[Music] Good evening. Welcome to Woodbridge, the best town around. My name is John McCormack. I'm the mayor of this great town and we're here today for our annual
breast cancer awareness month flag raising ceremony. This is one of those things where I get to uh not be terribly involved because we have a council woman who started this many years ago and who cares deeply about people. Uh Debbie Mean is somebody who if you're down and
in trouble and had a tragedy, a catastrophe or anything bad happened to you, Debbiey's the person to go to. She's constantly having fundraisers, uh breakfast, dinners, tricky trays to help people in need. I'll do a quick
commercial for her. This Sat Sunday, right? Saturday. Saturday. This Saturday at 12:00 at uh St. John Biani is the start of the breast cancer awareness walk. They will leave the parking lot, make a left, go over the Parkway down to McKinley
Avenue, make a right, and go down to the Springwood Swim Club. It's something she's been doing for many, many years. Uh there's always somebody that it's in honor of or in memory of. Uh Debbie will explain that this year. here and then they have fun. Then they go to an October Fest celebration that after
something that's sad, you now you have something happy. It's something Debbie's known for. Uh this event is something that she is so proud of and that she does a great job with. First, let me introduce the people in the audience or I'm sorry, the people at the Deis. Uh to my far left is our assembly man and
current speaker of the New Jersey General Assembly, Mr. Craig Coughlin. To his right is former council person and current chief of staff and head of redevelopment Carolyn Erlick. To her right is second ward councilman covering Fort Lona Caseby Howy Bower. To
her right is first ward council woman covering Woodbridge proper and Seaw Warren Sharon McAuliff. To her right is current council president and third W councilman covering covering Aanel and Port Reading Cory Spiller. To my left is the amazing Debbie Mean,
who I just described. To our right is troop 83340 of the Girl Scouts, who are the most active Girl Scout troop. They're always here. They were here a couple of weeks ago, right, for the flag raising for uh childhood cancer. They were here for the autism,
but you name it, they're always here and they're terrific. So, ladies, thank you. And to the young lady with the judge jersey, what do you think tonight? Got to do it. got to do it. It's all over if we don't. Now, I'd like to turn this over to uh Debbie Mian to go over
uh more about tonight to present a proclamation and to talk about this wonderful event. Oh, we also have some people from town hall, our business administrator Veto Samaluca, deputy administrator Casey Wagner, personnel human resources head, uh Darren Crocker,
uh mayor's admin, uh Nichollet Dunn. We have our police director Joe Niski. We have a whole lot of people here who help make Woodbridge work. the communications deputy director, Megan Kushba, our social media coordinator, uh, Kelly Walsh, all here, plenty of our police officers, plenty of Woodbridge Fire
Department officers. Thank you for bringing the truck. And now I turn it over to Debbie. Thank you, mayor. Good evening, everybody. It's nice to see such a nice Hello. Um, thanks for coming out tonight to recognize breast cancer. We here in
Woodbridge Township feel it's so important to recognize people that go through this battle. There's way too many people that are fighting it that have lost their lost their lives from it and there's so many that have survived it. So in October we woman recognizes
all those brave women that go through this. Um this weekend like the mayor said we're going to have an event. It's starting at St. John's at 12:00. We invite everybody to come down and walk with us in unity for breast cancer. We have some special guests that are going
to be walking once we walk um to the Springwood Swim Club. We have an October Fest there. It's going to be great. We have live music. We have a wine and beer garden. We have hay ride pumpkin uh pumpkin painting. Lots of stuff for the kids. And we have two other families there that we're going to be honoring.
So, this weekend in total, we'll be honoring three um Colonia families that are battling cancer. So, we ask come out and have a great time with us, but also come out and support these families. It's really important when your community comes out. It kind of gives them all a gentle hug and helps them
through it. So, um, I met Jennifer two years ago when we did the breast cancer walk. So, I've been doing this now for eight years and each year we pick somebody else. But Jeff was sick when I first met her and now she's a year in remission. Uh, two years in remission.
Um, but we walked for her two years ago and this year she still comes out every year and this year she's going to help us raise the flag. But I just want to give you a proclamation, Jen. You would mind holding that when I read it? Go ahead. It's National Cancer Awareness Month.
Whereas October is that dedicated as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month to bring widespread attention to breast cancer since 1985. And breast cancer is the most common cancer contracted by American women. And studies show that
one in eight women will battle against breast cancer, which approximately translates to more than 200,000 women diagnosed with the disease each year in the United States. The Wbridge Municipal Government advocates for all cancer awareness, especially breast cancer
awareness throughout the year. Host fundraisers, educational activities, and awareness events with Kumalades at the fifth annual fifth annual Iman Avenue breast cancer awareness walk and Jennifer Davenport will raise the flag in honor of breast
cancer awareness month symbolizing her courageous battle. So I don't have tissues. Okay. About overcoming overcoming breast cancer and celebrating two years in remission. And now there I Sean McCormack, mayor of the township, in in
the county of Middle Sex in the state of New Jersey and in concert with Wbridge Cancer Municipal Council to hereby officially recognize the month of October in the year 2025 to be National Breast Cancer Awareness Month throughout Woodbridge Township and do further
recognize Jennif Jennifer for her courageous battle with all who reach down to breast cancer patients, survivors, fallen, and family for their efforts in the fight to find a cure for breast cancer. I wish them safe passage
and future success in all their endeavors. Yep. We're gonna have Jennifer say a couple words. Thank you. Thank you so much. Uh first, I want to thank our mayor and my favorite council woman, Debbie. Go out and vote for her. Okay. Um, thank you
everyone that came out tonight to the flag raising ceremony to kick off breast cancer awareness month. This one is personal for those that don't know but now do. I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2023. It was a journey of treatment, surgeries, and a lot of faith
and support. I'm proud to stand here today and share that as of this past August, I am now two years cancer free. I say cancerree, not in remission. Raising this flag tonight is about more than awareness. It's about hope. It's a
reminder to schedule your mammograms, to support the fighters, to celebrate the survivors, and to honor those we've lost. I am grateful to be a part of a community that rallies together. My heart goes out to the families impacted, and to the loved ones that we've lost.
Your strength and memory are what keep us raising this flag year after year. Thank you. Heat. Heat. Good evening. Order. Please rise for a pledge of 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 serving. Thank you. Notice requirement for public
meeting law have been satisfied and a special notice for community benefits agreement meeting published in the home and star ledger on January 10th 2025 and September 19th to 2025 respectively. A copy of this was also posted on the municipal bulletin board
should be so noted in the minutes of this meeting. Councilman Anderson here. Councilman Bower here. Councilwoman Deus. Councilwoman May here. Councilman Patel. Councilman Small. Councilman Harris here. Vice President McCulla
here. And President Spill here. Can I get a motion to approve the minutes from September 23rd, 2025? Motion. Second. Any questions or comments from councel? All in favor? I
I oppose. Eyes have it. Beginning with second reading ordinances this evening, we will start with letter A, an ordinance to vacate and extinguish for public right of way a portion of uh I'm sorry, portion of the Touchin Avenue here in the township of Woodbridge. Can I get a motion that this ordinance be
taken up on second and third reading and the public hearing be open? Motion. Second. Are there any comments or questions from councel? All in favor I opposed. Eyes have the public hearing is now open on letter A. Letter A only.
