[Music] Good evening everyone. I'm going to call the meeting to order. Would everyone please stand for a short prayer to salute to our flag? Almighty God, grant us the wisdom to make those decisions that are in the best interest of all our residents. May
the heavenly father of us all bless those who have given the ultimate sacrifice in service to our nation. And may he watch over and protect our service men and women now guarding the gates of freedom. Salute to our flag. I
pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Jessica, a statement of
publication. Take notice that this regular agenda meeting of the mayor and burough council being held on this 28th day of April 2025 has been posted and advertised in accordance with the open public meetings act chapter 231 public law 1975. Roll call. Council person
Balfa here. Helissi here. Novak here. Roberts here. Sarski here. Zki here. Uh, approval of previous minutes. Council President, I move the following minutes of the mayor and council be approved on roll
call vote subject to correction if necessary. We have April 14th regular agenda session. Second. Roll call. Council person Roberts. Yes. Yes. Kissi, yes. Novak, yes. Sarski, yes. [Music]
Today we have a proclamation. The proclamation is for National Water Safety Month. Whereas citizens of Saraveville along with the New Jersey Swim Alliance, NJSSA, and New Jersey Recreation and Park Association,
NJRPA, recognize the vital role that swimming and aquatic related activities relate to good physical and mental health and enhance the quality of life for all people. And whereas the citizens of Sarville along with the NJSSA and
NJRPA understand the essential role that education regarding the topic of water safety plays in preventing drownings and recreational water related injuries. And whereas the citizens of serville along with the NJSSA and
NJRPA are aware of the contributions made by the recreational water industry as represented by the organizations involved in the National Water Safety Month co coalition in developing safe swimming facilities, aquatic programs,
home pools and spas and related activities providing healthy places to recreate, learn and grow. build self-esteem, confidence, and self sense of self-worth, which contributes to the quality of life in our community. And
whereas the citizens of Sarville along with the NJSSA and NJRPA recognize the ongoing efforts and commitments to educate the public on pool and spa safety issues and initiatives by the pool, spa, water
park, recreation, and parks industries. And whereas citizens of Sarl along with NJSSA and NJRPA understand the vital importance of communicating water safety rules and programs to families and individuals of
all ages, whether owners of private pools, users of public swimming facilities, or visitors to water parks. Now therefore, on behalf of Kennedy O'Brien, Mayor of the Bureau of Save, County of Middle Sex, state of New
Jersey, do hereby declare the month of May as National Water Safety Month, and do urge all those in cereal to support and promote this observ observance. Thank you. Need a motion to accept that
proclamation. I make a motion to accept. Council person Roberts, yes. Alpha, yes. His Novak, yes. Sarski, yes. Zasi, yes. Whereas the annual distribution of money
copies by the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States has been officially recognized and endorsed by government leaders since 1922. And whereas VFW buddy poppies are assembled by disabled veterans and the
proceeds of this worthy fundraising campaign are used exclusively for the benefit of disabled and needy veterans and the widows and orphans of deceased veterans. And whereas the basic purpose of the annual distribution of buddy
poppies by the veterans of foreign wars is eloquently reflected in the desire to honor the dead by helping the living. Now therefore, I, Kennedy O'Brien, mayor of the burrow of Saraveville, do hereby urge the citizens of this community to
recognize the merits of this cause by contribute contributing generously to its support through the purchase of Buddy Poppies on the day set aside for the distribution of these symbols of appreciation for the sacrifices of our
honored dead. I urge all patriotic citizens to wear a buddy poppy as mute evidence of our gratitude to the men and women of this country who have risked their lives in defense of the freedom we continue to enjoy as American citizens.
And witness whereof, I have caused this proclamation to be issued and the official seal of the burrow duly affixed to this 28th day of April, 2025. Kennedy O'Brien mayor. I need a motion to accept that proclamation. I make a motion.
Second. Roll call. Council persons Roberts. Yes. Yes. Kesi, yes. Novak, yes. Yes. Yes. No. Executive session. New business. Um, introduction of the
following ordinances. Ordinance number 14-25, Burrow of Save County of Middle Sex, Ordinance Amending Residency requirements for firefighters. Councilman Pacy, I move the ordinance be approved on first reading advertised according to
law in a public hearing to be held on May 12th, 2025. Second. Roll call. Council persons Kesi, yes. Malcolm, yes. Novak, yes. Roberts, yes. Yes. Yes.
