Town Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening everyone. We're going to get started. This meeting is being held with the benefit of public notice as required by the open public meetings act. Madame clerk, would you call the role? Mr. Carelli here. Phillips here. Mr. Carol here. I here. Uh would everyone please rise for the flag salute and the invocation? I pledge algiance 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 give thanks for the many blessings you have given us this year. As we arrive at the holiday season, please help us to focus on the things that truly matter and let go of anything that pulls us away from you. Help us to enjoy this time with our loved ones and to make lasting memories. As always, bless this township and we may we as a government represent the best interest of our community. We ask all these things in your name. Amen.

Amen. There has been an amendment to the agenda since it was posted on the website. Uh there are changes to a couple of the resolution titles. CA41 25-530 is now titled uh resolution authorizing transfers in the calendar year 2025 municipal budget $105,000 and CA4325-532 is now titled uh resolution authorizing the execution of an agreement for donation with Kgroup Hamilton Venture for an affordable housing development in connection with the municipality's fourth round affordable housing plan. Can I please have a motion to the amendment of the agenda?

I'll make that motion, council president. Second, go for it. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. And tonight we have our auditor here. Uh I'd like to thank Mr. Sley for joining us. Um, and he's here to make do a presentation of the auditor's report.

Uh, thank you very much. My name is Bob Swisser. I'm a partner with Subway Clooneying Company. Uh, we just completed our first audit here in Hamilton. Uh, first of all, I want to thank you very much for getting me on first. Uh, we're out pretty much every night of the week and it's it's very nice to be last night. I didn't get home till uh 9:30 from a meeting. So, I appreciate that. Um so so each year uh each town is required to have an audit and uh it's an audit of your financial statements and whether you're in compliance with the rules regulates of the state of New Jersey. Um so as auditors we design tests and things like that to perform to determine if that if those things are true in fact true. Uh in our report we have an unmodified opinions. It's a clean opinion. Uh we did find some small areas of non-compliance that you'll have a corrective action plan to correct. um one dealt with your outside leans and one dealt with your fixed assets. Not major areas, but they do require some clean up on that and you we'll have a corrective action to take care of that later. Um our our work this year took was a long again it's the first year so it took a little bit more time on our part and uh we were able to work with the finance department to you know not only establish that your records were in good shape but we're able to do a lot of cleanup work uh working with the finance office. were able things have been kept lingering around in the books for years. Um you know that they weren't wrong but they needed to be corrected and you know made made a lot of those corrections. There's still more to do. We're going to work with the finance office to get that done going forward. Um you know overall the the tip is in very good financial shape. Your your surpluses are uh are in a at a good number. You have many reserves. Uh you know those are very important when you go for a bond sale. um you get a rating and you know as as you have the new municipal building coming on uh you know you need to keep your finances up. So your rating you know the better the rating the lower interest rate so you're heading in the right direction with that and hopefully we can continue going forward with that. Um that being said if anybody any questions about the audit process or anything else I'd be glad to take any questions about you question. Yeah, I I

I was just going to say um you know, we have some concern there's some issues that popped up that we're going to address um with a corrective action plan. I'm sure uh that we have here before us this evening. So, um but you didn't think that there was any major concerns that

No, no, no, no. There was there those there was no malfeas at all. You know, there there was a the books had entries on them that didn't belong there. Okay. It didn't affect the finances at all. What we're able to do this year is get it all cleaned up. You know what I mean? So the the finance office will have a clean slate going forward which will make their their job a lot easier. We had all these other things out there. They had to battle those things and the day-to-day of operations. So I think you know we really worked you know spent a lot of time with the finance office was able to get it corrected. Okay. Thank you. Sure.

Yeah. I I think the I think the lack of findings is testament to the work of our chief financial officer and her team. Uh there's been a lot of work over the past several years now uh to you know implement best practices uh to increase the transparency to the public. So um I'm appreciative of of the work that has been done uh in that regard. Yeah, definitely headed in the right direction. Thank you. We were here a couple years ago helping out in the finance office and you know we we saw you know when when when Eugenia first came in what it was like. It's like wow. And so uh you got guys come a long way since then. So you're in good shape.

They're going to acknowledge that's later on. Yeah. You don't need to do that now. There is a resolution further down the agenda. Thank you. And at you you have a requirement to sign an affidavit as well. And that affidavit b that the clerk will provide for you and sometime after this, right? Um basically says that you look at at a minimum what the recommendations were within the um the audit and the corrective action plan. That's a requirement of the state for the CFO to do on every audit even with the mildest of recommendations. Right. Thank you. Thank you.

Very good. Thank you, Mr. Okay. So, uh with that, uh we have our board of health meeting tonight. So, we need to uh recess as the township council and convene as the board of health. I'll make I'll make a motion for you. Thank you. I'll second on the motion. Mr. Caribelli, yes. Phillips, yes. Mr. Pero, yes. Mr. Todd, yes.

All right. Welcome to our board of health meeting. Kathy, our director, Kathy Fitzgerald, thank you for joining us.

Thank you so much for having us. Well, good evening all as always. Uh it's with great pride and pleasure that we come before you to present to you our report from the Hamilton Township Division of Health. Our Division of Health is certainly dedicated to maintaining the health and well-being of our residents and visitors by means of prevention, health promotion, and education. This evening, we will provide you with an update on our public health goals and objectives, the status of national accreditation, and the accomplishments of the entire department for the year 2025. In our report this evening, our health educator, Veronica Desisto, will update the board on the Division of Health's accreditation status and provide information on our community health programs. Our health officer, Chris Howwig, will provide a general report on the township's health along with environmental and public health statemandated services and of course the Hamilton Township Animal Shelter. In preparing for our meeting this evening, I had asked Chris to continue to reach out to two of our most faithful animal advocates to ask if they have any questions prior to this evening's meeting. This approach hopefully offers transparency and provides all concerned parties with a clearer picture of the shelter operations and oversight. At this time, I'd like to ask Chris to provide you with a complete report the Hamilton Township Division of Health for December of 2025. Thank you.

Thank you. Good evening uh board of health and residents. Um normally I would uh have it up on the board but I could not get the uh PowerPoint uh to display. So uh I apologize for the small print on the uh the printed off copies. Um but um so what's going uh so as far as the agenda goes uh I'll give a brief kind of update on um what's going on in public health then I'll hand it over to Bronnigan to give a health education update and then I will close with um uh the shelter updates. Um so what's going on in the news lately in public health? Uh we've heard a lot from the uh the ACIP or the uh advisory committee on immunization practic immunization practices. Uh it is respiratory virus season. Uh food safety especially as we enter the holiday season and of course it is the holiday season. So holiday survival tips starting with the ACIP. I'm sure a lot of folks if you've been watching the news lately um have heard that there's been a lot of changes at the federal level um uh resulting in you know immunization changes especially coming out of the AAP and and the the recommendations that they are uh looking at making and have made over the last couple of months. A lot of these decisions have been unprepared. They've caused uh dysfunction. I mean, frankly, incompetent decisions and ultimately unhealthy decisions that will affect us here in Hamilton and Americans nationwide. Um, just this month, they voted to um uh stop endorsing the birth dose of hepatitis B vaccine. This has been in uh effect since 1991 and has

been uh contributes to a 99% reduction in hepatitis B. um um infections in newborn infants. Delaying that uh that birth dose, you know, to what they are asking for a month delay. Um it it allows babies to fall through the cracks. And that's why we have a universal uh recommendation for before all babies leave the hospital to get that birth dose. So that way we know that every infant that you know that goes home to mom and dad um is protected cuz the hepatitis B vaccine is one of the most safe and effective vaccines that we have along with all of the vaccines that are are approved at the federal level um going through a rigorous process. But um you know this is something that um is really unfortunate and I'm glad that the state is taking steps to um move away from the ACIP recommendations and allowing the state department of health to to make uh decisions on immunization practices and and schedules here in New Jersey. And hopefully that passes at the state level. Um, but for parents when they have questions, you know, what I would ask, you know, for parents to do if they have questions about immunizations or the health of their children, if it's 3:00 in the morning, your kid is sick, who are you going to call, you know, in the middle of the night? Most likely, it's going to be your primary care. It's going to be your local hospital system. You know, it's going to be those medical professionals that, you know, you have in your life already. You're not going to go on social media. You're not going to follow, you know, figure out, you know, an influencer to get health information from. you're going right to the professionals that are in the field and local. And I would encourage residents if they have those questions to reach out to those uh to those professionals on a routine basis, whether that be us as your local health department, again, your primary care provider or pediatrician, your local hospital system, um or medical organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics. Those would be

