[Music] [Music] May uh Vice President Coleman lead us in the flag salute, please. I pledge allegiance 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. No, excuse me. Can I have a moment of silence, please, for um my father, Robert Lamb, who passed away suddenly, who was a devoted 47year member of Lavallet public service. He gave his life to that. and also Jackson
C Jackson Council member Scott Sergeant who passed away suddenly and Debbie Baron who was tra tragically killed over the weekend. Please, thank you. Thank you very much. Before we get started, I'd like to ask for the immediate resignation of Luno
Tul and Bill Burn from the council. I would second this meeting is convened in accordance with revision development public meetings act of New Jersey. Let the official minutes reflect that advocate notice meeting has been provided by publishing a notice in Aspbury Park Press on Friday January 10th 2025 in a store ledger Friday
January 10th 2025 and thereafter posting same on the town hall bulletin board for such notices and filing same as the township clerk pursuant to a resolution adopted by the township council on Tuesday January 7, 2025. The meeting dates have also been posted on the township web
page. Mr. Hel, roll call, please. Council President Lamb, here. Council Vice President Coleman here. Councilwoman Oul here. Councilman Burn here. Councilman Sakosi here. And Councilman
Nson. Councilman N. You don't have the floor. You don't have the floor. You don't have the floor. Councilman, keep the roll call going, please. Councilman Nson. Yes, I'm here. Councilman Quinnisk, not I don't know. Am I allowed to say
anything? Roll call. Councilman Quinnisk. Well, remove me. Well, you don't have the floor. Don't have the floor. Mr. Hel, minutes, please. Councilman Quinnisk, your attendance. I am here. Thank you.
Minutes. Mr. Hansel. Item number five is a minute from the April 30th, 2025 council meeting. Move the minutes. Second. Uh motion was made by Council President Lamb, seconded by Councilman Coleman. Council President Lamb, yes. Council Vice President
Coleman, yes. Councilwoman Otul, yes. Councilman Burn, yes. Councilman Sakosi, yes. Councilman Nverson, yes. Councilman Quinnless, yes. Item number six, we for honoring resolutions and presentations. Um, we're
going to honor National EMS Week. Move the proclamation. And a second. I'll second that. All in favor? I. I. Will the council members please join me in a well, please? Thank you. A big shout out to Silverton
EMS. Thank you. guys want to come up. Thank you. Stay back there. Okay. All right, guys. Thanks for joining us. Uh many in the crowd might not know that it's National EMS week from the May 18th to May 24th. And in recognition of such,
we want to thank the community service officers that work under the tent of the police department. They do a fine job. They respond. We've knocked response times down by more than half. These guys are there when we need them. And you know what? We had a tough weekend. You guys were on scene. You guys did a great
job. And I want to thank all of you. And I think the mayor, on behalf of the mayor and the council, we also thank you. And this audience thanks you. So please, two, three. Okay, Mr. Anzel. All right, moving on to item number seven is a second reading. It's an
ordinance of the township council of the township of Tom's River, Ocean County, New Jersey, making the provisions of the title 39 applicable to Southwinds homeowner association. This is a final reading again and open this up to public comment. Does anybody in the public have any comments they'd like to add to uh
ordinance number seven, please? Seeing none, close public comment. All in favor? I I Thank you. And we're going to take a vote. Count I'll make a motion seven, please. Second. Motion was made by Council
President Lamb, seconded by Council Vice President Coleman. Council President Lamb, yes. Council Vice President Coleman, yes. Councilwoman Oul, yes. Councilman Burn, yes. Councilman Sakosi, yes. Councilman Iverson, yes.
Councilman Quinn, yes. Item number eight is a resolution of the township council of the township of Toms River Ocean County, New Jersey, waving local review of the township budget. Entertain a motion please for eight. So move.
Motion was made by Council President Lamb, seconded by Council Vice President Coleman. Council President Lamb, yes. Council Vice President Coleman, yes. Councilwoman Oul, yes. Councilman Burn, yes. Councilman Sakosi abstain.
Councilman Iverson abstain. Councilman Quinn. Yes. Item number nine is a resolution of the township council of the township of Toms River Ocean County New Jersey authorizing uh the reading of the township of Tom's River 2025 calendar
year budget by title only. Mr. President, before on this may I have the floor for a moment statement that's pertinent to this. We did not hear the presation the presentation first motion. Motion was made by council president Lamb. Second. Seconded by council vice
president Coleman. Council president Lamb. Yes. Council vice president Coleman. Yes. Councilwoman Otul. Yes. Councilman Burn. Yes. Councilman Sakosi. This is the third extension. So
I abstain. Excuse me. Council president. Could I just jump in here for a second to help some of the council members out? Go ahead. So, all all this is is is We don't need help. Excuse me. Excuse me. You don't have the floor. We are voting. You don't have the floor. I gave him the floor. You are voting right now to read
the budget. So, we have our auditor here tonight. Uh and he's he's going to present the budget. So, that's what you're voting on. There is no extension. And then after that, you'll be voting once for the budget. And then afterwards, there will be a second reading. Thank you for that
clarification. Keep going. That was an abstension. Councilman Iverson abstain. Councilman Quinnisk. Yes. Item number 10 is a resolution of the township council of the township of Tom's River, Ocean County, New Jersey.
Uh introducing and approving the 2025 municipal uh budget. Motion 10, please. Motion was made by Councilman Council President Lamb. Second. Seconded by Council Vice President Coleman. Council President Lamb, yes. Council Vice
President Coleman, yes. Councilwoman Ul, yes. Councilman Burn, yes. Councilman Sosi, I didn't even see the budget yet. That's next. So, I abstain. Thank you, Councilman Iverson. I haven't seen it either. Do Maybe we should just hold
Should we hold the vote for the presentation? Is that would that be proper? We'll suspend the vote. Mr. Connelly, please. Please. No clapping out. Mr. Conny, please. Thank you. Yeah, I I I think that we're that would be Yeah, that's the way we normally would go. So, thank you, Mr. Connie. There was a motion on the floor, so it would be
appropriate to withdraw the motion. Yeah, I I'll withdraw my initial motion and let Mr. Connie present his presentation. So, all the votes are going to be withdrawn. Correct. Okay. Thank you. Got Mr. Connie. Thank you. How about now? All right. Uh, thank you very much. Uh, my name is Jerry Conny.
Uh, I am a partner with the, uh, accounting firm Home Inier Allison. Um, we are the auditors for the township of Tom's River. Uh, I was asked if I wouldn't mind, uh, here talking about some of the things that are in this year's budget. Um, the budget was put together by, uh, the mayor and administrator and and CFO here, uh, M.
Doy Gallagher. So, I'm just going to go through some of the high points of this. Um there's no public comment on the budget tonight, just so everybody's aware of the process for this. Um council will be asked to entertain a motion to approve the uh or introduce
the budget tonight. Uh what will then happen is at the next meeting, the June 25th meeting, uh will be the public hearing on the budget where uh everybody will have had the opportunity to see the budget as in a whole uh be able to ask any questions, get any questions answered. uh can also obviously reach
out to the uh mayor administrator uh throughout the month uh to get any questions answered uh as well. So um one of the most important things in the budget the the municipal taxes will remain flat uh in the budget. So uh taxpayers won't see any increase in the
municipal budget uh and the tax rate. Um next item is our surplus. So, uh, currently where the the township stands at the end of 2024, uh, township, uh, ended the year with about just over $52 million in fund
balance. Um, through surplus that's expected to be generated in the 2025 budget, uh, township is expected to end the year with about $67 million uh, in surplus at year end. One of the big reasons for no increase
in taxes is uh significant decreases in payroll uh elimination of a number of positions. Uh expected to save about $5 million for the township for the year 2025. Uh also expected to save about $1.4 million uh in savings on health
insurance uh in the 2025 budget. Couple of things in the budget uh that you want to be mindful of. Uh again, the tax rate remains unchanged from 2024. Uh so no tax increase uh to the mun to the residents uh for the municipal portion of the budget. For an
average uh assessed value of a home, $448,400 is the average assessed value for a home in Tom's River. Um the municipal portion of the taxes is $1,960.68. um just for for edification purposes here, but 1 cent uh increase in the tax
levy would equate to $43 annually. Uh but again, we have no increase in the tax rate. Uh included in the budget is also paying off a little over $12 million in bond principle. Uh so continuing the trend of paying down that debt. Uh again, 0% increase in the tax
rate. Um also municipal portion of the budget uh is down a little bit from where we were last year. last year was about 24 25%, this year we're coming in at about 23%. Um, you can kind of see here the breakdown. Uh, so for a house, whenever
you pay your property taxes, of every dollar of property taxes that's paid, about 51 cents is going to the school district. About 3 cents is going to your special districts, your fire districts, special improvement districts. 22 cents is going to the county. 1 cent is going to open space. And about 23 cents is
coming here to the the municipality. So you can kind of see where the tax money is being spent. Again, the so the overall picture of a home uh average assessed home, again, $448,400. Uh the total tax burden on taxpayer for all of those other taxing
entities as well is just over $8,500. Again, township's paying off $12,57,000 in bond principal uh alone uh in fiscal year 25. So, continuing that reduction. Uh and then the final thing
that's in the budget is a number of capital projects, trying to pay for some of these projects as you go as opposed to going out and bonding and issuing additional debt for that. Uh so paving twice as many roads as last year, adding new parks, uh extending the Ortley Beach Pier, constructing new boat works pier,
and building multiple spray parks uh throughout the township. So So that's what's in the fiscal year 25 budget. Again, tonight's uh what's being asked of council tonight would be to uh introduce or approve the introduced budget. Uh again, the budget
will then be posted to the website and uh anybody can kind of review and look at. And then next month would be the public hearing on it. Uh any questions can be answered and addressed and then uh can be voted on for adoption. So is there um
there are regarding the total amount of expenditures? No, that that would be the one other thing I'd like to highlight for the council is we're reducing the budget in total from 146 million down to $135
million. Is that correct, Mr. Conny? So, there's been an $1 million decrease, which is what's allowing us to pay down debt. U is we're saving that much and a bulk of that was payroll, elimination of unnecessary positions, savings on
insurance, and and various other uh cost savings. Over 9 million about, right? All all in all in 11 million in savings from last year. Very good. M council mcculis, do you have any questions on that subject? On this subject? Yes. No.
