Town Council - Regular Meeting

We're all Okay, welcome everybody. I call the regular uh council meeting of Tuesday, February 10th uh to order. This meeting is being held with the benefit of public notice required by the open public meeting act. Madame clerk, please call the role. Mr. Marabelli here, Phillips here, Mr. Here, here. Mr. Ty is absent. We have a quorum. Ladies and gentlemen, please rise and join us in the salute to the flag and remain standing for the invocation. 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.

Dear God, we humbly acknowledge our need for your presence and guidance. In a time of uncertainty and division, help us place our faith fully in you and seek your will in all that we do. Guide those in elected office to pursue wisdom, compassion, and unity, and to respond to today's challenges with integrity, and care for the most vulnerable. Let ego and pride never prevent us from doing what is good and just. We offer these intentions in your holy name. Amen. Amen.

We have a packed house. It's nice to see everybody here tonight. So, uh I just want to advise everyone we are going to go a little out of order tonight. Uh first we are going to uh start with ordinance 26004 uh which is the redevelopment of 325 Sloan Avenue uh formerly AMC uh that now will be chopped. We're going to uh invite them to the microphone first uh after our uh wonderful director Fred Dumont speaks.

Thank you council president, members of council. Um, tonight Hamilton makes another great step in our dream of bringing uh great pediatric healthc care to Hamilton Township. I'd like to say a lot more, but we have a video that's going to explain it a whole lot better than I ever could. Do you want us to start the video now? That's my introduction, miss. That's what I say.

Brad, we're glad you're here. You want to turn it a little bit. You can see it. Okay. It's a brand new day. 24 new hours to explore, to discover, to help, to cure. at Children's Hospital. More than 14,000 of us will begin our day with one goal making breakthroughs for children. From the ones that make history to the ones that say we make childhood better. From unraveling the mysteries of a child's disease to enhancing the joys of a child's health on our campus throughout our network

and our community and around the world. And like the children we serve, our bravery come in all shapes and sizes. Some big, some small, all wondrous. So we do not rest. Because we are driven. Call to build on a 160 year history of ranger for every child. every day. So, I think you see why I'm ready to put a shovel on the ground tomorrow morning, right? But we have some formalities we have to do beforehand. So, tonight, uh, we're going to discuss planning board's review of the redevelopment plan. Uh, we have with us Donald Moore from CHOP. Sir, thank you for joining us. Bears fan. He kill me, but he's a Bears fan. Uh, we have Donna Jennings, CHOP's planning board attorney. David Contra from CHOP, Natalie Hagerty from CHOP.

But to start us off is uh to discuss our redevelopment plan is Trevor Taylor from CM. cover. Well, he comes with a microphone. Uh for the residents that are here and for all of us, hopefully this will be the last time that uh we get to see the screen and the residents uh don't get to see it. Uh hopefully the next one will be in the new building uh with that screen, a bigger screen than that one.

We want we want them to see what we're seeing. Uh, thank you, council president and councel. As Fred indicated, my name is Trevor Taylor. I'm from CME Associates and here to discuss the redevelopment plan for the former AMC movie theater property at 325 Sloan Avenue, which is block 16003, lot 15.01. Uh, just for a little history, last summer we are here in front of you to look at the property as an area in need of redevelopment. That was adopted last July. Uh the council on January 20th introduced an ordinance to adopt the redevelopment plan along with resolution 26-067 referring the redevelopment plan to the planning board to confirm that the plan is consistent with the township's master plan. The planning board did review it. They came back with a letter to the council. Uh based on the January 22nd meeting, uh they unanimously voted that the redevelop plan is consistent with the township's township's master plan. Uh so tonight we're requesting that the redevelop redevelopment plan be adopted. Uh I am here to answer any questions on the redevelopment plan that the council may have. Uh but in short the primary goal of the redevelopment plan is to provide development standards for a worldclass pediatric care facility. Uh it is noted that the plan does not require the acquisition of any additional properties or the relocation of any existing residents. It is the existing movie theater site. I'm sure everyone is familiar with that. It's uh the existing building. There's about 1500 parking spaces out there. So, it fits well into a redevelopment plan. Uh we're not going to be going into the wetlands on the adjacent properties or tearing down any of the woods. It's basically just using the existing impervious and redeveloping that property into the new uh redevelopment project. Uh so, if you took a look at the redevelopment plan, it includes bulk standards, the permitted uses, design standards, some landscaping requirements, as well as some architectural standards. Um, so I'm here to answer any questions if anyone has

anything. I think just to start off, we want to thank everybody for coming. Uh, I think we're all looking forward to this and welcome you, welcoming you, uh, into the town. Uh, only question I had is we look at a lot of the development, not only in this town, but in the surrounding towns. get tired sometimes of of driving by and seeing the license plates of out of state places, uh, Alabama, Arkansas to name a few, which seem to be way too common. There's a lot of local people here looking for work, and we're just hoping that, um, you're going to hire from Hamilton or the surrounding areas first. Yeah, that'll leave up to uh the job to discuss. I'll just

Okay, so great question, Council President. Uh we had a u preconstruction meeting with a contractor selected by CHOP to do the demolition. Uh that contractor Bach Construction um notified me that he will be using 100% local union labor on the project. Immediately afterwards he called u the business agents for each prospective union informed them of the same and uh the job should start couple months I would say. Our construction permit is on my desk for signature. I intend to send it sign sign it by the end of the week and give it to the uh contractor.

Thank you for that. We we appreciate it. And I think this project is going to bring um business to everybody, right? The restaurants around, the gas stations, everybody. This you're going to it's going to be a great partnership with our town and we're really looking forward to it. Any of my colleagues, please let me jump in. Um I I just from a timing perspective uh first first step obviously would be to uh demolish the current building and and that what's the time frame on on that

I believe is the uh pre-construction meeting that Fred just indicated. So that's ready to go. Um that's independent of the redevelopmental plan. So that can happen right away and then once the plan is adopted they will need to go to the planning board for site plan approval. So that takes anywhere from a couple months to to get onto the board. So I think after that you're probably looking at 6 to 8 months to get outside agency approval. So I'd say anywhere from 6 months to 12 months from when they switch to the planning board it could be uh they could have final approval. Okay. Thank you.

I'm just piggybacking on that. So just because I'm getting questions all over town as well like what's the anticipated completion you think for the project for the initial stage project? I would council woman next for one of the chop folks. Oh, okay. I'm sorry. There's nothing for Trevor. Donna.

Uh, good evening. For the record, I'm Donna Jennings from the law firm of Wen Goldman and Spitzer. I am the land use council for CHOP. I'm basically just helping them navigate the land use and redevelopment approval process, which of course the redevelopment plan is the initial first step to get everything in place so that they can actually have their vision uh brought to life. Uh with me this evening is David Contra and Natalie Hagerty and they're going to take over there with CHOP. And so David's going to tell you why uh CHOP decided to come to New Jersey and specifically why they decided that Hamilton was a place they wanted to be. So David,

thank you. Thank you, Donna. Um, thank you, Fred. Thank you, Trevor. Um, thank you, council, for your time this evening. And I will try to answer a couple of the questions you pose. And if I don't get to it, my colleague Natalie Hagerty will, you know, do as well. So, as CH CHOP looks out on the horizon as we continue to grow throughout the region, New Jersey is an important part of that growth strategy. And I really want to paraphrase our CEO Maline Bell because she's made the statement a lot, kids in New Jersey should be treated in New Jersey. And so with that in mind, as we've looked out, we we came to the decision, Central Jersey is where we really have to focus on that growth. And we looked, could we do it in Plansboro, our existing site, or should we be looking at a new site, a clean sheet of paper? So, we looked at all the alternatives and we eventually decided that we were best suited to look for a new site to really not just put our vision in place for the short term, but really do something that we have enough land that we could take advantage of 10, 15, 20 years from now and build something or put something in place we don't think about today. And so we looked at a number of locations within the surrounding area starting in Princeton, coming down to Hamilton, um over to Lawrence Township, Hopewell Township. Um but we finally settled on this piece of property at 325 Sloan Avenue. And if I could be brutally honest, I went by the first time. It's a movie theater, you know, in there. There's barricades up. And you know, we passed by it. But then a month later, I came back by myself and I trespassed on the site and I I walked around the site. And when you really look at that site, the visibility of 295 and the surrounding roadways, the outdoor area with the wetlands and retention ponds that look like real regular ponds, and you really see the openness, it really became a site that we had to really

