Good evening. I'm calling to order the meeting of the West Windsor Township Council for June 16th, 2025. Um Allison, can you call the role? Goss here. Jivers here. Mandel here. Wife.
Whitfield here. Okay. And have we adequately noticed? Yes, we were actly noticed to the times in the Princeton packet on January 17th, 2025 filed with the municipal clerk posted in the township municipal building and on the website. Please stand for the salute to
the flag. To the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisibley all. Thank you. And now we have a ceremonial matter. Uh, Mayor Emont Morathi will be
doing the state of the township address for 2025. Mayor, thanks Henria. Thank you, Council President Mandel and Council members for your kind invitation to give my state of the township address.
I don't like to give long speeches. However, over the years, I have realized that the topics mayor and council deal with are complex and can't be explained in a short social media post, but can be
easily misrepresented by a sound bite. This year is no different. I would like to talk about multiple topics. Taxes, which are ever popular, affordable housing, and of course, growing pains for our township.
I had written an exceedingly long speech especially when I knew Gay wasn't sitting there. I didn't expect when I got elected she had told me no more than 5 minute speeches. So and I was ready to set a record of the length of the state
of the township address in Wester. Well, you can thank the NBA for saving you from the trouble. They scheduled game five championship tonight instead of the weekend. I had to cut my speech in half in order to get home to watch at
least the fourth quarter. As good as I was in academics in college, it was always the second priority. I'm glad I passed on that love of sports to my daughters. One of whom after graduating with MBA
from Walton rather than joining investment banking firm will start working for NBA in 2 weeks. Since my wife and I moved to uh West Windsor in August of 94, the ground
township has grown substantially from roughly 18,500 residents to more than 30,000 today. We face the same growing pains as any organization, losing a sense of community. People not acting neighborly, speeding
through neighborhoods, not stopping for school bus, not picking after their dog on a little league field or your driveway, just to name a few of the issues. Township council just approved the 2025 budget.
I'm pleased to say the municipal budget has no tax increases. During the budget, we always get requests for safety related improvements, more street lights, crosswalks, flashing beacons, road diets, and so on.
As mayor, with council support, we have again been able to incorporate many safety initiatives in the budget. We do our part and I would like to request the community to do theirs. When I speak to the police chief, he
always tells me that majority of drivers who get tickets in town are Westminster residents. And 100% of people who don't pick up after their dog are township residents. That is not a neighborly behavior.
People engaging in these behaviors are our friends, neighbors, and sometimes we ourselves. West Windsor is a special place. Independent organizations pick our town as one of the best places to raise a
family, not only in New Jersey, but the entire United States. That is because we care about each other as individuals and our neighborhood. It's up to each of us to keep it that way. Treat each street as our own
street, each playground as our own yard, each resident as our friendly neighbor. In short, we each should take care of our township as if it's our own house. Some of the non- neighborly behavior is
due to unfamiliarity with traffic laws or ignorance of our own behavior. I'm happy that the Westminster Bicycle and Pedestrian Alliance is undertaking a campaign to educate residents about traffic laws. I've talked to quite a few
high school students to start a campaign among their fellow students to foster a neighborly responsibility in all of us. The government can't enforce good neighborly practices alone. It must come from every resident to be successful. I
encourage each of us to take a pledge to do our part. That brings me to the next topic of a federal housing obligation. One part of being a special place is to ensure that everyone can afford to live in Wester.
The developers with the help of state state politicians would like you to believe affordable housing is only about how many new homes they are allowed to build. Real affordable housing policy is much more comprehensive and an important part
of it that is to ensure residents who live in Wester can afford to stay here. Westminster has been one of the most progressive towns in terms of affordable housing. We require the highest percentage of
affordable housing built as a percentage of any new development. 25% or one affordable house for every three regularpric homes. We always require integrated developments and do not allow the developers to discriminate against
people who live in affordable housing. And I'll talk about our plan this year and I'm happy to say that we have managed to do only using integrated developments. We have approved all projects that we agreed to in round three and most of
them are well on their way to completion. Don't let anyone fool you. Westminster has one of the best records on affordable housing. With the fourth round of affordable housing now upon us, some builders may
sue us to allow them to build a higher number of houses to increase their own profits. This unc uncontrolled growth leads to higher taxes thereby putting a squeeze on seniors with fiscal income and middle-class residents.
