Go ahead. Good evening. Welcome to the seventh meeting of the year. Today is May 5th, 2025. Alyssa, can you please read the uh publication? In compliance with chapter 231 of public law 1975, notice of this meeting to be held at the Criminal
Justice Building, 61 Main Street, South River, has been published in the Home News Tribune on January 5th, 2025. Post on the municipal building bulletin board, the burough website, and the front door of the criminal justice building at 61 Main Street, South River. Roll call. Mayor Gindy here. Council
here. Councilman Santis here. Councilman Deminian here. Councilman Janna here. Councilman Kensky here. Council President Sila here. Please stand for 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. Please stay standing for a moment of silence. You may be seated. She has no proclamations or presentations. So we go on to new
business. Uh 2025-150 authorizing reading of 2025 budget by title only. Resolution 2025150 resolution to read budget by title only. Whereas
NJSA4A 4-8 provides that the budget be read by title only at the time of the public hearing if a resolution is passed by not less than the majority of the full governing body providing that at least one week prior to the date of the hearing. A complete copy of the approved budget as advertised posted in town hall
and copies have been made available by the clerk to persons requiring them. And whereas these two conditions have been met therefore being is hereby resolved budget shall be read by title only. Make a motion to pass that resolution. Motion second. Motion by uh Councilwoman
Balis, seconded by council president. Counciloman Ballas. Yes. Councilman Santis. Yes. Councilman Demian. Yes. Councilman Janopolis. Yes. Council Gensky. Yes. Council President Sila. Yes. What's adoption of 2025 municipal
budget? We'll do the public hearing first. Okay. I like to open up to the public. Good evening everyone. Donado from 30 daily street. I only two things. One is the battery project. I asked for
information. I did receive the information hoping they would answer my questions. think I'm missing a few things. I've got a chance. We're talking about the budget. Oh, I'm so sorry. Public say public. I will remind
you. I will remind you. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Uh that's first call. Second call. Third call. Motion by Councilman Kashinsky. Seconded by Council President. All in favor? I
uh discussion. We have a motion. Motion to adopt. Second. Motion by council council and Kosinsky. Second by councilman. Council Ballas. Yes. Councilman Dantis. Yes. Councilman Deanian. Yes. Councilman
Gianopalis. Yes. Councilman Gchensky. Yes. Council President Sula. Yes. What is adoption of the 2025 municipal budget public hearing of 2025 budget resolution? I am so sorry. Agenda
sessions uh order second reading. We have three part. Would you like to talk about the first one? Which one? 14 10 park is for Catherine approved by Joe1 recreation fees. Yes, this was
recommended by the recreation committee uh to increase some fees and um some approval time recreation committee uh 2025-12 which is on Reed Street. Yeah. Um this is the parking lot for the
office on the recreation department. Um we need to have an ordinance in place to enforce people not doing business from parking in the lot. And then for first reading, we have four
um the EMS, which I could talk a little bit more about it. We are cleaning out the OEM uh trailer. We found a lot of uh old OEM material, sorry, EMS equipment, which we ended up donating it to the
Miltown Rescue Squad since they are one of our mutual aid. So that's what that's for. Uh the next ordinance 2025-14, Andrea, which is on a bamboo. Sure. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh 202514. This is just an amendment to
your property maintenance article. It uh establishes new ways to plant bamboo uh to maintain it in a in a secluded area. Uh and it also puts in provisions to
prevent it from spreading. Art, can you talk about the 2025 which is on what that is? Is the lease law in South River and enforcement of it? The code enforcement officer within the list. They really don't not part of her function. So we taking the code
enforcement officer out and replacing her with the animal patrol officer who had been giving out tickets for every time you see on Facebook that the police found another dog. This will now when the people come and pick up their dog, they're going to get a ticket
too. And then the part the next one which is 2025 Maple Street as you know the parking is limited in um the office on aging parking lot and there was an existing
um loading zone. Thank you. Existing loading zone on Maple Street. There aren't no buildings there anymore and as long as it's still an ordinance it can be enforced by the police and we can't park there. So this
will take that loading away and make more parking. All right. Thank you. We're going to go to the first second reading which 202510. Ordinance 202510, an ordinance to amend the code of the burough south river,
chapter 193 entitled vehicles and traffic by amending section 193-31.1 schedule 2a handicap parking thereof. Motion second motion by councilman, second by
councilman desendis. All in favor like to open it to the public. First call. Second call. Motion public. Second. Motion by council president. Second by councilman.