latch on to. And with that in mind, that's why we decided to make 325 Sloan Avenue in Hamilton Township our preferred location for our New Jersey campus. Um, I mentioned the accessibility, the surrounding area with the Hamilton train station, transportation center, the area, the retail in the area. Um, I had been to personally Mercer County Park dozens of times. I'm a big fan of that area. So the the everything this township and this general area has to offer it fit in with what we envision to develop on that site. Um so in the interim I must admit I've been to a number of business and different social functions in Hamilton. So, we made the announcement and I've been humbled by the reception and the reaction to CHOP coming into town and I hope that we can meet and exceed those expectations and I can tell you that we're going to make every effort to do so. And I also want to mention because the movie theater came up in the conversation. Um, we are planning to begin demolition process hopefully sometime in March. We have an agreement with the township through the mayor that we are I know you're smiling at that now. Um, we have an agreement with the township that we're allowing the first responders, both fire and police, to use the building for training and that actually started today. So, we're hoping that they can use it for the rest of the month and then we begin the demolition sometime in March. Um, we're looking to have that building down sometime before the end of the calendar year, probably in the fall. Um, our goal is to bring it down because, as you can appreciate, being an empty movie theater for 5 years, we want that theater down. It's not a safe condition for the area and the neighborhood. Um I want to end it with just a quick um reference before I hand it over to Natalie. We have in the beginning, this goes back about two and a half years, we've referred to this as the essential New Jersey strategy over and over again. CG for CJ for short. Um when we made the decision to acquire the

land and we were moving forward in Hamilton, our CEO stopped us and said, "No, you need to call it the Hamilton strategy." And the reason I bring that up is that is what we believe and you saw the word community on the screen when we when the video was shown. We do try to embrace the local community as much as possible. We take the name of the local community in most of our network locations and that's the kind of partnership we look to develop with the local community and the broader region as much as we can. So with that being said, I'd like to turn over to my colleague Natalie Hagerty to talk a little bit about the future. Hello. Thank you very much. My name is Natalie Hagerty. I am the assistant vice president for planning, design, and integration for Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. And I'm an architect by training. I I have prepared some words, but again, like our last meeting, I'm going to go off script at the very beginning because what I'm here to talk about is what exactly are our intentions and our hopes for this site? and Alyssa, I'm going to point to you. Um, when we arrived here earlier, Alyssa shared story about her experience with CHOP and her children. When we had done an outreach with an elementary school, the principal had noted that her daughter had heart surgery at CHOP in the city. We're here today not because we're new to this area. These are all CHOP kids that are in this area. And I see everyone's head going up and down. And I apologize. I have my back to you. Maybe a couple of heads going up and down. We're very proud of the location that we have in Plainsboro. We are able to offer some specialty services there such as aiology booths, etc. However, we're unable to provide that next level of specialty care. So, I'll give you an example.

If unfortunately your child gets a preliminary diagnosis of cancer, let's say a neuroblastto, the last thing you want to do is pick up everything and move to Philadelphia. And as it stands right now, we are unable to provide oncology care within this region. One of the things that we are looking at doing, as I mentioned, raising the different types of specialties that we have here, is to bring that care here. Now, I'm not saying that you're never going to have to go to Philadelphia, but what I am saying is that we are looking to put chemotherapy here, be able to mix the chemotherapy with the pharmacist here to be able to offer that. Like David, I was moved when I saw the site. I can imagine a building where these kids and their families, because let's remember families, this is an incredibly traumatic thing for them as well. Those views out the back are soothing and this isn't easy for our staff either, right? And so for them to be able to also take a moment and reflect in nature is something that's really important to us. I will also tell you that parking is also very important to us and our staff. And so when you put together the amount of parking and the amount of just beautiful views and the hope for a future, we're landlocked where we are today. And so one of the things we really wanted to do is invest in our future. I don't know what the future holds in the next 10 plus years. But what I can tell you is our intent is to start with something that is meaningful for this community. So that the children of our community, whether it is the children of the folks that are going to be doing the demolition on our building or the staff members that are going to be working in this facility once it opens, we want to be able to create an environment and a home for the staff,

our patients, and our families. Now, with that come facilities that require certain um uh they're just a little different than office buildings, right? And that's one of the reasons why we're here. We like higher ceilings because it reduces the amount of stress. So, being able to sort of work with the township on some of the zoning has been very beneficial to us and I think we've been able to come to an agreement where we'll be able to provide a beautiful facility uh in this location. I'll pause there. Does anyone have any questions for David, Donna, or myself right now? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Looking forward to it.

Okay. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you. Okay. Anything else? Uh, director, did you have any other further comments? I think you can see how excited we are and a lot. I tell my staff all the time about this. You have a small piece in bringing this. I say to you tonight, you have a small piece in bringing this to Hamilton and all this we're going to accomplish together for our children and our grandchildren. That's what this is all about.

Thank you, sir. So, we're going to move on. Um you're more than welcome to stay for the rest of the meeting. Uh if if you don't, we understand. Uh we're next going to move on to our uh business administrator uh who's going to discuss uh the Green Acres uh grant for uh basketball under discussion one. We not voting on Are you going to vote on it? It's totally your call. You want to do it while they're here? Yeah. All right. I'll take I'll take a motion on the on the ordinance not to open for a public comment. We're going to get

any further comments from council.

I'll just I'll just um just be brief, but I just want to um I'm just extremely appreciative uh of our team and the the marriage that we have with CHOP here today. Um I think this is going to be a win-win. Um it's something that, you know, if you can't get a little bit emotional just looking at the video and knowing that the services that are going to be provided here, um it's a tremendous asset to our community. uh locally here in Hamilton, but also the greater central Jersey community. And um I'm thrilled about it. I'm excited about it. Um and and you know, as a indirect benefit, it's al also going to be an economic development engine for our community, employing folks um and also um impacting some of the commercial real estate that sits right nearby. Um and and also for our residents. It's going to be a resource for them. So just absolutely thrilled. Thank you, Fred. Thank you, I'll take a quick moment. Um, first of all, thank you for the presentation tonight. Um, you know, the video says it all. Um, I always say if you're fortunate enough in your life that you never have to visit a facility like this, then you're blessed, right? Um, unfortunately, I had to visit it many years ago. It was a niche. It was a good outcome. But to go to a facility like CHOP in Philadelphia, you don't realize how many kids are going through some type of treatment and to walk in there and and and see kids in the shape that they're in just, you know, breaks your heart, you know, as a parent, as a grandparent. And uh now we're going to have a first class facility right here in Hamilton Township that's not only going to benefit our local residents, but it's going to benefit some of the residents in the surrounding area. So I think it's a great project. Um I think it like um Councilman Carelli said, it's

uh it's going to bring opportunities whether it's for construction workers or people from the area that are seeking employment opportunities. It's going to um give everybody an opportunity to if if that's what your profession is to to work closer to home, so to speak, and and many opportunities to come. So, um I'm sure this is going to go well tonight and I look forward to groundbreaking or even the start of the demo. So, thank you again for coming here tonight.

If I could just also add my comments. Um first of all, again, thank you. And David, I know I shared with you, you know, um, at the dinner where we met, our family is a longtime CHOP family for about 15 and a half years. And if it wasn't for having CHOP here, it's one of She has an autoimmune disorder that's rare. And um, the doctors there, the studies, the state-of-the-art facilities have been nothing but wonderful. The child life programs. So, we spent a lot of time. I I'm ecstatic. really literally you're I said the day that we were making the announcement I was going to stand in the parking lot with a megaphone and just announce it to the town and I know around town people are so excited um everywhere I go they're very excited so we're just want to welcome you here um and I'm really looking forward to that elevated level of service because we have we've made our trips to Princeton and Borhees and Philly and uh if this is just so exciting so thank you so much else for open public comment.