This hardship forces individuals to simply move out of Westminster, resulting in replacing one group of people who need affordable housing with a new group of people. During the last 8 years since I became mayor in 2018,
municipal taxes on an average home in Wester have increased a total of $6142. That's cumulative in 8 years or for an increase of $7.67 per year. Our residents don't realize their
municipal taxes are stable because during the same time the county taxes have increased by $776.66 66 while the school taxes have increased by $1,438 and 73 and an annual increase of about
98 and $180 respectively. When people complain about taxes, I point out that it's not because of municipal taxes which have been mostly flat for the last 8 years, but due to school and county taxes.
Their response is, "What are you as mayor going to do about it?" It's futile to explain to them that mayor and council have zero control over county and school taxes and we only collect and pass funds to them.
They want solutions from anyone who would listen. And I listen. What I, as mayor, can do about your county and school taxes is to take a two-prong approach. First, by controlling the number of new housing units that is built in West
Windsor, thus reducing the pressure of school kids and resulting school taxes. Second, by increasing the rate tables, so we can spread school district and county taxes over a larger base, thus reducing the impact on homeowners.
Let me talk about the increase in commercial ratables first. Since becoming mayor, our total assess values or total taxable base have increased from 5.973 billion to $6.153 billion for
a total increase of 3%. That increase may sound small over a 8-year period, but that is despite the decrease in assessment for various commercial properties during COVID and and due to lack of office uh demand for
office space. The fact is unlike housing, commercial properties get reassessed every year and the owners are not hesitant to challenge our assessment. Despite those challenges, we have managed to increase our assessments by
3% resulting in a lower tax burden on individual homeowners. That brings me to the favorite topics of my critics, the warehouses. To date and for near future, there will only be one 300,000 ft² warehouse built
in West Windsor on 571 along East Windsor border. It is small compared to a 2.5 million square ft of five new warehouses either already built or under construction in East Windsor less than 1 mile from our border.
Our neighboring mayor while joining my critics forgets to mention the fact that she is building a complex many times larger than our own and exactly exactly on the same street about one mile from our border.
It is half the size of the proposed warehouses that my critics claim is the largest in New Jersey. The main difference is our project is in future but the East Windsor project is already here.
On positive side, the small warehouse has already contributed 1,27,55548 in just the affordable housing fee. 50% of which we have already collected. This fee allows us to help people living in affordable housing as either a direct
subsidy towards rent or by paying for improvements to their homes. When completed later year this year, this warehouse is expected to contribute approximately $1 million in taxes, of which roughly 600,000 will be school
taxes, helping residents with their school and county tax burden. This brings me to the first thing I can do as mayor to help residents with their school and county tax burden. Control growth in Wester. In January, the state legislature passed
a new affordable housing act A4 which required the department of community affair or DCA to come up with required number of affordable housing units for each town during the fourth round which starts this year and runs through 2035.
The DCA was required to use three criteria, one of which was the available land. The DCA came up with a number of 661 units for West Winds. We immediately realized that the DCA had used faulty data and have included the
land that had an approval for warehouse on the large 600 plus acre Atlantic realy site. We challenged the number and the council passed a resolution which stated we believed our requirement was only 392 units.
As expected, we were sued by the Builders Association and Fair Share Housing Center. During the rushed process of the resulting court case, the judge forced us to accept a settlement of 480 units as proposed by the Fair Share Housing
Center. Sadly, during the court proceeding, there was no arguments about the law or actual data, but a forced settlement due to time pressure on the judge to resolve all the lawsuits in our court within a
very short period of time. However, the law does provide us an opportunity to file our fair share housing plan based on weakened land analysis, a right which was recognized in our settlement with fair share
housing center. That is exactly what we plan to do before end of this month. Our housing element and fair share plan that is posted on our township website will be voted on by the planning board and endorsed by the council on June 25th.
As the plan states, using analysis of available land in West Windsor, we should be required to build only 236 affordable units during round four. The plan, as will be presented to the court, goes well beyond that and hopes to build
a total of 300 units including credits. 241 actual units plus 51 units credit for converting a commercial property into residential. Even that small number means West Windsor will be welcoming 964 new
families to town in addition to the about 2700 that we will welcome under round three. Most of the development under round three is either completed or well on its way to completion.
The plan is structured new development will support existing commercial tenants while at the same time keeping traffic impact on town to a minimum. Each project was chosen to help a specific issue to benefit the township.
To my warehouse critics, by occupying the land with an approved project, we saved almost 425 affordable units to be built during round four. the difference between the DCA calculated number of 661 and our actual number of 236.
