##VIDEO ID:X2hXad6SHxk## bullet board and the Upper Township website emailed the Atlantic City Press the Ocean City senal Ledger a heral times and filed with the Township Clerk tonight's meeting is being video recorded up and until the Clos session portion of this meeting and will be available on the upper C website I hereby direct that this announcement be made a part of the minutes of this meeting would you please rise for the five Al to the flag of the United States of America stand would you call the RO Please Mr Corson Mrs Hayes Mr nappen here Mr Panos here may Newman here okay can I pleasure on the minutes will we adopt the regular and Clos session minutes from July 8 2024 second you call the r Please Mr Mr Corson yes Mrs Hayes Mr nappin I'm upstanding and I'd just like to thank everybody for helping me last week with a last minut emergency I miss the meet Mr Panos yes may Newman yes motion carried okay report governing body members mayor haes so I'm gonna say I have nothing to report tonight because there's some big stuff that I'm going to let Gary R yeah that's true let them theut they earned it Victor go ahead good evening everybody thank you I do have a few things uh as I want to catch up from last week but I'll try to be as brief as possible uh welcome Christen Snyder back to the courts from her returning leave her transition back has been seamless Lauren's sung her Praises so thank you to her and welcome back going back to the 4th of July heard everything down at the uh Township celebration went amazingly so I want to just give another shout out to everybody involved with that thank thank them for their hard work uh tonight's my son's 9th birthday so on the record I want to say happy birthday to trip nappen uh the living Shoreline meeting went well uh Gary Ryan Curtis myself thanking Jay for letting me step in there and do that um some really cool stuff going on with that project so happy to be a part of it and then I want to spend a minute talking about uh a friend of mine who did not want me to say what I'm going to say and I wasn't going to say what I was going to say but I got his okay say that and that's uh my good friend Brandon Walcott him and I have been friends since fourth grade uh he saved the lives of multiple people uh the other night in Ocean City um this is probably ocean City's speech to give but I'm going to jump the gun because uh it was a pretty amazing thing we got a message from a Township resident this morning uh Tom Stevens and uh I called Brandon and I said hey I wasn't going to say your thing I know you didn't want me to say it but with this message from a resident I figured I would read it um Tom witness Brandon saved the lives of four people in Ocean City last week a woman and her four children were caught in a Riptide and brought out into the ocean Brandon's an Avid surfer and Waterman along with being a great local attorney and Township resident jumped in the water he saved a boy who was 20 to 30 yards out in the ocean he jumped back in and saved the remaining people roughly 60 30 to 60 yards out police and paramedics came um I think probably Ocean City will do something for Brandon at some point but he as a local resident maybe we also could recognize him at some point uh for that selfless act it was in the evening nobody was out the beach his him and his wife were just there spending a quiet moment together and he was thrust action so shout out to Brandon and it was a pretty cool moment for and that's all I have tonight thank you sure thank you Mr Mayor uh just two quick quick things we'll go into them a little more I guess in close session but uh I want to take G as well but u in the M midst of contract negotiation for the public work employees and also uh valair you um just want report tonight is our bay run or Bay row is TR here we host the annual Bay run rout for Ms fundraiser our lifeguards host that they I approxim 8 miles around the one Island so after this if you're inclined to go see the Bay race it's very interesting they do a paddle shorter course for that R and it brings people from pretty much all the over South like and usually a good point and uh then I had an issue this afternoon and I want to thank gu for handling get cleaned up with some litter on a big property and uh Public Works is going to handle the next day or two and it's very good thing so thank you very much and following off said we had a great meeting with the living shorelines I've been doing a lot of studying on the living sh lines and actually going to seeing a few of them and said I'm going to let Brian report on it when he but it's a good partnership Strat Improvement Association has got some money fing to them for the federal government and uh I think it's going to be a good project it's not going to be the whole project but we've got the project shov ready and I think we're going to be able to apply for some uh grant money to finish the project with it SC Improvement certification got FL from federal government and can probably get funded I think it would be a good thing that's all I have time very good that's uh part of what we've been do in the past couple years is when we have an issue we'll put together a subcommittee of two or two me two members or less of the township committee and they will meet with professionals professionals handle it bring It Forward together with the the some of the consern residents and work very well with not only uh this particular item but also our our rent uh short-term rentals that type of thing came out with a came out with nice ordinances and great updates to okay uh I have a couple things to report um first of all this Saturday uh there will be a fundraiser fundraising called Touch a Truck and walk well all of Upper Township Fire and EMS think not be touching your shirt uh all all us will be there with regard with Public Safety and we'll be potentially we have a helicopter as well that that's been confirmed there Chief toer yes helicopter if it's not in use we'll be there I think it's pen star just coming down what's that what think Coast Guard so this is all in relation to supporting a local family uh the the the the child's name is Dylan vanderhagen and his parents are Coast Guard family and the Coast Guard Community has has um coupled with the um the our community uh they live in Upper Township incident that occurred I had a tragic accident with them occurred in Upper Township uh lot of our public safety personnel responded to assist in that particular one and uh um that so that that's what we are doing we're extending our not only our monetary support but our our visual physical support to the family emotional support to the family so that will be on Saturday at Amanda field beginning at 9:00 a.m. so uh we'd love to have people not only stuff on the township website Township Facebook page uh and there's Flyers all over the place uh with a QR code and they will be able to um be able to to GoFundMe page and to donate money so uh in the man is field and if you need to need to reach out to Larry Cole about our um um our Recreation leader and he will be able to fill you in on any way you could help or if you be able to money um also this this weekend on Saturday after this the scra fire company will be holding a open house 1 to three I think it is 1 to four over scra celebrating their 100th anniversary not a as some of