##VIDEO ID:h3T-aIW3emg## e e e e e e e [Music] I'd like to call the September 24th 2024 meeting to order start with the flag salute pledge to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indiv of liy and justice for all a moment of silence to remember the service and sacrifices of the armed service members who protect our nation and the First Responders who protect our neighborhoods clerk please take the rooll councilman Freelander councilwoman noon here councilman Brooks here councilman sacket here councilwoman Brooks councilman Quinn here councilman voitovich here Council vice president salberg here and council president mors here adequate notice of this meeting was provided to the Daily Record in the Star Ledger of the official newspapers for the township of Rockaway notice was posted on the official bullet Boards of Rockaway Township the township website and notice was filed in the office of the Township Clerk moving on approval of the minutes for the September 10th Township Council regular meeting minuts can I have a motion so move second please take the rooll council Manon yes councilman Brooks yes councilman sacket yes councilman Quinn yes Council V toic yes Council vice president pres salberg abstain council president Morrison yes at six yeses one abstention motion passes uh at this point I'm going to turn the meeting over to Mayor Jackson thank you council president um I have Chief Shear come up you know our commitment in our community to law enforcement and protection of our residents continues to expand and tonight's an exciting night um we have a bunch of promotions to announce I'm Chief Shear talk good evening everybody and welcome welcome to our celebration uh every once in a while and I like to mention every time I get the opportunity what an amazing group of officers that we have serving our community every once in a while we get to demonstrate that appreciation that we have have for their hard work dedication and sacrifice through an event like this evening as we celebrate their promotions that being said I want to let the officers know Michael derson I am proud of you I am proud of the fact that you have served as a lieutenant and you now are going to be promoted to the rank of Captain Thomas tus I am proud of you I am proud that you are promoted this evening to the rank of Lieutenant Leandra Peralta I am proud of you uh you are now being promoted from the rank of detective to the rank of Sergeant Steve the heart I am proud of you and what I will say with Stephen it shows that the years of commitment and dedication not only to your lawn but also also your commitment here to Rockaway Township Police Department you are being promoted this evening for the rank of Sergeant we we we are excited to be able to celebrate this moment with their families and friends because they've put in a career again of that Dedication that commitment and sacrifice and tonight we are going to appreciate that because often times the things that officers do are not appreciated uh I would also like to recognize Jack Ambrose from Mars County Sheriff's Department for again that law enforcement family that we have that comes and celebrates Good times that we share with one another right but I'm excited I'm excited the fact that we have not just the new additions to our leadership group in the police department but we have changes of responsibilities and assignments in that leadership group a strong leadership group for the township serves our community to create that standard of Excellence that we look to perform so again I'd like to congratulate each and every one of you this evening Michael on up who's going to hold the Bible hi Michael dson hi Michael dson do Solly swear do solemnly swear that I will Faithfully that I will faithfully and partially justly impartially and justly perform all the duties perform all the duties of Rockway Township police captain of Rockway Township Police Captain to the best of my ability to the best of my abilities and I will support the contition the United States and I will support the Constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and I will bear true faith and Allegiance and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same to the same and to the governments established and to the governments established in the united states in the United States and in this state and in the state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people so help me God so help me God congratulations Captain thank you very [Music] much back to Melissa Thomas tus you bring the dog hold not doing that our dog would eat the Bible hi Thomas tacus hi Thomas tus you somly swear do Solly swear that I will Faithfully that I will faithfully and partially and partially and justly and justly perform all the duties perform all the duties of the office of of the office of Rockway Township Lieutenant Rockway Township Lieutenant to the best of my ability to the best of my ability and I will bear and I will bear true support true support to the Constitution to the Constitution of the United States of the United States and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and I will bear true faith and Allegiance and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same to the same and to the government's established and to the government's established in the united states in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of people under the authority of the people so help me God so help me God congratulations liutenant thank you [Music] I Alandra peralto I Alandra peralto you solemly swear do solemly swear that I will Faithfully that I will faithfully and partially and partially