We're good. We are live. >> Okay. Call to order uh the business session of February 24th. Uh originally scheduled for 23rd, but because of snowstorm, we moved it to today,
Tuesday, February 24th. Roll call. Charles >> here, >> Gallas >> here, >> Jvers Mandel >> here, >> Weiss >> here. >> Are we adequately noticed? >> Yes, we were noticed for this rescheduled meeting from February 23rd,
2026 to February 24th, 2026 to the times in the Princeton packet on February 22nd, 2026, filed with the municipal clerk and posted at the municipal building and on the township website. Um, I'd also like to note that in attendance today for Parker McKay, um,
we have attorney Carl Taylor. >> Welcome, Carl. Thanks for coming. >> Please stand for the salute to the flag. I pledge algiance to the father of it stands one nation
indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Okay. Um under ceremonial matters we the first is um we have a proclamation recognizing um Sam Certis for his service um to Westminster. He retires um
later this month. Well, which is end of this week. >> Uh Friday. This Friday. >> Yeah. Monday. >> Um um he can't Sam couldn't be here today. Um but we are going to read the proclamation and then mayor is going to give him the proclamation tomorrow
during the planning board meeting. Um so here here it goes. Whereas the township of Westminster proudly recognizes Sam Certis, a dedicated public servant whose distinguished career in land use planning and zoning has spanned more
than three and a half decades and where as Sam began his service to Westminster Township in 1987 as an assistant planner, becoming the township planner one year later. He went on to serve as director and manager in the office of
community development from 1989 to 2000. In 2000, he additionally assumed the role of open space coordinator and in 2006 Sam became the manager of land use. And whereas
throughout his tenure, Sam has demonstrated exceptional professionalism and expertise. And whereas Sam has been an active and respected member of numerous professional organizations including the American Planning
Association and New Jersey planning officials. And whereas after decades of exemplary service, Sam is retiring and looking forward to embracing his favorite hobbies including gardening and hiking. He will also enjoy new adventures such
as traveling to Europe and spending more time with family, friends, and his church, Fellowship Cross Point. And whereas the township of Westincor wishes to express its heartfelt gratitude for Sam's outstanding
contributions, his professionalism, and his enduring commitment to a balanced development of the community through open space preservation and planned development. Now therefore be it resolved that Mayor Himoth Morate and the township council
of the township of Westminster County of Mercer state of New Jersey hereby congratulate Sam Certis on his retirement and recognize his more than 38 years of dedicated service to the texture. Thank you Sam.
Oh yeah. So we do have a member of zoning board and planning board um in audience. This um proclamation will be h given to um Sam tomorrow during the planning board meeting by the mayor.
Um next um we couldn't have um chief um station 45 come in today for their swearing in um so which would be postponed to a later date. We do have Princeton Junction Volunteer Fire Company um station 44 for their swearing
in of fire police. So Allison All right, please come forward. You saw officer. >> You saw Constitution of the United States >> and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey.
>> That I failed to >> allegiance to the allegiance to the state >> and to the government to the United States >> and the state >> and the state >> under the authority of the people >> theology. And I will faithfully
give us all the duties. They they are very dedicated. >> Yeah. Yeah. Before be before you go. They're very dedicated. They were here at 6:15. They were so eager to get swan. So, thank you.
>> Well, thank you for your service. Thank you. All right. Um, now we have the first opportunity of uh for public comment. Um, three minute per um uh people or person um to comment. 30 minute total um
comment period. Do we have anybody um >> I do not have anybody signed in. Okay. Anybody in the audience would like to say any words? Seeing none, public comment period is now closed. Administration comments.
>> I have a few announcements. Um because of the storm weight waste management is um operating um tomorrow through Saturday. However, you may experience a delay in collection because of there being no
collection on Monday. For those whose trash is is typically collected on Mondays, garbage bins should have been set out for Tuesday pickup. For Tuesday's collection and for the remainder of the work week, place your trash out on your designated pickup day.