the other departments have done over the years but 100 anniversary of existence over in strair as a Volunteer Fire Company uh and that will be there'll be I'm sure there'll be displays that type of thing there's also stuff on their Facebook page as well uh and so if you can make it over there uh be it's also a fundraiser uh also I will be over there on Sunday at the dville to have another event and presenting a resolution honoring the scrap Fire Company at um on Town excuse me from the township on their 100th anniversary um I also have some uh somewhat sad news report a a very good friend of mine and a longtime member of the Upper Township Public Safety Community Chuck batters me has passed away passed away yesterday uh and he's been sick for quite some time um with cancer he's been battling back and forth Chuck was instrumental in the Upper Township division of the being formed he was actually the chief Upper Township rescue for many years and was the chief land we we hired our first two employees back in I think 1985 86 somewhere in there uh uh Chief Potter and um Judy May uh you know Judy since passed away but Chief Potter retired so that's how long ago did it he was a life member the upper counc pry Squad apparently he was a member of the mot Fire Company I've been around for a long time I was remember but I'm sure he was so uh Services uh he's also a well-known uh well guy from pumping well from from upper he was one of those guys that you could call up uh and he uh I mean I I would call him and go sh I think I got a problem with my uh my pump oh well I got this and that the other thing and next thing you know he's there 5 minutes later he's there and has it fixed with his with his wife run a truck and they they were a team and it was somewhat of a comedy act but they did a great job and stepped all over uh steep right up to them uh just a great guy and he will be missed he he's uh as somebody texted me said just said one word Legend and that that was that was Chuck great great guy uh also I'm sure that um both Gary and W are going to report on uh but through the efforts and I'll shout it out because uh they W um through the efforts of our professionals Ryan Barry Tony monzo um our attorney Barb steag Stephanie Thon uh who Triad Associates I'm sorry about that Todd n specifically and and others Township has over the past year year and a half two years applied for multiple multiple grants I think we had 21 at one time um out there some of them we didn't get but we're star we start roll in and we're really really happy about that and uh had I would say probably list a dozen of them either awarded or in the process of being awarded with some some loose ends out there for not only Paving Recreation um uh uh more like we'll talk about safe roots to schools air conditioning yeah um uh we get uh there's Public Safety projects there's all kinds of stuff that's do to try looking for these grants posting it out there our professionals putting the time and effort into it and I I know on behalf of the counil committee and the way up here we really really appreciate that so you'll see on our consent agenda there's a whole bunch of chapter 159 chapter 159 resolutions mean that that's money we didn't expect to get so that's what they that's what that does that says oh we got a grant coming so this those are good things so um it's just a kudos to Gary Ryan Tony J Barbara all the rest of the people I mentioned because that is what brings this stuff in and brings it together professionals people helping people that's what the Phil broadcast okay uh we'll move on Gary have everything your report sir I'm sure you do I do I do and and you know this is one of those agendas that kind of weave in several um programs and thoughts and resources and flexibility uh that was allowed to the staff over the last couple years so you're looking at Legacy problems of the cleaning leans we tightened those up and now we're we're allowed to uh to to Really um charge what the township utilizes to clean those properties that was that was not good and you look at Living shorelines it took us two years to get to that finish line and we have just just uh had a great meeting with the with the fish and wildlife is that what is what is the assault order St fishing fishing environmental Club fishing environmental club that took two years to get there and now we're just just start and that that was a grant to apply for the grant that was just it's just amazing some of the stuff you have to go through and so so the recommendations and the and the professionalism and the resources are given to the to the manag Man agement team and then we're able to kind of pick it up and and move it through the the grant that we're talking about tonight is is a million Grant and that million dooll Grant started way before we had the problem with courtesy busing so that safe routes to school was $995,000 to the township and that was put forth by this committee and it was given the resources were given to the to the Command Staff to move it forward and we did moving for and so it started at on in 2023 October of 2023 way before May of 2024 when we had this community U busing issue currency busing issue and so you're looking at a board that's ahead of the curve you're looking at a board that saw the potential saw the deficiencies and put this together Zachary Jordan NY Moro L Lori Ryan Ryan McNeil Joanne processing it Barbara doing the financing of it and we're all moving in lock step and you'll seeing the results so 61 applications totally more than $58 million 21 million was was awarded and the township got uh close to a million dollar so congratulations I mean this is uh you know that's on top of the 68,000 for the uh recreation grants uh and all the other um smaller grants that we have in the pipeline in the pipeline coming soon and $300,000 for the AC um but it's it's up to it's the vision it's the flexibility that the board has given us and we and we do appreciate it and and we'll continue to move those uh those Grant through so we're we're uh at the top fourth of what the of what the uh safe what the state has issued and congratulations to to everyone everyone really that's a huge Grant I mean for this small town we run a $15 million budget and we got uh a$1 million Grant and and if it comes to fruition and it come it's got to be used within the next two years it's got the green spaces it's got the bikes and the sidewalks and and the corridors uh it's truly a fantastic to a fantastic uh uh possibility so congratulations board congratulations to the township for the for the award and hopefully it'll tie into the school uh and they'll and we'll we'll make something out congratulations um on the bad news States increasing your healthare by 16% right so Barb and I had a conversation they said our arrogance and solded them and the rate went up 16% right so 16% that's seven last year and 24 the prior correct is that the numbers was 21 the prior year seven last year so continues to to continues to move up um Donna in our CTC office is is going to become a passport agent so I need a motion to buy that passport for her I think it's $130 get a motion to that bill pleas Mr Corson Mrs Hayes Mr nappen yes the Panos mayor Newman yes motion carried I just want to go through a couple more things because we do work very closely with the engineer the the