Introduction of ordinance number 15-25 an ordinance amending chapter 2 administration subsection 2-41 human relations commission of the revised general ordinances of the burrow of sold I move the ordinance be approved on first reading advertised according to
law and a public hearing to be held on May 12th a second second roll call council person Roberts yes yes yes Novak yes yes zowski Yes. Ordinance number 16-25, calendar
year 2025, ordinance to exceed the municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish a hatback. Councilman Balcom, I move the ordinance be approved at first reading advertised according to law at public hearing be held on May 12th, 2025. Roll call. Council person Bal,
yes. Fissy, yes. Novak, yes. Roberts, yes. Yes. Yes. At this time, I'm going to open the public portion for questions and comments by the public. Are there questions or comments, Jim? On
resolutions only. Mayor, resolutions only. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor Jim Robinson Parl. Um, first I want to thank you. I see that something I asked for more than a year ago is finally being done. And Councilwoman Novak, I thank you for pushing this. Finally, you are
putting some pressure on JCPNL with respect to the street lights. You're withholding bills. I suggested that more than a year ago. Um, and attorney looked into it at Councilwoman No, Councilwoman Novak's request. problems getting worse
and worse and worse. So, I I thank you for finally doing something about it. I see you're introducing the budget. 80 million. Wow. Um I looked at the uh the AFS for um so
in 2023 there was about $4.1 million on expended balance from prior years appropriation. I didn't see that online. Maybe it's in the packet that we have now, but I'm I'm just I'm wondering about where that previous surplus went. I know the budget is normally introduced
in March, so it's late this year. Um it's never been this late, I don't think. Um, and I know a lot of us thought with the pilots and with the sale of that $20 million property on Journey Mill Road, with the ability to hire new hires, when we see new people
being hired the way they are, we just thought everything was rosy and that the budget would be going down, not increasing by a couple million dollars to 80 million, 3.5% in excess of the state's 2% cap. And I'm just wondering with all
that money, are we going to be paving all the roads in town or hiring more aids or building a community center? Uh you already have enough money in the open space committee to buy open space. So you don't that doesn't come out of the budget. That's or the amount you
raise by tax that's already there. Um I know we have two burrow engineers now. Is that saving us money? I can't imagine that that's saving us money. I think that probably cost us more money that we have two burough engineers. Um, other thing I wanted to talk about
that's on the agenda is the impact of 2025 100, the Verizon um, tax appeal. How's that going to impact the borrow? Go ahead. I don't have hard numbers on that. That
was a negotiated settlement with our tax assessor in front of a tax court judge. I don't have the That's how many years, Clint. Is that like half a dozen years or something? Oh, wait. I'm sorry. It's here. It goes back to 2015. 10 years. Okay. So, we're going to agree to it,
but we don't know what the impact is, what the cost is. Shouldn't we know that before we vote on it? Well, was a negotiated settlement in front of the tax court judge. I I I I don't have the hard numbers.
Is anybody curious to know what the impact is before you vote? No. Okay. Not surprising. Okay. Disappointing. Not surprising. I mean, I would think before you vote on something, you know what it's going to
cost. But you know the way we spend money here, 80 million bucks, I guess it's a drop in the bucket. Okay. Thank you very much. Is there anyone else? Being no one else, I'll entertain a motion to close the
public portion and to adopt the consent agenda. I move the public hearing be closed and the consent agenda resolutions be approved on roll call vote. Second roll council person. Yes.
