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[Music] [Music] Good evening everyone. like to welcome everybody and thank you for coming out. This time I ask you to stand and salute the and pledge a flag.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisibley and justice for all. This meeting is convened in accordance
with the provisions of the Open Public Meetings Act of New Jersey. Let the official minutes reflect that adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by publishing a notice in the Asbury Park Press on Thursday, January 4th, 2024. the Press of Atlantic City and the
Star Ledger and also forwarded to the Toms River Times, Toms River Patch and WOBM News on Tuesday, January 2nd, 2024 and thereafter posting same on the town hall bulletin board for such notices and filing the same with the township clerk
pursuant to a resolution adopted by the township council on Tuesday, January 1st, 2024. The meeting dates have also been posted on the township web page. Councilman Scozi here. Councilman Lamb here. Councilman Lman
here. Councilman Nverson here. Councilman Quinn here. Council Vice President Otul here. Council President Coleman here. As president of the council, I've been given the responsibility of conducting a professional organized meeting without
interruptions. In that regard, the following procedures will be used. A total of 90 minutes will be allotted for public comment session. When 80 minutes have passed, the council clerk will raise his hand with five fingers indicating there's five minutes left. When the five minutes have passed, he will give the cut sign to me, at which
time I'll ask for a vote to close the public portion of the meeting. The 90 minutes will include any mass outbursts. Any individuals who do not show respect for the individual who has the floor by interrupting will be given a warning and will be removed from the room if the interruptions continue. This goes for
council members as well as the public. Item five is the minutes from the special meeting on February 14th, 2024. Move the minutes. Second. A motion is made by Councilman Lamb and seconded by Councilman Nvice. Councilman Lamb, yes. Councilman Nivson, yes. Councilman Sakosi,
no. Councilman Loen, yes. Councilman Quinnisk, no. Council Vice President Otul, yes. Council President Coleman, yes. At this time, we'd like to honor two Eagle Scouts. And if they and their
families would come forward to the microphone near that table, that would appreciate that. Can we take a motion to move the I'm sorry. Honoring resolutions and presentations. I apologize. Move the uh resolutions, presentations. Is there a second? Second. All in favor?
I I I was eager to get the two young men up here and give them their recognition. So coming to the front would be Eagle Scout Brennan Adams and Eagle Scout Michael Piscopo from Shroopy.
[Applause] Gentlemen, it's a pleasure having you here. I have friends who have been Eagle Scouts. I know what you've been through, and I won't use the word, but you've been through a lot, I'm sure. So, we
want to congratulate you. Thank you for your endurance. Thank you for your patience. And thank you definitely for your projects. And at this time, I'd like to first of all, I got to find out who's who. You are. You're Brennon and and your mic. Um would you just kind of
review the project that you worked on for us? Yes. Um for my project, I went to a butterfly garden. Um, I forget the name, but it was um it's for uh parents to have a brick placed
for their kids if they've lost them before them. Um, no matter the age. Huh. Oh, compassionate friends. Thank you, Mom. Um, which does hold a special place in my own heart because my own uncle has
a brick there. But I met with the owner, Mr. Bruce Jones and talked about a possible project and he requested batous to be made. Um, and we made two batous
um, on the smaller side which can fit about 100 each. Um, as well as we did a little cleanup and straightened up all their fences um, and their gazebo there. Um,
yeah. [Applause] I'm surprised you can stand up with all those badges up. Good job.
Thank you. Hi. So for my project, I took a golf cart and kind of turned it into a ambulance that they use for like uh different events like they use it during the Ocean County Fair, they use
it during the parades and other stuff like that. [Applause] We're very proud to have you gentlemen as members of our community. And uh by the way, if you're free on weekends, I got some work at my house here. Come
over me. No, but anyway, we're we're very very proud of you. Like I say, I know what you went through to get your awards. And so congratulations and keep up the good work. All right. Congratulations. Congratulations.
[Applause] Families, come on up for a minute for a picture, please. I don't know. Congratulations again, guys. Good job. [Applause] [Music] Item seven is an ordinance to exceed the
municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish a cap bank. NJSA4A 4-45.14. This is a first reading. Can I have a motion made to approve? Make a motion to approve.
We have a second. Second. I believe I got a motion to approve by Councilman Lamb and it was second by Councilman Nivon. Councilman Lamb. Yes. Councilman Nonson. Yes, Councilman Sakosi.
I vote yes, but um there were certain uh people that always voted no on this and I didn't understand why over the years, but I vote yes. Councilman Loman, yes. Councilman Quinnless, yes. Council Vice President Otul, yes. Council President Coleman,
yes. Item eight is a resolution of the township council of the township of Tom River, Ocean County, New Jersey, authorizing a non-fair and open professional service contract with Bowman and Company LLP for financial and budgeting consultant services in a total
contract amount not to exceed $25,000. Move the resolution. Second. A motion was made by Councilman Lamb and seconded by Councilman Lman. Councilman Lamb, yes. Councilman Loman, yes. Councilman Sakosi,
yes. and it's another democratic um agency. Councilman Iverson. Yes. Councilman Quinnless. Uh this is uh most of the work for this is usually done by our own uh CFO. Uh so this price seems like it's way out of line. So I'm going to have to vote no.
Council Vice President Oul. Yes. Council President Coleman. Yes. Moving to the consent agenda. All matters listed under item consent agenda will be enacted by one motion in the form listed below. There will be no dis separate discussion of these items. If discussion is desired on any item, that
item will be considered separately. Does the public have any resolutions they would like I'm sorry. Does the council have any resolutions they would like to be held for future vote? Yes. I'd like a discussion and roll call on
G, J, GG, and I I please. Uh G J G I I a little crazy. Jimmy, you said I I Why' you jump over your eye like that? Did I miss I? No, you got it. It's a GG then I. No, it's I I
hear it. GG. G G and I I Okay. All right. Just to clarify, I have down G, letter G, letter J, I I JJ. Is that correct? GG. GG.
Oh, GG. Okay. I'm sorry. I I Okay. She was on television, was she? Sorry. GG was on Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Little little before my time. Okay. That was so council
total four. Yes. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. That's great. Do anybody in the community wish to have any resolutions held for future vote or discussion? Yes, sir.
Which one, sir? D. He said CC and what? DD. DD. Okay. I still have somebody in the back. Yes, ma'am. Anyone? Yes, sir.
GG. I think that's been called if I That was already called, sir. Anybody else? I see no one else raising their hands. So I assume that that's it.
So we'll start with the letter G. Oh, I want to move the balance of the agenda for a vote. Um need a motion. Just just so the record is clear, it's the balance
of the consent agenda except for G, J, GG, I, I, C, C, D, D, and H. Take a motion. I'll make a motion. I'll second. Motion made by Council Vice President
Otul and seconded by Councilman Lamb. Council Vice President Oul, yes. Councilman Lamb, yes. Councilman Sakosi, yes. Councilman Loman, yes. Councilman Iverson, yes. Councilman Quinnless, yes. Council President Coleman, yes.
G. Okay, we'll start with item G. Was that you, Jim? Yes, sir. Okay. Uh, this was already, if I remember correct, was already uh put out to bid and the bids were already accepted. and I'm wondering why we're backtracking on it.
Council President, may I answer Jim's question since this comes from administration? Go ahead. So, um, the reason, Jim, is the bids came back and were actually approved by the prior administration, but they were like a half a million dollars to put
vinyl siding on the back of the showun. Uh, I think a half a million dollars for a little bit of vinyl siding is absurd. So, we're rejecting that and we're going to use our own uh buildings and grounds folks to vinyl the backside of the show
gun. It'll cost us about $8,000 versus $500,000. And instead, that half a million dollar grant is going uh partially toward putting up a new park and the other part is going to go towards 75 new WaveRunner pads down in Huie Park because it's a recreation
grant and I think it should be for recreation, not for vinyl sighting. So that's why we're rejecting those bits. Hopefully you'll support rejecting them as well. Well, let's not lump things in as we do this because that's how you confuse people and and distract from what's really happening. The question is,
didn't we already accept bids to do this work? And I'm pretty sure it's more than just $8,000 worth of vinyl siding going on that building. Am I correct in that? Where's the back side of the golf course? Is the Is there somebody from the engineering department that go over that with us? So,
anybody because I'm I'm I'm pretty confident it was more than just 8,000. No, no, you're you I I understand that you're you're confident in your in your thoughts and I I believe you're confident in your thoughts and I'm not going to argue with you, but I am going to tell you that the price came back at a half million dollars and we're
the administration thinks we should reject that and use the recreation grant money, the ARPA funds for rec for recreation, which is why we're rejecting it. That's my explanation. And you can accept that or not accept that. Did we get more than one bid? Three.
We had three bids. And were they all half a million dollars or was anybody was anybody near 8,000? No. No one was near 8,000. One, I believe, was close to 400,000. The other was in the high fours and the other was in the high fives. So, it sounds like a competitive bid went out and we received competitive
results. It doesn't sound very competitive, but uh well, if you had somebody that you're telling me three people were $100,000 and one guy was 500, we gave it to the $500, I'd agree with your argument on it. Well, but I'm sure there's more to it than just $8,000 worth of final. Well, as I said, um
we don't believe that it's worth spending that money on that and we think we should be using that money for recreation. But you're more than welcome to your vote and uh I think I've explained I've explained it fully as best I can. Yeah. Thank you, Council President.
Kayla to call take a vote on item G. I have a motion. She has Oh, no. Did you want to speak about that, ma'am? Am I? Yes. I'm sorry. My name is Janet Lang. I live at 37
Cedar Drive and I believe that the bid uh contract was to provide vinyl siding on the entire building if I read the bid properly, not just one side of the building. So, I believe that that should be put on the record properly. Whether
you still want to move forward or not, again, that's up to you. But I think the public should know that the bid was not for one side. I it's for the entire building to be resided. And I believe it hasn't been done. I don't want to step on the administration in 20 in 20.
But the but the back end was the was the part that was severely damaged that needs to be remedied. And yet the mayor while looking at this administration while looking at this decided that why do the whole building if the whole building doesn't need it? I believe in that too. Why why fix something that's not but also you're interrupting me
without permission. So um just pointing that out. It's a violation of the Open Public Meetings Act to interrupt me unless you are recognized by the president. So, I just wanted to straighten that out. And it was not for just some damaged siding. It was to
preserve the building. As buildings age, they need maintenance, okay, to be kept up and maintained properly. Um, in some cases in our public buildings, that hasn't been the case. and a referendum vote went out and we're all paying for
public buildings to be repaired now because though that scheduled maintenance wasn't put into the budget, something like this, which is regular maintenance for regular upkeep for a public building, may occasionally be needed. So, that's all I have.
Council President, may I um I I just want everybody to know that um Miss Lang, I believe her uh boyfriend was the former recreation director. That's irrelevant. Wait a minute. Was the e was the recreation director, but that does not make you an expert on
what going on. Let's not go there. The comments have been made. Excuse me. The l comments have been made. Let's end the discussion. Let's take the vote. Comment. Oh, okay. Mr. Williams, come on.
Paul Williams, Broad Street, Tom River. Um, just just real quick, a reminder through the council president to all of council members and everybody present.
If you do not have the floor from the council president, and I noticed Mr. Rodri, you're making an extra effort. So kudos, credit when it's due. But if you're not recognized by the council president, particularly a gentleman sitting at the far end here, you don't
get to talk. You don't get to interrupt. You shut your mouth and be quiet till it's your time to talk. Thank you. And there you go again. Shut up. Thank you. Why do we have to put up with this now? Thank you, Mr. Williams. For the matter
to the matter on Mr. Williams, we're dealing with a resolution. You made your point. You made your point, sir. To the matter of the ordinance. To the matter. There's no ordinance we're discussing, sir. To the matter. No ordinance. We are discussing. The matter that is open for the
discussion right now, resolution, please sit down. You're not going to let me talk. You're not talking about the appropriate thing. Mr. Marino, would you like to advise the council president or No. You've already spoken. I mean, what do you have a comment on? Do I have five minutes or no? comment on
this specific resolution? I do. Have to be gerine to the resolution. Then speak about the resolution. Thank you. That's what I was asking for. To the point of the resolution, pardon me, I refer to it as an ordinance. Miss Lang made a very important point for all of the council members that they should take into consideration.
We've heard from the mayor of what his intentions are and his narrative is that it was only for one side of the building, the back side of the building, when in fact it is not only for the back side of the building. I caution the council members, as I'm going to caution
you very often, the mayor is misleading you. He is manipulating you. He wants you to just cosign his agenda. Just a couple days ago, I saw him. Mr. Williams, again, I have to remind
you, you have to speak directly to the resolution to the resolution. No, you're not. I'm I'm speaking to the resolution. No, you are not, sir. About about this cost for this project. Then keep it on that subject. That's what I'm talking about. And I am addressing what the mayor said that the
what the intent is to do with that money. I get it. He has a an idea in his mind of what he would rather be doing with that money versus what the money has already been approved for. Just a couple days ago, I saw him with the guys from Easy Dock walking across the street to
the uh to the waterfront there. That's what they And again, keep your mouth shut. That is what this is about. He has an agenda that he wants you to mindlessly and obediently follow.
This is going to be a lot of repeated comments from me. I'm going to pound this every single time. We got it. Thank you. I hope you did. [Applause] table.
Motion has been made by Mr. Motion to table was made by Councilman Quinnisk. I'll second this, please. A little clip here. A motion to table. This resolution was made by Councilman Quinnisk and seconded by Councilman Sakosi. Councilman Quinn, yes. Table.
Councilman Sakoszi, yes. Table. Councilman Lamb, no. Councilman Loman, no. Councilman Nyverson, no. Council Vice President Otul, no. Council President Coleman. No. Can I make a a comment at this point? Yes.