This will result in almost 1,700 fewer homes being built in West Windsor. Allowing such development would have overwhelmed the school system and cause traffic gridlock in town. It was a difficult decision to make. I was happy
to take criticism over the past several years because I knew it was the right decision for Wester. The warehouse project is currently on hold waiting county approval. If and when it's fully built, it is
expected to contribute about $14 million in taxes resulting in much lower tax burden for the residents. Wester is considered a wealthy town and it is true when you compare to many other towns in New Jersey.
However, a little known fact is that more than 40% of households in Westminster earn less than $150,000 a year, while 28% of households earn less than $100,000 a year. The amounts may
seem large and go a long way in other states. Then they don't go far in New Jersey and especially in towns such as West Windsor. In fact, with $100,000 of income, you will qualify for a medium income
affordable housing unit, even as a twoerson family. Neither the developers nor the fair share housing center care about these 40% of households who find it increasingly difficult to cope with the increasing tax burden. As mayor, I feel
it's my moral obligation to care about all residents. The three issues development in township, affordable housing and tax burden are all interrelated. The critics have the luxury of offering a solution to one of them without
worrying about the effect on the other two. As mayor, I must strike a balance among all of them. It's a difficult balancing act that I believe we have done well. The fair share housing plan we will
present strikes a balance between the economic needs of all existing residents while trying to encourage new people to move into town. I accept that not everyone will be happy with every development decision I make.
I can assure you that it's made with the best interest of Westincesers in mind. In face of challenges, Wester continues to make progress. The downtown is taking shape with completion of the Avalon project.
Mercer County has once again delayed improvements to 571, but we expect the project to be bid out next year. We are working with the parking authority to rehabilitate the old school district bus garage. It will be turned into a pocket park and a parking lot
where community events with food trucks can be held over the weekend. Thanks to Andy Lup, the parking chairman working with us. Just last week, we installed the plaque at Nash Park, a project that was envisioned by my
predecessor, Mayor Shay. The first part of Guan Drive extension should open any day now while we continue to plan for a permanent van drive extension. I'm committed to the Painnake bypass whenever the SRRI property is fully
developed. We continue to attract many small businesses. I've been privileged to attend several ribbon cutings ceremonies around town. One just last Saturday, one is scheduled this Saturday. For a number
of years, people have been asking for a high-end restaurant. I'm happy to know that ADV, a high-end sweet restaurant for dinner by reservation only, opened in Market Fair Mall just a few weeks ago. A new Brazilian steakhouse is
planned on the north side of Route One. All in all, Westminster continues to be a great place and envy of others. I wish I can claim all credit, but running a township is a team sport. I
would like to acknowledge many groups and people that help West Windsor become what it is. First, many of the decisions in township are done by committees and boards starting from affordable housing committee to zoning board and everyone in between.
In addition, there are other organizations such as Westminster bicycle predestin alliance, friends of Westminster open space, the historical society, the two volunteer fire house companies which work closely with the township.
Every member in these organizations are volunteers and participate due to their love for the community. Some like planning board members take occasional abuse from residents because of the tough decisions they are forced
to make. Second, nothing can be done in township unless council approves my recommendations. Based on experience, I can tell you they may be personal friends, but they are a
tough bunch to deal with when policy decisions are made. Some weeks I argue with council president more than I argue with my own wife. What's important is at the end of the day, we come up with the solution that
works for betterment of Westminster. When I argue with my wife, I always lose. In this case, I have at least 50 50% chance. Third, the township professionals who are responsible for day-to-day functioning of the township. Starting with Marlina Schmidt to the last
employee in the township, they are professionals and experts at what they do. They keep me out of trouble by worrying about every decision faced by the township. The commitment and professionalism of Westinc employees has allowed me to present a flat budget for
8 years while at the same time increasing our surplus from $900,000 when I assumed office in 2018 to almost $10 million this year. The praise I hear often from residents about our township employees make me
feel proud. Last but not the least, the residents of West Windsor make our school district and townships successful. I thank all of you for your commitment and contribution to West Windsor.
This year, I'll complete 8 years as your mayor. Before that, I served on the council for 2 years and school board for 12. It has been a privilege and honor to serve Wester in various capacities. I'm thankful to all who have given me an
opportunity to serve. I hope to continue my volunteer service for at least a few more years or until my wife says enough. So, thank you very much again for this opportunity to address you. Thank you, Mayor. And I just want to say
that um I think if we argued with our spouses as much as we argue, neither of us would be married anymore. Uh okay, next on the agenda, moving on to public comment. Uh that's there's a 30
minute maximum and a three minute uh limit to person to each person. And I want to uh remind everybody that this public comment is for everything but the one hearing on an um on a uh ordinance
that we have coming up. So any other comment you want to make on anything else or any resolutions? Uh now would be the time. So I'm going to open public comment first. Allison, is there anybody who's signed up? I don't have anyone on the list. Signed up. Okay. Okay. So, anybody would like to make comment,
public comment, please line up over here and we can open it up. No. Going once, twice. All right. I'm going to close public comment. There will be another public comment period available at um closer to the end of the
meeting after our after the business. Um move moving right along. I'm going to go to administration comments. Yes, I have several announcements this evening. DPW is collecting in zone three.