Yeah. 202596 I'm going to stay on the adal build and then on 2025 103 and 105 I'm building no and which is that self-examination and 103
103 and 104 105 103 and 105 Police see yes know that yes with the with the comment on 105 in the introduction of the budget uh I'm introducing at this rate know letting the public know that we'll still
be working on this and uh we're going to be bringing it down But I will introduce just to get the ball rolling. Thank you. Yes. Zowski. Yes. A motion to accept the correspondence as
listed. I make a motion. Second. Council person. Robins. Yes. Yes. Pissy. Yes. Novak. Yes. Sarski. Yes. Sowski. Yes. Mayor and council reports, administration and finance. Councilman
Balco. Thank you, mayor. The budget was introduced tonight and we're hoping to reduce it before adoption with the budget amendment. And other than that, progress planning and zoning. Councilman Zowski. Uh thank you, Mayor. Uh just a couple of things. Uh first, uh I want to thank uh
actually want to congratulate uh John Tuskevage. For those of you who know John Tuskevage, uh I'll be a long time coach at the uh at the high school, long time football coach, long time gym teacher. Uh he happened to be my neighbor for most of my growing life. Uh and why do I congratulate him? Because
he's long overdue. He's going to be inducted into the cereal hall of fame. Um and if anybody knows uh Coach T as he was always, I'm glad you went up with him so you know as well. Um there was probably no one that represented the
school system at the highest of esteem than coach Tate who I I think just devoted his entire life uh to to to several sports more than anything else to to the several community. So um normally I don't talk about the Hall of
Fame but but knowing John as long as I did I just feel obligated to just wish him that long overdue honor. Uh also in a bittersweet uh note uh today I um I had the opportunity to go to the walkout server for one of our communication
operators uh Anthony Maglo. We we used to call him Moo. Uh that that was his nickname which he had from from high school. Uh and u unfortunately he had to retire early uh due to some medical conditions. So we are losing uh a
tremendous professional uh for our dispatch group. Uh and I wish him well and I certainly wish him uh great health uh or good health as he moves on. I want to thank Jen Bell and her staff uh for maintaining what was a great full calendar at the adult active
adult center for this past month. Bring you up to date on two items that are coming up. One, May 16th at 11:00 a.m. here. There's going to be some live Irish music. And then May 21st is the senior day uh which is very well attended and tickets are required for that. Uh from planning and uh zoning the
board of adjustment uh approved the application for a new Wawa on Main Street with that's at Main Street and Crossman uh South Crossman Road. Uh looking forward to that. and the planning board. At the last planning board meeting, the applicant for the
mosque uh wrapped up their testimony for professionals, although they did hold all uh reserve the right to uh recall a professional. So, the next meeting, which is May 7th, will be the opportunity for our residents um to present their own testimony with regard
to that application. And finally, I just want to welcome uh our Girl Scouts that are here today that are working on their citizenship badge. Um I along with a couple other of our council had the opportunity to answer some questions which were fantastic and we appreciate
the fact that you're here spending time at our meeting today. Mayor, thanks Mike. That is my report. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman. Public safety, Councilman Kazy. Welcome all here and out there. Um, today happens to be National Superhero
Day. So, everyone can be a superhero. Sign up for the blood drive that the, uh, Sarahville Emergency Squad is holding Thursday, May 1st from 1 to 7:00. So, uh, give them a visit. 776 Washington Road in Harland. So, as I
present tonight's public safety report, I want to take a moment to recognize the dedicated service of our retiring officers on the police force, which is, uh, Sergeant Frank Ochesky, Detective Douglas,
uh, Gumpre, uh, patrolman Anthony Donofo, patrolman George Lester senior, and patrolman Keith Rousan. So these remarkable individuals will be honored at the annual retirement dinner hosted
by Sarville PBA Local 98. Also Thursday, May 1st. So I look forward to celebrating their invaluable contributions. On May 8th, Sarville PD will hold their annual police memorial service at the police headquarters to
honor those we've lost and reaffirm our gratitude for those who continue to serve. This solemn yet inspiring event is an opportunity for us to come together as a community. Chief Plumacher is also pleased to announce the launch
of two important initiatives. The new online police reporting tool designed to make reporting incidences incidents and submitting uh tips more accessible. and a Cordico wellness app offering
essential support for our officers and their families. So, I'm pleased to share that the Saraveville Office of Emergency Management has received final approval from the New Jersey State OEM and the New Jersey State Police on our updated
emergency operations plan. This plan will guide us over the next two years before its next scheduled revision, ensuring our preparedness and responsiveness remain at the highest standard. Additionally, on the evening