valve was was four days of barle chipping three days three days were Barnacle chipping in in confinement pits I was out there at 4:30 in the morning one day while they were uh while they were deep in the mud trying to fix that valve and that valve was fixed and the neighbors said that they have not seen this amount of success in more than 10 years for that particular area so some there Prescott and Williams is now U completely operational and the neighbors are just amazed as to the way the system works um that's all I have and that was actually that was another Grant T 360,000 I think cor was that was Co money yep it was not tax but look how look how long it started and look oh yeah we just C the last screw last uh right so code was what 19 2019 on that money 20 on that money so four years told us to get that across the finish line and that valve has now been secured and neighbors are now having the benefit of uh what the what the well actually it's been budgeted a couple years prior to that too we just never made it to finish line so I want to I guess the CTC will tell you about the um I'll give that to R look how Smiley she is so the school went up 11 cents we went up a penny so when you the tax bills are now going out again we're just Sy to get updated ctif so you'll uh your phones be blowing up that you increase taxes could that 100% was that school and that and that ly or the not the 10 cents was the school anything else that's it that's all I have for you mayor Joan I have nothing thank you I'm good mayor thank you you're great R stage is yours brother as Gary mentioned very happy to report that we were awarded the safe routes to school Grant in amount of $925,000 so CM me and triad partner together on this in October of 23 uh in order to submit the application to do which consisted of sidewalk and Bikeway uh access uh from or to the upper Township Elementary and primary schools um some of those access will start around SE view uh for sidewalk to the elementary schools and then bike way we have really all the way up to Harbor Road um so those are massive improvements that we could add uh to address one of the major issues for the township um so some more details on that it is a reimbursement so we will have to budget for it over the next year and the project has to be wed by July 26 so we have some time but we need a budget for it make sure we have the funds and then it will be a re reimbursement from the some additional on that is do does offer design assistance um with some of their qualified Consultants so that's another option that dot could potentially help fund the design for the project so something we'll be looking into as far of our planning for the project with the repaying of P point route N9 section is there moratorium on what we can do there or okay uh so the construction likely won't start for a couple of years um I know they likely have a moratorium of a year to three years um but I think all the improvements will be in addition to the mill and overlay they already completed um so I don't see that as a major issue to get over um again something that'll be coordinated with do as we progress through the project of theway it wasn't exactly so yeah again another huge win for the township um moving on again to the paving program that we have going on uh some more good news about uh six roads have already been completed for Millan overlays uh there remaining 12 roads will be completed in the next 2 to 3 weeks and then final striping so the project will likely be closed out in about 4 weeks obviously all weather permitted hopefully it stays dry for them to complete the work Ryan I see the M Harry cour yes yeah but also they're coming to up route nine ped North with fiber optics or something yes so that so the township M Harry's court is part of our Paving program the fiber optic is part of that do project along Route n um so they are working at the same time but they are separate projects I know there SE Pro but before they overlay Harry's Court are they going to get through there with what they're doing or they going to cut a hole in our new as that that'll be something I'll make sure is addressed before they lay that yeah no they actually they're born but they're only born about 100 ft of the tong and it's I think hopefully actually I think a they have a middle which OB know our P project St St couldn't couldn't say it better myself thank you Mike um next one up uh pump project again as Gary mentioned I want to compliment public works for the great job they did on installing their last check valve at the suer location and again it's Gary mentioned all three pump stations are fully operational and doing uh a great job to push that and discharge the water out as quickly as possible next one up again and uh as Curtis Vic mentioned living Shoreline meeting we had went great with act engineers in the strap Mir fishing environmental Club um The Next Step will be meeting with Noah to discuss the funding that strap M fishing environmental Club received and then to work together to bring a our Collective goal for the living Shoreline together and then finally the last one I have for tonight is County open space for the skate park Improvement um I was able to resubmit plans to the county for the review hopefully within a couple of weeks we have a response from them whether requiring additional information or potentially awarding the grant so making progress on that one as well that's all I had thank you Ry okay under presentations we had the presentation of a blue star banner to Michael and Anne Wagner for their son Sergeant Michael John Wagner of the United States Army okay um we have uh today is something that we have had the honor of doing to to several uh Township residents and families and can I have the family uh first of all can I have um Commander uh Billy Archer say William Archer I know uh and the first place Commander Bill isy or William eisy uh myself and we will talk a little bit about star program and this um we are extremely military friendly Township the township committee uh as you may may or may not know uh M was uh member of the United States Army one of the Lesser name Services um mayor Hay's son a is active duty United States Coast Guard Station in Atlantic City my son is uh also active duty United States Air Force to best service out there Bar None and uh they're all proud residents ofer Township locally educated and we gone up into to where they are now today so I think it's also interesting to note that here in the township are 268 family members that received the $250 deduction forer that's a large I think that's a good sign you know we're an active military community that supports our military so we'd like to have the family uh of Sergeant Michael Wagner uh one up and you are and and congratulations and blue star will if you want to go post 239 started October 1920 local soldiers died in France World War II now our 104th year of existence other their all and are inscribed on the monument in front of the also other that and we them all our post is now at 87 members who served in all branches of the military and all wars da from World War one now activities the world the post Rec years been involved s communi providing support Co guard in area the down Gathering bicycles and taking them to the two New Jersey state H facilties South and North to provide