Again, there may be slight delays in collection. So, please make sure your bins are at the curb. And if your schedule collection is missed, please contact us through the website where you can report missed garbage pick pickup
and recycling collection for the remainder of the week will continue as scheduled due to current road conditions. Please expect potential delays. If materials are not collected within 48 hours of your scheduled collection date, please report the
missed collection to the office of 6092788100 or email request for service Mercer County Improvement Authority. and that's available um this information is available on the township's website for
the updates that were provided um during the past weekend. The only other announce I I have several other announcements actually. Um, residents who would like to uh recycle
electronic goods, and there's probably three dozen items on the list, can do so by um going to West Windsor Public Works Facility, um 70 Southfield Road, residents can drop off their electronic items during
normal resident drop off hours, which are Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and Saturday 8:00 a.m. to noon excluding holidays. Um the one the items that cannot be accepted are fire, smoke
and CO2 alarms, thermostats, and any equipment containing gas or oil. Um what is permissible are televisions, computers, fax machines, toner and cartrid toner cartridges and ink cartridges are also recyclable.
And this is the last call for um high school students um to participate in the 2026 Lewis Bay Second Future Municipal Leader Scholarship Competition. The submission deadline is March 9th. Entries must be
submitted to the mayor, Mayor Morate. Um, the essay should focus on what I like about my hometown and there are further details about how the essay will be evaluated
and um, the essay should be limited to about 500 words. Um, those are my announcements for tonight. >> Thank you, Marina. Mayor, >> thanks. Uh I have couple of
announcements. First the good thing as you know um we had a big snowstorm over the weekend. If you drive in Westminster you won't believe that we just had a 20 ines 21 in whatever number of inches depending on whom you ask snow over the
weekend. Um and a lot of people were involved. I would like to thank a lot of people to make a really fantastic job during the storm. um uh to keep residents safe and get us back in um on
the road uh this morning and actually yesterday night I drove almost most of the township and all the roads were very clean. So thanks to DPW and our contractor who does the uh plowing uh they did a really wonderful job. But
there are a lot of people who were behind the scenes um in emergency management. I know both the volunteer fire companies were fully staffed. They had people uh staying at the firehouse because they knew they couldn't um get
there in case of emergency. So both the fire chiefs were on our calls and both the fire departments were fully staffed. The professional fire companies were fully staffed. The police were working over time. There were a lot of police officers on the street. There was still
a few accidents. I don't know who went out uh during the storm but few accidents but other than that um everything worked out fine. Uh thank good touch wood. We didn't have too many outages of power with either PSNG or
JCPNL. They did report lot of outages in New Jersey, but luckily not significant in our area. I did see some wires down, there were some trees down, but by and large nothing emergency. So, thank you volunteers, thank you professionals, and
thanks DPW for doing a wonderful job uh in uh getting us back to normal. Um now not the same not that good a topic but same old same old topic Amtrak and NJ Transit. We did have a call with Amtrak
and NJ Transit on Thursday and uh yeah NJ sorry NJ do and Amtrak last Thursday. Uh I'm glad I don't have blood pressure otherwise I would have to take three times as many tablets every time I
get on that call. Uh unfortunately nothing nothing uh has moved forward in a substantial way. Um there are two permits required um to get the to get the inspections done. Amtrak has issued
one permit. Half of that inspection was done by NJ dot uh by last Thursday. They promised us the other half would be done by Friday. Um the second permit has not yet been
issued. The SS SP permit. I thought it was just one permit but apparently there's a two permits. The second one for high rail inspection. As of today we had told them to update us before the council meeting didn't hear either from NJ DOT or Amtrak whether the second
permit has been issued and now they have an excuse with the snow not to do anything. Unfortunately, Amtrak gives only 3 hour or 4 hour outage every night, which means you can only work for couple of hours since uh it takes an
hour to deenergize, an hour to energize on either side of the outage. Um it's really really frustrating. I mean the county has been wonderful. County has been working with us. County does put pressure on NJ DOT during our calls. uh
there's people from governor's office who are on the call uh somehow Amtrak doesn't seem to move at all and I just want to give credit to everybody at this dis everybody has been working very hard
um Mr. We has reached to Senator Kim. Joe Charles has reached to Senator Booker. They have gotten people here. Linda did get response from Bani Watson Coleman. Henry and Sony are doing Yman's job in trying to get the governor to declare a state of emergency. And um get
some monetary help for businesses that are suffering. Uh my dentist is in that office. She did tell that she did hear uh some MSBA loan that she can get $50,000 at 4%. Uh so I assume that's for everybody. So um you
