Municipal Council - Regular Meeting

All right.

Thank you all for your patience And who summertime and we're starting a little early, but we're all here, so thank you great to see everyone With that I will start mayor's welcome Statement of proper notice adequate notice of this meeting in the last time to counsel be held on Tuesday June 16th 2026 has been provided to the system in the annual meeting said notice was forwarded to the Trenton International Times and the Princeton Packet, and it also is on our website. But those three newspapers were given on December 12th, 2025. With that, may we have the inspiration.

May we carry out our work at this meeting in a just, honorable, and sincere manner, always bearing in mind our duties in continuing to keep Lawrence a wonderful community in which to live.

of America and the integrity of others for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Ms. Carter, may we have the roll call, please? Ms. Farmer?

Here.

Ms. Chiquita?

Here.

Ms. Chiquita-Mackey?

Here.

Ms. Sanchez?

Here.

Mayor Boffin?

Here. We have two special proclamations, so I will first read a resolution recognizing June as LGBTQ plus Pride Month.

Whereas the Township of Lawrence is committed to fostering and welcoming

businesses, and visitors, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, or expression, and whereas lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other LGBTQ plus individuals have made significant contributions to the social, cultural, civic, economic, and educational fabric of our community, state, and nation, and whereas the month of June is recognized nationally and internationally, transgender, and queer individuals to the fabric of our society, economy, and culture. And whereas the Township of Lawrence recognizes that diversity strengthens our community and that every resident deserves to live free from discrimination, harassment, and prejudice. And whereas promoting dignity, respect, and equal opportunity for all people helps create a safer, healthier, and more vibrant community for our current and future generations. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Mayor and Township Council of the Township of Lawrence County Mercer, State of New Jersey, do hereby recognize June 2026 as LGBTQ Plus Pride Month and encourages all residents to celebrate the diversity that enriches our community. It further resolved that the township reaffirms its commitment to equality, inclusion, and respect for all individuals, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. family, dated June 16, 2026, and signed by all of Council.

I just want to take a moment to reflect on last week's Pride Fest. The turnout was really wonderful, and despite the heat, the energy in our community was genuinely uplifting. I wanted to extend a special thank you to Lawrence Neighbors Together, Lawrence Township Public Schools, and Lawrence Township Police Department for everything they did to make this event a success. That kind of collaboration is what makes Lawrence work, and it's also what makes moments like this possible. When our schools, our neighbors, and our public safety community come together around an event like Pride Fest, it says something about who we are as a township. Inclusion isn't just a value we talk about here, it's something we demonstrate. I'm proud to represent this community, and I look forward to continuing to build on it.

I just want to echo Councilwoman Sancho's sentiments. I had the opportunity to participate and it was a tremendous event and I'm super proud to be a member of this community here in Lawrence Township that supports our community, so thank you.

And I'll just remind everyone that the lights in front of Town Hall are lit up in bright colors for the entire month of June as well.

All right, now I will read the 2026 Lawrence Proclamation declaring the first Friday in June to be National Gun Violence Awareness Day. This proclamation, Proclamation 2026 Lawrence Proclamation declaring the first Friday. This proclamation declares the first Friday in June to be National Gun Violence Awareness Day. in the township of Lawrence to honor and remember all victims and survivors of gun violence and to declare that we as a country must do more to end this public health crisis. Whereas every day nearly 130 people in the United States are killed by gun violence, and more than 200 are shot or wounded with an average of more than 19,000 gun homicides every year. And whereas the people in the United States are 26 times more likely to die by gun homicide than people in other high-income countries, and whereas New Jersey has 442 gun deaths every year, with a rate of 4.8 deaths per 100,000 people, a crisis that costs the state $5.3 billion each year, of which $168.9 million is paid by taxpayers. New Jersey has the fourth lowest rate of gun deaths in the United States, and whereas gun homicides and assaults are concentrated in cities, with more than half of all gun homicides in the senseless violence with evidence-based solutions, and whereas protecting public safety and the communities they serve is the mayor's highest responsibilities, and whereas the support of the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens goes hand-in-hand with keeping guns away from those who are a danger to themselves or others, and whereas mayors, council members, and law enforcement officers, in partnership with local violence intervention activists and resources, know their communities best, are the most familiar with local criminal activity and how to address it, and are best positioned to understand how to keep their citizens safe. And whereas gun violence prevention is more important than ever as we see gun violence continue to impact communities across the country, and whereas in January 2013, Hayida Pendleton was tragically shot and killed at age 15, and on June 5th, 2026, to recognize the 29th birthday of Hayida Pendleton, people across the United States will recognize Gun Violence Awareness Day and wear orange by a group of her friends who asked their classmates to commemorate her life by wearing orange. They chose this color because hunters wear orange to announce themselves to other hunters when out in the woods. And orange is the color that symbolizes the value of human life. And whereas anyone can join this campaign by pledging to wear orange on Friday, on June 5th, the first Friday of June 2026 to help raise awareness about gun violence. And whereas by wearing orange on June 5th, 2026

