Township Council - Regular Meeting

And good evening everyone. I will now open this chamber for our July 28th, 2025 Township of East Brunswick Council meeting. Will everyone please rise if you can and remain as you are for our pledge of allegiance to the flag. Remain standing for a moment of personal reflection. 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.

Thank you. Township clerk, please call roll and read our statement of adequate notice. Thank you. Councilman Bahal here. Councilman Wendell here. Councilwoman Winston here. Councilwoman Zimbicki absent. And council president Makavoy here. Also present. Administrator Joseph Kuscolo here. And Township Attorney Joseph Palumbit

here. Adequate notice of this meeting has been provided as required under chapter 231 public law 1975 by specifying the time, date, location, and to the extent known the agenda, by posting a copy on the bulletin board located in the main lobby of the East Brunswick Municipal Building, providing a copy to the Home News Tribune and the Asbury Park Press newspapers, posting a copy on the township's website, and by filing a copy in the office of the township clerk which will be entered into the minutes.

Thank you. Council, you have before you resolution 25-y 253 adopting the me meeting minutes from our July 14th council meeting. May I have a motion to approve? A second. Second. Is there a need for a correction or clarification to these minutes? Please call role. Council member Hall. Yes. Councilman Wendell? Yes. Councilwoman Winston? Yes. and council president Makavoy. Yes. Council, I have a resolution 25-24 accepting the retirement of Robert McDonald. May I have a motion to accept? So moved. Second. Second. Councilman Wendell. Thank you. Would you uh do the honors and read our resolution into the record?

Mr. McDonald, anybody want to join? Don, you want to come up? Anybody else? And I have a Sante. He gets lost in the mix. I didn't even see him there. I didn't even see him there. But uh listen, this this is a truly an honor for me. Um Rob and I grew up together. We played football at St. Barts Buffalo since we were I don't know. Yeah. Yeah.

Way high. And went to school together. and to be honoring him with this resolution tonight moves me. Um and and it's a great honor for me to be reading this for him and his family. Um we have resolution 25254 resolution honoring and accepting the retirement for Robert McDonald. Whereas Robert McDonald submitted written notification to the township of East Brunswick that he will retire from the East Brunswick Sewage Authority effective August 1st, 2025, which is this week. And whereas Robert McDonald began his career with the East Brunswick Sewage Authority on July 5th, 1988, he assumed the role of sewer utility technician in 2017 and was later promoted to sewer service worker three equipment operator in 2021, a position from which he will retire effective August 1st, 2025. Whereas throughout his 37 years of service to the township, he has demonstrated exemplary characteristics to the town of East Brunswick through his work ethics, dedication, leadership, team spirit, and enthusiasm to his duties. Now therefore, be it resolved by the township council of the township of East Brunswick that Robert McDonald's retirement is hereby accepted with an effective date of August 1st, 2025. Be it further resolved by the mayor and township council of the township of East Brunswick that they hereby extend their sincere and grateful appreciation to Robert McDonald for his 37 years of dedication and outstanding service to the township of East Brunswick. Congratulate him as well as well-earned retirement and wish him happiness and good faith, good health in his years to come. I would also like to indicate that

Rob ran the park ranger program as the head park ranger for 32 years. 32 years. So, you know, started the park ranger program. He was he was out there as I was involved in youth sports. He was out there all the time putting the guys together and that would monitor events, monitor the parks and all of that. and um you know which was probably a job that was thankless but gave him a lot of exposure gave back to the community a lot of exposure gave back to the community a lot

and I'd always see him directing traffic somewhere parking cars but Rob congratulations Jimmy thank you [Applause] here's a copy of your resolution Thank you. I don't know if you want to say anything or

I do want to thank you. I want to thank the council for recognizing me. I want to thank my fellow firemen which has been a huge part of my life for 41 years. Um I talk about bleeding green. You talk about bleeding green. You talk about bleeding green. We grew up in the same neighborhood. We're all from East Brunswick. We're from here. This is our town. This is what we love. This is what we put our heart and soul into. Um, I appreciate that the counselor has recognized me. The outpouring of love from the fire company will always be in my mind. Thank you. [Applause] Let's do some photos of some family.

Okay. And then we'll bring all the firemen up for the for the firemen back behind. Bring up those Bring up those grand. [Music]

Yeah. Really? Somebody's feel free. bring that fire mayor when I started put [Music] How about we do two rows? Otherwise, we're not going to

push that over. decided decided outside.

Okay. Be happy.

I got it. [Music] Thank you. Thank you. yourself. Yeah. Thanks a lot. You're good. [Music]

Robbed it. Yeah, he did. Wow.

