Township Council - Regular Meeting

Heat. Heat. and we hereby call this meeting of the Howell Township Council to order.

Allison, would you please read the opening statement and call the role? This meeting is being held in accordance with the provisions of the Open Public Meetings Act. Adequate notice of this meeting has been advertised in the manner prescribed by law. This agenda is complete to the extent known and formal action will be taken. Roll call. Councilman Nadell here. Councilwoman O'Donnell is absent this evening. Councilman Rubel here. Deputy Mayor Fischer here. And Mayor Leio is absent this evening. Okay. Is there a need to go into executive session this evening? Yes, sir. May I have a motion to enter into exec motion? Second. Councilman Nadell, yes. Councilman Reubel, yes.

Deputy Mayor Fischer, yes. Roll call. Roll call. Councilman Nadell, here. Councilman Rubel, here. Deputy Mayor Fischer, here. And Councilwoman O'Donnell and Mayor Leio are absent this evening. Okay. Can we please rise for the pledge of allegiance followed by a moment of individual prayer? 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.

Thank you.

The Howell Alliance coordinator has a presentation for us this evening. Good evening. Thank you for having me. Um, for those of you who don't know me, I'm Chris Da Riddle. I'm the How Alliance coordinator. So, I handle community substance use prevention and mental well-being. And from time to time, I like to um give a report for How Township on our opioid settlement agreement funds and how we're spending them for public transparency as well as to share the projects with council. um for the ones that you're not familiar with already. So um I'm going to give a quick overview of our spending points just so those that are not familiar with the opioid settlement agreement funds understand what's going on in general. So all expenditures must comply with the agreements approved uses criteria and how is one of the subdivisions across the state. So there's the state level funding, then there's counties and municipalities that are subdivisions, and we all um have to apply um comply with the approved uses criteria. The state department, New Jersey Department of Human Services reports are due annually by September 1st by all subdivisions and then they are available by October 1st each year on the state's website. Unspent funds can be acred yeartoear. additional settlements may be reached resulting in further funding to subdivisions like Purdue is is pending. That will be another one coming in for example. Um and actually I was selected by the new the state of New Jerseys department of human services as a panelist for their statewide um opioid settlement agreement funds webinar which will take place on March 30th. So um I will be discussing program spending compliance and reporting pointers for other subdivisions. Um, and I'll be representing Howal in that capacity. So, I feel honored to do that. Um, our

funding, our current opioid settlement agreement funds account balance is $287,000 200 287,26657 and our anticipated 2026 deposits as of today are um coming in at $68,92544. So the goals that we've established are to maintain transparency about incoming funds and spending. A lot of lives were lost in the opioid epidemic and so we have an obligation to those people to spend the money properly and to keep transparency. Um we have to ensure approved uses compliance and spending integrity. Um we seek community input to ensure those impacted by the opioid epidemic have a voice in our spending. Um, we spend to benefit our community's well-being and mental health needs across demographics through collaborative projects. Um, we aim to prevent and mitigate substance use and mental health disorders. to provide outreach and behavioral health support services to general and targeted populations to coordinate with the state of New Jersey Department of Human Services and Mammoth County's behavioral health department to um avoid supplantation and repetitive spending. So if something's already in place that they're using their opioid funds for, we tap into that rather than spending our own, which is why we maintain such a balance because we, you know, use their their programs that they provide first using their funding. Um, we conduct qualitative and quantitative needs and program assessments to inform our decision- making and ensure we're reaching our goals. And we want to this year also address 2025's alarming increase in suicide deaths. Um a rise in homelessness and the intersection of these issues with mental health and substance use disorders. Um we are working with the county to explore the

