Township Council - Regular Meeting

I hereby call this meeting of Howell Township Council to order. Opening statement, Allison.

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. Councilman Nadell, I believe, is going to be here a little bit later. Councilwoman O'Donnell, I... is not here at the moment. Councilman Rubell.

Here.

Deputy Mayor Fischer. Here. Mayor Leggio.

Here. Resolution R26-202. Mr. Gross is there. I need to go into executive session, sir.

Yes, sir.

May I have a motion to enter into executive session?

Motion to enter into executive.

Second. All in favor? Aye. All right.

Let's go. Can I do a roll call real quick?

Oh, yeah.

Oh, and also, Councilman Nadell just arrived. It is 6.04. Councilman Nadell?

Present.

Councilman Rubell? Yes. Deputy Mayor Fisher? Here. Mayor Leggio? Here.

I hereby reconvene the council meeting of June 9th, 2026. May I please have roll call?

Councilman Nadel?

Here.

Councilwoman O'Donnell? Here. Councilman Rubell?

Here.

Deputy Mayor Fisher? Here. Mayor Leggio?

Here. Everyone please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance and a moment of individual prayer.

And this is the wall.

We'll start the evening off with the recognition of three Howell Pop Warner cheer teams for their outstanding performance at this year's competitions. We have the Pee Wees, Mighty Mites, and the Varsity. Councilman Nadal and Deputy Mayor Sue Fisher will be handing out the presentations, your proclamations.

Do you want?

Where are the Mighty Mites? All right. All right, you guys will be up first, all right? I'll call you up and then hand you your certificates. So we're recognizing the Mighty Mites. First place, New Jersey Shore Pop Warner Expo. Third place, Eastern Regions Championship. Fourth place, Pop Warner National Championship. First place, Howell Cheer Competition. Fifth place, Globals Competition. First place, Impact Cheer and Dance Competition. First place, Hershey Open Nationals Competition. For all your hard work and dedication. Rory Burns. Anastasia Chapachev. Katherine Chapachev. Hannah DeLue. Dylan Faralis. Kayla Gray. Beatrice Harissa Finas. Hope Killian. Haley Medina. Sidalee Turner.

Okay, now we're gonna recognize the Junior Pee Wee Group. Howell's Pop Warner Junior Pee Wee. First place, New Jersey Shore Pop Warner Expo. Second place, Eastern Regions Championship. Fifth place, Pop Warner National Championship. First place, Howell Cheer Competition. Fourth place, Global's Competition. First place, Impact Cheer and Dance Competition. And first place, Hershey Open Nationals Competition for your hard work and dedication. Where are the Junior Pee Wee? Okay. Vivian Barracuero. Not here? Okay. Caleb Lewitt. Abigail Breeze. Mackenzie Breeze. Sophia Campanelli. Presley Szczewski. Reece Szczewski. Liliana Higgins. Addison Mackey. Madison Morales. Leah Roque Lara. Gabrielle Rosenstrauss. Gabrielle Iscano. Peyton Choi. Another one. And Nora Vitagliano.

OK.

Now for the Howell Pop Warner Junior Varsity. First place, New Jersey Shore Pop Warner Expo. First place, Eastern Regions Championship. Second place, Pop Warner National Championship. First place, Howell Cheer Competition. Second place, Global's Competition. Second place, Impact Cheer and Dance Competition. Second place, Hershey Open Nationals Competition. OK. Ana Barroquero. Maya Bencosme. Kylie Buchanan. Juliana Cherney. Juliana Andriola. Michaela Ciocco. Reece Szczesewski. Hayden Szczesewski. Olivia Koiner. Anna Corrigan. Lily Del Priora. Melinda Ferales. Jordan Henderson. Kayla McConville. Avery O'Neill Reagan Petralia Emily Sharon Chloe Sims Anna Tortorelli Gracelyn Troy. That's it.

Well, young ladies, we want to congratulate you from the council on your commitment and your dedication and your hard work bringing these championships home to Howell. We're very proud of you. We're going to take a five-minute recess so you guys can take your pictures, and I'm sure you don't want to stay for the regular meeting, do you?

All right.

Yeah, we can just stand behind you.

Who was the first one? I forget their names. You guys want to come up here?

