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Video-1: youtube.com/watch?v=Y9FkjLfNK0M

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It is now 7 o'clock. We're going to call the regular meeting to order. Requires the requirements of the sunshine law have been met. This meeting was advertised in Burlington County Times. Electronic notice was given to NJC 539-1.5. We will now start with the pledge of

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allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. We will now have a moment of silence.

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>> Roll call. >> Committee woman Dr. >> President. Committee woman missant >> present. >> Committee man >> here. >> Committee woman malf here. >> Mayor Henley >> here. >> Also present solicitor, the council clerk, contract administrator, the deputy council administrator chief fires

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chief and the public works director. >> Thank you. We will now start with the presentation. Uh West Hampton Emergency Services firefighter/ AMS Julian Arbar. Was it R?

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I don't actually hear this started at the fire department. So Julia is our fire department. The first one we turned up. Um Julian has been employing with us for about 2 years

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now I would say. Um Julia is a quiet person. We want to be here understanding more than four words. But Julian brings a lot to the table as far as Julian is always training. He's always looking to make himself better. He's comes to work

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early ahead of time. He's up early before he leaves for the day. Make sure that everything's in place and train, train, train. He absolutely loves to train. So, it is my honor to meet William. Uh our first order for our first

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employee of the quarter to go home is part of the RC >> speech. Uh we will now have public ser public service electric and gas gas system modernization program. Uh Kathleen.

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>> So good evening >> Catherine. >> I am Kelly. Sorry. So the agenda wasn't I'm Kelly Roy. I'm with PSCG gas construction. I am the um project manager for the work that we're going to review. Um in addition to myself, Danella Collison is with us tonight. So

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Danella manages the outreach with the customer side of it. So we'll get into that a little bit towards the end of the program. So good even good good evening mayor and council. Thank you for allowing us to attend to go over um the project work that was identified in West Hampton in the Holly Hills section of um

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your township. So just a brief overview and I'm sure everyone in the room is familiar but PSCNG is one of the largest combined electric and gas companies with the largest um aging infrastructure of gas infrastructure cast iron means we have the largest inventory across the United

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States. Um we are across 15 counties and a total of 269 towns um served by PS across the state. So a quick overview um PSNG is entering into its fourth gas system modernization

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program stipulated by the board of public utilities in New Jersey. This program was identified to assist um us in upgrading our infrastructure concentrating on old cast iron mains um that are on low pressure systems as well

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as unprotected steel mains that were installed 1961 or prior and then a vintage of years between 1961 and 1970. Because they were unprotected, it was the type of infrastructure being installed during those years when neighborhoods were being built. um they are degrading

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quickly than other material in other vintage years. This particular neighborhood in West Hampton is uh unprotected steel gases and based off of that and a leak count of prepared leaks over the years and has qualified for this type of uh system modernization.

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Um there's approximately four miles of gas replacement identified which impacts about 415 services. So part of the project work is us putting new plastic beans in the ground um and then replacing any surfaces from the street

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to the home. And with that we upgrade service uh the meter points. We are from a safety perspective stipulated by the board of public health utilities to move the meters from inside the homes to the outside. that allows for a quicker uh fire safety response if there's an

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emergency and we need to breach shut off valve um at the home and at the curb. It also allows us to install a flow valve which if there's a change in gas at any time during any type of e from inside the home or outside the home and shut off gasol

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in an e situation. Um, so with that said, we will, you know, the work at everyone's homes will be scheduled. There will be appointments made. There will be contacts with customers ahead of any work happening on our properties. So, we are targeting the start date. I

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know it says July 6th here, but we've been delayed with weather and then, you know, being able to present here, but we are targeting the start date of next week. Um we have a meeting tomorrow in the field with police and um town you know uh representatives to kind of

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target exactly when and where we're starting but we're looking at Monday as a start date. Um our survey will be on West Hampton um near Bloomfield and then working our way through that street and then uh we're trying to get west done on those

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two drive roads ahead and kind of a quick view of the project and and what we're doing over there. We will continue to coordinate with the township um director of public works, with the engineer department, and especially the

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Duke police and traffic control um on a daily basis. We'll be communicating um you know where we're going to be, how long we're going to be working. There will be no parking signs posted. It's a lot of communication ahead of of of the work um starting each day and each week

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as we progress. I I'll pause if there's any questions. We do estimate approximately 10 months of work from start to finish of um the main and service work and then restoration would be after that once um

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settlement periods have occurred and we work with the town closely to set up the evening to ensure weather is um permittable and things like that. So I know this is a little bit of an eye shape but this is a Hollywood section. These are the streets um that are following for the word. There will be

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additional communication shared with the public once we have you know a certain part of our process which is kind of in this presentation but something that Danella um has done as far as outreach to customers we provide letters in advance of the work starting there will

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mail in the mail US postal service we also door hang the door hanger that's left at every property which has that same letter inserted and then ahead of by Thursday Friday we will send robocalls um as well as emails to all

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active constituents of the work. And then as the project progresses each week, we'll kind of repeat that process as far as the emails, the robocalls, and then the last form of notification, we'll give them no parking signs um if the street has parking just to ensure we

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usually put them up 24 to 48 hours in advance of impacting an area. So that will, you know, cover the outreach now in detail. There's any questions about that. Okay. And again, this is just kind of reviewing the key customer benefits. Um,

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we talked about the meter separate application a little bit, the safety component of moving them from inside to outside. Um, being able to now install extra slow valve, um, reduction of leaks. Um, this neighborhood does have a leak history over the last 10, 15 years.

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Um, so by us doing this proactively, it will prevent those emergency type situations where we're resilient gases in the winter months and that's an e situation. Um, from a customer standpoint, this particular neighborhood is already on

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high pressure. So if you had your island or your high energy appliances, you'll continue to benefit from having those with the the high pressure system. Um and the biggest, you know, one of the biggest accomplishments of this program is also reducing those methane emissions

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across the state of New Jersey. Um the gas leaks do contribute to that and systems that get clean, you know, in a controllable environment. So we're very proud of this program overall and being able to reduce that for the state of New Jersey.

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And this is just a high level of the outreach we talked about. Um, we're going to utilize working with the town any uh social media platforms to share the information. Uh, any communitywide uh platforms that you use. However you need our support, we're here for you.

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There's a dedicated project line for this work. So, it's not a typical PSG customer service line. Customer can call via message or they can email and that's managed by Danella directly. So, within 24 hours, she will address any problems, concerns. um we will share that

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information. We have cards we hand out field police officers or residents as as people are asking questions and that that concludes um the presentation. Sure. >> So when they um I also asked our

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engineer um here in ancient fashion and the building there's a lot of restoration boats that are you know there's a lot of roads that could be disturbed restoration to those roads is you know

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it's going to be disruptive. Um so we have spent quite a bit of time here going over some options. Um and uh he is here to kind of tell you how we are ultimately planning to get fur to an

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acceptable following. So, um, uh, they're responsible for cables at half the road. If they, you know, they put their name on one side, um, and if they end up going up to the other side

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of the road and putting services in there, then they were responsible for pay, but their plan right now is to just stay on one side of the road and pay back. Most of these streets were paid half with by New Jersey in 2016.

