannon for really coordinating and putting it all together, um, helping
represent the police department. As, uh, Councilman Butovich mentioned, we had a ton of offduty police officers there, uh, represent the police, we had county sheriffs there, we had first responders. Um, I'd like to do a special shout out. The Starbucks, the new Starbucks on 46,
um, in the Burrow, 7Eleven, um, were national sponsors. Uh, the Jets and Devils gave us some swag. And then a big, uh, shout out to the Munipal Alliance. They sponsored the food and the juggler still walker. Um, so it was
a, you know, from my perspective, it was probably the best event we've had in two to three years. Um, it was very well attended. Um and uh ran into Mikey Sternlick who runs a uh a company, local kid, grew up in Rockway Township and is
a really big entrepreneur and doing a great job. I wanted to just heads up coming in September um we're probably going to be doing dinner for the fireman firehouse again. We're be doing dinners for them and then uh I don't know if you have your invite yet for the senior picnic. Senior picnic's coming up in
about a month. Um we already have um tons of RSVP. So I think it's going to be well attended swag starts in my office. I can barely get my desk at this point and we're not even in September. So I think it's going
to be a big event and a lot of fun. >> M. >> Yes. As I mentioned um I do have a list of roadways that were paid this summer. They're complete um with our DPW director out on vacation. I just wanted to report on that. There were about
roadways in total, including Richard Street as council mentioned. Um, also the underground storage tanks will be um trenching for electrical and pressure test. That's going to be up the road garage and um followed by uh the section
over by the building. Um Councilman Salurn, when we're finished with the meeting, I just want to go over those two mentioned and that's all I have. Thank you. >> I just say one more thing. I'd like to commend the accommodation for officer um
Austin for spending an hour and a half in the dump and he came out his hair still looked perfect right his hair looked his hair look perfect so you special accommodation for him national >> Mr. T
>> thank you council president just one item to mention the township's mayor's wellness campaign was recognized again Recently, um the mayor was asked to present at the League of Municipalities conference in Atlantic City the week of November 17th. So, Britney Bernesty and myself and the mayor will work together
together a best practices presentation for their their panel. So, it's a nice honor for the township to recognize what we've done over the last year. Thank you. >> Chief, evening, council president, members of council. Uh yes, we are in
fact looking way for Circle Drive for Halloween. So, we've already meetings that matter. I would just like to echo the sentiment of the mayor. I would like to thank again the community for coming out and
supporting. We have an incredible group of officers and we had just an amazing turnout. So, that was well appreciated. And again, I can't say thank you enough for the support from the council, the administration, and all of those like
Shine over there that put this together and really worked hard to bring an incredible night. And then all of the other first responders that also attended that evening to make that a success for the police officers as well as the community. So, thank you
everyone. As far as ebikes go, and I know you're working hard in reference to some uh ordinance. However, I would just like to remind the community, right, that ebikes currently fall under the same as bicycles in title
39. So, there are rules and regulations that govern the operation of those ebikes. And there's different classes of ebikes and what they are uh referred to as in the ordinance and how they can use class one, two, and three. That being
said, having to do with wattage or the miles per hour that they can achieve. But what I will tell everybody is they can be extremely dangerous. So I would remind parents, parents are the ones that are going out and buying ebikes for their children. They can be
dangerous, right? So, when you're not following the rules of the road and they're silent and you're going in and out of traffic and up and over sidewalks and people can't hear you, somebody is
going to get hurt. Right? So, parents, please keep that in mind when your child is asking for an ebike or says they're going out on. There are rules of the road they need to follow. They need to be safe and nobody wants to see any
get hurt. Uh as far as the monthly uh report for July, the department experienced 347 calls for service incidents or activity, 80 motor vehicle crashes, 437 motor vehicle encounters, 13 domestic violence
incidents, 249 fire, medical or 911, 13 adult arrest, 139 alarm responses, 21 community policing events, 1927 residential, commercial or school property checks, 12 assist other
agencies and 158 motor vehicle summones were issued. And again, I just want to take the time to thank an amazing group of people that came out and supported and the officers also I appreciate that
Mr. >> Thank you. um about ebikes, charging those devices at home is also a major concern. Um if you buy a reputable branded bicycle, um it's going to have safeguards built into the battery
technology, so it's safe at home. The concern comes from these aftermarket third party overseas branded devices that don't have ULabeled recognitions. they can catastrophically fail and most
often these devices are placed in the area of your front door. So the occupants of the home are on the wrong side of the building and these they fail horribly at 1,800 degrees in a matter of seconds
is the flame jet that can come out of these batteries. Um so use them. They're fun, but be smart about charging where you charge these devices because lithium ion battery fires are devastating.
>> Mr. B, >> Mr. Dire, >> just real quick, uh, update on Tel Park. Um, get a number of emails from residents. What's going on over there? Um, that battle to get a striping company
out there and some of the numbers that have been coming back are astronomical. The next phases to stripe it for hockey and and basketball. Um, with that said, I was company that just moved into town on Green Bond, cold called me and
they're going to be getting the job and coming out Tuesday to strike it. Um, so it's a win-win. Great pricing, great quality. They're a new uh new business in town. That's next Tuesday they're going to stripe it. Sooner to that the hoops will be going up. We'll take care
of the monument and then we should be in good shape. That's it. >> Okay. Motion to adjourn by consensus. All in favor? Hi mirror.