So over here. You gotta walk around guys. Walk around. Go ahead, follow.

Right here.

I'm gonna do the mighty might first. You want to do it?

Just one group. You want to individual groups? Do you want to do one big group or three individuals?

Do one big group. One big group. One big group.

One big group.

Get those thighs working. Pre-season workout. Madison, sit down, baby. Sit down. Sit down with the girls. Go ahead, go next to Em. There you go. Good job, Em. Thank you, baby. Yeah, the council member's back. Stay down, stay down, Jay. Actually, do you agree we go underneath?

High up. Back to the spot.

All right, on three. One, two, three. Thank you.

Thank you.

Alrighty.

I don't know, it's a good question.

Oh yeah, where is it? Where's the backdrop at?

And I just realized now, I just realized now. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, this was actually really nice.

You ready?

I'll make a motion. Are they ready? I'll make a motion for the acceptance of the minutes of the May 26th meeting. Second.

Councilman Nadel? Yes. Councilwoman O'Donnell? Yes. Councilman Rubell? Yes. Deputy Mayor Fischer? Yes. Mayor Leggio?

Yes. On to reports of Township Department officials.

I have nothing to report this evening. Nothing from me.

Hearing of citizens and public comments on consent agenda items and general matters, may I have a motion to open the floor for the hearing of citizens and public comments? Motion. Second.

All in favor? Aye. Each person shall first give their name and address to the clerk. The council should be addressed as a collective body, 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.

All right, Joe B.

Joe Bozonis, Colts Neck Road. Good evening, Mayor and Council. All right. So I've been spending a lot of my free time reading through our town's codes and ordinances, not because it's more fun than Netflix or reading a shampoo bottle, but because I believe educating yourself is the first step in serving the community. I'm developing a much clearer understanding of some of our town's hot button issues. And as always, I'm here to be solution oriented. So I have some suggestions. number one replace the mobile home rent control board with a landlord tenant advisory committee committee excuse me there were already discussions regarding dissolving the mobile home rent control board I'm grateful to the council for choosing to not do that our renters need a local place to seek guidance but there is room for improvement the landlord tenant advisory committee will keep the best elements of the mobile home rent control board while adding new language that oversees rental related matters and advises residents more broadly. Here's a few key elements from Moncler's committee. The Landlord Advisory Committee shall monitor and engage in ongoing review of rental housing issues in the township and make recommendations to the council for the improvement of rental housing accommodations and conditions. The committee shall be authorized to respond to inquiries from tenants and landlords, provide information regarding their rights and obligations, and direct parties to appropriate sources, information, and assistances, including mediation services. The committee shall not provide legal advice nor engage in formal dispute resolution process. The committee may adopt procedural rules subject to approval by the council. It then goes on to establish the bylaws of the committee, which, of course, Howell will determine their own based on the needs of our residents number to establish a dedicated non-emergency formal complete hotline we need a straightforward system that makes it easy for residents to file legitimate concerns whether it's code violations quality of life issues or other non-emergency matters this hotline should give every resident a the clear option to track the progress of their complaint from start to finish so they can see that their voice is being heard and acted upon. Other towns in New Jersey have successfully implemented dedicated hotlines or online portals paired with case tracking numbers. Howell can and should do the same to increase transparency, accountability, and public trust. Number three, Howell can benefit from fully implementing and strengthening our chronic nuisance property ordinances, also called CNOs, or as we call them, excessive consumption of municipal services. Excuse me. I can go over there. Their main goal. Properties that have ongoing issues like crime, disturbances, or code violations hurt the safety, health, and quality of life in the area. They also waste police and city resources on repeated calls. The ordinance holds property owners or people in control accountable and provides a way to fix or shut down the worst offenders. It's often paired with a three strike rule. The ordinance is triggered if a police or code enforcement must respond to a specific issue a number of times, often three times within six months or a 12 month period. We already have a foundation with Chapter 136. We can build on that with stronger tools. I have examples of specific language from towns in New Jersey for the attorneys and town manager to review. We should strengthen our enforcement by tying these measures to landlord registration and licensing towns like Avalon and Waterford Township. let the town suspend or revoke a landlord's rental license for repeated violations or if they don't fix the issues in a timely manner. This gives the township real leverage to hold bad actors accountable and protect our neighborhoods. Lastly, I've printed existing ordinances from other towns that have successfully banned uh data centers for this council to review as we revise our master plan it's crucial that we act now and preemptively add strong protective language how residents are already struggling with high energy costs and unchecked over development remains a constant threat if we're not proactive we leave howell exposed as big tech's next potential victim we must protect the long-term health and character and natural growth of our town I urge the council to seriously consider these suggestions. I'm happy to petition for public support if needed. We need to give our residents a clear path to participation and use every available tool to hold bad actors accountable. Some previous council members who no longer sit before us may have left the back door wide open on some of our rules and ordinances, but I have faith that the mayor and council that are currently in office will take steps towards closing it. My only goal is to be of service and support those who are truly going to do the same, which I think are you. So thank you very much.

