We're now calling the regular meeting. Order is now 7:00. Requirements of the Sunshine Law have been met. This meeting was advertised at Burlington County Times. Electronic was given to the NJAC scene 5 column 39-1.5. We will now start with the pledge of allegiance.
Thank you. 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.
Roll call. Committee woman Dr. Cwell, present. Committee woman, Miss Maddoxine, present. Committee man, Mr. Carr, here. Committee woman did say that she would be absent this evening. Mayor Henley present. Also present the township solicitor, the
township clerk, township administrator, deputy township administrator, Captain Berry, the fire and EMS, and the public works director Chris H. We will now have approval of minutes June 29th, 2025 special meeting minutes.
Is there is there a motion? I make second. Any discussion? Roll call. Dr. Caldwell. Yes. Miss Maddox Camp. Yes. Mr. Carr. Yes. Mayor Hinley. Yes. Yes. Motion passes. July 8th, 2025 regular meeting minutes.
Do we have a motion? Motion. Second. Any discussion? I noticed that some of the pages look like they might have been smudged. I don't know if these are PDF scans of images. So maybe just next time when you're preparing it, just make sure that they're legible, unless it's really my
eyes that are playing tricks on me. And then also on page I'm going just by the packet. Uh it looks like it's page 16, which contains the police report. It doesn't have a page number of the police report. I'll just kind of hold it up. Maybe you can see it, but it's the uh
the matrix of the monthly police reports. The July column is completely empty. So, normally we do get the monthly reports with all of the uh statistics related to some of the um
some of these specific very discreet activities that the department's engaged with. So, I don't know if it was an omission or if I have the wrong information from when I downloaded earlier. So, it would be helpful to kind of get that data. My other comment is on agenda item 12. It's the consent agend
agenda resolutions. It's 12 C. It's the resolution 123-25, the financial advisor resolution. And that should be page 90 of the packet if you're looking at it. Um, or at least
it might track to page 90 at least when I downloaded it. That's just the text of the revolution. I'm sorry, the resolution. Um, pretty tried to set page page 90. I'm sorry. Uh, sorry. It looks like it's
123. Maybe I have the page number wrong in the packet. Give me a second. It's it is it maybe it's page 60 Bob in the packet. Yeah, sorry. I guess I'm transposing the numbers. It's page 60 in the packet.
It's just a text of resolution. My my comment is um I'm not objecting to entering into the contract with the with the adviserss. It looks like it might be a worthwhile service. The the the comment that I have
is that I was taking a look at their website. They offer 12 services. So, I was looking through the packet and I didn't see the contract um appended to the packet that I had access to. So, I guess my comment is is
there um a contract already in place to employ these folks since you're going to be voting on this resolution? Uh number one, um number two, if there one isn't in place, can you give me the context of the structure of the contract at least? Are we contracting alak cart
picking and choosing of the 12 services that these advisers office or are we kind of doing an all you can eat plan with them? The reason I'm asking about that is because uh some of their services potentially looks like they could overlap with the duties of bond counsel. Now as you know bond counsel is
not specifically um detailed in our ordinances. The duties of bond counsel is actually detailed in the contract or the RFP from 2024. So, I have not had a chance to look at the contract to employee bond counsel, so I don't know what it says,
but um I would just like to double check to make sure that we're quote taxpayers aren't paying twice for the same services. You track what I'm saying on that? Okay. Um thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Uh I may have misunderstood. Uh, was
this for an open discussion on concerns for any issue or No, anything that's on the agenda. Okay. All right. I'll sit back down. All right. We have we'll have another open open forum in in a moment. Okay. Okay. We have now a motion to close public
comment. So move. Second. All in favor? I I I Ordinance first reading 9-2025 an ordinance of the task of West Hampton to fix the salaries, wages, and compensation of certain officials and
employees of the task of West Hampton for the year of 2025. Do you have a motion? I make a motion for 9-25. Second call will any discussion? Roll call. Dr. Caldwell, yes. Miss Kanty, yes. Mr. Park.
Yes. Mayor Henley. Yes. Or yes. Motion passes. Ordinance second reading 8-2025. An ordinance of the township of West Hampton to fix the salaries, wages, and compensation of certain officials and employees of the township of West Hampton for the year of 2025 through
2028. Do we have a motion? Motion. Second. Open for public comment. Roll call. Dr. Coldwell. Yes. Miss Maddoxy. Yes, Mr. Clark. Yes, Mayor Henley. Yes. Yes. Motion pass.