My understanding is that it was originally for the whole building to be done. The only part of the building that really needed it and needed it, I would say, really badly was the back of the building. I looked at it myself when I saw what was going on. I saw the number. I said, "Really doesn't need to be done
at this point." It's not that somebody told me that they were going to do this. It's that I made a decision myself and I'm getting tired of being told to shut up and all of that. That's just not necessary in a meeting like this. If you can't keep the proper decorum, you shouldn't be allowed to speak because
that's just ridiculous every time. Public comment is closed. I'm closed, ma'am. I'm sorry. Make a motion on this. I don't. You'll get a chance in a second. Council President, Council President, can I make a comment? Council President, can I make a comment? Go ahead. Yeah. I looked at the building
and I've been in construction trades my whole life and that entire building could be vinylsided probably for 60 to $70,000. Not no. Well, the material Yeah. The material $8,000. Pretty close. If you've ever bought
vinyl siding, you can you can do a lot of squares with $8,000 worth of vinyl. It's It's pretty cheap. So, for 500,000, we're going to take another look at it. We're going to get some bids. We're going to try and do it in-house for a tenth of that. So, that's where it is.
And this man has no manipulation over me or him or him or him. So, so for the for the rude people who just continuously make these immature comments, take it for what for whatever
it's worth. Council president, I'll take a vote. They don't know me. Make a motion. Move. Better yet, one more thing. We ran on a platform to try to save money for the township so that our taxes don't get raised again like they were two years
ago. And that's what we are trying to do. Counciloman Oul, there's a there's a motion on the floor for this for this resolution. A first a motion has been made by Councilman Lamb. Is there a second? Second. A motion is made by Councilman Lamb and second by Council Vice President Otul.
Councilman Lamb. Yes. Council Vice President Otul. Yes. Councilman Sakosi. I also looked at the building and and I don't know what the plans were for before. How many squares? But that whole building needs to be
replaced and that price includes metal bending uh the top of the roof sides. Councilman, your vote, please. I vote no. Thank you. Councilman Loen, yes. Councilman Nison, yes. Councilman Quinn,
no. Council President Coleman, yes. Thank you. And now we're going to move on to resolution H. Right. Council President J. Council President, just let me add one more sentence,
please. GJ, go ahead. Please. Thank you. Um, the Wave Runner platforms are are a good idea because I do use uh Honey Park on the in the summertime, but um there's places
to uh tie up uh jet skis properly, but um this is the first that I'm hearing about it. So that's all. Thank you, council. Council President, may I jump in briefly? So, um that hasn't been
voted on and it'll come before the council. Again, I just would like to reiterate that just so there's no confusion that it's a grant specifically for recreation that also may not have been properly used in that it was going
toward vinyl for a restaurant on a recreational property. So, the intent again of these grants is to provide more recreation opportunities for residents. Uh so that that's that's why we're doing this along with the
excessive price of the vinyl. Uh but you will have an opportunity, Mr. Sakosi, to vote uh should we go forward with that plan. We're going to go in alphabetical order. So we're going to go to item H. Item H. Sure. Is there a discussion on H or just a
roll call? Any discussion on if anybody has anything on H. Come on. Yes, sir. Please come up. Come on up. Come on up, sir. Oh, I'm sorry. I don't think it's hard to see back there.
He raised his hand for her. Irene Watson, Messenger Street. Um, I just wanted H to be expanded on to just to be explained a little bit more. That's all. I can explain that. Um, so local police departments can uh the
federal government has a program from which local police departments can uh purchase surplus equipment uh to use in law enforcement. But state law requires a resolution of the governing body in order for the local police department to do that. So this resolution is in compliance with state law
should they decide. Can I have a motion to approve letter eight? I'll make that motion. Second. Sorry. Who made it? Made the motion. A motion was made by Councilman Loin and seconded by Councilman Lamb. Councilman Loen. Yes. Councilman Lamb. Yes.
Councilman Sakosi. Yes. Councilman Nverson. Yes. Councilman Quinn. Yes. Council Vice President Otul. Yes. Council President Coleman. Yes. J. Hey, we're letter J. Jay, that was me. I'm going to guess you
guys are going to try and paint this in the same light as you just did the Shogun building, which is really the golf course building uh as well. Um, but uh this another is another one I believe was already approved, money already set aside for it's for repairs, not just painting, but it's for some of the
repairs that need to be done to the building because it's exposed to the atmosphere and near the salt air and it's going to you're going to have a bigger problem if you don't take care of these issues now. So, why is it we're going to cancel this one? And again, did we get three competitive bids? Were they all in line or was something so far out
of whack that you felt you had to move this money somewhere else? Well, this is not um a grant, but this is painting of a parking lot, which I've been in and you've been in and uh we believe that a half a million dollars to paint the outside walls of
that building is excessive and we looked at it and I don't I don't believe it really needs paint when I look at it. Mr. Rodri, first of all, direct questions are directed to Mr. president and Mr. President, but this is an administrative Excuse me. He the chair recognized me on
this. I believe so. No, no, I did not. Okay. No, in all honesty, I did not. Okay, then then go ahead, Council President. So, again, I'm going to say that it's beyond just paint. It's not just paint. If you don't repair a building before you paint it or even after you paint it, you're going to have a problem with the
underlying structure of the building. Why is it from a paint, Mr. Quinn? Let's So, did we What kind of problem we're going to have? Didn't we have the engineering department review the project? Didn't they spec the project? Sounds like you're protecting a friend, a contractor friend. That's what this sounds like. Both of these sound like
you're protecting people that were going to get a half a million dollars to paint a few walls. That's what this sounds like. Who are you protecting, Mr. Tell you right now, my friends are the residents of Tom's River. Not just a few, but all of them. So I ask you again,
Jim, can I just statement? Can I make a don't represent the the 71% of voters? Mayor, enough. Please let me speak. I'm so happy you got those 13,000 people to vote. Let me speak. Make a motion. Please make a motion for Sounds like you're protecting a contractor. Jim, I just want to speak.
I don't know who you think I Jim. Can I talk? Who are you protecting? I don't know the painting cont. Jim, may I speak, please? Thank you. I will tell you that because of what happened to me the last meeting, I took the time to do a thorough walkthrough of the garage inside and outside and there
are some repairs that need to be made. Nothing significant and I honestly from my experience I built my own house in the Poconos did all the painting sheetrock. I mean I have a lot of construction experience and I'll tell you I think the building could definitely use a good power washing. I
agree with that. But I think the paint on the building is pretty stable. Really do. So, I'm just telling you, I did take the time to walk through and take a look from the inside and outside. With with all due respect, I think there was an engineers report on it. Not that somebody decided, I don't like the color. Let's go with blue. Was it
I think it's it's far deeper than that. And then if you do paint it, yes, you power wash it first. So, go back and look at the engineers report on it if there is one. Go back and look at the bids and see what they're going to do. And if they're competitive, let's not cancel another contract and jeopardize something far greater than a few thousand dollar.
Do we know a lot more than make a motion on please? Can I can I say something? Council President, go ahead. I was there and I saw it. It does look like we are going to be rebidding the job. And just for everybody who was clapping, it's your
money that we're spending. So he's looking out for your money. So, if you guys think 500,000 to paint the top floor of that garage is a good deal when we could maybe get it done for a hundred and put that forward towards something else. It's just that's what
we're doing. We're here to save the taxpayers money and spend it as wisely as possible. Is that correct? No, that's not I thought that's what we were here to do. Let's get back to order.
Motion count Councilman Lamb has made a motion on this resolution. Is there a second? Is there a second? I'll second it. What was the motion? A motion made by Councilman Lamb and second by Councilman Nson. Councilman Lamb. Yes. Councilman Iverson. Yes.
Councilman Cozy. It's more than paint. It's structural structural issues. Town Hall was repaired in need. Somebody voted no on that. So, I'm voting no and hopefully we'll get a refid.
Councilman Lman, it's just not paint. It just so happens that I'm a structural paint companies don't work on structures. I've looked at the building. It's not a structural issue. It's a patching and painting. It's not $500,000 worth of work. And I agree with the mayor when he's saying that is money that could be
looked at again and used someplace else, but that is not a structural problem on that that garage. I've been there and I've seen it. Council, your vote. That's my business. Your vote, please. Yes. Councilman Quinnless. No. Council Vice President Otul.
Yes. Council President Coleman. Yes. Everyone CC. JJ G CC. Okay. Okay, we're on resolution CC
comments. CC. Oh, he missed it. Wait, no. That's okay. That's public. We have We're on CC. Is it GG? GG. G is Yes, sir. Dennis Galante 1149 Sher Court Tom
River. My question is that this um you wave the local review on the on the township budget that is before the director of the financial that that local finances. Yes, it goes to the local finance board.
Uh it goes to the DCA and honestly the CF CFO which has been who's here for has a three-year term. This is something she does every year and it goes it goes to the DCA for review as opposed to being reviewed here. They review it. Okay. So, we do have a CFO now and they're certified.
Uh the CFO is still on staff. She is certified and tonight because she is going to be leaving us tonight. We appointed uh Bowman and Company to act as a CFO uh while we seek new uh new new
folks for that position. I did some research on this and I looked at the New Jersey government 530-7. Now, I'm sure that she has gone or who knows that everything that allows a waiver has been satisfied. Uh uh
municipal aid is one question. Grants funding is another question. Certifications are another question. Sorry. Yes. All this has been taken care of. Well, th this has been going. This is the way. Yes. Okay.
Yes, I can do DD now. That'd be fine. Okay. The uh the resolution. Oh, wait a minute. Excuse me. We have to vote on We voted on DD. DD has passed already. Right. We need a motion to approve
to be removed. As as a still on CC, right? We're still on CC. No, we need a vote on We need a vote on CC unless there are any more comments on it. Move CC. Second. A motion by Councilman Lamb and seconded by Councilman Loman. Councilman Lamb.
Yes. Councilman Loman. Yes. Councilman Sakosi. I vote yes, but other people in the years before always voted no on this. Councilman Iverson, yes. Councilman Quinn, yes. Council Vice President Otul, yes. Council President Coleman,
yes. Okay, now we're on DD. said, "Sir, you're on." Okay. Um, this is to enable to allow a an amendment to the temporary budget. Is that what this is? Or is this to
approve an existing amendment? This is an an extension of the temporary. Sorry. Well, I I know I know, Mr. Trullan, you keep yelling out that I'm not the chair, but but these are question. Excuse me. Excuse me. These are questions. These
are questions for Mr. Williams. Mr. Williams, you're out of order. Mr. Williams, you're screaming in the meeting. Will you please remove this gentleman from the room? Officer, please remove this gentleman from the room. Thank you. Please. If Sorry, Mr. President, if you're going
to be calling him out for interrupting, shouldn't you also be calling out the mayor for interrupting out of order? Um, it's a um, it's an it's an admin it's an administrative it's an administrative question and traditionally Mr. Quinnless the mayor
answered these questions along with the BA but you have a different opinion now with that there's a different mayor you don't want me to answer questions for the public about our agenda I'm I'm really lost Mr. President, have you called on him yet or is he still interrupting to these town meetings? Wait a minute. Time out.
Time. Look, this is my meeting. I'm calling to time out. Okay, sir, you're still at the microphone. If you have additional comments, make the comments and then I'll recognize the council member and the mayor to make comments. Okay. I'm trying to get answers from the mayor. I've been coming to these
meetings not recently but I came here for 15 years and always always these questions were answered unless anybody else knew the answer the mayor was given the ability to be able to answer the question along with his financial officers. Okay. Yes sir.
That's the way it was supposed to be. Okay. So that was my, you know, um, is there an amendment pending or is this just to enable and is this a temporary budget that's already been crafted and is this budget online? Okay. The
All right, Mr. Mayor, you have the floor. Thank you. The um I'm sorry, the uh extension of the temporary budget is there until we get the budget. So basically what they're doing is they take a piece of what last year's budget is and they calculate it based on a
quarter and that that's all that that is. Is this for view from the public? The temporary you could you know you know you could always open everything but you know it well shouldn't it just be online as all other the the it should be online as well. Yes. Mr. uh it's not is it up?
I looked today. I didn't find it. No once it passes we can if the CFO wants it on website we can put on the website. Is it required? I don't please. Okay. But I'm not. Yeah. No, it we'll get it to you. Thank you. Any other comments on DD?
Call for a vote. Have a motion. I'll make that motion. Second. A motion is made by Councilman Lamb and seconded by Councilman Iverson. Councilman Lamb. Yes. Councilman Iverson. Yes. Councilman Sakosi. Yes. But other people in the past always
voted in the Councilman Loman. Yes. Councilman Quinn. Yes. Council Vice President Oul. Absolutely. Council President Coleman. Yes. Moving right along. We're on GG. GG. Uh that was me as well, wasn't it?
Okay, Jim, you're on. Okay. Um this is another one that I think we've already voted on. We've already passed. The money's already set aside. they're uh that's budgeted for. Uh these are vehicles that are extremely difficult to get, not because they're special, but just because of the state
of the economy and they're very very expensive. Why is it we would take this time to cancel these? And please don't tell me to buy a jet ski pad. Okay. Um Yes, sir. You got to answer that. Oh, me?
You're the president. Oh, gee, I understand. Um, it's my understanding that a lot of the vehicles that we have that would be replaced by this purchase only have 60,000 miles on them. And as you know, in today's automotive world, 60,000 miles on a
vehicle almost is really nothing. Some vehicles now are running 150 200,000 miles and are still moving right along. So, we're trying to save money right now because we have looks like we're going to have a budget uh hole to fill and
this could be one. It doesn't mean that in the future we can't make these purchases, but somebody needs to take a look at what the real deal is because like I say, a lot of the vehicles are very low mileage uh vehicles with today's standards. Mr. President, no disrespect to you at
all, but those are the same arguments we heard when we passed this the last time. All right? It's not just the miles on a on a on a work truck. It's the hours on it. It's the the abuse the truck gets carrying things. And the fact that it takes so long to get them right now and
the fact that uh that they're so expensive means that it's if you cancel this today and order it again tomorrow, the clock starts all over again trying to get these vehicles. So, how why do we have when we were left on December 31st with a balanced budget? Why is it we
have to cut everything especially when this was already accounted for in last year's budget? Mr. President, council president, I gave you my insight, Jim, and that's the best I can do. Okay, somebody else wants to speak. Yes, of course. Please, Jim. Dan, I think you'd better served as the
president instead of the mayor. No, John wants Mr. Quinn, I have the floor. Mr. Quinnland, we have John 12 vehicles right now in the parking garage and town hall that aren't being used that can be used and replaced these vehicles. There's no reason why we need to waste money and
purchase brand new vehicles when we have other vehicles that can be used for the same purposes. We're here to save the taxpayers money and that's exactly what we'll do. We're also here to keep the town rolling. No, no pun intended there. It's not going to roll very far if we're way over budget.