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They had a one wheel replacement project. So that half the road pretty good shape. And so this is the half Missouri is not such good shape. So you get a kind of a benefit by having them put this gas in and get you know the

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half rotate. Um, so the other thing is, um, some of some of the roads, there were a couple of rooms out there that, you know, weren't in good shape, uh, the water company didn't go down that half of the

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roof. So we kind of worked out a swap tentatively right now um to say um you guys will curve curve on that route and we'll curve curve on the other and those

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we elected to put into the NJ application for this year and that's D Street Park and a small park. Um, so that's headed to the spot. Um,

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we did put an application into DOT. Um, but you know, when we see how much money we get with D, we can always kind of change things a little bit and have to see how how their project goes too. So, it's kind of a work in progress, but um,

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we'll be out there uh, watching them um when they're, you know, back all the trenches. They already did fresh work on Bloomfield and on uh because we have the DOT project schedule on those two streets right now.

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We'll be taking those about in the end of August. Um so that was to everybody's benefit and that we already had those scheduled to be done and they were able to get their names in there for you. So

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that's about it I would say. I just had a quick question. I was looking at your I guess it was page five of your PowerPoint. Um I see that like Howell Drive and Lambert Drive are under review, but what about Price Drive? So right now Price Drive is not

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qualified based off of the um the vintage of this field. So what we're doing is as we something we're going to discuss is that would be the only road remaining. So what that means just as a quick example I don't have the exact year in front of me I apologize but

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let's say that for some reason that main was installed in 1976. It falls outside of the stipulation that we have to follow with prioritizing. However what we're working on and I have to talk to the the team about is um looking for approval to do that road. So, it is not

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the only remaining non-protected steel road in the neighborhood, but we have to go through a couple additional steps on our end, which we're working on in parallel, but we won't have answers on that for for a little bit. >> Thank you, >> Joseph. How does uh that

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repair plan for roads work when it's a culdeac? I do see one culde-sac on here at the end of Stratton. Oh, then there's two culde-sacs. There's fourth place and then there's if you go north on that right next to Holly, there's Stratton Drive and it ends in a

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culde-sac. Mhm. >> No. Office >> um so um that that would be I think that was um a full that company went into and and they did take half of that route.

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Um, so I would expect that you would be paying the other half of that. >> Yes, sir. >> Yes, sir. >> Thank you. And Kelly, Kelly, was it? >> Yes. Thanks again for being here and u

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we're we're appreciative of the comprehensive communication plan with the residents. Uh I know you the police department put something out about this a few weeks ago as well. Um, is is this something you can share with our team so we can put it out for our residents on our Facebook page?

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>> Yeah, I think we just um we have to adjust the map a little bit because it does have the location of the guest and the structure. We can't make that public knowledge, but we'll adjust the map accordingly and be able to share a map of exactly where we were.

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>> Quick question about um How Drive and Lambert Drive. What um what exactly is under review? Are they similar to price to where you're not sure? >> Yeah. So, it's a similar situation. Um I what we're working through with Jim and Rick closely is we we understand that

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the history of both of the roads and the pave being under moratorum and being paved again, they do qualify. So, we're just um trying to work through an understanding and a plan with how we're going to address those or wait until a later date possibly with moratorum

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status, but we're working through that. So that's the under review is is for continuing conversations. When we presented the project, we remain aware of the recent activity on both roads. >> Okay. Wonderful. Thank you. >> Sorry, just uh you said you're moving

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meters from inside of of residents homes to the outside. What type of work does that entail? >> So that so typically we will so it's the service point from the street where it connects to the mains to the hall. So we get behind the curb either utilizing the

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existing piping which means we might have two openings one near the street and one near the to get pipe in the existing infrastructure. If we can't do that for some reason if the pipe size is smaller you depending on each service is evaluated but um we

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may have to still dig two holes but we would use what we refer to as like a missile like an underground hop hole. They would shoot undergrounds with markouts in place um to not disturb and open cut the lawn. The last resort is open cutting a lawn to get us to that

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premise and then we would replace and restoring pines. You know, we put grass back, we would receat if necessary, you know, put the sod back and and maintain that way. Um the meter work, what happens is we now have to make sure that we can pipe uh outside, you know, to inside. So, it's new new piping uh

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plumbing piping um to the meter set that's going to be installed outside of the home. And then we disconnect the old um connection in the home and they remove the old meter. >> Answer. >> Oh, yeah. Perfect. >> And there's there's a little bit of

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downtime. That's why those appointments are scheduled. So once we make that appointment and we're ready to do that transition, it's we we say between 2 to four hours where the customer would lose um their gas service while we're making those reconnections and then we re relight their appliances for them before

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we leave the premise. So it's it's a window of 2 to four hours. Typical average is a 2-hour impact to the customer. >> When you uh dig the street for the main are those PSEG employees or do you still contract that? So this is going to be

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subcontract out. So we have a PSEG inspector with the contractor at all times. We also have PSEG supervisor overseeing the work and then we have a contractor but the inside work in the home it will only be PSEG employees. So our contractor does not do any work

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inside the customer's home. >> Thank you. Good question. >> Thank you so much. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you for having us. >> And by the way, Kelly, it was Catherine on here. I didn't I didn't mess that up. Somebody else

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>> called it when I came in. >> It was the last minute. >> Nah, no worries. I just didn't want to take the blame for it. >> Me too. >> Uh, approval of minutes. June 9th, regular meeting minutes. Do we have a motion?

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Make a motion. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Roll call. >> Dr. Caldwell. >> Yes. >> Miss Maddox. Canteen. >> Yes. >> Mr. Carr. >> Yes. >> Miss >> Abstain. Mayor Henley. >> Yes. >> Uh, four or yes. Motion passes.

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>> We're going to open the open meeting to public comment on agenda items only. Please remember to state your name and address for the record. Uh Gail Baron 138 Winstead. Um two comments on the agenda, items 12 A and 12B.

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So on 12A, which is the resolution approving the agreement with LEW, um that's 102-26, I was taking a look at the the resolution and then I looked at the attachment uh which was the contract/aggreement.

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So my comment is the resolution states this was not open for public bid. Is that is that accurate? There was no sort of bidding process. It was just solicited to provide the services. >> Yes. Okay. Um

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and was the solicitation posted that listed the requirements for the response? Cuz I looked on the website, I couldn't find it. Normally, we sort of see these RFPs kind of posted up on the township

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website. This is this is no cost >> just contracting for the services. Okay. Um my my only other comment about that was the contract/aggreement piece of this. Is this the agreement that we're executing? The one that's

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attached in the packet. Do you know? My my only observation on that is that um on that contract/aggreement which I believe is let me see if I can find it.

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So, it's page two of the I'm sorry, page Yeah, page two of the proposal/contract. This is what caught my eye is that there's an arbitration clause inserted into this.

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And we typically do not agree to arbitration clauses. Um, the reason I asked if it was sort of posted as a proposal is that you can sort of wave that if you asked for that to be included in the response to the

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proposal. That's why I was looking to read the actual, you know, request to see what was put out there to receive the solicitation back. Um, if this was added in after, my understanding on New Jersey public

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contract law is that that would be a violation of the New Jersey public contract law. I'm just bringing that up. You can continue to sort of knowingly agree to the arbitration, assuming you know that it's there in the agreement. That's why I was asking if

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this was the actual contract agreement that you'd be executing. So, that's my comment. Um, I'm typically skittish around arbitration clauses. Uh, I guess check with township solicitor on that. See what his comfort level is like on that.