of April 27th, our OEM team responded to a structure fire over in the Windying Woods complex. That was last night. Thanks to swift action, the fire was successfully contained to just a single apartment and I'm relieved to report no injuries occurred. The resident was
promptly relocated with family members, minimal minimizing disruption. So over the past two weeks, ODM personnel have actively participated in multiple emergency preparedness drills across various schools in our burough. These
exercises are a vital component of their ongoing commitment to community safety, ensuring that both our first responders and school officials are well equipped to handle emergencies effectively. I want to report progress
from fire chief gathering who remains busy with not only our towns calls but also assisting our neighboring towns as well. This concludes my report on the public safety. As always, I want to express my gratitude to our public
safety teams for their dedication and hard work in keeping Sarah safe. That's all I have. Mayor, uh, public works, Councilwoman Novak. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, I would just like to, uh, comment on, uh, the cleanup and
free seedlings that were given out at Kennedy Park this weekend. Uh we did it in rain. We planted three trees and we dedicated two of them. One of them was a replacement tree for a tree that uh had died. And it was astounding because the
tree was actually in memory. Well, it wasn't in memory at the time. It was just dedicated to the Pope Francis by our Lady Victory School. It was purchased and uh put in by them and they we it died and we planned on
replacing the tree and as it turned out it was on Pope Francis's the day he was buried. So that just seemed uh something that happened other than our doings. Um I made my comments on the budget already. Um working very hard
introducing to move the process forward. we are a little late in introducing so I didn't want to stop it by voting no on it but we will be working to get that even further down and we've done that in the past so I I feel that we it will be
accomplished also I'd like to thank the parks department and our business administrator and the shade tree commission I don't know if anybody's driven down uh by Felic Park but and I know I'm going to pronounce this wrong that it was designed and then put in by
our parks department by uh a member of our shade tree commission. It's called a warrior. Is that arburitum? See, I knew it was going to get that wrong. So, if you have a chance, drive down. It's really nice and as the trees grow, it's really going to be, you know, a nice
addition to a park that's, you know, you know, John absolutely really needs it. And uh other than that, Mayor Robert, thank you. Water, Sewer, Environmental, Councilman Sinarski. Thank you, Mayor. Uh the first thing the community the
community garden was opened up last Saturday. Uh there's a meeting next Monday. I'll be able to bring a report on how many plots are there. I wasn't we're away for the weekend. Uh as far as the environmental goes, we're going to have a clean up at Darnold water system.
Uh I don't know the exact date of that. I'll find that out next Tuesday. Also, uh we're also going to invite the Girl Scouts to come and clean up during and the Boy Scouts. We're working together as a team and we'll get that cleaned up. Other than that, progress. Thank you.
Uh, recreation council president. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, first I'd like to remind everyone that the fishing derby is Saturday, May 10th at Kennedy Park for ages 3 to 15. Registration begins at 8:30. Fishing from 9 till 10:30. There
will be prizes for overall and age groups. And we recommend bringing your own fishing equipment and bait. However, there may be equipment to borrow from the police department and some bait provided by the recreation department. We also have summer camp registration for Burks Park and sports camp is open.
For full details, visit the ceremon recreation website. And even this is not wreck, but this is part of the um overall liaison. The cultural arts has teen night May 9th outdoor movie
Guardians of the Galaxy. Registration is required and you can find that also at the recreation website. Also um our environmental um person was part of the Earth Day climate
summit that was Elise Veron on April 22nd with the high school. So they did their um Earth Day climate summit. We were also many of us were on Earth Day at Trinity Park cleaning up. Um like said the PBA T night May 9th.
And I just wanted to I've heard from a few people about um at Kennedy Park. Just a reminder that we do have a no smoking ordinance around um events and the um skate park. So, please don't
smoke at the skate park or right around um the events with the the kids. And beyond that, mayor, I just want to say thank you to the scouts, Troop 777, for coming here tonight. Thank you guys and some of the things that we've uh talked
about before. You got to hear up here about the arboritum and um some of the other events. I hope you found this to be a um a good project and thank you for coming. Mayor. Thank you, Council President. At this at this time, I'd
like to call up the leadership and the membership of Troop 777 so that you can come up and explain what Ladies come on up and I'd like you to tell us a little bit about the troop
and about what you're working on now because I I'd like you to be on camera. so that everybody gets to meet you and know you. Yeah, if you face our camera, I'd appreciate it.