Anyone from the public wishing to comment on um this ordinance uh 264? Sure. One question. Just state your name and address for the record. Yes. Uh Lois vote 40 Mark Twain Drive in Hamilton. U my great nephew um had open heart surgery less than 24 hours old. Um he's doing well. He's three. He just came out of CHOP in Philly. Um but my question is it's a wonderful experience will chop be supplying like the Ronald McDonald House um because that is where my niece had to stay for 5 months uh while you know Axel was being treated.

So that was just my question if there was going to be a facility for the families if they are traveling from North Jersey or South Jersey. You're allowed to answer that. Yeah. Thank you. Yelcome. Well, I'm glad that your uh grandchild, did you say? My great nephew. Oh, your great nephew, excuse me, that your great nephew is back home again after five months. Natalie, can you just speak a little? Oh, I'm sorry.

Got it. Well, I am very glad to hear your great nephew is now home. Um, the Ronald McDonald House is really a place for people who come from great distances and it's usually if the patient has a a surgery uh that requires an inpatient stay. At this point in time, it's to be determined. We are not at this point in time planning on a hospital. That doesn't mean that couldn't change in the future. But if that were to happen, then yes, we would be looking for our partners such as the Ronald McDonald House. But again, that's a little bit a little bit too far down the road for us. I appreciate it. Thank you.

Anyone else from the public that would like to speak? Seeing none. Seeing none, Council President, um I'd look to close the public comment portion and move on second reading uh ordinance number 426-004. I'll second. on the motion. Mr. Harbelli, yes. Mr. Phillips, yes. Mr. Whan, yes. Mr. Yes. I mean, keeping you on your toes. I just ran out of fingers. It was a close move. Wow. Thank you so much. Thanks for being here.

Good night. Yeah, it's my apologies. I wasn't sure we were going to vote on that. Thank you. That's okay. It's fine. Yeah. At least they say we're wait here to answer question. Thank you very much. Thank you and good luck.

Thank you. Thank you.

We'll next move on. Uh Madame Clerk, you can continue with the uh agenda. just these discussions were of the um burdo to discuss everything. So this is a discussion that's required by green acres as you know you've got the initial discussion at the last meeting and we also have uh requirements for advertising and so we're meeting all those requirements but it's also required to have a second discussion which is tonight. And just to refresh your memory, this is about a $100,000 project and it's for renovations of most of our basketball courts here throughout the township. Um, and the discussion is specifically for the Green Acres Grant. So, the project is 100,000. The Green Acres grant is also a h 100,000 but it's 25,000 from Green Acres and we have to put up a $75,000 match so we get a 25% of the project grant. Um we are also if you recall going to apply for um which is um going to apply for a recreation grant otherwise known as an L-Rigg grant for the 75,000. So, we're trying to get the full amount of the project in grant monies. If per chance we don't get one or the other, then I think we have some other funds that we could look to um to try to get this project done. So, we're really committed to getting it done. It's nine different um basketball courts throughout the town and it's basically to renovate them or replace and install new hoops and any other improvements in backboards or anything like that that um they want to do. Uh we also I don't think there's any information up there yet uh on the website, but we're going to be putting up information on the

website so that you can see if there's any additional announcements or changes or anything like that or even when we're awarded the grants. You all get it because you get the resolution. So um so this is just the required discussion. I'll answer any questions that you have. You also have two items on the consent agenda, CA4 and CA5, that are just approving us to go to the two sources for the application for the grant. Any questions from council?

No, I'm just going to just once again be really brief, but I just want to say um like I did at the previous council meeting, um you know, very excited about this uh project being accomplished. Um um selfishly I have two boys that play outside basketball courts in and around h the Hamilton area. So they're going to be thrilled about this. But when from a timing perspective will we see this see this through? Uh we're going to act on it as soon as we get right the approval for the grants which again you'll be aware of because you'll have to approve accepting them and we'll put them add them into our budget uh through a chapter 159. But I think the plans are already in place. So, we're going to try to do it as soon as we can.

Could it be 2020? Starting with um Snell Wilkus. Yeah. Um that that court um there in that park. Uh because we also have some guaranteed funding from that should we need it. Okay. So, I think we're going to start with that one and just go go through pretty much one at a time for the most part. The the grants typically don't get awarded till sometime like in April usually. So, I'm not sure about these, right? and they may have different timing because green numbers is on its own schedule. But you generally once they get all of these requirements in place and the application goes in, it works from there. There's not much more that we have to give to them. It's just really them reviewing the application.

And naturally, if it's paving the repaving some of the courts, it'll be done when the weather changes. So, yeah, I don't think we would have that until the weather gets a little bit ice skating on it right now. Yeah. Thank you. Okay, I have to open public comment.

So now we need a motion for uh M1.6099 resolution A council to enter the executive session. I'll make that motion. I'll second on the motion. Mr. Carell, yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. So, at this time, uh, we're going to go into executive session. We'll be right across the hallway. Uh, we we will be as brief as possible, um, just to get some updates from our attorneys and then we'll be back for the rest of the agenda. So, feel free to just give us a couple minutes. Okay. Go ahead. A motion. I make the motion. Yep. I'll second. On the motion, Mr. Carell. Yes.

Phillips. Yes. Mr. Yes. Mr. Yes. Next for consideration, we have the minutes of the December 16th, 2025 regard council meeting. Motion, council president, I'll make that motion. I'll second. Mr. Perelli, yes. Yes. Mr. Whan, yes. Mr. Pero, yes.

Next, we have communication C1. We have the joint proclamations for the month of February. Uh we have recognizing Black History Month, recognizing teen dating violence awareness month, and recognizing American Heart Health Month. C2 is a request for permission to conduct back tag day solicitation for the Hamilton Girls Football Association. 12 new Hamilton hurricanes at Caesar's Bagels on Flock Road, Sunday, March 1st and Sunday, March 15th. C3 is a request for permission that conduct tag based solicification Ningham marching unit par Association at the tattoo island located at 856 throughout 333 on Friday February 13th for your consideration.

Council President, I'll make a motion to move on C1 through C3. Thank you. I'll second it. On the motion, Mr. Harell. Yes. if you want to detail. Um, yeah, I I'm just going to abstain on C3 since I'm a member of the Nodingham Marching Unit Parent Association. Notice, but otherwise, yes, on C1 and C2. Mr. Whan, yes. Mr.

Yes. Next we have resolution 126-068 is a resolution expressing support for the establishment and operation of social dispensary Hamilton LLC class 2 cannabis manufacturing and class 5 business. Any questions from council? No, this is just strictly a change of the name of the business as I understand it. Thank you. Any questions from the public on resolution 126068? Seeing none, uh, council president, I'll make a motion to close on the public comment and move on resolution 126-68.

I'll second that. On the motion, Mr. Carelli, yes. Phillips, yes. Mr. Rail, yes. Mr. Yes. Next we have consent agenda items PA1 through PA3.

Okay, looking at these items uh briefly, uh we have several appointments to boards and positions. Uh we have the basketball grants uh which we already had our presentation about. Uh we do have our five vendors uh contract for the five vendors for uh Nottingham Ballroom. We have uh CA 11 and 12 are for paving. We have several professional service agreements. CA16 is a uh replacement uh street sweeper for uh public works. uh purchase of a tractor uh CA17, couple more P professional service agreements, contract for uh health benefits for our township employees. Uh we have a drainage project uh decrease which we always like to see.

Uh CA26 is a unfortunate uh increase that's uh due to uh requirements. It's amended due to requirements by the state of New Jersey. We have a couple of refunds on the list. And uh last one uh I'm sorry, second to last one, we have a monetary donation uh towards the animal shelter, which uh is always appreciated. And uh special project uh attorney uh CA30 uh rounds out our consent agenda. Any questions or comments uh from council on anything? I'll just mention uh glad to see that on CA7 we've come to an agreement um for the um labor agreement with the uh superior officers um

in the township. Um always like to see that. And then you know just to mention we also had on CA12 I noticed that the the engineering's estimate was um the price came in for that um those particular streets 19% lower than the engineering estimate. So that's always a good thing. Um, yeah. And then on just on CA 21, just out of abundance of caution, I'm going to abstain on that one just cuz I have a working relationship with uh one of the law firms listed there on my my dayto-day so full time. Okay, fair enough. And I'll also be abstaining on CA1. Oh, really? Yeah. Imagine Imagine.