monetary support to victims ofur establishing descends discharge military Gathering warn out flag for prop retirement which includes the issu of a little card you have Flags which tells about that course in conjunction with government body as far as the flags go we just had voice Scout eag project a box Upper Township Volunteer Fire comp you now have 24 hour access to FL as well as here post also says High School junior voicey State program where they learn how government works by doing on hands on uh positions they have a fake uh country or state where they all take positions and how run there's no Republican or Democrat that fake par but it's really good because one of our boys just went through he just got $288,000 scholar to the Marines when off Marines that's good on your resum great Community Support when we do our Co drops on the community we've increased our upper count Middle School um academic Awards and this year we gave out four scholarships to Ocean City High School well three to Ocean City and one to St atin PR for tonight we're here to Michael the uh blar Banner program was started during the first world war by a captain in the fifth infantry who had two Sun serving overseas uh he packed the blue star banner that you'll see here shortly and uh and it was widely accepted and displayed in both the first and second world war in the window of the uh families to be able to show that with pride they had somebody serving in the military it wasn't as accepted during prer of Vietnam but after 911 weer Legion again rekindled that interest and we've been very fortunate to be able to feue several of them over the past few years uh each of the of the families that have we have a couple families that have more than one child serving in the military at the same time so they get two stars on their Banner so that's a short thumbnail sketch of of um the history okay um Township over the years is partnered and and I both B weang our window all the time um very very it's a great honor um here's a brief brief history on uh Michael Michael City High School in June of 2021 2 weeks later be enlisted the United States Army and sent to Fort P Georgia to the BR Bas train Sergeant Wagner is PR stationed in hels Germany where his duties are trading ukra Ukraine soldiers for combat on behalf of the township of upper the tuo americ Legion Post 239 we honor for you acoss star banner recognition of your son Michael J R and his current un service in the United States Army Blue Star Fire has W been displayed by families who a loved one serving in the armed forces in order provide public recogition of a relative service to our blue star B is being given to you for display the front of your home so you all of your son's heroic service please display the same Pride GI here ch supp to be the new sh okay uh next we have the honoring Bruce de dinardo on being inducted into the cape Atlantic Junior Football League Hall of Fame class of 2024 well this is another fun one that has a big tie myself as well not take anything away from Bruce um but as the citation reads in the um resolution here and I'll I'll go over the highlights highl whereas the C Junior Football League established the hall thing to recognize those who dedicated their lives develop children football whereas Bruce gardo was chosen as the first nominee in thetic Junior Football League Hall of Fame class 2024 and Bruce has been an upper C president for over 50 years has dedicated his life Youth Sports volunteering for numerous Upper Township Recreation programs serving various roles Bruce started volunteering in 1971 the Ocean City H football program and Bruce was one of the founding members of the upper count Indian football founded in 1972 was one of the C County Junior Football League representatives for four years whereas he was led by desire sport football became president of K County junior football league in 197 6 and served in that capacity 27 years 1992 which became a game official for the New Jersey football officials Association in Atlantic Chap and served for 31 years retired in 2023 he currently serves as the co-chair of the upper counc Sports Recreation Advisory Board and is fitting and proper honor for his generous contribution of time knowledge leadership and service in the Youth of our community so now with the township committee on behalf of all the citizens Township we extend BR congratulations on being inducted into the cap atantic Junior Football League Hall of Fame class 2024 and express our heartfelt gratitude and appreciation for his many years of dedicated service to the Youth of Township so Bruce uh was 1972 start start in 71 in oan city and 1972 he was instrumental in starting the upper C football program along with my father and several other people I was one the first team probably we have 15 16 kids on it and I was um one 15 16 kids and that was from sixth grade to 8th grade um bar was actually cheer Mas the first year that was my sister um years progress through three years and this is just a story that P how's influence is here what the high school play football high school when to college didn't play football college um had a u came back in 1985 we have starting time of chice in 1989 and year seven years after that my oldest son who I just mentioned as as being in the Air Force um I looking add in paper and taking kids for uh for football I go out there we play behind the elementary school where the the fields were I can remember Bruce Bernard Howard Chester tell parents to get here early put the lights on the field so we can practice hour so we uh and their headlights in car headlights car so get back to now my my son is seven or 8 years old the time I see an ad paper come sign up start I go out there there's 120 kids involved in the program from 7 to 14 years old not only have that he can play but I also have's grandson on the field right here Charles and it's just just unbelievable thing that happened and as my kids were through that it doesn't me here Bruce also participated on umpiring Little League games for many many years uh Bruce Bruce just has been instrumental done a great job uh Bruce used to get yelled as an Umpire and why P deserve it uh but he was a great onire great all for the kids um I see he's got prescription of his glasses probably go fire now got them s I'm K Bruce you know we love you and you've just done a great job over the years for the Youth of Upper Township and Contin on the Upper Township sports and recreation board so if you want to come on up here start making your way up a great job I think is probably the longest serving number of our SPS I don't have a number but I would say best that I think [Applause] [Applause] all righty so this is one of those uh fun meetings that we're doing everything uh a lot of positive stuff a lot of POS okay um this time we are we're changing things up a little bit uh to see how this works out uh we're going to start with uh um public comment we're going to do public comment now anybody for the public like to com comment the C committee hi my name is Anna best I live in Egg Harbor Township you need to know that right I was a former and current volunteer at Beacon animal rescue um I'm pretty much here to speak for the animals I I um sent you guys emails I just wanted to make sure that you received them yes ma'am thank you very much um yeah I just wanted