to keep our families and communities safe. Now therefore be it resolved that

it's all right with council if we move Mr. Bob Fuller and his colleagues from Ewing Warren Sewage Authority to come before us to just speak briefly about their resolution that's before us tonight, just to give us a background and to also help both the council and the public understand what this is about. So welcome, Mr. Fuller. Yes, please.

I'm here this evening. The Ewing Large Sewerage Authority is committed to maintaining clean, safe, and dependable infrastructure for all of our residents. That is Ewing and Mums. The project that we'll be talking briefly about tonight is a Ewing project. Portions of the existing Sullivan Way pump station and pipeline system are aging and reach the point where replacement is necessary. to ensure reliable service. To address the needs, ELSA is undertaking the following improvements. Replace existing 75-year-old underground force main sanitary sewer pipes that run parallel to what we call the Cold Run Creek and two larger, more durable mains. Construct a new pump station in Ewing Township to replace the current pump station on Salt Lake. This phone station is located in the Cassin Park School property along Salt Lake. I'm here seeking large township a resolution authorizing town council approval and consent to issue not to exceed $18 million, which is not the cost of the project, OF OBLIGATION BY ELSA THROUGH THE NEW JERSEY INFRASTRUCTURE BANK FINANCING PROGRAM. I NEED, AND I HAVE BEEN TO YOUR LINK TO PRESENT THE PROJECT, THAT WAS APRIL 14TH, AND I NEED LAWRENCE'S APPROVAL AS WELL FOR SEEKING A RESOLUTION FOR THAT. I HAVE INVITED my ELSIS engineer, and a Den of S.H.I.E.L.D.E.R., Remington Barnard, and I have invited our lawn council, Scotland, McManaman Scotland, and, and, and, and here is Chris, my wife, and Victoria, Who are y'all? OK. What I'm going to do is Dennis is going to briefly, which is the word. I like the form, so I'm going to briefly describe the project.

And then Chris will be, I think, both about the financing. Yeah, I think one of the reasons is that if anyone looks, it's 18H3, if you're keeping score at home on the agenda. When you see a resolution, influence of the Knoxville C-80 million dollars on bonding, I think some people might go, wait, what's going on here? So I appreciate you coming out on such short notice and having your team sort of give us a little bit of background. So thank you. And thank you for that.

Mayor. So Bob did describe the project a little bit. It's basically, I'm creating, replacing a pump station and then dualized forest names. Portions of it were completed with the parkway project and also with some monies that the New England Township had given from the COVID money. We had done a million dollars replacing a section of it that was the worst case. The DEP had been citing them for sewer system forest name breaks and so forth. So the project was sort of pushed forward. The original cost for it was around 18 million. The bids came in very favorably. We've got a lot of competition, so Currently the two bids are awarded were 11.5 million in that range. So we're looking forward to having construction start probably in September. Some of the environmental permits restrict certain things to happen in the summer months. So that's probably the target time for us to start. It's probably about a year for the forest main replacement and the sewer line replacement. And then probably about 15 months for the pump station. As far as the cost, I think most of the cost will be, and we will see it in your rates and large, because it's got entirely a Ewing project. So more and larger structure, those costs will be passed on to Ewing to pay the debt service for that.

Chris?

Thank you. Real quick. Good evening, Mayor, members of council, members of staff, and all this township. I'm Chris Langmore from McManaman Scotland, as stated on Council to the Union Law and Sewage Authority. Dennis stole my thunder with the good news. I'll tell you a little bit about the financing. The cost is now to exceed $18 million. As Dennis said, it's probably going to be more around $12 million. It will be financed through the New Jersey Infrastructure Bank. The authority is always looking to do the financing as cheaply as possible, and that gives us the best rates. Because it is a UN project, the money that it gets borrowed will be 75% interest-free, Projects party what's going on? And then of course the meter consent blessing going forward But the important thing out of all this is does not affect Lawrence race So it really will have no financial impact on Lawrence.