There's no more. It's wireless. It's wireless. It's wireless. Okay. You're good, sir. Ken Gardner 101 SC or someone explain your Sure. This is um
not from agreement uh between center mall and sharing gardens uh the apartment complex the property uh they bought up uh this has been ongoing for several years. Uh they needed uh approvals from all five major anchors at mall. So it's really a housekeeping
issue but it's going to revert the portion of the property back to Sharon Bars court for them to uh do what they need to do on their on their side which might be anything. It might be nothing. Yes. So the barrier on Dunction Avenue between residential and Sharon Gardens will still be there.
Yes, that was still coming back. Correct, sir. Thank you. Are there any other comments on letter A? Hear no other comments. Can I get the motion that the public hearing be closed? The ordinance be adopted and submitted to the mayor by law. Motion. Second.
Any questions or comments? All in favor? I opposed. Eyes have it. We're going to take letters B and C by consent. Both are capital ordinances. Both are in the amount of $4 million. The first one is for waterfront walkway project and seaw warrant. And the second one is for Sew
Marina improvements. With that said, could I get a motion that these two ordinance be taken up on second and third reading and the public hearing be open? Motion. Second. Any questions or comments from councel? All in favor? I. I. Opposed? Eyes have it. Public hearing is
now open on letters B and C. B and C only. Hear no comment from the public. Can I get a motion that the public hearing be closed? The ordinances 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 I opposed. Eyes have it. We'll take letter D, which is a bond ordinance amount of $3.5 million, and this is to require property on Berry Street. I got a motion that this ordinance be taken up on second and third reading and the public hearing be
opened. Motion second. Any questions or comments from council? All in favor? I opposed. Eyes have public hearing is now open on letter D. Letter D only Mr. Mitch did say berry.
We're talking about berry sheet, not berry, right? I said bury with it. Okay. And um have we outgrown our court positions for storage? So I'm sorry. I don't want to interrupt. Yeah.
Uh possibility of relocating the court uh along with uh any additional municipal offices. Okay. So how many properties are we acquiring? Uh this will be the the one. It's it would be a parking lot next. Yeah. And in the adjacent parking
lot. So we have outgrown our court space. We hiring new employees. Nobody said that sir. We are looking at the possibility of relocating some if not all of the court uh offices andor amenities for lack of a better word and any possible additional municipal
offices that uh might work into that building. And so why are we doing this in this space in the temple? So I'm going to turn over. I don't want to uh speak out of term, but um the New Jersey uh laws that govern are
continually uh enhancing the the the security and everything of the courts. Mayor, if you want to. It's frankly, Council President, it's an awkward place for a court to have it on the main floor of the admissible building. It's just not the way most towns have it. Many courts are in
separate buildings. They're certainly on uh separate floors. So, we just saw the opportunity when this building came for sale and decided to make an offer on it. It was accepted. And now, as you say, it's very likely going to be some place where we move the court. And then therefore, we can move other offices
that are in space outside of uh this area into this building and just be more efficient for the taxpayers and residents of Woodbridge Township. I would suggest putting Mr. President saving money in the existing space. Thank you.
Are there any other comments under letter D? Letter D. There are no other comments. Can I get a motion that the public hearing be closed? The ordinance be adopted and submitted to the mayor for approval required by law back. Motion second.
Questions or comments? All in favor? I oppose. Eyes have it. Is an ordinance amending chapter 7 which is our traffic ordinances. And this is with a revision to handicap parking to add a space on Fairfield Avenue. Could I get a motion that this 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 opposed. Eyes have it. The public hearing is now open on letter E. Letter E only. No comment from the public. Can I get a motion at the public hearing be closed?
The be adopted and submitted for the mayor for approval as required by law. Motion. Second. Any questions or comments from councel? All in favor? I I oppose. Eyes have it. Letter F, an ordinance of the township of Woodbridge and this is to acquire property located
at 511 Cliff Road in Seawward. Can I get a motion that this ordinance be taken up on second and third reading and the public hearing be opened? Motion. Second. Any questions or comments from councel? All in favor? I opposed. Eyes have it. Your public
hearing is now open on letter F. Letter F only hear no comment from the public. Can I get a motion that 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. I. Opposed? Eyes have it. Ordinances listed as G, H, and I are all first reading ordinances. Can I get a motion that these three ordings be passed on first reading published in the home news Tribune on October 10th, 2025 with notice of public hearing to be held on
October 21st, 2025 at 7 p.m. Motion second. Any questions or comments from council? All in favor? I opposed. I fed. Mr. President, I have before you resolutions listed 1 through 25 with the
exclusion of number 23. I'd like to hold for just a moment and I get a motion by consent to act on one through 25. Motion second. Any questions or comments from councel? Mr. Mitch, I'll be abstaining from number 25.
So noted. Mr. Mitch, I'll be abstaining from number 25. So noted. Any other comments? All in favor? I opposed. eyes have it. Mr. President, I pulled out, as you're aware, number 23, the
community benefits agreement before councils to vote on it. I'd like to uh introduce Noah Freeberg and ask him to make a presentation to the governing body as to the uh resolution before you before we take a vote.
Hey, sir. Um, good evening. So, uh, my name is Noah Fryber. I'm a senior developer with Penrose. We are currently in the process of um just about starting construction on a 100% affordable veterans project
off Broadway Avenue which is going to be right on the same location as the Greens Avenue project which is an existing 100% affordable um project. Um the reason that we're here tonight is that part of the funding for this new 100% affordable
building are um Aspire tax credits from EAS. These are state tax credits that are sold that help uh build the bricks and the sticks of the affordable housing project. That um that EVA's fire credit comes with it a community benefits
agreement requirement which is something that's required for all types of projects. is fire to fund all types of projects throughout the state, not just residential housing and not just affordable. Uh affordable housing is just actually a very small piece of this
uh this tax credit. And so the requirement for Ced benefits agreement is um something that is required for every project. However, EBA does um carve out the exception for 100% historical housing as it is inherently
beneficial. comes with uh uh a whole host of uh amen amenities and benefits in and of itself including services. And so what we're here tonight for is to uh ask for the waiver of um that CPA. So just to talk a little bit about the
project itself. This is a 60 unit project for veterans. Um it will be 100% affordable. Uh between 30 and 60% of the area median income. Um there will be a whole host of services provided to the veterans themselves which I'll get to in
a moment. Um the township will receive compensation for the land. There's a pilot being paid um and these folks uh um so just a little bit about services. We're partnering with a recognized
nonprofit group called Soldier on their face out of Massachusetts but have a very large presence here in New Jersey. Um they serve veterans all throughout the state but having a large footprint in the Middle Sex area. some of the services that they'll be providing. Um
they'll help with um health, education, nutrition, uh social events, provide access to food banks, provide residents with uh access to renters's insurance and free creditings, national presentations, health and
wellness, um back to school plans and so forth like that. um and also connect these residents with veteran services available here municipality state level um as well and so in addition to the
benefits of the 100% affordable housing all have access to a number of the services be provided at minimum on a quarterly basis mostly and so again those are all kind of things that are going to come that we're
doing automatically with this project and what we're here at tonight is the approval of the waiver of the CPA aspire which comes with a whole host of additional administrative requirements
and regulation of how to comply with over the 10ear period and EPA specifically carved out the exception of CPA for 100% affordable but did state that the it was required to be cooperation
All right. Thank you very much. I I asked my fellow council mates for their support on this resolution. Um I've known Noah a very long time and his company. Uh it starts with uh right next door uh the Greens Avenue which uh is uh dedicated to uh developmental disabled
