[Music] [Music] [Music] All council be ordered. Please rise and pledge the flag. 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. Please remain standing for a moment of silence for all our military personnel that are served. Thank requirements of the open public meeting
satisfied concerning this meeting. The home review and the start leg published a note on January 10th, 2025. It was posted on the municipal bulletin board and should be so noted in the minutes of this meeting. Councilman Anderson here. Councilman Bower here.
Councilwoman De Jesus here. Councilwoman Mian here. Councilman Patel here. Councilman Small here. Councilman Harris here. Vice President McAuliff here. And President Spiller here. Can I get a motion to approve the minutes from our uh council meeting of
September 9th? Motion. Second. Any questions or comments from council? All in favor? I opposed. Eyes have it. Beginning with second reading ordinances this evening. We're going to take letters A and B by consent. They are
both amendments to the traffic section of the revised ordinance of the Township Woodbridge. The first is to add a handicap parking space on Laurel Street and the second is to add a handicap parking space on Douglas Street. With that said, can I get a motion that these three ordinance be taken up on second and third reading and the public hearing be open?
Motion. Second. Any questions or comments from council? All in favor? I I oppose. Eyes have it. The public hearing is now open on letters A and B. A and B only. Hear no comment from the public. Can I
get a motion at the public hearing be closed? The ordinance be adopted and submitted to the mayor for approval as required by law. Motion second. Any questions or comments from councel? All in favor? I opposed. Eyes have it. For letter C, I'd like to entertain a motion to continue this to
the regular council meeting of October the 7th, 2025 at 6 p.m. Can I get a motion to continue? Motion. Second. Any questions or comments from council? All in favor? I opposed. Eyes have it. Letters D, E, F, G, and H are first reading ordinances.
Could I get a motion that these ordinance be passed on first reading published in the home review on September 26th, 2025 with notice of public hearing to be held on October 7th, 2025 at 6 p.m. Motion? Second. Any questions or comments from council?
All in favor? I. Opposed? Eyes have it. And finally, Mr. President, you have 21 resolutions before you. Can I get a motion by consent to approve number one through 21? Motion. Second. Any questions or comments from council, Mr. Mitch?
Go ahead. I'm sorry. I'll be abstaining from number 21. So, so noted. Uh, Mr. Mitch, uh, regarding resolution number four, uh, I can speak on behalf of myself and the rest of my fellow council mates, uh, regarding the reappoint for deputy min municipal clerk
Charl Shy uh, for a four-year term. She has been an integral pro part of your office uh as well as all the uh ladies in your office and um I say she really came on board and took the bull by the horns and uh helped your office out. So
absolutely thank you. Any other comments from council? All in favor? I opposed. Eyes have it. That's all I have. Thank you. Uh before we go to the public portion of the meeting, I'm going to call on uh Vice President McCall. She has a statement to read. Thank you,
President Spiller. Um, I'd like to take this opportunity to respond to a bias article published in the patch on Wednesday, September 17th, 2025. the inaccurate reports and unwarranted allegations put forth by the Woodbridge
Township Republic Committee chairman and the Republican candidate running for office for the first W council seat in what can only be described as a desperate political attempt to garner headlines weeks before the general election.
Please allow me to clear the record. Going as far as back as 1992 when my first ward opponent was on the council, it has been the policy of the council vice president to make motion to
introduce ordinances and resolutions and I have done so since the beginning of the year. A few months ago, a question at the council meeting was sought to advise that our council our municipal attorney about my motions on ordinances
and resolutions that I plan to recuse myself on. and he suggested that although it was a gray area that I refrained from even the even making the motions which I did instantly. My recluse was based on
the fact that I own not just bagels a store located on Main Street where businesses come before township councils for various approvals. We have reviewed the complaint filed by the state of New Jersey and it is very specifically refers to actions taken
before we sought legal advice and not afterwards. And the complaints known that to be true since they attend all the council meetings and clearly saw different council peeping people making motion.
As a council vice president, I have strictly adhered to the advice proofer by my municipal attorney followed by the council parliamentation procedures and most importantly the laws governing conflict of interest and have recused
myself on any vote that may be perceived as a conflict of interest potential or otherwise. I am not surprised that my opponent in the first word election along with the chairman of the Woodbridge Republican Party have stooped to desperate measures, unproven
allegations and outright lies to gain political advantage. I am confident that the first word voters who know me and my record will see through this obvious attempt at political garment gamemanship and will reject the feeble attempts to
attack my character, reputation and commitment to my first ward community. Thank you. Thank you, Council Vice President. Well said. Uh legal. Uh yes, state by council vice president Mclliff, an issue was raised previously about a particular resolution that was before the council in May of 2025. We
disagree if there has been any improper action by council vice president Mclliff on that resolution as we see no direct conflict of interest and furthermore she did abstain from voting on the resolution. However, out of an abundance of caution and looking into this further, the council has revised its procedure so that when a member of the
council recuses themselves from a vote because of a conflict, that council person will no longer participate in any way, including the introduction of the resolution or ordinance by motion. Thank you, legal. We'll now go to the public comment portion of the meeting. When approaching the microphone, please state your name on what section of the
township or state that you live in, and you have a onetime opportunity to speak. All members of the audience shall hear to the township's the quorum ordinance, which is posted on the entrance door to council chambers. The public session allows for 5 minutes. This includes remarks by the speaker and any response by the council president or administration. When there is a 1 minute
left, I will alert the speaker to ask to as to emphasize any remaining points or questions. When the 5-minute period is passed, all speakers are to leave the microphone area and return to their chair. All video taping all videotaping must be taken in the designated area. Uh the public session portion of the meeting is a comment and or Q&A
interaction between the council president and the speaker. The council president presides over the council president. Thank you. Public portion is now open. March Petro several my group. We've been at several meetings
explaining our Cambridge paperwork pictures. I'm truly truly disappointed and it touched the administration and the council uh just turning a blind eye to the problem we have with federal gas charging
DNR. They have advanced up once a month. There's absolutely no reason that we can't have that van up to the township and dictate in our kids. Every single
track we have taken in has been sick. Every single one which is a big dispense for us. Nothing does our problem. There's got to be a solution. I'd like to see a solution. Something that is out
of control. And nobody ever said I send emails and give the answer. Excuse I'm sorry. Just can you stop this time for one second please? Okay. Can you repeat the last sentence please?