I want to remind residents that curbside manners matter. Remember to maintain your property curb and curb. Help keep our community walkable, bikable, and safe by maintaining your property. Please look beyond the front entrance.
Maintenance of the reverse and side frontages on the rear and the side of the properties is the property owner's responsibility. Areas to maintain include grass strips, curbside spaces, and sidewalks that
intersects many community walkways. Please pick up litter and debris. Trim overgrown vegetation and lowhanging branches to ensure safe passages for your neighbors. This promotes healthy and active lifestyles for all who live
in the community. The other things that you can do are as follows. You can regularly sweep or clear sidewalks of fallen vegetation, trim bushes, trees, and grass along the sidewalks and curbs. Remove litter,
debris, and any other obstructions. There is a graphic illustration of the areas of the properties that I referred to on the township website. Our health department provided this public service
announcement for me to announce tonight. There will be a community health fair that will offer free health screenings, health resources, and giveaways. Saturday, June 21st, 2025 from 10:00
a.m. to 2:00 p.m. It will be held at 49 North Main Street, Windsor, New Jersey. That's a section of Robinsville. and Robinsville is one of the communities that the West Windsor Township Health Department serves along with
Heightstown. And then finally, um, the Motor Vehicle Commission's mobile unit event will be held on July 14th from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
The mobile unit will be parked alongside uh the senior center in the parking lot here at 271 Clarksville Road. um scheduling of online appointments will open up on Monday, June 30th. Um
and the items that you can or the business you can uh take care of at the mobile unit is as follows. You can um apply for a real ID, registration renewal, the initial permit,
that's the initial driver's permit, a non-driver ID, and then duplicate and replacement title or registration. No appointment is necessary for surrendering license plates or um
applying for handicapped veterans or purple heart placards and purchase of red CDL uh decals. Um, if you do make an appointment um to attend the event on July 14th and you
realize that you're unable to make your appointment, please uh go online and cancel your appointment so that the Motor Vehicle Commission can help other residents in town that are available. Uh
this event fills up rather quickly. So um stay tuned and uh I'll be making this announcement again at the meeting on June 30th, but it the registration will be available um come Monday, June 30th.
That's all the all I have for this evening. Thank you. Thank you, Marina. And Marlin did mention about registering. From everything I've heard, those registrations fill up the second they open up still, especially because people
still looking for their real IDs. So, I would highly recommend anybody that wanting that to get right on there if you want to if you want to get into our mobile unit, the nice close by right here, and um try to register as soon as
possible. I'm sorry, I have do have one other announcement. Um, the West Windsor Historical Society um has selected the winner of the um
um logo contest. Logo contest. Thank you. And mayor, can you help me pronounce his name, please? So, yes. Yeah. Okay. Um, we'd like to congratulate that individual, a West
Windsor Middle School student, for winning the logo contest. Not only did the judging panel appreciate her handdrawn art with some modifications, it depicted significant elements of local revolutionary history. And there
will be a story about the logo and what it means on the uh historical society's website. and we'll provide a link on the township website as well. It's a beautiful logo. Yeah, we Thank you. Yes.
Um, mayor, did you have anything else you wanted to say? I had my speech. Oh, yeah. You can get two shots if you want. Okay. All right. Thank you. We'll go now to council member comments. Linda, can
we start with you? Yes. All right. I got a bunch of comments, a lot of events I've attended. Um, but I'll try to get through them very quickly. Uh, on May 26, we celebrated Memorial Day with our annual parade and services in remembrance uh of
those who died in serving our our nation. So, we are forever grateful for their ultimate sacrifice that they made. Uh thank you to Gay Huber, master of ceremonies and and to the tential clerk Allison Sheen and deput deputy clerk Joey uh Goden for organizing the
ceremony and much thanks to the men's ac capella of course the garden statesman senior Jackie Owens the West winter horn honor guard American Legion Post76 adjunct Michael McMahon senior the police department of public works and
our fire companies fire police and boy scouts and girl scouts On May 28th, uh I did attend part of uh Mercer County's first transportation forum. So there are lots of um talk on complete streets, uh trans uh trails, transit and and a lot
of safety issues. On May 31st, the West Windsor Lions Club and Send Hunger Packing held their annual meal packing event. It's in station 43. Myself and Andrea helped a large group of residents pack almost 22,000 meals uh for those in
need. So, it's a fun and worthy cause. So, consider helping out uh next year. It's open to all residents to help out. On June 1st, on behalf of the mayor, I attended the Girl Scouts Court of Awards ceremony at Dutchneck Elementary School.