your best uh sources of um good, healthy, credible health information. Now that you know it's also respiratory virus season, be continuing on um uh on vaccinations. It is not too late to get your flu and COVID 19 vaccines. We are seeing an increase uh nationwide and especially here in New Jersey of influenza-like illness which refers to coughs, fevers, sore throat, that general just sickness feeling that we get especially as we move indoors and start um you know celebrating you know the holiday season and we're just you know in more confined spaces closer and and longer. Um we are seeing flu increase especially in school age children. That's something that we have seen here locally in Hamilton uh for sure. um is uh increase in in our school age population um getting influenza- like illness uh and specifically the flu and and increasing in flu positivity rates. Um here in the northeast in general um uh wastewater testing has seen a spike for co 19 uh as well. So that is something that is starting to creep up especially we've had a lull over the last couple of months and we've gotten kind of been in this kind of lull of you know respiratory viruses but you know the season is upon us so it is now the time to you make sure you're vaccinated uh test if you're able to stay home when you're sick and wash your hands frequently and often with soap and warm water. Um, moving on to food safety. Our inspectors uh have finished their inspections of all of our license establishments uh this this year. So, uh we are they are finished with their calendar year routine inspections. Um but that does not mean that they're done. They continue to investigate if there's complaints or foodborne illness. Um they go out there and then our mobile and temporary operations they continue throughout the year as well. Um this

year we had 78 events. So if you think there's, you know, 52 weeks in a year. So they are out there basically every single weekend, every single week, um, making sure that when there are events hosted here in the township that, uh, those food trucks and those temporary, uh, food, uh, vendors are being inspected. We issued uh, we had 347 total applications for mobile and temporary food uh, uh, retailers. And we've also investigated 72 uh retail complaints and and illness complaints as well. And just as a reminder to all of our licences, the licensing period starts January 1. For all of us, especially as again as we enter into the holiday season, um you know, keeping our kitchens and our food prep as safe as possible. We want to make sure that we are clean, meaning that we wash our hands and surfaces often. We separate raw meat and other foods uh from especially from cooked foods. uh we cook to the right temperature and also that we chill and refrigerate promptly and don't let uh food uh stay out longer than uh you know than it needs to. And it's always important especially if you're hosting is to keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold. And speaking of the holidays, you know, it's really important, you know, that we drop the food morality mindset. It's the holidays. Have candy. It's okay. You know, you can always That's what New Year's resolutions are for. You know, it's perfectly okay to cheat at at this point. Um, but you also have to keep your goals in in mind. So, if you're somebody who is fitness oriented or wants to get out, make sure that you're continuing to get your exercise. Um, you know, get eat your vegetables as well. Um, eat healthy as much as possible, but don't beat yourself up, especially this season. Be patient with yourself and loved ones. It is definitely a trying time and it can also be a really tough time for fam for uh residents especially

if they don't if they've recently lost somebody or um or they don't have a very large family. Um and it's important to pri prioritize sleep and hydration as well. Those are the uh some of the best two things you can do to keep yourself uh healthy and not get sick this holiday season. So right now I'm going to turn it over to Veronica who will give us an update on our uh community events and outreach. Good evening everyone. My name is Veronica Desisto. I'm the health educator for the division of health. Um this fall we had a variety of outreach and community wellness activities including our wellness walks. Uh we did one in grounds for sculpture um veterans park. So those are always fun events. Uh we plan to continue them in 2026. So we hope you can join us there. We had several back-toschool events at our local schools. Of course, we attended Okctoberfest, which is always a great event for the division. Um, we did our most flu vaccines at that event, so it's very popular for flu vaccines. And we also attended several community events at the Brmley Center, the Hamilton YMCA, um, the Light of the World Family Worship Church, and we did several heart health and handwashing programs and community health screenings in our community as well. And the health education section of the division maintains an inventory of support services which is available on our website. So any resident that needs referrals to any services whether it be food, social services, non-emergency health care, um you can access this resource and we'd be happy to point you in the right direction as well. Um we also launched our new clinic van. Uh so our mobile clinic, we had our ribbon cutting in September at the Hamilton Senior Center and have been able to take it out to several flu clinics this fall to administer flu vaccines within our community and we plan to use it um again

in 2026. Uh for flu and COVID vaccines this fall. We had a very successful flu clinic season. Uh so far we've administered 1,384 vaccines. Um that's throughout our public flu clinics, our child health clinics, and home visits. and we administered 115 CO 19 vaccines. A majority of those um 97 were through a partnership with Quaker Pharmacy. They were um gracious enough to attend three of our flu clinics and we had a great response there. Um any resident who still needs a flu or a CO 19 vaccine, we do have still have some in stock. So you can call us um at 609893884. We'd be happy to fit you in. And lastly, we are proud to announce that the division is a fully national accredited health department as of late August 2025. Uh we join the New Jersey Department of Health and six other county and local health departments who have this recognition in New Jersey. And our accreditation status will last for 5 years and at that time we'll submit for reacredititation. And this um achievement reflects our ongoing commitment to excellence and has several benefits for our community. This includes strengthening our department internally, enabling us to better serve our community, promotes continuous quality improvement and workforce development, increases our capacity to respond to public health emergencies, and provides assurance to our partners and our residents that we're following the best evidence-based practices in public health.

Thank you, Veronica. I just had a quick question. So, how many um municipalities or towns in in New Jersey are actually accredited? Do you know that? Uh, six. There's only six. Yeah. So, we're the seventh. That's pretty good. And the state. So, congratulations to you and your team. Yeah, definitely. Any other questions? We'll hold our comments and questions for the moment. Sounds good. Thank you. Thank you. Here's your plaque.

Maybe when we're done our meeting, we'd like a photo. Sure. Okay. Absolutely. That's not our plaque. That's your plaque. Yeah. Yeah. you you are in the but we will I'll have something to say about that in a moment.

Yeah. And just a followup, there's only 400 uh departments nationwide also that are accredited. Uh and so that's uh it's definitely a you kudos to the entire staff. I mean, they did a really really great job. All right, so moving on to the animal shelter. Um, so as of November 30th, we've had a total number of uh four just under 500 animals that entered the shelter. We have had a about 400 uh 450 outcomes, meaning adoptions, reclaims, and transfers. Um, we are about on par for last year. It should be about even year-over-year as number of dog licenses issued or just over 3,600 as of right now. Um and for animal control field calls or the number of uh you know calls and uh service requests they've had um is about just under 4,300 this year. Uh we continue to be a uh meet the metric that requill shelter. We have our live release rate of uh 96.4%. Um as of today our census is currently 41 dogs. Um we have uh M plus2 and foster. As a reminder, we have 36 runs. So, we have um 36 dogs in the in the runs and then five are in crates. Uh we have 59 cats uh in the shelter and 13 are in foster. Um each animal takes about 15 minutes or so just to provide the you know the routine just basic clean care feed uh uh to meet the their basic needs on a daily basis. So this level of animals equates to about 25 uh cumulative hours each day uh to meet uh the basic care of the animals. So that's about just over um three staff members um worth of time just doing the basics. So that doesn't you know include um you