Resolution 109-25 revise resolution imposing a tax lean for the property of 33 Green Brier Drive. Do you have a motion? Make a motion for resolution 109-25. Second. Call. Any discussion?
Roll call. Dr. Coco. Yes. Miss Stantine? Yes. Mr. Clark? Yes. Mayor Henley? Yes. Yes. Motion passes. 119-25 of payment of vouchers. This resolution approves the payment of bills through 812 2025. Do we have a motion?
Motion call. Second. Any discussion? Roll call. Dr. Fwell. Yes. Miss Maddox. Yes. Mr. Park. Yes. Mayor Henley. Yes. Yes. Motion passes. 121-25. Resolution increasing the bid threshold with a qualifying purchasing
agent. Do we have a motion? Motion. Call. Second. Any discussion? Roll call. Dr. Caldwell, yes. Miss Maddox team, yes. Mr. Clark, yes. Mayor Henley, yes.
121-25. Resolution authorizing TDV tax exemption. Do we have a motion? I make a motion for 121. Second. Any discussion? Roll call. Dr. Caldwell? Yes. Miss Maddox? Yes. Mr. Carr? Yes. Mayor Henley?
Yes. Yes. Motion passes. Consent agenda resolution resolution note. Consent agenda items are considered to be routine will be enacted with a single motion. Any items requiring expenditure are supported by a certification of availability of funds. Any items requiring discussion will be removed
from the consent agenda. Do we have a motion on the consent agenda? Point of order. Mr. Mayor, can B be in here for the executive? Uh we I think we've done it before. I make a motion for the consent agenda. A second. Cwell. Roll call.
Dr. Mr. Hwell, yes. Miss Maddox Canteen, yes. Mr. Clark, yes. Mayor Henley, uh, yes. Yes. Motion passes. Do we have uh this discussion item short-term rental ordinance?
Yes, sir. Thanks, Mayor. Incident that involves our residents. There's a website called homely which is um dedicated for homeowners bringing out their home
accessories such as pools back etc. [Music] Um we've had and I bring to your attention because we've had a couple at one particular address. Um
which uh you know we had several parties that got out of hand. Uh received numerous complaints from neighbors um as well as multiple photos and videos like this going on. Um some of the activity
well the parties were um a couple consecutive weekends on Saturdays and Sundays. Uh one party you did show uh standing in the driveway taking money from people around the backyard obviously color charge type situation.
Uh attendees that have guests uh certainly under range of drinking but possibly also juveniles. Um, you know, dad has been swimming and outdoor cooking areas and fireplaces and like um
you know uh there's concern neighbors and this is an issue uh did create an issue for the neighbors people including people's laws. Um the uh in particular required police officers to
maintain presence there somewhere around 2 to 3 hours for the night for the party hours. Um the police station arrested uh county ordinances that are creating
disturbance. Um and uh there's a miss court date currently because it is postponed. Right now it's set August 15th. Um it is uh good to note that this past weekend there was no parties at that
residence. So we're hoping that this has kind of a stop to this res. Um there are other options available in the township. Um you know we don't have
a a business you know this. So there's nothing out of your amenities. There's nothing out your home. And again, this doesn't necessarily mean that that's the direction we want to go. I'm able to
bring it to community suspension that we do have the potential um option to uh introduce some that prohibit rental amenities such as pool, your backyard, zebo, you know, fire, etc. Another
option is the limits that all of that plus rent shortens of home. Most of us know about you know various websites.
Um so I raised it as a discussion item for you to consider. Um, you know, this obviously impacts our residents, both the residents that will be neighbors to this activity, but also the residents who are, you know, uh have these uh I
say very uh very nice backyards that we could accommodate, you know, family parties and the like obviously dangerous parties that are potentially like our [Music]
potentially for people to bring out large parties uh that service countries in our community. So I want to bring it to your attention that you know
there'll be some you know guidance maybe some thoughts on your part and again third option starting this year coming up for the end of spring season right we aren't going to have too many of these type
situations um you know just maintain enforcement revisit the site later time do that as well enforcement of you bring concerns. Um, you know, the downside to that is, you
know, the fact that people come in and, uh, testify in court that, you know, they were served. You know, there was a disturbance that, you know, wait in order to take conviction where simply bring out the property. No way to prove
that the property is ready and it would be you know relatively easier. But again, uh the police have taken the action of taking charging them. Um they certainly work.
pretty good positive interaction on that. Yeah, I think this is something that what are the what are the constitutional limits of passing the ordinance on the use of a private home for short-term rentals?