Township. What can we do? It's got to be a solution. And you can't say oh the shelter does that because the shelters does not help township residents because they can't. We have too many towns. You can't expect them to do 10 bridge
six other towns and still six other towns in 16 towns. That for us national residents who are being helped. Last time in July, I got 15 more calls
for help with Vietnam because GMR comes to reser. [Music] What's the solution here? Why is there no solution? Any ideas? So, if that's your question, I want to thank you for uh coming out tonight and
your dedicated team. Uh I know back in the beginning of the year, uh you had come out and on April 14th you signed anou memo of understanding signed by excuse me, excuse me, signed by yourself. Um which the township at state is permitting you
to conduct trap, neuter, and release operations within the township of Woodbridge. Signed by yourself and the business administrator and you took yourself out of that agreement, partnership, whatever you want to call two weeks after. So, we gave you what you were asking and then you said you
didn't want it. So, I'm not sure. No, he did not give us what we asked for. Absolutely not. The agreement was we would take the overflow from the shelter with TNR and help the shelter.
They did zero TNR. Zero. that if you're done that has that's why two weeks later the agreement was no that has nothing in theou stating anything about the animal shelter this was between you and the township and I'm not going to bore you you signed it so
you know obviously uh but we gave you everything that you need that we gave you everything that you wanted at the time of theou and you signed it it's signed by you I know it's signed by because we were the greatest was Mr.
and Casey sat there with myself. We were to do the overflow from the shelter to council president and they need to do it.
That's completely inaccurate. How is that inaccurate? That's that that is completely inaccurate. You we we never agreed to that. And and if you asked if you asked for that, we would have captured that in the agreement. You you signed it, Marge. You read it. You signed it.
Just talk in the microphone, please. Marge, just talk in the microphone so it's recorded. Da we all sat there or Lee, myself, Casey, and you. And it was the overflow that the shelter couldn't do TNR. And we
would take the overflow. So I don't know. I don't I'm I'm misinformed. I don't know what I'm talking about. What? Couch council president I I completely inaccurate. Oh my god. Seriously?
Are there any other comments from the public this evening? Hi, good evening. Nicole Patternoster Aanel. Um, so I'm also here to talk about TNR. I don't know about any agreements. It's just something that I've recently become involved in because I'm hearing a lot from the community
itself. I will say I'm not involved with cats. I don't own cats. I'm highly allergic to cats. So, I'm in no way help, you know, but I know I'm getting complaints. Um, and first I just want to explain because I don't know if anyone everyone in this room knows what it is. Um, but TNR is basically we trap
community cats who are living out there, neuter and return them vaccinated. Um, there's a problem. It is clearly there's a problem. The shelters, I was trying to get one cat, one cat from Woodbridge
into a shelter. Woodbridge shelter couldn't take it. I contacted 55 places in the state of New Jersey, rescues, shelters. No one could take one cat. They are completely overwhelmed. Um, so
current approaches we talk about like removing them. You remove a bunch of cats, other cats come into that place. So we can't just remove them. We can't just keep euthanizing these cats. Trap neuter in return breaks that cycles. Uh, cats are humanely trapped, spayed or
neutered. Fixed cats no longer reproduce. They fight less. They spray less. They cause fewer complaints. Um, so we have a petition signed from local residents who want TNR or at least an open discussion about it. Um, so 247 signatures in total, 65 from residents
of Woodbridge Township and neighboring towns. We also launched a community survey on Sunday. We have already 14 responses which I would like to bring up to Mr. Mitch. Um, show strong support for humane solutions. People are talking about not wanting their kids out in their yards because they have feral cats
in their yards. There's feces all over. There are huge cat communities living behind stores in Woodbridge Township. If you would take some time to drive around, you would see how large these cat communities are. We're talking 15,
25, 40, 50 cats living in one area. In the space of a few years, one unspayed female can produce thousands of kittens. They can reproduce at four months old. So, if we're not doing anything about
that, it will continue to grow. Um, so I'm asking even though you've had discussions apparently already, I would love to be more involved with figuring out if there's something else that we can do to make this happen. It doesn't necessarily even have to cause cause I'm
sorry cost the township must I know a lot of people ask about it's going to raise my tax. Is it going to come out of that? It's actually very cheap. If you think how much it takes to keep a cat in a shelter, we can do this for under $100 a cat. And we're talking about a huge difference. So, we hope that you'll
recognize TNR as official approach to managing community cats in our township, partner with local volunteers and rescue groups who we know are ready to implement and sustain this program, and open a dialogue for a pilot program where we can at least try and see what
we can do. South Amboy just passed an ordinance a few weeks ago. Belleville is doing it. Atlantic Highlands, Middletown, there are towns that are doing this in conjunction with volunteers that that is working. Um, and so this is something that's very coste
effective. It's not, you know, there's really no downside or con to doing this. Um, so I do want to give you a copy of the petitions with the people who have signed it as well as the comments from people. Um, so 92% of the 14 people have
seen strays in their area, up to 25, 10, 3 to five in a group. Um, kittens being born in their area, 53% having issues. One more minute. Yep. Um, and so that and 76.9% of the
people who took the survey said that they feel like our current cat population is growing. Um, so I think it's time that we do take a stand and try to figure out what we can do, not only for these cats to make their lives better, but also for the community because there are diseases that are
brought in. You know, they continue to grow if we don't do anything about it. Okay. And Mr. Mitch, can I bring this up to you? Thank you. Are there any other comments from the public this evening? Hello, my name is David Rudd uh from Fords and this is my husband, Scott. Um
12 years ago we were talking about adopting and so we interviewed with the local office at DCPPP and we asked them if there were enough kids in the system that we decided we would if there would be one for us and they said that there were so many kids in the foster care
system in our county that they didn't have enough uh toys for them at Christmas time that year. Uh so that year Scott and I pulled together our little resources and we made up a toy drive. That was 12 years ago and we've been doing it every uh holiday season since then and it's grown so huge. Um
last year we had 35 different businesses and community partners uh hosting a Dropbox um including Sharon. Thank you. And uh and this year we are partnering again with the local chamber of commerce and um a bunch of other businesses and
partnerships. Um, and so we're here tonight actually to ask if Woodbridge would cordally consider being our first municipal partner. Um, being hometown people here, we wanted to bring that to you guys. I have a flyer for you so you can learn more about it. Right now, we're collecting commitments and so um, until October 10th, we're still getting
everybody together. You have a little time to decide, but it really is next to no commitment. Just hosting a box maybe here at city hall. Um, or if any people in the community want a box, you guys can have one, too. So, I want to just add that last year we raised over 1,750
toys that went to our local children. Toys for tots is wonderful. When you give a toy for Toys for Tots, it goes anywhere in the country. These are our kids getting toys. And when we dropped off the toys this year, as a case worker said, you have no idea how wonderful this is because there's been budget cuts. We can't afford toys for kids
anymore. So, all our kids in Middle Sex County were covered this year. We actually were able to give to other counties. So, eventually our goal is to be Jersey. would like to take care of all of New Jersey possible one day. So, can we bring a flyer to you? Sure. So, first and foremost, I want to on behalf of the rest of my council
mates, I want to thank you um for everything that you're doing. That's that's outstanding. If you want to uh either give our Mr. Mitch or u Mr. Simaluca your information, we will definitely look into it and have somebody get back out to you. Awesome. Thank you. Make a comment. I I commend your work. We do that. And
it's funny because uh Patronetta is here and him and I work through the holidays to take care of how many kids did we take care of this year? There was hundreds just hundreds of children and we work along with the police department. So after the meeting, I'd love to sit and just talk to you and
maybe we could put our sources together. If you have children that need toys, um we are absolutely willing to help you. We take care of all the kids we can in Wbridge Township. So um it's a big thing. We've been doing it for years and if you want to work together, we would love to have you. Awesome. Thank you so much,
Council President. Also, earlier when we were doing the flag raising, I believe um our uh board of education um member um why is her name excuse me? Jenny Jenny Jenny Perez was here. She works uh with um David's Touch Foundation. That's
that's something that she created. She also collects a lot of toys there. So, I think between yourself and the council woman uh and uh the board of education, I think you guys could really do some really good things. Uh I could see a a dropbox. I used to I used to work with
the Lions um uh international and people would drop their glasses in there, right? Um it's just a matter of that has to be maintained because uh you know toys, you know, we take care of all of it for you. If it's the box, we look after.