Thank you, Mr. Connie. Thank you. Where can we go? Mr. Trans. All right. Let's get a roll call on resolution 10. May I'll motion 10. Second. I'll second it. Motion was made by Council President Lamb, seconded by Council uh Vice President Coleman. Council President
Lamb. Just want to say it's a very very responsible budget and I want to thank the administration and uh Miss Gallagher and also Mr. Connie for being here tonight. Um, again, other council members have questions or issues, they have certainly plenty of time to uh send them my way or send them towards the
administration's way or to Miss Gallagher, but uh I'm going to vote yes. Thank you. Council Vice President Coleman, yes. Councilwoman Otul, yes. Councilman Burn, yes. Councilman Sakosi. Well, compared to last year's
presentation, this one is uh light years ahead that was uh done last year. So, um I'm still going to abstain because this is the first uh I'm seeing of it. So, thank you, Councilman Iverson.
We all know Rodri's just wonderful at manipulating the numbers in his favor, but we need to adopt a budget. So, I vote yes. Councilman Quinn, yes. Uh item number 11 is a resolution of the township council township of Tom's
River, Ocean County, New Jersey, approving the 2025 Toms River Special Improvement District budget. Motion 11. Motion was made by Council President Lamb. Second motion. Seconded by Councilman Nverson. Council President
Lamb. Yes. Councilman Nverson, yes. Council Vice President Coleman, yes. Councilwoman Oour, yes. Councilman Burn, yes. Councilman Sakosi, yes. Councilman Quinn, yes. Moving on to the consent agenda. All
matters listed under the item consent agenda will be enacted by one motion in the form listed below. There will be no separate discussion of these items. If discussion is desired on any item, that item will be considered separately. Pursuant to township code, members of council can ask for a brief discussion andor roll call of a specific item. The
discussion shall remain relevant to the agenda item being discussed. The discussion period can be suspended at the discretion of the council president. In addition, I ask all council members and the administration if they wish to speak or ask a question throughout the business portion of this meeting to
first ask to be recognized by the council president prior to the discussion. Roll call of any request at separate separate items. Any balance remaining will be enacted in one motion. And members of the audience, if you wish to form a line in the center aisle and approach the microphone, state your full
name, your full address for the record. And each speaker will then identify the agenda item by the letter uh on the record that they would like separated for a separate roll call vote. Now, does any member of council first want a roll call on a separate item or have a brief discussion of such?
G NP. Thank you, Dave. Anyone else? That's good. Any member of the public have any uh items they would like separated for a roll call vote? I Thank you. Thank you very
much, Mr. Hel. Can we have a roll call on all items uh minus uh G, I, and P, please? Yes. Let's take a motion to approve the
balance of the consent agenda minus GP. I'll move that. Second. GIP. Yes. Motion was made by Council Vice President Coleman. Second it. Seconded by Councilman Quinn. Council Vice President Coleman. Yes.
Councilman Quinn. Yes. Uh Council President Lamb. Yes. Councilwoman Ul. Yes. Councilman Burn. Yes. Councilman Sakosi. Yes. Councilman Nverson. Yes.
[Music] On G. David, you want a discussion or just roll call? Um, both, please. So, it's my understanding this will be the fourth extension. Mayor, you want to uh opine on on the uh
extension temporary? Yes. Um for the for the better part of your term, for those of you who are on council for the last four years, uh there's always extensions of the temporary budget, we never vote on a budget, usually until May or June and all the time that I'm here, which is
seven or eight years. This is par for the course. Basically what it is is you take a piece of last year's budget proportionate to the amount of time before we get our next budget passed and it just gets reallocated. It's the only way we could continue to operate in the interim between passing a new budget and
leaving behind the old. This is part for the course. We do this forever. I mean and all municipalities. Am I missing something here? Um Mr. Pascarella or Mr. McGucken. Is there anything you would like to add? Nope. It's the same in many municipalities. Thank you, David. Is
that good with that? Um, it was my understanding at last month's meeting that the third extension was going to be the last one, but apparently it was not. So, okay, my question. Motion G, please. Motion was made by Council President
Lamb. Second. Seconded by Council Vice President Coleman. Council President Lamb, yes. Council Vice President Coleman, yes. Councilwoman Otto, yes. Councilman Burn, yes. Councilman Sakosi, abstain. Councilman Nverson,
yes. Councilman Quinn, yes. Moving on to item number I. Roll call, please. Roll call on resolution I. Uh, we need a first and second. A motion then. Motion was made by Council President Lamb.
Second. Seconded by Councilman, Vice President Coleman. Council President Lamb. Just want to let again the audience member for Wly Beach know that this is again for the inspection part of uh the project. We're all over it. Our township engineer has been excellent, John Mey. Um I don't know if he's in the
audience, but he's been I see him back there. Um John, you're doing a great job. I want to thank you for getting us on. We have to get this on now. Um but I vote yes. Thank you administration as well for that. Council Vice President Coleman, yes. Councilwoman Oul,
yes. Councilman Burn, yes. Councilman Sakosi, yes. Councilman Iverson, yes. Councilman Quinn, yes. Uh, the last one is item number item letter P. Can I jump in here before Mr. I I believe that this
is the we've had great success so far out of uh the I believe it was 13 streets that we put the valves in. We are having issues with one valve on one particular street. I believe it's Lookout and that valve is going to be moved to a a better location. So, they've been very successful at keeping
the tidal waters out of the street. Uh, when this was bid out this time though, we we mistakenly did not specify the valve that we have had such success with. So, it's my understanding and again, Mr. Millie is here. He can come up and correct me if I'm wrong, but it's my understanding that we're rejecting
the bids and rebidding it to make sure that we're getting the Swiss valve. Is that what it is? I think it's from Wat. It's a Swiss or Swedish, right? It's like it's incredible. They're using them all over Florida and very good at keeping the tidal water out of the road. Uh but we don't want to use
the other valves. U they've been problematic in places. So that that's why this is we're rejecting and we're going to re uh issue the um the request for for bids with those specifications in. Thank you. Motion P. Motion. Thank
you for the explanation. I'm sorry. Looks like motion was made by council president Lamb. Second by Vice President Coleman. Seconded by Vice President Coleman. Council President Lamb. Yes. Council Vice President Coleman. Yes. Councilwoman Our
here. Councilman Burn. Yes. Councilman Sakosi. Yes. Councilman Iverson. Yes. Councilman Quinn. Yes. I believe we're moving on to the reports. Move the reports. I'll second. Motion was made by Council President
Lamb, seconded by Councilman Nverson. Council President Lamb, yes. Uh, Councilman Iverson, yes. Uh, Councilwoman uh Sakosi, yes. Councilwoman Otul,
here. Councilman Burn, yes. Councilman Quinn, yes. and C council vice president Coleman. Yeah. Moving on to the approval of the bills. Motion bills, please. Motion. Motion was
made by Council President Lamb, seconded by Council Vice President Coleman. Council President Lamb. Yes. Council Vice President Coleman. Uh with the exception of money going to Preferred Behavioral Health, I vote yes on the remainder of the budget.
Councilwoman Our Councilman Burn, yes. Council, yes. Councilman Iverson, yes. Councilman Quinnless. Uh, since we just got the agenda and the bill list today around 10:00 a.m., it's impossible for me to have read through I believe it was 77 pages of bills and check them off and
see if uh if there's anything questionable in there. So, I'm going to have to vote no on this. Moving on to public comment. I will now call on the public for comment. This public comment session will be for a total of 60 minutes. Each speaker will be given three minutes and
must yield the floor of the next speaker upon completion of their statement or at the three-minute mark, whichever comes first. Please form a line in the center aisle and when called, state your full name and full address for the record. There will be no extra time granted for any reason and no speaker may yield their time to another. Speakers and
members of the audience at all times shall maintain proper decorum and shall make their comments in a civilized manner. Personal attacks, obscene, slanders or mandering remarks will not be tolerated and may automatically may automatically seize your time. All
comments or questions from a member of the public shall be directed to the council president who is under no obligation to answer impromptu questions or address a remark. I ask the audience to remain completely quiet. A disruption shall be treated as an interference of a public meeting and I'll stop the speaker
and ask the disrupting member of the audience to leave. Upon the conclusion of the portion of this meeting, I may call on other council members, department heads or the mayor to respond and provide clarification on topics presented during this public session. Mr. Hel, will you please set the running
clock for 60 minutes once the first speaker begins? Thank you. Uh, good evening, council president, council members. Uh, I want to, uh, can you say your name and please? I'm sorry. Melissa Fernandez, executive director
downtown Tom's River. I want to thank the council for the approval of our 2025 budget. Uh this budget was developed with thoughtful input from our board stakeholders and broader business community and it reflects our shared commitment to revitalization, economic
development and community engagement. Our priorities for 2025 include strengthening our marketing and outreach efforts, expanding our event programming to attract more visitors and residents downtown, and continuing our focus on
placemaking, beautifification projects, public art, streetscape improvements that enhance the character and appeal of our district. On behalf of myself and our board of directors, we appreciate the council's continued support and
partnership, and we look forward to working together to ensure this budget advances the goals we all share for our community. I'd also like to uh remind the community that this weekend uh one of our most loved events is coming up, Downtown Night Out. So, Friday and
Saturday beginning, uh 5:00 p. p.m. to 10 p.m., please come out and support our businesses. And that will be running through October. Thank you. Thank you. And Mr. Glan, how are you? Okay. How are you? Um, first your name and address, please.
I'm sorry. Dennis Galante, 1149 Cherokee Court, Toms River. Uh this is probably the first time in 20 years that I've ever seen a budget supposedly presented and and I really don't understand eight and nine resolutions, but to have that done
um where is the budget going to be available online tomorrow? Yes. Yes. Okay. Did you on number eight and nine for a reading of the budget? Now, in past councils, the public was allowed to come up and comment on a resolution. Okay.