and justly and justly perform all the duties perform all the duties of Rockway Township Police sergeant of rock ton police Sergeant to the best of my ability to the best of my ability and I will support the Constitution that I will support the Constitution of the United States of the United States the Constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and I will bear true faith and Allegiance I will bear true faith and Allegiance to the same to the same and to the government established and to the government established in the united states in the United States and in this state and in this state under authority of people under the authority of the people so help me God so help me God congratulations Sergeant thank [Applause] you Steve Steve I stepen Hart I stepen Hart do solemnly swear do solemnly swear I will Faithfully that I will faithfully and partially and partially and justly and justly perform the duties of perform the duties of Rockway Township Police Sergeant Rockway Township Police Sergeant to the best of my ability to the best of my ability and I will support the Constitution and I will support the Constitution of the United States of the United States Constitution of the state of New Jersey and the constitution of the state of New Jersey and I will bear true faith and Allegiance and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same to the same to the government's established and to the government's established the United States United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of people under the authority of people so help me God so help me God congratulations Steve thank you bring this back and give it to Melissa folks we're going to take a five minute recess all the stripes are so [Music] shiny e e [Music] okay we're going to start the meeting again okay we're gonna move on to the open to the public portion of the meeting I will call your name you'll step up to the microphone uh please state your name and address for the record and there is a three minute time limit Megan oconor did I say that good evening I'm Megan o Conor and I'm at 64 yie Avenue in the township uh thank you for hearing me and I've actually never been involved in politics of any type although I do like politics but I thought I need to speak up because when I received information that the Rockaway Township Board of Ed uh is proposing opposing to issue a $95 million Bond and raise my taxes substantially I knew that I needed to speak out and I do have some issues I wanted to bring up to the council and I do concede definitely that there needs to be repairs done I've done my homework for sure I don't think anyone could deny that but my first issue is this whole idea of the $95 million Bond based on my research that it it is really conceptualized in a vacuum with not enough regard to all stakeholders for example I've spoken with a lot of residents in Rockaway township my neighbors Etc and we have a big cost of living crisis so being hit with further taxes is just too much for a lot of people to bear and depending on what happens in November we could be hit by further taxes our federal income taxes could go up wealth could be taxed for the first time in US history um there could be taxes on unrealized capital gains so they're going to be hit by all sides uh so having a a property tax hike now would really push some people over the edge financially also with inflation uh that's a lot of P pain for your constituents including myself and I did bring up inflation uh at the last Board of Ed meeting and I was basically told that this would be a great return on investment if these all these repairs would be made and in 10 years our homes would be worth a lot more but the problem with inflation is that your residents your constituents we need to pay groceries today we need to fill up that tank tomorrow so I can't go to my walls of my house and ask for money to pay for those bills and I really think it's it's too optimistic to say that our houses are going to go up so much more if these repairs are made they might but there could be a dip in the market in 10 years from now and I think a lot of other um areas in New Jersey understand what happens with inflation because let's say this refence um it's approved that's one of the causes of inflation is high government spending and the residents of other New Jersey towns they they know this and for example in teny recently there was a referendum to improve uh schools there for $76 million I'm sorry you're at three minutes but if you want to make a final sure um $76 million it was rejected my other concern is how the referendum is proposed to Residents uh there was a focus group done but it wasn't done with all residents of rock away just residents who had kids in the schools and then I don't just want to complain I think there is a solution here I think we kind of need to come to the center with doing some of these repairs but also bearing in mind uh what this does to your constituents of having another tax hike thank you thanks um just to bring up a couple points for those who may not know the township has no oversight for the Board of Education okay so we don't do that they they voted to put forth a referendum so they haven't approved the bond they're putting that out there I would assume I don't know that the Board of Ed would have plenty of public discussion I would urge you to speak at the board of ed meetings you know those are the ones that would be making that decision uh as you know and voting as far as that uh budg but the fact that they're putting it out to a referendum I think is good because it opens it up to public discussion um the tax on unrealized