All right, council president. On behalf of the administration, we're all in. Oh, awesome. Thank you so much, Mayor. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you. Pretend. Thank you. Are there any other comments from the
public this evening? Evening, council. Evening. My name is Arlene Rhodess Force. As most of you know, I have been here several times to request that our township implement an organized, detailed, structured TNR
program. I thought attending these this many council meetings and speaking to you that we would have been at some type of resolution, policy or vision in place. I was under the assumption that the purpose of having council members or that you can enact changes for our
community. I also thought you would assist in obtaining resolutions to help guide community operations for this program. So once again, I'm here to say please look into a township TNR program. This program will help control kitten cat population. This program needs to be
passed in our township. Surrounding towns have already adapted this program. Funds can be allocated by the fines the shelter gives to feeders. I know of three people who were fined well over $1,000 each. Also, the shelter has a
501c that exclusively fundraisers for the shelter. They can surely allocate funds for TNR purposes. Please look into this kind of program. You can't expect, and this goes to veto, one small rescue to absorb all the cost for injures and
feral cats in Woodbridge. Thank you. Thank you. Any other comments this evening? Hi, my name is Merrill. I live in Forbes and I know you're all exhausted from the topic of TNR. So, I'm going to be short and I'm going
to be sweet. Animals can't speak, so we are the voices that need to stand up for them. I believe in a himsa, which stands for no harm to any living creature. I'm Jewish. I volunteer at the First Presbyterian Church. I help all
different organizations, all different religions, Indian, Diwali. I volunteer all over the township. Where I live in Forbes is behind the library on diagonal from the school that's been closed that the playground is supposed
to be coming into that has not arrived yet. the green market across one behind the Dunkin Donuts that was closed to put in some kind of a hotel that you now can't even cut through the back street
because the township gave permission to them to close it off and gate it so you can't cut through. The traffic is intense going down Ford Avenue. Everybody tries to beat the two traffic lights on Third Avenue and Main Street
and the and the other one on Main Street. They come down Marlin Drive. They zippity doo dah straight through the property behind the library. They just put a beautiful new fence in on the one side and there are living creatures
in there that are starving, sick, crying in the middle of the night, fighting and feeding off each other. So if you don't think that it's in the best interest to take care of living creatures that can't speak for themselves, then I think it is
truly a very sad day for everyone that lives within the confines of this township. You can open bars, you can have tea, you can take care of the homeless, you can open a OTB bedding place three blocks from a public school.
So you guys make up the rules and change the rules for whatever serves the purpose of what's best for the township. Sorry to say, watching living creatures get hit by cars, starve to death, and eaten by other creatures is not a human
positive activity. Thank you. Thank you. Are there any other comments from the public this evening? Hearing no other comment, can I get a motion that the public Paul Hoplan. Uh, at the last council meeting, I
didn't ask about Old Bridg's board of education. I asked about Woodbridge. The people want to know why with all the pilot revenue this administration boasts about, our taxes have never been frozen, not even for one year, while Mayor Owen
Henry managed six years in Old Bridge. Sharing a slice of pilot money with schools, and I hear it's about 25%. Doesn't change the fact that pilot agreements short change education compared to regular property taxes. Doesn't explain why families keep paying
more every year. Why do developers get a tax break while the residents bear the full boore of the taxes? So, I'm going to ask again, if pilots are the success story they're claimed to be, why hasn't that success translated into real tax
relief for Woodbridge residents? Second question I have is, uh, I'm sorry, repeat the first question. First question, why hasn't all the successful pilot programs ever translated to either a tax freeze for even one year or tax relief to the
belleaguered residents of Woodbridge? three three years. Second, uh, mayor's going to answer. We did have frozen taxes two years in a row. I think in 2021, in 2022, the tax rate did not go up. So, we didn't have it for one year. We had it for two
years. Pilots do not short change the board of ed. As I say over and over again, they set the amount they need to from taxation in their budget. They send us their A4F form. We build that amount and we pay them that amount. that they have to follow the rules for caps and
how much they can raise taxes and how much they can raise spending, but they get whatever they need. We don't short change anybody. And the fact that we have pilot revenue in our budget means it's replacing what taxes would have paid for. So the the question is not
what is the revenue, the question is what are the expenses and if you have any issue with the expenses, bring it on. But without that pilot money, taxes would go up astronomically because we had $28 million this year in the budget from pilot revenue. So Mr. Lund doesn't
understand how this all works. If we didn't have that, we'd have to cut services drastically or raise taxes drastically. Neither one of them is acceptable to us. We do share with the board event unlike any other town in the entire state of New Jersey. And they have $200 million after this next
project for school 10 and the rest of it is done. when we finally get DOT D approval, we will have spent over $200 million on our schools that keeps them from raising that $200 million in the tax rate. So, either you want new schools paid for by the pilots or you
don't. And again, property taxes are one just one piece of the puzzle. Property values that are even more important. 50 bucks a year compared to $10,000 in property taxes. It would take you 200 years to pay 50 bucks a year to equal $10,000. It would take you a h 100red
years of paying a h 100 bucks a year to equal $10,000. And new schools raise your property values. Ask anybody downtown with Ros Street and Woodbridge Middletown. Ask any realtor what that has done for the property values downtown. I'll
guarantee you the answer is it's an enormous boost. And it pales in comparison. the the the tax increase every year pales in comparison to property value increases. That's what matters. You're going to sell your home someday. You're going to sell your home to somebody either with small kids or
about to have small kids. And the number one thing they look for when they're buying a house is the school system. And the stronger it is and the better the facilities, the more value you can get for your home. And that's what we're concerned about. Thank you, Council President. Yes, ma'am. I assume my that the response did not
cut into my five minutes. Accurate. Yes, sir. It's your five minutes. My other question, uh, Assemblyman Cop only had 30 seconds to get out the first question. Now I only have a minute. Assemblyman Copan last time brought up the fact that even though we've met our
our responsibilities of affordable housing mandated by the state, that we're going to continue developing. My question is, since we're probably close to 90% developed, where is all this developing going to go? Uh, where on earth are we going to put it? We already
have the problem of traffic snarls, increased crime, people walking into driveways. They were taking catalytic converters. Who knows what they're doing now as as criminal reports are not coming out in the news tribune paper, but are probably getting swept under the rug. The pilot program feels like a
Ponzi scheme. The false argument the mayor is making is that we have no other alternative but to do pilots. Why not ask developers to pay the full boore a property tax? Why do we always have to compromise and give the mayor his personal piggy bank every single time?