They were given permission to do so. But what exactly did you do tonight? So, you didn't approve it and you didn't adopt it. Correct. So, what was the idea of a reading, Mr. McGucken? I I I Yes. I believe we introduced the budget
tonight. Correct. That's That's correct. The statute is a little unclear as to how it reads. It says introduction and approve, but it is simply just like the introduction of a first reading of an ordinance. It's basically a first reading to put it before a public hearing. You can't advertise or have a public hearing until you have first
introduced it and voted on that. And that's what they did tonight. Has it always hasn't it always been done by ordinance? No, it's not done by ordinance, but it's done in that procedure and it's always been that way. It's a statuto requirement and it's been that way for dozens and dozens of years under local budget law. Mayor, you said
that we are spending $11 million less this year than last. Yes. Okay. Yeah. Well, that's a good thing. It is 146 million down to 135 million depending on where the money came from and goes to and we're generating I believe it was uh
you know another what is it 11 or 12 million more in surplus which is fantastic because it'll allow us to continue to pay down debt. So next year rather than borrow money to do our capital projects we will be able to spend them from the fund from the
general fund which is great particularly given how interest rates are so high now. So it's a great time for you to be paying as you go as opposed to borrowing where it's now costing us probably three two three times what it did just a few years ago as far as debt service. Isn't
there a amount that a government entity can keep in surplus or reserves whatever you would call it? I believe I'm not an order I'm sorry I'm not I should let you finish. Go ahead. I'm sorry. Okay. No, that there's an amount
I the way I learned this and I could be I'm not an accountant but there's a certain amount that you want to keep in surplus. Uh it helps your credit rating if you don't have a cushion. you're supposed to have enough money to run the town for x number of months without any
kind of uh income if there were any kind of natural disaster. That's quite a large cushion. That that's that's a lot of money. It's always been Maybe we should give some to the schools, you know. It's a it's uh Thank you very much. It's an interesting
It's an interesting thing to think about. Time was taken up. No, three. No, the the time includes the my rules. It's an interesting idea. I'll I'll look into it. Thank you very much, Mr. Lonnie. They could always try to do some cuts to themselves. Hello, Michael Cohen, Stark Road, Tom's
River. Um, I'm becoming more and more concerned with the apparent character of some of our elected officials. Um, I'm disturbed by the video of the lambs allegedly destroying a Sakoszi campaign
[Applause] sign. I am disturbed by the alleged misappropriation of funds related to burn and Oul. I'm disappointed with the eminent domain threats to the church.
Has eminent domain been threatened against any other properties? Questions directed this way, please. All questions directed to council president. I don't mind answering if he has a question. It's just more of a rhetorical rhetorical slanderous kind of attack. We
can we can always ignore that. He was a former employee. the eminent domain ordinance is passed. You're all going to have to deal with another petition from us cancelling that ordinance. You're going to have to figure out how to slither out of that one, too, just like
you did with the other two. Thank you. [Applause] Julie Adam, 69 Cedar Grove Road, Tom's River. Um, Julie, hi. Uh, number one, as far as the Christ Episcopal Church property, um, I just want everybody to
be aware that we actually have 27 county parks. Uh, we have four pickle ball courts that are part of this county park system. Uh the closest being J at Jake's Branch uh County Park in Beachwood, which is a mere 10-minute drive from the
downtown area, we also have 13 township parks, and we have in addition to the Field of Dreams for special needs. So that's a total of 40 parks. Uh we also have a proposed um um playground at
Bachelor and Clifton Avenue. We have Huie Park downtown. Uh so it seems to me that we are um we have a gluttony of parks in in to be able to utilize and we do not need to take uh the Christ
Episcopal property which has been here for 160 years and make it into a soccer field or a pickle ball court. Uh if there's six people that want to play pickle ball, they can go to Jake's Branch and they can play there. Um, as
far as uh the budget and uh glossing over what's happening at the in the town, uh, we have lost, uh, critical and essential positions. We have a parking garage. If you take a walk to the at the lower level, uh, you'll see that it's
it's in extremely poor condition. The lights under repair right now. The lights still do not under totally under repair. We inherited that. The lights still do not work. Uh the grass, if you drive around town to Tom's River, you see it. It's a foot to 18 inches high
all over town. Of course, we have uh almost no code enforcement because they were all all eliminated. So, um uh you make it sound like you've saved so much money, but it's at the uh detriment of the quality of life that people in Tom's
River are living under at this point. Um and add to that that the animal shelter uh was decimated. Um uh June 7th is a year since that was decimated. So we have animals, wildlife in the in the
town that are uh and uh pet owners that are uh have lost critical services. Meanwhile, we have money that's being wasted on fireworks, concerts, uh spray parks, all things that are uh fufu and fluff. But we don't need we don't need
any of that. We have we need essential services. Take a drive around and look at the roads in Tom's River. Take a drive down on Edken Avenue or Charles Drive and you will see the deplorable condition of these streets. Potholes. Uh
you c your uh one of my neighbors said his head hits the uh top of his pickup when he drives down on Charles Drive. Thank you. Councilman Lim, do you mind if I just jump in for quick second here? So first as as to roads this year we're
paving and it was it was part of the presentation twice as many roads as as were paved in the last year of the Hill administration. Last year we paved twice as many roads as well. So, within a two-year period, we're paving four years worth of roads. As far as the garage
downstairs, that's been under construction for a better part of the summer. Once we got it down from the $600,000 original bid to 300 and some odd thousand, all the electricity and the lights were just replaced the other day. It's really nice and bright in there. As far as the park is concerned,
uh, everybody keeps focusing on pickle ball. We have a planners report that's pretty clear that there isn't a playground anywhere in the area and that there are about 20,000 residents in the area. Uh so focusing on the pickle ball courts rather than focusing on the major
component which is the idea that children need a playground downtown is I think um an unfair characteristic. Has anybody asked the 20,000 residents if they'd rather have the church or a park? I guarantee not one. Not one of those
20,000. You're on the floor. You don't have the floor, Tom. Thank you. Hi, Paul. How are you? Hi, Paul Jeffrey, 1661 Bay Boulevard, Ortly Beach, representing Ortly Beach Voters and Taxpayers Association. Um, I'll be a little less controversial. Um, I want to
thank you for the item A. I don't know if people in the audience know, but we put in the original application to this state 10 years ago now for this streetscape projectly beach. And thank you to the engineer, thank you to the previous administration and this one that you've just been battling on and on
and on. So, this got us basically another $200,000 from the state uh for the project, which is money the township won't have to spend. So, number one, thank you very much for that. Um, number two, and we've discussed this before, the speeding on Bay Boulevard this
weekend was horrendous. I must have seen cars go by at 60 miles an hour. It's been two years since the county said, "Okay." And several months since we have I spoke to Mr. Mey. I didn't get a chance to reach out to you. The county is working on getting those signs swapped out for you. And what I I think we'd really I saw this somewhere else
recently. when it's changed. If we can put up one of the police signs that says new speed limit 30 mph at the same time, we do that now for everything. You know, one of the one of the flashing signs changed and same thing with the stop signs. Any kind of new signage
lights up. So, um that's to make raise awareness. All right. No problem. Um the other thing I want to talk about is the fact that the police are no longer allowed to come to our association meetings. We we actually I I want to correct you that that was that was addressed in the last council meeting.
It's not that they're not allowed to come to your meetings. It's that during campaign season, I don't want people representing the administration at uh at associations because it looks like we're using taxpayer dollars to campaign. I did not appreciate that the prior administration used to do that when I
was on the outside of things and I'm not going to do that. So, you will not get people from the administration at your captive audience during campaign season. I don't think it's right. They'll be back after the campaign is over. Yeah.
Okay. That'll be next year. And no, no, no. November. November after the election, right? I guess. So, what's next year? Yeah. I'll just tell you that, you know, I hear the community saying we don't understand this. It was immensely useful information. It generated tremendous camaraderie between
the community and the police and it's gone. So, it's actually hurting you to do that. It's not It's not just the police. It's other members of the administration and not allowed. I I don't think it's appropriate. I don't think it's an appropriate use of taxpayer dollars to pay people overtime who then go and represent things that we
want to do or things that we are doing in the middle of a campaign. I just don't think it's right. Well, I'll bring it up to our board that we'll pay the overtime to get them there. We'd be more than happy to pay pay them to be there. It's not the most such valuable information. I'm going to have that for you next meeting, too, because I can also provide that. Again, it's not it's
not about the money. We we pay for them to go when it's not election season, but during election season, I don't think so. The last the last little thing is on the reports. Um, for some reason, we're not getting the recreation department beach badge sales. I think it would be really useful to have that this year
compared to last because then we'll know if the bigger beach made a difference. I agree. No problem. We'll work on that. Thank you. Thanks, Paul. So, my name is uh Deacon Ted Foley. I am a an arch deacon in the Episcopal Dasis of New Jersey and I'm also a member of Christ
Church. Uh so, I know you're not going to be voting on the uh second reading of the ordinance tonight. Um but what we wanted to do is just give you a couple of things to think about uh over the next month or two. Um and the first is uh despite what you may have read in the
news uh no one has reached out to make contact with Christ Church. Um not the church uh not the office of the bishop who owns the property. No, not yet. Excuse me. Let this Excuse me. I'm talking. Yeah. Excuse me. Uh not the mayor. Let him finish. No one from the
town council has reached out and not the town attorney. Nobody has reached out. We've never received We never received a notice about the first reading of the ordinance. We've never and we haven't
received it yet. We we Excuse me. Let me finish and I'll get rebuttal. And we're we are concerned that we're not going to receive a notice about the second reading. That's not true. That's not true at all. We're concerned. We never received it
about the first one. We We didn't receive it either. Just so you know, we're right with you. We get public notice for any all these any type of ordinance. Any type of By law, you have to receive notice of the second reading. So, it'll be in the paper. Can we provide the answers? They're asking us questions or we have we have been
promised to to have somebody make contact with us and we have not been made contact and I want I want that on the public record. Nobody has contacted the church and nobody has contacted the office. Mr. Pascal, please. Yeah. Um,
thank you, Council President. Um, the day after the first reading, I reached out uh to Bishop French, I believe it is. Uh, and I spoke with her administrative assistant. I gave her my number. I said the administration, the township would like to sit down, uh,
with her, their legal representation, uh, and discuss uh, you know, what was being reported in the news. uh in an effort uh to have to come to some type of arm lengths transaction with them. Um so it's emphatically untrue that we
didn't reach out. We did reach out after the uh after the first reading. I'd like to get confirmation of that and until we do nobody uh nothing is in our records. I get confirmation. I I I also tried reaching out. I know it was informal,
but I tried to reach out after uh the township attorney did and I have a record of that. I could show you right after the meeting. I tried to reach out to the bishop herself over social media. So, I'll share that with you if you like. I did. I did. I did. Why? Why is that? Keep lying. Just keep the lies
coming. Keep your mouth going. Everything is a lie. Tom, you're a clown. Tom, you're a clown. For what it's worth, I I'll show you the image. For what it's worth, the municipal clerk was with me when I called the uh Bishop French and spoke to her. Thank you very much. Thank you for your comments. I'm
not measure. I'm not finished. Thank you. No, it's three minutes. My rules are clear. It's three minute rules. It's three minutes. That's the rule. Everybody gets three minutes. You have plenty of time. I've been No, they were they were answering your questions. Thank you very much. The second. Please have a seat. Please have
a seat. They don't want to hear what you have to say, but we do. No, it's three minutes. They don't want to hear what you have to say, but we do. Dave, Dave Sakoszi, Jim Twinless, and myself will be after the meeting for anybody that wants to talk.