know socialization, getting them out for walks or um you know doing meet and greets and stuff like that. So just to to keep that in perspective, um as we end the year and enter into a new one, um it is dog licensing season. Uh so uh dog licenses uh will be available to start renewal on January 1st and that will run through February 28th. Um after that on March 1st, that is when late fees uh kick in. So, um I would ask all of our residents who have uh uh dogs to act early and and submit an online application. Uh and that can be found on our website. We are hosting four rabies clinics uh in the next couple of months. We just had one uh earlier this month. Uh we'll have two in January, one uh at Switlick Park and one at Skully uh in the McManaman building. And then again in February and in March, those will both be at uh Switlick Park as well. um dog licensing for rabies uh or for your to renew your dog license, your uh rabies has to be the rabies vaccine needs to be valid uh through December 1st of the licensing year. So um it would have to be valid through uh December 1st of 26. As far as the breakdown of dogs uh in the shelter, we have two uh dogs that have recently been a new arrival. So that was yesterday and today. So those dogs have not been assessed yet. But we currently have four green dogs, which is basically the easiest pretty much, you know, nobody, you know, if you have no dog experience at all, you should be able to, you know, handle those dogs um at um uh pretty easily. We have 12 dogs that are blue. And we're also in uh talking with our uh our trainer, consultant, and shelter manager to kind of split our blue dogs into kind of beginner blue dogs and and more advanced blue dogs. uh we have to kind of work

out what we're going to name it um name or the classification, but we're thinking based on just some feedback we've gotten from the volunteers that, you know, the the category is a little too broad. And we have dogs that are kind of more advanced level but yet not in the yellow level which is a more um are more advanced uh uh you know dogs that are whether stronger or have um you know very you know more specialized types of needs that need to be addressed and you need more skills to handle those. So for our blue dogs we have 12 yellow we have 16. Um and then our red which is our staff only rescue um only dogs. We have seven of those. Um our volunteer program has grown leaps and bounds this year which is and it's been a huge success. Um just uh as of uh the end of November we've had just under 4,000 total hours of donated time. Um, so using the kind of national volunteer rate um of $34.79, this equates to $137,000 of inind uh support that has been given to the shelter, which is huge. Um, we've also been able to partner with Princeton University this year and their uh their students have uh been coming and started volunteering with us uh at the shelter on a regular basis uh this this school year and they've been uh supporting with onampus events. So, they've uh they've been hosting um you know adoption events, you know, virtual kind of adoption events. We haven't had uh any dogs go there, but the students um have the photos up of the animals and they've also been creating kind of um uh welcome home kits for the animals. So, they were able to donate supplies um to help, you know, newly adopted uh dogs and owners have u just the basics uh treats,

collars, uh toys. So that way all the dogs can go home with kind of a goodie bag and also you know cute little letters you know thanking on behalf of each of the dogs thanking for and cats for thanking for the adoption uh as well. And also we've been able to um start with some corporate uh engagement as well. Uh an example of that is Toll Brothers out of Morrisville uh came and did a uh employee um you know outing at the shelter and they did uh a cleanup of our external um pens and then also did some um in u prepared enrichment toys u wash dishes and other odds and ends in the shelter as well which was um definitely uh much appreciated and we're hoping that we can continue um projects like that moving forward. Um, and with that, I will uh hand it back over to you guys if you have any questions.

Yeah, thank you. Thank you, Chris. Thank you, everyone. Um, Veronica and and uh Kathy. Um, so on the So, first of all, I want to congratulate the team and Chris. I know uh you led the way on this effort to get this certification. Um, and I really want to highlight how much work went into this. Um, and how beneficial this is to our residents to have a health department that has reached this level of of certification. Uh, and and the best practices that were required to be implemented. uh the transparency uh that was required for this. Uh so I want to congratulate you all. I want to thank you uh for the work that you put into this. Um and you know the best thing for the residents now is uh we have to maintain this standard. Now that we've reached this, now we have to maintain it. And so that's a great thing, right? because now we have a standard uh a standard of excellence that you have achieved uh that now uh can be the standard that needs to be maintained uh for years going forward and I think that's a great thing for the township. So thank you and congratulations.

Thank you. Um anybody else want to make I said Chris the partnership with Princeton University how that come about? Was it just they had community service hours that they needed to take part in or they were just having the lovers and um so I guess the um and and the the specific name of the uh the student club is is escaping me right now but they choose each year they choose one organization that um they want to support and this year they they chose the Hamilton Township Animal Shelter. So they have been all in in in supporting us and it's hoping hopefully it's something that we can continue moving forward whether that's with Princeton and our other our other area universities as well. So what a great idea.

Yeah, it it's it's been really really nice and it's definitely nice having a lot of you know the students come in and they've been very gung-ho and and stuff. I had a video here. I'll share it with you guys later but they uh they created some uh videos and stuff of the uh the events that they've been hosting which is really nice. and they did a yoga session. They have a hundred students there and it was all supporting the shelter and they were able to make a donation and stuff too. So, it's been a great partnership. Very nice. Yeah, Chris, um with the dog classifications, um any volunteer can walk the green dogs,

correct? Uh so, well, I should preface that. So all volunteers, if you want to um be a dog walker, you do have to go through our orientation and then our um our dog walking class as well before you can um handle any.

Yeah. And we have been working also with our trainer and the volunteers to do more skills-based and buddy classes to help our volunteers move up from let's say you know green to blue, blue to yellow to that way they have more experience. So it's something that we're hoping to continue and expand on the you know next year but over the last couple of months that's something that we've been working on hosting at least monthly classes to allow to allow that to happen. you you anticipated my question because that was kind of where I was going, right? The tougher the dogs are to handle,

uh, in some ways, the more important it is to get those dogs their exercise, uh, so that they are reasonably manageable, well behaved. Um, you know, and it's a difficult environment for a dog to be in on a on a on a good day, right? Yeah. And absolutely. and and as you know just with the numbers the vast majority of our dogs are not green. Um and they do take some a higher level skill to handle you know unfortunately. So and you have kind of a a program that you're implementing with levels of training or proficiency to

Yeah, we're still again it's it's new within the you know between Yeah. So, we're working on it, but it is something that we're working with the trainer and our volunteer coordinator to have more regular classes. Um, and again, even pairing the volunteer with like a buddy dog. That way, they kind of learn that dog and you know, the skills that or you know, or the different kind of training or things that that dog needs to work on. So, that way it's more routine and they get more comfortable with uh with you know, individuals,

you know. Um, I've learned more about the functioning of an animal shelter than I ever thought I would when I first got elected to uh office. Uh, and one of the things that I've learned is how many hours go into u the an acceptable minimum level of care for each animal. Yeah.

Uh there are a lot of hours, manh hours that go into caring for each animal. um some dogs may or cats or what have you may be on medication uh all of these things you know the documentation that's required um and I have been uh an advocate and in the upcoming uh budget talks plan to continue to advocate for more paid hours more employees more staffing for you um because when we're when we're relying on volunteers to walk the dogs, you know, that's going to be hit and miss, right? It's just by nature of we have

a a few

uh who are extremely uh loyal and uh reliable. And then like most folks, you know, when we're talking about volunteer activities, uh it's going to be hit and miss uh for for most folks. So, um, you know, and I I think it's just to the best possible outcome to to make sure that we're giving you the sufficient resources uh that you need in order to uh provide the level of service needed, right? Makes the dogs more adoptable at the end of the day if we're getting them out, getting them walks, getting them exercise. So, uh that's something that uh I'll I'll continue to be looking at as we're moving forward. Um now I don't want to do you guys anybody want to jump in with any other questions?

I just had a quick comment and question. First of all again congratulations on the accreditation. Um we were all anticipating that knowing the hard work that you guys have put into that and fantastic new partnerships. That's just again a great way for us to get the awareness out there. I just had a quick question which was I know we've talked before about um coordinating the rabies clinics with licensing. Are we doing that?

Um yes. So normally especially in the in the beginning year um uh we'll allow we'll have staff on hand who can also um process the dog license. Especially now that it's moving mostly online. It's a lot um more seamless of a process. So, as long especially if you can get your, you know, if you're if you're already pre-licicensed and your information is all there and you just need to update your rabies, um it it should be a pretty seamless process. Um and we've moved to we have different payment modalities and stuff and we can process payments on site. Um um cash probably not cash just, you know, because of the nature of it, but if it's electronic payment, then that should be fine. That's great. Yeah. Thank you,

Chris. Uh, I want to ask you about recent developments with Trenton Waterworks.