Thank you. You're welcome. Are there any other comments from the public this evening? I'm your five minutes or no. No answer. Councilman Spiller, I will add uh if I if I may, um when I first became a
councilman, uh the gentleman sitting to your right, uh he charged us with uh counting all I remember him counting the vacant um storefronts and asked us, "What are we doing about that?" right now. Matuchen,
Cranford, all of the towns around us have built up because businesses are going to go where there's foot traffic. And if we don't if if we didn't do anything to to help the foot traffic there, um you you know, you're going to catch 22. You either you
either want to have a business here and you want it to be successful or you want it to be a ghost town. One or the other. You have businesses that Mr. Varic had pointed out all of these businesses. He counted up. He said nine nine storefronts are empty. What are you
doing about it? He he said asked us right. So now that there's development ask some of the businesses business owners downtown on how businesses compared to when it was 10 years ago. Thank you. Here.
Good evening. Christy Hansen Woodbridge proper. This morning, um, when I was attempting to bring my son to school, Elwood Avenue, uh, was in the process of being ripped up and paved during rush hour with basically no notice. The park,
no parking signs went up late yesterday afternoon. There was no police officer present anywhere directing traffic. Cars were literally driving through as they were ripping up the road, trying to go around these construction vehicles. The surrounding roads that should have
been closed off to eliminate that hazard were not closed off. I contacted the police department. I walked everywhere. There was not a police officer. And I was told that they were going to try their best to get an officer to come out. My son, who's a new driver,
literally was like in a panic as I was pulling back from dropping my other son off at the high school. He's like, "Mom, I don't know where to go. I don't know what to do." this kind of chaos during rush hour with no sort of organization. It's not acceptable. We also had someone
come in to the Chitterelli headquarters the other day, a constituent who was complaining about the water company who was digging up her street with no notice, nothing written. Apparently, they knocked on doors, but she either wasn't home or didn't hear them. And
there was no literature left at her door letting her know what was happening. Now, we use the township emergency system, and I have no problem with it advertising volunteer events and concerts and things like that, but maybe we should consider letting the people of
Woodbridge know when major things are going to occur in their area that are going to impact them. And maybe we should try not to do it during rush hour and when the kids are trying to get to school. And maybe we should be a little bit more organized about the way we go about these things because the reason
that our infrastructure is failing and our roads need to be repaved constantly and we need the water company to upgrade the the water lines is because of this constant building that we're doing. That's all I have. Thank you. Any other comments from the
public this evening? Hearing no other comments. Can I get a motion that the public comment portion be closed? Thank you for waiting, Mr. President. Ken Gardner 101, uh Scott Robin Bridge. Uh good evening. Um Mr. President, can
you tell me the last time that the township zoning ordinance has been updated? The top I can't. I believe it was uh the last time the zoning ordinance was updated. the MA you thought the domestic plan Mrs. Darden might know that the township
zoning ordinance. I don't remember the last time there was a complete overhaul, but we just adopted another amendment to the zoning ordinance in July and we do that regularly. So that's kind of not an easy
question to answer because it's ongoing at least it's at least several times a year. We're not doing the whole book all at once. We're constantly making Yeah. And we'll continue to do that because that's the most responsive that
a zoning ordinance can be. And that's the goal. So, that'll continue. I don't know if you're asking something more specific. Well, that's I mean, that's a fair answer. I I would suggest that the council immediately, someone on the council put it on their agenda. If uh if
I'm elected, I certainly would put it on my agenda. um to look at the entire zoning ordinance for the township. Um we've been building these monstrosities in the downtown area and uh certainly I've spoken against those many times. Um so if we look at the zoning ordinance
and we make that illegal, we can stop that from happening. Um the mayor has said at previous meeting that we've met our Mount Laurel housing quota, so we don't need to add anything more there, but that if we were to do more, we would have to add 15%. So, how long ago did we
meet our Mount Laurel housing quota? Was that just with one of these recent projects? I mean, the mayor seemed to be pretty up on that subject. Maybe he knows the answer. When we met our non rural rural housing quota. Okay. So, currently, if I may, Council
President, um we have just entered into what the state calls uh their fourth round. So every 10 years since the original Mount Laurel decision in the
early8s that was handed down from the courts to the state for implementation. Um there is another round of uh Mount Laurel numbers and requirements for each
of the towns in the state to meet. each of the towns then have to adopt affectuating ordinances to meet those requirements. And if they don't, then there's something called the builder's
remedy lawsuit that I think we were engaged in a couple when you were on the council. If it wasn't when it was like right after because how we got set into our initial responsibility
through the court was by not meeting that initial uh requirement from the original round which is now like we're talking 35 almost 40 years ago. So,
so the question was when did we when did we meet our quota? So, it doesn't meet our quota. Okay. Well, that that's a but that's not an accurate question because there's not a continue. Let me continue then. Um, as
Mrs. Darden had pointed out, I do remember back when I was on the council, we did have some builders sue the town and we actually beat the builder. We stopped the development of over 3,000 condos back then um that were not were not built. So there is a way to beat the
builders. Uh unfortunately administrations since then have g given in to the builders. They believe in these building programs. Uh and it's just not good for the township. I think so many people are against it. I think um if we were to take the zoning ordinance up, we could make it the
township law to stop these projects. So I would ask somebody to take that up again. Thank you for the time. Thank you. Thank you. Are there any other comments from the public? Uh good job Woodbridge. Uh in Woodbridge, as you heard tonight, even
tonight, we got a big problem with the traffic. Uh we went to the school meeting the other day. 30 traffic in Patabo and 35. It's 35 m an hour, I believe. 25 m an hour. I understand school 11 over here, it's 25
35 miles an hour. But if you go from uh Green Street to high school, I would like to know how many accidents did we have a in a year between Main Street and high school. I would like to know what we going to do
about it. People are complaining, close guys are complaining, people do 70 80 miles an hour. Why don't we suggest you to the state? I tried it before a couple years ago. Use the speed on 35. If peri can reduce the speed and 25 at avenue
going to pertamb from Woodbridge if they can put in by the high school, why can we do it from Peramboy over to Route 109 over there? You go to other towns in the state. You get off the road main highway is 25 miles an hour most of the towns.