see there's a resolution on the agenda tonight to declare to request governor to declare a state of emergency which will u make these businesses eligible for more aid. Um the county commissioners
are passing the uh resolution tonight uh thanks to their uh the ladies effort. The Plainsboro is also going to pass it tonight and the school board is passing tonight. So >> county commissioner already passed it. Um we just found out that the board of
commissioners just passed the resolution. >> Okay. >> Um >> Plainsboro is tomorrow >> and Plansboro is tomorrow. >> Oh, Plainsboro is tomorrow. Okay. Um so but uh that will get us a package to get to um the governor's office. I did talk
to uh Dan Benson this morning, the county executive. He is working with the governor's office to figure out exactly what needs to be what needs to be done to declare a state of emergency. So by this Friday I expect the county will
declare a state of emergency and then we will declare a state of emergency working in close cooperation with the county. Uh essentially everybody seems to be working very hard except for people who needs to work hard which is
Amtrak and NJ dot. So um we had actually on Thursday's call uh the county and us both asked Amtrak and NGO to give us a timeline and they refused to give a timeline. They were supposed to get back
to us by yesterday. Yesterday being snow day we did reach out to them tell them our meeting is moved to today. So please give us a timeline today. Uh but they didn't get back to us. Uh so as of today frustrating part is four months and so
many days I have put a counter on township website you can see exactly how many days the bridge has been out. We still don't have any unfortunately we don't have any out um timeline as to uh when uh exactly what's wrong with the
bridge and when the bridge will be um will be repaired. So very very frustrating situation as the mayor and council members as they will testify everybody's trying to do their best. Uh
uh that's it. One little note um I was supposed to talk at the F meeting tonight and I committed to that because this meeting was supposed to be yesterday. So if this meeting goes too long I may just step out for 10 minutes to talk at the for meeting. So that's
it. Thank you, mayor. Um, council member Conn. Um, Dan, >> I'd just like to u thank again all of the uh public works folks and our emergency services folks and volunteers
for just incredible job they did over this weekend. It's not easy work happens behind the scenes. So, um, thank you so much for that. Um, and sort of repeating what the mayor said, what's what's going on predominantly with NJ DoD, sort of
their lack of accountability and ownership of solving this problem is really outrageous. >> Um, the inability just to create a basic project plan of how they're going to fix the problem just is dumbfounding why we can't get
past that. So obviously we want to focus on getting the job done, but I think um when all this work is done, we should circle back and ask the county and the state to sort of do a a post-mortem of
why this happened and prevent it from ever happening again because it's really just unacceptable. >> Dan, um Andrew, >> um yeah, just um we just did the um proclamation for Sam. Uh just uh I think
several of us went to Sam's going away party over at the senior center. I know I'm going to miss him. I spent a total of three years on the planning board and um going to miss his knowledge and and wit. Um I'd like to thank DPW, our police
emergency responders, and the whole West Windsor emergency management team, paid and volunteer. Um, today I had the pleasure of going with the Gratitude and Abundance Club to drop off food to thank our DPW. The guys look tired but in good
spirits. Um, congratulations to all the Olympic athletes. Special mention to our US hockey athletes, men's team, and Jack Hughes who scored the final overtime goal and the women's team where Megan Keller won in overtime. Way to go. I
wish a happy and peaceful Ramadan. Uh we went was with Joe in Hammont to the uh first ever West Windsor Crescent lighting at the Muslim Center on Sunday, February 15th. And the crescent will be in Roger's arboritum for I think about a
month uh for the for the holiday. Um we I presented them with the West Windsor proclamation that we uh read here in uh January for Muslim American month. I want to do happy Chinese New Year, spring festival, and Year of the Horse.
Uh thank you to both Wooler and the Guacia School for inviting us to their festive celebrations this past Saturday. Uh there was a senior center spring luncheon on Friday. Um they had some good food. Uh there was some
entertainment. I think everybody had a good time. And I I like to see the senior center coming back into that spirit of having uh uh groups with entertainment, food, and fun. Um and I'd like to see we're seeing more of that,
and I think u everybody's enjoying that. I want to congratulate the West Windsor Plains Girl Scouts for another successful thinking day on Sunday. Um they actually moved the whole thinking day up by I think 90 minutes in order to
avoid the snowstorm. Um what's really great is seeing all those kids, parents, everybody doing going there 90 minutes early in their costumes, bringing their food. Um it's it's a major event of about a thousand people at least. And um
no no drama, no complaints. Uh Girl Scouts strong. Uh it's just just wonderful to to see uh kids coming up and in and an environment like that where they uh do what needs to be done and have a good time in the process.