Paula?

Good evening. My name is Paula Samorell. HAL has been my home for many years. I raised my children here, and today my daughter is raising my grandsons in one of its neighborhoods. I'm here tonight not to talk about what I don't want, but to talk about what I do want. I want to live in a neighborhood where streets are tree-lined, not car-lined. I want a community where children run and play, where fathers teach their kids to ride their bikes, where mothers stand together sharing the wisdom it takes to raise kind, respectful adults. Lately, I find myself worrying more and more about safety. I worry about blocked views at intersections. I worry that a child will get hit by a car driven by those that treat our streets like parking lots instead of a neighborhood where people live and children play. I want to peacefully go to sleep at night and not worry about being awoken by sirens because a neighbor's house is on fire. A fire that could spread to my home and my family because work was done by unlicensed contractors without permits. I want transparency and my fundamental right to feel safe and secure in my neighborhood. On Thursday, June 4th at 10.30 PM, I felt that that transparency was non-existent. I observed four utility trucks and a crew working on a ground transformer on Sammy Drive, and the power was out. When I walked over to the scene, I overheard crew members who were replacing the transformer discussing that a child was lucky that he had not been electrocuted when he stuck a utility flag marker inside the transformer box. I heard that the child was brought somewhere for medical attention. When I asked a neighbor who lived close to where the ground transformer transformer box was located if the boy was okay they casually said he's fine kids will be kids What I also found alarming was the lack of police presence. I immediately called them. They were completely unaware of any activity on Sammy Drive. When the police arrived, one of my neighbors and myself, we gave our statements, but it seemed like they were just being put aside. The lead officer told us he was simply taking the word of the crew chief, who labeled this routine maintenance, and there were no reports of any injuries. Having worked for JCP&L, I know that transformer replacement at 10.30 p.m. at night is not routine maintenance, but is performed when an emergency arises. The fact that statements by residents that observed the scene and that had gotten confirmation from a reliable source that a child was hurt was disregarded in favor of the utility company's narrative is deeply troubling. This lack of transparency forced me to ask, are we establishing a precedent where safety incidents are quietly dismissed? If so, the ramifications of our community are severe. We must acknowledge to young children that these High voltage electrical boxes should not be tampered with. Our town and our utility companies have a responsibility to educate new residents on the dangers of these transformers. Furthermore, we must address the persistent use of unlicensed contractors and electricians, which also pose a preventable threat to the safety of our homes and families. How is more than a town? It's our home. Wanting to live in a safe, orderly, and quiet neighborhood is not too much to ask. I believe our fundamental right to feel safe and secure in our home is being threatened, whether it's by those who knowingly ignore ordinances and safety protocols, Those who are ignorant of them or those tasked with oversight who fail in their fundamental duty to enforce the law and those who fail to notify the public of possible safety issues all are putting our resident lives at risk. I am confident that the mayor and council will take the necessary steps to address the following critical priorities. All renovations, alterations, and building of any kind or inspected to see if permits have been issued and are being constructed in accordance with strict safety and zoning laws. The chain of command will be followed to alert the public if there is a threat to public safety at any time. Perhaps the mayor and council can find out what happened on June 4th and I welcome your feedback. Thank you so much.

Anyone else from the public?