It's terrible. Something bad's going to happen. You talk to your crow guards, you talk to anybody. What's happening? Accidents left and right. You mean tonight there was probably one by high school. There was Saturday night there was my by my place. People are speeding.
They go 25 miles on they got to wood which I guess you want to make up. And then you get to a train station to train tracks by the library. There comes the train. You speak another 25 minutes. You can do something about it. You don't tell me you can't do it because state
road if we did it other towns do it we can do it for safety of the kids for safety of everybody else. People don't want to wait three minutes for live traffic light to change and please do it some meantime. Put police there. Get this guy to speeding.
Give him a ticket. Don't be afraid. They're criminals in my book. Okay. What happened last meeting on September 9th? They come this catastrophe in Paban State Street. I'm sorry. Say that. And I brought it up. Well, I didn't hear.
I said what happened last two weeks ago. I was in a September night in the beginning and brought things were brought up what happened on State Street the road cracking came in and I was made aware of it Saturday before
I knew what happened because somebody told me they was there they work on it what happened was it was just a bad bad catastrophe whoever approved them to do what they did it I wasn't aware of it they're
going to build a warehouse there. I wasn't aware how big construction goes there. I don't What's most of people not aware of it. Don't just don't touch your mic, please. And then what happened was we find out there was people that do construction
that caused a catastrophe. And that's what I said. That's what I said there. That's right. And the mayor said to me, I can get I can get sued, right? I could get sued. Well, guess what? Who is responsible for caring?
Who's going to get sued? You people might get sued now cuz you approve, council approved the whole building. You get you getting zoning board, planning board, dino street, engineering, everybody else approved to have the job going down. Who checked it out? They do
right job. Who checked what they did? They stab they stabilize the grounds. It's sinking. It's sliding. So please, next time if you don't know, if I know on Saturday before, how come the mayor didn't know until following Tuesday? Were you at the planning board when it
got approved by me? Were you at the planning board when it got approved? No, but you No, I was you at the redevelopment agency meeting got approved. Who approved it? It's Woodbing board. One minute, sir. That's what I have to say. Please again
do something about it and don't accuse somebody that because if you don't want people people to know don't tell them it's not true. Nobody accused anyone of the September 9th meeting that you are making reference to the mayor sat there. He answered your questions. Nobody was
accused. It was still under investigation. We brought in scientists. We brought in earth. everybody else and it was still so for you to come here and stay right this person. It's a state road. It's a county road.
Why is the county? Why is it just here blaming somebody it from a September 9th's meeting? I watched September September night was said by the mayor over there, sir. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President.
Yes, sir. May I May I just fine here talking about speeding and enforcement? I I looked these numbers up previously and I I refreshed myself. So this last year, Woodbridge, as terms of Central Jersey, issued 40,247
traffic uh stops resulting in tickets. That's more than double the next town underneath at North Brunswick at 17,858. That's an increase from the year before where Township Police issued 34,240
tickets which is also nearly double on the next previous town. So kudos to our police department for enforcing our traffic law. So I just want to point that out uh just for for clarification. They they are out there doing their stops. So thank you. Thanks Council Harris. Are there any other comments from the
public this evening? Hearing no other comment. Can I get a motion that the public comment portion be closed? Motion. Second. All in favor? I I opposed. We'll go into the agenda. Thank you. I'm sorry. I'd like to answer the questions. First
of all, constant building does not cause personal water lines to deteriorate. Age does, but not the fact that we're building does not cause a house 10 miles away to have need a new water line. There's no connection at all between
building and water line. The water company has done an abysmal job, frankly, of handling the renew program, and we don't know when they're going to come and open up a road to pave it. We should, but they have not been terribly
cooperative with us on this whole program. And they're also going to work on uh preparing or replacing uh lines from streets to houses next year. And we've made it very clear that we want to be involved in that process. We want to send letters out to people, let them
know what's going on. We want to put phone numbers of our engineering department and the mayor's office to call. We want to put their phone numbers and their names of people to call. But they have been terrible. The Renew program continues for the next couple years. It won't be like that next year because we will be very active in Renew
and in the the plan to replace actual lines. Number two, um we don't develop to get more affordable housing. that was implied that we want if we we will take use our money in the affordable housing
fund for more affordable housing doesn't mean we're going to build to get it. We can do things on our senior buildings. We can do things on um other properties to make them uh more attractive, but just because
we don't need more affordable housing doesn't mean we're going to tr not going to try to get more, but we're not going to build more to get more. No one ever said that. That's not true. Number three, crime's not up in Woodbridge Township. Not at all. In fact, across all major categories except one, it's
been down in the last year. That's a that's a a misstatement. Mr. Varic is against traffic. He's in and he's against speeding. It's hard to imagine you can have traffic and speeding on the same street because you can't speed in traffic. So, I don't know
what it is. He's against everything and blaming us for everything. There's there's traffic. I would submit that there's less traffic downtown in some cases than there was 10 years ago because you have to look at what was here before the building. Right across the street are apartments of people over
half of which take the train to work so they don't cause traffic during the week. Every there's always traffic on weekends. Before that there was 10 stores in a strip mall with cars coming and going, three restaurants, seven other businesses and cars coming and going all day to that strip mall. And
now there's apartments with very minimal traffic to and from because the people go to work by train. At the Avenue and Green site, there were 200 parking spots that Riffy's owned that people came to town to take the train and then left.