Uh I know that it has been done in other towns. Um this been an issue for at least the decade plus I've been doing doing municipal law. So we can look at um some if there have been challenges. Uh but it's basically the zoning power
of the township. Um not looked into it for West Hampton specifically, but I know arguments have been made generally that in a residential zone it does not permit uh commercial use or uh short-term including short-term rental.
who would be in charge of enforcing that? So, absent a specific ordinance that sets forth who does it. Um, as Jim explained, uh, I'd look to the zoning officer uh, for enforcement any kind of
zoning violation or the um, police for causing a nuisance uh, allowing nuisance or general disturbing the peace. Is there a way like that we could police it like where they have to where people have to come in and get
approval and we only allow a certain amount of people and they have to have like an officer present to have that and that they have to compensate to make sure it doesn't cause a disturbance disturbance to the neighbors. Um, and obviously if they
have have they have to have an approval, right, to be a certain amount of numbers that have them signed like the recreation has done. Um, to where we still allow people to do things, but we're able to police it, make sure it stays under control and make it at their expense. So, if we have an officer there, they have to pay and the officer
has to be want to be present, right? And then we know that people aren't getting paid to come in, etc., etc., right? So, the township protects itself. Yeah. So, just speaking in in generalities, I I don't know if West Hampton does, but some towns have temporary use permits um which they use
for things like um a block party. So, yes, there is the police power to do that. uh you'd have to establish by ordinance that what the the fees would be and what the kind of objective criteria and standards would be for
allowing it or disallowing it. In this particular case, um since we had to have police officers deployed to that residence for 2 to three hours, is there any way we can charge the resident? No. um not that I'm aware of. Uh that
the expense and disturbance to the township would could be something that the court could take into consideration in the amount of fine. Um I I don't know exactly what the charges were here, but the fines are usually up to $2,000 or
something like that. and the judge is going to take into consideration the full extent of that. If uh extreme extreme amount of police had to to show up or there was a expenditure of a lot of municipal time and effort, um I would hope that the prosecutor would present
that to the court and the court would take that in consideration. Thank you. Anyone else? And we'll move on to open meeting for public comment. Please remember to state your name and address for the record. Alicia Mccardi,
sorry, 64 Rolling Hills Drive. I want to bring up a problem I've been having for the past year and a half. A neighbor who lives two houses from me. That's a town home comm community started to think it was a good idea to put out cat food for a couple stray cats in her backyard.
uh colonies form when there is a food source and one pregnant cat can form can cause the birth of two dozen cats within two years and that is exactly what has been happening. These cats are jumping into my yard contaminating it with their
urine, their feces. I have uh a cat of my own who keeps getting recurring upper respiratory infections because of this colony. I've seen up to 10 cats in my yard since in the past 6 months. I have uh filed a complaint on the township website. I
have filed a complaint with the health department. I have spoken to the neighbor about getting involved at least with the TNR program and I was disregarded. I told her the effects this is having on my property of my own pet and I was disregarded.
What I keep being told is there is no ordinance in your township about this. When a person starts putting food out for strays, I understand it's out of a place of compassion, but there needs to be a plan in place, whether you take them to a shelter or
you get involved with a trap noodle release program. Since this has been happening, I have had to purchase motion activated sprinklers, notion activated lights, uh, spikes for my fence. um it's taking a toll on me and like I
said there is just no ordinance about this issue and as well when I spoke to the person from the health department he said someone from the township did speak to the woman but she could just keep doing what she was doing as a result of there being no
ordinance. Um, I don't know if there could be some sort of ordinance where you can apply for a permit and make some sort of proof that you're going to do something to keep a handle on the situation because
otherwise it's just going to explode. And it has exploded. And like I said, we are in town homes. We have no woods behind us. We have no farmland around us. We are right on top of each other. And it is an unhappy situation to say
the least and I that's just my concern for at this time. Thank you ma'am. Great. Thank you. Thank you. Uh Gar 138 Winstead. Uh two comments in the public comment section. The first is
on I noticed in my development young kids I I'm guessing were ages maybe 10 or under. They are riding on what I guess I would call a pocket bike. These are small motorized. They look kind of like a like a motorcycle, I guess. Um
I'm really skeptical of the efficacy of a child riding that. They typically don't operate that with a helmet. My guess is there's probably no class instruction on how to ride that bike. Um, but a 10-year-old will actually have
someone piggyback with him on the bike who's like a three or fouryear-old. So, now you got two kids on this thing. And I don't know how fast they go, but it looks like it's 10 m an hour, may maybe a little bit less. Could be that. But they're weaving in and out of, you know,
parked cars. And we have all kinds of delivery vehicles on the streets. I don't know. Um, where do we stand with that? uh just maybe something to think about, I guess. And the other other comment, maybe keep it on our radar, and
this is maybe where we can talk with our uh partners um in Congress. Um there's a piece of legislation, it's HR 4072. Um the title of the act is called the Pro Codes Act. It's been reintroduced
from the 118th Congress now into this Congress. I don't know if you're familiar with this piece of legislation. If you are, I can stop. But no. Okay. So, essentially a chance to answer. No, I'm joking. What? I said you didn't give me a chance to answer. Go ahead. I'm joking. Go ahead, Sandy.