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Um, going on to 12B, the authorizing the membership in Camden County. Uh, my only observation on this is in the packet it was referencing Bergen County. So, I'm not sure why the

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paperwork said Bergen County. Um, because it says here we're executing an agreement with Camden County. So, are we is Camden part of Bergen County? I'm just curious as to why Bergen County was mentioned in the paperwork

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as the overriding authority to enter into the co-op. That's the end of my comment. Thank you. With no other public comments on agenda items only, do we have a motion to close?

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>> Some move. >> All in favor? >> I see. >> Reports. We have police, public works, construction, and courts ordinance. Second reading 9-2026. by an ordinance authorizing the

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acquisition of various capital equipment and completion of various capital improvement in and for the township of Westampton County of Burlington, New Jersey, appropriating the sum of 1,620,000. Therefore authorizing the issuance of general obligation bonds or bond

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anticipation notes of the township of West Hampton, County of Burlington, New Jersey in the aggregate principal amount of up to 1,539,000 making certain determinations and covenants and authorizing certain

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related actions in connection with the foregoing. Do you have a motion? >> I make a motion for ordinance 9-26. Mayor, you got to open the floor first. >> I got to open the floor after the motion. >> You You would do both. >> See,

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>> whatever your comfort level is. >> Second. >> It's not our first row. Yeah. Now we open for public comment. >> N Thank you, Kim. With no public comment, uh, roll call. >> Dr. Caldwell,

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>> yes. >> Miss Maddox, Pantene, >> yes. >> Mr. Carr, >> yes. >> Miss, >> yes. >> Mayor Henley, >> yes. Five. Yes. Motion passes. >> Resolution 101-26, payment of vouchers. This resolution approves the payment of bills through 7-7

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2026. Do we have a motion? >> Motion. >> Second. Clo. >> Any discussion? >> Roll call. >> Dr. Paulo. >> Yes. >> Miss Maddox Canteen. >> Mr. Clark. >> Yes. >> Miss >> Yes. >> Mayor Henley? >> Yes.

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>> Or yes. One extension will be >> consent agenda resolution. Resolution notes consent agenda items are considered to be routine and will be enacted with a single motion. Any items requiring expenditure supported by a certification of availability of funds. Any items requiring discussion will be

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removed from the consent agenda. Question. Do do you want to review uh 12 12A or no? Are you feel comfortable? I feel comfortable with the council uh

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approving the resolution um with them and subject to my legal review of the the terms of the contract which is customary for me to review contract make any changes that are necessary as long as the substance of the work remains the same. >> Fair enough.

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Uh motion I make a motion for the consent agenda. >> Second. >> Any discussion? Um, apologize I didn't ask sooner, but could you just explain the determination of the animal control

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services agreement? >> The the uh the >> termination of the animal control services agreement. Can you just explain that to me? >> Why? >> Okay, sir. Jim, if you want me, I can just give a summary of under the terms

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of the contract. Uh, for no cause, the contract can be, uh, terminated based on 90 days notice, and that's what's being exercised here, uh, based on the experience, uh, the township administrator wants to go back to using the same, uh, animal control officer

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that previously been used. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Just a comment. Thanks, Gary. on on B. Um uh I don't want to say it's immaterial. It's definitely material, but I think entering a co-op's a good good

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opportunity for the township. So, it's a misprint. I'm sure it could be fixed. >> Absolutely. Thanks, Gary. Roll call. >> Dr. Pa, >> yes. >> Miss, >> yes. >> Mr. Park, >> yes. >> Mondo, >> yes. >> Mayor H.

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>> Yes. Now open the to open the meeting for public comment. Please remember to state your name and address for record. >> Hello, my name is Michelle Lucer. I live at 97 Alexander Way. >> Hi, my name is Megan Mitchell. I live at

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87 Alexander Way. Um, just a little bit of background. I bought my first ever home here in 1999. And when I moved away and then found myself needing to come back and purchase a home, this is where I looked. Um, I've lived here for 2 and a half years since then. Um, I lived at in Rolling Hills before that. Um, right

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now I don't feel safe in my home and but there's a number of reasons why. I live in um Laurel Run and we're having a number of issues in Laurel Run with um some of the children in the community and their accountability. Are you aware of anything that's been happening in

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there? Okay. So, just for everybody's clarity, um things like people ping on the sides of our homes, golf balls being thrown in our back windows, garage doors being kicked in, large fights in the open area, fireworks that were going off

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by the kids, destruction of the playground and the lighting, nuisance, trash everywhere, car break-ins. That's what we're dealing with right now in our community. It's horrendous. And it's gotten worse since the kids have gotten out of school. A lot of them, everybody knows who they are. We had the pleasure

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to meet with um Chief Ferguson earlier last week. We're at our wit's end. I don't feel safe. She doesn't feel safe. All these people that are here do not feel safe. That's why we were here. Um we are hoping to request that um why am I forgetting the

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name of it? It's on my phone. I forget what it's called. That's why I have to look it up. Um the ordinance I to say the ordinance where >> I read your comment on Facebook. >> Yes. So where the parents are responsible for their children. We know there are steps that go with that. Um but at this point it's been out of

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control. I put a survey out to just my community this morning. Um and then later on the afternoon I thought to do it to the entire town of Westampton. Um right now I'm over 40 people that have replied in favor of this. Obviously this has only been a couple hours. Um we're looking for the support from the

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township in getting this ordinance enacted. So the police department when they can come in, there's not a whole lot they can do with these kids and they know that they can't be touched and they don't really care. Um, and their parents don't really care what they're doing. But it's come to the point where we are not safe. Our properties aren't safe.

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Um, we've been begging our HOA to be able to put fencing in at a cost of us because of the safety issue. Um, but it still isn't getting any better. Like that's just something that we're I don't even know what to say. We're at our wits end. We're we're asking for some help. We're asking that you please reook at

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this ordinance and enact it here in the town so that the police department can do their job appropriately with what is going on in our community. >> Thank you. I have a question. So, I know that you you guys have a plan that you're working on, right? But do they

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have uh so their HOA, right? Because they have an HOA. Do they are they obligated or can we obligate them to have any security there? security. >> No, I mean outside of us, right? Like they have their they have a lot of their own things over there, right? They

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collect their own trash. They they have their own >> That's only right now until That's another question that we're going to have about when the um what is the the word I'm looking for? When the when the bond is released and we become part of that township because that hasn't happened yet. >> Say what you just said one more time. So

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the the the bond hasn't been released um for the town for us to really be part of the township. Apparently we're in this like gray zone right now where we are in the township and we're not. We're only paying for our trash because we're considered private right now. Um we're only paying for our snow removal, I believe, because we're private right

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now. But once that happens, then we So no, our HOA is not responsible for um providing any kind of security at all. We pay for all that stuff right now because the bond hasn't been released. We don't even have Rose paid. We lived there for 2 and 1/2 years. >> But without the bond being released, I

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don't know. I'm not an attorney, so I I do apologize. I'm just thinking out loud. Like, so do can we obligate them to do anything? Like, the bond's not released. Can we obligate them to to I mean, I'm not saying that our police aren't going to be there as well, but to add additional protection if they have

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an issue and it's something that we're continuing to respond to that they have don't they have to >> That's not the issue, sir. >> The issue is the accountability of the kids. No matter how much security we have there, something has to be done to stop them. The only thing that's going to be done is not just a slap on the