increase in the suicides. This year how had nine. We're up from two in 2023 and 2024 to nine suicide deaths. We are not alone. The county also saw a spike as well as the state and the nation. So we will be looking at the intersection of substance use and the suicide increase. And finally some recent projects we have done um law enforcement against drugs or LEAD that's um distribute uh implemented to all fifth grade students across the school district. So it stands for annual it's law enforcement against drugs lead. They do life skills and middle school readiness program that's taught to all fifth graders every year. um annual Hooked on Fishing, not on drugs. Free fishing day at Echo Lake. This year it will be June 6th. There's learning stations, fish fishing instruction, prevention resources, refreshments, and prizes. We get about 200 people out each year. Um we do ongoing community mental health and general wellness trainings and presentations generally held in the evening um to train community members on signs to look for um for themselves and each other with mental well-being. We launched a senior center behavioral health program delivered by a licensed therapist with an hour group session followed by four 15minute individual sessions weekly so our senior population can talk about loss, grieving, substance and alcohol use, depression, and any other behavioral health concerns they have. We are ready just about to launch our student behavioral health scholarship program where uninsured students will be able to go to Jen Psych for um substance use andor mental health issues. Um and that will be through the schools. Um we fund dispose RX at home medication disposal packets and project medicine drop disposal bags to ensure medications, prescription medications don't get into the wrong hands if they're left in the medicine cabinet. Um

we did launch this year um with the how police a behavioral health support resources card um featuring substance use, mental health, and human services related resources that includes 247 access to a recovery coach and a warm handoff to treatment at no cost to Howell. That is through Hope Sheds Light and the New Jersey State Police Operation Rise program. Um the cards have a QR code which links to English, Spanish, and Ukrainian. So there's a digital card available in those three languages for anybody needing services. The police are distributing the cards on calls as well as the alliance at community events and they are on the table in the hallway there. Um we provide Narcan kits and we put our labels on the Narcan kits. So if someone needs help and resources um they can scan the QR code and find our support resources page. If anybody wants Narcan I have it available so just see me after. Um we got 300 plus Narcan kits for free from the state. Um so we did not pay for that just the the labels. And finally um we have an internal um cross department and a public application. So anybody who has ideas for opioid um settlement agreement fund spending a project that you think might um be helpful, we can see if it meets the approved uses criteria and we'd love to collaborate. So that is actually on the clerk's office. Um near the clerk's office they have a table. you can get it there and on the township website. So, thank you to everyone who's collaborated and thank you for your time tonight with the update.

Thank you. Thank you. Um, do we have reports from our officials? Clerk, I don't have anything. Manager,

I I do. Um, thank you. I I wanted to uh welcome everyone to spring. Uh let's let's hope that the the weather continues uh to to improve. Uh and I want to take this opportunity to thank the the community and the public um for their help and responsiveness during the past the particular the past two storms. Uh we had a lot of cooperation with clearing the streets and clearing sidewalks and making sure that uh we we ready to uh make sure that our plows could get through and and keep the streets clean and clear as much as possible. So and that's that's an effort of the public and we really appreciate your cooperation in doing that. Um, it really it really mean me meant a lot to our staff and I think it means a lot to the community and our ability to get around and make keep people safe during these storm events. Uh, one of the reason that that helps or that that that's was successful is uh our ability to get information to you during emergencies about emergencies before and after emergencies. Uh, one of the challenges we have is is that um, people more and more as as I think everyone realizes is rely on cell phone numbers and not landline numbers. So, our emergency 911 uh system oftentimes misses people uh because we don't have their their um their mobile lines or or and they perhaps don't even have landlines. So, one of the things that we're doing and try to focus on is ask everyone to go on to our website under um under alerts uh notifications and sign up for emergency alert our emergency alert system uh and

our our email and text notifications. Um that will if if you do that uh we'll be able to contact you directly uh for emergency circumstances and as well as you can opt into other optional um um messaging that we put forth together that is more perhaps more targeted. uh we ask you to get into the information stream and if you can if you sign up we'll be sure to do our best to get things to you in a timely basis. Thank you. You have anything from legal?

No, just that uh Miss Harney was assisting um the manager throughout the week with various legal matters. Okay. Um, all right. I guess we I'll ask for a motion to open up the floor to public comment. Motion to open public comment. Second. All in favor? I I.

Each person shall first give their name and address to the clerk. The council should be addressed as a collective body and not as individual members. Each person shall have one turn to address the council and comments shall not exceed a total of five minutes. Speakers shall be notified when their time has run and no time extensions shall be permitted.