um not only through the state uh but the township. Um, you know, we have spoken to numerous, uh, rebuilding warriors, uh, other veterans organizations and soldier on that you're working with, uh, is spot on. And, uh, this is one of the things when we talk about affordable housing, these are for our veterans,
100% for our veterans, 100% for our disabled veterans. Um, that, you know, they served our country. Um, and they might have been, um, whether it's disabled, injured, and whatever it might be, or or just, you know, not, but these
are our veterans. So, you know, no better place than Woodbridge uh best time around to try to help them. So, I want to thank you for bringing this to the council. Any comments from council before I present it for a vote,
Mr. President? Yes, sir. May I first of all, thanks for what you're doing. You know, this is certainly voluntary and uh you know, thanks for coming to Woodbridge. Uh I know you guys have been good partners here in Woodbridge in the past. Affordable housing often gets a negative connotation. It's often, you
know, assumed that it's free housing. It's it's not it's not public housing. It's veterans in this case paying a reduced rent. So that's accurate. Correct. All right. Great. I again often times affordable housing has a very negative connotation which is unfortunate. Number
two, uh obviously shuffles aren't in the ground yet. if you're a veteran out there sitting in the audience or watching from home, what's sort of the uh the when when and how would they apply for for housing in the future? Yeah, thank you. So, um I meant to
mention earlier that we are anticipating hopefully to have shovels in the ground in the next 45 to 60 days and a little bit earlier. Okay. Um construction will be about 14 months. So, you're probably talking um in early
2020, late 2026, early 2027 that we will be starting to accept applications because this is a veterans project in the mayor's office that we would be working with the veterans organizations
inside the township to uh meet with them, let them know about this project, answer questions at the time construction those veterans those folks around are aware and we plan for that. Great. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Thank you. With that said, Mr. President, so I present to you the resolution number 23 which we pulled. I thank you for letting me do that and I'll entertain a motion to act on that resolution. Motion. Second. Any questions or comments from
councel? All in favor? I I oppose. Thank you. That's all I have for this meeting. Thank you. Okay. Thank you very much, Mr. Mitch. We'll now go to the public comment portion of the meeting. When approaching a microphone, please state your name, what section of the township or state
that you live in, and you'll have a one-time opportunity to speak. All members of the audience shall adhere to the township's decorum 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 andor administration. When there's one minute, I will alert to the speaker as to
emphasize any remaining points questions. When the 5minute period is passed, all speakers are to leave the microphone and return to their chairs. There'll be no interruptions from the chair. 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
meeting. Thank you. The public portion of the meeting is now open. Are there any comments from the public this evening? There are no comments coming up. It's there's a drop from the ceiling. It picks you up. Thanks everybody. Um
um just want to touch on two things. Um thank you for the time everybody. My name is John Kasquez. Um two things I just want to touch on briefly. Um first I know in um prior meetings it was mentioned that there would be some competition um for the
whole internet and cable um and most recently you saw some trucks and contractors putting a line all over town. So I just want to say I recommend appreciate it. It's nice to have a little more options. So I just wanted to start out with something really positive. I think we we don't have enough of that. So I just want to answer
positive. Thank you. Um second item a little more concerning. Um this is more of a larger scar larger scale item but I was recently reminded of it. So um second one I want to discuss briefly is the runaway energy costs. Since 2017, New Jersey has closed
six power plants resulting in a loss of 2700 megawatt megawatt in energy. We went from an exporter to a big importer which certainly did not help the costs and it hurts the residents by township. Everyone's hurting on this um as costs
are very high with everything. Um so affordable dependable energy is not negotiable. Activists have closed several of these plants and concept of affordable energy right now. But I heard some thought from the U lawmakers in Trenton that there was a
plan for some relief. I wasn't listen. So when I opened this this letter, um I'm sure you can imagine my confusion because this was a nice letter here that was sent out to the uh like the 103,168
residents of Woodbridge Township um addressing this matter. Um, I can't really read the whole thing for interest of time, but basically um, it looks like it was thought up as a very very nice incentive in case anyone on the panel isn't aware of what this was or anyone
watching on YouTube comment section. You can see that this is to help some relief for anyone who wants to add solar panel. I have the letter right in front of me, sir. Awesome. Um, so that's really nice, but I looked at that and what about everybody else?
This is basically offering them. It's an advertisement to offer relief to about 4% of the population who uses solar. Um, right now natural gas is about 48% of our energy. It's clean. A lot of the coal has already shut down, but we also
closed a nuclear plant in this state. Um, we have some 10 folks. We have some more folks. Um, but why don't we continue taking these concerns? I know this is kind of quiet. When I come back to 2,700 megawatt, I scratch my head. I know the end megawatt, right? and it sounds like something you see on a
cartoon like like a power ranger or something. So I figured that out for reference to how I feel the impact especially in my line of work. I did some quick a single,000 megawatt power plant 750,000 to 900,000 homes. If there
are 103,68 residents in this township according to Google um with an average of 2.6 people per household we have 39,68 households. That means 1,000 megawatts out of 2700 can power roughly 20 Woodbridge countries.
Not proper, the township. Do you think that would have an impact? I went a bit deeper. Let's say we all decide to get solar make up the deficit. I'm all about solutions. This sounds good. The weather's perfect and our roots can handle it. Based on average solar panel capacity, 1 megawatt equals
2,857 solar panels and 1350 watts per panel. So now we're on the subject. I'm curious how that work. Let me plug in this. If I take the 2857 and divide by 800,000 homes, which is in the middle class, that is about 280 panels per home. Technologies come a long way, but
I want to visualize. How big are 1350 W? 67 in by 40 at 40 lb each. Average home is 1,500 to 2,000 ft. Less than 20 to 30% is unusable space. This is simply illogical. I realized certain parts of the town had more yard space open fields
that would take away from the community and great projects like the veterans home. So why the state decided to allow this to continue and why did this continue? How are we going to be able to have about
if we average it out that's 280 panels for home? I don't know anyone who can fit that on the roof. Maybe you guys do. One minute sir. But that's concern of mine. I have a list of the ones that closed. Um, most of them were full, but if we had one nuclear power plant that would be a huge
thank everyone as friends and neighbors who would like to stand up and who want to stand out for the president's delivery at the state of New Jersey. Thank you. Are there any other comments or questions from the public?
Hello again. Good evening. First, I want to thank the council and the administration for the presentation of your resolution number 230 of the project. It would be refreshing to have discussion. Usually, I know there are 25
resolutions on the agenda tonight. Usually, they are approved by uh consent. There's no discussion. you don't get to hear anything about it. Everybody just votes yes and it's over the phone. So, thank you for that.
Number two, another I think will be agreement is I hope the Yankees win tonight as well. So, it's let's hope they stay. Let's hope we get there to watch it. Sorry, but you may next on the bill list. I believe that
the council will abstain under 25 bill. Can you tell me the total? Is there a total dollar amount for the bill list tonight? I have there's a lot of bills. You can if you don't have it in front of you, I'm sure you can open it. Sir, if I'm not mistaken, the two council
abstained on the on all these bills on every bill. Is that correct, Mr. Gardner? If they didn't, you'd be the first person here to be asking about it. So, which one is it? Do you want them to abstain? Do you not want them to abstain? We did everything within the
parameters of what we are supposed to do. Councilman Anderson, Councilman Bower respectfully made the motion. And the second, I just answered your question. Well, there's there's a number of bills, so if they have a problem with one bill, they should not be they don't have a pro I'm sorry. They
don't have a problem. Nobody said they have a problem with a bill. They abstain if there might be a potential conflict. And why are we going to sit here and say, you know what, I'm going to abstain on this one, but I'm going to vote on this one. Council President, I'm going to make a motion on 1579. Oh, no, I can't. So, we're just going to make it easier that way it flows much more nicer.