Oh wow, Justin, you do that so well. Don't have the floor. You're out of control. You're out of control, please. You're out of control. Why don't you Why don't you get your faculties right and come back when you have your faculties right? No, they're not. You're these are my faculties right here. These are my
faculties. Excuse me. You don't have the You don't have the floor. Excuse me. Please. You don't have the floor. Rodriguez, whenever he wants to tell a lie, he just opens his mouth. You don't have the floor. I give the floor to ask for the floor. You don't have the floor. Your comments are over, sir. Thank you. What's the line? Have a seat. I am
trying to have a seat. Your comment period is over. Big smile on my face. Have a seat. So, your comment period is over. Have I'm trying to have three minutes. That's the rule. I am trying to have a respectful conversation. Have a seat. I'll talk to you after the meeting. That's the rule. Three minutes.
It's three minutes. That's the three-minute rule. We have a three-minute rule. Consume some time. You've given people time. You've given people their time in the past when Rodri intervened. So, let him keep going. I don't have the floor. Most of my time was taken up. You don't have the floor. Justin, you should step down
yourself. Have the floor with your behavior. Motion take a uh recess, please. Short recess. Can I have a second, please? Motion for recess. Second. Thank you. All in favor? Where's Where's Where's the second? Where's the puppets? Give me a recess, please. No.
No. Motion was made by council president, seconded by council vice president Coleman for a recess. Take take a take a council vice president Coleman. Yes. Uh, Councilman Sakosi, no. Councilwoman Burn, you don't want to hear the fact
I'm going to take a short recess to talk to these council members, you know. No, Councilman Burn. Cut it. You're not recognized. Councilman Quinnless. I'm still waiting for this gentleman to finish a statement. No, we're going to take a recess. That's what we're going to take. Then he can finish the statement. Please cut the mic.
Please ask this person to leave. Please get out of the meeting. He's interrupting the meeting. I cannot continue. I cannot continue the public meeting. Please, we cannot. You are talking way too loud, too. Please. Quiet. No, you don't have the Do we Do we Can I get some control of the room,
please? You do not have the floor. Next speaker, please. Thank you. Will you have this person please exit the meeting? He's He's interrupting. I can't get a vote either. I can't get a vote. You are to leave the room. Don't touch me. You are to leave the room.
Leave the room. What's that? He's got to step out. Just go to recess. You have the vote. Recess. 9 minute recess. 5 minute recess. This is the
continue comment. This comment session will be for a total of what's remaining, Mr. Anel? Uh 40 minutes. 40 minutes. Each speaker will be given three minutes and must yield the floor to the next speaker upon completion of their statement or at the three-minute mark, whichever comes first. Please form a line in the center aisle and when called
state your full name and address for the record. There will be no extra time granted for any reason and no speaker may yield their time to another. Speakers and members of the audience at all times shall remain civil and maintain proper decorum. I have to be able to hear the speaker and also be
able to keep an eye out on the council members if they would like to clarify or ask questions. Personal attacks, obscenities of slanderous or mandering remarks will not be tolerated and may automatically seize your time. All comments or questions from the member of public shall be directed to the council president who is under no obligation to
answer impromptu questions or address a remark. I ask a remain completely quiet. Any disruption shall be treated as interference of a public meeting include notes from members of council. They shall remain quiet while the speakers engaged with the council
president in their comments. Upon conclusion of this portion of the meeting, I may call on other council members, department heads, or the mayor to respond to the topics presented in our public session. Mr. Hansel, set the clock again for 40 minutes and begin. And next speaker, please.
Good afternoon. I am the Reverend Dr. Carolyn Bradley and I am the deacon at Christ Episcopal Church. Um, some things for you to consider before the second
reading of the ordinance to claim Christ's church for eminent domain. You will be displacing not just one church but two. On the property is Christ Episcopal
Church which has been there for 160 years and has faithfully and lovingly served this community. Also on the grounds our Ocean Christian Community Church which has been there for 40
years. Also on the grounds is a memorial garden where 325 souls are buried. It's going to be very costly to move those who are interned
there. More importantly, it's a place of peace and solace for surviving family members. Many family members are emotionally attached to that place and location.
Many many surviving family members will be emotionally distraught to have remains of loved ones exumed and moved which the Episcopal Dasis will do. The other significant thing for you to think about is the community services
that are provided through the church. There are NA meetings on site. There are three meetings per day for seven days per week. Over 1,000 meetings per year, which is provides a benefit to Tom's
River. That will be lost. There are AA meetings, seven meetings per week, 365 meetings per year. the benefit to the Tom's River community will be lost. The church provides a food pantry.
It help feed helps to feed 20 to 30 families per week. Again, that's a benefit to this community that will be lost. The church runs a clothing ministry. We give away free clothing to anyone in
the community that needs it. That will be lost. Family Promise uses our facilities. We host homeless families for a week at a time, several times per
year. That's a benefit to the community that will be lost in the old parish house. Thank you very much. [Applause] Carlos Amazar Winterham have your full address,
please. Carlos Amazar Winterham's apartments. I will not give the house two numbers. Everybody knows just by numbers. um an embarrassment first and foremost I
want to say today by all you guys not just one team all you guys that's formal second we got to move these meeting not from 4:00 5:30 6:00 cuz it was a hassle
for me to get here from my job to get here nonsense we got to start at 4 that's why we so empty back there. That's that. Now, to a serious comment, last time I was here, you guys told me that I should take it up to the county. I did take it to the county. I also took
it up to the board zoning board meeting, and I'm back over here. Um, I specifically said to you, President Councilman, that I, Carlos Amos, I am afraid of messing with God because bad things happens. since that
meeting to today. Look at yourself in the mirror like I look at myself every day because it's a painful one. Um, ultimate domain in a church is not a good thing. Having a homeless facility
right there, eight 17 bed is better than none, but it's not a great thing. I believe we should have that church to fac facilitate and give services to those people. Now sir, I would like to direct my to the mayor. Mayor, if you want to
ultimate domain of property, comments are directed at the council president for the rules. Sir, if you would like to ultimate domain of property 925 the park motel on 166 been empty for a while. We have enough money that we could restore that instead of 17 bed, we could have
about 40 beds and we actually could improve and hopefully you guys get some likable because right now this town is disgusting. Like I come from I'm not the smartest guy, the most sophisticated guy, but you guys make me look like I'm
very good. I could. And right now I'm going through a struggle, guys. And I got the coonas to stand right here because I know what could happen. I got the Texas. I don't play these dirty games, guy. I want to
maintain friends. I'm here. God first, my community second, and my family knows they come third. You guys stop playing around with my community. 9:25. Let's ultimate domain that. Let's fix it up. Let's get 40 home 40 beds in
there and then we could run a maybe a vocational trade. The school uh the the church, we can still use that facility for all the services. So at the end of the night, everybody's over there in an area. No headaches at all. Thank you, sir.
[Applause] Council President, Mr. Mayor David Ted Massie, 39. Can you repeat that? I'm sorry, sir. I can't hear you. Your name and address. David Ted Massie, 39 Summer Hill Avenue, Jackson, New Jersey. I'm a
member of the broader Episcopal community here in New Jersey. First of all, I'd like to say if it starts here, where is it going to stop? Secondly, I believe enemant domain has a critical role. I can see it for
vital inner structures, a bridge, an interstate highway, but for recreation when we have a lot of recreation around already, I don't believe that's what inimate domain is for. Lastly, I would
say you've already heard the many activities that go on at Christ Church. When you look at all the people of this community that are served by that, I would seriously question whether the recreation facilities that you're proposing would serve as many community
members as the church does. Thank you. [Applause] Good afternoon. My name is Michael Rudo, homeless mostly at the library.
Um, I came in here at 2 o'clock and you guys were talking about on the screen on what you guys are going to be working on the roads, etc. So on so forth, but weren't the roads damaged 10 years ago? Have you been working on these
roads for six, four, six years, yet you saved $11 million, right? and nothing's being done for the people that are literally sleeping on your streets. You know, we talk about all the time that we sit here and
uh what we should do next eminent domain. Why would someone do that to a church? Why would anybody even consider that? It's a church, a place of sanctuary, a place where we pray.
They actually saved my life. I almost committed suicide almost five years ago because I was sick in addiction. Right now I got five years clean. I endor
certify and also CTR certified. Let's open our eyes. There's elderly people out there on the streets right now begging for their next meal. Yes, it's great that uh everyone's helping us with food. We're blessed to have that. We're blessed to
have uh just a cover to keep us warm uh through, you know, troubled nights. But my question is, do you guys do the same thing we do? Do you go home and sleep on
your uh on your uh boardwalk or under uh a rock or on the library steps? No, you don't. It's painful. It hurts. It's crucial. People are dying. There's over
500 people. If you're worried about a little bit of $11 million to fix a pier that should have been fixed over 10 years ago when Sandy, open your eyes, go home. Pray. Thank you.