Uh, I know this is not on your agenda, so I apologize for that, but it's always on our agenda until we get to a point where we feel confident in the service that's being provided to us. Um, and I think that you guys are the best to have the discussion. Maybe Kathy jumps in or or Alyssa jumps in as needed uh to help out cuz I am kind of ambushing you a little bit. But uh I was and so I apologize for that. But I was made aware that there have been issues uh at Trenton Waterworks this week. There was another letter sent from the Department of Environmental Protection to Trenton Waterworks. uh problems with the ice

clogging up the uh freshwater intake at the facility. Um are you aware of this and and what can you tell us about this?

Um yeah, so I I I found out about it yesterday, but I know that the township was notified previously. So I mean I'll let the administration um you know they have their own channels of communication there. Um the focus of the health department is continues to be on the Legionnaires and Legionella outbreak which we unfortunately continue to see um positives occur you know in the in the township. Granted a lot less than you know when I first started and a number of years ago. Um but we did have we do have one healthcare facility in you know in the township that um is still you know in an outbreak mode and they still continue to routinely have positive uh you know legionnaella samples you know in in their water tests and they test monthly um you know and that's something that we work with the department of state department of health uh and the facility to kind of monitor that you know and ongoing and just recently they had a a raw intake uh positive which was extremely high um which is very

uh as far as like so directly so it wasn't in the facility it was you know coming from the the the intake of the um the from the facil so you know from the water man from the water man into the building that's an important distinction because usually legionnaire's disease is specific to a site and has to do with uh the equipment on site isn't that true uh so

not so the the bacteria is what we're testing for. So we haven't we've had a handful of Legionary disease cases which would be you know it could be associated with you know for you know for this facility you know if the patients are there we know that it's be you know they're being exposed to within the facility but like let's say if someone's home or community acquired we don't necessarily know um the specific location. So that's why we test you know the water um whether it's in you know residents homes if they're somebody who has developed Legionnaire's disease or uh you know a facility um as well. So in this specific case it's something that um we just recently they had you know building wide stuff. So it was in their internal plumbing system and then also the external water man feeding into the building as well. And that's where we had a a pretty alarming high level uh test positive recently.

And that has to do with um the water not being treated.

Uh so I mean it there's a I mean there's a lot of ins and outs that that go with it. But again, like you said, it's the the water quality, the the the amount of uh chlorine residual that's in the the water, the you know, is the water stagnant? What's the water temperature? um you know our water you know especially during the summer the the cold water is pretty warm here um you know 70s you know or higher sometimes and that is just the perfect breeding ground for u for bacteria especially if there's low chlorine residual in the water so I know that Trenton Waterworks is aiming to have about I think a 1.0 O parts per million I believe um for a chlorine uh residual in to make sure that there is you know that disinfectant that's in there. Um but unfortunately that also leads to disinfectant byproducts which is another issue that they've been having um in the in Trenton Waterworks and I know everyone here who has Trenton Waterworks has probably seen those uh uh disinfectant byproduct uh notification letters because those are you know exceeding what's allowable as well. Um well, I I want to thank you uh just for for giving us an update on that. Uh you know, um our our residents are frustrated. We're frustrated. Um and you know, we uh have officially um declared our support for regionalizing uh Trenton Waterworks. uh we have supported the administration's efforts to to force that uh through legal action and uh I want to say I I think the uh politization politization of this issue is unfortunate uh because Hamilton is not trying to take anything away. uh the efforts that

are being made by our government are to provide safe drinking water for everyone who's served by Trent Waterworks. That's the end goal. And at this point, it does look like regionalization uh having authority, shared authority over that, having the additional resources that we can make available um is the best path forward for that. So, uh, thank you for for Yeah. No, I mean, clean drinking water. Everybody needs a clean, safe drinking water. You know, we all use it every single day, multiple times a day. So, it's it's, you know, the basis of public health. Doesn't get more basic.

No. Um, so on that note, why don't we take a picture with our flax?

I don't think Well, let's uh actually before we go to that, let's open it up to the public. We need to open it up to the public uh for any questions regarding uh the topics that we've discussed. Any questions or comments from the public for the board of health? Okay, seeing none, then uh shall we get a picture with our plaque? Okay. Leave it out there. She'll be good. Stay right where you're at. All right. Thank you.

Thank you. issues like Kathy something we do every year at the last meeting. Thank you so much. Okay. So with that uh motion to we need a motion to adjourn the board of meetings. So moved. Second.

That second on the motion. Mr. Carell. Yes. Phillips. Yes. Yes. Yes. Next for your consideration, we have the minute of October 7th, 2025, regular council meeting. Questions or comments on the minutes? Motion. I'll make a motion. I'll second. Madam clerk. Yes. Motion. Mr. Carelli. Yes. Mr. Phillips. Yes. Mr. Pera. Yes. Mr. Yes. Communication. receives documentation to amend ABC's license 10333043 formerly TGI Fridays is a report of debtor in possession

now debtor in possession uh can you just give a quick the the restaurant as you know went into bankruptcy yeah so they had to submit when they submitted the original application putting them inactive and then in the bankruptcy when as you'll see they're they're transferring a liquor license another resolution Yeah, when they submitted the application, the individual that signed the concession transfer was not listed. So they had to submit an amendment adding this individual. So that they call it a report of deter possession. So this is just to facilitate the transfer of the liquor license from the former TGI Fridays to the new owners.

Correct. Which will be an inactive pocket license. Okay. Okay. Um motion I'll make a motion. I'll second that. Mr. Yes. Phillips. Yes. Yes. Mr. T. Yes.

4. Next we have consent agenda items EA1 through CA5. So, we have uh on the consent agenda tonight uh several reappoints uh including a library uh board of trustees member who happens to be here, Iris Tanti. Iris, thank you for joining us tonight. Um we thank all the volunteers who serve on our boards. We we appreciate uh that work that's done. Um the board of health, we have several um shared services agreements on the agenda uh for to provide services to surrounding towns from our uh department of health, the only one with the capacity really to provide uh these services at this scale. uh the residents from these towns will uh have been and will continue to come uh to our health facility uh right across the parking lot here uh for for various uh health services. Um there is a resolution establishing a contract for uh a fire truck. It is a $1.1 million purchase. And I want to point out that um we got a $1 million grant. Uh so and then um getting this in under the wire uh on our last agenda gets us some kind of discount. So uh our our net cost is going to be something like $6,000. The last time I checked, $9,000. I I think the 1.1 million is the after the discount. Oh,

and we have the million. Oh, so it'll cost us around 100,000. Correct. Give or take. Still pretty good. It's under a h 100,000, but it's pretty good. Excellent. Yes. Pretty good price for

So, right, the discount is around 300,000. So, it's a it's a good deal. And it'll it'll take us, believe it or not, about four years to take uh delivery of this. So, this is one of those things where um needed to be done. Uh we have some trucks that have age and and miles and certainly um we need reliable equipment for our first responders. So, are we just putting in the order now? Is that clock start ticking now or is it has it been ticking like the that four-year period that you mentioned?

So w with your approval tonight, we'll put the order in and then it will take several years at least. Yeah. Okay. Unfortunately, that's the way that they are. They build them based on the spec and uh that's the way it is. Okay. Um, we are doing a two-year extension to our grant writing uh contract. Uh, has been well worth it. Uh, the cost of the grant writing is uh, let's see,

it's 72,000 per year. So, for 2026 it's 72,000. 2027 it's 72,000. So, it says 144, but it's actually split between the two years. And so you can see we've we've gotten several million in in grants uh as a result of the work. Um I know Joy Kurlin, our our deputy business administrator, uh has worked closely with the grant writers. Um and it's been a priority for the for the administration. Uh but the grant writers have certainly uh well-earned their fate.

Absolutely. And what's another remarkable piece of it is that a lot of those grants are, you know, so new to the township ever even applying before. Some of them are ones we applied for before but didn't get. So with their assistance, we may have gotten some of them this time. So it's definitely uh paid off for us in the few years that we've we've had them. And I think you're going to get a report uh from the assistant business administrator from Joy um probably at the the the first the reorder second meeting I think at the second meeting of January that tells what happened during the year and how many millions they were able to get us. Yeah.