Now there's apartments there where people do the same thing. They jump on the train. They're even closer to the train there. And they don't even for two people, they'll have one car. Some apartments have no cars. So the thought that the the apartments bring traffic,
you have to look at what was there before the apartments. There was riffies which was busy all the time at night all weekend, late hours of the night. There was a very attractive bar that had a lot of traffic. Now that's gone. There was retail stores. There was the big and busiest quick check in the state was
right there having cars coming and going all the time and a Kentucky Fried Chicken and some other doctor's office. Now there's a strip mall with a lot less activity than the busiest quick check in town. In the last couple years, we took
trucks off Main Street and Green Street. Trucks still use it. And we're working with ways. We finally found a way from another town how to try to get that to happen. Every truck's worth six cars and there's no more trucks on Main Street and Green Street. So all these things
when you look at what's there now, you have to look at what was there before. And in most cases, what's there now produces less traffic than there was before. Everybody says there's traffic. We understand there's traffic. I can look in my window and see cars traveled up and down Main Street. Is it worse
than it was 5 years ago? I don't know. I can't say for sure it is because in many cases what's here now is less. Um Mr. Gardner spoke out. Yes. He said he spoke out against the apartments right after he spoke out for them. He spoke out against them. Um, we we I
quoted him two weeks ago. I have the quote here if you want me to read it again, but he basically said that the downtown is successful. He named all different downtown uh shops. He mentioned the dress shop. He mentioned the restaurants. And he said all
the mayor's wrong because of the apartments. Mr. Gardner, not doing this again. I don't get to rebut this. Five minutes. Wait a minute. Well, the mayor's talked for over five minutes. You can have your seat. He's talking. The five minutes is done. He's talking. We're in our agenda portion. He's starker.
So, he can he can speak forever. We only get 5 minutes until you a third time. Have a good night. Mr. Gardner also says he fought 3,000 condos back in the early '90s. There were never there was never a plan ever a plan for 3,000 condos in the 1990s. What
happened was in 1990 the town master plan recognizing the fact that builders were suing the town because they did not have a very good affordable housing plan. The town and this before we were here in 1992
they decided to put in their plan a 3,000 apartments in Cisby on land that right now is was so contaminated we still can't even open up a park. So, somebody said, "Let's just put this in the plan, and if anybody sues us, we can say we have a plan because it's in our
master plan." There was no site plan. Nobody had control of the properties. There was multiple different sites. Uh, as I said, it was highly contaminated. There was no plan for a school or multiple schools. There was no plan for roads. There was nothing but a pipe
dream to put in the plan. So you can't fight nothing. That's like saying Mr. Garner stopped the Loch Ness monster from coming down Smith Creek. It's like saying he stopped the Bigfoot from going in Omar Avenue to Scout Forest. The
Bigfoot and Loch Ness Monster and Condos and Cisby have one thing in common. They're all not real. It was never real. So you can't say you stopped something that never was happened. Nobody ever came with a plan and said, "This is what
I want to do and this is why I have 3,000 I have a plan for 3,000 condos, apartments, whatever." Nobody ever had a plan. It didn't exist. So, you can't stop that. Now, last thing is Smith Street. I'm I'm glad Mr. Varic is such a
good geotechnical engineer that he knows what's solved the problem, what started the problem. The county believes it was the construction project. So does almost everybody involved. Nobody knows for sure. They have to get out there. They
have to measure everything down to an eighth of an inch. They have to measure everything. There's a retaining wall. No one even knows who owns it, the county or the state. Because Smith Street was repaved in 2014. The DOT was involved the last time the road was reconstructed
20 or 30 years earlier. Nobody knows what the soils are like. There's got to be measurements taken. There's got to be samples taken. They It takes a month to get samples out of the lab. That was a week ago they were taken. We had a meeting yesterday morning at 8:00 with 20 people in a room from the county,
from the state, from the water company, from the gas company, from the electric company, uh all over. Everybody's working on this. Nobody can say with certainty what caused it. Everybody suspects it was the project. It makes a lot of sense that it was the project because until the project started. It
just didn't happen. As far as liability, I don't think we're ever going to be liable. First of all, the state approved the removal of the tanks on the H site on the site that's being developed. The state approved those and and had the contract to get them out. We didn't. The county didn't even. It's not the
county's project. Nobody can say what caused this with certainty. Everybody suspects it. Mr. Vitarik has got absolutely no training, no experience, no education in the field of geotechnical engineering. The experts
don't know until they take samples, take tests. So for him to stand up and say, I know what caused it. Please, please. He has no idea what caused it. And we've said this, we we've been consistent ever since this happened. So I'm just trying to clean up some of the
things that were said that were false. Thank you, Council President. Thank you, Mayor. As always, I want to thank you for correcting this information that's put out there. We'll now move to the council agenda portion of the meeting starting myself. Item number eight, very happy to announce that Sprouts located in the clothing shopping center will be having a grand
opening next Friday, October 3rd. Many other unique and different businesses will be followed shortly. Sprouts and their Sprouts with their 100 employees as well as employees from the other businesses will total well over 200 permanent jobs for the site. Congratulations. Can't wait to shop with
all their businesses. Item number nine, please join me and the Avenue Fire Department for their annual fire bridge open house on Saturday, October 11th from 10:00 to 1 at the Avenue Firehouse. Come see Sparky, go through the smoke trailer and enjoy all the activities that we have to offer. Uh the rest of my agenda is in order. Just one
announcement. I want to thank engineering and Tom Flynn regarding storm safety and flood insurance. This time of year can bring severe weather events including norers, heavy rain, and high winds. Orange Township is aggressively implementing proactive measures to protect residents under
situations of flooding. These efforts are designed to inform residents on how to prepare for potential flood emergency and how to reduce the rising cost of flood insurance. To further advance these strong resiliency efforts, the township has participated in the CRS program program, community rating
system, a federal emergency management agency, FEMA sponsored program that encourages and recognizes community flood plane management and planning activities that exceed the minimum requirements of the National Flood Insurance Program. FEMA estimates that CRS communities represent only about 7%
of over 22,000 communities participating in the NFIP. In order to prevent a little more specific to Avenue, in order to prevent vehicles from becoming stranded during flood events, we are excited to announce the installation of early flood monitoring systems at the Leisville Avenue underpass and Aanel
Street underpass. These devices will measure flood inundation levels on the road and issue alert issue an alert to our police department and emergency management office triggering road closures at each of these locations. A car flow in only 2 ft of moving water and you should never drive through flood
waters. These measures will help minimize risk within floodprone areas and continue to keep Woodbridge the best and most resilient town around. Uh once again, I want to thank the administration, director Brew, uh your your crews were out there hard working uh installing me. So again, uh thank you very much. Uh rest of my agenda is in
order. God bless America. Council vice president. Thank you, Council President. My agenda is in order. I just have a few announcements to make tonight. Uh number two, the Chamber of Commerce. The mayor's breakfast will be held this Friday on September 26th. If you missed a chance to get the tickets, you can
always watch the presentation on channel 35. And also the chairman's awards dinner. The 61st annual chairman's award dinner honoring people throughout the town and members of the chamber will be held on October 9th at the Delta Hotel. This is a wonderful event. Tickets are
sale available. Please contact the Chamber of Commerce to get your ticket today. Number four, the arts. The Baron Arts Center will be holding their 18th annual Baron Arts Fest on October 11th at Parker Press. There will be over 40 artists and crafters will be selling
pottery, paintings, photos, metal works of art, and handcrafted jewelry. This event will be held from 12 to 4:00 p.m. The St. James Street Fair was held last Saturday. This was a wonderful success. Um, a thank you to all the vendors, the
St. James team and everyone who attended helping to make a truly memorable day in the heart of downtown Woodbridge. And there's still time to sign up for the Crank Gagna Memorial Fishing Derby on Saturday, October the 11th at the Woodbridge Pond for a fun-filled day of
fishing. This is a free event open to all anglers under the uh from the age of 16 and under. Bring your gear, catch your line, and reel in the excitement and register today. And thank you to DPW for getting the fountains in the the
pond repaired so rapidly. That's all I have today. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman N. I'm sorry. Thank you, Council President. Um my agenda is in order. I just have a few announcements. Excuse me. First, I'd
like to announce that on uh October 8th, um the community will be holding a candlelight vigil silent wellness exhibit. And this will be at 94 Port Reading Avenue, 95 Port Reading Avenue Center. This is for um acknowledging and
uh um uh the silent uh witness exhibit for the um those who have suffered from uh domestic violence. Um, this will be from 5:00 to 8:00 on October 8th. Uh, the ceremony will begin at uh 6:30.