to make sure like you know we're just trying to understand who would be the oversight for Beacon animal rescue who do you guys like do you have a list of their current bylaws do you keep copies of that there it's a 501c I don't think we govern 501c do we no we're we're prettyy much a land okay so the board members are supposed to be the oversight but if they're not the oversight that's who we're trying to find out would be the oversight I don't even know if they are Mr you can probably go a little bit I think you know this obviously has come up before and and what we basically like C said we're the landlords uh we have a lease for that I think we've looked at the lease they have complied with it to to to what we require um we do not run their organization we do not have just like we wouldn't if we run it to any other 501c3 we wouldn't be involved in their operations from day to day so that would be up to I I'll turn it back over T Mr monzo kind of clear that up yeah I mean there is no involvement by the governing body with respect to their governance um but they are required to be a 501c3 organization I do believe they're required to submit reports and on an annual basis to um ensure compliance but that's about it and unless there's a violation of the lease they're in they're continuing in existence as a um 501c3 organization and good standing and they're complying with the terms of the lease submitting their annual reports and there's really not much you can do to terminate that or to alter that I mean until the lease is up and then you can look at a different alternative but until that time there's really not much you can do how much times left releas it was I believe it's 2027 it was just renewed in 2023 so was probably five year lease so probably I believe it's yeah it'll be December of 2027 so the last time I was here I was trying to get that information on the lease I'm not you know I'm no professional I'm just the volunteer that cares about animals but I did look over the lease and it does state that they do have to follow the state and federal guidelines for a 501c3 in order to keep the lease and it also maintains that they have to keep the indoor and outdoor property the facility has to be properly maintained and you know March 14th they did have a failed inspe inspection for multiple violations which you guys all said you're aware of so when those kinds of things happen does that cuz it's in the least that they are supposed to follow those things so when they don't do that then what happens think that would be the health department well once again we should have deferred to Tony if there is what's the remedy and if you said they're violating state and federal that's the state federal government's responsibility to make sure that they have uh their 501c3 reports are filed correctly and okay so because I did send you like if you guys had a copy of the bylaws I did send you in the Le and in the bylaws where they they don't follow their own bylaws which goes against state and federal regulations and I didn't I'm not just speaking here I emailed you guys with the the documents so that you could see what I'm talking about so that's why I'm wondering how do they get to keep this lease if they're not following I have reported this to the state it is being looked at and I guess is that what has to happen the state has to tell you guys well right now there's no anims there correct there are no animals because of the health department and and I hope you guys don't mind none of this is personal but honestly anybody that read that report about Dave pory and I know what Dave pory stands for because I follow him his Peaches I don't believe he would have donated if he knew that they were it was a failed inspection it was not a renovation project it was not in the paper you would never know that they failed inspection they failed for multiple violations that's why they can't have the intake right now so that to me is what the issue is if the septic tank just broke that would be completely different and I hope you understand what I'm trying to say because now to me they profited off of having a failed inspection like how does that that is not helping the animals that are there the animals aren't there nail thank God but what is going to stop that when the animals are allowed to to get back in that's what I'm trying to do all I care about I'm not trying to cause problems all that I want to know is that when when you go back there these animals are prop L being taken care of well hopefully they'll Rectify their issu we okay we are the land the property once the issues are rectified there will be another inspection the health department will certify before they can open so it's I mean it's not we don't contract with them for any kind of services like it's not like we're using them as our animal shelter for the township we don't have a contract with them the only thing we do is get them a facility at of extremely discounted because they're a nonprofit doing the service doll a year right it's not like we're like we don't have any oversight they're not our shelter they're not you know I mean like it's not like we we don't control any of any of that that so when you're talking about violation of state and federal regulations the state and federal government have to tell us that they violate we can't over and then that would and then we would say with the lease okay so um because then another thing is because I did Opa request um for the for the board members because when I spoke I'm the one that filed the complaint with the health department that's I'm not that's no secret I was a volunteer I I so anyway when I so they told me the health department told me to contact the board members well that's another issue so there's no oversight at Beacon that's a main issue for me so now I ALS now I contacted uper tant I didn't even know who the board members were and I'm there I was there every week it's none of nobody's there when I I volunteered there 14 years ago every board members these people were very dedicated 100% volunteers people were there out of passion not for profit so anyway I I uh when I op requested for the board members I received from a prant I'm just telling you guys I only received the names and then I requested the titles and they said well they didn't have a copy of the titles I I think that there should be you know I hope Upper Township changes that because you had a a board member that was the president and the treasurer and they eliminated the vice president which goes against the bylaws since 2018 just so you know I don't know if you know that I sent that document that right there that again that's that's whoever's governing their P3 that's not so you guys don't have to require the titles I'm talking about Upper Township itself not not for the lease there's there's numerous 501 C's in Upper Township from churches every one of our Recreation our sports teams is a 501c3 so you just have the board the names not the titles oh it doesn't we part of their annual report is the list of officers um this says officers not in terms of president secretary I okay but the list of officers is on the site the only other thing besides the lease that the township does is the kennel license which is governed by the county we get notified by the county that they pass their inspection then we can issue