Again, we don't have a budget. You haven't had a budget meeting. We're guessing you might have a $3.4 million shortfall. We're guessing at that. I'm gonna close this discussion at this time. We can revisit it. We can revisit it. You no longer have the floor. Thank you. We can revisit it later. Please take a
vote. Sure, we will. Calm down. Calm down. Yes, sir. Come up. There's a motion a second on the floor. There's a motion and a second on the floor. How's the president? There's there's a motion and a second on the
floor. Is that correct? Cler, I was there. I didn't hear I didn't catch any brush you in before people got a chance to speak. He didn't realize that you were. All right, let's go. Hi, Phil. How you doing? Good. How you doing today? Good. Uh, Phil Brilliant, 79 Holly True Lane. Just a quick comment as a as a
commissioner at the MUA. We plan our vehicles and I will tell you we plan a year ahead because right now it takes that long to get these heavy duty vehicles in. If you cancel, what I would re a first recommendation is maybe look
at delaying delivery as opposed to immediate cancellation if you think you don't need them. But I will tell you based upon the backlog and where we are, it took us a year to get one pickup truck. So just to have that in mind as you vote tonight. Thank you.
Hi Chris. How are you, Mr. Coleman? Are these also police vehicles also? No, they're not. none of these vehicles because it says you're you're cancelling a contract regarding Pelgro Chevrolet and it says police department. Am I right about this or it's not police
department vehicles? It's not a police car. It's a general term for all the cars. But it does say the police department. That's why I'm asking. It's the It's not for a police car. It's not It's not a police car, but it is a police vehicle, too. So, the answer would be we're going to cut police vehicles. Is that
No, they can take one of the ones in the parking lot, Mr. Raymond. There's 12 of them downstairs. vehicles that have barely any miles on them. They could take one. They're brand new. Mohill bought tons of them. They're downstairs first and second floor. Anybody wants to be the prior administration bought a bunch of vehicles on their way out and tried to
leave it on our dime and we won't let that happen. And it also seems that there are certain folks that are trying to protect those contracts. Please let interest please let the speaker have the floor back. Go ahead. So since Valentine's Day and I am sticking on the topic, I'm still trying to understand as to why we cut police
positions and I understand you want to hire EMTs. If you're going to cut the police department and then you're going to cut the police vehicles, well, how are they ever going to get to a call? I I don't understand this. Well, he he tried to explain to you and I did go I did go visit I don't agree with it. I visited the garage myself. You did
and I saw Yeah, I did. And I saw the vehicles that he's referring to over here. Very nice. Yes. So, there's police vehicles over here now. There are vehicles there that can be used by the police department. Okay. All right. Thank you, Mr. Coleman. You're welcome, Chris. Thank you.
clock. Yes, sir. How you doing? Uh Jim Wright, 829 Ethan Court. Uh I can tell you from experience, I'm a retired chief of police from Garwood in Union County. I've done purchasing of vehicles. If you're talking about police interceptor models, that is a police patrol vehicle.
These are not interceptors. Police interceptors. Nothing on there like that. No, there's a couple of F250s. What else, John? Uh yeah, they're all pickup trucks. Pickup trucks. So, it's just the way it was. It's just the way it's written. Were any designated for the police department at the time of the purchasing order?
We weren't here before. None. None of these are interceptors. None of these are I I just asked you if they were designated for the police department at the time of the purchase order. They are not police cars used for police business. So I just asked you if they were designated for the police department. Thank you.
Sorry. They they may be for um for someone to ride around in a pickup truck. I'm not sure. I would say yes. Can I get a yes or no on a simple question? No, it's not that. Were they designated for the police department? Well, if they were going to the police department, the purchase
order would be through the police department, right? Through their through their line, it was not listed as a police department vehicle on the list that we reviewed. The list that you reviewed. So, you could be wrong though. No, the vehicles that were All right, I'll just The vehicles that were cancelled
the vehicles that were canceled were not police vehicles. There were no interceptors. If somebody wants a vehicle, we just gave one to EMS. We gave one to another department. There are a lot of vehicles downstairs. The police department, if they want another vehicle, could come take another vehicle.
I'm very familiar with um trying to I'm sorry. Go ahead. Well, I already said it. You can review that in a minute. Gotcha. I got one more point on purchasing with all vehicles, whether they're for the police department, pickup trucks, or anything else. Turnaround is a good 18 months. If you're kicking this can down
the road for another year, we're talking 30 months before you will see a vehicle in this town. So, if you're talking about a car with 60,000 miles on it, it'll be pushing 90. Now, you're talking about increasing your maintenance costs. So, you're only kicking the can down the road and you're going to cost a lot more
money in the long run. It's not going to help. [Applause] [Music] Okay. We'll call for a vote. Have a motion to approve.
Second the motion. A motion made by Councilman Lamb and seconded by Councilman Nverson. Councilman Lamb. Yes. Councilman Nivon. Yes. Councilman Sakosi. Um I believe that there was nine uh vehicles uh total on this. Uh correct me
if I'm wrong. We went over this uh last week. There were nine. Three were delivered already that we couldn't stop unfortunately. And there was about I would say what half a million $600,000 left. Okay. So, how many left? Five or six we're talking about. I believe it's six.
Okay. Thank you. So, um I I believe that we need these. These were part of uh the budget before we have the money. So, I'm going to vote no. Councilman Lman. Yes. Councilman Quinnless. With all the money we just saved tonight alone, I think we
can afford to have our captains back and the CSOS. [Applause] Delaying these purchases is very short-sighted and and not not not very
well advised. I say no. Council Vice President Oul, yes. Council President Coleman, yes. Resolution I I Is that you, Jim?
Yeah, sorry. Uh, this is another one. We're hiring even more attorneys, so maybe that's why we can't afford police captains, cuz here we are putting out more money for yet another batch of attorneys. I don't understand the need for this. Can somebody please explain why we need a backup prosecutor? Can the business administrator explain
that? Would um First of all, I'd like to make a point of order that uh that Mr. Williams was was requested by the police department actually demanded uh to be removed from the meeting and he's still present. So will you please remove Mr. Williams as the council president stated earlier? I don't think
please please remove Mr. Williams. As I said before, officers, please tell you about the lawsuit. The last time you threw me out, it just got filed last night. So, I don't get to tell you that the judge is going to have to hear from you
or you on March 15th. You'll get served tomorrow. Don't worry about it. And what was the Jim? If the council president would like, I could explain the need for the backup prosecutor. the back the backup prosecutor. Uh, council president, may I
be recognized to address why we believe the attorney wanted to address that and then then you may, mayor. Okay. Attorney the fulltime prosecutor named matters are building up. You always have to have a you always
have to have a conflict and you have to have a prosecutor should the prosecutor get sick. Uh, the prior prosecutor had a very large firm. He represented 30 municipalities and had prosecutors that could fill in. The new prosecutor uh
needs a backup should he be sick or should there be a conflict. We always had a conflict. So this is this is accomplishing both of those things. Okay. Any other comments on that? Okay. Call for a vote, please. I'll move.
Second. Motion made by Councilman Loen and seconded by Councilman Lamb. Councilman Loman. Yes. Councilman Lamb. Yes. Councilman Scozosi. Um I believe uh the prosecutor's budget was around 90 92,000 uh dollars a year.
And I don't know what it is now with all these uh assistant prosecutors, whatever you want to call them. And uh and this is another Democratic uh firm here. So I vote no.
Councilman Iverson. Yes. Councilman Quinnisk. Council Vice President Otul. Yes. Council President Coleman. Yes. Resolution JJ. No. No. That's it, right?
Oh, I'm sorry. Okay. We are moving to the reports. Yep. JJ was already voted on. That was voted on during the consent agenda. Separately. It was voted on already. has already been voted on. Thank you.
Okay, the U reports. Any questions? Can you explain what JJ JJ wasn't pulled, right? No one removed it. No one removed JJ. JJ was not asked to be voted on
separately. I don't have that recorded. I don't have it recorded. And I recorded each one. Probably Mr. Molino. Can we back up and let it That's for legal opinion from Mr. Molino. You shouldn't. Mr. Molino, I don't have it. I don't have it. I don't have it listed
either. It was voted on. So, the matters the matter has been voted on. So, we're moving to the reports. What was changing that they're so concerned about? Any discussion on the reports? There's no discussion on the report.
Okay. Sorry. Take a motion. Move it. Yeah. Need a motion to approve the reports. Motion to move the reports. Second. A motion made by Councilman Lamb and second by Councilman Loman. Councilman Lamb. Yes. Councilman Lman. Yes. Councilman Sakosi.
Yes. Councilman Iverson. Yes. Councilman Quinn. Yes. Council Vice President Otul. Yes. Council President Coleman. Yes. Moving to the approval of the bills. Have a motion to approve the bills.
I'll make that motion. Do we have a second? I'll second the motion. A motion made by Councilman Loen and second by Councilman Iverson. Councilman Loman, yes. Councilman Nson, yes. Councilman Sakosi, yes. Councilman Lamb,
he abstained from all bills payable. The barrel of Lavallet also abstained from all bills payable. Solo Zaflin Zabarski also uh bill number 24-00797 payable at Dasty McGucken attorneys at law and bill number 24 abstain from bill
number 24-01 031 to magistrate salaries and yes to the bounce councilman Quinn I just have to abstain from Remington Vernick Engineers and yes to the bounce council vice president Oula yes council president Coleman
yes elected officials comments. Do we start this end and we'll work down? So, Councilman Lamb. Thank you, Council President. This will be brief. I just want to thank um the business administrator, John Solanis, and Carl Deleo, the tax collector, for
providing us with the tax collector's annual report. Gives us a snapshot gives us a snapshot um on our as we enter the budget season. um again what we need to watch out for and again where our uh needs need to be and I want to
thank them for providing that and that's all this evening. Thank you Councilman Quinzik. Thank you Mr. President. Uh I just want to point out that uh I know the police department submitted for a grant that covered up to $400,000 of a mutual uh
service agreement for CSO program and I didn't get to see that on the final agenda. Uh, I also know that last year the ice skating rink and the golf course alone added another $400,000 of income to the town. Both of those could have been used for keeping our police department the way it was functioning.
Okay. Um, the jet ski docks, I haven't heard a thing about it, but to reallocate money from one thing for something that we haven't voted on yet seems a bit premature. I think we should have left those other projects going the way they were. Dan, I don't know the painter or the siding guy. I don't know anybody that somehow I'm going to
personally benefit from them getting those projects, but thank you very much for that insight. Um, on December 31st, 2023, somebody was handed a ship that was tacking on a beautiful course.
It had 500 plus employees and we'll say a crew of over 100,000 people, almost 100,000 people since uh January 1st. Several very good crew leaders were thrown overboard. Others were
made to walk the plank. And even now, some are trying to get away from the pending disaster by jumping into the last lifeboat. This ship is way off course and heading for the rocky shores. And you were standing
proudly on the bow with your chest puffed out toing how well you're doing. Touting how well you're doing. Turn around, captain. O captain, your ship is empty and sinking fast. Thank you. Councilman Logan,
I wouldn't even know what to add to this. I have no comments. Okay. Uh, Councilman Nverson, I just want to reiterate, we're here to save your money and we're spending your money. So, you guys want to clap when
wasteful things get turned down. I can't understand it. That's just not how I was raised. I've worked three jobs, 40 years, probably worked till I die because I don't have a a retirement or a pension. I just got health benefits I didn't even know I was going to get when
I volunteered for this job. So now I can uh I can die and I'll be covered. But anyway, so uh Oh, thank you. So you want me to die? Good. Oh, okay. Excellent. That's really nice. Wonderful. Wonderful thing. Yeah, that's that's very mature. So we're spending your money. So, if you
want us to just blindly vote these completely wasteful projects in like Quinslick, I don't know what skin he's got in the game with these things, but 550,000 for vinyl siding on one side of a building. To me, that's excessive. We're going to revisit that. It's going
to get sided. So, we'll take that 400,000 savings, put it towards other things. 535,000 to paint the top floor of this parking garage. Insane. I'm not going to vote yes. And I don't know why he's so passionate about some of these things. I just can't figure it out.
Anyway, that's all I have to say. We're we're trying to save your money, okay? So the taxes don't go up because everybody's always complaining we have the highest taxes. That's what I'm here to do. I'm spending your money as wisely as I can. He has no control over my
vote, believe it or not. Maybe my wife does, but that's about it. Okay. Councilman Chacosi. Okay. First, here we go.
I want to thank everyone here for coming tonight. This is your town and if you don't speak up. If you don't come, then more bad things are going to happen. I know it's late and we all have lives
and children and things to take care of, but you got to come to these meetings. It's so important. And and I know Jim is grateful also and and so am I. Um, I just want to uh mention that the town,
as I understood it, we got a $1 million grant for the boardwalk in, uh, Ortley Beach, and, um, I I hope we could uh finish up the paperwork and get that in so we don't lose it. Other towns didn't
get anything. And this was from the past administration and the uh, the professionals that got this grant. So, I'm happy about that. Past administration had nothing to do with the grant. That was just a gift from Murphy.