Good evening, Rory Morris from Lemon Road, Howell. I come here tonight with a concern and a question. I saw, I think it was two meetings ago, we are now again considering dredging Lake Louise. And my question is, why? I have lived in this town for 60 years. I have fished Lake Louise. for most of those 60 years because I lived on Locust Avenue between Echo Lake and Lake Louise. And when I was a kid, there was nothing really to do in the town but ride your bikes, climb trees, and go fishing. And that's what we did. And we grew up enjoying it to the utmost. I come here today to tell you, if you dredge this lake, you are destroying a resource that you don't even know you have. There are over five pound bass in this lake. There are pickerel that are 26 inches long and several pounds that for this part of the state are unheard of. Perch, up to three or four pounds. Catfish, over five pounds. This lake is full of fish. I showed your engineer yesterday or the day before pictures that I had on my phone from a night that I spent out there fishing. I was out there for an hour one night, and I have a bass boat, and I have fish from here to Canada, and I have fish from here to Lake Okeechobee just last September for two weeks out on Lake Okeechobee, which is awesome, except for being harassed by the alligators. But Lake Louise is full of fish. There are turtles out there older than me. There are mallard ducks that nest there every year. There are various others. There are swans out there that people don't even know they're there. This lake is a gem. I realize we just had the fishing derby at Echo Lake this past weekend. And kudos to the township and the committee, because I didn't even know we had this committee. And I didn't know we had this for the kids in Howell. So kudos to you and the committee who put it on. This is what I want the kids in Howell to enjoy, like I enjoyed growing up. Because Lake Louise is probably, I've fished Lake Hartwell, which is one of the big lakes for the Bassmasters series. Lake Okeechobee, same thing. I have fished all over the country, including Jamaica. If I'm not mowing my lawn, like the mayor used to do, I'm out fishing, okay? So this lake needs to be looked into. It's a very expensive thing that we're looking to do probably up close to a million dollars to have this done and the money could be used for a whole lot of other things like more fishing derbies for the kids and things like that so they can enjoy what I enjoyed growing up because between Echo Lake and Lake Louise they were the best I grew up swimming there catching snakes catching turtles fishing this lake is an untapped resource that you don't even know you have thank you

Anyone else from the public?

Zachary Dorner, 25 South Point Drive. Good evening, Mayor and Council. Before I begin, I know this was brought up during the last meeting, but I just wanted to keep urging y'all about any proposal for the future about AI data centers in Howard Township. While these facilities may have promised economic benefits, they come with significant costs. Data centers consume enormous amounts of electricity, place additional demands on infrastructure, and it can have massive environmental impacts that last for decades. They also require large, industrial-style buildings that may not fit the character of our community. If we really want to protect the character of Howell, we cannot allow this. They can go in Newark or Trenton and build it there if they want, but not in Howell. Howell has worked hard to balance growth with preserving the quality of life that residents value. Before approving a project of this scale, we should ask whether it truly serves the long-term interests of our township, and I encourage the Council to put residents, open space, and our wildlife and environment first. Thank you.

Anyone else from the public?

How you doing? My name is . Good evening to all. I live across the street from the house that most people have been talking about at Princeton and Darien Road. In 2011, I moved here on 9-11. I got held here for two days because of what happened. And two years later, I built an addition to my home. I was given all the trouble in the world doing this addition. They said I had to be 13 feet from where my addition ends to the property line of my neighbor. So I went by those rules. This person that lives on this corner house is nowhere near 13 feet from the neighbor's property line. And nothing's been done about it. All I see is... Illegal employees, I call them illegal employees, building this thing, and they did it in two days. Two days. From what I understand, my neighbor whose property is attached to this house told me he got a garage permit, and there's no way on earth that that is a garage permit. They tell me that they're going to use it, from what I hear from neighbors, they're going to use it as a girls' school. This is residential. This isn't a place to have schools on this block, is what I'm trying to say. You know, I'm a little nervous speaking. I hope I make myself a little clear. I work for the county. I've been to every town in the county. I do all the traffic lights for Monmouth County. And I've never seen anything like what's going on recently here in Howell. I've been here since 2001. My wife begged me to come here and say my piece. I love Howell, but to be perfectly honest with you, I don't want to move, but I feel like I'm being forced to. And I did a lot in this town, and that's how I personally feel. I feel like I'm being forced out. And the town, to me, sometimes I get the impression that they don't care. They don't show the respect to the people who've lived here all these years. I pay a lot of tax here. A lot of tax I pay. And I don't deserve someone just coming in and saying, hey, you know what, I'm going to build this and have it built. How come nothing was ever done to stop this? I know the code. He's got a house and he's got this whatever you want to call it, school or whatever. The code doesn't permit for two buildings that size to be on that property. It's illegal. And nothing's been done. Even my neighbor who lives next door complained that he's not 13 feet away from his property line. But he continues doing what he wants to do. He continues going. He was there actually tonight doing what he wanted to do. They insulated the thing. No garage gets insulation. They got no garage door. It looks like a school. Okay? So if they want to fool me, they're not going to fool me. If they want to fool you, and apparently it seems like they are because it was permitted to do and nothing's been done about it, so I'm a little upset about it. And I hope something gets done. I don't mind someone doing something as long as it's on the legal side. Okay? Not illegal. I went to hell to do my addition, but it seems like this person could do whatever he wants and nothing gets done about it. Okay? And one day, I just want to say one other thing. My wife and I and my daughters, we went to a party. And my neighbor across the street told me he saw two, whatever you want, residents from Lakewood, Pacific Jews, whatever you want to call them, walk into my backyard, open the fence, and check out my property. Called Howell Police, they did nothing about it. That's disrespecting a person who's been paying all this tax money for over 25 years. I feel like I've been crapped on, pardon my English. And I'm upset about it. And that's all I have to say.