I don't have an answer to questions like that. I Think I have one question about timing. I'm assuming that you're

That's right. We will adopt a little bond resolution. And then there's a little bit of a process to get all the approvals from DEP and permits and stuff to get the project going. Once we get that, we close what they call a construction loan. It opens the line of credit up to $18 million, closer to $12 million probably, so that we can pay for the project. Once it's all done, we get a final cost, and we have to enter into a long-term payback bonds over 20 to 30 years, whatever the length may be, at the lowest possible interest.

questions from Council. Mr. Knack.

It's a viewing project. I understand that. But why is ELSA paid? Say that again? Why is ELSA paid? Why do we have to pay if it's a viewing project? Well, because ELSA is the public entity charged with the sewer improvements for this service area between William and Lawrence. anytime we give sewer improvements it falls within our parameters to do that work we are the ones charged with that responsibility and have the expertise and knowledge to do it and we take the cost and we charge it back to the program all right i said it wrong it's a viewing project why is lawrence you're not you're asking for money we're asking for consent to do the project because the viewing the elsa boards can be both Ewing and Lawrence members. I'm a board member. Okay, my apologies. So we need the consent from both entities to go forward. So as a matter of process, but in this case, perhaps more courtesy, since Lawrence is not paying any of the rates, we always go before each of the townships and ask, describe the project and ask for the consent to go forward. But in this case, Lawrence will not be paying for any of this particular project. Okay, so this price tag is only for you.

Any other questions from council?

So there's no, there's no liability of ours. Even though it's a union, it's a union of ours.

It's an ELSA project. We will be the ones overseeing the project. We'll be the ones managing the project. And any liability will be properly identified and contractually obligated out. I imagine since this is a joint utility with Ewing and Lawrence both involved, it would seem to me literally that wherever the work is being done and there's going to be money

I think both Lawrence and Ewing have to approve my resolution. Is that fair to say? I mean, because if Ewing is taking on this project and they're going to be paying for it, I think Lawrence Township would want to know what's going on and would want to have a vote of at least approving of the project.

I think that's a part of this process. Am I accurate? 100%. Yes. Yeah. All right.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Thanks for answering questions and coming here, so it's appreciated. I'm going to move on to public participation, five-minute limitations, as usual. The purpose of the public comment period is for members of the public to inform the governing body of their views. This time is an opportunity for the Township Council to listen with care to the public's for the Lawrence Township Administrative Code, section 10-22, manner of addressing council. A person may address the council in non-recognition by the chair. The person addressing the council shall write down their name and address on the sign-in sheet, step up to the microphone, shall give their name in an audible tone of voice for the record, and shall have the right to address the chair. And also section 10-23, the climate council meetings, any person making an impertinent or slight or smart or who shall become boisterous while addressing the council shall forthwith be barred from further audience before the council by the presiding officer unless permission to continue or again address the council to be granted by the majority vote of the council. And with that, we'll comply. Mayor?

It's my recommendation that we take a vote on the resolution that was just presented by

or do you think that that's appropriate yeah you have multiple professionals here who i'm sure would love to hear the whole meeting but be a courtesy to uh i can't sit with this whole thing you say they're not going to trust us to do our due diligence is council all right with the with moving this one item forward all right resolution 217

WHICH IS 18H3. SO I THINK WE JUST TAKE A MOTION AND THEN THE SECOND ONE NEEDS TO BE DESCRIBED BECAUSE WE'VE ALREADY JUST DESCRIBED IT.

SO I'M GOING TO ABDICT A MOTION FOR MOVING 18H3. I'D LIKE TO MOVE 18H3.

SECOND. SECOND. THANK YOU. MS. FARMER? YES.

MS. GUTIERRE?

YES. Mr. Kinnearkey? Yes.

Ms. Santos? Yes. Mayor Favre?

Yes. Motion carries. All right. I just want to make sure that you can thank you all. Thank you all.

With that, five minutes public participation.