Okay. Mr. John Bombfelt. John Balbach, 7 Lexington Road. Thank you for your time. I'd like to start off by thanking the uh men and women, excuse me, the men and women of the Department of Community Development. Their job is increasingly hard and has been getting harder and harder. They have to deal with these rapid and coordinated changes that are happening to our neighborhoods. Our land use rules and regulations are under attack. The Department of Community Development, I believe, is battling new homeowners who are being deceitful when dealing with the township, ignoring land use regulations. I'd like to give two examples. Couple weeks ago, I was driving in my neighborhood close by and I passed the intersection of Darien Road and Princeton. And I could not believe the building that was erected on the property of 126 Darion Road. And I thought to myself, this has to be a mistake. Somebody put this building up in a day or two. Didn't notify the town. Something went wrong here. So I called it called the Department of Community Development and I was told that I could not have information about that property. It was none of my business and that I had to go through FOYA in order to get that information. So, I did. I went to the town clerk. I filled out a foyer form. And I'd like to share with you what is on these forms here. In January of last year, 12 the people at 126 were denied a land use

application because per chapter 188-56, one principal building is allowed on a property. In their application, they put down that it was to be used as a playroom and living space. The return from the the township was that living space is not permitted in a garage. Nine months later, they reapplied for another land use application. This time they use they they use the terminology of shed or poleb barn in place of playroom or living area. And it was approved. They approved a building for a 650 square foot shed. That's ridiculous. Now on that application it says for proposed use and they put down none. And I don't see that that be is a is an adequate answer to that land use certificate that they say none. And then of course later on they write down here that it's just for non-commercial use and is for a pole barn. All right. So they're saying it's a pullb barn now. Okay. Also according to this it was approved per plan application and statement of use. That's how they approve this land use certificate. Now I also got a copy of his statement of use. Let me read a portion of that to you. I hereby establish and confirm that the proposed construction on my property above is not intended to be used for any commercial or industrial use. Okay. So, he told me what he's not going

to use it for. I thought this document was to tell us what it is going to be used for. Okay. Two two two problems with that. Okay. So, I'd like anybody here to go drive by that property and tell me what you think they're going to use it for. I'll answer that question for you. It's going to be a daycare center or a school, one or the other. If you look at the building, it's not a pole barn. It's not a shed. It's a schoolhouse. So, I'm asking the town now to re-evaluate the land use certificate and either a have the homeowner state what his uses for that land or don't don't let him use it. Period. One way or the other, our land use regulations have have to be adhered to. Period. Second example is right next two doors down for me at 11 Lexington Road. And this problem has go been going on for more than a year. How much time do I live? Plenty of time. This this this problem is going on for a year. It it is a house of worship. I know this is a touch touchy subject and the town does not want to address this, but plain and simple. Every every Friday to Saturday, it's a house of worship.

It's been five minutes. Thank you. It's been five minutes. I'm sorry. All right. Thank you. I'll be back next time. Thanks for your time. Thank you,

Mr. Basset. Hello, Jeff Basset, 23 Laurel Place here in Hal. Um, in 2017 I purchased a business here in HAL called Chick-fil-A. And in 2022, I retired and plan on living out the rest of my years here in Hal Township. And um so we have uh 27 Laurel Place where there's a house and 23 Laurel Place that has been approved for a new house to be built as soon as we hear back from the DP. What I want to say is that uh we're on Lake Louise uh beautiful beautiful resource of Hal Township. It's why my wife and I want to stay here till God calls us home. And I look at uh some of our other lakes, Echo Lake and Aldrich Lake, and um I see how beautiful those lakes are. And over the past couple of weeks, uh we've got uh uh Canadian geese. We had a flock of between 50 and 75 and we're down to just about eight geese. And they're dying off. They're not leaving. They're dying on our properties on Lake Louise. So, what I'm asking the township to do is to investigate to try to understand why we're losing these geese. And I'm also asking the township if you would consider you a few years ago, you know, we put the new bridge in. Um, and a few years ago, the township cleaned up some of the wooded area and made it really beautiful. And, uh, there's people that love to fish and I see families on the lake all the time. And I'm just

wondering if the township would consider making an investment of finishing the job of cleaning up Lake Louise as another one of our incredible resources here in Hal Township and if possible to find money to be able to dredge that lake so that people can continue to fish and enjoy the beauty of Hal Township. Thank you very much. Thank you,

Mrs. Samro. Good evening. Paul with Samar Heritage Point. How is having an identity crisis along with a clashing of cultures sparking uncertainty and fears? Every night I voice these fears to God and ask Paula, lower that.