A broad range of services that were able to provide that otherwise we wouldn't have been able to provide including some health department money. Um, so it's been very beneficial.

Very uh any other questions or comments from council on the consent agenda items? I'll just mention um it seems like a very good project, a good partnership by m multiple um different entities involved in the um CA43 affordable housing development. We have count we have state, county, local um nonprofit entities uh getting involved. The St. Fellows Bridge Community Development Corporation uh for the um advancement of these four new affordable housing units um in um in our township. So that's a that's a win. So that's a that's a good one. It's going to be four uh based on the renderings, four beautiful new units um in that um location. So great that we're able to uh provide that land

for that purpose. Okay. If there are no other questions or comments from council, we'll open it up to members of the public for any questions or comments. Yes. Um Lisa Williams, I just have a question on CA44. It's the corrective action plan. What are the recommendations in the audit requiring corrective action? Yeah, there there were uh a couple of items.

Okay. So on the audit for 2024, the these are the exact recommendations that the detailed analysis of outline outside leans and tax sale premiums be reconciled to the cash on deposit on a monthly basis and then that the township uh maintain a fixed asset accounting and reporting system in accordance with NJAC 530-5.6. And so um these are very minor recommendations in the whole scheme of things and as um the resolution for the corrective action plan addresses both both of these and actually gives a timeline as to when they'll be corrected to the audits specifications.

What is the anticipated timeline for correcting these items? So on the first item that that is going to be worked on all throughout 2026. Okay. And should resolve that comment for before the end of 2026. Okay.

Um and then the the second one, the fixed asset accounting, we do have a fixed asset accounting in place. We haven't done a fixed asset inventory in many many years. Um and so I'm not sure anybody knows when the last one we did. However, we maintain that fixed asset list as the years go on. Uh so what we want to do, excuse me, if council approves is to bring in a um an outside consultant or contractor that will actually do a physical fixed asset inventory, but uh knowing that we are going to be moving from this building in less than a year into a new building, we're going to time it with that. So, the actual fixed asset inventory and fixing this one may may not be done until 2027. We're not sure we'd be able to complete it all through 2026, but that would be the goal. So, there's a quick corrective action plan in place for both of these. Um and on the fixed asset accounting one, this is a very common u comment in municipal audits throughout the state because

common in school districts too, is it? Yeah. So um so anyway, those were pretty mild and the corrective action plan states that plan go through and that gets submitted to the division of local government services as well. Thank you. All right, I have a question. Why is it a problem this year, but it wasn't in years past? Did nobody else ever see this or this company came in this year and all of a sudden it's a problem and it wasn't

I think it's it speaks to the thoroughess of um you know especially an initial audit from this is a new uh audit firm that we have this year for this audit report and you know I don't want to say that it's fresh set of eyes but it's a fresh set of eyes. So, um, that could be the reason. I can't tell you why it was excluded from others other than things like the fixed asset accounting that we currently do may have been adequate enough for a a prior audit. I I just don't know. I don't know what was in there.

Any other members of the public? Yes, sir. Good evening. I'm Bob Kudrick at 14 Melody Court. Was there a late entry resolution for a deed restriction lift on six Kim Valley Road today? I mean, I read through the agenda. I didn't see anything in that list. No. No. Okay. Just a different board may be looking at it. All right. Thank you. Okay. Okay.

Anyone else questions, comments? All right. Seeing none, Council President, seeing none, I make a motion to close the public comment portion and move on um our consent agenda CA1 through CA 45. 45. Second a motion. On the motion, Mr. Tabelli. Yes. Yes. Mr. Carol, yes. Mr. Yes. 40.

Next, we have ordinance 12527. The ordinance amending the money ordinance fixing salary and other contisation of the officials and employees of the township family in the county of Mercer New York County of Mercer state of New Jersey. This the second reading of public hearing

and it is exactly what it sounds like. We're we're giving out some raises. Uh any questions or comments? Any members of the public with questions or comments? Seeing none. Well, let me just say though, um, these are ranges, not majority of these are ranges, if not all. And I I think we haven't given out these r uh raises in in in a couple years if memory serves me correctly. It wasn't last year that we did this or the year before. Correct.

I I think the last time we did this, it was to set the ranges for 2 years worth of um salaries, right? This one does the same for 2025 and 2026 and so and and they are all ranges except for I think one or two which are stately you just you set that. Yes. So in the ranges yes in the range. Yes. Correct. Correct. Yep.

Fair enough. Um yeah, I know in in most of the cases it was um keeping pace with the market uh in order to be able to hire the talent that we need for the for the township. So um if there are no other questions or comments from the public on that, I'll entertain a motion. Council President, I'll make a motion to close the public comment and move on ordinance 125-027. I'll second the motion on the motion. Mr. Carol, yes. Mr. Phillips, yes. Mr. Tero, yes. Mr. Tai,

yes. I'll open it up to any members of the public with any questions or comments. Janice, Christmas. Janice, you are in the holiday spirit.

Yes, I am. I knew I would be criticized if I wasn't, so let appropriately. Me. John is live at 432 Trinity Avenue, Cornell Heights. Okay. Um, what's happening to that love stuff on 33? Oh, I don't know what's going in there. I don't need my head. Anything will be an improvement. That's true. I was thinking maybe making a bigger one or whatever. I have no idea. Was discussed already, right, at one of our planning meetings? Presumably. I believe it's going to be a car wash. Oh. Oh, okay. There we go. Next to the other car wash. Yeah. Oh, that'll be interesting. A lot of cars.

We do have a lot of cars in Hamilton to say the least. Okay. And then the other thing is you did a very good job, Mr. Tai, being president. Congratulations. I like how you explained everything and you were very sympathetic and took the time to explain everything and weren't upset with question upon question or whatever. And so, thank you for doing an outstanding job this past year. THANK YOU. AND ON THAT NOTE, I'D LIKE TO wish everyone a happy Hanukkah and a most merry Christmas. Hope Santa treat you well. Thank you. Thank you. And Janice, you uh deserve a gold star for perfect attendance, I think, this year.

And I saw a hand in the back. Come on up. Well, not anything. Keep it appropriate.

Evening, council. Um, my name is Rick Tmano, 37 East Acres Drive. Um, here again to speak about the Man Iron Brewery issue. It's still ongoing. Um, I was hoping that Charles Whan was going to be here tonight. I'm not sure if he had shared some of the videos that I had sent to him. He had given me um his contact the last time. Um, I just wanted to give you an update on some of the things that have been going on since then. I know that they were um there were some members of our community that met with those with the owners. Um, I don't know exactly, you know, what was decided. I think it was all kind of informal, but they were going to try moving around some stages and things like that, but um I live directly adjacent to it and it's still been, you know, a really really big issue. It's it's ongoing um problems. um example was October 25th, they had a large group of people um up against the the fence, like right up against the property with a mobile beer card. So, not only are they serving the alcohol in the main building, they're serving alcohol in different portions of it. And I, you know, I don't know why they would have set up at the one spot when, you know, there's so many complaints going on the closest to, you know, someone that's been here complaining about that as opposed to on the rest of the 43, you know, to 55 acres of property that they have. Um, November 14th, that was the one that I had sent some videos. That was um an event where we were told I I ended up calling the police that night. It was so loud. Um, my entire anywhere in the house, windows, doors closed, you could hear or hear it vibrate in the house. A lot of people in the neighborhood were bothered by it. I called the police that night. They came out. I mean, the guy was very nice, but it he it seemed like he wasn't even really sure what could could be done in a situation like that. You know, like he was mentioning things