Nidhai uh Arie received a silver award for a project encouraging pet owners to use pet ID tags, microchips and GPS tracker IDs. Shivika Singha and Iman Kamal received a silver award for their
project addressing gender gap in STEM activities inside or outside of the classroom. Uh I thank the girls and their troop leaders uh for all their hard work. Also on June 1st, the Historical Society of West Windsor held
their second annual Farm Day event at the Skank Farmstead. It was a lot of fun seeing the children petting and feeding some of the animals uh in their caged in pens. Uh besides Dan, Andrew and I attended the county's Pride flag raising
events at Mercer County Park on June 14th. Uh, the county does have an office of LGBTQIA+ affairs that can help individuals with navigating government programs and assessing services that support job training, housing, and economic
development. Their office number is 6095039895. West Windsor's newest restaurant, which is now open, is uh at EVs, um, as the mayor mentioned, and it's located in Market Fair. Um, Andre and I uh got an
impromptu tour on June 6th. Uh, their menu has many, many delicious uh fish dishes and they also have steak selections. So, every night there is music to enjoy and that's certainly unique um to the restaurants around here. Every night, I said live music.
So, we congratulated the uh managers on opening night and welcome them uh to West Windsor. Um, Andrea and I uh held an open house in room B on June 12th and it was well attended um by residents. Last Friday, the township dedicated a
memorial plaque on a stone in honor of John and Alicia Nash. John was a Nobel Prizewinning mathematician and the movie A Beautiful Mind uh was inspired by his life. Uh Alicia was a uh physicist. Tragically, uh both of them were killed
in the taxi cab crash in uh 2015. Uh their son John attended um as part of the dedication ceremony. Uh and thanks to friends of West Windsor Open Space for um funding the plaque in Nash Park. Uh finally, happy Father's Day to
everybody who uh celebrated um yesterday on Father's Day. Uh and congratulations to all the graduates of high school south, high school north, and all the uh private schools that some of the children attend. So um just, you know, wish you all the best in the future. May
all your dreams come true. Thank you. Great. Thank you, Linda. We've been we've been hanging out a lot. Yeah. Okay. Thanks, Sonia. Well, thank you uh Mayor for the very informative um um address. I know I
think you covered a lot. Um I do want to start um by um praying for all the victims of um flight A1 um 171. Um the flight crashed soon after it took off. It um I think it didn't even um take off
fully and it crashed. So um and it crashed on a medical um university's u building. So there were many other victims as well. So I really want to pray for um the victims and their
families. On May 22nd, um I attended um the 25th anniversary um of uh a organization called Sachs, South Asian um community social service um uh group
that celebrated their 25th anniversary um on May 22nd. This group was formed um in 200 one and I was one of their first clients when they helped me after 9 post 911. Um
many know that I I my I lost my first husband to 911 but this group was the one who um actually really helped me helped held my hand. Many don't know that there was a time when I was homeless after 9/11 and this was the
group that really helped me um start my life again. So I was very happy to celebrate their 25 years um of social service and community service. Um on um sat this past Saturday, June 14th, uh
mayor and I attended um paddle for pink event at Mercer County Park. Um it's a majestic dragon um boat race um in support of breast cancer. As many of you know, I am a breast cancer survivor myself. So I was privileged to be there
to uh poke the dragon eye um to wake up the warriors. So I I thank mayor to um join me in doing that. Lastly, I won't go into all the other events that I think many of um my colleagues and I have attended. Um but I just want to remind everyone this coming
Friday um June 20th is dive into summer. Um this year's um funds raised will go in support of our local police department. So um it's uh again on Friday, June 20th, 5 to 8:00 p.m. at
Westminster Community Park. So I hope to see everyone there. Thank you, Sonia. And I'm hoping for really good weather for the 20th. I think it's supposed to warm up. Yeah, let's not. Yeah, it's supposed to be warm finally and cool. Let's keep it swimming. I mean, it's
Let's Let's go for it. Yeah. This year the school is letting out late. So, um, normally the event happens Friday after school lets out, but because the school is letting out only on June 26th, we wanted to go ahead and do it early, so
we can start um, you know, the pool. Um, so again, uh, that reminds me, congratulate to all our, um, high school graduates who will be graduating on June 26th. So, thank you. Thank you, Sonia Martin. Well, I think Linda covered enough for
all of us this evening. So, I just wanted to uh thank the mayor for his uh state of the township address and all the details information uh pertinent details information for the residents. Um and I also reiterate my council colleagues. Uh graduates, congratulations to all the graduates. Um
we do have uh many residents who attend private schools. So, many of them have already graduated. And to those who will be graduating from high school north south the community middle school and Grover Middle School just want to say congratulations. Thank you. Thank you Martin.