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hand and be like laughing as they go along. >> I'm not saying that at all. >> I'm not saying I'm not saying that at all. I'm just asking if we have additional security what that looks like. I'm not saying that fixes the problem at all. >> Give me one moment. You have your

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opportunity. So, if I understand your question, in like an apartment complex, if there's a uh a resident in the apartment complex that's being disruptive to the rest of the residents, the landlord would then have uh the ability to evict that individual. You're

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is that kind of the line of thought that you're thinking >> that way or having additional security that helps along with our police department? Right. Typically um responsibilities and duties like that are established prior to the beginning of the project with the deed restriction

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and the homeowners association bylaws and those which already would be formed by now. Um I don't think this is like a gated type community which would have private security or um those types of enforcement provisions. without reviewing the actual deed restrictions

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um and the bylaws. I can't tell you for sure, but I would be surprised if if those responsibilities are within the homeowners association. And ma'am, don't get me wrong, I'm not disagreeing what you're saying. I'm not saying that I don't think that you that you guys need that. I'm just asking questions

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>> so that if anybody else asked me, right, outside of Laura run that I'm able to answer those questions as well. So, Steve, I got a question for you. So when you encounter these problems right with these children there's nothing you could do >> nothing you could do >> what's the options

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>> large scale respons when we get there working aware there she saw to the future.

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>> Yeah, >> there's some government call a lot of times these things get reported on social media and a lot of problems going on social media 24/7. So I encourage them to call call. I've

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stepped up the choice as much as I can. Um I'm I'm I'm leaning on the lines of having enforcement at this point. >> Um sometimes I get the point across fairly across the board. I think that

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would be against any kind of rules or regulations. Um but in there kind of a presence in there. Um, we suggested, you know, in the past that we put a extra car over there doing my seat cars, but we we were we're

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going to come up with some ideas. Maybe even a camera on a pole. Um, I don't know how we feel about that. I drive around to the warehouse right now. You see these cameras every blue light. Um, for surveillance purposes, uh, we're excited. We got one of them as of this

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morning. is coming afraid that they have to understand put that under that you know but I didn't want to say anything until we actually did that

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too >> and I want to ask you this but you can say that you need to uncover or you need to look into it from what we're saying does this this ordinance if we're able to look into it, does that help like does that help give you more leverage on

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what you can do? >> Chief, they put it in place after they had a issue registered events which led them to all future events. Um today we put all the books there for a year. We've

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only had to use it one time. sometimes without books, parents know about it. Social media wise, uh they got a pretty good journalist on every major Philadelphia news station and they haven't.

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>> That's what we're looking for. >> Um because we feel like once they know that there's some accountability, then they're going to be reeled in a bit a little bit and then that this is going to curb it. Not saying it has to be used all the time, but when I say it's out of control, it's out of control. I mean,

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it's not just here and there a little bit of things like like any given moment I'm waiting for something to happen to my home. So, you know, >> Yeah. I don't want you to look like that. >> Yeah. You know what what's so important and I am so thankful that you ladies and gentlemen are coming forth with this.

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I've read it on 08060. Um, at any given time I'm riding around the township and to hear behavior like this, there has to be accountability. You and I, we don't work just to have our property damaged and people to do

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things. I don't want to see my children watching someone urinate somewhere or see fights and things like that or have to be worried about my safety when I'm going somewhere. That is unacceptable. Quality of life in Westampton, Laurel

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Run, all over Westampton has to be restored and we all have to take accountability for that. I don't accept it and I don't expect anyone else just to accept it and sit idle while things like that are happening because guess what? I don't want to be in the news

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when your child or my child is hurt behind something like that. We have an opportunity to do something about it and we have to do something about it. Who's responsible for the children? Their parents. Exactly. You just gave me chills, by the way. I I

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literally still have chills right now because that is what we were looking to hear from our township. Exactly. That what you guys are offering to help us with is why we're standing here and we thank you very much. Um and whatever we can do, you know, to work with the police department. Um I know the

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apartment complex has also been in contact with them. It's it's a lot of different working things, but the accountability is all we're asking for right now because we think that that's going to help curb all of this. >> In in your opinion, go ahead. >> In your opinion, how many of the children engaged in this behavior are

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from your area? >> So, we happen to know where some of it's coming from in our town homes. Um, and but a lot of it is coming from the apartments cuz we know who these kids are. They know who these kids are. We see them. We know. We just watched them when we were picking each other up to

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come here. Um, and we're like, "Oh god, where what are they doing right now?" So, a lot of it is in our community. A lot of it is the apartment complexes that have become friends with people in the town homes. Um, and I I do believe do do we get people from Willing Brow

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over or from neighboring towns? Probably. Um, but not really. That's not what we're feeling. We're feeling like it's our community and the um them just being able to run a muk and their parent they're out of the parents

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apartment and they're like just go and they maybe the parents aren't aware. >> I was going to say have you guys ever have any of you guys ever talked to any of the parents? >> We don't know who the parents are. I mean the apartment complex is huge. We know who some of the ones in our community are in our there's a couple

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houses in our townhouse. Um, we have not been, what's the word I'm looking for? We're scared of them now because they >> the parents. >> We're we we're scared to speak up around them anymore. That's how volatile it is

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and how their parents we're afraid of them doing something to us >> at some of these homes. So, this is what we're living with every day. I realize you may not have the answer to this, but I'm curious if should the police engage the juvenile

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from out of town, are the parents from that out of town subject to our >> I have not yet read, but I imagine that there's some kind of mechanism that holds the parents accountable for the behavior and actions of the children >> if they don't live in our jail. Yeah, I

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was >> I'm generally familiar with the W township ordinance for parental uh responsibility. I'm not sufficiently to to answer that question. Uh there was also some state legislation that was adopted uh I believe in 2025.

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Um I've again looked at it. I'm not that familiar with his answer off the cuff, but prior to the next meeting action review, both of those work with the chief and the the administrator um and discussing it further with council with the committee

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>> and not to put more work on the schools, but now that we'll have a SRO in the building, you know, getting to know those kids is going to be huge. I know for me in a district that has an SRO, we knew about things that were happening in the community based on Facebook. I was able to identify kids as the principal.

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So, I would definitely just you know use the school to our advantage too to I know summer it's now summertime but um you know for any kind of assistance or help um that they can at least help identify you know getting you contact information that kind of stuff too and

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hopefully the SRO can make some relationships with these kids and make some sort of difference too. >> Can you hear something? >> Go ahead. >> That's okay. >> Thank you. I'm from My name is Tracy Reid and I'm from 45 Alexander Way and I'm with them.