about, oh, if I could hear it from 200 or 300 ft away, they could get a citation. Well, he hadn't come to my house until after the noise was done. He said he went, you know, over to them. Um, he said that we would need to file, you know, basically complaints to do anything about it as opposed to, you know, calling and having the police officer show up and, you know, address it. Um, and then he recommended that we contact the community policing group. Um, one of the names that he gave us was this detective Bob O'Hare. Now, we had met with um Fred Dumont back in September and and Mr. um O'Hare or that Detective O'Hare was there at that time. He seemed really willing to work with us. He said he had worked with the uh the Manor um facility on on 130 area and had, you know, issued citations and all sorts of different stuff. He seemed really encouraged. He said there was support to do something there. Since then, people in our group have reached out to him and we don't know. I, you know, I don't want to make any like accusations, but they've heard nothing back from him. So, there's been no um it it feels like he was either told to stand down or he's not addressing these issues. I don't know exactly what's going on. I just wanted to know like, you know, why is that not working? If we're being, you know, shuffled from one group to another group, we'd like to get some response from someone to know like what should we do when we're dealing with an issue. Um, December 5th was the one that I sent about. There was it's completely different. Zero music outside. I was trying to get ready for a surf fishing trip. I had was putting some stuff on the top of my car. I was out there working for a while for about 2 or 3 hours. There was groups of kids um screaming at the top of their lungs, you know, like a young girl screaming um boys that were like cursing. some of the nastiest stuff you I mean you know that people it's basically when kids have no parental guidance whatsoever and they're

just running a muck and it would went on for two or three hours never heard an adult outside never saw security never no one ever came to break it up I didn't do anything cuz I didn't I I don't even know like the last time I called the police there was nothing that could be done but I mean it was completely unable to use the property you know we were going to set up um uh do a campfire thing outside that night, but we couldn't do it. And then um is that my timer? That is your timer. Um I'll tell you what, why don't why don't you why don't we put a pause? Okay. Uh we'll give you another two minutes after other residents have had a chance to come up. Okay. Thank you. Sure.

Any other residents with the questions or comments? Well, Rick, don't go too far. You can come on back up and have your additional two minutes. Rick, mind you again. 37 East Acres Drive. Um, I don't have a ton else to add, but it's just um an ongoing problem and we just wanted to, you know, really I was the only person that was available to come out tonight. I wanted to make sure that we're, you know, still coming here, give you guys some updates about, you know, the situation and, you know, we're still very frustrated. We feel like we're, you know, struggling to try to to figure out what we're supposed to do in this situation. It's really at this point seems untenable to keep dealing with it and we're not getting any really relief from whatever situation is that they that they are doing. So, you know, we're asking the the council or Hamilton Township to to try to do something to address this issue. Um, the only other one was this December 9th issue that was on a Tuesday night when they weren't supposed to be open. Um, one of the neighbors right next to me was outside and and she had basically said that um the music was in insanely loud. She called over there to find out what was going on the next day. Um, spoke with one of the owners and was told that their manager had accidentally left the outdoor speakers on for basically the entire night. So, it was just blasting music and nobody was outside. The Hamilton Township teachers were having a party. So, the it's whatever's going on there. They're, you know, them knowing that there's been so many complaints. were just very surprised that they're not taking a lap around the property, sending a person out, get these kids, uh, you know, it it's feeling antagonistic in some ways that they, you know, they know people are complaining about it. Again, we

don't want to accuse it, but that's how it's feeling like every time something is done, then they're firing back and playing loud music and setting up beer carts next to the property and um, you know, so it's it's not going away and we'd like to have something be done. Thank you. Thank you.

Uh yeah, thank you, Rick. Uh hold on a minute, Janice. Hold on. Um I just want to address some of the some of the things, Rick. I'm I'm disappointed uh to hear that there's an ongoing problem there. Um the residents and the owners of the facility came here. uh it seemed like uh there was an opportunity for communi direct communication between the owners and the management of that facility and uh the residents. Um if you have a a problem that's causing a disturbance in your neighborhood, I want you to have no confusion. You can call the police. Period. You can call the police. But um given that there has been this line of communication opened up, you know, you mentioned that this one evening I was struck by this one evening there were children being being obscene and loud and and obnoxious at the facility and uh you listened to this for 3 hours without calling anyone, you know, and and my thought is why not call over to the facility and talk to a manager or talk to the owner, you know, um maybe they would have done something about it and just put a stop right to it and you you could have had a more peaceful night. So, you know, I my suggestion is try to try to work with the owners of the facility. If you're not if you're really not getting cooperation right, call the police. Right. And

the there's there's a record being created uh with these things. Um work with the community policing folks, work with uh the officer who uh you said was able to res, you know, resolve things over at the uh the other um the the event hall uh over in Yardville. Um, so I'm sorry that this is continuing to happen. Um, you know, they have this facility. It's on a farm. Uh, they got special permission to have this facility there. Uh, so they are within their rights to operate in that location, but at the same time, they did come here and express a desire to be good neighbors. So, you know, I'm going to I understand your frustration. I'm going to encourage you to take them and their words when they were here uh at our at a recent meeting at face value that they do want to be good neighbors and try communicating directly with them. You know, when there's some disturbance, you know, that's causing a problem, give them a call. If that's not effective, then call the police, you know, and and don't ever think you can't call the police when when there's uh someone creating a disturbance in your neighborhood. Of course, you can. Um so it does sound like there are uh multiple avenues available to you. we're an avenue and you know I'm concerned that uh this is continuing to be an issue that we're hearing about. So we're we're going to have conversations about it this week to to find out what's happening and why

this continues to be a problem. So thank you for bringing it to our attention. Janice question on that or Yeah. All right. Sorry, Janice. We're going to discuss this a little bit. Rick, Rick, what time? Uh, Rick, can you come up if you don't mind? We'll give you a little leeway just because we are kind of not. Okay. I just don't want you to mess up. What time? Uh, the one with the kids yelling and screaming. What time What time of the day was that? Evening, daytime?

It was up until 9:00. So, it was on a Friday night, probably 6:00 to 9:00. I don't I mean I sent those videos it seemed like you know 14 years accomp we couldn't I couldn't see anything and didn't hear anyone and no one came out and I mean if I was their parents I wouldn't have let them sc I mean

very I mean if the videos I sent you can hear what the things that they were saying it was like you know the most vulgar things you could possibly hear and this like little girl that was just screaming blood curdling screams I was listen I was like is she okay but then she kept screaming so I think she just, you know, it's it was like the idea of someone like kids just going to school and no teacher showed up. They would they're going to run around and just, you know, I don't My question, uh, it's going to be a legal question. Um, what's the legalities of having underage people at a at a place where unaccompanied by the

No, I mean, I'm assuming their parents were there. The the assumption is that they they they didn't show up by themselves. The assumption is they were there with their families and you know because they are allowed to be there. It's it's just like any other at Kanes you know with when Bluey shows up people with their families show up to Kanes to talk with Blie. Um so they have a license. It's not a regular liquor license but they have a license. They would want to protect that license and not allow children to be running around. Well, ch children drinking illegally, that's well, obvious that's not what that's not what anyone's saying.

Difference when you go you go to a restaurant, right? And I'm not going to use any names, but you go to a restaurant that's also a bar. They serve food. There's a reason and I believe Bent Iron serves food as well. They have like the food truck there or if there was no food truck, they don't not allowed to serve food. So, if there was no food truck, there was no reason for kids to be at a brewery. That's that's that's what I'm getting at. I I believe that the parents were all indoors because it was a cold night and the kids were outside. They were like playing football. They were just playing football and running a muck and all the parents were inside. So it's never issue with the kids being on the premises unaccompanied by adults when the place all they do is serve alcohol. There's no food. There's no restaurant. they're not having

right to the leg. I think it's more and I think you um you know alluded to this a little bit Rick as talking about right they inside right inside the area that's theirs and I don't mean inside the building I mean their whole property right they don't have anybody it seems like that is supervising it

right and kind of doing rounds every now and then right to make sure that these things aren't aren't happening which I I thought was a reasonable point so you know, maybe that's an avenue that we can discuss with the owners and talk about that because if they're going to have a big event, you know, are they do they have security there? And if they have security, what are they doing? And are they making sure that right there's not too many crowds of kids and you know, or whatever do causing a disturbance.