All in favor? Council discussion. What is your motion? Motion to adopt. Motion by councilwoman. Second by council president. Counciloman Ballas. Yes. Councilman Santis. Yes. Councilman Demian. Yes. Councilman Janopalis. Yes. Councilman Kachensky.
Yes. Council President Sa. Yes. Lesson 202511. Ordinance 202511. Ordinance of the Burrow of South River County, Middle Sex, State of New Jersey, amending the burough code in the burrow of South River so as to amend chapter 155 entitled fees. Motion motion by council pres.
Second by council president. All in favor? Like to open this to the public. Call Second call. Motion to close public. Motion by council president Sila. Second by council. All in favor? I. Council
discussion. What is your motion? Motion. Motion by council. Councilwoman. Second by council. Counciloman Ballas. Yes. Councilman Dantis. Yes. Councilman Demian. Yes. Councilman Janopus. Yes. Council Gensky.
Yes. Council President Sila. Yes. What's that? 2025-12. Ordinance 202512, an ordinance of the burrow of South River, county of Middle Sex, state of New Jersey, amending the burough code, the burrow of South River, so as to amend chapter 193 entitled vehicles and traffic. What is your
motion? Motion by council woman, second by Councilman Desennis. All in favor? I open it up to the public. Jim Hutcherson, 38 Virginia Street. I'm speaking on behalf of the Office on Aging that this effects along with Park
and Recreation. Um I strongly urge everybody to support this motion uh in this ordinance as uh there's been times like weekends and so forth where members of the office on aging and even park have gone to the building. Parking lot
is full especially on Sundays. Um other people are parking in there. You're not sure what's going on. So, we want to make sure that's private property. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else from the public? First call.
Motion to close. Second. Motion by Councilman Kinsky. Second by Councilman J. All in favor? Council discussion. What is your motion? Motion to adopt. Motion by council.
Second by councilomanis. Council. Yes. Councilman Dantis. Yes. Councilman Deian. Yes. Councilman Janopus. Yes. Councilman Kensky. Yes. Council President Sula. Yes.
We're going to go to first reading 2025-13. Please. Ordinance 202513. An ordinance of the burrow of South River County, Middle Sex, state of New Jersey, authorizing the sale of various EMS equipment not needed for public use accordance with the
provisions NJSA4A12-21.1 to the Miltown Rescue Squad. Mayor, I move that the council pass ordinance 2025-13 on its first reading by title only and the cler be authorized to publish the same as required by law with a second reading and public hearing
to be held at 7:00 p.m. on June the 2nd, 2025 by video conference via Zoom or in a council chambers of the criminal justice building 61 Main Street South, New Jersey. Second. Motion by council president. Second by counciloman. Council Ballas. Yes. Councilman Santis.
Yes. Councilman Demian. Yes. Councilman Janopolis. Yes. Council Chensky. Yes. Council President Sula. Yes. Alissa. 2025-14. Ordinance 202514. An ordinance of the burrow of South River County, Middle Sex, State of New Jersey, amending the Burough Code of the Bureau of South
River so as to amend chapter 258 entitled property maintenance. May I move that the council pass ordinance 2025-14 on its first reading by title only. The clerk be authorized to publish the same as required by law for a second reading and public hearing
to be held at 7 p.m. on June 2nd, 2025 by video conference via Zoom or in the council chambers of the criminal justice building, 61 Main Street, South River, New Jersey. Second motion by council president, seconded by council. Council, yes.