Tonight's going to be resolution 2026R056 which is going to authorize the mayor and clerk to execute an agreement with the watershed institute to prepare the upper Milstone River watershed plan. Um
this is very similar to the asen pink plan that we already approved um a few months ago. The main difference is we had a grant for the full um management plan for acupink. We do not have a grant for this. So we are putting money in the
budget for it. We would have to spend money anyway because uh for RMS4 permit we have to um we have to prepare a report like this. So in this case, we're now going to be doing it with a bunch of other towns that are in the watershed
area. So it'll be much more Let's take a five minute recess u while we figure out what's going on with the recording. Um, Joe, you may have to read half of your statement again. >> You're going to go get your other record. >> Yeah, I'm going to go get my other
record. >> We're in five minute brief. >> Yeah, I'm going to grab my just a minute. I did see that we had uh slight interference. >> It did. >> And it's back on.
>> Yeah. Because I heard that you said piano. So I looked over there. So So maybe that's when >> it could. >> Yes. Yeah. >> Okay. >> I don't know what happened.
Yeah. >> Yeah. What is that from the speaker? So >> yeah, it's not like it was doing that last week, too. >> All right. So you just stand there for the rest of >> Exactly. So it doesn't make that
>> I think so. >> No, I did hear see that clock go out out and that's when I think we had the interruption in the network and we lost the connection. It's back on now. I think static and speaker.
Okay. No, we're just waiting for Allison to come back. testing. Let me know if we can restart five minutes. One more. Yeah.
Not sure how that works. >> People here can hear it. >> Probably. >> And then I assume they'll just start their thing right away. They're not going to have a fivem minute blank while we're >> I know. All right. Um, are we good? >> Yeah, we're good. I'm going to record
this any just in case. >> Okay. >> Okay. >> Um, you want to go ahead again, Joe, or >> uh did did any of it get >> half halfway through? So I think the the resolution part probably or the bridge >> point through. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. All right. So I'll just talk about
the bridge. Uh so with with respect to the Clarksville bridge, uh the slow rate of progress by N DOT and Amtrak is is both disappointing and unacceptable. Uh as the mayor mentioned, our goal is to get Governor Cheryl to declare a state of emergency, which can help make things move faster and also facilitates
providing uh assistance to impacted small businesses. To that end, myself and others have been speaking with a number of uh state and federal officials. Personally, I've spoken with the offices uh of a number of those folks. Um, state senator Shirley Turner called me back herself, said she was
fully supportive of getting the governor to declare a state of emergency and that she had sent a letter to the governor making that request. State Assemblyman Anthony Varlli's chief of staff told me that the assemblyman was also submitting a letter to the governor and was supportive. A staffer from Cory Booker's office who
focuses on transportation issues came to West Windsor in person last week. He visited with some of the small business owners to hear from them directly. Uh, and I took him to the bridge so he could see it up close and he's actively pursuing the topic. I actually spoke with him again yesterday and today and
I've got ongoing dialogues with someone in Congresswoman Woman Bonnie Watson Coleman's office as well as Governor Mikey Cheryl's office. We are building momentum. Uh, so to anyone that that has written or called our elected officials, thank you for doing so. If you haven't
had a chance to do so yet, please do so. The more people they hear from, the better. There's also an online petition uh that now has almost 1,700 signatures. There's a link to it on the township's website. Please sign it if you haven't done it already. And there's also some business
cards in the lobby of the building here with a QR code to the petition as well. If we keep up our collective efforts, I'm very confident that we can get the governor to declare a state of emergency and help move things along much quicker. Thank you. >> Thanks, Jim. Um, Linda is not here. My
turn. Um, I think everything is really covered. Um, just want to wish everybody Ramadan Kharim for those who are celebrating the month of fasting. Have a blessed um, Ramadan month. Happy lunar year um, lunar year of the course. To
those celebrating um, I want to thank Woola School and um, Boxia Chinese School for inviting us to celebrate with them. um enjoyed many um cultural um performances, music and dance. Um was
really um well done. Um I just want to thank everybody for who um worked behind the scenes um on the roads to keep the roads clear and um all our volunteer firefighters and professional
firefighters to um man and station the um firehouses overnight. um just in case they needed to respond. Um really well um well done job by all. I do want to remind all the residents that sidewalks
um are their responsibility to be cleared. Um even if the sidewalk is on the back side of their um house that those need to be cleared. Um we have the schools were off they are back in session tomorrow. Um so uh especially
those sidewalks uh leading up to the schools need to be cleared so our students can walk safely. Um also I I drove around um town today. Our I've seen many fire hydrants buried in the snow. Um our chief here would um agree
with me. We need those fire hydrants cleared. Um next property you save could be yours. So, please um I request everybody to dig out um the fire hydrants. So, in case it's needed, hopefully it's not, but if it's needed,
our um firefighters can get to the fire hydrants um in no time. Thank you. Um Allison, do you have anything else? >> Um I do not. Okay, >> we move on to public hearings.