Okay, Rob. Take care, Rob. We'll see you in a park. See you at all. Take care, Eron. [Music] Roll call. Did we do that for McDonald? We didn't. We didn't vote. We didn't do roll call. We're all in favor. All right. Everybody in favor of that one, give me an I. I. The eyes have it. Thank you,

council. At this time, we will receive a presentation from Mr. John Fina regarding the 2024 municipal audit. Mr. Fina, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Mr. Mackoy. And uh thank you to all the council members for having me here tonight to present the results of the 2024 audit of the township of East Brunswick. Uh before I get started, I always like to start these presentations by thanking and acknowledging the client staff for their cooperation during uh the audit. Um I look back, we use a file sharing software to gather all our information that we need for the audit. Angel and her team started uploading documents. I think it was February 10th and I think the last date was June 28th that we received something on that file sharing system. So over four months of back and forth uh providing documentation for us for the audit and I had a little extra time today. So I looked and they was over 1,500 documents were provided for the audit. So um really just want to throw that number out there because we are the auditors. That's what we do. But during the audit, the client has to go over and above their normal duties to to help us get the job done. and they're really very responsive here and uh get us stuff quickly and it's it's good information when we do get it. So that should uh should be noted. Um happy to report that the audit was completed on June 30th. Uh that was the deadline for municipal audits this year and the township earned an unmodified opinion on the audit which is the highest level of opinion that we are allowed to give. Uh just to give you a little background on what we do during the audit. Uh we focus on internal controls. Internal controls uh are systems in place that that provide assurance that the information put into the accounting software is good. There's proper approvals. The numbers are right. The dates are right. The accounts are right. Uh we test a lot of areas of internal

controls and I'm happy to report there was no no major issues in any of the areas we tested this year. and which was a big contributing factor to the unmodified opinion. Also, as part of our audit, we do what's called a single audit, which arises if there's a certain level of federal and state spending. Uh this year, we had to test both federal money and state money because each had over $750,000. Uh we tested the American Rescue Plan money as well as the that was the federal side. And on the state side, we tested the DCA money related to the ICE rank and happy to report no instances of non-compliance were were found when we did our test work. Uh, as far as the financial results go of the audit you have in your hand, um, strong results again this year. Current fund fund balance increased by about $5 million this year. Um, you have five utility funds with the exception of the parking utility. The all the other funds operated at a profit this year. The parking utility did break even, but it required a contribution from the current fund as well as American Rescue Plan money to break even. So overall, very good audit. Again, the highest level of opinion we can give and uh great job to everybody. So I'll open it to any questions anybody may have. All right. The fur I'll I'll just take the bull by the horn and uh Angel, if you feel the need to chime in on this, please do. The the one thing that I cannot do, Mr. Fina, is tell you what page I'm on because there are no page numbers. Maybe that can be a it can rectify that for next year.

Do that. I'm on I'm about twothirds of the way through the audit. I'm on a Okconor Davies professional uh page and then uh I'm on that third page with the report on internal control over compliance. Yes.

Right. Um, a deficiency in internal control over compliance exists when the design or operation of a control over compliance does not manage does not allow management or employees in the normal course of performing their assigned function to prevent or detect and correct non-compliance with the type of compliance required of a federal or state program on a timely basis. Can you comment on that?

That is standard language that is in all of those reports. Uh there were no deficiencies. That's just saying that if there were a deficiency that would that's describing what the deficiency would be and you had mentioned something about the state and the federal. So there was correct not a problem there. Not a problem with any of the state or federal money. Moving down a couple of pages, Township of East Brunswick notes to the schedule of expenditures of federal awards and state financial assistance. That's the heading.

Yeah. Uh the accompanying schedule of expenditures of federal awards and state financial assistance are presented using the basis of accounting as described in note number two to the township's regulatory basis financial statements. Therefore, some amounts presented in the schedule may differ from amounts presented or used in the preparation of the regulatory basis financial statements. Is this a problem or is that just a No, it's just it's just a function of the basis of accounting that New Jersey requires which is

very good. I like these early I like these easy responses.

I like the easy questions. I move down to a schedule of officials in office and sir bonds and uh I Oh, I see you did the correct No, I I thought Mr. Wendell's name was spelled incorrectly, but there is double L's there on the bottom. So, I stand correct. I wanted to make sure that was correct. finding 24 finding number 2004- 001. During the audit of procurement documentation, we identified one of 10 purchases tested that required competitive quotations from the local public law contracts parenthesy NJSA blah blah blah close parenthesy. the township did not obtain the minimum written quotations. Can you explain this and is this a problem?