So, um, so we can we can work with the the owners and we'll I'll take that point back to them as well. So, um, and maybe that's that would be the huge help, right? Just kind of an internal oversight on their business, you know. Any other questions or comments? Questions for Rick before he goes all the way back to We'll call you back in a couple. I should sit right in the front here. All right. Thank you, Rick. Thank you,

Janice. China is clown 432 Trinity Avenue Cornell Heights. Now I just come and give you a star for your years reign of what you everything you just said now. Very good. But but also your point of unsupervised children. I mean these those kids got hurt out there. They could get sued and everything. So that's a point to that too because you know having been a teacher you know uh there's times where the discipline is not there missing an action. So, uh, no, I really think I mean this is like for the Polish American Club, the yard that they had had the noise monitors and everything and that the cops were there all the time and we need to tell our police department so not to get up out of kink about over this. Yes, there's going to be a lot of calls for telling the gentlemen and everybody else to call. That's what they need to do. And if the police keep showing up, the guy's going to start getting a little, hey, the cops are here every day. this is not good, you know, and so no tell the police department yet. You get out there quick, see what's going on when the call comes in to make sure you're witness to the action and so we can solve this problem like we did with the other one.

So this is ridiculous call where we had issues and that's you know that was addressed and now we've solved that problem and it took a little time. It does take a little time with these things but we're not going to let it go. Good. I mean, keep on them and like I said, notify the police department, say, "Hey, we're on this. We need you with us side by side." You know, jump out there as soon as you get the call, document everything, and then, you know, hopefully the the owners of the business did show up here and did express a willingness. And I'm still hopeful that, you know, they can take corrective action and and not be a nuisance to their neighbors. That's right.

Yeah. But that's why, you know, that's why when he brought this up, I'm thinking they seemed like they were going to solve everything and everything was going to be accommodating, you know, do unto others, you'd have them do unto you, you know, and they seem to be very accommodating, but I don't know what happened there. So, we have to one way or the other. Have to remind them. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, let's see. Uh, did you did I speak in public comments? No, I asked Come on up. That wasn't my question. I don't have a question.

Lane, I have a question. Don't we have in our nuisance ordinances, don't we have something to address this issue in which the business is not complying with our municipal ordinances? Yeah, we have. Yes, we we do have a nuisance ordinance and it it you know could they could be charged with with a nuisance violation and it goes to municipal court.

So seems like maybe that's the way we need to go. I've been absent. Sorry I've been kind of busy. Um haven't watched every single meeting. Don't have time. But um seems like this has been going on. The gentleman did say that he reached out to the police officer who addressed the situation at the matter and wasn't getting responses. So, the business knows it's a problem. Whether they said they were going to comply or not, they're not. And it's a quality of life issue for people who live there. And can kids be at these things when there's no food? Yeah. There's another brewery in Mercer County that has things, doesn't serve food, might not have food trucks, but they have social events like gingerbread houses, knit night, and people can bring their own snacks and hang out even if you're not drinking. So, um,

didn't sound like these people were being very productive. They were not being very nice. It doesn't sound like It doesn't sound like they were knitting sweaters or making gingerbread houses, but we we wish they were. We wish they were. So maybe our township can address the ordinance or use that as a tool to the management that you're violating our local ordinances and affecting the quality of life of your neighbors. That's all I want. Thank you. Yes, ma'am.

Good evening. My name is Dorothy Up from 739 Johnston Avenue here in Hamilton. I just have a quick question. Um, from the snowfall on Sunday, there was a large tree branch that fell from the neighbor's yard all the way across the street and it's kind of like dying in front of my house. and PSCG came out that night cuz some lines were down and they moved the big portion of the tree out of the street but still half the street is still blocked off and they got the red tape, the yellow tape, everything is there. So we called PSEG and they said we'll take care of it. is still there and it's one of the main streets there where the school buses every have to come come and turn around and some of them is turning around in my driveway and I just don't understand either the neighbor need to move the tree if that's the case or something needs to be done to unblock that street.

What's your address? 739 Johnston Avenue. Thank you. Address over. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. You're welcome. Anyone else questions, comments? Um, okay. Yes, ma'am.

Hold my peace. Or Molanetto, 329 Wilson Avenue. It's so good to see many of you. Um, tonight I just want to know what direction I should take. Many of you know that we've had a tyrant on Wilson Avenue um 339 and 341. We're still dealing with that. Um now it's escalated though. So we went through mediation and um I was being verbally attacked with racial epid um being called the n-word in the past. Now, um, starting on Halloween, I was called an effing So, I'm Italian and Puerto Rican. I don't have the same understanding and the same hurt and and pain that that word has in been afflicted upon my African-American brothers brothers and sisters in the community. Also, I am a minister in an African-American predominantly African-American Baptist church.

This is very hurtful. My son is African-American mixed. My pastor come to my house. My church members, my friends, my family, they come to my home and this is what I'm dealing with. Um, I thought the mediation would help resolve this. It has not. Um, I really don't know what other course of action to take because I have written about it. I brought it to the attention of the council, of the mayor, of everyone in the past. I I don't not not the the

Okay, Alyssa, I'm sorry. Let me Yeah. Yeah. Your council, I apologize. So, it's just very hurtful. That's very shameful. Um, I'm a peaceful person, so this tries to provoke me to do something different. And I I'm at a loss for words, but I know 2026, this cannot continue to go in this um manner. So, I I didn't want to have to say anything, but I'm never really here. I work two jobs. So, um I'm hoping that we can

So, we have been prosecuting in mun court and the cleanup should be effectuated as of now. Um that was promised um that we were in court recently, just a few weeks ago in December. So the issue of the status of of the property is should be handled. Um I don't know what mediation you were involved in. I don't know if that was just was that related to a lawsuit that you had separately with them or that just

No, the judge um because I had written all of well you saw everything that I submitted and um part of that was racial epithets that were um being afflicted upon me and um our judge felt that you know what you all are neighbors you should get along. Um I was pretty new in the community still very new in the community. I've only been there for 4 years. Actually almost lost my home to foreclosure. So, I had to take another job and everything. So, this is a home that I'm very passionate about keeping. Um, many of you know that I lost my husband Louise 5 years ago. I just celebrated his death anniversary in October. And um I am really I moved to Hamilton because of um our mayor, my pastor, my church community, and I'm alone out here. My family's in Rochester and Kentucky and uh Roselle and Long Island and so on and so forth. So this is my family out here. And it makes it really really uh easy to to have the help and support and the love from my church family and you know from work and also working at the county level and being so close in proximity to my job and and so on and so forth. And I I want to be an active positive part of Hamilton's history. And it makes it very very discouraging when you have to deal with this and every day you walk out of your house and you're dealing with some kind of something. And I'm already dealing with uh coming out of depression and deep grief and and stuff like that. So to have to come out and walk in and walk out and you know and hear that and then she they're very slick about it. So they don't do it in the proximity of my

cameras. They do it further off. So you really you it's not capturing it but the berating is so vile and I because like I said I had to look it up. I didn't know what that term was. And I I thought she was calling me a raccoon. I mean, I'm not even trying to be funny. I'm I'm like the cat lady. I have six cats now. Like, you know, so it's like I thought I was like, but I don't have raccoons. I have cats. So, you know, I was just like, what is this all about? And then I had to seek support from from my community. And I'm like, I don't get this. What are you that hurtful and hateful?

Can I ask a question? Yes. You you said this was um I'm sorry. You said you said this was uh in court in mediation in front of a judge. Which court was this? In this we went to our court and then they sent us to the municipal court. Yeah. And then our judge sent us to the state level and a mediator spoke with myself and uh Mike Biano who lives across the street from us and uh the Price family. When was this in court in Hamilton? last year. Alyssa.

Yeah. So, it's been an ongoing situation. She's talking about a pre one of the previous times we prosecuted them for the for the um condition of the property. We have since been in court again because there was a settlement agreement which was violated. So, I reopened the case and prosecuted again which was then so it was it's since been cleaned up. So she's talking about previously it was a a year a year and a half ago, right? But I in in my reporting a complaint a complaining witness. So the mediation was in reference to the cleanup.