>> Okay. 2026-01 bond ordinance providing for the replacement of the fire sprinkler system at West Windsor fire station number 43 in and in by the township of West Windsor in the county of Mercer, New Jersey, appropriating 231,000 therefore
and authorizing the issuance of 220,000 bonds or notes of the township to finance part or the cost thereof. >> Okay. Um, now we're going to open the public hearing. >> Um, I'm going to open the public hearing
for ordinance 20261. Um, you have anything to say? >> Kevin Apple, 135 Connival Road. Um, chief of Westminster Volunteer Fire Company. Um, I just want to say thank you for working on us with this important project. Uh, the Bayer administration and council, uh, all
included. Um the the system currently at the firehouse is is aging. Uh we've been limping it along the last few years. We've had some issues with it uh not recently. Knock on wood. Um but uh we look forward to getting it replaced to
protect the natural resources. And just to reiterate some of the comments I heard earlier, I wanted to thank public works for the tremendous job that they did with the storm this last weekend. We we weren't out through the night. Um although on any emergency calls although we were out and we could see the work they were doing uh we did have some
calls the next morning uh and Rose were in great shape and allowed us to get out there and again reiterate to residents to uh clear the clear their nearest fire. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. I don't see anybody else in the audience. So um can I get a motion to close the public hearing?
>> So moved. >> Second. >> Okay. >> Charles. >> Yes. >> Jivers Mando. >> Yes. Weiss. >> Yes. >> Gawas, >> yes. Uh, can I get a motion to adopt? >> So moved. >> Second.
>> Charles, >> yes. >> Jvers. Mando. >> Yes. >> Weiss. >> Yes. >> Galas. >> Yes. >> So the ordinance has passed. It'll take effect in 20 days. Right. >> 20 days after signature by the mayor.
>> You. >> Okay. >> Next. Next. Ordinance. 2026-10, an ordinance to amend and supplement the code of the town of West Windsor, 1999, article 13, separate agencies and boards not assigned of chapter 4, section
4-61.1, Shade Tree Commission. >> Okay. Now, the public hearing is open for ordinance 2026 um 10. Anybody in the audience want to say anything about this?
Seeing none, can I get a motion to close? >> So moved. >> Second. >> A roll call, please. >> Charles, >> yes. >> Chavers. >> Mando, >> yes. >> Weiss, >> yes. >> Dawas, >> yes. >> Um, can I get a motion to adopt?
>> So moved. >> Second. >> Charles, >> yes. >> Javers. >> Mandel? >> Yes. >> Weiss? >> Yes. >> Garwas, >> yes. >> All right, the motion passes. consent agenda.
>> Okay. Minutes. January 15, 2026 inauguration and reorganization. January 15, 2026 business session. January 15, 2026 close session. February 2nd, 2026 business session. February
4th, 2026 special session, bills and claims. >> All right. Does anybody want to pull anything? >> Nope. Okay. Can I get a motion to approve? >> So move. >> Second.
>> Second. Okay. Charles, >> yes. >> Jivers. Mando. >> Yes. >> Weiss. >> Yes. >> Garwas. >> Yes. >> Recommendations from the administration. >> 20 council. >> I'm sorry. 2026-R051.