Okay. Second is Murphy is uh reappropriating uh school funding and and still nobody knows what the formula is, but I I hope Tom's River gets their fair
share. And um also I'm concerned about the town's budget and also the business improvement district. They haven't gotten their budget yet or money to pay their employees. So I I hope we could
take care of that uh really quick because they do so much for downtown down here with all the events. It's got to be 70 75 events and and frankly if this wasn't the county seat we would
have no downtown. We would have no waterfront. It would be zero. It' be tumble weeds down there. Look at the businesses that have gone. But look what's happened in the last couple years. Um
we do have a surplus in our budget. I believe it's about 17 and a half million dollars in the budget. Okay. And then um lastly uh this evening
and I'm still shaking about this is that we had a signed uh every once in a while we signed resolutions and proclamations and buried on the bottom of this packet and I don't believe anybody up here read
that one pro uh proclamation pardon me is to Ron Hbert uh Hubard the uh Dionetics is Scientology uh uh doing a proclamation on his
birthday and into and to the fund. I refuse to sign that. I wouldn't sign that if my life depended on it. I don't know what it was about, but oh my god. So, that's all I have to say. Thank you.
Good evening. Keep coming. And it's in the package if anybody wants to see it. Councilwoman Oul, I have a lot to say, but I'm going to save it for another
time because if I start, I will stop. I am very disillusioned with all of the proceedings. I think quite frankly we have people here that are the loud majority while the silent majority
doesn't come and I wish they would. Everything that everybody tries to do because of who they are gets booed, gets razed. We're here as servants for you.
period. We're trying to do the best that we can with what we have. We're not going to please everybody every time. We're not going to please most of the people all the time, but we are trying. And I think that the
people up here deserve a little bit more respect than what's been shown. And I'll leave it at that. Thank you. I guess it's my turn. Change is difficult. I've been through a lot of change in my
life and change is difficult. However, around 70% of the voters indicated they were unhappy with the direction the township was headed. The I said around 70, Dave. The elected team listened and is taking a look at
all departments to ensure they're running efficiently. In some cases, change was necessary to become fiscally responsible. It should be noted that Tom's River has thousands of senior citizens who love Tom's River and are in fixed incomes. The team is mindful of
that and are attempting to keep taxes as low as possible while meeting the needs of the community. We will be looking for ways that we can keep taxes in check. Thank you. [Music] At this time, I'd like to open the
meeting to public comment. I remember It's my It's my um I'm sorry. I'm sorry, mayor. I apologize. Uh mayor, it's your turn. I would just like to uh thank the council for um supporting our agenda and also express that a lot of these folks that
are yelling out and they're very loud and boisterous and they they don't represent the majority of the folks in this town. 70% of the voters wanted change in this community. They wanted fiscal responsibility.
They wanted a new direction. And these small groups of very loud people don't represent the majority of the folks here in Tom's River. So I wouldn't be uh turned off by that. I and I I commend you all for your courage.
It's not easy uh you know doing what you do particularly when folks are getting so aggressive. Uh, I also would like to talk a little bit about uh I I'm I'm still shocked as to why Councilman Quinnisk uh would
would rather take recreational money and use it on a on the show as opposed to for recreation. Um I'm lost as to why he would want to buy more vehicles even though we have so many vehicles that are being that are not being used. You know,
um, again, it seems to me like there's this small group of people who are very loud at council meetings that are trying to turn back the clock, but but we're going to move forward forward in the direction that the people want to move in. They don't want to see
their money wasted. They don't want to see half a million dollars spent to paint a parking lot. They want to see the money in their parks, in their streets. They want their road raised. They don't want to walk through kneedeep water into their into their driveway. That that's the kind of jobs those are
the kind of things that government is supposed to be doing. They're not supposed to be padding the pockets of their friends with highpaying contracts. And again, again, it's a very small group of people who are incredibly loud, but but the voters spoke much louder.
Thank you. I have nothing further. Thank you. At this time, I'd like to open the meeting for public comment. Yes, sir. Come right up. By the way, just as a reminder that we are in the 90minut time limit for all
comments and at 85 minutes, the clerk will hold up his hand with five fingers indicating that we have five minutes left. Okay. Yes, sir. Okay. Um, first on on JJ resolution for the uh Oh, sir. name and address again. I'm
sorry. Sorry. Dennis Galante, 1149 Cherokee Court. Thank you. In the past, of all the meetings I've come here, the fire district budget is put under a resolution. Now, it's always been done by, if I remember, an
ordinance and always had to come up before public hearing and public comment and because the fire district 2 budget, I believe, was defeated. It's up to the council that you can take and remove x amount of money. I believe it's usually
around $10,000. We did. And then you approve the budget. But why was it hidden under a resolution instead of brought forward for the public and and public comment through an ordinance? Do you mind if I answer, Mr. Galante? It's it's it's actually we're we're I'm
new at this and uh you're right. I have seen I did not specify we did cut $10,000 from the budget. Uh or rather Tim Carson who can come up and speak on the matter did cut $10,000 from the budget. Uh I he
expressed that he needed to get this up because our next meeting isn't for a month uh and asked if we could put it on and uh since he removed 10,000 like he traditionally like the fire district traditionally did. I gave the council president the go-ahad to put put it on.
I did not anticipate and it's my fault. I did not anticipate that it would be in the consent agenda, right? And uh it won't happen again. and it'll be separate uh as it traditionally was and I I so I apologize and I take responsibility for that. It's my fault.
Is it required by statute that it is done by ordinance and that is this allowable that hasn't violated a state statute that it needs to become before the public? If it did, we'll put it back on. If we'll we'll look into it uh tomorrow and if it did, we'll we'll put it back on
and we'll hold a special meeting. Okay. I went to the animal shelter today. Eight dogs, three cats. I was very impressed in the animal shelter. I was impressed the way it was run. I was impressed the way it was cleaned. I want to I want to get rid of the rumor mill.
And I'm trying to get down to the bottom of why the animal shelter should be closed. I'm I'm I'm against it. I'm against closing that shelter. I went on the budget. I tried to look for all the monies involved and what it
takes to support that animal shelter and I could not find it. Chair Matt. May I? Okay. So, um, is that all right with you? Go ahead, Mayor. So, first of all, I went outside today and I told everyone that it is a rumor
mill. There's never been a plan to close the shelter. There has been talks with the prior administration and with my administration about allowing the county to run it. When I first took office, as you know, Mr. Galante, I've always been
the man on the outside and I've been sitting in these meetings where people have complained about the shelter for 6 years and I've gotten all kinds of complaints. It was the first weekend I was in office. I went down to the shelter. I uh went to walk into the door
and uh it was locked. Um a woman came to the door. Uh she said, "We're by appointment only." then recognized that it was the mayor and invited me in. When I went in, it was filled. There was one
empty cage, but it had a hole in the wall because an animal dug its way out through the sheetrock wall after being in there so long. And I asked for a spreadsheet about how long the animals were there. And many of the animals were there in excess of a week, excuse me, in
excess of a year, some of them two years. One animal was in there for four years. I reached out to folks in the press to see if I can get folks on board. I I inquired about signage and things like that. Uh with the goal being to get these animals adopted. Uh we
eliminated the fees. I sent Drew Shabbo, who was an animal lover, but a really bright guy that I had intended on being uh a department head for the administration. I sent him down there and if you watch, he's he's done a phenomenal job. We now have adopted most of those animals out although we were
totally full. There's also a rumor out there that um you know that the county is a kill shelter and we're not and we're sending the animals out to be killed and nothing could be further from the truth. We have so far diverted six
animals to the county and that was in I think the second and the third week uh when we were full or close to full and I did not have the confidence that we could get those animals adopted. It turned out that the facility was um always by appointment only and as you
know there have always been complaints about it being difficult to adopt an animal and you know Mr. Ganti you could obviously have your five minutes back when I'm done. Uh so we made a priority of doing that uh of getting animals adopted and and Drew Shabbo did a
fantastic job and I'm so happy that he did that and we did start accepting some animals back. We are in talks with the county. They do have a much lower kill rate. I think the last time Tom's River reported in 2021
uh we put down 12 and a half% of our dogs. the county only put down 0.5%. Um, my assumption being that those were only animals that they were required to do so by judicial uh order. Similarly,
we put down one animal recently after a 4-year court case. Uh, and once the judge orders that, he orders it. But um, they have the expertise u, and they have expressed interest in running it for us. And given that when I
got there the conditions were poor and the animal shelter was full and it wasn't opened to the public uh I am inclined to explore that further as far as allowing them to run this facility and I'm willing to do so even though Mr.
Galante right now it doesn't even cost us any money. There's this very large donation that's in the shelter. So, uh, we could run it for two years on that without even tax dollars, but I really want to make sure that whoever's running the shelter is doing a great job. And
I'm not so sure given my time on council. I'm rather, it's not that I'm not so sure. I feel like it was not being run well for years. In 2022, they never even reported to the state. So, we don't even know what the kill numbers, the last set of kill numbers were. Um, but I do know
that that the last year that we reported, we an animal was 25 times more likely to be put down at the um at at in Tom's River than it was at the county just based on the 12 and a half% kill
rates. An animal would be 25 times more likely to get put down in Tom's River than at the county. And I know this is a passionate issue and I know there are going to be people that are very mad at me. Uh, but I came in and I looked to do the right thing by animals. It had nothing to do with finance. It had
nothing to do with good politics, that's for sure. And it had everything to do with making sure that these animals got adopted out. And I'm proud of what we've done. And u that I hope that answers your question. And um, Mr. Krugalio, could you please restore u his five
minutes? The problems in the past have all been solved. Now, I again I did I go went on the budget today and I looked and I tried to find any kind of expenses how much it takes to to run it. Now,
$500,000 a year, I don't know. I can't find it. I want to see that. I I want to see that. Oh, it it's based It's probably a little more than that, but it's based on $80,000 salaries for the uh for or 90 80 some odd,000 plus
benefits plus plus uh pension payments for the four animal control officers uh which wind up then about a buck 30 or so each. And then you have other employees and you have the part-timers, but they don't really cost a thing. the part-timers relative to the size of the
expenditures there are not are not a significant component of the cost getting I get paperwork for all the uh yeah you could pull you could pull salaries or if you want you know how to email me I'll send you the salaries I have the you know me I'm I'm a data guy I have all the spreadsheets I have the spreadsheets of how long the animals
were in there and none of those were that wasn't my data set that was the prior administration's data set so just got a million dollar donation from a woman that passed Okay. And I also saw in the in the expenses
uh $1,49,000 in a in a trust fund. Now, I also saw something said that there was a bid put out if this is to go to the county that there's already a bid put out for the use of the animal shelter. So, what
happens to that? If said and done, if it goes to the county, what happens to the $1 million? And then to the $1,ion49,000. Great question. You you always have the best you always have the best questions, right? All the donations.
Okay. So, the the bid was not put out for the animal shelter. The bid was put out for animal control because if the county took it over uh and decided to keep animal control, uh we would need animal control for our township, right?
And as far as the million-doll donation, uh, we are inquiring legally, but it's my understanding that the money has to follow the animals. It can't be repurposed. Even if it could be repurposed, I would give it to the shelter that that who, you know, the county if they were running our shelter.
That would be my inclination. But of course, council would have to vote on all of these things. And when I first came here about the animal shelter 12 years ago and it inception, I believe it's been there for 10 years. This place was packed. This is what your taxpayers and residents wanted. There were people
streamed out into the vestibule because they couldn't put any more fire ability of of residents in this place. So don't don't do it. Just don't don't. Well, it would it would never be closed. Are you personally opposed to to the county running it versus the way it's
currently been run? I've been fine with it except for the problems in the past, those last couple of years of problems. And when I went in there, I was very impressed. So unless I'm shown No, it's it's doing much better. But but
I but but but Mr. Shabbo is uh supposed to be taking over recreation and running a department and he's done a phenomenal job, but I mean I really need his talents. Uh and and I'm open to it. I mean, I'm open to letting it letting it run. I'm open to the county doing it.
We're just looking at all of this. Unfortunately, there are a small uh group of very well organized political folks that go out on social media and propagate uh these rumors. And um you know, it's part of the political
process, but at the end of the day, um I I came in and decided to do the good a good thing. That was the goal, doing a good thing for the animals. At the end of the day, as you said, with that donation, uh there there's no cost for me keeping it. So, the only reason I
would look to give it to someone else is to make sure the animals have a better shake at life. And again, if you want more time, by all means. No, no, just just one more. Mr. Mr. Coleman, I appreciate what you're trying to do. I appreciate your initial statement, but you have no control of
these meetings. And I'm not I'm not talking about the cheering group in the back. I'm not talking about the residents that come up here and criticize but never seem to come up with a solution. And that's what bothers me the most. Okay? And and this
is why you allow the mayor to speak. He just gave everybody in this audience the amount of information they need about the shelter. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Jillian Msina Court. Um, happy that Dennis said that about not coming up
with solutions because I'm a solution girl. And I think that I had said earlier it would be a really good idea with the animal shelter if we had some of the high school kids. There's CAT programs. There are service hours that kids need. And I don't know about you
guys, but kids can make a real for Instagram or Facebook quicker than any adult I know. And all you would have to do is bring the kids in, let them play with the puppies, the animals, the rabbits, make some reels, and they'll just keep getting adopted out. And you could save a lot of money using service
hours. So, as far as solutions, um I appreciate that and I agree. I'm a solutions person. Uh Mr. Iverson, you had um said that you guys were just trying to stop wasteful spending, and I respect that very much, but my comment
and not question is I don't believe that police supervision is wasteful spending. It's important. And we sat here for 90 minutes with compelling factual statements for all of you, and you just
blindly stared at us, some of you, and then voted anyway. So when you say wasteful wasteful spending, I'm truly insulted that you think supervision in a police department is wasteful, especially as a business owner in Tom's River. You own Silverton Farms. I mean,
don't you want police response there if somebody comes and robs your place or if somebody's stealing from you? Wouldn't you want that police response? And then when that police officer comes, don't you want them to have training and know what they're doing and be accountable to
supervisors? I mean I And then as far as solutions go, the police chief found a grant and that grant can be promised prior to it being um voted on, but you didn't want that solution. That solution
could have had the cso program and the captains, but you didn't seem to want it. And I'm trying very hard to wrap my h head around this. I really, really am. And Mr. Coleman, you said that you guys are looking for efficiencies in the in
the town and to make sure that everything is run well and I respect that. But the police department is the most efficient police department in the state. And we told you that and we showed you that and it was independently, not from right around here.