Um, local purchasing law, local public purchasing law requires that if anything a purchase is over the quote threshold, which is 15% of the bid threshold, that you're required to get quotations, not formal bids. You don't have to advertise, but you should reach out to multiple vendors to um to get prices. Uh we found one instance um one out of 10 one out of 10 where that did not happen and um hasn't happened before. So we felt it was an isolated incident but we felt it should be commented on and uh president. Got it.

Uh if you refer to your resolution tonight, resolution 25-255 is a resolution with a corrective action plan on how to remedy that uh in the future. So we we have a plan in place and Angel and a company have have already started working on that prior to the report. Can't can't expect Angel to be per perfect.

So having one one out of 10 I'll I'll accept that. And finally on cyber security uh as part of its overall risk management the township reviews security measures in place relating to its information technology including the use of specialized asset assessments. With the everinccreasing challenges related to cyber security each organization determines what particular assessment or combination of assessments best fits its information security strategy. strategy. We must we suggest management continue to assess risks related to cyber security along with the utilization of specialized assessments which would also include a periodic reporting mechanism to those charged with governance. My point your cyber security comments seem to be short and narrow but that's the recommendation. Is that because the audit process is not aligned with the IT? And in your professional opinion, are we reviewing security measures properly?

Yes, we are. We we include that blurb in all of our audits just because of the lately there's been a lot of lot of issues with uh specifically ransomware with government entities. I know we've spoken to Joe about this many times here and um with the GIF they are if correct me if I'm wrong but they are very strict on covering you and

in in the central GIF and the statewide GIF where we're on the cyber security we're a member of the cyber security statewide committee Casey Wagner from Woodbridge is the primary contact there on the secondary we flip-flop every year last year was the primary and we are at level three compliance which is the highest level you can achieve. Uh D2 is the company we utilize to do testing throughout the year. So more than just once a year they do uh quarterly uh emails that we send out that that actually are checking to make sure that uh people are file following the guidelines. And as you all know, once a year you got to take that wonderful cyber security class that everybody just loves to do. Um it's a requirement at the first level um that all employees uh do that one-hour training every single year. So we are we're not only at level one, we're at the highest of the compliance level, which does if we did have an event reduce our deductible. um ex down very low. If you're not in compliance, you're looking at high deductibles as ensured by the uh cyber gif.

The interesting thing about the cyber security and I've chatted with council about this is um there's always something new you can learn on on on that level and and and sometimes especially this year uh it could be a bit scary. Yes. Especially for the layman who was reading this information and saying, "Oh, I remember that. I remember that." And then the the the warning light goes off and like, "Whoa, whoa." So that's why I brought it to your attention to make sure. Yes. And that's not a like it's not a formal re it's not a recommendation at all. It's just pretty much a suggestion. keep doing what you're doing in this case.

Actually, we're we're finding more and more official business being trapped by the spam catchers and the junk uh junk email catchers and put into the junk or spam wear files. And we're finding that some of the people then have to call us and said, "We sent you an email a week ago, two weeks ago. We haven't heard back from you." and they're not on our trusted email list. So we do take this very serious and partly to your credit is you you've funded you have funded those efforts to replace routers and hubs and all the software and keep us up um with the proper levels of Windows and as you know in October uh you have to be Windows 11 which is a huge expense to go from use Windows 10 to 11 and we're headed in that direction. will will be full compliant by October. They'll I think a lot of towns may be vulnerable if they don't get that update done. And then just the final comment is when we receive this, it's sort of like, oh, you got to be kidding me because it's time and and and we are elected officials and we are paid officials and it is our responsibility to make sure that we have our due diligence completed. Thank you very much, Mr. Frame.

Thank you very much, everyone. Have a great night. Council, we have three ordinances that require a second reading and public hearing. The township clerk, please read ordinance 25 hyphen 25. An ordinance of the township of East Brunswick amending ordinance number 24-35 fixing the grades, classifications, and grades and compensation of employees of the township of East Brunswick covering the United Services Workers Union Local 255 IUJAT, formerly MEA. I have a motion to approve. So move and a second. Second.

Council comments. I'll now open this matter to the public. Does anyone wish to speak on this matter? This matter only. I'll close the public portion. Attach clerk, could you read, please read ordinance number 25 hyphen? I'm sorry. Oh, roll call. Going a little quick there. Council member Hall. Yes. Councilman Wendell? Yes. Councilwoman Winston? Yes. And Council President Mc. Yes.