It was it was not in relation to any of the of the No, it was in relation to just getting along as neighbors. It was not related to the settlement that I negotiated with their council. Okay. Just trying to understand. Yeah. because it had been documented again about the racial deaths and the threats and uh they had put when I first moved in they put a sword on my lawn. Um I didn't know what that meant, you know. Um so it's like it's a bunch of crazy different things that have been happening. You know, my son comes out of the vehicle. Oh, there goes the neighborhood. You know, he's African-American. So it's like, you know, is this one homeowner?

It is a It is a mother and a daughter. Yeah, they they own two family house. Yeah. And so mother and daughter. Yeah. It's bad. I'm I'm sorry that you're you're going through this. That's a terrible terrible thing uh to have next door uh to your home. Um I I have to think there's additional recourse

there. There probably is. And unfortunately I'm not her lawyer so I can't be giving legal advice from the dis about what could be done but uh there are things she could do if she speaks to her own lawyer or Mhm.

I'm not I don't have the financial advantage of um getting a lawyer at this point and I think that it just would further exasperate the situation. Um, and so I am I have ways that I could probably think of handling it, but I don't want to have to go there. It's not violent, but it would probably speak to the nature of what all is happening and draw light to the situation. And I don't want to have to have 6, 11, and 12 news at Wilson Avenue, right? Because then that's how things get moving. I don't want to have to do that. But it's really bad. It's really bad. And I wanted to just bring it to the attention. So maybe it could be put on record or something and then I'll go look and see how it could be resolved. You could always contact the Mercer County Bar.

Okay. What they what they say there are ways that this could be done that that you can do this cuz the unfortunate thing is once you do mediation you can't bring up anything from the past. That's what I was going to ask is an harassment law that I don't know if that's violated. That's that you're getting into specifics that we're not going to be able to speak to. So, I don't know that that's correct or incorrect and even Alyssa with all her her her wisdom and rely on so much uh isn't going to be able to speak to that. Um, what's the address? I

329 Wilson Avenue is my address and then 339 and 341 is their address. Well, I just have to think. I mean, have the police been called? Oh, yes. Yeah, the police. I mean, like, I'm at a point where I'm just going to feed them, have them, you know,

they called the they they called the fire department, you know, if anybody lights their uh fire pit and we have it safely, you know, that they call the fire department. So, they use the services, the resources of the township against the people that are doing just want to live a little bit on their block. You know, it's it's not good. It's bad. You can go on way too long. No address. I can. Yeah. Um it my phone number is 609. Yeah. YouTube on YouTube. We don't need you to don't want you to like No.

Okay. Okay. So, uh anybody else with questions or comments? Okay. Uh, in that case, we're going to close the public comment portion and move on to council comment. I wish there was a

I'll go first. I uh it's unusual for the me to go first. I'll go first since uh I I just want to say uh thank you uh thank you to the residents who who bring issues uh to our attention. Uh we don't always have instant solutions as you can see here tonight, but we do uh take uh your concerns and and and any any issues in your neighborhoods very seriously. uh and we are here uh to help. Um but at this today is is my my last meeting as as council president hopefully and uh

for now

for now and uh I'm I'm looking forward to um passing the gavl uh to my colleague who who I'm not going to name at the moment until he decides that he's going to accept the uh position of president. But um I do want to say thank you to my colleagues. Uh I appreciate all the work that you have all done uh for our residents this year. Uh your responsiveness uh to the issues. Um I'm sorry that Councilman Whan couldn't be here. Councilman Whan is is a very responsive councilman. Um he's very much a roll up roll up the sleeves and get out and into the neighborhoods and and when there's a problem um go go see it firsthand and and and you know work work towards solutions. Uh and that's every single member of this council. True of every single member of this council. Uh it's been a pleasure to work with the mayor, uh the business administrator, our attorney, uh and the the entire administration this year. Um you know, it's it's it's gratifying to see government moving in the right direction for our community. Uh taking effective action. uh that's gonna, you know, for example, the improvements with the health department, that's legacy stuff. That's that's an improvement um having that certification. That's something that is going to have a positive impact on our community for years to come. And that's one example of the reforms uh that have been put into place um you know across across government in

Hamilton. So I'm proud to have played a small part as as um as council president this year. Uh I look forward to continuing to serve our residents and um you know I want to wish everybody a safe and and happy holiday season. I gave you my additional two minutes because you went over. I You want me to go dance? Go ahead. All right. Um I'm sure PAT WAS SERIOUS ENOUGH. He did. He did. I was.

Okay. Um just want to thank you, Council President. Uh Rick and I have a good strong relationship. I um I I know it's a it's a little bit more there's a little bit more work involved in being a council president. Obviously, you have to you have to be uh well right on the agenda. I know the ins and outs of everything that's coming from the administration. Um and I know that Pat as the vice this year, you you did a nice job of backing them up on those things. So, um very nice job in letting the voices of our public be heard throughout the year. Um, and it takes the voices in the public to be involved in our community to make it what it is. So, Iris, thank you so much. I know we have Gloria here. Thank you so much for all you do in the community. Um, we have a whole bunch of folks that have given up their time uh to volunteer. They're not getting paid. Uh, but they're they're passionate about um Hamilton Township and the place uh that they call home. So, thank you, Council President, for all you do. to our team. Another wonderful year. I I love working with Allison and Brit and and and the crew. They do a phenomenal job in the clerk's office. Kathy, you're always ready to go. And Alyssa and Jen. So, thank you so much for all you do this year. And uh merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah. Have a have a great holiday season um with your family hopefully. Um and we'll see each other in January. Thanks again. Okay, you guys are too tough acts to follow. Um, a lot of what I was going to say isn't said, but first and foremost, thank you to everyone for being here tonight, for bringing these issues to our attention. Um, but it is the conclusion of our year, and I do want to thank Rick for his great leadership as president this year. Um, great communication, clarity in in responding to any questions at the agenda and responsiveness to our residents. And of course, for vice president, Pat. Um, again, I won't say anything about next

year, but let's pass the baton. Um, but thank you for your leadership as well, and it's been a great year. Um, like Anthony said, I want to thank our residents and congratulate them who are appointed and reappointed to our boards and our commissions who volunteer their time. You know, um, it it amazes me when I look at Hamilton Township how much our residents are invested in our community and it's a pleasure to serve you. So, and to our team, our administrative team and clerk's office, thank you for always being so supportive and, uh, Allison for putting up with me and my tech issues. So, um, with that, I just, you know, I hope everything gets better. We're we're definitely going to respond to the what was said tonight and has been ongoing. That's what we're here for. So, I just want to say thank you and I hope everyone has a great holiday season and we'll see you next year.

Thank you, Councilman. So last month I spent a lot of time on my entire closing comments and complimented Rick. So I'm going to keep that part very brief. I want to say thank you. Um you know usually with the end of a year uh we get the chance to start over. Um with the momentum that we've built not just in this past year but in the past six years and I'm not looking to start over, looking to continue uh what we've built on. Uh, the team that surrounds me is second to none. I'm not saying it because you're here. I brag about all of you. And that includes our um our guests in the audience, Janice, Lisa, Steve, you guys are the lifeline to us. You give us information. You keep us on our toes. You're our checks and balances, and we don't say it, but we appreciate you. Um, we appreciate you being here. We appreciate all of our uh visitors here tonight. Um, Iris, you know, we appreciate you. Uh, you're always around and we appreciate that. Thank you. Next year is going to be interesting. Um, one thing I I am looking forward to starting over is starting over in the new building. Hopefully, it's the last December that um we have to look at the wallpaper on these walls or the um the wood paneling from the 1970s. But um in all honesty, thank you to my team. Uh I couldn't do anything without you. Uh I lean on all of you. I wish Chuty was here so I can give him a hug. Uh but he's not here tonight. Uh but we are thinking about him and uh hopefully see him uh in the next couple days. So I'll turn it back over to you and say thank you one last time. Uh I know I know I probably drove you nuts with a bunch of my questions and uh showing up late to meetings. Um but thank you.

Thank you. And with that, this meeting is adjourned. Thank you everyone.