a kennel license each it's just we're the go between we don't have anything they apply they get inspected by the county every year we issue a kennel license other than that they're they submit their annual report each year with everything that's required okay um I think it's a County Health Department issue if what you're saying that they're only cleaning before the inspections maybe they should do some surprise inspections I don't know but there's really not anything other that than the lease agreement and the kennel license of Township is involved with okay as as far as the cleaning because I was there yes they do clean they're they're required to clean once in the morning they have to do a full cleaning which they do but in the afternoon nobody's there you know some of the vol will clean the kennel some of them just won't and um you know some of them when they come in and they have jity and stuff and then that becomes an issue there's nobody there cleaning and they they did get a violation for that also so um but I appreciate your time we're just all I'm trying to do is figure out how to when they reopen I just hope it doesn't go back to the same and to be honest after this failed inspection and the way that was just handled because now theyve profited they were able to get those things fix because donors thought that septic tank broke and and donated and um you know we they have a month an annual meeting in December where they told us how much they made in donations that was December 2023 and now March 2024 they didn't have any of that money like who who that's what I'm trying to I hope you guys understand I'm just trying to see how that who handles that miss you respect to save the animals I think the commit is just creating a distinction that we're not able to sort of dive into the fight like you are but we we appreciate what you're doing and you're you're a private citizen you're welcome to pursue your your passion whatever but no I appreciate so if if if the state in the so then the lease could be terminated if they're not if it's proven that they're not following those guid should be terminate in idea and I mean the least has been going on since we I into the county and follow this Beacon came to us was an opportunity for countship committee the time to do the right thing try to save some animals and problem is Le is terminated and there's a bunch of problems that I don't know who we would actually reach the building again I mean that's a whole another well and I hope you don't mind I know Cheryl I know Al ree is a was a dear friend of mine I know Roy Cook I was a volunteer there 14 years ago Beacon from 2003 to 2018 solely ran 100% volunteers no salaries they may have had a little problems here and there but I'm sure you guys did not have any problems that's how I feel only you guys know that is no longer the case and that to me is what is creating this problem right now the the donations are not going to the dogs that's why there's no oversight they don't care they're going to get their money either way that's that's how I feel we're back to a 501c that we have no control over we don't run okay but I'm just saying to you when you first open it like it would be nice if no no I apologize when you whoever leas the building all and I don't want to hold up your time but what I'm saying to you is there the volunteers that spoke up there that tried to to change this a lot of them just got kicked out you there's a lot of dedicated wonderful passionate people in Upper Township that would gladly volunteer their time like they did for all those years so you so like it would be sad if you wouldn't reopen the building do you know what I mean because you could get volunteers that care that would run that place properly that would the township did run an animal shoulder for many years the township will never be the animal shelter business again but you talk about for a nonprofit or non nonprofit nonprofit more than R I don't know what the government body when this lease expires or V okay I mean you're ask 2027 good okay I appreciate your time thank you thank you thank you anybody else hello man my name is Joe Galo I'm also a volunteer with Beacon and I'm also a US Air Force veteran so Gary thanks for responding I sent an email out earlier in the week to everyone on the board and thank you for your response uh my think you're saying that so I get clar the 501c you have no no control over is that how is that is that correct correct so who who governs that okay just what I like Beacon animal rescue is in Upper Township but doesn't take cats or dogs from Upper Township no no no because why why is that why why why I mean if if I find a dog and I go to Beacon they say go to Kate May County that's right why why is that so that's who we contract with for our animal control services oh there's a contract that says that they can't take it so all their dog they get all their dogs from from Georgia every one of their dogs comes up from Georgia from the same contractor who they pay to bring the dogs up where we go to k May County and get them for free and get them adopted why why does that make any sense it's a business it's separate from the Township that's that's that's what my point was earlier is that we don't contract with Beacon for any kind of services so we we use the county animal shelter which is to in coron's point many years ago we stopped having a shelter in Upper Township and we move to the county Services right I I volunteer at Ocean City and connected with Kate May County and they're both at maximum capacity okay Beacon has 12 empty when they're open they have 12 empty runs but they can't take the they can't take the Overflow and I I don't but yet they could pay and have dogs come up from Georgia who are sick and injured from the ride from you know the puppy mills are coming up from here for 24 hours in a van and they get here and they're hurt or sick and we've seen them as volunteers but it would be no different than us going to Ocean City and telling them who they can yeah so to be clear on it you they have a contract Beacon has a contract that they they cannot take dog no contract we have no contract we have a lease agreement for $1 a year that they can use why can't they why why don't they take dogs from up town you have to ask them that that's that's okay it's not our does that doesn't that bother anybody on the committee that we have an animal control officer it's sure animal control that's their discretion to what they do and they are required to take them down to G May County that's who we're contract and we would have to pay Beacon if we wanted to have a contract with them so we would have a third contract so you give you're you're giving them a a property for a dollar a year but it doesn't bother you that you can't take a dog there that you find think anybody said it didn't I just said we have a system in place that doesn't I mean this doesn't involve Beacon that's that's what happens is people surrender their dog or cat to the County shelter and I don't know what the County shelter there's no kill sheller I believe it is and they again sorry they adopt out animals they take and move them on to other homes they know be there I don't know why they don't contract with Beacon that's between Beacon and the County shelter that's not something we're negotiating we're in the