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We've knocked on houses um to get email addresses to try to make change in our community. Um with that said, we found out that about 60% of our community is investors, which is not

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what we bought into. So, I don't know if the township knew that when you guys approved the building. I don't know how that happened, but this is part of the problem is that when we were going to some of these houses, they were just some were like, "Okay, we'll give it to

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our landlord to fill out." We had a QR code. Other ones were like not answering the door, you know. But going back to what she was saying about our community and stuff, I'm on the board and I

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reached out to our property manager about is there a way we can shut down the park because they threw cans, broken bottles, glass all over the park. Um, people were trying to clean it up, but they weren't touching the glass. I

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wouldn't neither. Um, she said, "We can't close the park." I said, "Can we put a gate around the park and have a keypass like apartments do with the swimming pool?" She said, "No, we can't do that." And I said, "Why?" She said, "Until the bond is released to

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Dr. Horton and the developers, we can't do anything with our livelihood documents." So, that kind of like answers about Dr. Horton. I think they should be responsible for doing some of this. We have path lights that every

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time these kids take a golf club and break the top of it or smash it with a ball or I saw this big rock right next to a broken one. We reported to our HOA to have them fix it. It's like $500 and some dollars to fix to. Then our lights

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go out. We asked them, you know, what's going on with their lights. They went out and checked them. They think that it could be a breaker or wiring issue that the builder Dr. Horton is going to have electrician come out and look at it. We don't hear anything coming in on Francis

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Way off of is that Springdale >> Springside. Um there's two poles, light poles down that's been down for over a year from an accident. Nobody, the insurance company has no idea. Nobody has no idea about this accident.

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>> Wires that are sparking. Yes. Yes. Live wires on the ground. People are complaining about the safety and then we got everything with the kids. So my feeling is if Deon and the developer are not doing their part of what they sold

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us into this beautiful commu community and fix it to where it should be. They should be held responsible for fixing the lights, fixing the playground. It's costing us homeowners more money. The apartments do pay like 41% and or 49%

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were 51% of the shared costs, but the damages are every day. We have some community members here tonight that actually cleaned up some of the cups and stuff, but left the fireworks, all the papers from the fireworks because

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Saturday night they were shooting off fireworks. I was walking my dog at 11:30. And I literally like was and shocked cuz I thought I was getting shot at because some of the fire was boom boom boom boom. And I'm like what's going on? And they were coming from the park. And I do know

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somebody reported that in our WhatsApp group that they did call thankfully. But it's like these kids just and the parent when I was driving by I know where the kids were coming from. There's 25 of them coming out of somebody's garage at 11:20. And I'm thinking, oh, maybe

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because of the storm, they're ready to go home now. I was in Ocean City, so I don't know when the storm hit here, but no, it's like boom, boom, boom. And the parents standing there and it's just out of control. But from what I'm told, we can't do anything with really anything

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on the property until the bond is released. So, can I speak to that? >> Yes. So basically what she's saying is we're caught between a rock and a hard place right now. And like I said, I've been there for 2 and 1/2 years and nothing has changed. I thought roads were going to get paved the second we

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sold the last houses last October. Um there's a pond behind my house that was supposed to be beautiful with a fountain. It's a mud pit and apparently that's part of the reason is the developer can't get that under control and it's not doing what it needs to do as far as draining is all over the the

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it's I don't even know what to say. It's horrible. So, nothing's being turned over and the bond isn't being released because they're not being held accountable. We're talking about accountability to our builder and the um and Dr. Horton and the developer Espazto

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like everyone just pointing fingers at everybody else and nothing's getting done and we're sitting here going how do we get something done? So, not only we're having a kid issue but we're having this other issue which also does kind of roll in together that we're not technically part of the town. are considered private property still, but

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we shouldn't at this point in time. The last house sold last October. >> I mean, we're talking it's July now. So, you >> would you say our roads aren't paved? No, we have we have flooding that that storm flooding all over the place. Um

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there cuz the drains are like up this high and then the roads are down below. So, nothing's draining. It's a mess all over the place. Like, yeah, no roads paved. I mean, it's just you're like weaving in and out of like hazards every time you come into your home because of >> Yeah. So, you're trying not to hit the

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sewer and then you got the potholes that have some stuff around them. So, you're trying to like weave in there. Like, it's try to drive through there. >> I'm just there like uh maybe last week. >> Okay. >> I brought my mic here. >> Okay.

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>> And Miss Mitchell uh you were here our last meeting, were you not? Yeah. Okay. So, we've been in touch with our engineer and they've been in touch with ESPO about the punch list and they were they're a lot of email traffic is going back and forth regarding uh your

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concerns regarding that as well. Okay. >> Okay. >> ETA on this has been a parking and towing policy. So, we're just waiting for our signs and and all that stuff. That's another

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problem we're having is cars. We have aa >> three three homes in our development are AAA and they they bring they're not supposed to have their commercial vehicles in there period but they do all the time. Um park in front of the first stop sign when you you get in there but they are now abandoning cars all

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throughout our out our community. I'm not kidding you. We can tell you >> cars with utilities there. >> Mhm. That are inappropriable. >> How many days? >> Oh, days. >> They're weeks, months, years. We This has taken us forever. I'm not even kidding you. To finally get this parking and towing thing done. Um so hopefully

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in the next week or two. >> No tags. We also have some cars that are here that somebody's watching for. But no, we don't have enough park. >> They have cars here. Say that one more time.

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>> Military. >> A resident will be holding holding cards for other people. That's one that's one thing that we're working on. But the other one is all these abandoned cars. Um, no tags, expired tags. I mean, I was brazen. I I know I probably shouldn't have done this and I was just really

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really angry, but but I was outside a couple weeks ago and I was watching them watching them take one off a flatbed to dump it in another parking spot where nobody can park because we can't find parking spots at night. I just stood in the middle of the parking spot and the guy's screaming at me. I'm just standing there. He's like, "You need to move." I

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said, "I don't have to move." I said, "You're about to dump this car here like you've dumped every other car here and it's not going to move." Oh, this is my second car. I'm like, it has expired tags. It It hasn't moved. >> So, I got over a month ago. I had it. He's like, "I'm calling the police." He said, "Call the police." And I said,

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"The little officer came out." I said, "I apologize." He's like, "It's okay. This is what we're coming out." I said, "I am just so fed up." And he's like, "I understand." I said, "Just talk to me." I said, "I'm going to I'm going to move. I'm going to move, but I am making my point to this. They're they all know each other. We

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figured this out. All of our knocking on doors and walking around. We know where everybody is and who everybody is and we literally watch them doing this. So, um, with this new parking and towing thing, we have to get our signs put up and then they are given what 48 hours to move their vehicles. If not, they're going to

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start getting away from that. >> Yeah, we're finally I mean, this is this has been a long time coming. Yeah. and all that stuff that we're trying to do. We have to change all the time. We are vaccine

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because these are running behind that is filled with water. Um so they threw um put a yellow floaty. I don't know if something was trying to float in it or not, but that was around there. And I agree with that the kids

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have broken the length. That's another thing you are working with. Yeah. All the kids passion in. But now it's safe because little kids can just go right through it. I said from the beginning that's not that that's not a fence at all. Kids are going down in there.

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Little kids. Little kids. um the the mud, not the next one. Um and I saw her kids were swimming when there was a little bit of water in there. Um and they were little kids and I, you know, away and this is when there

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when a child gets stuck in this one pit and grasp who's responsible, you know, lined up and what's on the fence up. We're talking it's a wood fence with just three bars. Like any clay body of

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wood are usually supposed to have fence fence around it. The kids just weave in and out of it. The little kids and whatever. Then they just go down in there. >> Yeah. >> When ice when it was the winter time with ice, they were out there on there thinking that was an ice skating rink. It could have broken off.

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Are you guys trying to think that that's frozen? And it's not. And then they got off. But this fence I moved in. It's been almost a year. August 15th, I moved in and the fence has been broke.