Independently in a study and again it was ignored and I can't wrap my head around it, you know. And tonight I come in here and there's pictures of animals and I think that's really cool. But there was no photographer for those two
young men that spent 18 years to become an Eagle Scouts. Where was the respect [Applause] and I appreciate that you guys honored them, but you should have completed the
task. I understand that right now you're in a PIO crisis. I get it. But one of you could have came up here and taken the picture or asked somebody when they walked in the room. It's important to those kids. They spent 18 years doing that. Eagle Scout is no easy task and they deserved respect, but those animals
got more respect than those two children. So, I have one final thought and it it the mayor earlier stated to a woman who had the courage to come up here that she is not qualified to speak on something.
But what I'd like to know is what and all due respect to teachers, it's one of the hardest jobs. I could never do it. But what qualifies a teacher who has never stepped in the police department to break it down the way he is doing it? I just don't understand. And I I want to
give you guys a chance. I've had conversations with you. I I believe that you came up here to do the right thing, but time and time again, you're proving that you're not. And I you got to help us understand why. because I just sat here and said
facts, but for some reason somebody who has never stepped foot in a police department knows more about it than the police chief who was not allowed to speak on it when asked. Council President, I would just like to point out something if you have a second. Go ahead.
Under Roberts, I you know, I should have an opportunity to respond. I just would like to say that uh although we went through this all already, captains are not responding to phone calls. They're not responding to police calls. So, and um that is not true.
Ma'am, you're out of order. You're out of order, please. And for someone who worked in the police department for however many years, nine. Nine. You should know that captains don't answer calls. I've been on calls they've been at because I'm CIO. What were you doing on the call
in the policy? I'm supposed to have you read it. You don't know anything about You're on a call with a captain. An emergency call with a captain. I'm lost. Captains don't make calls. All right, I'm going to end that conversation. We're going to go back to
public comment. Ma'am, it's your turn. It's your turn, ma'am. Donna Sergio, 601 Main Street. Um, a lot was said today and I have so many questions. Um, I I'm hearing so much about our budget. Uh, the budget that is
balanced, has a 1 point has a 17.5 million surplus and a budget that's short and we're never going to make our bills. What is it? I mean, was last year's uh, Jim, was last year's budget balanced? Yes.
Okay. And you mentioned that we have a $17.5,000 surplus somewhere. That's correct. Okay. And it was stated to me by the chief financial officer. Okay. And we also have going into 2024,
we have uh $112 million more. Okay. Okay, makes sense. I honestly I don't know how much the town gets out of that 100 million. I I get that. Okay.
And where and mayor, where does the the sur where does the deficit come in? You're saying I think it was 3 million. First of all, that actually Mr. Sakos's number is too small regarding surplus. But I'd like to first say that this
number and calling it surplus, it's a it's a play on words. You could call it surplus, but it's really reserves. Uh it's not surplus. And the township is required to keep a certain amount of that in case of a natural disaster like Sandy where you're not able to raise
tax. And when I say raise, you're not able to take taxes for a certain period of time. Um so we actually have reserves of $47 million. Uh but that doesn't mean you can spend them. If you get down too
low, then they downgrade your bond rating and it costs millions in extra interest payments. Um, so we were flat on taxes for, I believe Mr. Quinnless said, three years. Um, when those
budgets came up, I was criticized for voting against some of those budgets when they had a flat tax. And the reason I voted against it was because salaries and costs were all rising, but they were not raising taxes, but they
were raising spending. And when that happens, you you eat into those reserves. And if you eat into the after three years, $90 million is a tax levy, $120 million budget, right? Uh the major part of that
is salaries. So let's call it 90 million in salaries. 3% per year is 2.7 million a year that you got to come up with when these union salary guides go up. So for 3 years we
were flat on tax but the cost of the salaries was going up and that means that you dip into those reserves and in doing so you risk your credit rating. Now we have two decisions. Either cut
costs or raise taxes. And I was sent here and this council was sent here to cut costs, not to raise taxes. So that is the entire thing in a nutshell. I know it's awfully detailed and I took up a good part of your time. So you can obviously have all your time back if
it's pleases the chairman. I have a question. However, you mentioned that the taxes were flat. You also mentioned that taxes hadn't gone up. But earlier in the night you said the previous administration had raised taxes and you also mentioned that our ratables
have gone up and I know that your platform was no more building but if our ratables have gone up and I realize I realize I'm a real estate agent. I realize we don't all want building. However, if I own the plot of land and I'm building whatever is allowed within
the code on that land, I have every right to build on it that I that I'm permitted with. So, to say that Wait a minute, let me finish. Yeah, I let you. But no, so to say that there's no, you know, to build a platform on no more building, but then we're we're thrilled that we
have uh increased ratables. Everybody has to remember that. Well, the ratable the ratables are not are not any are not significant. Town value is 20 billion 20 billion. So if you get an extra $10
million in ratables, it doesn't amount to anything significant in tax revenues because the tax re the tax rate, right? But it was 128 million and I realize that that's still a small amount. It's like a drop in the bucket of the levy,
but it's an increase. And honestly, it does not last time I checked because in being a real estate agent, I I had to speak with the tax office about stuff for for various clients. And a portion of our town's a portion of our town's um taxes went property taxes
went up, a portion of them actually decreased and then some of them stayed the same. So it was when you when you have a reval, right? And I the amount of tax that you take is the same as before the reval. just you take it differently from different people. I understand
the 10 hundred million in in increased ratables is a tiny tiny tiny fraction. And um it it doesn't make up for 3% contract
increases a year over three years. That's a 9% increase in in expenses. Um so without a tax increase. So, like I said, we're stuck with a hole. Uh, I don't want to raise taxes. The residents
don't want to raise taxes. Um, so, so we're looking to eliminate spending. Unnecessary expens I I Okay, we'll leave it at that. Um, as far as um the concerns from uh from Jim and David
regarding the buildings and it's kind of been thrown around and innuendos have been put out there that Jim's got something going on here. I don't believe any of you have things like that going on. So, I will say they have been on the board longer than anybody else here.
I'm sorry, Justin. Sorry. However, if they're looking at reports and they're both talking about engineers reports and different issues with these buildings, I don't think anybody here is stupid enough to pay somebody $500,000 to decide a building. I'll side the damn thing myself,
but or to paint it even less. I'll get my three-year-old grandsons to paint for Christ's sake. However, we all know that these are way more than paint. and and you're saying no, but I can't believe
that anybody here, let alone an entire council prior to your coming in was stupid enough to allow that. And I just feel that you may vote it down, but I think it's something that needs to be looked at. I mean, we all heard about the horrible things that have happened in Florida and
around the country with buildings collapsing and with parking garages collapsing and bridges. We don't want that here. If there's a structural is issue, especially with the parking garage, it needs to be addressed. As far as the the other building, maybe not as
quite as important, but but paint painting company, just so you understand, I know uh Councilman Quinnless cited this study that he saw, painting companies don't do structural concrete work, they paint. It was a half a million dollar
contract for painting and fixing some Stuckco. So I I I I know he he believes that and but but it was for painting. The contract was for painting and and the contract was for vinyl vinyl siding.
Okay. I think everybody here would love to see the studies if there are any others out there regarding that. Um and as it was also brought up about the bid. I live downtown. I know the bid has been up and down over the years, but overall they do a lot of events and
there's a lot going on downtown. Is it true, Councilman or mayor, whoever, if you have the answer, I would love to hear from you. Councilman, is it true that the bid bid employees haven't been paid? Somebody had mentioned that some of the bid employees that the budget wasn't
passed and they had not gotten their most recent paychecks. Is that true? Uh, the director is like third in line behind you and she can answer that question later. Okay. Have they not paid? I've been paid. They have I was concerned because that
seems ridiculous that people may possibly have not gotten paid and you're welcome. It's all good. Um Okay. Uh that can wait. Okay. Um All right. I guess the last thing you had mentioned something about it Ron
Hubard proclamation. Does anybody know anything about that? I'm I think we should defer to the business administrator. Um, do you have I I wasn't aware of the proclamation. Okay. They were signing it. Could we get a copy of that? Well, we we would sign a proclamation no
matter what religion asked for a proclamation whether they were Catholic, Protestant, Buddhist, Indian, uh, whatever. Fine. I'm just asking what it is about religion. It's a free. So if if a governing body
is asked uh to sign a proclamation for a particular religious group, we sign that proclamation. Could you ask who asked to have that sign? Who brought it forth? Yeah, I'll I'll defer to the business administrator because I have I have no idea who asked, but I'm I'm assuming it
was the Scientologists. Hang on. Just curious. I I It was the It was a Church of Scientology that asked for it, and it's a common proclamation. This happens all the time across towns all over the place. Is there freedom of religion in the US? Yeah, I understand. Okay. I wasn't I had no idea what it entailed, so that's why
I wanted to ask. Okay. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Hi, I'm Debbie Kersy, 32 Bartine Street. I'm here to talk about the animal shelter. There's a lot of talk. Um, we get the mayor's side, we get other
people's side. Um, animals don't have a voice and there's a bunch of us here tonight who want to be the voice for the animals. We had, I think, some good conversation outside as we were standing in the rain trying to stand up for the animals of Tom's River. And I would
really ask you to not make any moves to change anything with the animal shelter where the animals go until you've had an opportunity to talk to all of the people, many of whom are involved in animal rescue and have been for a very
long time. Um, I have been working in the periphery of animal rescue. They know a lot and they can do a lot. And again, I told you that if the current team is able to demonstrate to you that
they can run a clean, efficient shelter, why don't you just continue to build on that success instead of saying you're terrible, you're awful, so we're going to give this up and we're going to give it to the county. Um, I have different
numbers than you and I believe the county's euthanasia rate, euthanasia is to relieve suffering, it's not euthanasia. Don't use a euphemism for killing animals. So, I believe the kill rate is much higher than it was reported
to you. So, you know, I don't know who has the I just ask you to please keep the Toms River animal shelter open. Please be willing to work with us and all of the people who have offered to work with it
and uh keep that million dollars. There's a reason why somebody, you know, made that request in their will. It's because they have the faith in the people of this town and our ability to take care of our animals. So
I just ask you to please, you know, work with us and don't make any decisions. And I ask for transparency. You know, everybody has an agenda and I don't really care about anybody's agenda. I don't like politics. This is about the animals and they don't
have a voice. So I need somebody. If you truly are trying to be transparent, then be transparent. Thank Thank you. You have a question. I live on Bartin Street. I have been
seeing all kinds of Can you say that one more time? I didn't hear you. Bartin Street Bay Road. Okay. And um there's all kinds of um work going on with um I guess sewers or whatever. I don't know. I don't I don't know what these words are. Anyway, my
street floods every time it rains and we can't like my car is going to be ruined. Well, it's not on. That's a great question. No, you don't even have to. We the point here, but please look at Silverton bigger than what you have.
Could Could I jump in on that and answer? Just so you know, we actually just commissioned a study. Um there was a 10-year road raising plan in place. I thought that was way, way too long for people to walk in uh knee deep water. Um
at one point in time, about here. It gets get gets very bad. At some point, someone had the brilliant idea of removing all the title gates. Uh that's before I got on council. Um but we have CME which is a very um very large the
largest civil engineering uh company in the state of New Jersey uh that they're going to conduct a study rather than us deciding willy-nilly about which road to raise and doing one or two a year for a decade. um they're going to present
solutions uh that would reduce flooding immediately and also rate each flooding road uh and prioritize what we should do first. and I've already committed uh to wanting to get all of these roads raised by the end of my first term, which is
one of the reasons that we're looking at places like the parking lot uh where we're spending a half a million dollars of bond money to paint when you could raise a road for a million bucks. So, I think road raisings are a big problem.
median mean high tide at the Route 37 bridge is actually six inches higher today than it was in the 1980s. That combined with having old technology regarding title gates and things like that and subsidance, roads sinking, you
know, we have a big flooding problem. We've we've identified about 20 roads. I would just ask that um council president take a note of uh Bartine so that we can make sure that that Bartine is on our list and that we look at Bartine and Joyce
and Joy uh Joyce is uh I lived on I lived on third uh for uh you know 15 years. So, um, yeah, Joyce is on our list and it comes up right from the, uh, storm water drain. And again,
someone, uh, had the bad idea that, you know, uh, they didn't want to clean these valves, so they just removed them. And now when the tide goes up, the water comes right into the street. Uh, so we're going to be looking at these new new title gates. Uh, I think they're
made in Switzerland or something like that. and then you you you installed them and they're further back and this is all part of the study, but uh I would I would hope the council would support that study and vote in favor of that. Uh maybe we can get it on the next council
meeting. Mr. Mayor, can I make a comment on that? Yes, sir. Um I represent a rather large group of people and we have a lot of connections from the utility and transportation contractors association. There is an entity called the I bank. The I bank
brings in money into the municipalities, the locals, the communities, and that money is sometimes 0% interest and is also sometimes granted. Uh I intend to bring the president of that group and the CEO of our UTCA down to sit with the
mayor and come up with some funding sources for some of this stuff because it is at zero to 1% interest and also grant money. So, that's something that we're going to do in the next couple of weeks. I'm going to schedule something with the mayor's office and bring somebody down for that.