[Applause] Hello. Thank you for letting us speak. We really appreciate it. Samantha Kid, I am temp I am homeless. I've been homeless for seven months now due to my
family. We're not going to get into that. But my thing is, from what I understand in the budget, is there 200 is that $250,000 included in that budget that was to help us because that's what needs to be done. We are not here to harm
anybody. We just want the help that we're entitled to. You don't want us here. We don't want to be here more than you want us here. Use appropriate the money properly. You want us out of here, help us. We're all we're asking is for help. these places that we go to 405 these
churches that's where our resources are our resources are are there that's where all of our help comes from just like JBJ that is a resource that's where all of our resources are to stop the homeless problem you guys don't understand this
okay and this is what this we're literally being threatened this you know how many people have have fallen on the sidewalk let's not stop worrying about fireworks let's talk about the sidewalks I I've personally fallen on the sidewalk because the sidewalks are atrocious. I literally have seen people fall and have
bruises, heads split open because of the sidewalk. That's a that's a safety issue. We have a lot of elderly people that walk these sidewalks with walkers and everything else. I think that's more important than fireworks and peers and everything else. Make it make
sense. All we're asking for is the help. We've busted our butts and we paid to this money all our lives. I've been working since I'm 16 years old. I'm 55 now. I'm seriously disabled. Why? Because of occupational hazard. I busted my ass all my life and now I'm disabled. I can't even get the surgery I need
because I go to the hospital and because of insurance issues and nonsense. Every time we go there, we have an issue. It needs to stop. Really, come on people. Really, all we're asking for is just the help that we need. We're not trying to cause any issues. We're really not. We
have problems. They need to be dealt with. We're tired of the red tape, the nonsense, the number game. They need to stop. We need to We need to We're dealing with a broken system, but it needs to stop because we need help. That's all we're asking for. You get us help that we need, we won't have these
issues. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Patricia Hammer. I live at 604 Bachelor Street, Tom's River. My home is about half a mile from the Christ Episcopal Church. I have been a resident of Tom's River most of my life. In 2013, I left my
emotionally abusive husband, my then three-year-old, and I moved to my parents house, my childhood home in Tom's River. I utilize state aid as well as New Jersey family care to help support myself and my daughter. If it weren't for my parents and these programs, I would not have been able to afford a residence in New Jersey. I then
utilize state aid and federal funding to advance my education. I have been a healthcare worker since 2017. If anyone in the room went to community medical center through the COVID pandemic, there's a good chance I x-rayed you. That was something I did for my community because it not only it was not
only my job, but it was the moral thing to do. I went to work and risked the health and safety of my family, the people that mean the most to me for this community. I don't want praise. I just want to offer perspective on my commitment to the community that supported me during my time of hardship.
I started attending these council meetings in January after I was made aware that a grant was being pursued for the playground to be installed in the park on the corner of Clifton Avenue and Bachelor Street. I was very pleased to hear about this and came to the council to show my support and appreciation for this endeavor, which I still have. I
would like to reiterate this to the public and to the council that there is currently a vacant park owned by the township located on the corner of Clifton and Bachelor Street. It is approximately 1.5 miles from the downtown area. The property is 5 acres
and would readily accommodate the addition of pickle ball courts, which apparently is something that's important now. It could it could also accommodate a community garden, a walking path in addition to the targeted playground. I am struggling to understand why it is important to seize the land currently
occupied by a church for recreation purposes when there's already land ready to accommodate it. In November 2024, the encampment near Winding River Park, which served as refuge for over a hundred individuals, was closed. Many of those individuals experiencing homelessness were relocated to hotels.
This temporary housing solution described by our mayor as compassionate and cooperative did not resolve the issue. Moving these individuals from facility to facility does not allow outreach to help them navigate homelessness effectively. Communicate community health workers are then tasked
with the detective work of locating them which makes it harder for an already taxed system to provide help. As a town, we are falling short in providing services to these individuals. There is not enough affordable housing in a town to accommodate the number of people experiencing homelessness. There is no
day shelter in Ocean County for these individuals. There is a shelter every in every other county in New Jersey. These people have no alternative but to reside in places like the library. Uh when I hear heard that an argument against the shelter at the Episcopal church again half a mile from my home is that it will
decrease property values, I thought to myself, what a silly thing to be concerned about. Tom's River Homes are currently experiencing a sellers market characterized by rising home prices and low inventory. Thank you.
[Applause] Hello, Susan Payne Gato, 1946 Mount Juliano Lane, W 2 in Tom's River. Um, first of all, I just would like to
say something about about May. So May is no mo May, which means let the grasses grow. I'm just going to talk for the uh you know the important bees and things that we need. So anyway, so
there's a no mo and number of people are participating in that. Uh next the sidewalks. So yeah, Tom's River has not done its due diligence to the most basic people who need to get around in Tom's
River. And that includes, of course, veterans and people who have a baby carriage, who have a cane, maybe who have a walker, who needs to walk holding on to somebody. Okay. And the church. So, it's
interesting that it's the only Episcopal church in town. Well, there's a lot of other churches that are the same religion, and I just wonder if that makes it less important to some of you.
Um, I hope not. Um, so I think you should just not even bring it for a second reading or hearing. It should just be dropped because it's completely wrong. And there's a few people who sit up
there who really don't deserve the position. I mean, you took an oath. You're clearly not following it. You're not following the Constitution of the United States. You're not doing You certainly
have a crowd here who is against a number of you. I think you're doing a poor job. Those people, some people are doing a good job, but honestly, some of you should just step down. Just step down.
M Miss Kato, you you will get your chance in terms of limiting our time to speak. That's the rules, ma'am. You know the rules. The rules. I understand that rules are made by people like you. No, it's the council of rules. It's the council's rules. It's the council's
rules. I mean, so I I'm very much aware of rules in our life. I know you want to mock this. I don't want to mock you. You're you're leading Democrat. I know that you want to make this political. I don't. You are you you are running for
office, correct? I I'm talking I am talking to Thank you to Jeff. Thank you. I'll speak to you after the meeting. Thank you. Okay. Speaker. Am I done? Yes. Did my time goes up? Okay. Thank you very
[Applause] much. Dana Tormolan, 113 Messenger Street. Um, and I gave you my full street address because I want him to stop sending me crap lie mailers in my mailbox every day. So, take me off your mailing list. You are not a Republican,
not one that I would vote for messages ever. Um, I have a couple questions. First of all, how much money was saved in the budget by decimating the police department and not rehiring any new police officers? Anyone? Why don't you conclude your comments?
I'll allow the administration to rebuttal if they wish. Um, that's really not how that works, but anyway. Yes, it does because I know you made the rules. No, the cast study for the park that on Clifton and Bachelor. Has anything come of that? I asked for it. I sent you an email. You were the only one who
answered me. So, don't tell me you don't know what I'm talking about. Did Did you respond back to me after my answer? Your response was, "Mr. Mey, I believe she has a point." Did I say that? Did I say I believe? I didn't use that word believe. You did. Did you have the email? You want to reference? Well, can you read the exact email? You know what,
Justin? I mean, I'm just asking for your opinion. I have sympathy for right now, but I don't. Um, just answering your questions. I want to know why police are not allowed at any other township meetings other than this one because clearly there's a
fear issue over here that you feel you need to be protected. While you are crushing them, I don't even While you were crushing their department daily. while you were crushing their department daily. Not at all. It's been answered. I'm not talking to you. I have to talk
through you. I'm looking through you. So, shut up. [Applause] You're idiot. Excuse me. What was that? Excuse me. I said you're an idiot. No, you didn't. Did you curse? No, I didn't. You can't use that. I have I have I have elderly and small infirmed
people. Can't use that language here. I said eing. Um, and it's free speech, by the way. I don't think when you have kids in a room. When it's you and when it's them, but it's not when it's us. Got it. Got it. Take your time away. While all of you were in your recess, by the way, and
the streaming got cut off, I just want to applaud Councilman Chakosi for leaving his heart and soul on that deis and actually having one because that's what happened while you were off the air. Um, and also the resignation of you, Mr. Burn
and Ms. Oul, who once again is not here. You shouldn't be here today either because you're under investigation. Investigation. You shouldn't be here. Investigator. And honestly, sir, you probably shouldn't be
here after this weekend either. My name's uh Christopher Raymond, 111 Flag Street. It's a great shirt. I won't take up much of your time, Mr. Lamb. Uh, first of all, I'm very sorry about your father. I knew your father. He He was a good man and I lost my dad when he was 60. So, and I thank you for your
messages. Thank you. I appreciate it. Um, I I don't know who I should be addressing this to. Obviously, everything goes through you. I I reached out I think you went on the original email about uh some signs that true, which myself and Mr. Brilliant are
behind. Uh the signs are there 25 mile hour stop signs, okay? Or not stop signs, speeding limit signs which we place on people's private property. My concern was several went missing. And I sent an email to the mayor uh and several other people. And I just said,
if you know where they are, I'm paraphrasing, return them. I don't know who Mr. Chabbat is. I guess he works for the township. But the email I got back from him was very disrespectful. But then the email I got back from Mr.
Solanis to my right or if it is Mr. Solanis or maybe it was the mayor was terrible and I'm going to I want you to have a copy because you're not on the email. I will not be spoken to this way whatsoever. I asked the question I will not be bullied by people who don't even
belong in Tom's River. Okay, sir. So, I I'm I'm telling you, I can deal with a lot, but when we start becoming uh univil and disrespectful through a government email, I would never do that. So, I'm probably all over the map. I think Mr. Kate brought up about there's
a $67 million surplus. Is that about right? I'm not sure if that's exactly even if it's 53, I would say of that sum of the money, it should be, and we don't need to clap, but this is really what should be done. We need to hire more officers back to at
least get back to where we were. They're down a It's not gonna happen. It's already happened. Oh, it did. Well, I know there's an academy class and nobody went through. I know they're down 13. 17's a squad. So, a squad is basically a 10-hour shift. So, if those guys are not
available, good luck getting a response to Ortly Beach anywhere on the mainland for a police call. Your response time over Memorial Day weekend was incredible. I'm telling you what I hear and what I know. You can I can disagree. You want to pass that email over to the clerk? Yes. I want the email put into the record. And whoever wrote the email,
Mr. Solanis, it was a disgrace. I think it's your mayor. Please put in the record. I don't think you have time. Well, it basically what what goes on in the email is I get bullied and then they they go after three of the council people
calling them a lot of disrespectful names. That's not what we're about. And and Mr. uh Rodrik here brings up about the fact that he doesn't want officers, community affair officers doing uh certain events during political season. Well, political season is all year long. And all that's happening, Mr. Lamb, and
I want you to hear this because I have to think most of you up there believe in God. I have to believe that this is nothing more than a political game to keep the shelter from going and he's going to try to sell the church, buy the church. It's not going to happen. Thank you for coming. And these people are
going to make sure it doesn't happen. [Applause] Anthony Verso, Pony Rico Avenue, Tom's River. Uh, I've been with with this problem for a year and a
half. I filed a OPER report on January 13th. Lo and behold, the 22nd of May, three months or four months beyond the legal, as long as we're talking about proper ways of doing things, and the
answers I received from my Oprah aren't worth the paper they're written on. That's number one. Number two, I brought up the last time the ordinance about the street repavements. Four months have gone by. What have we done with that?