I'm friend 976 Lawrenceville Road or Lawrence Road. Welcome, Recon 30. Thank you. So thank you for acknowledging the Pride Fest and for this resolution. There are some folks who might say, oh, both of these things are just kind of performative. What do they really mean? They're just words. St. June is acknowledged as Pride Month. And our Pride Fest, okay, people got together and had a party, but really, what does it matter? And I can tell you, first of all, let me just be clear, those folks who are part of L&T, who have gone to L&T events, could you just raise your hand? Thank you. And those folks who are part of the DEI committee, could you raise your hand as well? Thank you. And then we have our planning committee for Pride Fest, and some of your key players are here as well. So you have a lot of folks who are sitting in the audience who came together live across Lawrence, came together for one singular purpose, to make sure that everybody in this township, everybody feels welcome, respected, and known. And that's not performative. And saying that we have lights out in front of this building is not casual. You're making a statement, and it matters. It makes people feel safe. And just as some of you have already said, that's what this township is all about, bringing people together. So I just wanted to clarify the work that was done for Pride Fest, and this resolution matters greatly to a great number of people. So thank you. And the second thing is, yes, Councilwoman Santos talked about the partnership between the police, Lawrence neighbors together, the third person who said and the school district but i also wanted to acknowledge that um there was so many staff members here in this building that really worked so hard with some of us trying to organize things that we don't know how to go about those things and lots of answers to many many questions and so i wanted to also acknowledge all of you and the wonderful staff in this building but this is important what you did today so thank you so much

Welcome. Chris Woolley, 17 Lanigan Drive. 45-year resident of Lawrence Township. And I would like to thank Martha Friend for her leadership in so many things that we have experienced in Lawrence over the years. She's truly the gem to the community. She needs to be equally recognized. um and i also like to just mention how proud i am also um to be part of lawrence for so many years um as an army brat i never really had a home so 45 years in one place is a big deal and what happened this week was great and what the council has done tonight really great we know from the data that it's going to take a lot of people to put the community center back in shape and I think we have the people in Lawrence that can do it I also think that there needs to be an opportunity for those people who want to do it to get together. It's not going to happen organically. There's got to be some way to make that happen. So I'm just going to offer tonight as a citizen that I took the liberty on my own to create strategic partner interest survey, anyone who's interested in helping to put that community center back in place and back in shape. And once they get together and talk about it, I got a form, I got a pen, fill it out, hand it back to me, and we'll get out to you.

right now and we will move on to i didn't i didn't 100 close it so welcome to the esteemed council and there and i'll fill out afterwards welcome mr um william b holmes senior the 50 plus resident of large township so i've been around for a while I've heard all the accolades and kudos given on the great work you've done regarding pride. I didn't see anything or hear anything about Juneteenth. That's on Thursday. It's on Thursday, but I didn't see anything that's recognizable on the outside in the community. So that's an important aspect of American history. And I think it should be portrayed And I think it should be known throughout the township. So I'd like to see some type of recognition throughout the township. So can we move towards doing that? If you don't do it as I'm speaking, certainly it should be done so that it's capitalized in the future from now on.

That's all good.

I'm saying I haven't seen anything in the community

Relating to such Understood. Okay.

Thank you Anyone else first, would you like to come?

Hello, Joan Green, G2 Shirley Green And I'd like to circle back a moment, a 33 year resident of Juan. Proud Trentonian though, I have to admit. But anyway, I'm happy to be here, proud to be here, especially during some of the initiatives that are being undertaken. I just wanted to circle back to our neighborhood center very briefly and add a brief comment. Number one, I see this as a fantastic opportunity, fantastic opportunity which has been mentioned for this township to really affirm some values that are important that I think are trying to be affirmed. Number two, I am very excited about the legacy part of this project. I didn't know much. I've attended the public hearings I read the reports and participated in submitting my own opinions. But I am so excited about the legacy part, the idea for creating a museum to honor the roots of this very important initiative. And you're asking for volunteers? I volunteer.

I want to work on the legacy part.

But anyway, thank you, and thank you, Council, for committing to such important things. But I really am excited about this. That's good to hear. Thank you.

Anyone else who's been to speak? And if you've just moved here. You're still welcome to come up and say it as well. It's okay to follow these times. All right, with that, I'm going to close following participation. Going once, going twice. Close. Review and revision of the agenda. I believe we have an amendment, Mr. Sepec, if you want. Do you want to do that now? Should we do it now? Whatever you want, yeah. Yes. Let's move it. Let's amend it now. So there's a question of a description.