My turn and thank you to the and congratulations to the graduates. Also uh I want to thank Mayor Morathy for your state of the township address tonight. I was looking at pictures from your first address in 2018 last night and thinking about we have all been
through together pretty much the whole town and how far we have come since then. Uh thank you to the mayor, the staff and our attorneys and planners for the thorough analysis and professional planning that is taking us through the fourth round for affordable housing. As
the mayor has mentioned, the real planning started years ago to allow us to get to this point. I also want to congratulate Cashv Jaitley, a seventh grader from West Windsor, for winning the Revolution West Windsor 250th USA
Anniversary logo contest. Uh we were just having a little discussion about bringing her in for a for a council meeting. We'll see when she's available. Um we look forward to seeing your logo design everywhere over the next year. Thank you to everyone who submitted. There were many good choices to choose
from. A lot has happened in town since our last council meeting almost a month ago. Community Middle School had an excellent Memorial Day assembly. West Windsor had an an outstanding Memorial Day parade. West Windsor gives back raised funds for the PBA at their annual
Crooked Tournament. And the Gian's Club packed over 20,000 meals for those in need. On one beautiful Sunday, the historical society held a successful farm day followed later by the arts council annual art walk. DPW held a paper shredding day which included a
food collection from send hunger package. The Pranavan School of Dance opened up with a ribbon cutting in a celebration and we dedicated the plaque to John and Alicia Nash at Nash Park. I'm proud of how our community comes together to remember and my count fellow
council members who have all attended um with me on this uh to celebrate and support each other and thrilled to be a part of it. I've also attended some outside events such as much Mercer County's Mercer in motion conference which Lind had
mentioned on transportation, the Chamber of Commerce's affordable housing meeting and a PSEG chamber meeting on the increase in electric rates. But tonight, I'd like to say a bit more about a couple events involving local storm water and water quality that I'm
particularly optimistic about. They have the chance to change things for the better in our area. I'm proud to be part of West Windsor's early participation along with administration and staff and to be a key part of making this happen. For several years now, we've been part
of the watershed institutees as pink working group, seeking to bring all the towns in the watershed together to come up with joint plans to meet the water quality and storm water requirements that are part of the New Jersey state MS4 new municipal sewer application. By
coming together, we can solve more regional problems and better determine where the difficulties originate. On May 21st, I attended the most recent ashing pink meeting and it was decided to move forward with a joint water sampling and Princeton hydro study plan. Townships
would split the bill, but the watershed has put together funding for the sampling and a grant application to D for the study. Thank you to Mayor Morathy for quickly putting together a letter of recommendation to the D to help get a grant that is very
forwardthinking and groundbreaking cooperative program. I hope D puts it money where its mouth is and approves the grant. On June 11th, I attended the watershed's kickoff meeting for the Upper Milstone watershed working group, which I was pleased to see more towns
now joining at the beginning. Success breeds success. I'm hopeful we can move forward here also as this area has been a bigger problem in West Windsor with flooding in the Bay Brook areas. We'll continue to work to be on the forefront in storm water management in our
wersheds. Oh, thank you. And um Allison, do you have any clerk comments? Um I do not. Okay, then we can go right into the public hearing. 2025-08,
an ordinance amending and supplement part two, general legislation of the revised general ordinances of the Township of West Windsor, New Jersey, 1999, Chapter 4, Administration of Government, Section 4-37, Police Division.
Okay, I'm going to open the public hearing on this specific ordinance if anybody wishes to get up to speak about this ordinance. Seeing none, I'm going to ask for a motion to close the hearing. So moved.