And Miss Law, will you please read ordinance 25- 26? An ordinance of the township of East Brunswick amending ordinance number 24-36 fixing the grades classifications and grades and compensation of employees of the township of East Brunswick covering the professional managers association PMA executive staff and confidential employees. Motion approved and a second. Second. Thank you. I'll now open this matter to the public for comment. Anyone wishing to speak on this matter and this matter only. Seeing no one, I'll close the public portion. Roll call, please. Council member Hall, yes. Councilman Wendell, yes. Councilwoman Winston, yes.

And Council President Makavoy. And yes. And the third of these ordinances, the township clerk, would you please read ordinance 25- 20 27? An ordinance of the township of East Brunswick amending an ordinance number 24-37 fixing compensation for temporary, part-time, and seasonal employees for the year 2025. I have a motion to approve. So move and second. Thank you. Now open this matter to the public for comment. Seeing no one, I'll close the public portion. Roll call, please. Council member Hall. Yes. Councilman Wendell, yes. Councilwoman Winston, yes. And Council President Makavoy,

yes. And I'll move on to our reports section. Um, our business administrator, Mr. Chris Kula.

Just want to uh reiterate what the councilwoman Winston talked about. Two weeks ago, we did send out final notices for replacement of the water meters and radios. if you haven't done so. This is only for people that have received the letter saying that they need to be replaced. We're asking residents to schedule that as soon as possible uh so we can um move on with the technology to better serve the public and do proper recordkeeping. So once again, we would appreciate uh contacting the firm meter tech who does the work for us and scheduling a date and time to get your meter updated. That's all I have this evening, sir.

Thank you. Our township attorney, Mr. Palumbit. Thank you, Council President. Nothing to report. Thank you. Township clerk, Miss Law. I have nothing to report. Council members, any board or committee updates? Councilwoman,

um, regarding branch collection, just wanted to share this information because some residents have been inquiring lately. Branches are collected separately from the regular scheduled solid waste collection for curbside collection of branches. Call the office of recycling 732-390-6984 to be placed on the collection list. Submit your information by Friday before the third week of the month to be placed on the schedule. Tie and bundle branches. Bundled branches must no longer be must be be no longer than four feet long and weigh no more than 50 pounds. Branches do not go into biodegradable bags or containers. Residents may also drop off unbundled branches at the recycling center Monday through Saturday 7:30 a.m. through 3:30 p.m. And just a reminder, it's for East Brunz residents only. Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman Winston. I know that Mr. Crusculo sent out uh he sort of sent me a reminder and I I blasted that away on my personal Facebook page so that you know everybody can not everybody you know what I mean that percentage that percentage who's paying attention. It's it's important that we get these streets nice and clean. Now open this po portion of the meeting to the general public. Township clerk, will you read our public comment statement?

The public comment portion of our meeting is to allow the public to bring to the council's attention their concerns or comments in accordance with NJSA 10 col4-12A and the East Brunswick rules of council. The council asks the public to limit their comments to 5 minutes or less. At the conclusion of the statements or questions from a member of the public, the council president at his discretion may choose to respond or not respond. Thank you. Anyone wish to address the council president, please?

Anthony Cersiello, longtime resident. We're down a couple tonight. I hope they're going to watch. I uh one was my teacher, the other one I pump iron and wet sometimes. Can we get your name and address? Uh on Dunham's Anthony Sorciello. I've got baseball.

Baseball. Oh, but you're here. Yeah. Yeah. I've known him since I was her age. They have the same birthday. I've got four matters I want to bring up. One's actually a question, but uh the first one is Crystal Springs. I'm a former employee. We used to be open till 8 every night. It's 933 degrees out right now. The the place was never designed well, but there is a way to go half staff if you really wanted to keep it open so that people could go swimming in the evening hours when it is still very muggy out in this town. As we all know, we all, you know, suffer through this. But, you know, without the pool opening till late, like people are just going to want to, you know, build pools if they can. That's more wasted water. Miltown next door, their pools open to late every night. So, I'm hoping for 2026 that we can revert back to the 8:00 p.m. close. I might actually buy a membership. And I don't do it right now because I work till 5ish. And what am I going to do? Get 30 minutes of swimming in before they kick us out at 5:30, 5:45. Second matter is a question. And I don't know the answer, but maybe all of you do or any of you do. Landscapers, they're a professional service. Are they allowed to start at 8:00 a.m. or earlier than that? Because do we do we know the ruling there?