Yeah, on H5, resolution H5, number 218, dealing with the approval of the pilot assumption by JAG, Princeton, Pike, Irvin, Ringel. We perceive a voluminous application from the applicant, 268 pages. And we had a presentation a while ago involving it. And the resolution reflects the wrong lots. It was just clear, clear. And I read it three times. So the minor, we called the minimus change, lots 2 and 3 and the other lots 6, 18, and 19 are not part of any assignment from Canvas who is the owner and that is really the only change in the resolution. It does not change the intent of the resolution. It's not a substantive change in that it it reflects what the application given to the township, which I believe you all saw, reflects. So it's kind of a housekeeping thing that's easier to take care of now than down the road. So I would ask that a simple amendment to, I can read it if you want. Yeah, that would be great. And then I'll just have the council member. Whereas the proposed transaction transfer of the property by deed of block 3801, lots two and three to JAG, Princeton Pike Urban Renewal LLC, with lots 16, 18, and 19 being retained by campus in assignment of all development and financial agreement writing obligations to JAG with regard to lots two and three. So it's just a change in a lot number. It doesn't change anything involving the substantive nature of the resolution.

Thank you, Mr. Saipak. With that, do I have any motion to amend 18H5?

Motion to amend 18H5. Second.

Ms. Farmer?

Yes.

Ms. Giglio?

Yes.

Mr. Konecki? Yes. Ms. Santos? Yes. Mayor Bobbitt? Yes.

Thank you. And I'll supply the clerk with the language of the amendment.

And then I have one other question. Do we have a need to go to the closed session?

We do not.

All right. With that, we'll move on to adoption of minutes of previous meetings. I have a motion for 8A.

Motion for 8A. Second. Second.

Ms. Farmer? Yes. Mr. Guido?

Yes. Mr. Kanacki? Yes.

Ms. Santos? Yes. Mayor Poppin?

Yes. 9. Rewarding and or rejecting fees to have a motion for 9A.

Motion for 9A, number 137, authorizing the awarding of fees to not fulfill and design the rehabilitation at 42 Hilton Court. Do I have a second?

Second. Thank you. The bid amount is for $21,335, and this is under our affordable housing rehabilitation program. Any questions from council?

Any questions from the public? Those in favor of participation? Ms. Farmer?

Yes. Mr. Kinnett? Yes. Mr. Kinnett? Yes. Ms. Sancho? Yes. Mayor Bobbitt?

Yes.

I have a motion for 9B. Point to move 9B, number 198, authorizing the bid to a limited builder's construction for rehabilitation at 128 Graham Avenue. Second. Second.

Mr. Kalinske. This is for a bid amount of $24,650. And again, this is for our affordable housing rehabilitation program. Thank you. Any questions from council?

Any questions from the public? Seeing none. Ms. Farmer. Yes. Ms. Giglio.

Yes. Mr. Konecki?

Yes.

Ms. Sittos? Yes. Mayor Brody?

Yes. Do I have a motion for 9C?

I'd like to move 9C, number 109, authorizing the awarding of the facility and the dental food painting and remodeling for rehabilitation at 47th Court. Do I have a second? Second.

Thank you. Mr. Nguyen? This is a bid amount of $29,600, and it's for our affordable housing rehabilitation program.

Thank you.

Any questions from the council?

None. Any questions from the public? Seeing none, let's start.

Ms. Farmer? Yes. Ms. Giglio? Yes. Mr. Kanacki? Yes. Ms. St. Joseph? Yes. Mayor Bond? Yes.

We've got a motion for 9D.

I move 9D and the children are authorizing the awarding of the 26-03-2026 Residential Concrete Sidewalk Improvement Program to TC Landscape Construction Group Inc. Second.

Second. Mr. Nowinski? This is a part of our program, Sidewalk Improvement Program for 2026. The amount is $148,818, and this, as you know, is funded by the participants. It's placed on their tax bill, and they have five years to pay it off, interest-free. So if you're involved in the program, it's a pretty good deal because you get a good rate, and you get to pay it off over a five-year period of time. Any questions from council?

Any questions from council?

Seeing none, I'm sorry.

Ms. Farmer?

Yes. Ms. Jekyll? Yes. Mr. Kanacki? Yes. Ms. Santos? Yes.

Mayor Botkin? Yes.

I have a motion for 9-E. I move 9-E, number 224, authorizing rejection of bid 26-07-2025, NJDOT Trust Fund Improvements, Brunswick Pike Pedestrian Safety Improvements from Seacoast Construction, LLC. I second.