Second. Second. Roll call. Dawas. Yes. Giver. Yes. Weiss. Whitfield. Yes. Mandala. Yes. The hearing is now closed. And now I'm going to ask for a motion to adopt. Motion to adopt. Second. Okay. Is
there any discussion from council? No. I just just wanted to note that the the amending part is we're going from 36 patrol officers uh to 38. So the two additional officers were budgeted for and approved in the 2025 municip municipal operating budget. So that
that's the only change. Thank you. Okay. Um can I have a roll call? Gawas, yes. Gvers, yes. Weiss. Whitfield, yes. Mando, yes. Okay. Okay. Consent agenda. Okay. Bills and claims.
Okay. Does anybody wish to pull anything? Hearing none. Can I get a motion to approve? Salute. Second. Garas. Yes. Gvers. Yes. Weiss. Whitfield. Yes. Mandela. Yes. And
recommendations for administration and council clerk. 2025-R136 authorizing the appointment of Ketki Modi as a member of the human relations council with a term to expire on January 14th, 2027.
2025-R137 approval of liquor licenses renewals for 2025 2026 2025-R138 approval of request for a permit from Lead Festival for public fireworks
displays on June 27th, June 30th, and July 4th, 2025 at Mercer County Park. 2025-R139 approving the refund of amusement game licenses. 2025-R140 authorizing the refund of a police
division application fee. 2025-R141 authorizing the mayor and clerk to execute an easement modification agreement for one Milton Court. 2025-R142 authorizing the mayor and clerk to execute a facility use rental agreement
with Windsor Whalers Swim Team to use the Waterworks facility. 2025-R143 authorizing the mayor and clerk to execute a professional services agreement with Speasel Architectural Group, Inc. for professional architectural services for the
replacement of the existing fire suppression sprinkler system at the West Windsor Volunteer Fire Station 43 facility. $25,180 2025-R144 authorizing the business administrator
to purchase the annual licensing renewal of an existing email software subscription from SHI International Corp. under the New Jersey Cooperative Purchasing Alliance contract CK04 subcontract 24-38
with the county of Bergen um for a total aggregated amount of $221,344.79 2025-R145 authorizing the business administrator to execute change order number one final with T Fio Biotakus Construction LLC for
the 2024 for sidewalk repair program for an increase of $16,290.75 for a total not to exceed $15,900.75. 2025-R146 authorizing the insertion of a special item of revenue into the 2025 municipal
budget from the state of New Jersey clean communities program $81,35143 2025-R147 authorizing the insertion of a special item of revenue into the 2025 municipal budget from the Mercer County Ca Grant
$25,000. Thank you. Does anybody wish anything fold? No, but I might have to recuse myself on um 2025 R143 because Mike, I'm I'm a member of the West Windsor Volunteer
Fire Company. Is that okay? Do I have to recuse myself as well? My husband is a member of the fire company. with uh two leaders with two. I'm not a member. My husband is I think
because last time I think last time was not him. So I think last time it was last time it was a fire truck which I Last time was a fire. Yeah. But this voted on this this is a little different. This last time was the fire. I mean the money was approved. I think
on this one we're okay. reviews ago on okay thanks thank you um okay so we'll um be voting on this without um Linder can I
get a motion am I can both of us both of both of you can yeah it's it's further off so we're okay they're okay so Mike it can pass two right doesn't need four votes Well, it can pass through zero.
Yeah. I said, can't we pass with zero? Zero. I mean, it doesn't need two yeses and two abstain. Yeah. Yeah. So, you want two recusals? One recusal. Yeah. That's why I'm saying it's before
I was a member, but whatever. I don't want to create anything. What's your What's your final? Just the two of us and you two will recuse. And just for the record, so we should read it. Yeah. Where we're approving all
the resolutions. So we'll we'll take we'll pull this one out. Do it separately. And we're okay with two zero or two um extensions. Two two yeses and two abstensions will pass it. Correct. Okay. Um All right. with um we're going
to approve what's the first one is uh 2025 R1 136 through uh 2020. Nope, I'm sorry. 2025 R142 142. Yeah. And then I was going to remove it. Okay.
Then we'll do it through 142 and 14. And then we're going to start uh our 2022, excuse me, 2025 R1 144 through 2025 R147.
So we are just for now pulling 2025 R1 143 out of the consent agenda here. Okay. Can I have a motion for it for those? Salute. Second.
Okay. Jawas, yes. Jvers, yes. Weiss Whitfield, yes. Meno, yes. And now we're going to take a vote on 2025 R143. Can I get a um motion? So move. I'll
have to second it. And Okay. Roll call. Roll call. Gowas abstain. Gvers abstain. We Whitfield. Yes. Mando. Yes. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Approved. Approved.