Hi, I'm Karen Wright and I am um the committee chair of Sarville Troop 777. We are actually we are a Boy Scout troop. It used to be formerly Boy Scouts of America and now it is Scouting USA and we are the first female troop in the
Sarable area. And our girls are working on citizenship in the community badge and some of them are working on communication Mara badge and some of them are working on rank requirements so they can rank up. Uh would any of you like to say hello?
Wave hi. And uh we thank you all for having us tonight. Thank you so much. [Applause] [Music] great things about you. Thank you so much. Okay. Uh with that, some some
news. We we uh the elevator at Burl Hall is 40 years old, as is the elevator here and I believe the uh historical uh building uh the museum. Uh, but the one at Bur Hall has been down and we're
hoping that they got the part in today. 40-year-old parts are hard to find. I'm 71 and those parts are hard to find when you need a replacement. Um, but that being said, we hope we hope that it's good news and the part will do the trick
and the elevator will be back in service. That being said, we'll we'll go to general uh agenda items. Application for a special event received from St. Suspa RC Church for their annual parish carnival on parish grounds on from June
19th to the 21st from 5:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. Any objection? Next item. Authorization to award a contract for Mammoth Ocean Educational Services Commission contract to Magic Construction to upgrade the staff bathrooms at the active adult center and
the amount not exceed $55,471.61. Any objection? Next item. Authorization to advertise for the receipt of bids for water department chemicals. Any objection? Next item. Authorization to report promote Thomas Washkll Chevz
from senior assessing aid to deputy tax assessor effective May 1st through June 20th 2025 and July 1st 2025 through June 30th 2029. Is there any objection? No objection to that. Okay. uh CFO's
report. Danielle, thank you, mayor. Um I just wanted to say thank you everybody for your patience. I'm so glad that we got um the budget introduced tonight and I look forward to continuing to work with everybody to adoption. Thank you. Borrow Engineers report. Jay Cornell. Thank
you, Mayor. You'll report to your Okay. The sun Um, borrow attorney's report. Uh, nothing tonight, the mayor. Thank you. Okay. With that, I'm going to open the public portion for questions and comments. Are there any questions,
Jeff? Thank you, Mayor Jim Robinson. At the last meeting, I had asked if all of the members had gotten the $590,000 appraisal for the 40 acres behind Kennedy Park that I had sent to
you. Um because some of you didn't get it through official channels apparently. So, I sent it to everybody and you I hope by now everybody has read it. Councilwoman Novak, I know you have Stash. You and I had a conversation
about it. I hope that um you've read it. You saw that it was in fact, despite what some have said, it was in fact $590,000 for the 40 acres or 39 12 acres, whatever they are exactly. And it
indicated why. It indicated the condition of the land, what the status was, and the state it was in. And there were um comps there. And you may recall that before I even saw that appraisal, I
told you I was familiar with that property and I was my guess, my best guess, and I do a little bit of commercial real estate here and there. Um, was that it was worth about $600,000 and lo and behold, the
appraisal came in $590,000. Um so two years ago before you knew the amount this council voted to move ahead to get the appraisal to explore that. Former mayor Kilpatrick and former mayor
John McCormack gotten together suggested that we purchased that 40 acres to preserve it. You voted to move ahead. We got the appraisal was finally sent to you shared. I made it public $590,000. We have a lot of money in that open
space committee. Um, so it's not a taxes aren't going to go up because of that. We've had that money. In fact, we haven't spent any open space money. What's there? 12 million, 14 million, something like that. Um, and this is
590. This is less than 600,000. So, are we going to move ahead with this? Donna, you supported it a couple years ago. Mary, you supported it a couple years ago. I don't know if Dan, you were here. I don't know about others. Um, we know
what the amount is. We know it's there. We know we have the money. We know that they're not making land anymore. We know that people aren't happy with all the development in town and the traffic and everything else that it brings. Are we going to move ahead? All it takes is a
motion and a second and we can move ahead and start to negotiate. We have the money. We know the value. We have the appraisal. All it takes is a little bit of courage, a little bit of guts, a little bit of desire to do what the people in town want, and that is
preserve land. Who has the guts? Who has the courage to do that? Donnie, you supported it last year. I hope you will now, especially now you're running. That's the first thing I want to talk about. Bailey Park, I did confirm what's going on there absolutely is a violation
of Greenacres rules. Are there any updates on when that is going to be cleaned up? When they're going to be out of there, is there going to be any compensation? Are we going to do an environmental assessment to make sure that things are fine? Any update on that?