capital gains uh which actually I I did a little reading on it and I forgot if the number is 10 million or 100 million in assets before that tax kicks in I just missed it so unrealized a tax on unrealized capital gains will not affect anybody um in town except maybe Mr yach um okay is there did you want to kick in anything yeah I the next Board of Ed meeting is October 16th and I think the public session starts at 7:30 or 7 7:30 I think right so that's the next Board of Ed meeting your next opportunity to be heard okay council president you you also forgot to mention that I'm entitled to the senior citizen deduction okay is there anybody that did not fill out the sheet that wishes to speak okay moving on to the consent agenda um we are pulling resolution r241 164 uh for the next meeting on October 8th and what's that I did no I I was just seeing if you were paying attention thank you TR for that we'll do them out of order now that's okay we can do it that um and resolution r24 159 we'll be voting on later that's for a close session 159 that was one from last week that we put forward to this week last meeting to this meeting okay so consent agenda r241 162 and r24 163 can I have a motion so move second please take the role Council Manon yes councilman Brooks yes councilman zaket yes councilman Quinn yes councilman V toich yes Council vice president salbert yes council president marrison yes at 7s as motion passes uh okay backtracking uh to ordinance for for introduction O2 2414 an ordinance amending chapter 54 entitled land use and development of the code of the township of Rockway to amend its regulations pertaining to the raising and keeping of chickens on Residential Properties now usually when we introduce an ordinance there is not a um there's no discussion at however being due to the uh extensive conversations that have been had behind the scenes I will open this up to First Council discussion uh should we look to um take a look at the amendment before it goes forth in two weeks is there any Council discussion on this council president after reading the ordinance actually I thought it was uh very well written um a lot of good details um because I know a lot of people have times a lot of questions and uh made it very easy to go through it pretty much from what I read it seemed like every single thing was detailed so very nice job on the ordinance the the author councilman is sitting in the back of the room hiding I saw him nice to see him councilman Quint yes uh the ordinance committee came together with Administration and Carl and we worked on this quite a bit and back and forth and we've had discussion constantly so I'm glad to see this is finally coming forward in real time thank you one thing that we learned is that people are very passionate about their chickens um just you know what I will give the The Cliffs notes on this is there's no roosters left um which is going to be key and then the amount of chickens will depend on the size of your property and ability to fit the guidelines um but again we think it's very reasonable um and I think pretty much everybody who's going to want chickens already has chickens there's not going to be a mad rush to you know empty the poultry at Tractor Supply yes yeah uh they also have to get a permit come in here into the town go to engineering get a permit so that our health department knows where the chickens are and they can make sure they're healthy and being taken care of but yeah it's we thought this all the way through so good luck I'm very happy it's finally here stop shaking your head Mr y um anybody from Administration have any comment okay they're not okay uh ordinance for introduction can I have a motion so move second clerk please take the role councilwoman noon yes councilwoman Brooks yes councilman sacket yes councilman Quinn yes Council vo toic yes Council vice president salberg yes council president Marson yes seven yeses the chickens pass uh okay we're going to move on to reports and just put out there after reports we're going to move in Clos session um I don't anticipate any action being taken as a result of that Clos session is uh are we good to still do the close session we everybody's here that needs to be yeah council president Kim is here and we're waiting for Levi Cole is here also He's our special tax counsel all right uh so let's start with reports councilman Quinn okay very short report um one uh the recreation committee has not met again since the last meeting I was away for the planning board so I can't give any report on that but I do have to ask Administration about um uh the calls that I did receive about the repaving that was being done with the stone and all I know they're working on a solution for that and I've referred some of the complainers that have gotten to me uh to Administration to talk to them so the residents just are not used to this type of trying to save some money on the ashol lay down and Stone so we'll get there all right it's a work in progress other than that everybody I'm glad everybody made it and congratulations to everybody that was promoted I'm very happy to see that uh in fact uh Mike derson I know his father and his grandfather are both looking down on him and smiling away so God bless them thank you second thank you council president just to Echo councilman Quinn congratulations on all the promotions is able to attend the uh red white and blue service this past uh Sunday it was my first one and uh very well done um Council Brooks did a nice job up front with um his duties did a nice job and it was great to see so many people not just from Rockway Township but from all over the county attending so very