Yeah, we we we know the ruling, but this is just so you know the the the open mic for you. It's it's not a Okay. It's not a conversation. Okay. So, I I will Mr. Chrisculo can we find that information on the cont start at 7 a.m. weekdays just like construction and 8:00 a.m. on Saturdays. There we go. Okay. If that's allowed then I I wasn't sure. I thought it was 8 but they're blowing at 7:00 a.m. and that's pretty early. It's not like we have a full house for for question and answers. That's that's why with within our our the rules that we use it limits it just to comments. But go ahead. Okay.

The third thing uh wasn't a huge issue but now it's becoming one. up in many rows in this town. The yellow median lines, they haven't been repainted, especially on Church Lane, Fresh Ponds over at the Jug Handle near uh Care One and Kalin Dance Studio, the double line is not there. These things used to get painted pretty much every year, but now that like there's been just more traffic in general, it's some of them have been going on several years to the point where you can barely see it. Last week I almost had a head-on collision on church land because the girl crossed the line the the line by three feet that she couldn't see. But I I mentioned church because back in like early May a lot of the road got patched up and I figured, okay, maybe in a week or two they're going to paint it. It's been going on three months. So, you know, it's all over town. Some spots better than others. Fern road is fantastic. Every road should look as good as Fern in my view. But I just we got to have more paint on the roads. It's just it's just not safe. And you know along with that there's a couple spots where there might be some missing signs like a do not enter. But the yellow paint it just it's a small deal until it's not. When you have a head-on or you know someone gets in an accident that could be significant or worse. And along with that, the the biggest reason I'm here tonight is because I have had to call the police several times, probably somewhere between five and 10, because 18-year-old trucks are driving up and down my street at all different hours. And I looked up the fine. It is a $2,000 fine per occurrence that the town is not riding uh to to these drivers. Um, I don't know if why, but the trucks are using my street as a as a way to get to the warehouses in Monroe and South Brunswick where there's just tons of them. But there's posted signs, you know, at the

corner of Riders and Dunhams. Anything over four tons not allowed. Same thing at the other end at at Fern coming in. There's posted signs and and it's it's quite damaging to the road for, you know, it's designed to handle four tons and 18 wheelers weigh about 15 tons. So, they're almost four times the limit. Meanwhile, our roads are getting beat up pretty bad. And even some of the more moderateiz trucks, they're definitely over four tons. I had a sedan that was just under two tons and that's a sedan. So, like I I would like to see that law get more enforced and it would you could easily write tickets tomorrow and you'd bring in 20 grand to the town. There would be at least 10 occurrences. A lot of times they're running in these trucks at 2, 3 in the morning. I hear them. I see them. I'm up at all different hours. They're just destructive to the roads. They're not safe for the kids. Roads like Cranberry Road, they're designed for more commercial type traffic. They should not be using our, you know, more modest uh side streets.

And what road are you on? You're on Dunhams. Yeah. Specifically between Riders Lane and Church Lane. No trucks are allowed. After church, they're allowed. Okay. That's it. Thank you. You're welcome. Thanks, Anthony. Council President, if I may, please. Can we just ask traffic safety to look into Sure. a doing maybe targeted enforcement on that area. Exactly. For the truck, we have about 32 targeted enforcement areas that are ro rotated throughout the town.

Um so at any one time they they're at one of those locations uh depending on what shift it is. But I I will certainly double check. I I know that Dunhams is on the list. I can only speak for that. and churches as well because it's a cut through to get to North Brunswick and Route 130 and one and we got traffic safety I will talk to on the roads. Excuse me. We could have traffic safety look at the paint on the roads as well.

And and uh I would just ask you to continue to call the police department so at least they have that on file so they know that it's occurring. And uh if you want give me your name and number when at the end of the meeting I will have the lieutenant Charlie Boble give you a call uh from traffic safety and you can have a discussion with him uh on what you're seeing and so on. I did make a couple calls to Shopright who has a large warehouse uh right over the border in Monroe and uh they're very responsive. Um, these are trucks that are coming from Elizabeth down to the distribution center there. Um, they have GPS now on the trucks themselves and they are watching what route they're taking and if they're not, the the the haulers are are penalized for that. So, uh, I I hope that will help. I the call went back out to them last th Thursday. Um, but if it's certainly if it's a Shopright truck, if you give the mayor's office a call, that that's an easy followup.

Amazon's not. Okay. Would anyone else like to address council president? Yes.