Councilman Dantis, yes. Councilman Danian, yes. Councilman Janopus, yes. Councilman Ginsky, yes. Council president, yes. 2025-15. Ordinance 202515, an ordinance of the burrow of South River, county of Middle
Sex, state of New Jersey, amending the burough code of the burrow of South River so as to amend chapter 108 entitled animals. Mayor, I move that the council pass ordinance 2025-15 on its first reading by title only and the clerk be authorized to publish the same as required by law for second reading of
public hearing to be held at 7 p.m. on June the 2nd, 2025 by video conference via Zoom or in the council chambers of the criminal justice building 61 Main Street, South River, New Jersey. Second motion by Council President Siola. Second by Councilwoman Ballas.
Council Bales. Yes. Councilman Dantis. Yes. Councilman Demian. Yes. Councilman Janopus. Yes. Councilman Gchensky. Yes. Council President Sula. Yes. Alyssa 2025-16. Ordinance 202516, an ordinance of the burrow of South River, county of Middle
Sex, state of New Jersey, amending the burough code of the burrow of South River so as to amend chapter 193 entitled vehicles and traffic. Move the council pass ordinance 2025-16 on its first reading by title only. The clerk be authorized to publish the same as required by law with a
second reading and public hearing to be held at 7 PM on June 2nd, 2025 by a video conference via Zoom or in the council chambers of the criminal justice building, 61 Main Street, South River, New Jersey. Second. Motion by Council President Sila. Second by Councilwoman.
Council Ballas. Yes. Councilman De Santis. Yes. Councilman Deian. Yes. Councilman Janopus. Yes. Council Chensky. Yes. Council President Sula. Yes. We are going to go into our reports. Uh Justin, see you. Thank you, mayor. Just a brief summary of the capital project status report prepared
by Bruce Cotch from my office for the NJ DOT fiscal year 2023 and 2024 local aid program. The contractor has completed sanitary sore work and paving on Leonardine Avenue. Uh speaking with the contractor this week, they plan on coming back the week after Memorial Day
to finish their paving for the 2023 local a transportation projects grant. Our office submitted plans inspects to the DOT for review and we're waiting on their comment. 2025 local aid program our South River received a little over a
million half a million dollars and um our office submitted a proposal for professional services. Uh 2023 electrical substation maintenance. The contractor has completed the testing and maintenance. They sent our office a report this week and we expect to close them out within the upcoming week. uh
NJD storm water assistance grant. Our survey department completed work that was required before May. Um we submitted a proposal and I believe it's on today's agenda. And then the last item of the report is the DOT released their list of 2026 municipal aid applications. That's
all. Thank you. And thank you anything for uh Justin. Just one quick thing. Justin, can you check when they're coming back with the painting on Lenardine if they're going to be painting all the intersections up and you know all that? Right. After they complete the painting, they'll be back
out there. Okay, great. Thank you. Uh Joe, you have three resolutions on the agenda, mayor. First one is resolution to approve purchase of dispatch furniture under national co-op. This was provided in the bond ordinance two years ago. Second one is a chapter
159 to include special items of revenue in the budget now the budget has been adopted. That is recycling tonnage grant $23,17320, recycling enhancement grant $5,7825 and 2025 local recreation grant 89,000 which is for pickle ball courts at uh Parker Park. And then last one is
what Justin just said um resolution for storm water work for CMA to get that project by the end of the year which is requirement by the state. All right. Uh, fire chief. Thank you, Mayor Council. Currently, all units are in
service. We have no issues. We're on target for this year. Council, Andrew, I have nothing tonight. Mayor, um, just that the primary election's coming up. Um, it's going to be June
10th. Um, the county has sent out the mail and ballots starting on uh, April 24th. So if you have a mail and ballot, you can fill it out and you can drop it off at the dropbox in front of 48 Washington. Thank you. All right. Yeah. First I have um
Adriano's report from DPW. First I can report that the substation is 100% operating after the unfortunate incident on Friday. Everything is back working. Uh also informing the public that he's starting
summer hours soon. So you're hearing the garbage trucks out earlier than one cuz they hard for them to work in the heat. So they're out for the next couple months a little earlier in the day and they're closed Memorial Day. So there'll be no brush pickup on that
Monday. From my report uh I can uh report that uh 90% of the meter project is completed now. We're down to the last 10, which is like 500 meters, doing some