Again, that's October 8th, 95 Port Reading Avenue, uh, the Acacia Center, and it's called the Candlelight Vigil and Silent Witness Exhibit. Um, I would also like to congratulate um, First Baptist Church on their health fair back
on uh, September 13th. Uh they had a lot of people from the community came out um had their blood pressure uh checked, their sugar checked and a number of other uh things that uh you know we we walk around with every day. And uh it
was uh great that the church was able to provide that. And I would like to um congratulate both Principal Osborne and Principal Chiara uh and the Woodbridge community. Uh last Friday night was an
amazing uh football game. I think that we had close to 6,000 students and families to come watch a classic Woodbridge Colonia uh battle. um the Woodbridge Police Department, our
security team uh led by Councilman Small, our teachers, the staff and our students and TV35 really came out and um showed uh the community that we can have a big event and everyone can get home safely, enjoy themselves, and we can
watch it again uh as many times as we want on TV35. The student section was awesome that day. uh from where I was sitting uh and they had their cell phone lights when the lights went out they had their cell phone lights and they both
student sections were back and forth doing their own show to each other and it was it was really really cool and I've been getting a lot of thank yous from people in the community um because it was just a it was it was what high school experience should be about. So,
thank you all that were involved in making making a uh a memorable night uh for Woodbridge Township. Thank you. That's all I have. Thank you, council meers and councilman Bower. Thank you, council vice president. Item number seven, Fors Kisby and Hope on
Fire Companies Forge Fire Company fire prevention open house will be held on Monday, October 6th and Tuesday, October 7th from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Located at their firehouse at 667 King Georgees Road in Fords. Hoplan Fire Department fire prevention open house will be held
on Monday, October 13th from 400 pm to 800 pm at their firehouse located at 127 Loretta Street in Hopeland. Come down and meet your firefighters. Learn about fire safety, photo opportunities, free gifts, and a great time for the whole family. That's all I have tonight. God bless all our first responders, our
military, and God bless America. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Small. Thank you, Council Vice President. Uh, Fort Wings Ladies Auxiliary on October 4th is holding a craft fair at the Acacia Center, 95 Portland Avenue in Woodbridge. Um, vendors, raffles, swag
bags, free entry, food, and more. And this benefits the Cooperman Barnabis Hospital joining fire on October 9th for open house is from 6:30 to uh I'm sorry from
6:00 to 8 uh fire prevention gifts giveaways fun night for all October 28th Reading Fire EMS will be hosting our annual trunk retreat. It's from 6:00 to 7:00 7:30. Uh you can
register your trunk at transfer pras.com. The more trunks we have, the better off the kids will be. This is our first leg of our toy drive for Christmas form Squib Children's Hospital that we do
every year. So we ask that you bring a a toy to this drive. Greatly appreciate it. The annual light parade will be held November 29th. It starts at 6 p.m. right here on Main Street. Every year it's getting bigger and better.
Not mention has been uh heavily recruiting. Some special people come out this year. So, we got a lot of surprises coming. So, make sure you mark your calendar for November 28th. And the American Irish uh halfway to St. Patrick's Day workers community
appreciation day Sunday September 28th celebrating our youth in our community food and beer wine for sale tricky tray games and more food collection benefit local pantries so please bring a food item that is September 28th from 5:00
p.m. at the very busy center 954 a.m. God bless all your first responders and God bless. That's all I have vice president. Thank you, Councilwoman De Jesus. Thank you, Council Vice President. And thank you, Councilman Harris. Um, item
number five, police community relations. I would just like to congratulate Sergeant Carlos Viegas and Woodbridge Fire Chief Robert Mittler on their proclamations today for saving a life. and they are just two examples of how
our first responders are always there for our residents or anyone in need. And it just shows how well trained our first responders from our police department to our ambulances are trained. And again, congratulations to all. Um, item number
eight, I want to just thank everyone that was involved with planning the Hispanic Heritage Festival, which was last Saturday at this end of Main Street. And it was a fantastic event with vendors. The food vendors were very happy because they sold out of a lot of
their food. Um, live music and just interacting with the community. If you missed it, don't worry. We'll do it again next year and you're all welcome to come. So, I want to thank Brian Molnard, the director of the um recreation department, Eileen Kajiano, the department of public works, our
police department, our health department, our library, everybody that was involved and everyone that participated. Again, thank you for always helping me celebrate Hispanic Hispanic heritage in Woodbridge Township. Item number 10, the Free Public Library of Wbridge will be
hosting college for collegebound high school students and their parents or guardians, a virtual workshop on October 2nd at 6 p.m. that will answer questions about college entrance exams. Families will learn key differences between the SAT and ACT,
especially with the new digital SAT format. the best time to start studying, keys to achieving one's highest score, and how the SAT ACT can impact merit, aid, and scholarship. This workshop also covers income savings and asset
strategies to reduce cost. Visit the calendar online at wbridge library.org or call the library at 732-634450 to register. And that is all that I have. Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilwoman. Thank you, Council President. First, you
might be wondering why we're wearing yellow tonight. We raised the flag for childhood cancer this evening. Um, we had a wonderful spokes young lady who I met when she was four and she started out with cancer and now she's going into middle school and she's still um she's fighting the good fight. She doesn't
have it anymore, but she has become such an advocate for Wish Township um just to make awareness for children that are fighting cancer and um we just really support her. She did an excellent job this evening. And I just have two announcements. The Colon Fire Department will be holding their open house on
Sunday or sat uh Sunday, October 4th from 1 to 4th. Firehouse located at 250 Iman Avenue. Come out and meet this wonderful group of volunteers. We're learning about fire safety. And then the Colonia Breast Cancer Walk in October Fest is Saturday, October 11th. The
breast cancer walk will be stepping off from St. John Vianis at noon sharp and we'll proceed down to the Springwood swim club where there'll where we will be holding a charity October Fest with great food, a wine and a beer garden, live music by Seven Stone and lots of
activity for the children including mini golf, face painting, hay rides, pumpkin painting, and much more. The October Fest will be held from 1 to 6:00 p.m. All proceeds from these events will be donated to local families. Ariel Curtis to help her in her rec recovery for