Oh, can you hear? Can you hear me now? Um, every night I voice these fears to God and ask him to bring back the shared respect for everyone in our community that we once knew. I'm going to share some of my fears with you now. I'm afraid of our schools closing due to escalating school bus transportation costs and pilot programs. I'm afraid of local businesses closing, vacant buildings, and urban blight. I'm afraid the American dream is becoming out of reach for families who wish to move here and take advantage of our great schools, extracurricular activities, and everything else HAL has to offer. I'm afraid of losing my friends and neighbors as I see them one by one overcome by these same fears and moving out. I'm afraid that I'll become an outsider in a community where I have long felt comfortable living. I'm afraid that the laws and ordinances that have protected us for years are slowly and methodically being ignored or eliminated for the benefit of one culture. Hal has long been a community respecting everyone's beliefs, customs, cultures, religions, and values. Why do some people think that because of their own beliefs and practices that everyone else has to bend to their wishes? And if you don't bend, then you are accused of persecuting them. And then the weaponized victimhood lawsuits become begin. While some individuals of the same cultures are able to acknowledge and respect other cultures and still maintain their own own cultural comfort, some simply cannot. They would rather push out people of other cultures driven by fear, ignorance, and indifference so that they can continue their own cultural practices comfortably. When and how did this happen? I would say it all started in 2019 and a call to hidic pioneers to move into communities surrounding a town called Lakewood and make these secondclass communities into first class communities. This call put into action a practice which some called neighborhood farming, a long-term marketing strategy where the realtors focus and target a specific geographic area to change the demographics. and it's happening right here in hell. This is done through harassment like

mailings, door knockocking, and stopping you out in front of your house. Even though you originally have no intentions of selling, they advise you with a smile on their face, "I just sold three houses on your block." Fear sets in that you and your family be outsiders in a neighborhood that you have lived for for years. Fear that you will be the victim of market manipulation implemented by these realators and the buyers that bring and and the buyers they bring who will pay above the asking price and then use strate strategic price reduction tactics on those families that have not succumb to their harassment, fear, and pressure. Now that very same town of Lakewood is experiencing a different type of neighboring neighborhood farming. Low to middle inome families are being pushed out of their own cultural communities to make room for those that are able to afford the skyrocketing home prices there which include million-dollar homes and I sympathize with them. If you love the house schools that your children attend and the extracurricular activities including the parks and recreations. If you love the convenience of the local businesses and local houses of worship and everything else Hal has to offer. Don't sell out. The morning I wrote this speech, a Bible verse came to me. Psalms 56:3. When I am afraid, I put my trust in God. And we never have to fight alone. So, I'm going to put my trust in God and not sell out. We cannot let this long-standing plan of neighborhood farming be successful. The clash of cultures is creating cultures is creating a bad look for Hal, no matter how one-sided it started. And we need to strongly present our long-standing strength and belief of promoting mutual respect that transcends to people of all faiths, cultures, and all walks of life. If you don't share our core core belief, how is not the place for you to live. To those realators that are not trying to change the demographics, we welcome you when needed. Thank you.

Thank you. Is there anyone else that wishes to speak? If not, may I have a motion to close public comment? Motion to close public. Second. All in favor? Oh, we have someone.

Do we reopen? I don't think it's really closed. Uh Motion to reopen public. Second. Okay. Thank you. So, can we all come up with a similar issue? Okay. Yeah. Why not? Okay.