Joseph Schmidt, Lois Avenue, East Brunswick. Um, this is about the meters that are being sent out to get replaced. I had mine replaced in 2019 approximately. I don't remember exactly. And so it's a pretty new one. And there's an issue with more modern ones. There are a couple different problems with it. But I was talking to Harry Glazer today. He's in Highland Park. I think he's a an advocate for the he's appointed somehow as an advocate in the government for the town council about and there was a whole thing in Highland Park about those new meters that there might be an issue with shabas and using the meters because he they can get into more details about if he wants to talk more detail about it but there might be an issue with certain types of meters might need to be used for shabas that you don't have other kinds of digital ones the digital one I has has a cover on it and it closes and therefore there's no numbers showing up and there's a whole there's a discussion about um and some people hold you one way and some people hold the other way. But is it an actual thing in Jewish law about the actual meters that only some of them complain, some of them don't.

Council President, please um you know, Mayor Conn could talk at length of this. He's talked to a couple of rabbis throughout the state regarding this topic. And so he'll I'm sure he'll be happy to give you his re what he's researched. But right um you know he's reached out

when we started this project um because those concerns did come to into our office and he did extensive research with that and he's better versed at that than I am to discuss it but it it's pretty much been cleared up uh with the I don't know which type you're in or not. I know there are uh what's it called? I know that the VA abundical group actually is the one that brought it up in Highland Park. Most of them are in Highland Park. So, but well, these are these are people in East Brunswick, right? That that that's an Hila Park issue. Well, some of East Brunswick is also part of VA. There are different rabbis, right? That's why we'll wait till Mayor Cohen returns and then he will be able to clarify.

So, that's one issue we're talking about is that is the possible issue in there. Um, I don't know. There's other questions about too. I know people have had problems with meters and other things have been going on when they get installed and being able to read them and there's no manufacturer specs and a whole there's a whole bunch of stuff going on with that too. But a separate issue is brings to a court case of children's health defense versus the FCC. The FDA joined children health defense against the FCC on this actual lawsuit. I do not remember how many years ago it was. The lawsuit was about for um cell uh radio wave based machinery and how the that people use and how it affects someone's biology. And apparently FCC was ignoring scientific information on it, which is why the FDA came because they're supposed to protect people in that way. Um so the lawsuit was that they had to actually pay attention to how radio waves affect people. from uh my understanding is the big a lot of the big science behind it has to do with modular stuff like there's electromagnetic fields from the earth because just how compass work but for example it's a stable field or compass

your point or your question is what

there are issues with a constant stream I'm trying to explain why there's issues with a constant stream of a modulated signal that's very powerful that goes into the street and all over the place all throughout the all the time it might be there's a less of an issue if let's say you have one day out of the month. Okay, this is when they're coming down your street and we'll turn it on, the EMF sends it out because most of the general EMFs that people have issues with, most of them, if you go at night and you don't have them hitting you as hard, then you usually recover from any issues you might have had during the day, unless someone's like in heavy or may heavy issues with that or somebody's has a family history of having issues with EMFs. There is uh there is an effect from that. One of the lawyers mentioned, I was trying to say before about it's like when you look at a fluorescent light that's flickering. Some people have seizures from it. Some people are fine. Various things happen. Modular radio signals don't just stay stable. They go up and down to get the ones and zeros or if they're analog, they move all around. They modulate. They're they change a lot. They're not stable.

And and finally, what is the question? The point is the point is that if these meters are sending out these high levels of EMFs all over the place, it's a problem for medically for PE for some people maybe everybody. I don't know the exact details about it, but definitely for some people at least it is a medical issue. Thank you. All right. Um PSCG does go and have a way to not have their meters that do that. You can have a normal meter. Thank you.

I'm just saying. All right. Anyone else wishing to address council president? I see these two gentlemen sort of. [Music]

Good evening members of the council. My name is Zahit Mahmud and I am a resident living on Tallox Drive. I'm here this evening to address a very purpose of public comment following a recent call to restrict speech in this chamber. I believe it was the last meeting. First, a dangerous precedent is set when we mislabel principled political speech as hate speech. When our neighbors come to this podium to speak about the actions of a foreign state, citing international human rights reports on war and the devastating humanitarian crisis. They are not attacking people for who they are. They are questioning policy. That is not hatred. That is conscience. This leads directly to the core issue, the town's sister city relationship. The argument has been made that this partnership is merely cultural and educational. But an official partnership is never neutral. It is a political act. It is a symbolic handshake that lends our town's good name and moral standing to another community. It was the town council, this town council that approved the resolution 17551 approving sister city relationship on November 28, 2022. Therefore, when residents learn of a humanitarian crisis involving the nation where our sister city is located, it is not only their right but arguably their responsibility to come here and ask does this official handstake still represents the values of East Brunswick. That question is not a distraction. It is the very definition of township business. It is a profound question of policy, principle, and a town's character. To suggest that residents should remain silent on this matter is