Thank you, Councilman. Yes, ma'am. Uh Julie Adam, 69 Cedar Grove Road. Um well, I'm here again today to talk about the animal shelter again, of course. Um, and I want to um emphasize to uh people
that have not been to the animal shelter that uh or maybe been listening on YouTube that the shelter has actually been grossly understaffed. And I compare that to when I volunteered at the old shelter on Whitesville Road and the
number of uh animal control officers that they had at a smaller building, fewer animals compared to the larger beautiful facility that we have now, but having had many more animals. Despite that, I will tell you that contrary to
the uh mayor's description of the conditions at the animal shelter, I had adopted two cats. Uh just over a year ago, I had been at the shelter four times. The shelter was very clean. The animals covers were clean. They had
fresh water. They had food in their uh cages. Uh the animals were content. Uh there was a cat in the lobby that was just laying and sleeping in his cat bed. The cat I one of the cats I adopted was just meandering around uh looking, you
know, and got up on the table and was just munching on some food. The cat, the animals were well taken care of, and I was and I had no concerns. There was nothing that I saw when I was there the four times that put any red lights or uh
any um things suspicious that I saw when I was at that shelter. So, I want everybody to know that. um as for uh the the employees that they have there are very dedicated to those animals. They are uh definitely animal advocates. So
it's really dis disheartening to hear uh people um bashing bashing these employees, bashing the shelter, the shel the the reality is it's not the problem of the shelter staff and how it was
being run. It's the township itself that didn't give these employees the resources they needed. They didn't even have a sign on Oak Avenue. And I brought that up at the February 14th meeting and I don't know if that's been corrected yet, but uh they didn't have a sign.
They didn't have um obviously if you're underst staffed, you're not going to be able to focus on posting pictures of the animals. uh as if you had the the volunteers and you had the support staff to do that. So, it's a good thing what's
happening, but instead of uh moving ahead to try to have the county take this over, pause a minute. Let these changes set in, start accepting the animals again. Do not send them over to the county because in reality, the an
the euthanasia rate is higher at the county. It's the numbers have been published. They are much higher at the county level. So, let Tom's River take care of their animals. We need these animal control officers. Uh there's a lot of situations in town where uh the
animal control officers need to be called out to Walmart. If there's an animal running at large, that's not the police police department's responsibility. Uh but if you don't have animal control, that's what's going to happen. Um and um I think that um
Jillian Msina made a great uh great suggestion as far as bringing the students in as far as helping with the social media. They are they're excellent with social media and some of the rescues do that. They accept students to help with the with the animals with
shelters and some of the high schools have um animal um uh clubs, you know, based right at their at the high school. So you could tap into th you know into those resources. So that's all I have to say about the animal shelter. But um
please do not close it down. Uh pause and don't be so impulsive. It just seems that decisions are just being made impulsively r in a rash manner. There's no thought process and it's just creating chaos. It's creating um um a
lot of anger in the communities. anger that we have never had before. Um, so that's all I have to say about that. Second of all, uh, Edken Avenue and, uh, Charles Drive in Tom's River need to be repaved badly. Um,
excuse me. What were the streets? What were the names of the streets again? Ed Edkin Avenue, ED ken Avenue and Charles Drive in Tom's River. They've had um utility work probably 10
to 15 years ago and never been paved and they have potholes continually. I'd also like to ask the council to to support an ordinance, and I've said this before, that would require if a utility company
if a utility company opens up a road that is 5 years or less that they are then required to pave the entire road. Um, or we could also look into just requiring it when they open up any road. It would all be up to the council's
pleasure, but um it would be a good idea and be it would take it take a big burden off of our our township with regards to how much capital we use for paving. Thank you. Yes, ma'am.
Good evening, council president and council. My name is Marin Bennett. I'm the executive director for the Tom. Ma'am, just one second. Folks in the back, can you hear? No. Could you take the microphone? All right. There we go. All right. All right. I'll voice it up.
Good evening. My name is Marin Bennett. I'm the executive director for the Toms River Development Corporation. I just wanted to remind everyone that we'll have the Irish Festival down on Washington Street this Saturday from 12 to 6. Um, also we'll be looking for volunteers throughout our season. If
anyone wants to volunteer, they can go to downtown tomsswiver.com and click on the application that says how to become involved. Also on the desk, I have a list of all our events. And if you guys have any questions, please feel free to contact me. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Phil. Welcome back. Thank you for having me back. Uh Phil, Brilliant, 79 Holly Tree Lane. Uh first on on the um January 18th, 2024 special meeting minutes that was approved on February
14th. Uh the minutes say that uh Councilman uh Loman voted yes on the minutes. Uh on January, excuse me, on January 18th, I write one the special meeting. Were you at that meeting? It's because it says you were absent.
January 18th was the one we did on Zoom. No, the J that was January 31st though, wasn't it? It's for some reason it it says yes and then it says absent on. So just if you can look into that just to correct that. Oh, in the minutes. Yeah. Um and then the other thing too is this is also this is the agenda the
minutes from uh January 31st and uh it has all the comments that were provided via email uh to the clerk prior to but we never really discussed that topic. Just a comment. I didn't know if that might be better suited on the February 14th minutes. Just throw that out there
because it kind of makes it look like there was a comment period, public comment period, and there wasn't. Just a comment to consider, you know, if you'd like to. Just a that. And then also the recordings for January 18th, 31st, and February 14th, they're not up on the
YouTube page. Will they be returned? Council President for the IT guys. Oh, no. I know. I was looking at you because you happen to be sitting over there and looking there. Yeah, that's fine. We'll look we'll look into it. Yeah, look into it. And you know, anybody that wants anything can ask for it, right? So, yeah, they're just not up there. So, if they're going to be put back up
there, just one second. Um, people have asked me and I referred them that they can get a a CD copy of any of the meetings. Okay. Okay. It's And I will tell you my computer doesn't have a CD burners or CD player.
So, uh, but maybe put it on a key. I'll put it on a key. Thank you. That's good. Um, uh, Mr. Nivson, sorry. Um, at the January 18th meeting when the MCO was uh, voted on, the ordinance was uh, gotten rid of. You had mentioned there's
going to be a task force put together to review what was done, what will be done. Has that been put together yet? Uh, it hasn't. Okay. Okay. Just a reminder. It's in the works. Okay. Just a reminder. And then tonight you talked about when uh they were
talking about the uh the building not being sided and and everything that I think the mayor had said they were going to use some parks and wreck people to they'll buy the material and then paint it and then you had made a comment it's going to be rebid and I just made a note which one will it be? No, I I um
our people we have people that do side our buildings. We have a lot of smaller buildings around and the backside of Shogun is within their wheelhouse based on what the foreman said. Uh he said it would cost about $8,000 for the vinyl
and uh believes that they will that's within their wheelhouse. So uh it is not the intention of the administration to rebid the Shogun. We've also met with the owner of the Shogun restaurant and he's on board. When he when he heard
what the costs were, he was very shocked. Um, and the lease is about $8,000 a month. So, for us to spend a half a million dollar to to side a building that he leases for $8,000 a month, it just doesn't make a lot of sense. I just there was something that was
said, so I wrote it down and just, you know, looking at those probably should have said reallocate the work instead of rebid. No problem. Okay. Um, I just want to clarify for my notes. And then the um uh you know the the uh the ordinances that got rid of um the vehicles and the um
the siding and there was one more which was the parking lot made a comment that they exceeded the um uh like the the estimates of the engineer. I can't remember exactly what it said but they're from last year. And my only comment having doing a lot of public
bidding are two things. one that it would have exceeded the estimate prior which would have been provided in some kind of bid package. So, we should look at that and make sure that allows us to go back to them and tell them even though they won the bid, they no longer get the bid because the last thing we want to do is have more lawsuits. And
then the other thing too is the estimate may seem high, but in most municipal bidding, the prevailing prevail prevailing wage ends up ballooning. What we could what we could do for $5,000 comes out to $50,000. I get it. I get
the prevailing wage thing and and it and it's it's big. It's a it's a big number, but even with prevailing wage, you have to admit painting a parking lot for $8 million is a lot of money. So, um the difficult part though was I'd rather raise a road. Okay. The difficult part though was because the agenda came out at 2:05
today. The revised agenda, the original one was at 9:00 this morning. The revised one, we had no time to open those things to actually look at it. So, if it's possible to get the agendas out like a little earlier, 48 hours or whatever it might be, it would help people come in here with some knowledge of what is on the ordinance. Um, so we
can look at those. Just saying it makes it a little easier. Oh, I Oh, I have one more thing. You need a little more time. Go ahead. A little more time. Okay. I need one minute. All I wanted to say was that I am happy to say that the residents will be presenting on Monday a um petitions
of over 3,79. Um, we're still going. We still want to get 5,000 which will send the ordinance that did cut the police force back to this council and we'll be dropping that on Monday to the clerk. Thank you very much for your time.
Hi, my name is Anthony Da. I live at 60 Main Street, Tom's River. Uh, I have a couple different points to cover here, but uh, let's see. Um, you guys talk a lot about budget
cuts and, uh, balancing the budget and not wanting to raise taxes. Um, there's a reason I live here in Tom's River, and it's not because I moved here 30 years ago. Uh it's not because I own a house for the last 15 years, but because it's
a safe town and uh the township does a good job with providing recreation and a safe place to live. Um if I was really worried about, you know, uh paying less money for where I live, I'd move to
a a lesser area. But uh I I believe our rates and people pay to live here because of what the town offers, not because of how low the taxes are. There's a lot of low tax areas that you could move to that are nowhere as nearly as nice as this town. And uh I think
you'll see a lot of people leave if you start cutting into uh things that are offered. Um, I understand that you want to keep your people happy, your constituents, people that vote for you, that you want to keep your, you know,
not raise taxes, but I think eventually it's inevitable because the prices of everything's going up with inflation. And uh I'd hate to see the quality of life in town go down because you're trying to not cut into a potential uh
you know uh your um monetary surplus. You know you're I I don't want to see you know it there's there's a lot of ways to keep the town running without you know
lessering the the safety of the community. um get a lot of you see headline news all over the country that you know police forces are mismanaged and there's riots in the streets and there's un civil unrest. You think do you think what we you guys saw at the
the last meeting was civil unrest? Wait wait wait wait until someone like something really bad happens and the township's on the hook for liability. But uh aside from that, I have some suggestions for the shelter. Um, first
of all, the Boy Scouts, uh, they have an Eagle Scout project. Every time a Boy Scout becomes an eagle, um, having a Boy Scouts get involved with trying to help promote social media. Uh, I donate money
to rescues. Uh, myself, I never even knew that the township had a shelter. Ne neither did a lot of folks. Uh, there's there's no there's no presence on social media. I see I follow Tom's River Township government on Instagram and Facebook and I see nothing
posted about the shelter uh animals up for adoption, anything like that. Um, I believe getting people involved and I think some of that that million dollars that was donated, I think some of that would be well used to to help promote some of the uh advertise the shelter a
little bit cuz like I said, I I own a rescue animal and I donate to rescues and I had no idea that the township even had a shelter. So So do you mind if I jump in? So do I. I have a rescue and I uh I actually it's operable. I I was
ordering signs for the shelter and we're looking at doing logo designs. Uh short term we were going to try to have the the road department put up signs. Uh you're right. Um the township could have done a lot better in the past, you know,
with promoting uh adoptions and things like that. And there's there's social media posts all over the place from the township. I mean, I don't think it's it should cost that much. started. Actually, if you go on the township social media page, uh shortly after we took over, we were we
were posting and it was my understanding the prior administration stopped the folks at the animal shelter from posting, which I thought was probably not such a great idea. It's a terrible idea. Uh as for uh your comments on the police, we all support the police. We all want to live in a safe community.
Uh, we also support EMS and we also need to make sure that people get picked up by ambulances and sometimes choices are tough. Uh, can I ask you a question? It came from retirements. Just so you know, the two folks, no one was fired, two folks retired and it was enough
money to pay for eight EMTs to to be on an ambulance 24 hours a day. So, it was a it was a trade-off, but I don't believe that's impacting public safety. I think it's improving it. I have a question. Who up here in front of me has qualifications
uh or experience or is qualified in uh law enforcement administration structure? Is there a qualification? Nobody. Okay. I am not a police officer. Okay. Council is a police officer. That has no bearing on on this conversation today.
It it doesn't. No, but it it kind of does though because wait after the meeting. I'll talk to you oneon one if you want me to. Sure. I I'd like to address everyone though. Okay. Um numerous. I mean I I'm just saying that I I think
it's it's in the best interest of the public to allow the professionals that are qualified to make decisions that could impact the safety of the general public. That's all. [Applause]
Put his hand up there. Oh, there's five minutes. Excuse me, clerk. Did you signal five minutes? Not yet. No. Okay. All right. Okay, ma'am. Thank you. I'll be quick. Press press on. Okay. Irene Watson, Messenger Street.
Issue was being taken with the letter Mayor Rodri sent out regarding the police department. Of course, there was a monumental issue with the contents of the letter, but there was also an issue with the use of the town seal on the letter, the letter paper, the envelope,
and the postage. A pl a complaint regarding this was stated at the February 14th meeting, and of course on Facebook that the mayor did not have the right to use the seal, the paper, etc. I for one appreciated receiving the
letter regardless of the content. I do not recall receiving a letter from any previous m may mayor giving the thorough rundown of any proposal or ordinance. In general, the public only receives information from the agenda
which is put out the day before. I'm not sure what happened about yesterday's agenda, but anyway, and the proposal or ordinance is written in almost cryptic language that to most or at least to me are unsure are unsure of what the
details are. If Mayor Rodri stuck with the past practices, this is what you should have read on January 30th regarding the police ordinance of the Toms of the Township of Township Council Township of Toms River, Ocean County,
New Jersey, amending the supplemental ordinance 50-30B, 50-3G, and 50-3R of the township code to revise the roster of position positions written within the department of law
enforcement. The mayor's later the mayor's letter gave people sufficient time to gather their facts to support their argument for or against and even start a petition. There is only one weekly newspaper, the
Tom's River Times, and also their Tom's River online, which covers events quite objectively. Unfortunately, the Toms River Times has to be picked up in person at the library and a number of other places and the news usually covers the news that has
already occurred. The observer no longer exists which residents received once a week with the shopright circular but it kept residents a breast of the happenings in the town. Therefore, a letter from the mayor or
town council council should be mandatory with any significant ordinance. I would gladly spend my tax dollars on an informative letter from the mayor. So, if the letters of this type is are legal, keep them coming. If not, drawing
up an ordinance to keep them coming. Thank you. Do you mind if I uh touch on that? The the township did pay for the letter. It is in our budget. As you know, the prior mayor budgeted for those newspapers,
uh, which we were spending, if you can believe it, $27,000 each just in printing. Uh, so something like that should really only cost three or $4,000 based on, you know, I I I I do mail in
my own campaigns, so it was it was uh very expensive. So, there's a tremendous amount of money budgeted for reaching out to the public. We're going to use a lot less of it than what was budgeted for, but we're going to be more communicative with the public. Um, that's why it didn't have a paid for
because it and that's why it had the township seal. Uh, I believe there was an Oprah put in for the cost of the letter and asked for an invoice, but invoices, as you know, are generated in some cases months later. So when the
township replied, no record existed. There was no record. I still don't think we've been invoiced yet. Uh so when we're invoiced, um it'll be available for the public as to the cost and thank you for your kind words. Thank you.