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Nobody's fixed it. They all dr. >> And then somehow espanol gets thrown over the bus. >> Yeah. We don't know except to come here for help because nobody's helping us. We just keep on

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this. It's it's really crazy and it's a shame that they're building another townships because I think that we've had our HVAC systems trying to do >> Yeah, that's that's all like your

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heat was freezing. The heat wasn't working. Then they didn't design it right. I mean, we just had so many issues and so we just keep on pushing that off on us. So you're absolutely >> and accountability for and you guys said

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that and I can see everybody's head nodding and I I just I'm loving every minute of watching you guys like see us and hear us and agree with us and want to help us and we really truly appreciate that. >> So if there's anything we can do if you want our numbers or anything like we're

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>> we'll look into it from here. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you guys. >> Thank you. Ma'am, did you have something? >> Okay. Uh, gay repair 138 Winstead. Geez, I'm really sorry to hear about my neighbors down the street in that new

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development, what they're going through. Um, and I'm glad that you came here and you have to stand united and this is your government. And uh one thing I'll say about this particular township committee is that they have uh big hearts and open

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minds and they have um the interests of the township at, you know, at their heart. So if they say they're going to do something, I I believe them. And so don't don't get discouraged. That's just my my comment. I would go with the all

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of the above approach. I don't know if you have not considered contacting uh private uh counsel and considering um possibly filing for civil injunctions to kind of bring this to a quicker and faster and more punitive type of

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approach. Something you couldn't think about attorney. >> There you go. It's it's a scary I tell you. All right. I can't get on to that. Um and I know that there's an ordinance, but if you're technically not part of the town, but I

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know there's an ordinance that um vehicles that are not properly titled, registered, etc. They can be towed by the police or who whomever. So that still might be an option cuz that ordinance is still in force. I'm sorry I

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didn't hear you. >> You know, please. >> Okay. >> That's that's really a Bob question. So, uh I would turn that back over to Bob. Maybe he can flesh that out. Um,

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I do want to offer my congratulations to firefighter Arbal. Uh, fantastic. And and congratulations to you all for allowing the chief to inaugurate that kind of an award. Um, the firefighters, EMTs, they they they deserve all the credit they they can get

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and uh we're really grateful to have them here and in service to the township. So, congratulations to him. And on the reports, I guess we didn't really talk about the reports, but I noticed in the June meeting that was canceled, there was the WTS report that

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was in the packet and it wasn't included in this agenda. So, are you resubmitting that? You know, >> okay. Um, is a new It's a new format for the report. I happen to It's still posted up on the website. It's uh I

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really like it. I think it's it's really really helpful for us as residents to read, you know, through the format of that and extract all of the content information from that. So, I like it. Um maybe some of the other departments may consider sort of, you know, just

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stealing the format uh for that. And then lastly, um maybe a little bit of good news. I I hope uh I don't know. There's a nice picture of our deputy mayor here in the Pine Barren Trabune. I I I tend to try to find these obscure

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publications that are around and I say about them. So, I'm going to leave this with you so he can see this nice photograph of you and uh there's a story in there. So, he knows what I'm talking about. So, it was positive. I think um I think uh if you read it, you'll understand the context of it. And you

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know, I'll just say this, uh, deputy mayor, you know, good for you for, you know, what the story talked a little bit about in here. Uh, you know, reaching out to the young people and giving them a lot of encouragement is is really, you don't talk about it here. That's and

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I get that, but it's part of your fabric as a person. And I think that that's, you know, we're lucky to have that here. So, thanks everybody. Thank you. Good evening. Uh my name is Brian, executive director of Guard Animal

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Rescue, which for the next 90 days will be around control. Um it's unfortunate that we are given at least a courtesy that the council is looking to terminate our contract with us as the last week that we had within our meeting is that there is no operational issue with our

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services. the issue is our bill. Um to a point where a comment was made by a party in the meeting saying that I was and I quote lining my pockets by the goals of the town. First off, we are a nonprofit

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organization. I cannot take a salary from my organization. So when it comes into a point where my integrity is questioned, when the documents are directed in front of it, I

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have issues with that. Now going further into it, when we provided the contract with the contract as your clerk contested, we provided you guys with two options. One of them was a flat rate full service for the year

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totaling, I believe, is $1,925 every month. As I'm sure the chief of police can contest to, I am now here all hours of the day with no issues. The county has my direct cell phone. I answer it. Depending if officers call me, I answer.

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And I wanted to be very serious. I had zero issue with your police department. Every one of your officers from the top down were superb. I've been doing animal control for 15 years. I was a human law enforcement six.

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The issues I have are not an operational feat. They are administrative. We provided uh if the members of you that were here last meeting, you had residents that have brought into effect a need for a program to regulate the federal tax.

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I provided that program 5 months ago and the response I got was, "Yeah, we're not interested." Which is interesting because your county supports that program. I have that program in over a 100 municipalities across the state.

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Your township has an issue per cats in four counties that I'm aware of. There's over 100 cats and the response that I've gotten is yeah, we're not interested. that provides your residence with issue of catching their in their in their on

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their property which I'm sure there's any chief contest to I have all those reports myself the health issues of the various viruses that cats can assess and rabies be crystal clear the town has a ra

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situation I provided that notice to the township four months ago in April my my office and me direct information extremely tight have been dealing with that

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and in for that matter had five individuals including myself exposed while I am unfortunate while it is unfortunate that the town is deciding to terminate our contract um where I have

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been attempting to have a meeting with any member of this body to on see where you guys want us. See how your residents are coming to you and what their concerns are. We're not perfect. No organization is. But we are

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making the steps to always provide the best service across the board. Um going back to our contract offer that we provided the township, that first that first option was a flat rate. Would you would have had everything for that number. I pushed your clerk to recommend

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you guys to take that contract, take that option because that is the overall cheaper of the two. It's not a great business move for me, but it provides the township with a flat rate. That way you can appropriately budget for it and it provides your residents with the full

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services that they need. Every time I'm out in the town and I'm in and I'm in town a lot, we we help the residents in every manner that we can. We've offered the TNR program to work to control the feral cat

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program uh calculation. We've offered a free microchip clinic to your residents to microchip their dogs and cats at no cost to the township or your residents. That was shot down. At the end of the day, while we provide

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animal control, that is not our primary function. We are a nonprofit animal rescue to help the residents and the animals is our primary focus. And again, when I have into point the integrity that my personal and professional integrity gets questioned is why I'm

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here today. Um, I did not know that the township was looking to terminate our contract until about an hour before the meeting when I just so happened to look at your agenda. So on that side of it, I've been coming to municipalities for years. It's

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unfortunate that our partnership is going to end like this. Should you guys u again I don't know if you already voted on that or not. If you guys did, it is unfortunate that that is the route that the township is looking to go because at the end of the day, we are ultimately trying to provide the township, your department, and your

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residents with the best service that we can. And as is made very obvious to me when I speak with your officers, your last provider wasn't that great. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> No other questions. Motion to close.