to ask them to ignore their conscience in the name of civility. A town's strength is not found in comfort comfortable silence, but it's in its courage to face difficult truths. I urge you to recognize this discussion for what they are, a legitimate and necessary debate about our town's official policies and what we stand for as a community. Thank you. I do want to add about the incidents of hate. I personally have experienced dog feces left on my driveway. Star of David confetti left in front of my driveway three times in last two months. I've reported it to the police department and every single time except for the last one because I haven't seen the report that happened a week and a half ago. They have failed to identify or list it as the issue that it is a targeted hate act on a visible Muslim family who is against war. I'd like to remind the council that this is the situation that I have to deal with and the police department is not. They are responsive. They show up. They talk about, they ask for evidence, but it's not being logged as the issue that it is. Thank you. Council, Mr. president. Uh, first thing I We're going to lose a 7-Eleven on Riders Lane and Summer Hill Road. That's that's closed now. Um, I read an article that New Jersey spent $7.3 billion on services for 894,000

illegal immigrants this year. Um, and that amounts to $8,165 per immigrant. Is this why our taxes are going up? I mean this is a a question I have a feeling that's that's one of the reasons. Now the other thing is when you build all these homes that were coming up here is that going to help reduce our taxes or raise them. All right. And thirdly English Town Racetrack is not going to be there no more. They're going to build 600 affordable homes. I have friends in that area and right away they says, "Oh, my taxes are going to go up." That's what I want to know. if it's a reason. So, because I only got an estimated bill for three months this past month for my taxes, I usually get the whole year. So, between these two things, I think that's why our taxes are going up. That's all. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ingressini. Kevin Ston, your address, Mr. Sexton, in case we need to contact you. I'm a resident of the town, sir. You want to leave with that? Yes, sir. Okay.

Uh, good evening, Council President. Uh, first I want to acknowledge how lucky we are to live in this town. Our street was recently paved, and Mr. Kip and his team did an excellent job keeping the residents informed. The waste department sent trucks back immediately when they missed our street. And I can't say enough good things about our police department. Our township employees really are a tremendous asset to this town and our residents. I did want to address a few things. A few weeks ago, my wife called me while driving home. She was sitting at Delight on Rout 18 and entice us by the new apartments. Our infant son was in the back seat. She was afraid. She didn't know what to do. An individual is walking down the row of cars and kicking at them while screaming. While it's easy to dismiss this as an emotionally disturbed person, imagine her fear. Imagine my unease. Just last week, as as I was at the Auto Zone on Route 18 across from Route across from Irwin's school at around 8 p.m. As I pulled into the parking lot, I encountered what appeared to be hundreds of people spinning their wheels, blasting music, and drinking in the parking lot. When I entered the store, it was packed. I saw an individual enter the store, gather a large amount of merchandise from the shelves, look around, and then depart without paying. When I asked the cashier if he saw them, he said yes, but he was too busy to do anything. When I asked if these car meets happen often, he said that they do. We are currently raising the fourth generation of my family here in this town. I've grown up watching this town change from a peaceful suburban community with plenty of open space to one that's becoming increasingly dense, congested, and unfamiliar. I know that based on reported data, certain categories of crime in this town are down. But I also know what I see, and I know I'm not alone. Today, what many of us are experiencing is something that doesn't show up in official statistics. A rise in quality of life issues. More panhandling, more shoplifting, more loitering, more visible homelessness. These things may not get logged into crime databases, but they're changing how safe and connected people feel in this town. And we have to ask, why now? The answer seems increasingly tied to how we're

building. The shift towards large-scale apartment developments may meet housing obligations, but it's also eroding our town's cohesion. Highdensity apartments, especially those built without corresponding in investments in infrastructure, green space, or community programs, often result in less interaction between neighbors, less accountability, and less shared identity. People live next to each other, but not with each other. An elected township official recently said at an event that he was tired of hearing residents complain that the township is not what it was 30 or 50 years ago. I resent that. Residents are allowed to be upset. East Brunswick doesn't feel the way it used to, and that's not nostalgia. It's about planning decisions that are reshaping our town's character in ways that deserve more scrutiny. There are members of this council that, like myself, have been here for generations. members that claim that they appreciate the agricultural heritage of this town. And I urge this this council to take a step back and consider not just how many units we're building, but what kind of town we're becoming and whether we're safeguarding the quality of life for those of us who have been proud to call East Brunswick home for many years. Thank you.