Imagine that. Councilwoman, um I'm just happy to see a lot more extensions on grants and more grant money coming in. Um person, I really like that we have five different options for the Ningham ballroom. So many times you choose a venue and you're stuck with one favor. So I really like that we were able to establish that.

Um otherwise, yeah, I don't really have any other comments. This time I open it up to uh the public. If you have any comments on the consent agenda items, uh please uh raise your hand and come forward. Sure. Come on. Come on forward, miss. So when you come up, please state your name and address for the record. My name is Mal Gata Crocos and I live in five special lane, Hamilton, New Jersey for last 25 years. and I have a statement that I would like you to present. Is this going to be on the consent agenda? This is my personal

Okay. So, for the time being, we're talking about just the consent agenda items. They're all I'll let you know during your first time here. I'm not sure. We'll let you come up first and we'll let you know when they come up. Any Sure. Come on up. the sixth member of council. Yeah, that's why I put the teacher number one. Are you leaving us and going there or are you doing I'm the third. That's the fourth. That's my son. Oh, that's your son? Yes. Oh, cuz CA1 is your son? Yes. Oh, cuz I'm thinking, oh my goodness gracious. So, you departing from us.

What's wrong? I thought you were leaving going on say dare you. Okay. Um uh the the catering contract all those people are going to be catering in Nottingham Ballroom on CA8. They're going to be options for them. Yeah. Folks that come and and need to rent the venue for a particular event, they can choose from those five. Oh, that's nice. Okay. And then the resolution approving a memorandum on CA20 for salt. Are we salting the cemetery or is the cemetery giving us salt? What is that? That was that was for a loan of the salt

from the cemetery to us or for from what to lost to them. We're lo we're loaning them salt. I assume that's just for the roads. Yeah. Okay. Because I don't know. Are we salting the cemetery? One can never tell. Okay. All right. just was curious that you know why would we have cemeteries involved? Okay. Thank you. You're welcome.

Anyone else for the consent agenda items? Okay, seeing none Council President, I'll make a motion to close the public comment and move on consent agenda item CA1 through CA30. I'll second that. on the motion with a noted extension. Mr. Yes. Phillips. Yes. Mr. Yes. And you have me down abstaining. Okay. Mr. Per.

Yes, ma'am. Moving on to ordinance 126-001. is an ordinance to use and extinguish any and all existing or proposed public rights which have been conveyed to the township for portions of Benson Avenue in the county of Hamilton County, New Jersey. Second reading public hearing. Any questions or comments from council? This is ordinance 12601. Any questions uh regarding this ordinance from the public? Seeing none, do I have a motion?

Seeing none, council president, I'd look to move uh close the public comment portion and move to adopt ordinance 126-001. I'll second it. On the motion, Mr. Paral. Yes. Yes. Mr. Mr. Yes. Ordinance 22602. The ordinance to vacate, release and extinguish any and all existing or proposed public rights which have been conveyed to the county township for portions of Kobe Avenue and the county of Hamilton County mer any questions or comments from council? No. Any questions from the public? Sure.

Uh these three are the same. What are they about that you have no right? Is this by the hospital? These are these are streets that uh were never developed. Oh, really? They were never developed and therefore um giving them back uh we're we're not going to keep them. We're not going to develop them. Is there any uh thing you want to add legally? Are they just like open land? They call them pencil streets. There's no uh paper streets. There's no uh

there's no actual street there. It was it was also part of a development that so it's it's this is part of the condition of the development being approved and so that was required for this was required for that. Oh that's interesting. Okay. Thank you. Welcome.

Any other questions or comments? Council President, I'll move to close the public portion and move on ordinance 226- 002 on second reading. I'll second on the motion. Mr. Parabell, yes. M. Phillips. Yes. Mr. Yes. Mr. Petero. Yes. Ordinance 3263 approved. An ordinance to make use and extinguish any and all existing or proposed public which has been conveyed to the council proportions of city and trans county mer. Any questions or comments? No sir. No sir.

Anything from the public? Seeing none. Council President, um I move to close the public comment portion and move on and adopt uh on second reading ordinance number three 26-00003. I'll second on the motion. Mr. Carelli, yes. Phillips, yes. Mr. Yes. Mr. Pero,

yes. Ordinance 126-005 is an ordinance of the township of Hamilton County, Mercer, New Jersey, providing for the capital improvement to the roof of the police municipal court building fully funded by capital improvement funds for a total amount of $200,000. First reading and introduction. Council President, I'll make a motion to for first reading and introduction of ordinance one 26-005. I'll second it. On the motion, Mr. Parabelli. Yes. Yes. Mr. Whaning. Yes. Mr. Capero. Yes. 40. Ordinance 226.

This is an ordinance authorizing a wise long-term lease from the county of Hamilton to the Hamilton Hamilton YMCA for a portion of lot 2730 lot 1420. As recreational facility first reading and introduction. Council President, I'll look to move on first um first reading ordinance number 22 26-006. I'll second on the motion. Mr. Harell, yes. Yes. Mr. I have to abstain since I'm a part-time employee there. Yes.

Ordinance 326-07 is an ordinance accepting a deed of rightway dedication for Meadow Brook Realy LLC 1201 State Highway 33 block 1945 lot one. First reading the introduction. Council President, I'll move on ordinance 326-007 on first reading and introduction. I'll second that. Motion, Mr. Carelli. Yes. Mr. Phillips. Yes. Mr. Whan. Yes. Mr. Pero. Yes.

Ordinance 4 2016008 is an ordinance to vacate, release, and extinguish any and all exceeding proposed public rights which convey to the township for portions of Williamson Avenue in the township of county mer. I'll make a motion for first reading and introduction of ordinance 426-008. Okay, I'll second. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. That concludes the agenda for tonight. Okay, we're going to start uh right from the top. Carl Wilson and Lois. How do you say your last name?

Both. Both. You come up together or separate. Up to you. Good. How are you?

Hi everyone. I'm Carol Wilson, 15 Hudson Avenue, Hamilton. My friend Lois Vote, 40 Mark Twain Drive, Hamilton. We are both Hamilton Township crossing guards. Lois and her partner James Hoer are guards at Reynolds Elementary School and I am the guard at Mallard Elementary School. Um, as we are sure you all know, we are employed by the Hamilton Township Police Department. We'd like to start by letting you all know that we are here tonight only to represent ourselves and the other guards. We are not here in any way to represent the police department. Again, we're only se solely representing ourselves. We all know there was a significant snowstorm January 25th, January 26th. Consequently, the schools were closed on the 26th. We understand that there was a tremendous amount of snow to be cleared. Unfortunately, much of that snow ended up being pushed into the intersections and the crosswalks at almost all of the schools in the township. We had mounds of snow that were 3 to four feet high, 3 to four feet wide. It was impossible for guards to cross the children if you did not literally crawl over the mounds of snow. Many of us made calls to the police department, to the traffic department to explain the dangerous situation with the snow and ice. Unfortunately, little was done. We are not here to complain. We are here to make sure that everyone is aware of the problem and that we hope to be part of the solution. Again, we're just not here to complain. It's snowed and nobody plowed. That's not our objective tonight. Um, we are told not to shovel snow at

our posts. Now, the information that I'm about to share, I'm not saying that I know this to be fact. I'm only saying that for quite a while now, these are the things that we are told. So, we're told don't shovel this snow. If something happens and nothing is done, the township is liable. However, if I shovel, somebody falls down, I may be liable for any injury, any harm. Again, I'm not saying that this is fact. I'm just saying this is what we're told. However, if you want to shovel, do it on your own time. And that way if I get hurt or if somebody else gets hurt, there is no liability for the township. Again, I'll make this brief. Most of us, I would say the average age of a guard in the township is probably close to 70 years old. I shoveled snow. I went by myself. It was impossible. Again, Arena Drive, Woodside. You could not get into Arena Drive. I shoveled a hole on Woodside, a hole on the other side of Woodside and Arena, and I walked the kids down Woodside into the intersection into the crosswalk. There was a dad who was furious because there's ice. We're getting in the middle of cars. You do the best you can. He came and he plowed a hole for me to go into Arena Drive. Lois will talk about situations that she and James had as well. This was consistent throughout the township. We all have stories. I think what we're asking for is really just to be heard. Um I understand the reasons why fiduciary manpower, but here we are 16 days in and this afternoon I had a mom with like a 16-month-old in a stroller. My iceberg is collapsing into my hole that my dad dug. The mom is going through with the stroller. The stroller

hit a piece of ice, the stroller tipped and the baby almost went down on Arena Drive.