nice job um I want to welcome home and freedlander he's home he got home today um so it was very good um trying to get him to come tonight offer to pick him up but uh he's a little tired but I know a lot of people have reached out to him and sometimes Manny isn't the best sometimes getting back to you but uh he really appreciates it and um everyone thinking about him and praying for him and all that good stuff so welcome home Manny hope to have you the next meeting and everyone uh celebrating uh the holidays coming up uh next week week I just want to wish everyone L TOA thank you councilman Brooks thank you council president um yes I was in attendance uh at the faith family fellowship red white and blue with uh councilman Saget and mayor was there he did a great job with the names only miss one only miss one um other than that uh I we're having a good time I think at Peterson with the football and everything I've I've driven by I haven't gotone to seen a game yet but I've driven by it's packed always there which is really good and uh other than that I'm good cage I don't have anything to report councilwoman n just congratulations to all the officers that were Pro promoted tonight that's it Council vice president sure thank you uh council president let's start with uh our uh Board of Commissioners report um our 400,000 for the F house was officially recognized as resolution 20 24758 so it's official uh they also recognize September as prostate cancer awareness month and Childhood Cancer Awareness Month um did have the opportunity to attend uh the townships on 911 remembrance I thought it was very respectful thought it was an excellent job mayor so glad that we uh you know that that'll be a long-standing tradition I attended the senior picnic always great the weather couldn't have been any better uh good and hectic I think what was at 415 or something it was absolutely mad house it was great so that went very well uh and finally um my representation of the open space trust fund uh we did open the books on this year's uh applicants so there'll be more to come for that again um I can't say enough uh you know to the administration it's it's a great opportunity for us to really take a look at the opportunities obviously I wouldn't be able to vote on it but uh yeah I'd really ask you to take a look at um you know our our lands that might be available for open space preservation and I'd love to see that application come through and the opportunity to obstain so that's all I have Mr Yano thank you council president only one thing I want to report to the Council on tonight uh the council may recall that a couple of meetings ago uh I reported to you that Mr Kelly uh we received decisions from the government records Council on two uh Oprah complaints that Mr Kelly filed with the GRC uh some four years ago in both of those cases as I reported at the time the GRC rejected Mr Kelly's complaints so the township was successful um not being one to ever perpetuate litigation Mr Kelly subsequently has filed an appeal with the appell at division of superior court on one of the complaints contesting the decision of the GRC so you're familiar with the process it's a little different than in most cases appeals from a decision of the GRC goes directly go directly to the appell at division of superior court so um the opposition to the appeal of course is being taken and uh we were successful in persuading the Attorney General to also step into the appeal uh on behalf of the GRC and I received notification shortly before the meeting tonight that the gr of the Attorney General's office is doing just that and joining the township and opposing the appeal more to come Mr Mayor yeah I'll be brief I just have a few things um I want to remind everybody I think we might have mentioned before I'm going to remind everybody uh yesterday they were supposed to start the County supposed to start milling and resurfacing Green Pond Road the upper North End going into Jefferson and I believe it was supposed to start um yesterday and it's supposed to be finished um with the line painting and all that by the end of October um have a couple of uh letters I'd like to read um this is from uh a resident says I'm writing you to express my sincere gratitude mmud who quickly addressed an environmental issue manifested through one of my neighbors which had resulted in excessive water drainage as a result of a contractor routing water to my property we placed a call a little over a week ago with the township they put in quotes first time in our 30 years as a Township resident they called the the building I'm MMO showed up not more than 30 minutes later quickly had a plan to remediate the issue after two follow-ups with the contractor um of our neighboring property the drainage issue was remediated this is our first experience working with the town and cannot express enough how impressed we are with the Township's handling of the problem if mmud is just one example the quality of professionalism exhibited in the township then we all reside in a remarkable Township our seere appreciation goes out to him in the township and then um this is good morning my daughter was married last week in Green Pond and I want to recognize the assistance of Lisa cruso my daughter had done all of the online searching about marriage license process and we still had a number of questions about what to do all participants were coming from out of town we wanted to get it done correctly there was plenty of normal wedding event anxiety leading up to the week again and the license process was just one more detail that my daughter was agonizing over Lisa couldn't have been more pleasant