None beyond what I provided you by email a week or two ago. Okay. Well, that's that's disappointing because that that shouldn't be there for a lot of reasons. One of which is that it can imperil
future Green Acres grants because we are not using that property the way we got money from Green Acres using it for. It's not supposed to be a a depot for construction site. It's not it's not what we got that money for. And um mayor, I saw today
that your friend Speaker Coughlin and Congressman Palone wrote a letter demanding that NL take immediate action to clean up the toxic pollution left behind in the Ren River near their former NL titanium dioxide site in Sarville. You know, I think you also saw
the report that NL released talking about the sediment analysis which confirms elevated concentrations of arsenic, copper, lead, nickel, and zinc in the river riverbed samples and they all exceed safe levels. So, I want to
congratulate and compliment Speaker Coughlin and Congressman Malone for once within two weeks of that report being released, them jumping on this and demanding that action be taken. I would hope this burough council would do something similar. I would hope this
burough council, who also represents the people of this town, who should have a concern about our health and safety and the environment here, will take action and do the same kind of thing. All right, Jim, you need to close it out. Give your five minutes. Okay, one last
question. Is the mayor an exofficial member of all the council committees? Usually by by ordinance, the mayor is the facto member of all commissions. Okay. Ex official member of all committees. Y. So if a committee
meets, there are three members of that committee plus the mayor. So that's a committee of four. Would that be correct? Is my math right? 3 + 1 is four. Jim, I don't know. We'll have to get back to you or take it up. Okay. I was just wondering because take it up at
the next meeting. There was a committee meeting here, three council people and the law says that you I'm sure you know, mayor, if it is attended by or open to members of the committee and as an ex official member, you are entitled to attend that. So, four members. I just
like to make sure that we don't get ourselves in trouble. So maybe we can we'll bring it up. Maybe we can find out. Okay. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Are there any other questions? Brian, young lady, do you have a question? Yes. Thank
you. My name is Elram Pador. E L R P A D O. I'm here to talk about a couple of things. One is the disability access on Zoom. Years ago, I was able to attend these meetings on Zoom. And now, since
you became mayor, you took it away. I want to know why you took it away. There are many sick people. There are also people like me that don't want to come out in public. I have to wear like this. This I have to wear this to go out in public. It is against my
religion to show my head and in my body in public. So I have to risk myself to come out here to speak to you where you have actually I banned masks in this town. You banned masks. Are you going to take my mask off? I didn't understand
what she said. Are you are you going to take my mask off because it you do not like masks. I'm wondering if I'm going to make this person off the mask off. We have no ban against masks. We don't have a ban against I've seen people with masks on here and you had problems with
the masks. You shut down a meeting because of people wearing masks. I watched the meeting from home. I watched it. Why? Why did you shut the meeting down for a man wearing a mask? Because it's a safety issue. So you feel unsafe
because of me? No, we checked with legal and it's legal. It's legal for people to wear masks. Thank you. What about Zoom access? Can we have Zoom access? No plans at this time because Zoom Zoom was done as as an accommodation during CO.
Yes. For 19 months, we had to we had to do this. We had to wear masks. CO. Yes. And then we took it away. Correct. But we had disability people, people in wheelchairs with cancer taking parts like they never could before. And you took it away. Your own son is disabled.
He cannot take part in these meetings. Okay. How does your son feel not being able to take part in these meetings? I'm not looking to bring it back. That's terrible. I feel unsafe having to come out in public because I want to express
my feelings. And if I if I show my body, I will get stoned. Not New Jersey stoned, Middle East stone. They will beat me. I can be thrown off building. I risk my life being here. Not not in this town. They won't. It's against the war here in
Sarville to stone or beat a woman, anybody for that matter. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. We need the microphone there. Thank you. Don't stop me there.