So, what can be done? Can we have salt made available to us that if we want to take responsibility to go to the township to pick it up at any point? Are we going to rely on the weather to deal with it? I said, "We're just asking to be heard and to maybe understand when the police department when their hands are tied and we respect that, like what what do we do? Do we continue to climb over mounds?" It really has. I had a a Mcgalliard mom fall. I almost fell two or three times, like I said. And if it weren't for a dad who came, I still wouldn't be able to get out on Berina Drive because I can't shovel it. So, you are out of time, but I just have a question. Um, so who would you report this stuff to if you have to report it?

Who's your supervisor? Oh, we would report it to the traffic department, Lieutenant Burger. Okay. And when you when you report that it's not a not safe condition, where does it go? Uh, we have no idea. Okay. I believe we I know we also contacted um um Hamstack. Okay. We made phone calls to them. Um, for three days there were different guards who were calling to try to get solutions. There was, excuse me, there was three uh calls to Hamstat. Can you please look into that and find out why nothing was done? Because yes, they should have handled all of those.

Yeah. So, and I I think in the future, right, we had uh our OEM uh department or command center, right, enacted for a good portion of the storm. And so perhaps when we have that situation in a storm of this magnitude, right? And again, I don't want to change any protocols that you're already going through, but maybe you not only notify your supervisor, but we have you or your folks notifying somebody in OEM, which is also public works as well. Um because that it sounds like it just never made it to public works because they did a tremendous job I think of plowing first of all throughout the town under these circumstances but secondly they do the schools first right when they're plowing the roads and all of that and so and they're not responsible for the sidewalk but for the the handicap access or that out into the intersection they I'm pretty sure that they should be doing those and they were doing those. They spent a couple of days even after the storm going out and cleaning up as much as they could or what they had missed or something to that effect. So, so again, I have to look into if you could provide me with the different locations that you still know are a problem or that were a problem because they know exactly when they hit certain areas in terms of the plowing and all of that. So that should have been you know should have been done at the same time.

I I feel that the residents who are like Reynolds custodian does only so far right you know and they did do the handicap ramp for me. I'm on the school side. Okay. Um the other three inter you know corners uh two are residents and one is property where there's retirement homes on Estates Boulevard. Um, but I feel the problem is they may or they may not because we were snowed in. Um, they may have shoveled the sidewalk, but then when the plows come, they're plowed back in and then the residents or whoever doesn't go back out there. Yeah.

So, we literally the kids were literally climbing over these mounds. Um, like I showed you those pictures of that sidewalk, you mean? Yeah. Yes. the if there's a private sidewalk that is a different issue because they are required to go back out and do that. But that's something that we can address as well, right? If somebody's not clearing it, it was a rough storm. But I understand. But listen, we never want you shoveling. That's not part of your job responsibilities. You and your crew, you're amazing. All of you, the your crossing guards, because they will do anything. They go above and beyond all the time. And so I just hear a few stories when we get a chance to talk every couple of years, right?

But um you know, you should not have to do that and you should not have to call three times either for something. I think we even had like a black ice situation right at one of the crosswalks and fell. So you know, we don't want any of that to happen. And I certainly don't want you try and especially that storm. It was awful. It was impossible anywhere. So yeah, if it was just snow, I think it would have been a different situation, but being that it had the freezing rain on top, iced everything. That's what happened.

Um because even the residents, they're not going to be able to get through three or four foot snow plow. You know what I'm saying? To to dig a hole. Um so we're still dealing with the Reynolds side. Um, and that's part of the board of ed, but I do feel and I don't know if when the board of ed schools for that Monday, um, and the sidewalks were not all cleared, is it the township who notifies the board of ed to open the schools like on the Tuesday because we weren't ready to school district makes their own determination.

Do they check in with the town kids? I would hope so. But the school district, if the school district has all their uh schools plowed and cleared to for use, they have to make their own decision. I'm sure they consult and see what the state and what the county and what the township are doing, but they're their own entity. Yeah. So after the plows come and those corners are plowed in, the handicap sections are plowed in,

then you're saying the residents are responsible to reshovel those 4ft drifts. No, I think just on private residents like residents, schools or whatever, they have they're responsible for their own sidewalks, right? So if plow comes and throws it all back onto the sidewalk, it's unfortunate, but yes, they have to go out and clear that. But the school has the responsibility again to reclear their area as well if that's the case. But it just sounds like there might have been a breakdown because if school called right public works and said hey were you able to get all the streets and the are the schools you know I don't know what other checking they do

to go out to make sure that it's been cleared properly. So um yeah but if you could get me the information of the areas that still need attention. I don't care how many there are. just tell me where they are and um we'll get on those right away. And also um if you have the date or the time the three hamstack calls that I wouldn't know. Well, then if you don't, that's fine. Oh, from different garden. Okay, we'll do it on the subject. We can do a search. One was James one. I think that was we went to school back on Tuesday, so maybe Wednesday you um

Yeah. May I just for so that I understand the schools do a great job on the school side. The issue is on the residential side. So in the morning they're coming from their neighborhoods to the school. They get across the street. School is fine. It's getting them across the street. The corners have the red bubbled handicapped ramps.

All of those they're at the beginning of the you know you go down the ramp you're in the street. If you can't who is responsible for keeping those red handicapped access right? Is it the resident or is it someone else? the property owner. So whether it's so improperly whoever is proxy they're they are responsible. The problem with the storm is we got so much snow then it turned to ice and everything immediately froze and it was impossible for some residents to even move it. Um I think

I think there are many occasions where we kind of take responsibility for the handicap corners right and the intersection corners especially if you're going to end up having staff out there within a you know a day and trying to do their work if the conditions are hard enough without it being so blocked that we have no I mean I'm bringing sand with me but a lot of because now the the snow is melting and it's turning into ice now so we're constantly ly warning the families, you know, if there's ice there, you have to step over the ice and we have to hold the kids hands because there way they could coordinate together, whether it's uh the school board and and and public works to to obviously our first responsibility is get the streets open and then kind of come up with a con contingent plan that we can open up the access ways to the to the for the sidewalks to so these kids could get to school safely. And I think that's what I would like to do or whatever public work. I don't care who's responsible under normal circumstances those corners so that you can do your job. But as far as the residents, you know, we would have end up having to issue them a notice to begin with to say you've got to clear it however hard it is.

Is it a 24-hour um limit on before they can go like it would have I think it is technically I think 24 hours or 48. No, I think it's technically 24. after the snow stopped, right? And then um but so that's well past that time. Yeah.

Um but you're right, it made it more difficult because the ice storm that came on top of all of that because I know even myself at home, husband went out, my husband and I were both out shoveling and you know before it had kind of stopped and then we had the ice storm on top of it and we had to go out a second time. But by the next morning, it was solid as a rock and it was still as And let's face it, in Hamilton Township, what do we have? 25 or 20 22 elementary. 22 elementary. That's 25 28 schools.

You know, so, you know, like a lot of towns, you know, they don't have that many, you know, facilities to take care of. Earlier in your statement, I I don't want to believe this too long. I think everybody gets the message, but you said you called your superior office from traffic and they and what did they say? Oh, they took all the calls from the guards and then they were going to contact public works. Okay. Which is good. Lieutenant Burger did and Terry in the office did that. Okay. So, I have a call in already uh prior to the meeting we spoke. I have a call in uh to public works. They're going to come out and pick up that traffic light that was damaged. They were unaware of it. They'll be out there first thing tomorrow morning. Oh, good. When he uh when he calls me tomorrow, I'm sure

our business administrator is going to talk to him about it, but I'm also going to voice some of these concerns and hopefully get that cleaned up. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you very much. We appreciate it. If you have any questions, u make sure you email us or call, whatever you need to do. Should I send I have pictures and information and dates. Should I email that to you or not necessary? You can if you want. I don't want to cause you so much trouble. What I really need is to lift the corners so that I can say right away, look, we'll discuss this going forward, but let's get out there and get these corners. All right. Thank you very much. Thank you guys. Thank you.