middle of they can the count the county and you can contract together if they want so you're saying if the County shelter needs a a contract with Beacon them to take any do that that was that's their business that's not our business just like we don't tell people with Wawa we don't go to WWA and tell them where they buy their supplies understand when when Beacon first opened Beacon would go to the County shelter and say if someone came in and they were looking for a a small dog they were looking and they' go to the County shelter and see what they had then they they they sign off and they adopt that dog and they take it got bring it and I can't tell you or do I know why that communication broke down or that relationship broke down that relationship broke down for some reason not any of our doing uh me now now in there I think it's what is the 980 well the form that they they they submitted every year the state tax was it 980 or I think it's 90 990 okay now in the body of that that it says that Beacon except Beacon is saving dogs from Upper Township and cats from Upper Township it's stay in there that's that's what they're doing now if they put you put that in there that's saying okay fine that you're doing us you know uh ass Sal right but now but you're not they're not doing that every dos come from down south and again that's not our issue do we know nor do we know so it's it it goes back to they are a private nonprofit organization organized I'm assuming under the laws of the state of New Jersey and IRS I used to run a nonprofit still run a nonprofit um I got a file 990 I have to you know I pay employees or did pay employees you got to pay employees but you also you know required to file a tax return just like everybody else that or every other 501c3 every other church every other all the volunteer fire companies and Ry Squad in Upper Township are 501c3 they have to follow their own rules yet we do not get involved in our operation so it's all the IR the IRS yes and what they do and what their stated purpose is well you know don't mean to BL you off but this is just basically I say it's out of our control all the township did was lease a property many many years ago to animal rescue they and in the lease they say that the file the B with us which they do whether they're file the b or not is not our concern it is uh the fact that they did conform to all the lease properties and there's nothing we can do to break that lease unless they are in violation of the lease not their bylaws cuz we're not going to investigate that we're not going to look at that because that's prob realization all just just bother me that there's never any Jersey dogs that Deacon there's no dogs that come from Jersey in deacons that's just I get it but that's once again all right thanks for you thanks sir there anybody else okay here n we'll move on to the rest of the the agenda okay consider agenda all consent agenda items listed below are routine in nature and will be enacted by one motion if the mayor or any Committee Member wishes a particular agenda item to be considered separately it will be removed from the consent agenda and acted on separately remove the consent agenda second we call the rooll Please Mr hon yes Mrs Hayes yes Mr nappen yes Mr Panos yes mayor Newman yes motion carried under resolutions to be acted on separately we have renewing Campground licenses what's uh what's going on with this I asked this to be put here I had uh previously the CGR I have a little bit of a hold back still this supposed to settle September so the fact that they owe money I uh so I'll move the um item number 17 second call roll please Mrs Hayes yes Mr nappin Mr Panos mayor Newman yes motion carried um number 18 authorizing additional compensation to certain employees uh sorry this goes back to the the tide Val that we had a problem with okay so the estimate on the staging a barge and getting a tender and getting the necessary equipment there between uh myself and Ryan and Public Works came between1 and $15,000 just for the initial um ask so to speak of of the work uh the Public Works had done it um we had initially asked for 500 per person um that was the for the one day and ran for three days and uh again the scope of work the the uh heavy lift that it was literally a heavy lift I mean that thing was filled with water and 12 lb per gallon it was it was tremendous they were trying to do it on a John Boat and then the the next day the valve blew out so they had set the valve and the amount of inestable amount of water push the valve back out and slam it into the confinement pit then had to go back out there again uh again you know initially if we had Kylie do it or another vendor uh this would have been a 10 to1 15,000 initial without any kind of scope cre uh Ryan uh can kind of confirm through his uh his diligence the same amounts Craig and Jonesy were there so I'd like to increase the amount um of the bonus to see at least $1,000 per guy we're at $500 per guy there's a happy medium in between for each guy but uh just seeing what they were doing at 4:30 in the morning how many men were um how many we got five we got Five Guys Five Guys total oh move we go ahead and do the, I'd appreciate I know theate before we go there nobody nobody was hurt nobody was no personal property was destroyed or DS or anything that no and actually they use their own personal proper otherwise we had to get a Long Boat or some sort of bar there so you're absolutely correct so now no one was injured but it was it was it wasix it was fixed and again I mean so the neighbors are telling us that that valve was a problem for five years and no one had addressed it and so now that the we put the pumps in and then we started to look at the different uh confinement pits and not only work was the site location at at uh Sumer we had a trick we had to chase all those pipes back up to conal we opened up all the drains and so you'll hear from your staff there that the count is not coming to suck out those drains and there must have been what knee high knee high buck in in those drains there that all have to be sucked out now so um obviously this child had some issues the valve did have some issues it was it was not set properly and it was set off off location so it actually came K it it the water came in and it was diverted around and it kind of traversed the valve so the entire area was being back filled um constantly let me just throw this in there for you the when the valve apparently you'll probably know this when the valve when the bulkhead went I think that the the pipe was never put above grade so it was left below grade so the pipe is filled with water at low ti so it never has a chance to evacuate my question is now that we know these vals are all in place and they're working properly is there a maintenance program for these vals yes and I will tell you the way that the uh the manufacturer had told that if it doesn't have uh 4 hours of dry time then it becomes an oyster bed and a bar bed because you never have an ability to kill the uh the crustations that form on that Val so that valve is underwater uh 70 80% of the time so you might uh you might see an issue with that Val again 5 years three years you're way we can j s all right I got a we have a motion a second on the floor to call the roll please Mr Corson yes Mrs Hayes Mr nain yes Mr Panos