Yes, sir. I want to put that microphone back on the stand or you can hold your hand. Either one. Hi, I'm Bob Watts and I live on Messenger Street. Is a little late coming, but first of all, congratulations to the mayor and
the council on the past election and you should be proud of yourselves and the town should be proud of you as well. I applaud your willingness to immediately take on tough issues that have been
avoided in the past. You've been left in a tough spot of trying to allocate expenses to serve critical needs without affecting the Tom's River credit standing.
I agree with your plan and support your efforts to improve ambulatory services in Hortley without increasing operating costs. Regarding communications, I was very happy that you provided financial
background necessary to understand the funding for your Artley plan. Having never seen any mayoral communication supporting a point of view or plan of action, I was very appreciative.
However, the information provided does expose to everyone the financial challenges you're going to be facing driven by past union contracts
regarding salaries, span of control, promotion possibilities, and more. Hopefully others will appreciate these challenges as well.
Now I'm from the corporate side. I didn't work for city, state or federal government, but what I'm going to tell you, what I'm going to read to you is a recognized point of view. This happens to come from
uh an INC article. Based on numerous academic studies that have been researched on this topic, the optimum number of direct reports for any manager
should be the lucky number seven plus or minus a few. There are other factors that can influence the end decision. McKenzie recommends from the CEO down
the CEO no more than three direct reports supervisory and it goes down to lower ranking supervisors to a count of 15. So, it would appear that our current
police department ratios, to say the least, are a little out of whack and have no sense to them that I can see. And by the way, the uh the uh contract
issue is going to be on everything, not just police department, but employees. Nobody wants to recognize that the economy is not good. Inflation's been up and the people who suffer are the people
trying to cover the costs. And I do not agree with dipping into lowering the reserve to cover someone's desire to pay people more money. Thank you. Thank you. [Applause]
Congratulations, sir. You have to bring back the microphone. Sorry. I will, but I'll wait till I give this to you first. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Congratulations. Appreciate it. Thank you. Hold it. You're on.
Okay. You're live. Hello. Yes. The dreaded shelter. No. Here to talk about not dreaded. I'm coming in from a different angle. You made a statement about going backwards. You are not to be
blamed for the past of the shelter because you weren't a mayor then. And you're right. It was mishandled not by the employees because their hands were tied. It was mishandled by who was assigned to oversee the shelter when
you're more interested in photo ops. And I have a right to say that because I stood in this spot for 12 years. This group I'm here to represent safe rescue shelter for the shelter. We
started 25 years ago. We worked at the Tom's River shelter. No one knew that shelter existed. We put that shelter on a map. The statistics are you are responsible for the community. Correct.
Animals are part of the community. If you look it up, it will tell you that you are responsible for that shelter is responsible for 40 miles and 10 areas. It's been running with two ACOs. By the
way, one of those ACOs is the most compassionate has gone above and beyond because what you might not realize is your town is full of rescues. good rescues, good people. We spend our own money. We run
on donations. This town has never given us anything. But yet, we were out there. You know how many animals we got adopted out of Tom's River Shelter? Because we were allowed to take them off premises to PetSmart on Route 70. And we adopted
them out, screened the people, adopted them out, and the money went to the township. We paid for spaying and neutering in a town this I'm old now and I'm back up here again. There's no TNR program. You know, the
town has grown terribly. Do you realize that this is a resort town? So, you have people that come down, rent for the summer, and leave the animal. They get their kids and an animal and then they leave them
abandoned in the house. Who gets that call when you're responsible for 40 miles in 10 areas? It's Tom's River Shelter. Now listen, if you got a game plan to have Ocean County take it over or Joe Schmo or Joe Fouch, I don't care.
What I care about is that shelter is needed. You made a statement that and I'll meet the point. I'm I'm okay. It was never it was never planned to close it and contrary to what is said. I'm I'm sorry, Mr. Mayor, but I'm limited. I just want
to get it out. So, you have spend one day on the phone like these rescues do. We're overloaded with animal control in this town. We You have You have citizens that are paying out of their own pocket to spay and neuter to
keep the animal control down, you know, the animals down, and all they ask for is a trap. or you have one clinic, East Coast Bay Clinic, you have a state-of-the-art facility. That facility was built because finally after mayor
after mayor in the community, it was recognized that you need a shelter in this town. This ain't no rinky dink town. This is a huge town. And you also made a statement about senior citizens. I live in the land of the old and the
slow. You're right. You have a lot of senior citizens. You want to hear the phone calls all day long? My mother died. I can't take her cat. Uh, my father's in a nursing home. I got two big dogs. I can't, you know. And who
does who do you think takes them? We do. The rescues do. Tom's River tries. They did. But again, you could have been the hero. You should be the hero in this town. Don't shut it down. I support trap, neuter, and release. Yeah,
I do. But I'm just So, but that that's a whole other you brought up two things, right? And the rumor about the shelter closing is just that it's a rumor uh propagated by rumor, man. Right. Well, there are some very very
talented political people who have been promoting this rumor on various statewide social media uh outlets or pages where people who are very passionate like yourself and folks who would come from whole other townships or
other areas of the state because they're so passionate about what they do. We're based in Tom's River. Well, no, but I mean there are people here that are from everywhere and it's a it's a it's a lie. There was never any intent. All of my communications about this are are open to email. Open to
Oprah. I'm sorry. No, it's okay. You if Fluffy gets loose out of the yard, front door, who they going to call now? Ghostbusters. Who they You have no ACOs. Where's your ACOS? We We have four.
Where's four? No, we have four animal control officers still. Yes. To to the best of my knowledge based on the spreadsheets. Well, you got But but the the RFP which was brought up Yeah. is if those ACOs were to leave
with the county uh and were to continue to let's say work in this shelter, we would have to have animal control for the town, right? So, yeah, you put out the RFP, it doesn't mean we have to go with it, but it would allow there were the same
people um respond the Humane Society with the popcorn, those are the people who respond and uh there's no reason to not put it out, right? It's just a It's just a request for proposals. You're going to keep your ACOs. Uh if they go to the county, if if we go
to the county, county hire them. Gary Quinn just told the newspaper told Aspbury Park Press that he would look to keep the staff that it's hard to find staff. You have one of the ACOs that devoted his life to this town. He's one of the best, right?
What any town would be proud to have. All right. I think we're going to have to end this conversation. We've appreciate that. Thank you, sir. No problem. Thank you. Excuse me, ma'am. Ma'am, can I have your Can I have your name and address for the record, please? Your name for the record, please. Thank you.
Yes, sir. Hello. My name is Michael Cohen. I live on Stark Road. Um the information that I'm about to relay to you about the animal shelter was um obtained through Oprah requests. Okay. So if we want to be data driven let's be data driven. So
in 2023 the entire time in the Tom's River animal shelter intake of cats was 217 intake of dogs was 238. Total euthanasia stats were 28
of both in the entire year. That equates to a 6.15 euthanasia rate for the Tom's River Animal Shelter in 2023. Now, for the Ocean County Animal Shelter in 2023,
they had 144 cats impounded and 528 dogs impounded. Um, the amount of cats that were euthanized were 318 and the amount of dogs was 18. That
equates to a 21.37 euthanasia rate for the Ocean County Animal Shelter. So, if anybody thinks that dogs and cats are going to be safer at the Ocean County Shelter, you may
want to look at the stats. I'm not done. Now, the Ocean County Animal Shelter also only takes cats and dogs, whereas the Tom's River Animal Shelter takes wildlife,
exotic animals. Today, we just took an abandoned snake in. That snake would have nowhere to go. We have swans. We've had everything you can imagine. Guinea pigs, anything. a pig, anything
like that would have nowhere to go if the Ocean County Animal Shelter takes over our shelter. Now, a little bit about me. In 2021 and September, I began volunteering at the Tom's River Animal Shelter. In September 2022, I was hired
to be the cat kennel aid. And at that time, we had two ACOs and two part- timerrs. I came on as another part-timer at minimum wage. I am still there as a part-timer at minimum wage. I'm not
earning a lot of money there. I'm there because I love my job and it's important what we do. And uh that's all I wanted to say. I'm not I'm not interested in hearing anything. Thank you.
Um, before you speak, I want to make sure, have all people that up here want to come up here for the first time spoken? Have you been here up here before yet, ma'am? Okay, please come forward. You can pull it right out of that holder, ma'am.
Okay, I think I got it. Um, Amy Worst. I'm from Kil Cormick Street. I've been in this town for I don't I don't think the back's going to be able to hear you. Thank you. My name is Amy Worst. I am from Kilcore Mick Street. I've been in this town for well over 40 years since I was a small
child. I have been a volunteer at the animal shelter for close to nine years now. A lot of the things I was going to say were already said by Mike or Linda and I appreciate that. Um I was able to speak with the mayor out front a little
bit. Um I did want to correct one thing that he said earlier. He did say that uh hours there were always by appointment. I don't know if you meant to say that but that is incorrect as we spoke about outside.
Yes, it was. Yes, but after but after co it was never reopened. Right. That is also correct. That's what we spoke about. And that's that's what I meant. And and okay, I just wanted to make sure that that's that was on record that you had
said always because that was confusing to me since when I started there I volunteered Saturdays and Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m. and I gave tours. So as long as you corrected yourself, that's great. Um, also wanted to comment how for um,
up until last year, there were only two animal control officers managing all the animal care needs in this whole town. And um, we finally got a little bit more help. But rather than try to outsource
and whatever that is supposed to mean cuz the county is not going to take our ACOs, maybe you should continue to build on the successes that have been occurring with the adoptions and um maybe some more staff. We could really
use help or volunteers. I used to train dog volunteers there. I haven't seen a new volunteer probably since before co. So, I'm losing track of what I wanted to say, but that's about it. I just want you to
consider building on successes that you've already made. Don't make any huge changes to that shelter right now. The animal control officers are amazing and really should That was the other thing. Please stop portraying them as
incompetent and uncooperative and uncaring because those ACOs are the most amazing people I've ever met. I'm honored to be with them. That's it. Can I can I just ask ask you something,
miss? Yes, sir. My wife who's sitting in the back put in an application to be a volunteer weeks ago and she hasn't heard back and she's really anxious. That would be um so who who does who do we talk to? Who does she talk to?
Um right she did just she did get fingerprinted. Okay. because I can't speak to that because um volunteers have to be fingerprinted in case she tries to steal an animal. We have plenty now. Maybe maybe we should get rid of the
fingerprinting. We we will Oh my goodness. We welcome new volunteers. Whose idea was that? Thank you. Can I ask a question on that? Um it was brought up that possibly boy scouts and other groups could come in on a volunteer basis. Would they need to be
fingerprinted also? I'm just asking. I don't know the answer to that. Can anybody educate me on that? If they're underage, they're definitely not fingerprinted. Excuse me. I'm sorry, sir. If you're underage, they're not they're not going to be fingerprinted. No. Okay. Thank you. Yes, ma'am.
Can you hear me? Yes. Um, my name is Crystal Hendricks. I live at 536 Garlock Drive. And, um, I have just a couple things to address. Um, first of all, can you speak into the mic, please? Yeah. Sorry. Um, is that better? Okay. First of all, um I'd like to know what
animals have been at the shelter for multiple years that you claim other than possibly the house cats later. Um well, there's a a spreadsheet that Marta gave me. Okay. So, I I have it, but I don't have it committed to memory, right? But I did share it with people in the
press and Okay. Because it not a valid fact. It's not true. Um it's not Okay. Anyway, I'll move on. Um, in a lot of public articles recently, there have been comments made um or
statements that say the shelter was in poor condition when you took office. And that is a severely misguided and hurtful statement. Um, I've personally witnessed several dozen members of the public compliment our facility and say it is one of the cleanest shelters they've ever visited. Um, how beautiful it is
and how nice the staff members are and that they're surprised they didn't know about it. Um, if you saw anything that was in poor condition, as you claim, um, it's due to the fact that the shelter has been ignored by past administration, as I've said, and, um, was drastically
understaffed for nearly two years with only one part-time kennel aid to take care of the dogs, which was upwards of 20 at one point. Um, so when you saw excrement in their cages, as you quoted in an article, um, the afternoon that you visited, that part-time kennelade was long clocked out and there was no
one specifically there to take care of the dogs. Um, this isn't to portray that they're not cared about as animals and that we don't care about them, but simply there are not enough people employed to care for the amount of animals that we can potentially facil facilitate, which was around 21 when you
visited. Um, we can hold about 26 and those are including the cages that um are designated for the K9 police officers um and the one that was damaged. Um, our employees were currently here
because of the animals, not just a paycheck. They've had their hands tied behind their backs, not being allowed to share or expose our adoptable animals, and failing to figure out how to increase veterary services so dogs and cats could maybe become adoptable quicker instead of waiting give or take
six months to be fixed, leading to the long-term residents that you are complaining about. Um, focus has not been given to efforts and ideas that volunteers and staff often throw out as ideas and want to improve the shelter.