Well, it's their job to to review the bills. I mean, these are the bills of the township of that keeps the town going and you were here several meetings ago and you said that they weren't doing their job because they did vote on it. So, again, which one would you like, sir? One particular bill. Well, I'm the
council president and I'm the one that said, "Councilman Anderson, you're going to make the motion." Councilman Bower, are you going to second it? Because they abstained. I just answered your question. Mr. President, I mean, you should not be making the motion. I didn't make a motion. I I know you and I had raised a
question. Council was making a motion on a bill for her own business. That's not true. Not tonight. She didn't make the motion. procedure. That's not true. You changed the rules. I'm happy that
you follow. It wasn't your advice. It was not advice. It was from the council. Trust me, it wasn't your advice. But I'm sorry, Councilwoman. Council Vice President M. Excuse me, sir. I am talking. I do not interrupt you. You stopped. You'll listen to me. Council
vice president. Mike, it's my time. You ask a question, sir. I'm answering. As I said, it is a Q& A. You ask the question, I'm the A. I'm answering it. We're having an interaction. I'll have about 2 seconds left. Well, it shouldn't take you 3 minutes to get to a question. Instead of your
preamble, say, "Council President, what color is this guy?" Blue. Enough said. Ask the question. I give you the answer. You don't have to do this whole dog and pony. Just ask a question. I answered you. What's next, sir? Okay, Mr. President. Uh just to recap a few items. Sure.
I'm running for council. This is a council meeting. Nobody cares who runs for anything. It's a council meeting. It's not a rally. It's not a fundraiser. I'm clarifying you. Okay, that's fine. I'm running for council. As I said, one of the reason is property taxes. How many residents are concerned with the amount of property
tax? Which property taxes? The mayor is here 2021 2022 there was a zero zero tax increase. So make sure you have everything correct. Sir, you withhold million dollar from the school district. One minute, sir. Several hundred,000 from the fire
district. What do you expect them to do, Mr. President? All you're doing is playing a shell game and asking to talk to somebody else. And as the mayor's asked you, have you gone to a board of fire commissioners meeting and ask? We have nothing to do with the fire commissioners meeting. We
have nothing to do with the fire tax. We get from their accountants what the tax rate is and that's it. Sir, you know this better than I do, sir. Those apartments you built, 1100, which you so loved two years ago. You praised them. You heard them. You had
the minutes from 2022. Succeed, Mr. President. Just like the mayor is mayor for two more years. I want him to succeed as mayor for two more years. Okay. You on the council, council member Paul I'm running against. I want her to succeed until the end of her term. Just because I'm running
doesn't mean that I don't support our township and the things that you've approved even though I may disagree with Thank you, sir. Are there any other comments from the public this evening? I'm in a council meeting. Just speak. It's It's up top, sir.
Just speak. It's wireless, sir. Thank you. I was over here. Councilman Harris. We call him Danny. I don't ever think anybody ever called him Danny, but it's Councilman Harris, sir. Okay. At this point,
he said police less tickets. No, he didn't say less tickets. No, he did not say less tickets, sir. Well, make sure you're correct cuz I'm going to correct you. So that's violation cuz there going to be more
kids. Why? That's what you get. Stop. What's the first What's the first question? I'm not taking SATs here. Give me one question at a time. You're the one asking questions, sir. Listen, Mr. President
March 25th of this year was spoken democrat organization chairman US organization democratization organization political science became part of
graduate. over here that Pakistan should not be put on the right because political distracts and things like that and I think
Democrats do because I see all the sides of that right define public right away, not not business property. If the if the property owner, if the property owner gives permission, a person can put a
sign wherever the property owner wants. They can't be on township property. You know that better than anybody. You've had your signs up since June. Give me a break. If the property owner gives permission,
in a in a curve. It's not a public you go all over the street there's a lot of public right there signs. Mhm. Now my question would be that only apply to
because Mr. Well, if you ever remove all the signs because all of the town big signs, right? Well, if your party decided to spend a little bit of money and get signs, you'd have more signs, sir. again
today. They said that of course I'm not here. How do I get my information? I'm sorry. I think I will get my information. How do I know that you should expect people
when I say open but it's not the ability of people now one minute sir 20 people not find out what we know what you know people
Why are you denying that? This is not a job. This is a coffee job and people are being production company. The warehouse is not part of the warehouse if they can build the size
of the warehouse. But we are responsible because we have to get engineers to people that built this building and of course we should have respected the warehouse. So don't deny people are stupid what you're doing.
Nobody's calling any Nobody ever called anybody stupid, sir. I'm sorry. This is the thing we talk about. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Have a good night. Are there any other comments or questions from the public?
Closer. Good evening. Evening. First of all, I think the five minute limit down the line. Hopefully I can get to my stuff in five minutes. So I try to stay
on tour and that would um maybe we once a week now for meetings and it would help you know meeting two weeks for another uh answer question uh might might help. So anyhow last month I asked
a question about uh how the council uh gets their raises and I really get a I didn't really get a real answer. Um yes you did sir. Well, yes, you did, sir. So, let's be honest. You and I had several conversations, but go ahead with your five minutes.
Well, no, the man actually got the fence. They gave me a list of what the council does and um I looked into the programs and and events that he discussed and a lot of them have people in charge or they have directors. Um so, the council really only helps out, you
know, they get to choose how long they want to help out that program or what they want to do. Um, and then at the end they take a picture and they go in a magazine. Um,
nothing is really set in stone. Um, oh, so he actually came up and said that the council helps out the uh taxpayers. Uh, I would agree with that. Um because I know I call you a text uh district
even when he's on vacation. Uh so it's just not going out and taking some time with these programs. Uh you're out there actually helping the community. I never wanted to attack what the council banks that was not my purpose. I just want to
know the process of how it was done. Um, why would I attack how much you got paid when I was running for for council? It just didn't make any sense. Um, one of the things uh I couldn't get a
direct answer was the council does vote on their salary. I was being told I couldn't. No, that's incorrect, sir. I told you that numerous times. That's incorrect. So, when the administration The administration is different from the council, right?
they voted on it. So just to recap because I don't want to take away from time to talk about that's okay. You did reach out in fairness you did reach out. We had several conversations. I'm going to say to you one ex explain to you again as I did and the mayor the council does not
vote on any individual salaries. Every um when terms we vote on a salary g uh salary range guide. Those are for from here to here for all most departments. Then that department they want to hire a
laborer or a custodian or an IT that department head division head along with administration of finance they come up with the figures the council has and as it was mentioned two months two meetings ago when it was brought up the last time we did that was September of 2024.
You're bringing it up in that the administration the director correct me if I'm wrong mayor or Mr. Sumaluca the director andor division head along with the department administration and finance. Okay, I just wanted to clear that up. Um, and uh what
I care. So, uh, actually I was I was going to just put on the record that if I won the election, I was considering considering donating part or my full salary to a program. Um, one minute, sir.
Okay. Everything. Let me skip down here. Uh, real quick. Oh, uh, the mayor says that there is no traffic. You can't have traffic. Mayor did not say that. I was I watched that video three times. The mayor did not say there's no traffic. He said you can't have you can't have
traffic and speeding at the same time. I just want to clarify that you can have speeding and traffic at the same time. I was just coming here. I was in traffic. Mhm. And then I almost got hit by somebody speeding. So you can't have traffic and
speeding at the same time. Something else he brought up was when you replace something with something else, you want to have you may have less traffic because of what you're replacing it with. One bad example is the Hess
property was solar panels, but we replaced it with condos. The Hess property was not solar panels. The Hess property in Port Reading/C1. No. Well, you're you're all over the place there, Mr. Banko. Have a good night. Thank you, sir.