Anyone else wishing to speak to the council president? I seeing none, I'll close the public portion and We'll now move on to our consent agenda. Motion approve. A second on that, please. Second. Um, Council President, if I may, I just want to speak on one of the resolutions. Okay. Um, 25262, which is resolution authorizing a change order number one with Icebuilders Incorporated. Okay. Um, from 3.95 million to 4,75,000 for the ice rink systems project. Was that a difference of 125,000? 125,000. That is an estimate based upon Mr. Kip's um calculations.

Good. Um I have spoken to Mr. Kip about this. Good.

Um you know, he contacted me early last week when he first found out about it. This Icebuilders Incorporated is a secondary contractor that we hired to build the ice rinks themselves um inside. And what is going on here is there on one of the rink areas we have a need to remove fill material, recompact and add new fill material. And that's what this is for. I've asked Mr. Kip and I've also uh indicated to Mr. Krisculo knowing my um involvement with construction projects that we put both legacy place who built the pad for that those ice rinks for us and if they didn't build them to a proper specification that they should be held responsible for at least a portion of this. I've also indicated that we should put um terminal construction which is the general contractor who worked with machines on top of that those ice areas and should have had them protected in such a way that that it didn't deteriorate the compaction. And I've also asked that we check to see if we've had we had third-party inspections or if Legacy Place had third-party inspections prior to us turning the project over to terminal construction um to understand the compaction of these areas. Um I do believe there's no reason to halt this.

Okay, it needs to get done. Um, I would just like to put these three persons on notice that we are going to continue our research on this and try to get a full understanding as to where the responsibility lies. It's not my opinion that the responsibility should be the responsibility for this all bearing on the municipality. So you can meet again with Mr. Kip and Mr. Chrisculo and come to a consensus. Yes. Well, uh I believe one of our attorneys, Mr. Lonsky, is putting I did over hear that, right?

Uh those persons on notice for us and when we complete our due diligence and figure out, you know, where our responsibility could lie. Then we will have to determine, you know, what the costs were and how we get our uh reimbursement from from them. and council president I when Mr. Wendell explained to me his concern earlier this evening I texted uh Mr. Kip and naturally he said how can I help? So I said to him did we put terminal legacy on notice? He said yes and yes. Did we get compaction test prior to the start of construction? And his answer was affirmative yes.

Okay. So, I just want to go on record that I did confirm with Keith because I was not sure if we I know we put legacy on notice, but I did know about the other situations and Keith was happy to follow up with me and I was glad that I was able to share that with you this evening. And I'll talk again with Keith and Mr. Lansky. Yeah. And Mr. Lansky as well.

Yes. He it's it's my history in this business that indicates that if if someone turns over a compacted pad which is ready to be built on to a general contractor. then the general contractor needs to protect

that area and be responsible to make sure it was as presented to them when it uh first began. So, you know, I just didn't want it to go unnoticed or undisussed and make sure that we put them put those people on notice so that they're aware that we don't feel that we bear the sole responsibility for this. Got it. Roll call. Council member Hall, yes. Councilman Wendell, yes. Councilwoman Winston, yes. And Council President Makavoy, yes. Council, we have an ordinance 25-y 28 for introduction. Township clerk, will you please read?

An ordinance of the township of East Brunswick, County of Middle Sex, State of New Jersey, amending chapter 228, zoning of the township code of the township of East Brunswick. Can I have a motion to approve and a second? Second. Do we need any clarification or comments from uh would you take care of that? Thank you, Council President.

Uh just real quick, um a few weeks ago, you adopted an amended uh massage establishment ordinance. With that, we did some zoning changes. In making those zoning changes, we actually uh made the prohibited use made the normal massage establishment a prohibited use in in several zones. So, what we're doing is we're correcting that. We're changing it back to massage parlor, which has a specific definition under the zoning ordinance, and it's different than the massage massage establishment that we have in our in our new massage establishment ordinance. Good. Clarify. That's good. Yes. Roll call, please. Council member Hall. Yes. Councilman Wendell.

Yes. Councilwoman Winston. Yes. And Council President Mackoy. Yes. Um for the go to the close.

I think um I just would like to a shout out to the East Brunswick BFW post right 133 for organizing and running their their annual 5K event this past weekend. Tommy Koulhill, whose personality and name often surfaces during our meetings, him and his fellow members and and sponsors, especially East Brunswick Education Association. We uh greatly appreciate all of their work. Um those in favor of a German, please signify with an I. The eyes. Have a good night, everyone.