Anyone else from the public? I am seeing, anyone else? No? I am seeing none, so may I make a motion to close public comment? Motion to close.

Second. All in favor? Aye. Aye.

In response to public comments, Mr. Gross?

Yeah, in reference to, I guess, a number of comments surrounding our zoning, the community should just be aware that we are in the process of doing some zoning reviews. And their concerns will be taken into consideration when we go through that process. I'm happy to say, Mr. Bezos, the vast majority of the things that you mentioned are already either in place or being put in place. I'm not going to go through them one by one here, but we'll have a conversation and I'll fill you in on that. But these are all All of these are certainly areas, a couple of them we were talking about yesterday, so about how to implement. So I'll be back in touch with you on that with all the specifics. In reference to this issue, the June 4th issue with JCP&L with the electrical problem, I'm not aware of that. This is the first I'm hearing about it. We'll certainly look into it and find out the background, contact JCP&L as well, see what we can find out about that.

I think John covered, Manager Gross covered all of the matters I was going to say. We do have a contact at JCP&L that we can reach out to and see if we can get more info on the June 4th incident for you. I don't have any information on the Lake Louise issue.

I should have. There are no plans. currently to do dredging in Lake Louise, mostly because we don't have money, number one. And number two, it was brought up at a previous meeting as an area of concern, which we committed to look at it to see whether or not it was something that needed to be done or if we could do it if it was necessary. So certainly appreciate the comments here tonight, and those will be taken into consideration. But as of this time, there's no active project on that.

Ian?

All right. Mike? Just to circle back on the data centers again, we hear you. We're on board. We're working on legislation, looking at adjacent towns to create ordinances to ban AI data centers. As far as the non-emergency formal complaint hotline, that's something, correct me if I'm wrong, Mr. Gross, is going to be included in GovPilot rollout, the software where there will be a portal that will be easily accessible. You take out a ticket, you'll be able to look at updates. So it's a lot more streamlined.

Just to circle back on the fishing derby that happened last week. That's the Baxter Fishing Derby and it's a yearly event. It's been in place quite some time. The Baxter family actually started this. I will say that on the official website, we'll list every month and sometimes even further out events that will occur. And I urge you to look at the website Out in front of the restrooms, there's a coffee table by the sofa that is usually fully covered with flyers of things that are about to happen in the town, things that are happening, events that you should know about. So I urge you to keep track or keep checking on that as well. And of course, any time that you're not certain, feel free to call the clerk's office and they can give you dates and times. but the Baxter Fishing Derby is held. And jointly, our alliance group has a very active role in that. And it's always well attended. The children love it. It's really nice to see the parents fishing with their children. It's always a very, very nice event. Just secondly, If you've been in the town any length of time, I'm sure you know Tilly's Flower Market, which is on Herbertsville Road, not far from Blewett's Junkyard. Last Saturday, they had the grand opening of the Flower Market. It's a new owner. They've made a... lots and lots of improvements. The site's beautiful, very well maintained. The flowers are gorgeous. They're doing some stone, you know, the walkways and whatnot. They've expanded what they're offering. I urge you to take it. We have a lot of places that sell beautiful flowers, but this is something that just reopened, and so I urge you to take a peek whenever you're and that neck of the woods i think you'll be happy to just take a little walk through there and it's always nice to see things that are actually grown here and they do they grow the things in the adjoining field so it's pleasurable to see that you're living in a community that sells what they actually grow so you know i urge you to see that as well um i think for now that's it thank you deputy mayor nothing