Second. The lowest responsible bidder was Seacoast Construction, and the amount was $696,651.61. According to our engineer's estimate of the project, this far exceeds it. So he is seeking it to be rejected at this time, and then we will reformulate a bid.

Any questions from council? Any questions from the public?

Just say amen. Mr. Giglio? I'm sorry, Ms. Farmer?

Yes.

Mr. Giglio?

Yes.

Mr. Kanacki?

Yes. Ms. Sanchez? Yes. Mayor Butler?

Yes. Introduction of ordinances.

Do I have a motion for 10-A? I'd like to move 10-A, ordinance number 2519-26, an ordinance authorizing the acquisition of certain real property on the Landover Road for open space purposes.

Do I have a second? Second. Ms. Strelitzky? This is the property across the street from the Lawrence Neighborhood Center. It was unoccupied for a long period of time. In our discussions, you gave me the authority to engage the property owner and let them know that we were interested in what our ideas were. They found that to be very agreeable. We negotiated an amount, and Mr. Sypek, along with the property owner's attorney, negotiated the terms to an agreement. of sale and we are seeking authorization to execute that agreement. There are still some contingencies, as with any purchase of real estate, contingencies that need to be satisfied, inspections and things like that, but this more formally commits the parties legally bound to the terms and conditions of the agreement.

And just for clarity, the title of the ordinance says for open space purchases. There's no

So there are open space funds, but there are for presentation, preservation of historical landmarks and things, and that's what we're focusing on.

I did not want anyone in the audience to feel that we're going to take out any existing historical notes. As we know, that can be tricky, as we've seen in other parts of the township.

That's the name of the fund, and it's also the name of the referendum.

That's why it has to leave with that. Understood. I just wanted to And myself. Yeah. With that in mind. Ms. Farmer?

Yes, if I could also comment there.

Greatly. We'll have a second or three, so you can have a whole prepared speech if you want.

I'm just very excited for the restoration of that. but as a little girl growing up, always wondering about that building and now to know its historical value and what it will mean to the township. I'm very excited.

Anyone else?

All right, next question. I was thinking of Ms. Farmer. Yes. Ms. DiCaprio. Yes. Mr. Konecki. Yes. Ms. Sintos. Yes. Mayor Bobbitt.

Yes. Now we're on to 11. There are nine options. yeah ah we're going to keep moving and but i i will you'll be first on my list like i said second reading i will you can have a full speech if you want to 11a adoption ordinances 11a ordinance number 2517-26 an ordinance that we found reforms in mercer county new jersey

Authorizing the acquisition of certain real property located at 840 Pretty Brook Road, blocks 7801, blocks 33, 34, and 35 for recreational purposes. Second.

Second. Mr. Winston. This is, as you know, it was put forth before. We've taken it away. This is for adoption. This is a necessary part of the process. We have committed to trying to work out an agreement with the property owner This is a critical final piece to the LHD, specifically in that section, and it's necessary to provide for pedestrian safety. There's just a portion that if we don't get it, we're forcing people onto the roadway. And so we kind of need this, we're committed to trying to work it out, but if necessary, we'd have to go through a condemnation process, which we're trying to avoid, but regardless, This is a necessary first step to allow us to do that.

Thank you. Any questions from the council? Any public testimony?

Ms. Farmer? Yes. Ms. Higgins? Yes. Mr. Kanacki? Yes. Jacinto? Yes. Mayor Bobbin? Yes. Is there a motion for 11B? I vote to move 11B, ordinance number 2518-26, an ordinance of the Township Council and the Township Awards County of Mercer, State of New Jersey, establishing the Lawrence Township Arts Commission. Second. Thank you.

I would give it to Mr. Nunes because I think it's yours.

Yes, mine is Councilman Farmer's labor of love here. So we're establishing a new committee essentially for the arts and to uplift the arts within the community. That means music, physical arts, graphic art, all sorts of things. So we're very excited to

hit the ground running with this and we'll be looking for um volunteers to sit on the committee assuming this passes this evening thank you ms waller yes if i could i'm very excited to revive this uh commission here in lawrence there's so much talent in our community and as uh councilwoman sanchez mentioned we're interested in the visual performing all of these art forms and um AGAIN, THIS WILL BE A TREMENDOUS CONTRIBUTION NOT ONLY TO OUR TOWN PHYSICALLY, BUT ALSO ECONOMICALLY. THE ARTS ARE A TREMENDOUS ADDITION TO ANY COMMUNITY, AND IT'S A REPRESENTATION OF WHAT IS HAPPENING IN OUR WORLD TODAY. SO I'M VERY EXCITED TO BE A PART OF THIS COMMISSION.