Are there any other comments or questions from the public this evening? There are no other comments or questions. Can I get a motion that the public comment portion be closed? Can I get a motion? Motion. Second. I
have council president session. If you don't mind, I can address a few things. First thing, Mr. Klocus, I think you're misreading the letter. We're not in favor of solar panels. We're basically trying to capture when companies put solar panels in and uh the take those credits and use
them for residences. But we'll talk to you right after the meeting. In fact, Carol's behind me here. She's the architect of community. So, not of the program, but she's the architect of bringing it to New to Woodbridge, New Jersey, and she knows all about it. But we're not advocating for solar panels at all. Uh we're we're just saying when
companies do them, we'll get the benefit of it. Number two, nobody likes property taxes. Um, at the same time, Mr. Gardner says property taxes should be lowered. He talks against pilot programs, which last year put $28 million into the
budget to offset property taxes. 7.5 to 8 million of that was used to pay school debt on the projects. We all know how that works. The balance goes in the budget and the balance goes for everything else in the budget on the expense side. And it also goes to offset
property taxes on the revenue side. So you can't be against pilots and against property taxes because pilots help offset property taxes. Once again, he just doesn't understand after all these
years and all these explanations just doesn't understand how pilots work. They use words like tax exempt. Nobody's exempt from taxes. It should be called a tax discount program, not a tax abatement program. They're getting 15% or so off their taxes. The other thing
he says, which is always wrong and misleading, probably on purpose, that we withhold taxes from the school district and that we withhold taxes from the fire districts. We do nothing of the sort. As you said, and you're getting it. You you're you got this down, I think,
council president. They tell us what their budget requires for an amount to be raised by taxation. They go through the same process. Everybody does. Every town, every fire district, every school district, every county and the state and all all of authorities, you name it.
They determine how much they need from taxation and they send us that and we bill it. And in the case of the school board, we pay them 12 times. We divide it by 12 and pay them once a month. In terms of the fire in the county, we divide it by four and we pay them once a
quarter. And of course, our money we keep. We don't withhold anything. They get everything they need. Everything they they're required in their budget. We get the pilot money. We keep most of it and we share it above
and beyond what we have to. We don't have to give them anything, but we still do. And you wouldn't have all these new schools and all these new expanded schools. You wouldn't have anything near the school security we have without pilots. You wouldn't have anywhere near the school technology we have without
pilots. You wouldn't have full day kindergarten without pilots. You wouldn't have a new Rush Street school, a new school 4. We just dedicated the school Friday. It was wonderful seeing that brand new school right smack in the middle of Evanel. And school five will be renovated in a year. A renovated
Woodbridge Middle, brand new, practically brand new. A practically brand new former St. Cecilia school which is now school 29. Big addition on school 25 and Fords. Big addition on school 28 in Seaw Warren. In in school 24 and 22 there was pods. There were different buildings. Kids had to put
their red coats on to change to go to lunch and to go see the nurse. Now there's one. They're all big buildings. All those things were done with pilots. I'm just getting crazy tired of constantly explaining to people like Mr. Gardner who uses his lack of
understanding for trying to get political benefit. We don't withhold anything from the school board. They get more than they could possibly ask for. And to this day, since 1999, when I was a CFO, we did our very first pilot with
the FedEx warehouse down in the Kisby section of town. Since that time, 26 years, not once as a superintendent of the schools, not once as a business administrator of the schools, not once as a board member of the schools. We've
been through three or four supers, handful of business administrators, probably dozens of board members over that time frame. Not once has anybody said they're mad and they're not happy with the way the town treats them. We go, we hand them almost $8 million to
pay for the projects that they financed without t their tax dollars. They're using our pile of money. Residents are not paying for those schools. Businesses are. It's the best program around. They asked us to speak in Atlantic City this year at the convention about how this
works because other towns want to copy how we're doing it. Superintendent coming with us to talk about how the schools benefit from that. The fire districts get everything they ask for. Not one person from a fire district. There's five board members. None of them are complaining that they're not getting
anything from us because we're not holding anything from them. They do the same thing the school districts do. They pass a budget. It says, "I need X dollars from the town for taxes." We bill it. We pay them. In fact, we pay when there's a tax appeal, we pay 100%
of that. They don't. Fire, school, and county don't pay. We have to put money aside for people who don't pay their taxes. We eat all of that. School, fire, and county don't. They're so far ahead of the game. And that's why they don't complain cuz they're ve, excuse me,
very, very happy. The school district got $8 million from us. They're paying off a $57 million bond from 2017. They're paying off an $87 million bond from 2020. And we're if we ever got the state to approve this green acres transfer, we're going to go for another
70 million. And the school the school district's going to build a brand new school 10 in Hoplan for kids who travel from uh from KB and Hope 35 minutes to Port Ready 9 and 35 minutes to school 25 and forwards and to school 19 in Menlo Park Terrace. And the kids don't get
involved in sports. They don't get involved in after school activities. The parents don't go to PTO's cuz it's over a half an hour away. This is wonderful that they're going to get a brand new school tent. So all that happens because of pilots. Yet Mr. Gardner still every
meeting complains about pilots with improper facts. We don't withhold anything. Now as far as Mr. Varic in one hand he said he said the pro warehouse project is not in Woodbridge then
seconds later he said we're responsible for it how can we be responsible for a project that's not in our town impossible the project in fact is half in Woodbridge half in Perth Amboy it's almost split 50/50 down the middle
ironically right on the waterfront and and each town has half because our economic development team led by Carol behind me with Mileleski down the table here. Uh because we're better at it, they let us take the lead. So, we are responsible for all the work that's
being done on that project. Mr. Vetaric said how he's so smart because he knows the construction project was responsible for the road collapsing. It doesn't take an expert to figure that out. What we don't know is why. We don't know who's responsible. It
could be fault of the road. the road could have problems in it that would not have been disturbed. But for the project, uh there could be a whole host of reasons why. It could be bad engineering, bad architecture, mistakes by the construction contractor. It could
have been a fault in the road. It could have been a whole host of things. But to say he's got this figured out because he knows the construction project caused the the road to collapse, that's doesn't take a a a Mensah degree or you know,
you don't have to be a genius to figure that out. We all know that. What we don't know is why. There's samples taken of of soil. They're sample they're checking compaction. They're checking slopes. They're checking angles. There's a retaining wall. No one knows if that's in shape because it's covered with