personal visits and phone calls myself. Um, once that stops, both people who have refused to either hear our letters or have told the person that's been making phone calls over my dead body, uh, they
will be telling that to the judge because we want to get this done. the meter company uh wants to get the job completed. They want to be out by the end of May. And um you will be seeing people around town starting tomorrow. The
subcontractor for the engineering firm for the water main project, it has to do over 100 test pits. So they will be doing test pits. Obviously, anybody digging a hole, it's the subcontractor of the U engineering firm. And the last
thing I have is um the burrow received notice that we have received $750,000 grant for an all-inclusive playground at uh Volunteers Park. It's not the budget yet though. That'll be in future. So we have to wait for the
state to get talk about wait for final approval from the state. All right. uh the council uh Councilman Kashinski. Thank you, Mayor. The Office on Aging uh will be closed early on
Friday, May 23rd and on May 26th in observance of Memorial Day. Also, we'd also like to remind you that the first day of the month is sign up and any um affairs that the uh office on aging
is having or events uh to sign up by that day. And uh if you want to reserve yourself a seat, also the New Jersey State Property Tax Relief Program is going to have a presentation on May the 8th at Thursday. Um RSVP is required by
May 6th, meaning tomorrow. So, if you want to find out a little bit more about the program that the state is running as far as your property tax and everything else, um your seniors in your state, uh please sign up, go to the program. Okay,
with that, uh we have a residential shred paper event coming up and that's Saturday, June 28th from 9 till 12:00 at the DWR. With that, that's all I have. Mayor, thank you, Council Morales. Uh yeah,
just a couple things. Uh the the Memorial Day parade uh of course is on May 26th at 1 p.m. starting at Hillside in Maine. Uh if there's any groups that still wish to march, they can contact the cultural arts at cultural arts
river.org. And they're also taking sponsors from anyone that can sponsor them. That helps with the years to come. And they would also like to thank three vendors that have made donations and that would be 33's bar, the Portuguese
fisherman and T. Reagan Trucking. Uh other than that from them, nothing. But as always, look to your South River Library website. I looked at theirs this weekend. They did so much stuff up there today. Yesterday they did May the Fourth be With You and they they did a cooking
class and they really have some amazing things. Their patio is now open in the back if you want to go out there, bring a snack, read a book. It looks absolutely beautiful. So, you get a chance, take a ride on up. That's all. Council member,
thank you, Mayor. Um with the power outage step that's in place on Friday, everyone pretty much is aware of uh as power was re being restored throughout the town. The reason why um sections were up and then went back down was because it was putting a stress on the
system and the burough electric department um was doing the best they can to continue to improve the areas that were going down um and restoring them. And eventually around 10 p.m. all the areas in the town were up and
restored along with cable. Many thanks to our electric department and all the departments of DPW that worked on that throughout the day um to resolve that issue. I'm currently working with Adam Dehains who's the developer of our website and
I'm creating with him a new tab at the top of uh the main page that will give a status of current projects that are going on in the burrow in the current year. So, a lot of people have asked questions and it's a good thing to have something out there that'll give updates
on these projects such as which roads are being paved. um park improvements, battery project explaining it and what's going on with that waterline replacement project and new development projects. Currently, the tab says projects blog
blog and this tab will be completed soon and people will be able to go in there and then see what's going on with the current projects throughout the town. Um and it'll be updated uh when we have new information on those projects. And that's all I have in here. Thank you,
Council. For the board of education, their next public meeting is Thursday, May 22nd at 7 p.m. in the high school auditorium. For recreation advisory board update, registration is now open for Pop Warner football and cheer, football for ages 5
through 13, and cheer for ages 3 through 14. And that is the age as of July 31st of this year. Registration is also open for the summer wreck program. This is for South residents currently in 1 through 7th grades. This program runs July 7th
through August 7th. You can visit the Burough website for more details and to register. Go to www.southovernj.org. Click departments then parks and recreation and you'll see a link to enroll. If any issues online, you can always call the office at 732254412.