Okay, Brian. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Uh, I just want to start off by saying, um, happy to see the scouts here. Brian, we need you to not that you need an introduction, but stay tuned. Brian, director of recreation for the
Paris Center. Okay. Uh, I just want to start off by saying I'm happy to see the scouts here because I was a scout and it's kind of got how I was involved in the community and this government life that I am now a part of. So, it's great to see the scouts here and learn about that. I also wanted to say uh thank you
for taking the time out of your busy days to recognize May as water safety month. Water safety is something that everyone in our community is responsible for. So, what have we done as a recreation department? Uh, well, we partnered with Middle Sex County last year to offer free swim lessons to
second graders. And in the coming days, we will uh post water safety checklists for boers at the program and distribute safety tips through our social media. And we're looking to partner with the American Red Cross to introduce a landbased water safety program at our
summer camps. Understanding uh how to be safe around water is important and can prevent a major tragedy. It's important for everyone of all ages that understand the key aspects of water safety, whether our garden facilities in a backyard pool or on a river. So, I'd encourage
everyone in our community to learn more about water safety by visiting the National Drowning Prevention Allianc's website at www.pa.org. There you will learn about the five layers of protection and how you can educate yourself and your family to be safe around water. Uh so on behalf of
the NJPA and the NJSA, uh thank you again for recognizing May as water safety month so we can prevent any tragedies and be safe around our water. Thank you. Thank you for Are there any other questions or comments? Being no other questions or comments, I'll entertain a motion to
close the public portion. I make a motion to close the public portion. Second. All in favor? I I With that, I wanted to ask the burough attorney to go over uh Yes, Mayor. Uh uh you were asking to
respond to the the question or issue that brought up regarding the borrower's purchase of uh a piece of property uh by a member of the public. Uh that can the the appraisal was obtained. While I have seen a copy of that appraisal as well, I do question some of the findings in
there and the the accuracy of it, but not nonetheless I know the burrow has and working with the borrow administrator has reached out to that property owner to determine whether or not they are interested in selling the property and they responded and the borrow administrator actually
uh advised this at a public meeting at least a month ago if not maybe a little bit longer that they are not not looking to sell. So, for the borrower to purchase the property, to take any action by the borrower council, we need to have a willing seller. The seller is not willing to sell, there's nothing the borrow can do, no matter what the value
of the appraisal report uh came in at. Uh the local lands and buildings law requires us to do so. Uh we would have to have to go through and if there's a specific piece of property we want to purchase, we'd have to have a willing seller to do so. Otherwise, the only other way would be through eminent domain, which requires court uh process
and can be a very expensive venture. would our office does handle quite a number of mayor quite a number of um eminent domain cases for various municipalities and those can u be at least $500,000 in expenses just to get through the process.
Okay, thank you. Take a m take a motion to adjourn. I can use motion something. If we um I' I've been sitting up here a long time like you and we have that it is I've always been advised that committee
meetings do not have to be advertised. They have we can't put ourselves in a locked room but we you know we can have committee meetings because it is only three people. Does before we close, does the lawyer have an opinion on this because I know every lawyer has another
opinion. I didn't really understand the question. Yeah. What was the what's what's the question that you want me to It was brought up that since the mayor is and technically a mayor of a committee that means it's open to four. So, we would have to advertise. In the past,
the legal opinion has always been, you know, as long as we don't, you know, if if if the if a meeting has is intended to have at least three members of the council and the mayor, then it is a public meeting subject to the open public meetings act. But if a meeting is not going to be attended by at least
three or or four council members to be the same way, but at least four council members or excuse me, at least three council members and the mayor, if it's just going to be three council members, then it does not qualify as a public meeting under the definition of the open public meetings act because that that's what the opinion was previously. I just
wanted to get that on the record. Yes. Yes. That's the question. Yes. Sorry. Okay. That being said, I'll take a motion for adjournment. Make motion to adjurnn. Is there a second? Second. Roll call. All in favor? I oppose. Thank you. Thank
you, Troop 777. You make Sarah proud and we expect to read great things about you uh as time goes on. [Music]