brush. This is a major project. I say six to nine months if not longer before it's all done. I we had meetings with residents at Kisby, one with Judy Glenn and Dino Drive, one in Clinton Avenue Park for um for uh Greenbrook and and Mildrid and the other Highland and Olo
Streets. And we have a code red going out so people will know exactly what's going on. When we have something to report, they'll know it. But to say that the project, which by the way he says is in Hope, it's in Tisby. Uh to say he's probably never been to the site by the
way. I'd love to know if he if he ever was even at the site. Um to say that the construction project caused a pro caused a problem. Okay, we all we all get that. Now, Mr. Beno, you don't need to come to a council meeting to get questions
answered. You know, you can call Corey anytime. You do call Corey anytime. We don't need longer meetings. We don't need more meetings. We don't need more of a public session because you know what? People don't come to these meetings to get things done because they can just call us if they have a pothole. If they have an issue with parking, if
they have an issue with anything, all they have to do is call us, anybody at this table, anybody on that day. And that's why nobody comes to these meetings. Number one, they're a joke of people making political points, and I can't wait for it to be over in four weeks from tonight. Uh, but they don't
need to come to meetings to get things done. We get I get 200 emails a day. I'm sure the council gets dozens and dozens of emails. And to talk about the council like they just observe or they just
attend. Somebody tell that to Debbie Meion who tonight ran the breast cancer awareness event. In fact, when I got the microphone and kicked it all off, I was there for 15 seconds and I said, "This is nothing that we ran. This is something that Debbie went. I just got done saying that at 5:30 tonight and she took the mic and she went through it and
she got the Girl Scouts to come and she got the survivor to come. And on Saturday, she's running a breast cancer awareness walk from St. John Vienni to Springwood Swim Club. And after that, they're having a fundraiser for three victims of cancer in Colonia. This is
what Debbie Marian just did before the start of school is Beth De Jesus and Dan Harris ran backpack drives. They did three of them, four of them. They did one in Cisby, one in Hoplan, one at Jacob's Landing, and I don't remember the fourth one. Bet's not here, but they
ran it. They did it. Sharon had the idea to run the Seaw Warren tree lighting last year. We had tree lightings in Poor Reetting and Aanel and Woodbridge and Islin and Sharon said, "Why don't we do one at Seaw Warren?" Sharon ran it. Her
idea, she ran it. So, don't ever minimize the work that this council does ever again. That's that's totally ridiculous. They don't. They have full-time jobs. All of them have things they do during the day. They don't like us here. We're all here full-time. We
can do a lot more than they can, but they work incredibly hard. And what they make, they deserve, and they're probably underpaid. So, I'm not going to sit here and let anybody disparage the work of our town council, their teammates, their colleagues in public service. I can't do anything here without them. Frankly,
they can't do a lot without us. Everything we do needs them to support it. every bill list, every ordinance, every resolution, everything we do, we have to turn to them. They've all had years except for Dan's the brand new guy, but he had 12 and a half years on the board of ed and now he's starting on
joining the uh town council. Kyle's in his fourth term, but Howie's in his third term. Sharon's in about to start her second term. Debbie's on three terms. These people are dedicated to this town. I'm not going to sit here and let anybody disparage them in the work they do. Thank you, Council President. Thank you, mayor, for your uh comments.
Um, just a couple things real quick before I move into my agenda. Uh, Mr. Trador, it's good seeing you, sir. You look good. Unfortunately, the public portion was closed. Um, but I wanted to acknowledge you. Um, send me an email. Yes. Um, I would like to say one thing. I will not speak about
any other fire district. Uh, I know how fire districts work. I will speak for the fire district uh through um the pilots uh the mayor and the administration of finance. The Avenue Fire Department over the last eight years has gotten a new uh rescue engine,
two fire engine wrenching vehicles, a chief's vehicle along with other um for lack of a better word, amenities. If that didn't happen, we need the equipment. At some point, that would end up going on the taxpayers of the fire district. And we've spoken about the five minutes. Um excuse me. Uh you're
done. Thank you. Uh you're done. Thank you. Um as I said, take it up with your board of fire commissioners. Um, you know what's going to happen is, and we've said this before, after come the November 10th council meeting, whatever happens, there's going to be three people here and nothing's going to be brought up about 5 minutes and we're
going to have probably six or seven council meetings after that and it's going to be the same three people and everybody's going to reach out to all nine council mate of my fellow council mates, the mayor administration because we get things done. Facebook, I said it, Facebook Messenger, email, stopping at somebody's house, phone call, whatever
it might be. So like the one you know Mr. Banko, you said uh two meetings ago, well, I haven't been to a meeting all year, so I should get more than 5 minutes. Well, you haven't been to a meeting all year. Now all of a sudden, it's important. So, we take everything with a grain of salt. Thank you. We'll now move to the council agenda portion
of the meeting started myself. Uh item number eight, congratulations to Cloverleaf Shopping Center as we celebrated the grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony this past Friday. Many unique and different businesses will have or will be opening shortly. The redevelopment project will total well over 300 permanent jobs for the site.
And as of say several months ago, aside from the construction jobs, there were zero jobs on the site. So complete home run. Congratulations. Can't wait to shop for all the businesses. Item number nine. At approximately 2:55 a.m. this past Saturday, the Avenue Fire Department
respond responded to a structure fire at 1256 St. George Avenue, located right next to McDonald's. Upon arrival, crews encountered heavy fire conditions with fire blowing through the roof. Wish police department officers arrived on scene and immediately began to rescue trapped occupants from the second floor. Approximately 10 residents who lived in
the building lost everything. Five businesses on the first floor suffered water and smoke damage and are closed indefinitely. Residents who wish to donate to the families can donate direct to the Wbridge Town Woo Township Community Fund. Uh God bless all involved and please keep the residents and business owners in your thoughts and
prayers and thank you to all the first responders. Uh obviously I'm going to speak about my own AIL fire department and the job as as well as all the mutual aid but the first on scene but um uh Director Niski uh the police officers on scene they saved lives um you know I
hear comments not negative but they say oh firemen are doing their job cops are doing their job when you roll up at 3:00 in the morning and you know everybody is sleeping cuz everybody's sleeping at 3:00 in the morning and it is blowing out every opening of the second floor through the roof and there are people trapped and all Woolbridge police
officers are running out without disregard to anything and going into the belly of the beast. Please extend our uh absolute uh thank you and words of encouragement to all the officers. Uh on a much lighter note for Avenue Fire Department, please join me and the Avenue Fire Department for their annual
fire prevention openhouse this Saturday, October 11th, from 10:00 to 1 at the firehouse. Uh come see Sparky, go through the hose, uh props, flow some water, bring the kids, enjoy all the activities and refreshments we have to offer. The rest of my agenda is in order. God bless America. Council Vice President Mcqua.