Juliana. Hi, Juliana Carella. Um, I first wanted to ask if there's any update on the ordinance fee change I brought up last time, if I can do anything about that with the Nodingham Ballroom. I don't think we have any plans to change that or bring that before you right now. We've spent a lot of time when we revised those fees when we first took on Nottingham Ballroom. And I know that you were pointing to a piece in the ordinance that talked about it being township community event

of that type, but I I don't think that was what the description is in that that your event is a private event. It's not a township event, right? And so, but look, we've worked with lots of different people and lots of different vendors to do programs that are township programs. So, um I would say reach out to the recreation department and see if they're interested in maybe having you come and do your event, right? But if it's sponsored by the township and again, I don't know how they plan all of those things, but that might be a good place to start. So, I guess what does fall under those community events? It would just be the township renting it then. Correct.

So, it's the township holding an event. It's not the township renting it. It's the township because we own the building. So, we don't I guess that's where I'm confused. Right. So, it would be let's I'll make something up for Nottingham Ballroom because it's quite a large space. If we were to do a bridal expo, we would charge vendors to come and be at the bridal expo. In fact, I think that's the example that we used when we came up with that. Okay. Because we don't have any other venues that could kind of handle things like that. So, we had to come up with new fees for Nottingham Ballroom. So, it's that type of event.

Okay. So, I will look more into the recreation department, which also was going to be another one of my questions because I applied to be in the Aelia Festival to talk about my events, but it seems like I might be getting rejected from that because I'm not a pampered chef or some they were saying like to be a demonstrator, I had to be one of those companies. What's a pampered chef? It's like uh I want to say MLM. Um it's like we're like catalog sales. like like they have like parties and so I don't know why I didn't know opens up and that they can only have a certain number.

So yeah, so that was part of my question too. So I didn't see it like until it was already out. I didn't see anything of like when it was going to be washed before we get lost. Can you give her a contact who she should talk to at recreation? This way she's not searching. Yeah, I am talking to Nicole. Yeah, would be I just didn't want I didn't want that to get lost in No, no, thank you. Thank you. Yeah, so that was part of that too. I mean, I'm waiting to hear back from them because I asked for clarification. Um, so I will look into that, but I just didn't understand like the day it goes out.

Yeah. Well, I looked at it today and there's only four fourth demonstrator out of 10 spots taken and I'm one of those. So, I was that's why I was kind of confused, too. I'm like, I'm not taking anyone's spot. So, I I don't know how it filled up, but that they would have to let you know that how it filled up. Okay. Um, two other things I wanted to bring up. One, I reached out to the animal shelter to volunteer, and no one ever got back to me. Um, so that did annoy me quite a bit. Who you talked to over there?

I emailed them saying that I wanted to volunteer and that I wanted to host a sound event for the dogs because that's like a thing with the animals and it could be like really relaxing. I said I would volunteer my time, come do it completely for free, and post about it and no one answered me. I did post a video about it and other influencers did reach out to me that I also wanted to bring to your attention. They do not want to say their names, but they let me know that they have reached out to the township animal shelter wanting to go there to take free videos promoting the dogs and that they were told no and these are people with millions of followers. When did you call? Uh this was right after the last town council meeting. Three weeks. Two weeks ago. Three weeks ago. Two two weeks ago.

Yeah. Um, and again when you say animal shelter volunteer, I think of people that we have. Well, I I reached out Yeah. I reached out to generally volunteer but also to do this event. Okay.

Yeah. And then um my last thing um I was going to ask if they left the economic advisory committee. I applied multiple times and I never got an answer back. And then I emailed the director and I think that got forwarded to the mayor's office because I got an email from them yesterday saying that I was not allowed to be on the board because I'm on the executive board of shop Hamilton which then I had to call shop Hamilton and say am I on the executive board because that's news to me and they said you can be if you would like to. But I emailed back the mayor's office and I said I'm not on this board and that's the only reason you guys are giving me to not recommend me. So I have not gotten an answer and I've you know like three different people asking for clarification of like what's the criteria how to be on it just even if it's not me just like to understand I cannot get anyone to give me an answer.

Well I think you're in the right spot the mayor's office is in it's the right spot that you should be talking to because that um appointment is a mayor's appointment. So and I don't know what their process is for the applications or not and I'm sure somebody will get back to you usually Bianca you know, she was the one who emailed me about that I was on this other board and so I couldn't be on this, but I I was asking like I couldn't find the regulations that said that. I can't find anything and I just don't understand where this is coming from. I'm not sure that we have all of that published or whatever. It might be in an application, but not necessarily. So, okay. Um, so is she on the shop Hamilton board or is she not?

They extended me a position yesterday after the fact, but I didn't I haven't I was trying to figure it out. They they who did what? Oh, they Hamilton when I called and said, "Am I on the board?" Yeah. Have whoever they want to. Yeah. Which I think was also confusing to me because I was like, what does one have to do with I mean I know they're related, but like they're totally different entities to my understanding. Well, they are different entities, but economic development. Yeah, they're related for sure. Um, I'm sure Bianca will get back to you, but I'll I'll I'll speak to the mayor's office tomorrow just to make sure that you're waiting for a communication. Okay. All right. Thank you.

We'll try and find out why the animal shelter didn't get back to her either. Yeah, I'm going to look into that. So, but again, you know, when they hear volunteer, they think somebody's going to come and be part of we have lots of volunteers that are run by a volunteer coordinator to walk the animals or tend to the the cat room. And so, this sounds like it was a little bit different offer. I I volunteered for both. I said I'll I'll do that. Oh, okay. Good. I thought you said you wanted to do a a program or video there. That and then also just volunteering. Okay.

I'll find out. Not to elaborate on this too much. I don't want to I really don't want to. But you you know you expect answers back from people, right? Let them get back to you got youth that want to get involved in their town. Okay? And we should be embracing that. Okay? And that's all I'm going to say. We should be embracing our youth that want to get involved in this township and the elderly folks here. performing. Well, yeah, I guess we could include people like myself, but you know, sooner or later I'll be a memory.

So, I'm sorry to disappoint you. I'm on the shop Hamilton board. You are not executive board member. Sorry. I'm sorry for the demotion. Keep us posted, please. Thank you. Charlie, you're up. We demoted somebody tonight. Uh, good evening everybody. I want to thank you in advance for your time. Um, I just have a little bit of a situation in my uh neighborhood. Oh, I'm sorry. My name is Charles Bochamp. I live at 70 Rockill. Oh, okay. All right. Charles Bochamp.

So, I have some pictures. Um, I have a set I can give to you if you'd like to look. Sure. Conscribe them real long. Thank Um it's on uh lane off of uh between Rock Hill and use pretty much. And you can see by the first picture just looking down the road these these are cherry trees that are um half rotten and hanging over. It's pretty much like a little bit of a safety hazard. I kind of think the farthest one that you see has another tree that is dead that fell against it and it's leaning against it and that tree is pushing the fence leaning over. So it's it's just a matter of time.

I've talked to public works about it. I can't get I've been trying to get this done for a couple years and it's just getting a little tiring. Um I got tired of picking up stuff myself. So probably three to at least maybe four times this year I've called the police department for uh branches blocking the road. They've come out and then had to cut public works come out. I did help the officer move what I could because I just felt bad for him. But um it's just as you look through some of these trees are are you know they're they're broken, they're rotten. Um I I it's a little bit of a safety hazard I feel and I just would like some help because I can't can't get anything done with it and I thought maybe if I got it on the on the minutes here that maybe somebody would take a look at it. Um other people in attachment have looked at and agreed that there was a problem. I'm not going to mention names and uh I just I just would like to have some relief on this if somebody could help me out.