Now you can add another street tobago. It's underwater and it's not coming from the bay. It's coming from rainwater from bad paving jobs. Your mayor said to me said to us before you repaving all these streets. When you repave them, you got
to repave them correctly because you paid for streets that there are no there. I got the answer is we don't have. My administration paved your street. Yeah, you were on the you were you and him were in the last administration. No, your administration, it was the prior administration that
paved your street and you had a problem with it. You were on the council and we sent people out, right? And the puddle drive within less than 72 hours and that's the law that so like you can't have your street repaved because you don't like a puddle if the puddle is there for 72 hours or less. We're not
allowed to like make the guy repay. I explain this to you at least six or seven times, but you come up here and you say the same thing again. But you're the only person on the entire block that has this issue. Three minutes. You You ask the question. I don't speak. Go ahead. You have one person talk for the
street. I'm the person talking for the street. You don't have to yell for a year and a half. Well, he's yelling at me. No, he's not yelling. He's just talking loudly. He's talking loudly. You've never Both he is telling me you're coming to see. I did. I talked to all your neighbors. I'm very happy with your street. You know, sir, I was there.
Every street church, the thing is going to fall on you. I've been there. I was there last week. Neighbors are happy. Neighbors are happy with the street. I could take a thief, but I can't take a liar. The neighbors are happy. The street. Thank you. Political actor. Phil Brilliant, 79 Holly Tree Lane.
First, we're 17 months in. Still waiting for Mayor Mo Hill's picture on the wall. I think if somebody is going to call in for a meeting, they should say the date that they're calling in so we know that they're live. Um, I stand here before you to address some urgent concerns that
impact the safety, integrity, and future of our community. Knowing the abuse I'm going to take from this administration and that I've taken already as I continue to speak, but I really believe that Tom's River is the best place to live, raise a family, retire, enjoy life. And as been
said, elections have consequences. And right now we're experiencing damaging consequences of the last election. First, when will this council take public safety seriously? In 2024, we started the year with 163 police officers, but by May 1st of 2025, the
number has dropped to 153 after retirements. We'll be down to just 140 officers by the end of this year. Meanwhile, the administration cancels offers to new candidates and postpones the police academy, further weakening our law enforcement capacity. Our acting
chief is on medical leave with retirement imminent. On the EMS side, with the mayor's vendetta on Silverton EMS in 2024, the number of ambulances on the road has barely increased from eight in 2023 to nine in 2024 and 2025.
Full-time EMTs have increased from 18 to 26. Yet response times changing very little, averaging over 8 minutes with some areas like Ortly Beach experiencing even longer delays. All of these numbers are supported by Opal responses from the
police department and they are facts unlike the numbers that we get in our mailboxes every day from this administration. This is not acceptable. Public safety must be a priority and not an afterthought. Second, regarding the boat works property deal, the council
spent twice as much twice the value due to a poor legal advice and inadequate due diligence. The transaction remains unresolved due to leans, including nearly $20,000 in unpaid taxes and now a mechanic's lean from the contractor who did the demolition work. This is costly
mistake that taxpayers will carry for years. Third, the downtown unhoused situation was created by two actions. the eviction of just believe and the reckless clearing of the woods without a concrete plan. This council allocated $250,000 for temporary housing, but only
spent about $10,000, sending the homeless to Atlantic County and police vehicles only for those people to become stranded when their hotel stays expired. They returned by bus to the town. Those are the ones who arrived by bus. Now they live on the streets again, hoping
for assistance from nonprofits or county. The county's willingness to work with Tom Driver has been met with nasty comments and vile threats. The community, county, and nonprofits continue to step in where the town has slacked. And this is not a liberal or woke problem. As the mayor has stated,
this is a problem of humanity. Thank you very much, Council President. Council President, I could I would like a moment. I could tolerate most of his lies, but certain lies need to be addressed. Can you please pause the clock? lying again. He's lying again.
The lips are moving. He's lying. You don't have the floor. Bob promoting. Clown. Clown. He's just a clown. Okay. So, as far as the amount of money spent and and the process that we worked through with an attorney, okay, when
that camp, all of those folks in that camp were placed, there was a Pam Baker from u a nonprofit organization that was brought in here by the state of New Jersey. We worked alongside her. Every single person in that camp was given six months of housing. As soon as we passed
our resolution for the 250,000, all of a sudden, the state came in with the nonprofit, picked up all of those people, and placed all of those people. They were given in uh in writing six months in a hotel and up to 18
months in housing. It was part of the state's rapid rehousing program. So the notion that the people that are now being dropped off at the library on a regular basis are the same people from the camps is is absolutely false. And that can be proven by the body cam
footage of Captain Guyare and Officer Frank Michello who spent 5 hours in the camp with me interviewing those folks, many of whom were on social security and winter was coming and they were all given 6 months in a hotel and up to 18
months of housing while all of that was worked out with their identification. They were in a hotel. Whether we paid for it or the county paid for it depended upon who placed them. Some folks we placed, most of the folks were placed by the state and by Pam Baker
from PCJ, I believe is the name of the nonprofit. So this whole notion that these new folks that are downtown are are the people that are in the camp, I'll tell you most of the people that were in the camp were elderly and they are not the same people. Thank you.
Start the clock, please. Are you done? Bob Molen, 109 Messenger Street, Tom's River. Uh, thank you for the list of lies there, Mr. Rodri. I appreciated that. Um, the first thing I'd like to speak about is the parade, Memorial Day parade. Um, usually it's when all the
town officials show up and they parade. We have Mr. Quinslick, Mr. Jacos, Mr. Nverson. We're in the parade. I was there. Mr. No, Mr. Lamb, and Mr. Rodri showed up at town hall. We have three who made no appearance. That's disgraceful. Excuse me. Just one second.
I'm sorry. My wife was in the hospital and she's wasting my time. But you're making an accusation. That's not true. My wife's in the hospital and at a rehab. You want to come visit her? I'm barely hanging on to our wife. You got that? That's why I
wasn't there. Baloney. I'm not resigning. Sorry. Sorry. Okay. Um, once again, the other thing that was uh very uh conspicuous was there was no Tom's River. He's talking or no Tom's River police there.
None. It's our parade and we had none there. Disgraceful. Uh, the other thing is the founders day was cancelled. It was canceled on a Wednesday when it was supposed to be Saturday and a rain day Sunday. My concern was that maybe there was a
reason that the mayor didn't want to have it. Um, the last thing here is I feel personally, and I know there's other people out there, that Miss Otul and Mr. Burn should step down from their positions on the council right now.
Um, because they are under investigation for supposedly mishandling money. Well, it's pretty coincidental to me. A gentleman mentioned this to me and it's great. Silver and First Aid got shut down because of questions of handling
money. Why don't our councilmen step down until they are found innocent? The uh my last comment my last comment is this. After watching Justin stomp on Mr. Jacos sign on the side of
the road there. I don't feel you. No, don't shake your head no. We watched it on video. Okay. I think Mr. Lamb should step down as council chairperson in the lease. And don't shake your head no. Cuz pictures don't lie.
What do they pay these people? What do they pay you to be an idiot? You're a clown. What do they pay you? We should put out some of your material about your circus. How many times have you been How many times have you been
arrested? Tom, how many times Tom? A lunatic. Complete lunatic. Darthy Massie. 39 Summer Hill Avenue, Jackson. Nice to have you here. We started this meeting with the pledge of allegiance. Yes. That includes the
words, one nation under God. Are we under God as this country? Are we What does God think about taking one of his houses and destroying it to have a
ticky bar? Really? A ticky bar? What? That's in your proposal? No, it's not. Parking lots, ticky bars, jet ski places. Why do you really think God
wants to see you take down his house? What would Jesus say? What would Moses say? What would Muhammad say? Thank you. Uh, hello. My name is Joseph Katran. I'm from Sunray Drive in
Silverton section of Tom's River. Um, first thing I have to address is the decorum. And you're all asking everyone to follow rules. You don't follow your own rules. Okay. You need to I think the first thing No, I don't want fingers pointed. That's ridiculous. And that's
exactly what I'm talking about. I think the temperature needs to come down. Yeah. I watch this on on the the videos. I don't like to come here. I used to come here for the CAC meetings and for the Tom's River Waters things and all that crap. I had a daughter with cancer. I went through all this I don't need to have somebody tell me they don't
have emails or I I posted on social media. You have ways of putting things out there so the public understands what's going on. You have ways of dealing with each other so that you could be have decorum when you come out here and not yell and scream at each other. This is ridiculous. I I took a
course from Mayor Strata way back when at Ocean County College. All right. And I had political science. We had to sit there and come together as a group and form a government and do all this stuff. I couldn't believe that there was people there that would were willing to fail in order to get a position they wanted or
do do certain things. And we had such a struggle to do that. The first thing we had to learn is to come together and not bash the out of each other. I'm sorry. I shouldn't swear. Um I I I just I think the first thing you should do when you come back is have a resolution
to um to respect each other to extend uh um the total time at the end so that if you have a few extra people, okay, but right now I have to pay now to come in here at four o'clock where I wouldn't have had to pay later on. I could come to public meetings at the end of a day
without having to worry about my work. I could do certain things and you're making it tougher on people. So you you need to you need to do that. Uh this meeting before it even started, you didn't even have the roll call and you guys were yelling at each other. It's it's a it's appalling and and you wonder
why the temperature of the town is the way it is. You know, you you look at the all the kids on a boardwalk and you wonder where that where they're coming from and why they're doing that. I I had spoken to a police officer in Silverton who came at at my request because the the the kids were all riding up and down on their bicycles. Well, we still
haven't had that addressed and and they'll the kids were riding in front of the the officers without helmets, without and he told me, he says, "We just don't want them into the system." We'll figure out a way of of getting those people who who aren't fortunate enough to have parents who care about
them, boys and and girls clubs, something. I don't care what. The homeless people, this is ridiculous. You didn't come up with any any solution before you you caused all those problems with the shutting down of the of the the code blue and and the other thing with the with the uh the camp, you know,
they're downstairs. I I walked through the library. Nobody panhandled. Nobody went after me. There's a there was a woman laying sleeping on the sidewalk and there's some other stuff. You can't take a little bit of the the funding and work with all of these groups to solve a problem instead of causing another.