After you. um this piece of legislation, the reason I'm bringing this up for us is because uh Congress wants to, you know, if it does get passed, they're going to essentially give copyright ownership to all of these codes that get published.
So, this could impact here us in the township, fire code, construction code, things like that. So, if you all pass an ordinance saying we're going to incorporate by reference some international building code standard, that's fine. Technically, that's fine.
The issue becomes, how do our code officials then get to understand and know this new code? Technically, they're going to make it available quote for free on some sort of public website. My guess is it's going to be pretty clunky to read. So essentially then what
happens is that our code officials are probably going to have to uh enter into a training regimen or they're going to have to buy materials from the actual publisher of the code itself. So there's going to have a fiscal impact if this gets passed and we have to adopt these
standard codes for whatever reason. Um, so my comment is, you know, maybe we can find out from our representatives in the House and the Senate, you know, kind of what their thinking is on this. I have tried to look at the New Jersey League
of Municipalities website, but I haven't found anything. I don't know if you are tracking on this. And then lastly, um maybe have our code official, construction official, fire code official, it's a big ask, have them read through
the bill and see if they can kind of sus out what impact it would have on them if the bill were to pass and come into law and then they could present to you, you know, what the fiscal impact would be, you know, on their department or their duties. And consequently, ultimately
that if there is going to be a cost, look, I get it. It's going to have to be passed on to us as the residents, right? So, we kind of need to know that. And if that's going to be the case, maybe residents want to move ahead with their projects before any kind of increase
does get passed on to them. So, just to be good neighbors with everybody. Thanks. Thank you. Can you give me the number? It's HR4072. Thank you. Thank you. No other comments. Do we have a motion
to close public comment? So move. All in favor? I just to remember task of committee meeting September 2nd on um ma'am. I'm pretty sure our fire code was on it and he's going
to give you a card so you can follow up. Captain not in the back. He's always in the back. Looks like that motorcycle rider guy. Yeah, thank you Gary. Always very uh contributing to what's going on. Um
those as far as those bikes, those are already regulated by the state. Anything under 50 cc's supposed to have a moped license. I think those are like marketed as off-road vehicles. The only way to enforce it, you know, they got to call the police uh to come around. But thank you. That's all I have. But I
hope everyone's having a good summer. Thank you everyone for coming out. Um, we had the pleasure of attending the National Night Out, uh, run by our wonderful West Hampton Township Police Department. The event was extremely successful, well attended. Um, and it was good to be
with my constituents and be with all the neighbors, people that I haven't seen in quite a while. um kids having fun, laughing, eating, having a good time, um and being neighborly to one another. So, congratulations on yet another successful event. Um as far as school
board, um I attended the meeting last evening and they're on their way to um preparing and planning for a successful 2526 school year. Uh the first day of school for West Hampton Township Schools is September 4th and for RV it is
September the 2nd. Um, a little bit of information back from Burlington County as we've volunteered to be liaison, myself and committeewoman Maddox Canteen. Um, not much of an update other than just a friendly reminder that on
September 23rd. Yes, Tuesday, September 23rd, Commissioner Dr. Hopson will be back to give us another update. In the interim, I do go and get my own updates. You know, I go to the Wawa, then I'll drive by and see what's going on. construction
is definitely underway. I believe the last time I went, flooring was being put in. So, just to keep eyes on that situation, I think it's a very good idea to have her come every quarter just to tell us what's going on on the inside of things. Um, and that is all that I have for tonight. Thank you.
Good evening and thank you all for coming out. We really appreciate your attendance. Um, just want to highlight a couple of things. um thank the police department for their annual youth police academy. Uh that was July 14th through
the 18th. Uh I had an opportunity to talk to a few of the participants that went. Had no idea what they were expecting to participate in. Um and they really enjoyed the workouts, the information that they received, the
training. Um, so that was a good opportunity for our youth in the community. So, thank you so much for that. Um, youth police academy. They also put a bug in my ear about developing some type of PL pow organization or something like that um
for our community. Um, I want to echo uh Dr. Cwell. National Night Out was awesome. Um, very well attended, good crowd, um, good food. It was good seeing the community community out and supporting. So that was a great thing.