So I mean we have a pretty robust uh tree program. So again, I want to check with them and find out if our tree person has ever gone out there to assess the trees and and again I don't know if they have to have certain conditions to do that or they can go out and do it now with all the snow or whatever.

And and that's fine if it snows wait till snow melts on. Yeah. Um some of the trees so you you might be able to see there's actually a fence there. The fence is the property line for the property which is like the largest property count the lakes there. But anyway, um, so the fence is the property line. Some of the trees on are on the the outside of the fence, which is on township property. Some are on the residents property. So, and I understand that the resident might be responsible for the ones that are on there. However, whatever is hanging over the road over the property over the property line, the township can, I believe, take care of that. Um, at one time when the officer was out there over clearing the road, the resident came out and I mentioned to her, I said, "Look," I said, "I I even talked to my insurance company and basically a tree falling is an act of God. I understand that. However, if there's a known um hazard documented, uh, then it becomes another issue and it could be liability." So, I told I tried to explain that to her. So, that's another reason why I want this all documented. Um, I'm going to reach out to New Jersey manufacturers again and let them know what I that I had proceeded with this. And she basically said she doesn't have the money to take care of these trees, which, you know, I understand everybody's, you know, money is money, but I don't know if the township can help her out with the ones that are hanging over the road just so it's not a hazard. Um, whatever they can do, I'm sure the township's pretty reasonable and if if it's hanging over, even it's not their tree, I'm sure they would probably help out. Whatever can be done, I would greatly appreciate.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you. Thank you, Charles. You said Charles, you said Peshi uh Peshi Lane. It runs uh PCIA. PSCIA. So, it runs between like uh you've got CER, use Rockill, all those um it runs the it um it oversees the like Hamilton Lakes. So, if you look beyond those trees, you're looking down at the Hamilton Lakes. So, Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you very much for your time. I appreciate it. Thanks, Charlie. Ma'am, I'm going to need help pronouncing your name. I don't want to ruin it.

Hello. My name is Mal Gojata Crocos and uh

Thank you. And I'm here today to um talk to you about condition of my street which is actually Pesia Lane and I am the only uh person who lives on that street. I mean me me and my husband uh because the rest of the houses are facing the other street. So let me uh read to you ladies and gentlemen my statement. My name is Margo Jata Krocos and I am here in behalf of myself and my husband Mario Kro who unfortunately is not able to uh attend this meeting. We are the owners of property as five special lane since September 2000 for over 25 years. Um, at the time our taxes when we purchased our home were $4,200 and the increase was 300% to $12,337 my last tax bill. Over the years, um, we had a problem with our street and at many occasions, I came to the township to the engineering office and, uh, I spoke with someone regarding the condition on my street. I am here today because um, our street have um, serious condition and have been negliged by the earth. Alia lane is a short narrow street. It carry heavy traffic. Residents from surrounding streets frequently drive past our home over time. This traffic along with repeatedly damage from snow flows um has caused significant damage. The road is filled with cracks, holes, and uneven surface. In our

opinion, um the 70% of the road is damaged. Uh this is the original paving on my street for last 50 maybe 60 years. The only new paving is in front of my house. It's a very tiny little area. When our house was built, um the builder just uh place a new uh part of the street, but the rest street is pretty old. For the past four years, I have been repeatedly visited to the township engineering office requesting that our street be repaved. Approximately two years ago, I received a call standing that inspection was there and he conduct the road inspection and um he told us that only 30% of the road was damaged. I strongly disagree with the assignments. I personally returned to the engineering office at several occasions, left my name, left my phone number and address and requested to speak with the inspector. myself and also I asked the inspector to call me and I want to take a walk with him on my street and show him the condition on our street. After months without um any response, I went to the mayor office and I filed a complaint regarding the lack of communication. A staff member helped submit my request in our behalf. Again, I was left with no any response. Later, each time pretty much every time I come to the office and I pay my taxes, I will go to the engineering office and bring my case.

I was informed at some point and presented with a list of uh streets that were that someone told me that they were in much worse condition than our street. And u uh uh the list is closed until 2027. And actually surprisingly I received a phone call this afternoon around 3:00 from someone excuse me telling me that my street it's not in such a bad condition and the list is closed for next 5 years. With respect to the town my family has lived in Hamilton Township for over 30 years. I have personally observed many streets that appear to be better conditioned than Pesia Lane and they have been repaved. In fact, two street that intersect Pesia Lane have been uh repaved, Robill Avenue was fully re repaved approximately 10 years ago and Linton Avenue approximately six years ago. When Linton Avenue was paved, the new pavement stopped directly in front of my house, leaving a small section improved while the remaining section in front of my house is not um repay. The condition on our road is not inconvenient, is unsafe. There are numerous cracks and holes. While I was walking my dog, I stop into a hole and twist my foot at some occasion. Many neighbors walk at the evening dogs. They take walk around the neighborhood and um this present a real risk of injury and potential liability. As a long-term taxpaying resident, we respectfully

request that special lane be re-evaluated and placed on the schedule for repaving as soon as possible. I have recent photographs I will of photographs from last year and this year. And I wrote myself um another thing on my list uh regarding a no lettering sign. And uh this afternoon when I came home, the sign is there because there is a park uh between my house and Charlie's house when they are like the the trees that are hanging over. Uh frequently people will drive by and just dump trash over there. So I request a sign no littering because this is a problem. every pretty much single day when I walk my dog.

Did you request that? Oh, I I was here last week and the sign was uh placed this probably this morning because I saw it this afternoon. So, thank you very much for that. Welcome. And also um another issue that I want to talk to about is the trees that are hanging over close to Charlie House and they also uh causing a lot of ma'am I'm just going to ask you to take a pause so each speaker usually gets four minutes. Okay. Uh, is it longer than four minutes already? Just just uh if there's nobody else that wants to speak, then you can just come right back up. Just give me one second. Is there anybody else that wants to come to the microphone? All right, Janice, come on up. Ma'am, just stay close because you can come up again as soon as Janice is finished.

Janice, come on. Turn the evidence height. I just want to say uh for the snow and everything. I mean, that was ungodly with the one inch of ice. I mean, it's unbelievable. And the township did pretty good job. We had Well, I wrote the name down so I could tell you and where is it still on my refrigerator from when the snowstorm met, but the man where Trinity and Ruters comes together. It's a really big V. And a lot of times we have people plow and they just do that and leave all the snow and we just have the two streets meet. This person cleaned it impeccably. It was unbelievable. It's so nice and clean that he did. It took him a while and he had one of those where you dig dirt with

front loader.

Yeah. Okay. Good. Yeah. Front end loader. He didn't have a truck and uh you know and it took him a while to do it, but he actually did an outstanding job. And it was tough I mean for the people to plow those streets because I mean even like East State Street Extension by Our Lady of Sorrow Church they did not make the two lanes at the light and so for days if you wanted to make a right-hand turn you were stuck in the center lane waiting for everybody to go through and it still would have been nice if they afterwards came and pushed it off a little bit. But um the other thing is I don't know much about computer stuff and everything but do we have like a a page where people read stuff and stuff like that or we put out anything from the township because I was talking to my mailman. I mean it needs to be put out. People need to shovel out their mailbox. He has 506 customers. He was at my house at 5:30. He's usually there 1:30 2:00. And I saw him, my next door neighbor, had to get out of the truck, climb over the mound of snow, and another one hold on to the mailbox to try to get the mail in the mailbox. I always dig mine out. And he says out of the 506, 90% did not dig out. And I started noticing like on my street, I mean, you had to climb over mountains to get the mail into the mailbox. I mean, there should be a note that goes out say, "Hey folks, when there's a big snow, think about your mailman. dig it out so that he can at least get the truck in and then then maybe back it out or whatever so he doesn't have to get out and climb over all the snow and do all that stuff.

It's a great idea. And so uh and then the other thing about the hospital, don't we have a cannabis place right there? The the pizza place, aren't they going to be right next to the hospital? And they that was okay with them. Okay. Just just curious. They knew what they were moving into. Oh, okay. And I was surprised. I mean I I I haven't been to do that much what they're talking about the view. I'm thinking okay well we have a nice view of the wet I didn't know we had wetlands out there but I know we have wetlands by me but uh I thought that was pretty interesting but no definitely for the mailman though you know and I would say hey think about your mailman he has to get in and out too. We appreciate that. Okay thank you.