Thank you, Council President. Um, I have a few announcements to make. Number one, uh, downtown Wilbridge. U, we just want to do a parking reminder that the new parking areas on North James Street and New Street are open, providing easy access for your next shopping or dining
trip in downtown Woodbridge. Please note that currently the New Street parking lot is currently being repaved in stripe, but there is still open parking there for use to get to Main Street. These convenient parking lots provide great access to all main streets, shops,
and restaurants. I have to put most my glasses on because these glasses are not working good tonight. I apologize. Um, number four, the arts. The Gallery on Maine is having a frightest movie event on October the
17th. And this is a free event. You can go there. There's no registration required. You can show up and watch these scary movies on October the 17th. That's at uh on Main Street, the Gallery on Maine. Also, the uh 18th annual Baron
Arts Fest will be held on Saturday, October the 11th at Parker Press. Over 40 artists and crafters will be selling pottery, painting, photographs, metal works of art, and handcrafted jewelry. Also, then I'm going to go down to the
events which this Saturday we have the fishing derby at the Frank Gagnon Memorial Fishing Derby will be held on Saturday, October 11th at the Woodbridge Pond. Please stop by and see who's going to catch the biggest fish. This is a great event for a lot of young fishers. They fisher people. They really like
going there. If you're interested in fishing, this is something fun to come down and see. Then I just have a couple of other things that I wanted to make an announcement on. Wbridge Township is going to have a Halloween decorating contest. This is a 2025 new event and
there are three categories. The spookiest house, autumn oasis, and a blowup bonanza, which requires at least four blowups to be entered into the contest. You have to understand that if you want to enter this contest, you are going to give the recreation department
permission to use your name, street name, and uh on the on social media. So, if you wanted to enter into this contest, you need to go to recreation department at twwp.woodbridge.nj. us and all entries must be entered by
November the 1st. You can go on to the township website to get more information about that decorating. Also, the Woodbridge Community Center has hoged mini golf all month long from 10 um from 4 to 10 on Friday, 12 to 10 on Saturday,
and 12 to 9 on Sunday. And then we have coming up, the Baron's Fest is coming up on October the 11th, this Saturday, that I already told you guys about. I have a bunch of things here. I'm sorry. And then I just wanted to give a couple
updates about a couple things that are going on in town. Even though that this is tomorrow, some of you may not know about it. The Woodbridge Fire Department is holding their open house from 5 to 7. Bring the whole family out for hands-on activities, live demonstrations, music, and tasty treats. Meet your local
firefighters and see the fire trucks up close. This is great fun for all ages. October 23rd, mark your calendars. Woodbridge Main Street is transforming into a trunk or treat hosted by the Woodbridge Police Department. Put on
your best costume and join us from 5:00 to 7:00 for tons of candy, spooky fun, and fest festive surprises. It's a safe and exciting way to celebrate Halloween with the whole community. Also, I just wanted to give everybody a little bit notice that we are sending
out letters for the repaving that's going on in town. So, please make sure if you get an envelope in the mail from the town that you do read it. It'll give you information about parking notices and when the paving work is going to happen on your street. It's not an exact, it could be an estimate, but they
give you a week long. So, please just keep that in mind. It's a week long. And um if you have permit parking in those sections, there are going to be accommodations made for that that you can relocate and park on other streets within your area and you will not be
ticketed for those um for your parking permit. Also, um bingo night at Anchor's Tiki Bar. Uh tomorrow we will have a bingo night. So, if you're a bingo lover, come down. Get some prizes, some fun, some
food trucks, and some cocktails. Bring your friends, grab a drink, and be ready to shout bingo. It's a new thing that's going on down there. It's a lot of fun. Lastly, I just wanted to say that the concert season has wrapped up at Harry Ranken Park. We hope you enjoyed all the local bands that performed and we look
forward to seeing you again next year. Once again, I wanted to give a sincere thanks to everyone who came out to the council meeting to show your support. Your presence and encouragement means so much to me and to all of us on the deis. I am truly honored and grateful to serve
such a caring and engaged community. Thank you. Thank you, Council President, and have a good evening. Thank you, Council West. Council Anderson. Thank you, Council President. On behalf of you uh and Abanell residents, I'd like to announce that uh there will be a holiday concert sponsored by the
Woodbridge Council uh Township Cultural Arts Commission. It's a Rock This Town Orchestra and uh that is Friday, December 12th at 7:30 and it's located at the Avenel Performing Arts Center, 150 Avanel Street. Uh you can call
732-63413 for ticket interest. Um I want to say uh give a shout out to all three high schools, Woodbridge, Colonia, and Kennedy for their homecoming that they had recently. Um great turnouts and um all three of the schools uh won their
game. Um Woodbridge High School, I would like to congratulate. Um this is the third year in a row that they've won their division. Uh and the the last two years have been under coach George. He just arrived here last year. His record, I don't want to jinx him before he goes
into a tough part of his schedule, but he's 16-1 since he got here. He's doing pretty well. Um Colonia is 4-2. They had a great game the other night. I enjoyed calling that game with our mayor. And JFK um is also 4-2. And this is uh will
will be a um first time in a while for JFK for a winning season. So I'd like to congratulate uh uh the coaching staff over there as well. Um the Hall of Fame banquet. This is so appropriate that I'm mentioning this because we have two Hall
of Famers right here sitting in the front row, Mr. and Mrs. Mrs. Mc McAuliff. And they are the only married couple in our hall of fame. And uh [Applause]
and they're both both proud Woodbridge High School graduates. Our Hall of Fame banquet will be on October 19th at the Woodbridge Community Center. You can contact 732-596448 at the recreation center to get your tickets. Uh there are a number of great
inductees, but our our former uh Councilman uh Mr. Faker. Uh, Greg Vicara is going to be inducted this year for his um his sports prowess in high school and college, but also uh his dedication as a longtime athletic director and
recreation coordinator in our area. So, come out and support the uh Hall of Fame inductees. Um, I would like to thank the um police and fire. Uh, we all heard about that fire. I know some of the businesses that were impacted by that
and um it's a real shame um you know to the mayor's point uh I saw a text message going back and forth and uh Councilwoman Mian immediately said you know how can I help you know how can we you know do something for these
businesses um and uh I am going to miss the the fishing derby. I'm I'm sorry because I'll be traveling but I always look forward to that. So I want to encourage the kids to come out for that. Um and then uh Mr. Banko with regard to our salary
um a lot and and the assignments that we have a lot of the assignments that we have on our agenda um were were chosen by us because that was the area in which we were volunteering long before we got on the council. um the the things that
Debbie does, the things that uh Councilman Bower has done and all the council, they've been doing that long before they got on the council. I myself uh got involved in uh Rush Street uh school PTO. Um I picked up a poper
organization that was failing. I've been involved with them since 1999. I didn't run for council until 2011. I never did that with the intention of this is going to lead to council. All right. And in our salary as far as donations, I can't
count how many teams I've sponsored or how many ads I bought out of that salary that we get from the township. So while the township does compensate us for our time, we give it right back to the town. Um, so you know, I know I know that you're coming and inquiring about
information about how our jobs are done and performed and how we decide on it. And it's fair to ask like does the council decide on their uh on their um salary? Council council president gave a thorough explanation. I think that you
know we can probably put put that to bed. All right. And considering that you are running for for council yourself. Um and I just want to thank all the council uh for for all of what they've done and thank our police and our fire for for all of what they did for the uh people
out there. And please keep those folks that were injured because there were some injuries. Um uh keep them in your in your thoughts and prayers and uh and you know pray pray for our country as we go through um our election period and pray for our leaders um so that we uh we
we come out better um in this uh in in this new year. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Anderson. Councilman Bower. Excuse me. Thank you, Council President. My agenda is in order. A few announcement. Um it's fire prevention week. So Hop on Engine Company is having their fire prevention open house on
Monday, October 13th from 400 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. located at their firehouse and 127 Loretta Street in Hopan. Uh come out, meet your local firefighters, learn about fire safety. You see the fire trucks. There'll be plenty of photo opportunities, free gifts, and even a guest experience by Marshall the fire
dog. It'll be a great time for the whole family. And my other announcement is the Ford's uh business community annual trunk retreat/car show will be held on Monday, October 20th at Cyprines Paints parking lot. That's at 372 News Avenue in Fords from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
There be food, fenders, music, and a costume contest. Come out for a great family event. And like I said, being a first responder myself, but being out of town, I got a notification right away. And a great job by all our first responders there in Aidenel. God bless Mary and God bless all our first responders. That's all I have. Council President.