Um thank you all uh for the reports. Uh we take these reports um and we read them and we go through them and we look at the data and we look at what's been done and we really appreciate uh those items. Uh in terms of meeting
participation uh recreation uh committee I have that tomorrow uh night at 7:00 p.m. uh Timbuktu. We're looking forward to having a Timbuktu in September at the end of the month. More information to follow and um thank you all for coming
out again. It's my turn. Fortunately, I don't have much to say. Um my fellow committee members pretty much covered it all. I will say um I haven't been to another national night. Only ones I've been to have been in West
Hampton and they just seem to get better and better. So, you know, I commend the police for, you know, getting these things done. I commend our Oh, and also for the um the camp that they ran with the kids. The kids really seem to enjoy it every year and it's a lot of repeat
kids that come and their families enjoy everything that they're doing. So, you know, one of the things that I said, um, I was able to speak there is that, you know, being a kid, I've said this several times, the first ticket I ever got was in West Hampton. I think at some point we should look up who gave me the
ticket, but that's another day for another conversation. But um you know to be a kid get pulled over it's a little bit scary you know and I think that the more that we reach out to the community and we get into those situations with
these kids that are coming up that we get to know it gets to be a lot easier situation and they get to be face to face with people that they trust, right? Or people that they've seen before. So, I think that that's helpful to start from the bottom and and help groom these kids to to know that you guys are are on
their side and are there to help them. And I think that could do nothing but help our community. Um, secondly, um, public works. I know Chris is out there and he's working hard trying to make sure everything gets done with the parking lot and, uh, and supervising that process. I'm sure it's not easy.
Um, so I appreciate your help and and trying to get those things done. I know that we talked about the trees um, from the turnpike. I'm sure we'll get an update on that. Uh, a lot of people are interested in that process. Uh, and I can't leave out our Craig, you know,
uh, the Willows, they wanted to do something and, you know, they wanted to do something with the have the fire truck out there and get some support and help. And so, you know, I reached out to Craig and send Craig the phone number and Craig's like, I got it. I'll take care of it. So that's always really
helpful when you have people that want to do well for the community and want to work hard and so you're not carrying those yourself and you know that when you reach out to the leaders of the township that they're going to be helpful to the community to help bring everyone together. So you know I definitely appreciate that. I appreciate the hard work that everybody puts in
every day. Sometimes it's unseen. People are here on the weekends if you ever ride by the parking lot and you got Kim popping in on Sundays. you got, you know, gym sharing an office and we've had people say before, no one ever shares an office, but um they share an office just because there was no other
space, right? And this is how the work has to get done. So sometimes it's not about you, it's about the work that has to get done. So, I also want to say I see Lkesha in the back and you know I you know I'll share this Lisha um and she didn't come here for that I'm sure
luckily she didn't come to complain but um you know Huh. But um you know there was a point that we would get you know a lot of feedback about you know the service of the township and I've had people who who go
and work work through many townships like who who actually flip homes and they would say that there's most townships don't provide good customer service. They just provide a service and that's something that I know once you had Jim and Sherrod and Kim and and the
rest of the staff here that something that we angled to do. And there was a point that someone said something on Facebook and they named Lkesha and they named Charlene and the people up front about the service they provided and they did highlight Lkesha as far as someone
who always answers the phone and who's always pleasant and you know so I screenshotted that and I sent it to her and it was like I just you know that she just won a brand new car like she was so happy that someone was able to recognize the work that she put in and it's it's always good to have leaders all over the
building and the fact that we have leadership in front of the building, right? When when customers come in, customers when residents come in, I think that that's helpful. And so I appreciate her as well. Um, ma'am, about the cat situation, but the best thing we
can do is put you in the best hands that we have. Vince not will help you. He's helped everyone and you guys will figure it out. And what I would ask, you're welcome. And I would what I would ask is and if for some reason you continue to have a hard time I know vets will take care of it but if you can't go to vents you can always go to gym you can always
go to ride you can always go to many people who are going to try to make sure that they find a resolution for you but that doesn't mean you can't come to us either. So anytime you feel like you want to come up and and and and spread a few words and please do. Thank you ma'am. And with that being
said we will now enter executive session and will not be returning to an open meeting. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.