yes may Newman yes motion carried under ordinances we have the public hearing and final adoption of ordinance number 10 2024 and ordinance amending chapter 19 land subdivision site plan and land use Administration and chapter 20 zoning of the code of Upper Township this is an ordinance that is part of our land use ordinance that has to do with the fine lands actually this is deals with the um with the performance guarantees for development projects along with the mandatory set aside I'm sorry very good so uh in the agenda meeting it kind of got mixed up and I I thought it was this one and then the other one came up so okay yeah we we have since gotten correspondence that our finally ordinance is good is good yeah okay um is there any um uh public comment on ordinance number 10 of 2024 this is only ordinance number 10 of 2024 hearing none I'll close the public portion and entertain a motion to adopt motion to ad second you call the rooll Please Mr coron yes Mrs Hayes Mr nappen yes Mr Panos mayor Newman yes motion carried number 20 public heing and final adoption of ordinance number 11 2024 and ordinance amending chapter 3 police regulations chapter 7 traffic and chapter 7A traffic schedules of the code of Upper Township uh Tony orary this is the uh the culmination of the uh parking update and SK and the fee schedule and stop signs and U you know we want to make sure that the lieutenant when he's doing his parking deep really has the right uh right ticket book out there but I wanted to say thank you to the lieutenant and again his gentleman and the Troopers have been fantastic we had an incident with the with the block driveway and and uh our guys responded uh we were issuing the summons the trooper backed up the officer the car was L up had expire registration and and it was and it was removed so it's that cooperation that we appreciate but it's also the the uh this particular ordiance gives us the legality that it's a legit ticket and and the substance behind the action so we'll be able to pick up the pace relative to okay anybody from the public would like to comment ordinance number 11 2024 like to comment very none I'll close the public portion and entertain a motion for adoption we adopt number 11 202 second you call the RO Please Mr Corson yes Mrs Hayes Mr nappen yes Mr Panos yes mayor Newman yes motion carried under new business we have the multiple SC sclerosis City to shore 24 and I believe Mr Humphrey is here to talk about that uh do we have do we have somebody here thank you honorable mayor honorable members of the governing body my name is ly Humphrey I'm a member of the uh multiple sceris Society of the greater Delware Valley chap I am a volunteer and each year we try to come out and present a short presentation in front of the towns that are impacted by our ride in September your town has been a well you were impacted last year and you're impacted again this year and I have to tell you that a number of the members of the U committee believe this is the new route but the folks here in your town that have been around for a while remember that we were coming through here 20 years ago so we''ve been packed your town before you guys have been gracious with us we are grateful for that graciousness I don't think I can express the U the gratitude for the people in Ms and people that suffer with Ms around this metropolitan area of C so through southern New Jersey and the Philadelphia Metropolitan air there's over 20,000 people suffering with Ms the MS Society does a great deal of good in providing Services providing medications providing uh ways for these people to get care that they really do need and so without this ride there will be about $4 million less money available to help those people so your ability to allow this to take place makes all the difference in the world for people around the world around the country and especially in delor Valley so we are eternally grateful we have a small plaque of our gratitude it is a small plaque but at the end of the day it really is backed by a tremendous heartfelt thanking for everything do your police your fire your EMTs all the people that participate in your town do an amazing job for us each year um this is 38 consecutive years for some I'm thinking back to the problems we had from time to time and I can't remember for sure if your community was impacted by it but um we were I know I know that there were some challenges and as a member of the committee now for over 32 2 years as well as a rider for 38 years I got to tell you we've worked hard to try to get rid of most of those problems for the towns and if anybody in the town thinks or feels there's something that they've seen happen that they would like us to address I would ask you to reach out to us as a member of that committee I make a special effort to try to correct them um I'm a lot older now 75 years old but when I was younger and writers would screw it up I was pretty quick to jump on them really quickly about the behaving and doing things the right way and um so I have to say Mr Mayor that um I will say that the Air Force certainly had better food than rink I ate out of the can my Air Force buddies reminded me they ate Lobster and state but at the end of the day as a marine I can tell you if somebody's screwing it up I'm going to try to hold them accountable and I'm not going to go easy on them if I have to uh get in involved in it so again what you've done to make this possible for us is amazing we're grateful we're thankful and um I will make sure Joanne gets a email from the from one of the members of the MS Society in Philadelphia that will share some information that can be uploaded to your website if you'd like that will make it easy for people to access it and see when where how it's going to impact them on those two days and I didn't mention the two days I remember correctly the 28th and 29th of September and God willing I'll be riding again this year so thank you again and anybody has any questions uh I think that that uh over the years the reputation of this ride and the actual ride itself have changed tremendously and for the positive um for a couple years it did not go through our community but I think uh I don't think we had any incidents last year or maybe one or two and it had to do nothing to do with people being bad had everything to do with people just having an accident which can occur when you have hundreds of people riding a bicycle through um a town that that can happen and uh uh do we uh have I'm sure you get our plan the traffic plan uh I don't think you were you were not on station L I wasn't there last year but we ran through the uh their tenative uh group that they're going to take again this year I've already gone over with the assistant we idea which which way is going and everything think and we've already started slotting the amount of Troopers that we need for maners post on those two days very very good I don't think we up staff at all for any longer than we used to but I don't think there's a need to but it's it's all good and um I think one of the things we did last year is when that Root's ready for public consumption we put that out through social media in the township just to make the residents aware so it tighten awareness to know what is in the area yeah and and there's 4 ,000 Riders that's what we're projecting again this year uh