breast cancer. Natalene Ma uh Moss, a college student battling cancer, and the children of Sharon Newman who lost their mom this past summer. So, please come out and join us for these two great um community events while supporting these family and join us for our walk for
breast cancer to walk for those who are fighting cancer, have lost to cancer and beat cancer. So, that's all I have this evening. Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman and Council. Yeah, thank you council president. Also my agenda as in order. I have one announcement. Uh this past weekend a
portion of Oakley Road between Parkway Bridge and Route 27 in Elyn was successfully repaired including milling resurfacing and new striping for traffic lanes, crosswalks and fire lanes. This improvement have
made the roadway look much better and more importantly safer for both drivers and pedestrians. We want to thank our mayor, township administration and middle sex county and especially county commissioner Charles Scanny for their
support and funding and for their continued dedication to improving air competies roadways. This project marks another important milestone in keeping our township safer and well-maintained. And that's all. Thank god. Thank you, Councilman. So, Councilman
Harris, thank you. Uh, Mr. President, I want to recognize my predecessor, Councilman Greg Ficara. Thanks. Welcome back. [Applause] Uh from my agenda here um board of
education I want to remind the residents that mayor's ma mayor max cafe is reopening on Wednesday October the 1st uh next week and thereafter on school days only. Their hours are 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. They serve breakfast and lunch. These are Wilbur Township School
District students who make and serve breakfast and lunch as part of a uh career development uh and job training skills program that Mayor Max Cafe is located inside the Cypress Center, 881 West Avenue in Port Reading. Uh again,
open Monday to Friday, 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on school days only and reservations are not required. Uh along the same lines, uh speaking of our youth, under item number three on my agenda, the youth centers, uh the three of them in the township have reopened uh
as of September 15. Uh they are located in Colonia, uh Woodbridge, and Fords. They are open from 3 to 6:00 p.m. daily on school days only. They're open to students grades 6 through 8. This is public school students as well as any of
of our students from St. James or St. John Vienni as well. It's a structured and safe environment with adult supervision. It's free to attend and participate. You just need to sign up. Uh and you can learn more about these programs through the mayor's Facebook
page, the youth services website, or the youth services Instagram page. Uh nextly, uh item number 14 under my sustainability agenda, there is a great new program that the township has launched under the office of sustainability. Uh it's a Halloween
costume swap where between now and October the 1st, which is next week, uh the township is collecting here here at Woodbridge uh town hall as well as the youth centers, collecting gently used Halloween costumes, which will then be repurposed and recycled, if you will, uh
out to the community on Saturday, October the 4th, from 9 to noon, where residents of the community are welcome to come and pick up again these gently used Halloween costumes. So, we're repurposing rather than having to go out and and repurchase Halloween costumes year after year and then they sit on a
shelf or in a closet somewhere. We're putting them back into good use and we're being uh sustainable, of course. So, again, uh the pickup event is Saturday, October 4 from 9 to noon at the Woodbridge Health Department. I don't think I mentioned that. You can learn more about this at the mayor's
Facebook page as well. He's got the best Facebook page in town run by Megan back there. Uh nextly uh second and last item is National Public Lands Day this Saturday, September the 27th. There's two event at least two events going on.
Is the semianual Colonia cleanup uh which runs from the uh the Shauna Park which is located in Colonia at 571 Inman Avenue. It's a rain or shine event. Typically we run from about 9:00 a.m. to about 1:00 p.m. Uh that's open to people
of all ages and abilities. We'll put you to work. that's weeding, mulching. Sometimes there's some painting, picking up litter in the creek, things of that nature. And then uh lastly, uh at Oros Park, there's a Woodbridge River
celebration. Uh and that Oros Park is at Omar Avenue in Avenel. Uh members of the public are welcome to come out to that event after you've spent some time picking up litter around your community. And lastly, just a couple thank yous.
Township ran a great pass one uh program. This is a state new state application that combines the applications for the senior freeze, the anchor and the stay property tax relief programs. It's under one application.
The township uh senior services ran a program where residents received assistance filling out those applications through this treasury department that was located at the at the very busy acacia center as Mr. small pointed out if you missed that event or you have not yet filled out your blue
booklet, you still have time. October 31st is the deadline to apply for those three programs. Again, wonder under that singular application. If unfamiliar, you want to learn more information, visit nj.gov/treasury/taxation back/reief.
You could also find this through through Google again, the PAS1 application. And lastly, uh I know Mr. Ficaro would point this one out. This past weekend, we had the 18th annual Tour to Woodbridge bicycle tour. There are 85 cyclists who took part. And I want to give a thank
you to the sponsors and the volunteers, including the uh the guy who ran the program uh Jeff Marlstein uh of the Warpers Community Center who ran that great program. So that's it, Mr. President. Thank you, Harris. Mr. Mitch, thank you, Mr. President. Under number
one, I continue to work with the police department on reviewing these matters. Um, dropping down to number five, just on elections. As you probably all know, the county clerk's office started rolling out the mail-in ballots as of this past Saturday. I've unlocked the mail-in dropboxes uh over at the main
library and here at the municipal building. They'll remain open until election night at 8:00 p.m. And also early voting starts Saturday, November, I'm sorry, October 25th and Sunday, November 2nd. That also will be at the
center. That's all. Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Mr. Thank you, Council President. I have two items tonight. I have a tax and sewer overpayment and I have a parking permit refund. Thank you, sir. Thanks. Thank you, Council President. My agenda is in order. Thank you, sir. Planning director.
Planning and development. Director D. Thank you. Hello. Works director. Thank you. County Middle. Thank you, sir. Nothing. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Look for a motion to adjourn. Um, I just like to make a comment,
please, before the commun. I want to thank everyone who came out today. I appreciate your support very much. And come to more council meetings. you'll see more that's going on in town. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Thank you. Motion council second. Motion prop and jured. Have a good
night. Thank you.