Approved. Okay. Okay. Um, now we're going to go to introduction of ordinances. Okay. 2025-09, an ordinance to amend and supplement chapter 168, traffic and parking,
article 5, traffic and parking regulations on private property of the revised general ordinances of the township of West Windsor, 1999. Okay. Can I get a motion to introduce? Salute. Second.
Roll call. Gawas, yes. Jivers, yes. Whitfield. Yes. Manda. Yes. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Um I'm now going to open up to a final public comment. Um so if anybody does wish to comment, there's
three minute limit. Please stand up now. Seeing none, I will close the second public comment. Okay. Council reports and discussion. Martin, I'm going to start with you. Sure. Uh human relations uh met last week. Uh obviously the uh
community picnic was cancelled this past weekend due to inclement weather. Uh we'll be rescheduled in the summer which will give us obviously two good events in the summer for family activities and community togetherness. Uh one would be the community picnic and second would be
national night out which uh typically takes place the first weekend first week in August. uh planning board will be meeting on June 25th at 6:30 p.m. uh where residents will be able to hear their housing element and fair share plan for 2025 through 2035 which is the
fourth round. Uh that is it. Thank you. Thank you much Sonia. Um affordable housing committee met on June 5th. Um the fair share housing uh plan element was discussed at length and
um every committee member has um uh applauded um the plan. They really like the plan. So that was um the main main goal of that meeting was to go through the plan and we basically went through
each phage and um was um the plan was approved and liked by the committee. Um parking authority may met on June 11th. Um the police department reported total 57 incidents in May. Um
parking authority wants to um let residents know that um new permits are available um because there was some um residents who were thinking that um permits are unavailable. So, um the parking authority is looking into
advertising with um the new developments that are coming up um connecting with the realters and you know spreading the word that um the permits are available. Um those Wallace Wallace road permits. Yeah. Um some there and then the one lot
and the transit lot. Um the bus depot demolition project was also um discussed in length. The um the project goes out to the demolition project goes out to bit sometime um end of July.
Um that's pretty much it from me. Thank you. It sounds like the both of committees we're doing a lot of work this this month. Yes. Yes. Um, one other thing, um, the one lot, um, the one drive extension,
um, connection to Alexander Road should open sometime late summer this year. We don't have a date yet. Okay. It's coming. It's coming. It's coming. It's very soon. Very soon. I think it'll probably open right when um, the Avlon
project gets their cos. So, when the residents move in, the road will be open. I think so. It's just a matter of when that happens. So when the apartments are get their cos then hopefully this could happen at the same time. Correct. So I'm I'm thinking the
residents over there would like to move before the school starts. So it might be towards end of summer, beginning of fall. Sounds good. I know you can kind of walk through it. Thanks. Okay, Linda. Yeah. I also uh
want to thank the mayor for his uh state of the township address and for your leadership and there's always a tremendous amount of um projects and and issues going on constantly. So, I just wanted to thank them. Uh the Shade Tree Commission met
on May 28th. Uh members reviewed the Arbor Day event. Next year's theme may uh revolve around our nation's 250th anniversary. Under chapter 170, uh there were 11 applications in April and eight
in May for tree removals. The commission talked about a timeline for approving an updated community forestry management plan uh which is uh required by the D. So all this work will be likely completed and voted upon on or before
November 2026. Good. Thank you. Okay. The Environmental Commission, excuse me, met on June 12th. There was a presentation on gas leaf blower regulations from Christine Simington, who's the executive director
of Sustainable Princeton, who is involved in the Princeton legislation. Uh there were brief discussions on natural gardens, community solar, and the pollinator and rain gardens, and the reading and meditation area in Community Park. The commission will continue to
look at the um legislation for the gas leaf bowers. Um the sustainable jersey submission was made in May and if most of those accomplishments submitted get accepted, we'll have enough to maintain silver certification which is the
highest certification. We hope to know soon. We also reviewed additional material that may be submitted uh until the due date in late July, including a report that might come to council. Uh the next meeting will be on July 10th.
That's all I've got. Yeah. And I did I did um listen to part of that environmental commission meeting on the you know electric versus gas leaf blowers issues, right? And there's looks at whether or not we could uh limit the hours, whether we can limit it just for
leaf blowers is what we're looking at this time. Um and it it would be a good quality of life issue in addition to an environmental uh issue if we're able to do some of that. Um administration, are there any more administration updates? I
have nothing. Thank you. Hey, mayor. Nobody. Okay. Uh there's no close session now. So I'm going to entertain a motion to adjurnn. So moved. Second. All in favor? I. Okay. Thank you. Meeting is now adjourned. Thank you for everyone.
Okay.