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>> Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. Mayor. >> You want to talk in the mic? Well, you don't have to. You got a loud voice. I'm going to hang out with you. Uh Jean War is his 10y year anniversary. You need the microphone for that, I

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guess. >> Congratulations, Chief. >> Congratulations. >> All right, so dates to remember. Well, we're going to close with public comment. All in favor? >> I. >> Dates to remember. Next recreation committee meeting is July 8th at 7:00 p.m. Historic Commission July 22nd at

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7:00 p.m. Land Development Board meeting is August 5th at 7 p.m. Uh Township Committee meeting is August 11th at 7 p.m. Now we have uh committee liaison reports and comments. >> Um I'll start. I was going to thank the

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chief for even doing the quarterly award because I think that's really cool to do like an employee. IC employee of the month by employee quarterly and then they get a parking spot. Very cool. So congratulations to Julian Arbod for earning or receiving that first um

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recognition and congratulations 10 years. Thank you for your leadership to our town. Um it's greatly appreciated. Thank you for shouting him out. Um the PSEG U presentation I thought was very good because I didn't know any of this was happening. So that was um very

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helpful. Thank for you, Rick, too, for your input there. Um, thank you to the residents for coming out and sharing your concerns. Again, something I was not aware of. Um, I I haven't been on Facebook lately, so I I was not aware that you guys were having those issues there in the um in your community. So,

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thank you for sharing, and um I thank Gary for those kind words about our committee. Um I think that we do really care. So we will do what we can if if possible obviously within our um purview to be able to to help you. Um

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I don't have any liaison um reports. Our historic committee um had a meeting last or not. We had a meeting in May and then there were no other um new business. So they've been postponed since. So that's all I have. Thank you.

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Good evening everyone. Um, thank you for coming out. I agree with everything that committee woman stated um and definitely share the same sentiments. Congratulations to ENT Julian on being the first employee of the quarter. I thought it was really awesome. We have

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to um recognize people as much as we possibly can and so I'm looking forward to the next one. Um, happy 10 years to you, Chief Farnsworth. Um, that's nothing small, it's a big deal. Um and we appreciate your line of work and everything that you do for the township.

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Also thank um all of our department head department heads for the monthly reports. Um I do read them. I read them this month. You can tell that a lot of time and detail go into the reports. I appreciate the photos. We can't be in every section of the township and so being able to read that brings us up to

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speed and keeps us up to date with what's going on. So thank you all. We really appreciate it. Um as far as liaison reports, don't have much of a report. did go to the graduation at West Hampton Middle School on June 17th was absolutely wonderful. Something that I

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take pride and joy in and just seeing them excel and get ready for their next phases in life. And I believe it's all of our duty and responsibility to support them, push them along, and encourage them. They definitely are our future. Um, and last but not least, I hate that we have to address this, but

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to all of our Laura Run residents, um, Michelle, um, thank you for coming out. And you know, I was disappointed to hear everything that you're going through. It kind of sounds a little bit like a living horror story and it's not just one thing. It seems like it's multiple

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things over long periods of time. And I definitely, like I said, was disappointed and horrified to hear it. However, I'm glad that you came. I'm glad that you spoke about it. We all need to know what's going on and and try to provide insight, guidance, and to see what it is that we can do. I also like

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that you brought a solution. And so to that point, I am going to um Google this ordinance that you're referring to from Gloucester Township and I look forward to being presented that ordinance specific to West Hampton Township. You shouldn't have to go through these things. So, anything we can try to do,

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it might not be perfect, but just making some type of progress. It sounds like that's what you're looking for, safety, progress, and to be heard. And that's all my comments. Thank you. >> Uh good evening everyone, and thank you all for your attendance. Uh congratulations, Chief, for 10 years of dedicated service. And we also

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appreciate the fact that you um instituted this great award for Julian and uh we're looking forward to having great things from him. Um the PSCG presentation was awesome. We look forward to this project. Anything that can help perpetuate the success of of

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this great town. Um we're looking forward to this project. I'm just uh looking at the fact that it's a 10-month project. I'm hoping it doesn't turn into a project that's years down the road. Um

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so obviously uh we have to stay on them and make sure that we monitor everything that happens with regard to that project. Um also uh for all of the reports, police, public works, construction, and the courts. Thank you for those uh reports. A lot of great

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information. You learned so much by looking at those reports and the amount of time and effort that went into those. We really appreciate those. Um, in terms of liaison, uh, committee reports. Um, I too attended the, uh, West Hampton

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Middle School graduation. Um, my daughter graduated along with, uh, police chief. I mean, we all attended that graduation. So, we were very happy to be there. um an excellent uh show of success for the kids and uh we're

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looking forward to great things wherever they go whether it's RV or BCIT or wherever they go. So we're happy with that. As far as as the recreation committee is concerned, um they continue to do great things. Uh camp is going on

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now. I was there three times yesterday. Rain, no rain. Pick them up, drop them off, pick them back up. uh and just to see all of the different things that was going on on that field from volleyball to multisports to dance. Uh we dropped

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them off, we picked them back up, uh the rain. So, uh it's just great to see that Todd and Robin, those those guys continue to do a tremendous uh work for the kids, not only in this particular township, but all over. And um uh happy

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to see great things. I guess we'll be meeting tomorrow also to look at uh the amount of programs that we have uh going on. Everything from flag football to Zumba and you know all those other kind of things. Um ladies and gentlemen, I am

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touched um more than you'll ever know with regard to your thoughts and your feelings. Um, we pay a lot of money, not just for our property, but for taxes and all of these

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other kind of things. If you're anything like me, I just want peace. I want to be able to go where I pay and enjoy it. I don't want to have to deal with those other outside things. I want people to

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be responsible for their property, for what they do, and I want them to be responsible for their children, just like I'm responsible for mine. If mine does something, I want to be addressed so I can take care of that. Um, it is

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disheartening to hear that when you talk about the great American dream of purchasing a home and having a nice car and doing all of these other kind of things, you have to be subjected to behavioral like that. Not just as

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adults. I want my children to experience that as well. And you have elected officials here and we're responsible. And I'm glad you guys came here because you came, you brought the problem to us.

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And I charge all of us with being able to do something so your quality of life is better. We have to do what we have to do to make it better. Not just for you guys. We all I'm a resident of West Hampton just like you are. and I want to

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be able to go to work, come home, enjoy life, and and that's not too much to ask for. And I'm glad that you thought to come to your elected officials and say, "Listen, we have a problem and we need your help." And now the responsibility

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is on our shoulders to do what we can to try to help you to have a better quality of life. Um, this is not an easy job sitting up here. We have good days and we have bad days, but if we don't know it's broken, we can't try to fix it. And there's a lot going on in this city and

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a lot of things that we're trying to do. And having law run in that quagmire of part of it, not part of it, it it's got to be very difficult. Um and uh I assure

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you that um trouble doesn't last always. >> Thank you. I really appreciate Gail turning up the heat on our responsibilities. So, thank you. >> Um,

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I DO >> I I echo all of our my colleagues statements. I don't want to beat a dead horse. Um, one question was asked, ma'am. Uh, do we have a ETA on that? Um, I'm failing in my response for I do not have an answer for you right now, but I will get it. I will dig back into that. I can assure you that our uh

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administrator and engineer were working on it immediately after uh you brought it up to our attention the last time and I'll follow up on it this week. I think we have a meeting tomorrow as well, sir uh with Miss Mitchell. So uh denied and

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>> how oh my god they're so great. It's awesome. They're helping us. But how do we know what's happening? I don't know how to answer that. I can ask our administrator to make sure he fills you in, but sometimes we're still filtering through information as well.