You're welcome. Anybody else would like to speak? Ma'am you're welcome to come up and finish. Thank you. You're welcome. So, I have um photos of my street with the cracks and the holes and the condition of my street. Thank you. Just a pictures couple, thousand words.

Excuse me. Yes. I have been coming to the township for about four years every couple of months to the engineering office at several occasions. Um I was told that uh inspector going to come and going to reinspect my street uh over last four years. I was I received a phone call uh two years ago once and this afternoon the second time. And um this street really doesn't match my house because I I keep my property in a very good condition and it's just I am the only owner of the only house that is on special lady. I don't have anybody to back me up and I would like you ladies and gentlemen to consider repaving if not the entire street perhaps just in front of my house because the rest of the street it's a very narrow 20 ft

tiny little street and it's really looking really really bad. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. So, it looks like Yeah, they came around the corner on that street and stopped and then it looks like uh there's some pictures, John. A lot of pictures. Part of Rockville was uh patched on Google Earth. Yeah.

Sorry. Continue to look. Um any other comments from the public? Steve, come on up. Uh Steve Clay, Wolfpack Road. I forget which year it was if it was between 2019 2021. The township did purchase a service to automatically survey the condition of the roads. Um do we plan on redoing that to to make some sort of comparison or a manual comparison especially in this lady's case? So my question was is it's done every year or every other year? Not any software but we update it every year. That's too

Yeah. There was an automate. We We had purchased an automated system. The car just drives around like a Google Earth car. Yes. And and automatically did that. So that was our baseline. Yes. So you know it would be nice to they they go out and inspect and get the condition of many roads. So, for instance, on Pesha Lane, uh the last time the inspectors went out there was on January 7th of 2025, and they determined and evaluated the roadway, and they give them scores. You remember that, right? And and so they they give each road a score um as to,

you know, a lot of things go in it. It's not just a percentage of the roadway that is damaged or anything like that. There's a lot of factors involved, ones that I would never try to guess or do because I'm not a professional. They are

um and in particular to um Miss Crocos, the score on Peshia Lane right now as of 17205 a year ago was um 52.97. And just as a form of reference, right? This year the roads that are being worked on are scores for about 44 to 45, right? So again, and a low score is a bad score, right? So that they would go out and do that. That's how they formulate their list for the year. They only have so many roads that they can do in a year and they do it based on the scores. So, right now, I just saw the list uh a couple weeks ago for 2026, and all of the scores were in the the mid to low 40s, right? So, what does that mean for yours? They'll they could come out and reassess it

and the score may go lower because we've had a big storm since then and I don't know if it did any further damage in the last year but they can reassess the score and then you know get it on the list at the appropriate time that right the rest of the scores are coming up like that um or as roads deteriorate and that type of thing. So that's how they formulate the list. So actually my question was uh I know the automated software was able to present on a on a GIS enabled map. Yeah. So you could browse it. Is is it possible for the township to post our baseline and where we are at today for the general public for the general public to kind of just look and see

you know are we getting what we paid for? Are we getting you know because everybody's going to look at their own street. Sure. But it would be nice to know, you know, did that purchase get us anywhere or Well, it it established for us a baseline and a process by which to go. No, I don't I don't I don't disagree. I'm just looking to see like, you know, where where are we? Um, so I can ask them that. I was thinking the same thing, right? Do we post the condition updates each time that we do them? Right. With from the baseline. I think they just take the baseline and they post updates. Yeah. since that happens, right? Because that obviously would change, the score will change for the roads that we complete and

course and and I think it, you know, for those that have done it, it's beneficial to show they're done and for people who think there's should be done, they can I know they can kind of do it and I think it's just beneficial for, you know, it's always a topic

for it's difficult. I don't mind putting scores out there and I don't think they do either, but it's difficult because, you know, everybody looks at their road and regardless of the score, they they think that that's worse than others. And and so and that being said, even with the scores, public works can't say, "Yeah, we're going to get that done next year or we're going to get it done the year after that." And in fact, they can do an estimate, right? So, I think they estimated because I did look up um Miss Kroko's um road and you know he said it might be two years out that before that the scores will match up that we're doing it um that road but again they can't guarantee that it may be less it may be more I don't know but I think in in the case of Miss Pros for Peshi Lane at least um they should go out again they they evaluated a year ago So, there's no reason why they couldn't go out and evaluate it again. Um, and they can notify you if you want that they're going to be out there to evaluate it. That would be fine. Also,

I made a request already last year to be uh informed if they ever be there because I want to take a look with him and show him the condition of the road. Well, again, I don't know how they assigned that, but I I can ask them that and to see if they would do that again and come out. That's Thank you. Anything else from the public? Okay, close the public comment portion. And who wants to start? Ladies first. She always gets to go last. I think ladies first tonight.

Well, I think tonight has been really productive. I think it's been great. Um, of course, very excited about CHOP and coming in and all the, like I said, the economic benefits to it. And, uh, you know, thank you to everyone who came out tonight to, and I'm glad we were able to clear things up for a little bit. I did see that. Yeah, if you don't know, follow Jules on Tik Tok information. Um but the crossing guards too. I did see that on social media and um we will definitely be looking into that. So that because I think coordination between the school district and the township is absolutely essential for that. For sure.

And I think again as you may have stated the or yeah that school board did a good job and you know it could just be the private residences being up to Yeah. didn't go back and do the rest of it because it was very difficult. So, well, we haven't had a storm like this in so many years, too, that it could have been, you know, kind of snowflakes.

But, um, yeah, just thanks again for coming out and, um, I don't think we really have much coming up. So, right, so we'll see you back here in two weeks if you want to come back and have a good night. I didn't really mean that, but um to emphasize what uh Councilman Phillips said is uh you know, great presentation tonight on CHOP. I think everybody would agree. Um I think it's really going to be a great addition to Hamilton Township and the surrounding communities to have a a state-of-the-art facility such as CHOP located right here in Hamilton Township. And you know, for everybody came out tonight and with with some of the the issues that you may have um um regarding whether it's your homes or snow removal or other problems we may have, we appreciate you coming here and voicing and making your voices be heard so we could take it uh to the proper go through the proper channels to see if we could get some of these things resolved. So, um with that, it's been melting all day. It's getting colder at night. So, when you're leaving here, be careful walking through our parking lot and uh get home safely.

I'll just echo the some of the things that um Chy hit on. Um we um this was a good productive meeting. I thought it was very interesting to find out a little bit more details regarding the CHO project. I was excited to hear about that as many of you probably are as well. Um in addition to that, I appreciate the uh you coming to the meeting. it isn't the best of weather, but to voice some of your concerns or issues, um this is a good forum for you to do that and hopefully uh they'll be addressed um quickly. Um and finally, I just want to mention we um on this not this Monday, but the previous Monday, we held um the swearing in ceremony for our new chief, Steve Kramer. um excited to have him uh working with uh with uh our fire officials and he you know he's well received by everyone in the room. So at the Ningham Ballroom was a very nice event um and a a career that has been him and his brother have uh served our community very well. Um so just very appreciative of that.

Thank you. Uh I'm the last thing standing between you and the exit so I'll be quick. I do want to also congratulate our uh new chief. Uh he's a lifelong friend. Uh it's welld deserved. It's long overdue and uh I know he is going to uh do a great job of leading the men and women of the fire department. We also had some promotions uh yesterday. Correct.

Promotions yesterday. So congratulations to them as well. And also uh thanks to all the police and fire also uh all of our public uh works employees for working through that storm. A lot of people uh worked long hours uh with very minimal breaks and I know uh they take a lot of the heat when things don't get done perfectly. Uh however, in a 40 square mile town with 600 lane miles, uh there's a lot of work to be done. I think there's 122 people out uh plowing that night. So, we appreciate uh all of them and uh thank you to my team here and we'll see you in a couple weeks. Uh meetings adjourned. Okay. That's an honor work.