And the next recreation advisory board meeting will be Tuesday, June 10th at 7 p.m. at 55 Reach Street. Residents are welcome and encouraged to attend. Thank you, Councilman Junior Collins. Yes, Mayor.
Um, a couple of things. Just to remind everyone that uh on the 26, do not put out yard waste. That's Monday, Memorial Day. It's a good holiday. And to uh piggyback on uh what Hank said, um when the power went down that
day, a a a truck had had not put down its roll off and it took down wires. Our and took down a couple of poles, right? So when the power goes
down that way, we have an electric company that's here in town and we're out there within minutes to start addressing it. Other towns, you know, if you have another power company, I'm not I don't want to put down JCP now and what
PSG, but you would have to report it. They might get there hours and hours later. We were on site right away. And when you put power when you turn it back on, you turn it back on temporarily. and your power might be on and they try
to turn it on temporarily so you could have power as quick as possible, but then they got to shut it down to get other lines back on. So, it's not that there's some kind of a, you know, I don't know, people think that they can get better somewhere else. It got done
really quick, really efficient, and you really, everyone always thinks the grass is greener somewhere else. It is not. And on top of all that, our rates are staying low. And we got out there and got that power back on the same day. So I see a lot of people knocking us. Our
our department was out there right away. It was a big deal of that. And uh so that's what I had to say about that. And uh what do we have? The uh environmental uh shade tree commission is having a meeting. It's going to be on uh May
15th. It's a Thursday. Anyone's welcome to come. It's down at the uh 48 uh Washington at our burough administrative building. And that's it. That's all I have now. All right. Thank you. I will open my comments.
President um reported on EDC. They had their spring gathering on May 1st for the businesses to get together and to talk about different things that they can do. Um, we had a representative from
the state here uh explaining grants, low interest loans for all our small business. Um, it was very wellreceived for the people who did attend. A lot of the businesses for some reason didn't attend, but we had a great crowd there and everybody was very happy with the
information that was passed on. Again, just to touch base with everybody else saying again, thank you our DPW workers, our streets, roads, sanitation, electric. Um, they all do a
great job and like we said, in an emergency, they're out there in no time. So you can't complain about, you know, we don't do the job. Yes, these guys do the job. They work very hard at it. And if you see them, thank them for a job that they do. And with that, mayor,
right now, that's all I have. Thank you. Um, we're going to go to Marial appointments, human relations commission, Shakira rep. Um, consent resolutions. I like to open it up to the public. I'm sorry.