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You know, like the last time uh you came, we reached out to our engineer to help us just wade through that quagmire to figure out what's going on, right? and the engineer has his team work on it and then they send the email, you know, requesting information from that

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developer, the Espanito, and I'm not even sure if we received an answer to that, you know. So, the best I could say is I'll ask the administrator and his team to to try to stay in contact with you, keep up to

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date information. Uh, I think the not the reluctance to that, but sometimes we don't want to give you bad information either until we know it's true. As well, um, our next meeting is August, I believe, and between now and then, we uh have some

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time to work on the ordinance, look into it, uh, tweak the language if necessary, and get that introduced. It takes two meetings for the ordinance to be introduced. Um, so you're looking at late August, early September for that to go live as well if uh the whole

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committee agrees to that. So yeah, I'm sorry that's not the best answer. >> Yeah, it's >> Yeah. >> How about this? But when when we follow up this week into it, if we have no update, we'll let you know if we have no

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update. How's that? the last meeting we have seen the developer outage >> uh it makes it very difficult to keep minutes um when people aren't coming up to the um the the microphone here also

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public comment has been closed um >> guys are breaking the rules I'm joking I'm joking I'm joking No, no, I'm at you. >> I appreciate it. I know it's a difficult situation to be dealing with right now and I I I wholeheartly agree with uh

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Mrs. Kanty Maddox's comments. I want to just be able to enjoy my space. So, I'm sorry that you're not able to do that right now. Um, with that, I thanks Gary as well. You're always in the details and that's very

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much appreciated. I also think you have $300 in subscription fees to all the papers you follow. Every time I try to look at something you bring up, I hit a pay wall or something. It's uh but seriously do appreciate it. And uh thank you to uh firefighter

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Arbaugh for his great work and dedication to our town. And my last comments regarding Chief Farnsworth. Um he's been a fab a piece of a big piece of yarn to our fabric of our community. His mother was my school teacher in Westampton Middle. I don't know about we

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might might have to make July 7th birthday or something. >> You bring the cupcake. >> Got a shot out of it. >> Get you a shot right. >> That concludes my comments, Mr. Mayor, and thank you to our neighbors. Thank you.

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>> Thank you. Um I try to keep it short but sweet, which has never been a good thing. Um maybe And Craig does a good job of this. Maybe you guys have your Laurel Run Facebook page. Maybe we can send some updates on

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there. That sound like something is that or you guys all a part of that where you'll be able to read and also let me notify some of the parents that are having some of the issues, some of the things that you guys are are struggling with or some of the things you're trying to achieve and maybe that'll help curb

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some of the some of the troubles you're having as well. Right? when they see that, you know, the township is involved and we're making comments on this page. So, I think that that would be helpful. So, Craig, if you can be I hate to bother you on your anniversary, you know. Um

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um I I we have a history of getting it right. So, that's why I'm a more comfortable maybe right. I don't want that to be taken as me taking it lightly. We just have a really good group of people who have a

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who have a who have a history of getting it right. Um, and sometimes it doesn't takes us take us two weeks to get it right. Sometimes it takes us a month, but we do get it right. Uh, and you have a committee who has a history of figuring out and getting it right. Like,

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uh, we're around we we're we're very fortunate that we're all in different parts of the town. So that's why when you talk about the street, I'm like, I just wrote zoomed through there. Like I just rode through on my bike. Like I I did see that and I I'm troubled that I didn't see the broken light and it wasn't too much going on when I was

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there. It's probably just getting dark. It's probably dust. Um but I'll try to be a little bit more present because if you know as as I see it and I and I have said things to people like I have said things to kids in a polite way. know, but I have asked,

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you know, for different behavior, different things, and usually those people comply. But, um, you know, us being around and, you know, I can I can tell you that Craig's putting things together. I I did talk to them a little I talked to him a little before, not Craig, I mean Chief, um, Ferguson a

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little prior to the meeting, just, you know, trying to figure out exactly what's going on. So I don't want to, you know, tell everything that he's working on, but he is working on some things to to make things a bit easier for you. I'm I'm, you know, saddened that, you know,

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this has been your situation, right? Um, but take comfort in we have history in getting it right. I know that some of you some of you guys haven't been here that long, so that's why I want to stress that. Bear with us. So you we I'm we have a really really and I haven't

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always been able to say this, right? But we have a really really good group of people who are here who really really really care about this town and what it looks like. And I think you can even see that from all the elected officials that were that that are up here who weren't aware everything that was going on. But

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the the as importantly I think our police department was aware, right? So now we just have to have communication back and forth. I'm sure our our administration is aware. So um just give us a bit and feel free to to reach out

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to us. I I would say and I and I'm saying to my animal control gentleman in the back, I know at some point I think that you emailed me, but I haven't had access to email in about 2 months. We've been trying to fix the iPad that I had. It's about 9 years old. So, I think

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behind the desk there, they have a new iPad for me after 9 years. So, um I'll be able to see some of the emails and I and I think that I've heard that you sent me a few emails. Um >> what I would say is we only >> Sure. I'll make sure I give you my

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number and we can have a conversation. Um, but I, you know, I still direct it to we, um, we as elected officials try to manage as much as we can, but it's just as important that we put the people in place here, right, that run the

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township itself. It's it's tough to run a township. All of us have full-time jobs. We all have families. We all do everything that we can possibly do, but we we in our in our lives and in our families to to make things run smoothly and put people in best positions possible, but we also have to do that

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here. So, you know, again, my apologies if if there hasn't been any contact, but I trust the people who are here, who are around me to make the best decision for our town cuz history shows that they very rarely get it wrong. But we are more than welcome to have a conversation

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anytime you like. Um, last but not least, I and this is again, well, one, Gary, thank you for your kind words. And I can guarantee that we'll continue to try to live up to that till the day that someone else takes the seat, whoever that may be, right? And

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that they have bigger shoes to fill in so we set the bar high so that the bar can continue to be raised. Um, as far as the developer, I'll try to get in contact with the developer. I mean, Deputy Mayor Carr and I are both on land

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development board, and I think at some moment, at some point in time, we've probably had some conversations with the developer. I think it's just a a few steps to try to get in contact with the person that matters. So, I make the commitment that I will try to do that and I will have a conversation with them

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about the complaints that we received today and uh and how and how you guys feel about that. So, I'll make that commitment um to get that done. Uh if there's anything else, what I would suggest is those doors are always open.

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And even though it may seem like a bit of a complaint sometimes, I mean, it's what makes us aware. So, you know, don't feel like you can't come in here and and say what you need to say because obviously it gets the attention, right? The squeaky will gets the gets

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the attention and it's not always bad to be the squeaky will. So, um you see change for the better, feel free to come in here and say we've seen change for the better. If you say we still have there's more work to do and you have some other suggestions, then feel free

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to say that as well. Um but I welcome anyone to come here anytime. This is what it's all about. We were elected by you all and that means something to every single one of us up here. It's a, you know, we take an oath to fulfill

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those those rights and those and and take those steps and we take those things very seriously. So again, please let us know what's going on uh one way or another. With that being said, uh, resolution number 10726, resolution

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authorizing the council committee and support staff to meet in private session authorizing exclusion of the public from a portion of the meeting dealing with specific issues requiring non-public decisions. Discussions attorney client privilege uh, ask me collective bargain

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agreement negotiations. Attorney client privilege pending litigation. Do we have a motion? >> I make a motion for 10726. Second. >> Any discussion? >> Roll call. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Mr. Park.

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>> Yes. >> Yes. Henry. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Have a good night. >> Thank you all.