patient and reassuring she greeted us with a winning smile and walked my daughter through the whole thing her attitude put everybody at ease and turned an anxious situation into another positive moment for what turned out to be a fabulous weekend when I returned with the paperwork earlier this week she asked how everything went and explained what the Newly Weds needed to do to get their final certified copy of the license again with a great smile and attitude I've lived in Rockway Township for 11 years and have rarely have face to-face interactions with the township administrative staff when you work with someone like Lisa it creates a positive impression on the entire town and its governance Rockway Township couldn't ask for better representation so thank you Lisa um and then two things real quick in terms of micros surfacing so after receiving several concerned calls from residents um over in the Fleetwood area of rock why I went over and drove the roads um I do think uh I I don't like the way the roads look um you know I it's a process my understanding is I reached out to other Mayors I know Jefferson does a lot of this um and it's supposed to extend the life of the road save pack taxpayer dollars I did look at about six other locations where we've micros surfaced two weeks earlier two months earlier a year earlier and and looked at it and uh tomorrow we're having a call leis and I um with our DPW director just to talk about um next steps see if we feel like we need to do some type of remediation on some of these streets and what our plans are for future um targeting certain roads for micros surfacing so it's something I I want to really look at and evaluate and not just make a decision to do it or not do it without really thinking through all the facts um and then lastly I think this Saturday is a another group walk for the mayor's walking challenge um my team's in F in third place um one of my team members is in first place and he sent me at three o'clock today Dusty his steps today already has 30,000 steps today so not to discourage anybody but you probably don't have a chance of winning so but we'll see you Saturday um we're gonna be walking up at the North End we're going to do it at Eggbert's Lake but we're doing some work up there so we're we're trying to locate a destination and we'll advertise it out that's all I got M PA Mary no report just uh congratulations to the AUD officers and their promotions Chief yes thank you I'd like to thank the council president and the council members as well as mayor Jackson and Lisa PA Mary for the support that the police department has in helping us build uh the police department up to where it should be and again forging A A Better Tomorrow uh for the township and that's much appreciated uh by myself as well as all of our officers as far as uh once again I will send the reminder out to everyone about smart911.com smart911.com uh please take a look at that whether on our website or whether directly I encourage everybody to get involved in that program both for yourself as well as your family and also if you do that make sure you look for Mars County alerts as well as Rockway Township alerts uh to keep you informed uh I had the opportunity also with with a few of our officers to attend the red white and blue uh We've attended that for many years at faith family fellowship uh that was an enjoyable time it's always an enjoyable time for all of those that helped make that happen for us it's greatly appreciated um I also this week along with my command staff had the uh pleasure of sitting down with Rabbi popsky and uh St leitz uh from the Temple as well as the habad uh Rabbi bomgarden and heran so we we had a great uh couple of meetings uh talked about different schedulings and things at the police department how the police department is going to interact uh this year and every every year uh to help out the community one of the things I'd like to remind everybody as we approach the holidays that everybody is particularly careful for extra pedestrian traffic in around uh our community uh in particular the Lake Community right but again please be mindful when we talk about uh driving and driving safely uh a reminder the school is open uh please uh the community out there watch for the bus stops watch for the buses with their yellow lights on being prepared to stop as that stop sign comes out right please be prepared to stop to keep our children safe um and again we do thank you all for the uh support for our Police Department much appreciated thank you okay at this point um we're going to make a resolution moved into close session um we will be in there 30 minutes if we're going to exceed to 30 minutes then we'll send somebody out and let anybody know if anybody remains again I do not expect any action to be taken here after that we will most likely come back in here andour uh resolution r241 159 can I have a motion so move second clerk please take the role councilwoman noon yes councilman Brooks yes councilman sacket yes councilman Quinn yes Council bovich yes Council vice president salberg yes council president Morris yes seven yeses motion passes I will see everybody in the conference room e e for e e e e e for e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e [Music] okay I'd like to make a motion to return from closed session can I have a second second clerk please take the roll Council man n yes councilman Brooks yes councilman sacket yes councilman Quinn yes councilman V toich yes Council vice president zberg yes council president Morrison yes seven yes as motion passes make a motion to adjourn by consensus all in favor say I I I'll see you on October