Again, good evening. My name is Joe Donado. I live at 30 Daily in South Brew here. And thank you all very much for making me not feel as bad as I did when I first came up here. Uh I appreciate that. Uh again, two things. Battery
project. I'm going to be asking for more information because this is uh what I got although it's a lot. I got have time to digest it and uh we'll see what happen. I've got concerns and questions which I will be distributing to everyone on the council to that point so we don't spend
a lot of time up here. Uh secondly, yes, our utility department is fantastic. I've seen them in operation. I've watched what they've done. I've seen how they've gone by and just repaired something temporarily gone someplace that's more important. This is a
supertorrm Sandy. I watch those guys. They are unbelievable. And another group of people that I've uh found by personal experience recently, I went and got a building permit for my home. Do some work in my home. Everyone down at the
burrow hall, Patty in particular, and all the inspectors have been fantastic. They're very concerned about the people. They give some insightful comments and they've always been uh I haven't I don't think I've met anyone uh I mean, I'm a
civil service worker, so you know, but I mean I I haven't met anyone in the burrow that has ever been disrespectful or blow me off or anything like this. They are great and I wish there were more people like that. Couple
of bad apples from time to time and nothing goes perfect. I am not perfect, but they do the best they can and they do an honest job. So, I like to commend everybody in Burl, all the Bur employees for what
they do. It's fantastic. Um, other than that, I got to give you a piece of good information. They people complain about the civil service workers. They don't do this. They don't do that. They're never not respons responsive. And we are and
the the workers here in South definitely are. And that's like I say from personal experience. Um so that's that being said, you all have a good rest of the month and I'll see you again next month next month. Thank you.
much 38 Virginia Street. Again, speaking on behalf of the office of aging, thank you for supporting that uh ordinance associated with uh parking 55 Green Street. Also, I urge you to support the 20 Maple 25-16
uh parking on Maple and get seniors park over there. um gives them an opportunity then of more parking. So hopefully our next meeting can support that. Speaking on behalf now of Jim Hudson Street, Donna, condolences to you
and your family tragedy. We're very sorry for that. Um, second off echoing what we've talked about as far as the electric company, as someone who spent nearly 20 years at a public utility in
Pennsylvania, electric public utility, um, you're absolutely right. You have to call it in. Crew has to then get gathered, drive in, sometimes wait for markouts to clear. Um, they they do all things before they can get to the job site. Our crews are out there right
away. Um, I've heard about some of the postings that I thought we would have had another utility. The power would have been backed on. No way. No way. Um, that was a mess. That was an absolute mess. As Councilman Gianopoulos stated,
dump truck came through with the dump up. First off, it's a violation of your CDL license. Second off, there's probably an alarm inside that was going off. dump truck was up and then ripped down all the lines, not just our lines,
cable, fiber optics, it was a real real mess out there. So all of that that took place, cross arms broken. I mean, just it was just a real mess. And it's a little bit warm out now, so people running their air conditioners. We are a peak, we're a
summer peaking utility as far as electric is concerned. We use more electricity in the the summertime. So those air conditioners and everything else starts kicking back on. All three-phase stuff starts kicking back on in the area. It surges, puts a strain on the system. That's why again things
start tripping again. So you have to reset things and you have to start bringing things on correct in a in a ve situation. Uh but for the amount of disastrous work that was out there and
for the time that it got we actually got service back to everybody in that area that was amazing. The guys who left the company did a fabulous job an absolutely fabulous job. If that would have been another one another utility health utility I'd say within days we' have
been out for days. Just remember Hurricane Sandy we were back in in three days. three days. There were some areas that were out three weeks, four weeks or longer. That's a testament to the the
folks that we have working for us here. Um, one last comment. Um, at the end of column before you get into Heritage Hills, there's that small strip that goes one way. That road has been closed. Is that open now? No. What What's going on out there? So, that road
was originally supposed to be closed when Heritage Hills and Heritage was made. Unfortunately, it was left open. So, we're just going to close that off. We're closing it off. And the reason we're closing it off is because we have lots of video showing how people were disrespecting.
So, it's a safety hazard. I understand that the uh my firsthand knowledge, the bus driver used to use that the right way going back to DPW and so forth. So, made it easier to pick up some people, but hey, just go out and take a problem.