Thank you. Next will be the last speaker. Correct. Last speaker. Thank you. Two minutes left. Clinton Bradley 133. Jeff Court, Tom River, New Jersey. During the council members comments from the 30th of April meeting, Mr. Coleman quoted JFK's 1961
inaugural speech, but changed it to talk about Tom's River and its citizens, asking, "What have you done for your town?" After that meeting, I went home to see exactly what I had done for Tom's River. To start, as part of my Eagle Scout project, I oversaw the building of a 20 by 16 covered pavilion for the
former animal shelter on Whitesville Road. I was promised that it would be moved to either the new animal shelter or the senior center, neither of which occurred. As I previously stated, I have served in the Army National Guard for 15 years. My time there is coming to an end as I will be medically retiring within
the next few months. I deployed twice to ensure that those who wish to do us harm can no longer be able to do that. I've also been a proud citizen of this town for 35 years. I have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. The bad and the ugly are currently running the show, which
led to my decision to run for town council. I feel that the people of Toms River deserve representation that is fair, equal, and just. I promise to uphold the Constitution, ensure nothing violates said document. I now ask, what have some of you on our council done for Tom's River? All I've seen from four
council members and the mayor is an attempt to dismantle the very fabric that makes our town great. I've seen the five of you time and time again trample on the rights of Tom's River citizens. Rights I gave years of my life to protect and uphold. Abraham Lincoln stated the following. Don't interfere
with anything in the Constitution that must be maintained for it is the only safeguard of our liberties. And not to Democrats alone do I make this appeal, but to all who love these great and just principles. and clothing. In closing, I have purchased 13 copies of a pocket-size Constitution and Declaration
of Independence booklet and will hand them to the clerk. There's a copy for everyone who sits up on the deis in each side. This is to remind each and every one of you to know what is stated in the constitution and to promise to uphold it. Thank you.
Motion motion to close public comment. Motion was made to close public comment by council president Lamb. All in favor? All in favor? Motion. Yes. Motion to close public comment. Second, please. Second. Second. Motion was made by Council President Lamb and seconded by
Council Vice President Coleman to close public comment. Roll call, please. Council President Lamb, yes. Council Vice President Coleman, yes. Councilwoman Atlain. Councilman Burn, yes. Councilman Sakosi, no. Councilman Madison, no. Councilman
Quinn, no. public com. Yeah, we're moving on. Yeah, moving on. Elected officials comments. Okay, I'll start to uh I guess the most patient one on the day is uh Councilman Iverson, you can go first. All right.
Well, first Justin, you should have five minutes to step. You should be asking Oul and Burn to step down as council president. And I think you should relinquish the president's job to Mr. Sakoszi or Quinnisk. Wow. Thank you. Thank you for
that. Take that under consideration. They should at least abstain from any voting until the allegations are being done being investigated. And contrary contrary to what Rodri said at the last meeting when I stated that
the all these fireworks are going to require extra police. It is going to cost extra money. He immediately lied. Within a split second, he came out with a lie. Before I even got home, I had a policeman call me to tell me that. No,
it's extra overtime. He said, "No, they're on time." So that was a lie that came out of his lips within a split second. That's how quick he lies. So when his lips are moving, you know he's lying no matter what. He can call me a clown all he [Applause]
wants. And the mailers that he's sending out, these mailers, here's a few of them. 100% lies. I was actually privy to him designing these back in the day when I was running. He'd call me up. You're not going to believe the lies that I just came up with. This is amazing. Look
at look at Jim Quinnisk. He's a Democrat. No, he's a lifelong Democrat. This is a man Oh, another lifelong Democrat right here. Another disgrace to our town who should not be up here right now. He should stay home. He should
resign. I feel sorry for this poor sucker who's running with Rodri. Mr. Harry Abear. Better look out, Harry. Seriously, jump out before you get burned. Pure lies. Okay. And everybody knows the
whole church issue is not about recreation. It's about retaliation. Okay. The the 20,000 number he throws out there, it's just numbers. He comes up with numbers. It's 5100. All right. And if you pulled every single resident,
I guarantee you not one of them would want a recreation park over the church. Not one. He wants [Applause] it. And this is for you, John. I've never said a bad word. I've never said a
word about you, let alone a bad word. But you sent out an email today. I'm a lowife. I I'll read you I'll read like I'll read the email for you if you like. This was to Mr. Raymond. You and Mr. Raymond. I'll read it for you. No, no, I'll read it. We don't want to hear
you talk. We don't want to hear you talk. You're a This is Mr. Raymond. You're a political hack with constant political motives. Every issue you advocate for turns out to be a complete waste of time. Like the church and all these police, all waste of time. You
hear that officers? It's a waste of time. Don't take my words out of context. You're lying and I'm reading it. You want me to read the email or read it for you, Tom? This is your email. Want to continue lying or you want me to read the email myself cuz I'm the one that wrote it. Do you have the floor? He's using up my time. Can you stop him?
Jonath No. No. No. He's I'll read this one that was sent to Mr. myself against slander. Sir, just be advised. You only have five minutes, so your time is running. You surround yourself with knuckleheads and dead beats, including the four perennial losers.
True. Me. Drew, Dave, Jim, they're going to lose. We're We're perennial losers. 65% of the vote. All right. They're going to have 35. Wait list won't break 20%. I don't have time in my busy day to waste any more
time on a human. They'll have 200 votes. Paul, the human amoeba. Thank you. All right. Now, let me go back to running the greatest town in America while you sit and fantasize about success instead of actually attaining it. Godspeed, Jonathan
Solanis. So, I don't know. Maybe that email is open for both if anybody would like to request it and read it on their own. This is the one I was all one. This is the one I was one at a time, please. One at a time. Iicial one time. Just let you have five minutes anyway.
Thank you. Does anybody really care about spray parks? Not you, Tom. Cuz you don't have any kids right now that are small that would enjoy that. I have three grandkids. And where do you care about taxes, Tom? You hardly pay any on the farm. You got a farm subsidy. You don't pay anything on
him. You don't care about taxes. You don't care about parks for kids. You ran as a Republican, but everything you do is like a liberal Democrat. You are a farleft liberal socialist. And that's why they're screaming. I can't hear you.
I cannot hear. I can't hear you cuz everybody's talking. The liberals are screaming for you, Tom. The liberals are screaming. They love you. They love you. Can I finish? Can you finish or not? Tom, you ran in the Republican race. Next speaker and switched parties and you think you're going to get over, but you're not. These guys did that, too.
They're all going to lose. They're going to lose massive massive loss. You're massive. Next week, it'll be much quieter. Okay. All right. All right. Next council meeting. David Sakosi, please. Can I get please? Can I get two? You don't have Can I get my two minutes
back? Give him another two minutes. I love what he talks. Maybe I'll put it on the news and let everybody know what he's saying. Two minutes. David Sakoszi, please. Go ahead. Okay. Wait a minute. Something about Mayor Strada. Okay. I brought that up. Start the clock,
please. Okay. Love Mayor Stradclamation and it fell on deaf ears. All right. So, So you know that all right he was a good man that he was throw your ass please do so go ahead David five minutes
please everyone heard I pretty much said what I had to say before but just pay attention the kind of people that are up here and in their private lives okay they are not the best and the
brightest that Tom's River has to offer okay billion. So, and why does he say that we're going to lose by 65%. Because you're a liberal, please let this councilman finish his comments. You
have five minutes taking liberal. He has five minutes. Please interrupt him. I don't need everybody to be yelling out. Please let I don't need you calling out in the back. Please don't call out like that. Thank you. [Music]
So, go ahead, David. been a Democrat, which is an insult to Democrats. I have nothing against Democrats. Nothing. Okay. But these guys are the far far left that infiltrated our town. I'm the far left. We cut the
budget by 11 million. Got the floor. Us liberals who have You are a liberal. You are. All our life. You're a liberal. Liberal Democrat. Please stop. Leftist social. Please stop. Let the man finish. Please throw him out. He's going to finish his comments. You're going to
stay quiet, please. Thank you. Look what he goes after. The police, the animal shelter, the EMS, everything. He goes after weak people. Not weak, but he goes after
things that he doesn't like. So, voters, do your research. I would never tell you who to vote for or what to do, but be educated. I'm not like everybody else that says, "Hey, if you don't vote our way, um, you're not welcome back into
the fold." So, God bless everybody here, David, and God bless and God bless our town. God bless you, David. Okay, Jim, you want to go next? Thank you. Five minutes, please. All right.
Uh, let's see. Mayor Rodrik has exacerbated the homeless situation through his reckless actions. First, he approved a controversial uh prisoner re-entry program downtown, a blatant political favor to the Christy Gilmore uh McGrevy
conglomerate. I approve no such thing. Let the council finish these people lie. You'll have a chance to rebut at the end. Thank you. Who publicly thanked him at his at their grand opening. Clown. Please let this councilman finish. I thought you were going to throw people out when they called names. I'll ask
them to leave. Like I'll ask you to leave twice, but if you please finish your comments, you have five minutes. Thank you. Thank you. Everybody gets a chance to stay. If you call out, I'll ask you to leave. That's the rule. Thank you. Next, he failed. I already gave him a warning back there. And you're next. Thank you. Gotcha.