Resolution petitioning Governor Mikey Cheryl to declare a state of emergency for the Clarksville Road Corridor pursuant to the Emergency Services Act 2026-R052 authorizing the approval of Marketfare
Holdings 2 LLC for the newly created Plenary Retail Consumption License 2026-R053 authorizing the approval of a person-toerson and place-toplace transfer of liquor license number 1113. 3-33-00003
from BLG West Windsor LLC to Fogu Dow um and I had to I had that down to pronounce um Koresh Seruka um Princeton LLC DBA Foco Dishon uh
2026-R054 authorizing the mayor and clerk to execute a contract with Evas Technologies LLC to purchase Vector Solutions Public public safety software platforms and maintenance for training, maintenance, and online law enforcement
training and field officer training for the police division through Sourcewell Cooperative Purchasing Program contract number 051321-NV for an account for an amount not to exceed $35,362. 2026-R055
authorizing the mayor to submit a grant application to the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs to complete surfacing crack repairs at Hendendrickson Drive Tennis Complex Courts, Community Park, Basketball Courts, and Westminster Community Park skate park. 2026-R056
authorizing the mayor and clerk to execute an agreement with the watershed institute to prepare the Upper Milstone River wershed management plan for an amount not to exceed $55,000 2026-R057 authorizing the mayor and clerk to
execute a contract with Riverview Companies North Jersey LLC for landscape maintenance for detention basins and open space lands $134,499 $99 2026-R058 authorizing the rejection of bids for
the project known as 2026 public land maintenance culde-sac islands and street tree maintenance and replacement 2026-R059 authorizing the approval of a person-toperson transfer of liquor
license number 1113-33- 010--00004 from OTB Acquisition of New Jersey LLC to OTB Hospitality LLC doing business as on the border Mexican Grill in Cantina.
>> Um I would like to pull 2026 R051 to vote on it separately um and take um council comments um for that before we uh vote on it. So I would like to get a motion to approve 2026 R052
through R059. So motion to approve 2026R052 through 059. >> Second. >> Okay. Charles, >> yes. >> Chvers Mandel,
>> yes. >> Weiss, >> yes. >> Garwas, >> yes. >> Okay. um for um resolution R051, which is the resolution petitioning Governor Mikey Cheryl to declare a state of
emergency for the Clarksville Road Corridor pursuant to the Emergency Services Act. Um if um I'll I'll just go down um asking each council member if they have anything to say uh for that. Um we can start with Andrea.
>> Okay. Um excuse me. At the last council meeting, uh we had a um discussion on the bridge issues and I outlined the issues with the existing method of handling the Clarksville Bridge project, the major problems the bridge closure is
causing and the need to expedite the process and obtain economic relief by having the governor declare a state of emergency requested by formal resolution. council had a discussion and since then each council member has contributed material and ideas that make
up a resulting resolution. Tonight we're voting on resolution 2025 RO51. >> I think we lost >> good. Okay. Tonight we're voting on resolution 202.
>> Carl, did you have anything to say? Oh, I'm sorry. You're it. Typo. Thank you. Tonight, we're voting on resolution uh 2026 RO51 asking Governor Mikey Cheryl to declare a state of emergency for the Clarksville Road Corridor due to
the closed bridge. We do not do this lightly. We know this is an extraordinary measure to be taken when normal avenues fail. As the governing body of West Windsor, we have no control over the bridge. The bridge and any replacement are under the control of New
Jersey state DOP and it is their project. The property under the bridge is owned and controlled by Amtrak which is a US federal entity. The electric conduit under the bridge is owned by PSENG who is regulated by the New Jersey
state BPU. Relief for businesses adversely affected is provided primarily by the New Jersey State Economic Development Authority and related organizations. And Clarksville Road on either side of the bridge is a Mercer County road. This is not a West Windsor
project, but we feel most of the pain. Ever since this project started, Sonia Gowas and I have been working with the businesses most affected on Clarksville Road. We brought in the New Jersey and EDA who have been terrific and working with us constantly. However, do they do
not have a grant program for the emergency disaster aid we need. The mayor and administration have been in constant meetings with all the players. Early on, we had hopes that temporary solutions would quickly be found and implemented. Both county and township
engineers came up with potential solutions, but the process got dgged down in bureaucracy and administrative approvals that prevented even an inspection for three months. At the mayor's request, not only did our council get involved in trying to
expedite each step of the process, but many of our residents helped. Movement on this project was still slow and the peacemeal approach to a complicated project with many players is not ne not working. This is not acceptable. Our
state of emergency resolution not only outlines our many issues for West Windsor in the region due to the bridge closure, but a set of solutions to move the project forward once the state of emergency is declared. Both the issues and solutions were the result of several