So, thank you folks. And uh for those that are listening, whatever. Happy Mother's Day. Anyone else? Public. First call. Second call. Motion to close public. Motion by Council President Siola. Second. Second
by Councilwoman B. All in favor? Melissa. Resolutions, please. Whereas resolution 202501 authorizes the bureau council to utilize a consent agenda to adopt various resolutions of a routine and non-controversial nature at one
time. Now therefore be it is hereby resolve that below listed resolutions are hereby adopted by the burough council in whole as if the same were individually acted upon. Consent resolutions 2025152 to 2025 167. 152 resolution authorizing an
abandoned vehicle auction. 153 awarding a contract to CME Associates for professional services. 154 Insertion of any special item of revenue in the budget. 155 appoint South River Free Library Free Public Library Board of Trustees members. 156 Appointment of
Special Law Enforcement Officers Class One. 157 Authorized DPW vehicle auction. 158 Appointment of Summer help to the Department of Public Works. 159 Support for suitability of cannabis business 480 dispensary. 160 Appointing
Board of Health Member. 161 authorizing the purchase of police dispatch furniture. 162 authorized certain utility refunds. 163. Resolution amending appointment of OEM members. 164. Accept April 7, 2025 regular and executive
session minutes. 165. Authorize the bills and claims list. 166. Appointing member to economic development commission 167 awarding a contract to software realy services group incorporated for appraisal services.
What is your motion? Motion by council woman. Second. Second by council president. Counciloman. Yes. Councilman Santis. Yes. Councilmanian. Yes. Councilman Janopolis. Yes. Council Gensky. Yes. With the uh wish to abstain
from resolution 159. Council President Ciola. Yes. All right. We're gonna start at governing body comments from Councilman Hus. I'd uh just like to wish happy
Mother's Day out there and uh the Memorial Day parade. It's great. Have the uh you know coming down Main Street. It's fun. All the uh groups are out there. Let's all cheer for him and uh honor our the reason we have the
Memorial Day celebration to begin with. Thank you, ma'am. That's all I have. Councilman. Yes. I just want to further touch on some of the electric capability stuff that was brought up.
Um, I also saw some of the comments that people had made based on the response time and the costs and just some things and I'm a very number analytical driven person. So, I just want to give some some statistics that I have because I've asked some questions and I just want to provide some answers for for those that
have made some comments. Uh, the New Jersey Public Power Authority, they published a report. It's based on this coming June 2025 electric rates at 855 kilowatts per hour. These will be your average rates in the state of New
Jersey. Atlantic City Electric $228. JCPNL $175. PSEG $28. Rocklin Electric $220. Those IUs which are investorowned
utilities average $27.98. South River will be $177.19. So the idea that South River has high electric rates is just untrue at this point. So I think we should all understand that there are eight municipality owned utilities in the
state of New Jersey. Lavallet, Madison, Miltown, Park Ridge, Peton, Seaside Heights, and Violin. Those eight average $1779. So South is $177.19. So when it comes to municipally powderly owned, we're right on par with
the rest. I'll further add that we have made an investment of $1.4 million of capital investments over the last 5 years. And out of the eight utilities that are owned by municipalities, we're one of only four that have zero debt in our electric utility. Secondly, the
SIDI is an industry metric that is used to measure electric reliability. The lower the number, the better the score. In 2023, New England Utilities had an average SAIDI score of 489.3 minutes. Mid-Atlantic utilities
had a score of 196.8 minutes. That means that the average home in New England was without power for 489 minutes in 2023. And the average home in the Mid-Atlantic was 196 minutes. South of her score was 69
minutes. Now, I understand that his residents were impacted by the outages personally. But the idea that our power is not reliable or less reliable when compared to others is false based on this data. To add to that, the eight municipality report only included Madison Township
SIDI of 80.4. Therefore, we were the lowest SIDI out of all the municipalities. This was to show the reliability of a municipality owned utility. So, I just want everyone to understand that 10 years ago the statement might have been true, but in
2025 it's not. And as we move forward and do things in this burrow that make sense, we will continue to keep electric rates low while everyone else goes up. And that's our promise to you. And that's that's this is published that. This is not an opinion or a Facebook post is a fact. Thank you, Mayor.