Uh, good evening. My name is Anthony Beach. I live on 41 Woodstown Drive in in Howell, New Jersey. I'm here tonight as a follow-up on the ongoing ongoing goose situation impacting our neighborhood. First, I want to acknowledge and thank the township for taking steps towards addressing this issue. We appreciate that the action is being taken. That said, I want to reiterate how significant and disruptive this has been to our community. This is not a minor inconvenience is a daily quality of life issue. My yard along with my many others is constantly covered in goose droppings. We've also had many, many geese dead and around our home, which most likely was because of the bird flu. It has gotten to the point where my young children cannot walk or play freely outside without stepping in feces. Each year, large numbers of geese return, damage the grass, leave behind conditions that make our outdoor spaces unusable. What should be what should be a safe, clean environment for families has become uh opposite. I took the initiative to organize a petition and a response was overwhelming. This is not just my concern. and it reflect it reflects a broader community issue affecting many households. While we appreciate the township's efforts, the impact is ongoing and we're asking for both immediate relief and sustainable long-term solution. Specifically, we're asking for continued and active management of the geese population to provide near-term relief, implementation of longerterm uh deterrence such as environmental modifications to prevent recurrence, and a dedicated point of contact with the township so that it conditions return, we have a clear path to address it quickly. We also want to be clear that we anticipate continuing to follow up on this issue to ensure that it is not treated as a temporary fix, but instead resolved as a lasting permanent solution for our community. We care deeply about our community and take pride in where we live. We are simply asking for a safe, clean environment for our families, something that should be a basic expectation. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Thank you. Okay. Is there anyone else that would like to come up and speak? Okay. Can I have a motion to close? Motion to close. Second. All in favor? I uh can I ask the manager uh to please respond to some of the comments? Sure. Absolutely.

Thank you. Um, in reference to the the questions about our our land use and zoning, uh, I just want to ensure the public uh, that as as as manager, I'm relatively new to, uh, to how, but I' I've looked at and identified some areas that that I believe need to be addressed, and I'll be meeting with uh, and workshopping with members of the council uh, and to see whether or not um, some of those areas can be addressed. So, I would ask that the the public stay in tune and hopefully uh we'll be back and and not hopefully we will be back and talking about this in the near future. Um in reference to um the the issue with the geese um the speakers are absolutely correct. There's there's been a an onslaught of of dead geese not just in how but through all of Mammoth County. Uh last report that I read was somewhere around 1100 geese that are that have died that were dead from it's it's a aven they believe it's aven flu. We've been working with the health department um to try to uh at least be aware of and and um make sure that that we're handling the the circumstances properly. Um and you know the our understanding and what the the what we're told that the risk for humans is very low, but people should stay away from any any of the geese that that they may come across. Keep pets away from them. uh th those that are that are dead. Uh we immediately uh contacted and hired a company to come in and to assist us with our response to that. Our public works department has

been working with this. Uh we've we have removed probably a hundred dead geese uh from um from how uh we also engaged that same company and to take steps um to moving forward to help mitigate the ongoing problem the increased number of yeast have started to come to our our our lakes and surrounding properties. Um and that so we we engaged that contract uh w within the last two weeks and that's begun and and that we we expect them to continue to work through early summer. Um I understand the significance. I've I've dealt with this issue in in other municipalities. It's a difficult issue to to solve. Um but there are things that can be done and and we're about we're about doing that to to find solutions. Um uh we we know that this is something that is going to take um uh regular and constant attention to short term and medium-term and long term. And we intend to do that.

Um council, do you have any comments? Council, I think John covered everything well. Okay. I just I would just uh like to thank the DPW too for the work they did and in particular for the mailbox repair and replacement. I I was one of those lucky ones. Uh our mailbox got taken out between the plows, the weight of the the heavy snow that we had. So, I just want to thank them. I know a lot of residents were very grateful for that as as were we. Okay, we ready to vote on the consent agenda? Does anyone wish to vote on any of the consent agenda items separately?

No. Okay. Need a motion for resolutions R26-121 through resolutions 132B. Um motion to approve uh resolutions R26-121 through R26-132B or 133 I'm sorry through 133 133 is going to be let's vote it separately separately yeah through 132B I'll second Councilman Nadell yes Councilman Rubel yes Deputy Mayor Fischer yes

okay so resolution R26-133 Three, resolution amending the 2026 temporary appropriations pursuant to NJSA 4A4-20 prior to the adoption of the 2026 municipal budget. Motion second. Councilman Nadell, yes. Councilman Reubel, yes. Deputy Mayor Fischer, yes. All the resolutions pass.

Okay, we have no adoption. We have no introduction. So, the next regularly scheduled council meeting will take place on April 14th, 2026. Executive session starting at 6 PM and regular section session starting at 7 p.m. Um, seeing no further business before the council, may I have a motion to adjurnn? A second. All in favor? I. Thank you. Thanks for coming out tonight.