Next, he offered hotel rooms as a temporary band-aid for the homeless, failing to address to address the root of the issue and offer permanent housing. Then he uh conspicuously evicted the homeless individuals from the encampment with no plan to weaponize uh with no
plan, weaponizing them as a campaign issue. By targeting the the most vulnerable members of our community, he fosters divisiveness instead of unity. He has no genuine solution, only sensational headlines. The homeless shelter is not a homeless
shelter. Uh I'm sorry. A homeless shelter in a residential area is not a solution uh to our homeless crisis. Um I staunchly support our zoning laws and protecting resident residential neighborhoods. I call upon this council to collaborate with the county and forge
to forge a more effective plan forward for uh um assisting those facing a housing insecurity. The mayor's plan to eminate domain a church is a blatant act of government overreach. It is fund fundamentally anti-Republican. The
church has stood as a pillar in this community for over a century. Our town deserves better than the mayor's havoc on this community. Mr. Coleman, Mr. Burns, Mr. Oul, Mr. Lamb, and Mr. Rodri, you cannot take a house of
God now. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. All right, moving on. The mayor uh under Mayor Rodri's administration, the principles of rules, the principle of the rule of the but not we, the sense of uh entitlement is ex exemplified in the recent appalling conduct by Councilwoman
Ul and Councilman Burns, both of whom serve on the board of Holiday City uh phase 2 homeowners association of Silverton sector Tom Driver. A raid was done recently uh was recently conducted on the clubhouse um by the police department and prosecutor's office
alleging allegations have emerged that Otul and her oligarchy have misappropriated funds from the homeowners association. And this is what I tried to interject early in the meeting uh hoping that they would not be voting on any of our budget information if they can't be trusted at their own little homeowners association.
Um, Republican uh, I'm sorry, as Republicans, Councilman Sakosi, Niveon and I expressed disgust over the actions of OULS and Aurn and Burns. Um, this egregious behavior must be stopped. We call for Oul and Burns to immediately step down from council. We clearly are
they clearly are self- serving individuals and cannot be trusted to make financial decisions for Tom's River. Um Tom Driver is a town of about 100,000 people operating with a budget an annual budget in excess of $135 million. These self-entitled individuals of the Rodri administration cannot be
relied upon to act in the best interest of this community. Otul and Burns have uh shown complete disregard for their community and more disturbingly they have taken advantage of fellow seniors uh that they were meant to serve. This behavior is both criminal and immoral. They must vacate their council positions
immediately. Councilman Sakosi and I concurred that their actions are egregious and call for the resignation of a Tul and Burns to allow for a more qualified individual to honorably and ethically serve our town. Then thank you. One last thing on that
note. Uh Silverton EMS uh was accused of something and lost their uh their 911 dispatching rights in this town from a simple accusation. The police department and the county prosecutor's office to the best of my
knowledge have never seized any of their records because they found no criminal activity. Correct. I with along with Councilman Sakosi and Neverson again insist that Silverton EMS be reinstated immediately. I'll second
it. I know. All right. Thank you. Councilman Burn, please. Bill, have any comments? No comments. Thank you. Councilman Vice President Coleman, please. First of all, it was very disappointing
to be accused of not attending Memorial Day parade. I have I have attended every every uh event since I've been on the council and my record can show that very clearly. The whole political club
is leaving. I'm sorry, Craig. Okay. The whole club like they Why don't we stop the clock? Let them all leave. Let everybody leave first. Let them leave and then distract the speaker. Thank you. Did the thief leave, too? No, he's still
here. [Music] Why are you calling out? I can't hear. I can't hear what you're saying. Officer, tell this person to stop calling out like that. There's no reason for that. No reason for that. Have a seat. Have a
seat. Have a seat. Thank you. Start the clock, please. Thank you. Go ahead, Craig. It's starting to look like it's going to look in a couple more months. Look, Coin Lisk is leaving, too. Go ahead. If Dave leaves, it'll look exactly like it's
going to look in January. Go ahead. Um, I was very dis enjoy civilian life. Let Craig speak, please. Thank you. I was very disappointed concerning the behavior of Councilman Non at the last meeting and also this meeting. standing up and yelling at Councilwoman Otul and
me. It reminded me of a little ch of little children do when they can't get their way. Very immature. You also exhibited a lack of respect for the council president when he told you you were out of order. You said you didn't care. What if you were council president
in charge with conducting an organized meeting and Councilman Lamb ignored your direction? I don't think you would have accepted that behavior and lack of respect for your position. Calls and texts to me from members of the silent majority suggested you may need some behavioral management counseling.
However, I now realize it was important in your mind to go on stage and have your supporters clap, yell, and stand up with you. Good for you. I guess since in their eyes you are now a celebrity, having been on TV and in the papers, just remember that you are actions have
been recorded for history. I just wonder what your grandchildren will think when they view that video. You of course have a right to your opinion and so do I and I don't need to be harassed for it. You wasted your breath yelling at Lynn and me. Did you really think your yelling was going to make a difference? And
finally, several meetings ago, you called me a puppet, Tom. It's time to take a look at yourself. You're a puppet of the opposition. You are doing exactly what they want you to do. It's time to act like a real professional leader and a follower, not a follower. At times it
appears to me by your voting record that you're a left-wing social democrat. Now it's time to act like a grown-up mature councilman, not a disgusted child. By the way, the box of empty eggshells, uh, eggshell cartons that I left in your
store a couple weeks ago, I've left them there, Tom, and your thank. Thank Thank you very much. Thank you. All right. Just want to uh again thank the administration for having that budget prepared and and and I want to
thank also Dorothy Gallagher for uh being here tonight. Also our other professionals in the back, John Mey um and everybody that's here today. I really appreciate it. Um it's hard because you want to you got to have some order up here. I know it's I know I
might be the uh Can I finish? Oh, wait. That's right. That's right. I apologize. That's all right. We're gonna work on that. It's a hard uh it's not easy up here. I have sometimes difficulty hearing cuz obviously this microphone there's some reverberation. I can't obviously hear when people are talking
in the crowd. I'd argue that when when council people call out and I'm not going to name names, but there was definitely one who was a little louder than the rest. When they call out like that, uh it incites people in the audience and I get the emotion behind it. But I do have to move the meeting. I
mean, the meeting has to continue. I don't want to have a recess. I certainly don't want to make people stay longer uh than they have to. I know people want to speak uh for the time that they have. In the beginning of the year, we had a council meeting and we had rules by the council members and those are our rules
and I have to unfortunately I'm in a precarious position of of trying to enforce them. It's not easy and I understand people here want to speak and they want more time and I I stay behind like I do every meeting and and and try to provide that to anybody that wants to speak to me. I'll stay as long as I need
to, including you. Um, you got to have water at these meetings, though. There's no there's no uh benefit to just screaming out loud. There's no benefit to just yelling back and forth. It just sets a terrible tone.
Doesn't really get anything accomplished. Um, and you know, it's not easy being up here and handling that. And I I I'm I'm working through multiple personalities. A lot of them left. Um I find that disrespectful. I obviously
stay behind for their comments. If I don't agree with them, I tell them I don't agree with them. But I don't use this pulpit as a political st uh stand either. I don't discuss my uh positions about where I think I should go as a vision for the Tom's River or where I
belong. I don't use that platform. I don't think it's necessary. I think I'm here to talk about the township business and that's it. Other people think they want to talk about other things, which is fine. Um, just real quickly, I attended the Orley Beach voters and taxpayers meeting on May 17th, uh, where
I participated in a presentation with the Army Corps of Engineers. Orly Beach residents are happy with the beach replenishment. The beach looks great. I want to thank again Mr. John Mey, our township engineer. The dune fencing is looking excellent up there. They they tackled that. The beach openings are
getting done. the the MOI mats are getting installed. I thank the administration. If I asked the administration for anything for the beach and for those residents, it's immediately answered and it's immediately taken care of and I I appreciate that. In years past that when I sat in the minority as some of these
folks feel like they're in the minority now. Um I would ask the administration for things and uh they would go unanswered for months, you know, months at a time and and that would, you know, I think their position was why work with you? We don't agree with you. we're just not going to work with you. And I don't get that for
the administration here. We get a lot of things done. The town is coming together really nicely, especially on the beach. Beach pad sales are up. So, the early beach people are happy. The north beaches are happy. I meet I met with 17 beach associations uh also a few weeks ago. They're happy with the way the
beach is coming along. Um also, I look forward to the health fair this Friday. Um that's going to be going on at our senior center. Hopefully, we have nice weather. We have been uh obviously today wasn't the best the best day. Hopefully Friday we have the a better day. Um I
also will be meeting with the Pelican Island Property Owners Association on June 8th. Um they are a small association but they are certainly an energetic one and I like to make sure we have representation there for them. And I also want to thank the administration for working with me and getting that
police department to also work with us getting that executive order out for the um curfew because it was a very uneventful weekend in the Thomas River parts of Barry Island. Now at Seaside Heights you hear a lot of you know there was a lot of action up there. A lot of juveniles were just uh you know boys will be boys so so to speak but in Ortly
Beach it was safe and I saw it firsthand. I saw it on North Beaches it was safe. The police department did an excellent job. The officers were there. They were all over traffic issues and I want to thank them for that. We have a fine police department. These men come here every day and have to also they're put in a precarious position and making
sure that we're safe, you're safe, and the meeting gets carried forward. That's all we could do. So, I want to thank everybody for coming out tonight and I look forward to uh next meeting. And um Mayor Rodick, go ahead. I just wanted to thank the council uh the council members who supported our
budget and who supported all of the um measures that led to this budget. Um you know saving cutting $10 million I think is a big deal. Um particularly keeping taxes flat. I know a lot of folks out
there believe that hey you know we should pay for this or pay for that. What they don't realize is that that camp that I visited filled with homeless. As I said, a large percentage of them were senior citizens who were making $900 a month in social security, $1,000 a month. We have one of the
largest senior populations in the state of New Jersey. Holiday City, Silverton, loaded with folks who are just just getting by, you know, and uh raising property taxes, you know, $400 or $500 to someone who earns 150 $200,000 a
year, that's a night out to dinner, right? Um with their friends, but for many of our senior citizens, it's half of their monthly income. So, it's very important that we we pay close attention to how we spend our money. And as for
the homeless situation, I would like to also add that there still is money available for people who find themselves homeless. Uh we do typically on pretty regularly place people into housing and connect them with services. Uh additionally, I didn't have an
opportunity to say so, but the township is hiring part-time workers at $20 an hour. I put a large stack of applications up at the front table here. So, if there's anybody that's homeless right now and would like a job, a summer job,
seasonal, it's right there. You're more than welcome to take it and we'll interview everybody who puts in an application. And again, if you find yourself homeless and you don't want to be bust around and dropped off at the library every day and you'd rather have a consistent place to stay, you can come
in, speak to folks that we have in the in the health and senior services department, and we'll we'll give you a hand. Uh, that's all I have. Thank you very much. Motion to close the meeting, please. All in favor? Second. All in favor? All
in favor? I. Thank you very much. All right. See you later. No. No, we do not.