Councilman just Thank you, mayor. um like to acknowledge um Mr. Irvanovich, a lifelong resident of South River, passed away this past Friday. Um saying his
name because in the past years he was on the municipal allowance allowance and the planning board committees. Uh condolences to his family. Um the next free concert at the Imperial Music Center will be Sunday, June 1st at 2
o'clock. It's a free concert. It's at the Imperial Music Center. It's a lot of fun, good music, and happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there. And that's it. Thank you, Council. Um, I just have one thing.
Um, I just want to thank everybody for my sister told me not to do this for your thoughts and prayers on the passing of my sister. We appreciate everything that everybody suggests.
again. Okay. First off, I'd like to extend my condolences personally, but also I'd like to thank the public service workers of South River for all of the fine work they do between our police, our fire, especially our DPW for maintaining our
parks, roads, streets, electric utility, water department, everything else. Um, also I wish all of the mothers out there a happy Mother's Day. And Memorial Day is one day that we remember those that went before us that give us this land of
freedom. Thank you, Council President. Thank you. Um again, condolences, Donna, for your sister, your family the same. um like to say happy Mother's Day to
everybody and happy Memorial Day and please turn out for the parade and if you see a veteran, thank him for his service. Without them, I don't know where we'd be. But again, thank a veteran.
Thank you. Well, here we are. already got another $750,000 in grant money from the New Jersey DP Garden State Preservation Trust for the Green Acres. This is for our playgrounds to be exact. Kikowski
Park volunteers. Volunteers, sorry. Volunteers and congratulate the administration. Nice work by Joe as well as Don. We also received another grant, $89,000. Governor Murphy along with the
New Jersey Department of Community Affairs for pickle ball courts at Fargo Park. Yes, we're moving parks forward. Everybody says these parks are not getting established. They're well established. And I thank the administration once again for the the
work that they do with their grants. BPDW, Police Department, Fire Department, and especially the OEM did a remarkable job at the uh truck accident that happened on Wayad Avenue, taking out two poles affecting pretty much the south side of the South River. The
electricity was down for quite a while, but they came forward and they stayed around the clock until this was back up and running. So, I congratulate all each and every one of these people for doing what they did. I'm happy to announce that the council as well as myself, we will be hosting
the frost on a pumpkin uh this coming October. We will have a date uh presented at our next council meeting. Uh anyone that's interested in helping out, reach out to me as well as the rest of the council. We'll let you know when our next meeting is going to be. Memorial Day, it's a day of remembrance.
Um thank your vets. They're they're the reason that we're here today. The weather is getting good, really good, exception of this week. Lots of rain. Kids are out playing. Please drive
slowly. I can't tell you how much this means to me when you're driving under the speed limit if it's possible. I know it's asking a lot to these in inner sweets, but these kids are rolling up and down. And last, for all you mothers out there, happy Mother's Day. Have a happy and healthy
day as well as you. Thank you. Uh we are going to be going into executive session. We are not going to be taking any actions when we come out. You're more than welcome to hang out if you like. It's up to you. Alissa, you please read the
uh 2025 168. Resolution 2025 168. Whereas section 8 of chapter 231 public law 1975 permits the exclusion of the general public from a meeting of the governing body under certain circumstances. And whereas the mayor
council of the burrow of South River are of the opinions of circumstances presently exist. Now therefore, be it is hereby resolved by the mayor and council of the burrow of South River in the county of Middle Sex, state of New Jersey, that the public be excluded upon the hereafter specific subject matter, and that such subject matter to be so
discussed is as follows: property acquisition and contract negotiations. Be it further resolved that such record of the above discussion will be made public when confidentiality is no longer required, the burough council of the burough south may or may not take formal action at the conclusion of the executive session. Motion to go
into close. Second. Motion by councilman Kashinski. Second by council. Council Dallas. Councilman DeSantis. Yes. Councilinian. Yes. Councilman Jop. Yes. Council member Jensen. Yes. Council president. Yes.