weeks of fine-tuning, discussions, and data collections from sources inside and outside West Windsor. Our administration has provided information from the police and emergency services and the board of education has provided transportation do data. The result is that we have a
number of resolves for the resolution. There's a petition for emergency declaration of course um and ask for uh the state to do federal intercession with with Amtrak to get things moving. Three would be an emergency procurement
and reduction of bureaucratic procedures which would allow um the state primarily the DOT to be able to move more quickly and would direct them to move more quickly. Four would be economic assistance for the Clarksville Road
businesses uh specifically the EDA being given direction that they can provide disaster relief in addition to any federal relief we might be able to get. Uh five would be an expedited bridge replacement uh which would be New Jersey
DOT and that and we've outlined uh various possibilities which we cannot know yet because the inspections aren't done for replacement um temporarily of the current bridge or or fixing the current bridge for a temporary
replacement and expediting the final bridge replacement and then of course how to who distribute this. We're not doing this alone. The mayor, council members, and members of the public, as you've heard today, have reached out to others for support through meetings,
phone calls, letters, and a large petition with over 1,600 signatures in counting. I'm extremely proud of our community who've come together to solve this problem. The issue belongs to us all. Thank you to those who've come forward and answered our community's call for support. Sonia and I went to
our Mercer County Commissioners last meeting and they just passed a supporting resolution tonight. Plansboro Council should also be passing one soon, probably tomorrow night. The governor has received letters in support of the de declaration from county executive Dan
Benson, state senator Shirley Turner, and the West Windsor Plainsboro School System Superintendent Dr. Daver Added Hold and the board president Grayen McCoen. Um, Senators Bookers, Kim, and Congresswoman Bonnie Cottson Coleman
have also become involved and are also um looking at what they might do. With this support, we can make this happen. Please continue to help. Thank you. >> Joe, do you have anything to add?
>> No, Andrea laid it out perfectly. um completely agree with everything she said and I made my comments earlier. So, you know, a state of emergency from the governor just can't come soon enough. So, thank you. >> Dan, >> yeah, I won't repeat what Andrew said. Thank you for those comments. Um it's
unfortunate that we have to do this in the first place as you pointed out. Um this is just a reflection of truly the failure of uh NJ dot to take accountability and ownership and and just function as they're supposed to. Um
I'll repeat what I said earlier. The fact that they can't even give us the basic project plan of steps going forward. um how they told us they would do the inspection, it'd be done last Friday, and then we have another meeting and they tell us, "Oh, by the way, we need another set of inspections."
The fact that they couldn't because they didn't know that they seem to be changing the goalposts as we move along. And that's just to me just poor leadership um and accountability for NJ DOT. Um, so I think our our pressure, um, I mean, it's great to contact our
legislators to to make comments, but I think the pressure that we need to put on should be leveled at the governor's office and the NJ DOT and to, you know, continue to let our county executive know that he needs to continue to
champion this because these kind of um, orders really are an executive level function. uh and he's our you know our sort of the count the state looks at the county leadership to drive these as well. Um so uh echo everybody's feelings
that um very um grateful to everybody who's made contributions not only the folks in this room but everybody in our community. Um again it's unfortunate that we're even in this position in the first place. This should have been resolved quite some time ago.
>> Right. Thanks Dan. Mayor do you have anything to add? It's just very frustrating. I mean, I the I mean, you said after this we the Congress needs to take a look at how Amtrak operates. I still can't believe
they takes them so long to issue a permit for something they do almost every week. I mean, it's not the only bridge on their railway. Probably thousands of bridges all over US. and why it takes them I mean it's almost 4
months now to issue a permit like beyond me and they keep telling me oh it's a very busy line and I told them I'm from Bombay don't tell me this is busy I I literally counted the trains between 11:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. There's a train
every 30 minutes between both NJ Transit and Amtrak both directions, New York to Philly and Philly to New York. I mean there's one train every 30 minutes. I mean if they there only two Amtrak trains at night, one at 1:30 and and I
told them look just cancel those trains just run a bus from Princeton Junction to Trenton and be done with it. Give me a whole night. So >> yeah, I think it's overnight. I think it's only a 12 or 13 trains between Amtrak and NJ Transit.