Joey B. We'll look into your ideas and your solutions. We'll take it into consideration. But just understand it has to go through legal first. And I will make sure what you said tonight we will look into in regards to other towns. And we've done that in the past, you know. For some reason, in some other towns, certain things are on the books because they've never been challenged, and then some towns try doing things, and then they're challenged, so we can cause an issue. So we will look into it, Joe. Thank you for taking time away from your Netflix and researching. Paula, we'll look into that. Okay, Mr. Gross gave you his word. Mr. Zachary, sorry to inform you, a million watt data center is going on Southport Drive. All right? Just kidding. Just kidding. All right? I just want to get everybody to laugh a little, right? It's always so stuffy in here. Mr. Morris, there is no talk. We don't even know. There may have been some kind of suggestion about dredging Lake Louise, but we're not. There's nothing in the budget on that, sir. The bridge and the surrounding area was all redone a few years ago. I pass that every day. It's a beautiful area. It's a great spot to fish. I think it's a lot better than Echo Lake. It's just the accessibility there is not as easy as Echo Lake, because Echo Lake has parking. There's no parking there except on the side streets. So I would keep that on the wraps anyway, because if you like catching those big fish, they're going to get taken out of there if more people start going there. So just a suggestion. Mr. Santo, I suggest after the meeting's over, come up and exchange information with Mr. Gross, and he will gladly... give you our township engineer and our building department bosses. That building, sir, is in 100% compliance to what our zone current zone is. So just don't need to go back and forth. an accessory building with setbacks height height the height and and the setback let them explain to you Mr. Gross please you know pass it on to Justin Yost because they've done this with a couple other neighbors in your neighborhood ensuring you that it's in compliance to what our current zone ordinance is written even though a lot of people don't like it It's the size of the lot. It's the setback off the house, the height of the roof, all that stuff that's involved. And I agree with you. Putting an addition on is a major, major project to do in not just our town, every town, with all the inspections and all the red tape that you've got to go through. I agree with you on that. That's just the way municipal government is. So that's it on that, guys. Nice, quick meeting. Nobody flipped out today. That's great. So seeing no further business. Oh, wait a minute. Yeah, I jumped ahead of myself. Wow. I'm sorry. I want to go watch a Yankee game. We're going to vote on consent agenda items. Does anyone wish to separate any consent agenda items? I'm seeing no.

Mayor, if I might just announce that there, just for everybody's information, there were two late add-on resolutions. They are 201A and 201B, and they are approving memorandums of understanding. One is with the TWU union, and the other is with the Teamsters. All right. So then it would be Resolutions 26-195 through 26-201B. May I have a motion?

I'll make a motion to approve Resolutions R26-195 through R26-201B. Second.

Councilman Nadel?

Yes.

Councilwoman O'Donnell? Yes. Councilman Rubell? Yes. Deputy Mayor Fischer? Yes. Mayor Leggio?

Yes. There's no unfinished business. There's no introduction of ordinances. So here we are in conclusion. Our next regular scheduled meeting will take place on June 23rd, 2026 executive session at six regular session at seven. I encourage our residents to get involved. Come here and speak up with your concerns. We want to hear him where you could call the town and go through the proper channels. It doesn't matter to us. I like to see everybody here as many people as possible because it makes the night go faster. And I think being involved is very important if you want to be engaged on what's going on in our town and maybe help be the solution to some of the issues that are going on in town. And, you know, the more voices that are heard is just better. And we need to stick together as a community. This governing body represents everyone in Howell Township, like I said at the last meeting. All right? You folks have a nice night. Motion to adjourn. Second.

All in favor? Aye.