Um, and they're often ignored and just buried like they don't matter. Um, we don't euthanize, we don't euthanize, sorry, for space as where county does when they're out of room. They send their oldest dogs or whoever um to the euthanasia floor. Um, they're pleading
for open kennels. They're full. And I would just really like to know how you can possibly justify sending more animals there. Um, and to just finish, our animal control officers in this town, um, they're extremely dedicated and hardworking, knowledgeable and vital
parts of our community. Um, they're there every time someone calls. Just one minute. Is there anybody in line that has not had a chance to speak yet? Because when we hit 90 minutes, you have not. Okay. Press on. Kathy Lazaro 11 Fair Acres Drive. First of all, I'm
here because not one council person up here wasn't here when I started. As Linda stated before from safe over 15 years ago, this town was in big trouble with an animal shelter down on Whitesville Road. If you went down there, the wires were hanging out of the
ceiling. I felt every time I went down there to donate stuff for the animals that the conditions that the volunteers we had one animal full-time Helen who's now retired God bless her and we had Carmine who used to go out as a part-
timerr that shelter was deplorable it was clean as hell with bleach but the animals suffered the people suffered who volunteer there okay it took numerous mayors mayor brush who tried to pass it. But you see, it was a full Republican
council. And we know Greg McGucken as he say stated that they don't vote the animals. So they had to have a voice. And I got involved to because to push that. I had to fight Chief Mastinady back then because he did not want the
animal shelter close to the police station. He would say it would interfere with the thing. We would go and find sites. It wasn't good enough. Finally, we all came to an agreement to get it done and it got done in Tom's River. That shelter should have been here and
it should stay where it is because those animals deserve it as taxpayers. And I did see we're getting u uh possibly a million dollar uh for the shelter or whatever. I don't believe the county should, as Linda stated, a lot of
rescues in this town that saved this town from animals. Okay. I rescued animals. I I rescue them all the time. I don't shop. I adopt. So, the problem we have here is that too many zeros out there are trying to make you not look
like a hero. So, I would just like you, Mayor Rodri, to tell me tonight that that shelter right now is not closing. The shelter, the intent was never to shut the shelter. Right. the the intent was to get animals adopted and to make sure that there are that it's being run
well and and the conversations with the county are ongoing and if the county were to run it, I don't I I don't see how that would be any different. And I I the only thing that I would if I if I may uh wouldn't mind addressing the the
CAT number that that was just given before the county uh accepts 32 municipalities worth of feral cats, right? So when you see this cat number of uh 300, it would be like them taking in 10
feral cats a year from each municipality. uh and that skews their their their number on cats. But if you look at the the dog number, and I know I don't want to make it as a cat and dog thing, of course, but it's what's adoptable and what's not
adoptable, right? U I I personally support trap, neuter, and release, but um uh you know, obviously it's difficult for them to handle that many feral. I also agreed with the gentleman earlier who said the shelter really doesn't um advertise or promote it years for years.
A lot of people do go to save. I know I don't have a cap, but I give to them because of the fact I know what those people do. Now, I just came on a very important note. Left, didn't even get my hair done to come here to ask this question. Okay, this is still freedom of
speech. Correct. Three bus loads of illegals or as I'm sorry, immigrants were dropped off at Motel 6 today. Really? Yes. Yep. Yep. Yep. Now,
I think the animals thing that could be, but we Where did they come from? I don't think they're here for a soccer match to tell you the truth. Well, certainly. And I don't think they're here for little league baseball. We have to figure out We have to figure out who's Maybe we should call Governor Smurfy and
maybe he has an answer why they're here. Uh I don't know. But it's very upsetting when you have homeless people here in this town or people losing their homes or people being evicted or foreclosures that people need help. And I understand
what taxpayers, you know, spread upon. But when I was on Route 30, I wanted to make sure I seen it. Okay, I know I'm not too old, but the point is that three bus loads at Motel 6. So, does that mean
the other motel now are going to be picking them up, too? I mean, or having them dropped off here. Well, the I'm seeing this like on this um Facebook page. Councilwoman Oul showed it. That's not Rodwick watch, is it? Okay.
Right. Well, that that's what I'm saying. I don't I don't I see I'm trying to be funny. No, she's not. She's not there. There I'm seeing two buses. I'm not seeing any people. Uh, I haven't heard of this reported on any uh news network. Well, could you look into it?
If this is real, we will address it. It's very possible that it's very similar to the to the post about the animal shelter being closed and it's really just a But you know what? I wanted to make sure I seen the buses. Like I can't hear too good, but I could still see.
But I the the thing is is um Well, let's find out. But a bus empty bus at a hotel doesn't that I seen it, right? Would that be fair? Let's look into it. Let's look into it. But but it's very possible this is a bus of seniors on their way to Atlantic City. I mean, we
don't know. It's just there's a picture here. Yeah. Okay. Families coming across the border. Excuse me. The time limit is up. It's not. Please move on. Council President, we got we got them. Yes. Five minutes. We have 5 minutes left. Please let the
next gentleman speak. I'm sorry. says he has some information. Thank you, sir. Go ahead. You're going to be you're going to be the last speaker. Okay. Uh Paul Hol just believe. I just want to let you guys know that's a false accusation. There is nobody getting
dropped off here from any place anywhere. Just so you know. Thank you. Yes, sir. This is totally out of left field. Uh I'm Sal Fiori. I'm a Thumbs residence 1901 Marmac. This is my business partner, Jesse. Your address, I guess.
Hi, I'm uh from Island Heights. I used to be a Towns River resident, but we have a business. Uh it's a party bike business and I'm just looking for guidance from the council, maybe the mayor on who to talk to on getting approval or some time allotted next council meeting to maybe make a
presentation on this party bike concept. It's a a two-sided 15 person party bike that drives down uh going to different uh locations, bars, restaurants. Um, we're looking to get approval in Tom's River, uh, mainly in Ortly. I've spoken to Councilman Lamb about this. Um, we're
trying to go from Seaside from Seaside to, uh, Ortly and then hopefully into Lavallet, but I just didn't know how to go about it. I'm sorry if this is not a left field. You can come in and meet with us. If you, if you email, uh, Grace Piscapo, Gpiscapo at Tomsar Township, uh, she'll
set up a meeting. You can, you know, and we'll meet and you could tell us all about it. Yeah. Yeah. I'm sorry to take the time or whatever. house is what it's for. Didn't know how to go about How many bikes do you have, by the way? We have three We have three bikes. Uh we're currently in uh Beach Haven. We're in Asbury Park and Seaside. Uh we're trying to expand on that. I know there's
a lot of talk about the development of the downtown area. I hope to be a part of that in the future. Um we're also looking to go into Ortley as I stated. Um but I was just looking for guidance and if I can take that email, when are you looking to operate? What time? this this year coming up or
Yeah, we're trying we're trying to look uh to operate um as soon as possible this year coming up um for the upcoming you know summer season. So it's going to be basically for rentals. They can rent it for groups. Yeah. So people can uh pay and you know
it's a guided tour. Um you know people have fun, hang out. Trying to be a little more lighthearted here. Um and uh we're just looking for hopefully the go through the proper approval and channel to get us, you know, approved. I have my card here. Okay. Thank you.
Thank you everyone. How much time do we have left? 2 minutes and 30 seconds. Okay. We have 2 minutes and 30 seconds. Ma'am, you're on. Dana Tormolan Messenger Street. Um being the mayor spoke for 16 minutes while people were talking, I feel that we should have 16 extra minutes added on to
the time. Um, briefly touching on the animal thing, there is a bid on the township website um for the animal shelter. So, if the town decides to give it to the county seems to be the big thing if
the town if they don't then what happens? My bigger question right now is the fact that the meetings from the special meetings from January 18th and February 14th um under the code the township code special meetings the mayor
may and upon written request of four council persons shall call a special meeting of the council. In the call he or she shall designate the purpose of the special meeting and no other business shall be considered. Well, I opraed, as many other people have in the
past few weeks, if there was any written request from the council to the mayor, from council president to the council, from the mayor to the council. There's no written request of those special meetings. None. So, that violates the township code
right then and there. The fact is the things that were supposed to be called on that meeting, everything was spoken about, everything was put forward. So, if there's no written records, I'm sorry I'm bothering you. Yeah. If there's no written records, how do
those meetings count for anything? And how does anything that got voted on have any bearing on where we are right now? Because they shouldn't count. Mr. Molina, can you please explain the township ordinance for Mr. Mullen and and what it actually provides for?
Sure. So the township code section that deals with special meetings allows for special meetings in two scenarios. One is on the written request of four council members. In that case, the mayor would be obligated to call a special meeting. However, the provision also
says that the mayor may call a special meeting in other circumstances and that's the provision that those meetings were held under. There's no specific requirement in that scenario for a written request. Thank you. It's always nice to have a lawyer clarify things.
Sir, you are the last speaker of the evening. So, welcome. Carlos Ammon Ammonar Warham. Um, first and foremost, guys, you know, I keep saying I like all you guys. I want to see the difference. I want to see the argument, but at the same time, I keep
saying I'm a special guy where, you know, in reality, this is the Jersey Short show. All brand new. We should have our own show right here because we are not getting along. We are not making the right decisions and most importantly
we are not sitting down to communicate one another because president I respect you a lot. Councilman Council I respect you guys a lot as a young but compared to everybody in here as the youngest guy in the room calling you guys
playing around with our future. This is it's no last meeting I asked if we could start sitting down. I will pay for this. I will work to pay for this that meeting so we can communicate and really listen to our town.
Sir, I've been to your office three times. I have left my business card three times. So far, I've been around to many different township and I have sit down with many different mayors. I haven't been able to sit down with my mayor or my business administrator.
I would like to sit down with the president, mayor, and a few of you guys that are free to willing to listen one to my business, but most importantly, I want to sit down with you guys and the leaders of my community. Because believe it or not, these people that are
speaking in the back making this noise that you guys don't want to hear it are also the leader just like you guys. And we need to start working together to improve together because we should be working on bigger stuff in our town than all this little nonsense noise that if we work together and come to a common
ground, we don't even got to waste all this money. But because we can't put our pants together and grow up, this is what we have. So I am begging you guys, let's sit down. Let's work it out. Sir,
I know you got a lot of people coming after you and stabbing you, but guess what? I've been in your shoes and you know what I did? I took a round table and all my enemies, I sit them in that round table and today we are friends and we work for our community together. So, I am begging you, let me be part of your
round table and I guarantee these people right here, they will be gladly to sit with you and negotiate and make sure that you look like a king. I don't want you to fall. I don't want my town to look like we are. No, this reputation we getting. No, I'm working hard to make
something better for my son in this community. All the people that I went to school are professional and they would tell you the stuff that we had to go through to be where we at. Like I said before, no disrespect, you live in the good area. Look what happened in my area where I got my store
that I'm closing down. Somebody got kidnapped this week. Anybody want to talk about that? Over here we had another accident another breakin in while people were sleeping. So you know this bigger fish that we could be fried but instead we wasting time because we can't sit down and negotiate. Why?
Because unfortunately everybody want to have the ego. This is not a place to have an ego. This is a place to negotiate and do what's right for the town. What it takes? Sit down in the round table. If you want to have the biggest, you will not make it over here.
You have the three year two three years running. Guess what? My legacy that I'm trying to build for myself and I'll turn it over is that I did good for my community. I don't know about your legacy cuz you guys ain't going to take power or the money. So, what is it that you guys
doing this for? So, please start communicating. If not, let me know. I can put a nice team to communicate. This is crazy how a special can communicate with a whole bunch of thugs in in in my town.
We can't even get along. Like I said, I see everything. I if you guys want whenever you guys we can ride around in my car and I can show you everything. I'm not here to pick size. That's not me. I'm here to make money and to make
sure my town goes the right way. You guys need to get along. And please, you need to sit down. I'm a special ed. I do not email. I do not write letter. I do not text. I call you directly or we speak directly. That's me. So, just to let you guys know, I'm a special ed. I'm handicapped
when it comes to writing. So, let's sit down in this right in this table. And I guarantee you you guys, cuz the people behind me, we'll be okay. We'll be okay. But we got to sit down. If you got to keep coming over here to argue and no, first you got to have some tea. The tea,
I guarantee you we town. So please guys, this is the last time that we got to look look an embarrassment and coming from me. Let's tell you this is not good guys. Chair motion to close.
Aren't we supposed to do something uh Mr. Rolino with the We're going to close the public comment first uh before we There's um Yes. So, close public comment then I'll take Okay. I'd like a motion to close the public comment.
It was uh firsted by Councilman Lamb and seconded by Second it. Councilman Loman. Are all in favor? I I Okay, we um I'm just going to ask the council to go back and correct a mistake uh with respect to item JJ. I want to
thank the resident for pointing this out. I went back and checked. Um the fire district budget, the adjustment does have to be advertised 5 days in advance and it does require a public hearing, although a resolution is the proper mechanism. So I'm going to ask the council for a vote uh a motion to
resend the vote on item JJ and to table it to a date no later than March 28th, which I believe is our March meeting. Correct. Can we have a special meeting? Well, that's why I said no later. So it is either March 28th or a special meeting before that. March 27th.
27th. Sorry. So, so if we could have a motion, I'll second. Motion is made by Councilman Loen and seconded by Councilman Lamb. Councilman Loman. Yes. Councilman Lamb. Yes. Councilman Sakosi.
So, March 27th, we're voting. It's the motion is no later than March 27th. So, it could be on the 27th or the possibility of a special meeting in between. Yes. Councilman Iverson. Yes. Councilman Quinn. Yes. Council Vice President Oul,
this is going to be at a regular meeting. Yes. Council President Coleman. Yes. Okay. Um, it's my understanding we have no need for an executive session. So, I'd like to have a motion to adjourn the meeting.
I'll make that motion. Second. Are all in favor? I Good evening folks. Thank you. Sorry.