>> I mean, I count >> Y >> right. Thank you, mayor. Um, Councilwoman Linda Jvers is not here today. Um, but I do have a statement from her. Um, so this is from Linda Jvers. I fully I fully support this
resolution in requesting Governor Mikey Charl to declare a state of emergency. We are in a crisis and need the strong support of the governor to get the Clarksville Road Bridge project immediately back on track. Infrastructure funding is critical as budgets are currently being formulated
at various levels. Um I just want to echo everything. I think Andrea, you covered everything really well. Um I do want to um thank everybody who's been championing um this um crisis that we are in. Um thank you to County Executive
Dan Benson. Um the um board of commissioners, they just passed um a resolution asking for state of emergency um just earlier today. Um Charlie Turner, Dr. Adhold, and Grin McQueen
from our um school district. Um um I happened to Andrea and I spoke to uh Plansboro Mayor Yates um over the weekend when we ran into him um at the Chinese New Year event. We mentioned to him and he was very supportive and um
he's going to walk in a resolution at their meeting tomorrow in support of our resolution to pass. So I think everybody is um trying to help um and as mayor mentioned everybody except um those who really need to work seem to be lagging
right now. I do have a call from with a the representative one representative from New Jersey Office of Emergency Management Recovery Bureau tomorrow morning. Um so hopefully I'll get um some more information on that um to see
how we can help um struggling businesses. Um so we are chugging along. We are doing everything we can do. Um but I um really hope we can get this um declaration of state of emergency um
sooner than later from our governor. So thank you. Um roll call. >> Oh, we're going to do a a motion to approve. >> Motion to approve uh resolution 2026 R051. >> So moved. Second. >> Okay.
>> Okay. Charles, >> yes. >> Jers, Mandal, >> yes. >> Weiss, >> yes. >> Garas, >> yes. >> Okay. Um, we don't have any introduction of ordinances. Our second round of
public comment is open, but we don't have anybody in the audience now. Um, council reports. Um, let's start with Joe. Yeah, there was a meeting of the parking authority. It was their first meeting of the year. Uh so the reorganization
meeting, Andy Lup was reelected as chairman and Dan Fabriio was uh reelected as vice chair. One thing that will come before is expected to come before the council later in this year is is a requested ordinance changes to update various uh parking ticket rates so that they can have more of a more of
a menu of rates for for different kinds of violations. Uh so that'll probably be coming later in the year. And we also discussed uh I think that Sonia and Allison would put a on a future agenda for the parking authority to come giving give a briefing to the council. So >> yeah. >> Okay.
>> All right. Thank you, Dan. >> Uh there's been no um of my no meetings from the committees that I serve on. Board of Ed is actually tonight right now. >> Um they they're doing it virtually. So I'll report on that next time. The March
meeting of affordable housing has been cancelled. We we state that they meet monthly, but in reality they meet every other month, but calendar it's still every month, so they officially cancel the >> five months. >> Yep. Got it. Thank you, Andrea.
>> Um yeah, the uh board of emergency management was going to set up a meeting, but that looks like it's not happening with everything that's been going on. Um so there hasn't been one. Uh the environmental commission met. Some of the things we talked about were
uh the sustainable Jersey uh energy um project that we have the grant for. We put together um um a plan um I put one together with um Panemer uh plan for carrying out that grant that we've just
submitted to Sustainable Jersey. Uh there was a presentation made by one of the commissioners on a technology to track and report the status of plowing and salting including talking about various um sensors that can be put on uh
trucks and vehicles that could do real time tracking and can even tell what lanes have been treated but and whether plows have been up or down. Uh so that was there was a that was a presentation that uh could be of some use and um
there was also some discussion on some uh changes to uh the national the natural lawn uh ordinance that uh was being looked at. There was no revised ordinance that was presented. There was
just a um discussion on slides uh about some changes they were thinking of making. So there was really no action taken on that and that's pretty much we gave some updates on Clarksville Bridge and uh some other things. Thank you.
>> Okay, thank you. Um no report from human relations. They haven't met since our last meeting. The next meeting is next week. Um that's it. Any other administration updates? >> Okay. Um we were originally supposed to
have a close session um which um we are not having tonight right so we will um so no close session we are moving forward to uh adjournment motion to adjourn >> so moved second
>> all right in favor I >> yes I I >> All right journ at 8:01 Yeah. See suddenly when the meeting suddenly my so it just has to be off right
>> right because I need to WhatsApp >> I'm Set.