Thank you, Councilman Bower. Councilwoman M. Thank you, Council President. I just have one um announcement tonight. First, we're in pink. You could tell tonight we celebrated well, we um brought awareness to breast cancer, and this whole month will continue to do that. So, my we
raised the flag with um a young woman named Jennifer Devport from Colonia who's two years in remission. and uh she help she was helped by the little girl scouts and it was a great way just to honor all of those that have been affected by breast cancer. And if you want to come out and join us on
Saturday, this Saturday we'll be doing the mayor said a little bit about it um our breast cancer walk. It's going to leave from St. John's and we're going to at 12:00 and we're going to go down to the Springwood swim club and we're going to have an October fest there. Um it's going to be a great day. The entrance is
free for the October Fest. It's $10 to walk in the um Inman Avenue breast cancer walk and there'll be beer and wine and food. They'll all be for sale, but we will have pumpkin painting and tons of stuff to do with the kids. Mini golf, hay rides. It'll be a really great
day. Live music and it's going to be for three families within Colonia. And sometimes I mentioned it yes uh later uh before that, you know, sometimes the community just needs a gentle hug from them. and uh even not just the money you raise for people, it's just coming out
and supporting these people that are going through so much. So, he left, but um when he says that we don't do our own events and we just pop in, I'd love for him to see my office because I've been working on and I'm not patting myself by any means, but I've been working on this for 3 months and I will be at that event
all day long and all of us that do things stay at our events. We work on our events. I probably need a raise from this event um because we put our own money into it. So, the salary that we do get, a lot of it goes back out to the community. So, I just wanted to tell um
Mr. Banko that, but he has already left. But, um please come out and join us. It's a great day. And like I said, it's a great way to support our community. And that's all I have. Thank you. Very well put. Thank you, Councilwoman Mihan. Councilman Harris. Yes. Thank you, Mr. President. Number of items uh updates from my agenda. Item
number two of regarding property tax relief programs. The statewide deadline is October 31st, Halloween. For the three programs, the senior freeze, the anchor, and stay in J. If you're a senior or disabled resident, you need to fill out the PAS1 application. If you
are a non senior, uh whether homeowner or renter, you fill out the ANC1 application if you have not already received a confirmation letter from Treasury. Uh you could apply online through property taxreief.nj.gov or if you don't have a computer, not
very handy on the computer, you could call Senator Vitali or Speaker Coughlin's office right down the street here. They will assist you at 7328557441. Uh nextly, item number five, I just want to shout out to the health department. You had a great uh health fair on Saturday. Terrific job. Uh lots of great
resources and thanks to all those organizations who came out. Nextly, item number 10, also a thank you. Uh I I know the mayor came out for this and Councilwoman Mian as well to the uh Colonia Cleanup and National Public Lands Day, which was uh recognized and
and worked on uh by uh dozens of Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and students from throughout the township on Saturday, September the 27th. So, thank you. Sean C Park looks amazing. Uh and thank you uh Councilwoman Mian for joining me at that. Uh second to last item number 11,
energy affordability. This came up from one of our residents uh earlier this uh evening. Uh back in June, the legislature and the governor appropriated $430 million. Uh this is to go towards the 3.9 million utility payer, electric utility payers in New
Jersey. They're all going to be receiving a $100 bill credit right onto their electric bill for the September and October uh PSEG uh credit. I'm talking to Woodbridge here. So, we all have a PSEG. So, there'll be a $50
credit applied directly to your September bill, which you should be receiving shortly, and then a $50 bill credit applied to your October electric bill. You don't need to apply. It's done automatically for you. And I I know you you have many questions and energy affordability is a major issue. I I
don't disagree. When I started on the council, I made it one of my issues. Uh something needs to be worked on for sure. Uh as someone who works in Trenton with uh Speaker Coughlin among the other legislators, help is on the way. Two major bills were signed in uh in
September concerning rooftop solar installations. More of those happening. We have lots of malls. and strip malls and warehouses in this state that do not yet have a rooftop solar installation. So, you should see more of those coming which will generate clean renewable electricity. And then also energy
storage is one of those new things that's on the way where we're going to charge up batteries overnight and then when there's a high demand for electricity that electric will be turned on and put into the grid. So, uh so that's some exciting stuff on on
electricity that's uh coming. And last but not least, I uh did an announcement at the neighborhood block party in my town in in my my neighborhood this weekend. Item number 13, township communication. Uh township has this great code red program where it's a um a
Friday call that the mayor issues uh each and every Friday by a recording. Uh it's a couple minutes long. It provides all the township updates happening uh throughout the township on a given weekend and week. And you could sign up for that uh for free. uh go to the
township's website and register under code red and again uh you you'll get all the township updates here, all the great stuff that's going on. Thank you, Council President. Thank you, Councilman Harris. Mr. Mitchell. Uh thank you, Mr. President. Under number one, I continue to work with the police department on the four matters
listed dropping from number five. Obviously, mentioned a few times, the election is November the 4th. But again, as a reminder, between now and 8:00 p.m. on election night, the drop boxes for the mail of ballots are unlocked and open at the one at the main library, one
at town hall. If you're going to use the one at town hall, just remind people that it's clearly marked for election ballots, not the tax dropbox. All right. Um, and then just two other reminders. One is immediately after the law department will go into the board of
health meeting. Mr. Kinsky is here and immediately following that we're going to go into executive session. We'll have to ask the public at that time to be keeping them. That's all I have. Thank you, Mr. Mitch. Mayor. No. Thank you, Council President. Thank you, mayor. Business administrator business administrator Simul.
Thank you, Council President. I have two items on my agenda this evening. I have a tax and sewer overpayment and I have a parking permit refund. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Uh, please director. Thank you, Council President. I have an amendment to permit parking hours on
Judy Drive. That is it. Thank you, Director of Planning and Development. Director D. Thank you, Council President. Just our standard bi-weekly refund resolution. Thank you. Thank you, director. Uh, public works director. Director Burke. Thank you, Council President. My agenda is in order. Nothing done.
Thank you, sir. Health director, Director Kinsky. Uh, thank you, Council President. Um, my agenda is in order. Nothing uh additional tonight. Thank you. Thank you very much. Uh Leo, thank you, Council President. Thank you, Mr.
Mr. Co. You still have an agenda though for board of health, correct? Yes. Okay. So, can I get a motion? Council to direct me to the board of health meeting. Motion. Second. Questions or comments? All favor.
I have it. Director. Yes. Okay, we have our local health report. um animal and health licensing, animal shelter, animal control, free rabies clinics, environmental division, nursing
clinics, health education, um behavioral health, opioid overdose recovery program, public health grants, mobile health unit, and the health expo, which was held on October 4th. And it's
it's in order. Everything is fine. Very good. Thank you, sir. Any question, comments uh for the director and the quarterly report. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh whereas section 8 of the open public meeting chapter 231 of public laws in
1975 allow the exclusion of the public from a meeting in certain circumstances. Uh therefore be resolved. We are looking to retire into uh executive session to discuss contract negotiations for approximately 20 minutes. I'll ask someone please move a motion on that. Motion.
Second. Any questions or comments from councel? All in favor? I I opposed. Eyes have it. So, we're now going to go into executive session. At this time, I'm going to have to ask the public to vacate the room. That will be about 20 minutes in case anybody wants to return.
Thank you. Thank you. Okay, council. We are back in session. The time is 7:26 p.m. I want to make a note that you approved resolution 26 which which authorized us to go into executive session. With that said,
coming out of executive sess session, you have two resolutions before you which I've numbered 27 and 28. And then this authorizes the administration municipal clerk to execute the memorandum of understandings with the first would be local 469 which are the
public school custodians for three-year term contract and the second is for the public school custodian supervisors. Can I get a motion to approve resolutions 27 and 28? Motion second. Any questions or comments from councel?
All in favor? I opposed. So move. Thank you, council president. Thank you, councel. That's all I have to say. Thank you. Look for a motion to adjurnn. Motion. Second. Have a good night. Thank you. Thank you.