ANYBODY ELSE? ANY COMMENT, QUESTIONS FROM THE PUBLIC? Do I need to come up? Yeah, I believe so. Just so we can be on the record.

Yeah.

Welcome. My name is Brett Lorraine. I can talk to all the folks who have said they believe they will honor me. But this is, I want to talk on the ordinance of the land over, but not now. But the Orange Council, I think that I would like to see the Orange Council recognize one of the first things I'd like to see you do is recognize the crossing in. Because the crossing in,

had all the black entertainers back in those days. Cal Basie, Al Fitzgerald, and I was right there on my street crossing in. And a lot of black entertainers played at crossing in.

Little Richard got his start at crossing in. And so, I would like to see the arts group recognized across the end as a historic site.

I have a quote that I came across that I thought was very interesting because we're in interesting times now with regards to our country and what's happening in the world. And there was a quote that I came across from John F. Kennedy that said, the connection between the arts and progress in government

It's easy to feel, but hard to explain.

And I look forward to, in our work, being able to address some of the really serious issues, good and bad, that we're currently facing in our country.

Thank you, Ms. Farmer. Appreciate it.

Anyone else? Ms. Farmer?

Yes. Julia?

Yes.

Yes. Manager's report. Yeah, I have six items to go through, and I'm just going to go through them quickly. If anyone wants to stop me and have a question, please do so. Number one, there's going to be a resolution for the designation of 3641 as an area in need of redevelopment. It's planned to be on the agenda for the July council meeting. It was an issue that was investigated and approved at the April 20th, 2026 planning board meeting and then resolution was approved by the planning board on May 4th. We're gonna take efforts to notify the community both statutorily through our public notice obligations as well as other avenues to make sure Everybody is aware of what we'll be doing at this next meeting. Second item is Nancy Bergen, Superintendent of Recreation, reported to me that work on improvements to the interior of the Nature Center has begun with painting of murals on the walls, et cetera, and there are plans for additional improvements in the future, and I'll report to you on that. Three, a meeting is scheduled for June 18th to discuss the coordination the federal city road bull run road roundabout and the federal city road federal point traffic signal projects discussions will include timelines estimated costs and d.o.t funding officials from ewing lawrence and hopo will be participating mr newinsky yes if i can interject yes do you have a location for that meeting i think it's going to happen in new york okay it's it's uh not a public meeting it's an internal admission oh okay Fourth is Christopher Hart will be assuming the role of Chief Financial Officer for Lawrence Township Effective July 1st, 2026. Peter Kiriakotis has agreed to stay on for an as yet unconfirmed period of time since our longtime employee, Linda Lutz, 49 years of service to the township, who served as our supervisor for accounts in our finance department, retired on June 1st, 2026. I want to publicly thank her for her long excellent service to our community. We leave someone with vast institutional knowledge who will be difficult to replace. We posted for and received many applications for the position of auditor account training. That's the new title that would take the place of most of the responsibilities included. And we're lucky to have Pete stay around. He's trying to retire. We're not letting him. We value his commitment to the town and making sure the best way possible our public safety director christopher longo has advised that the township expects to receive the final report from cgr within the next several weeks chris yeah this is uh as you know cgr was selected through a competitive rfp process to conduct a comprehensive study evaluating the potential consolidation and or centralization of fire ems services within lawrence township including recommendations recovering the optimal location or locations for the delivery of such services. So we hope to get that within the next month. And then if we can make it for the July meeting, we can do that. But the principal of CGR also indicated that he would be willing to come and do an additional meeting to discuss his findings, correct? Okay. Finally, I'll be meeting with our insurance representatives and benefits professionals to discuss potential alternatives to continued participation in the State Health Benefits Program. As you're aware, municipalities participating in the State Health Benefits Program have experienced significant annual cost increases, including most recently a 36.25% increase in this past year. Our employees experience, their cost of living increases are being eaten up by these increases as well. We're not alone. There's many municipalities that have opted out and I've been told they are trying to opt back in because the alternatives are very difficult, but I think it's important for us to explore this process thoroughly. As I've discussed with you in the past, Lawrence Township, we have seven labor unions and it's not an easy thing to get seven labor unions to agree on a completely different health benefits insurer because the requirements that we have to meet are an equal to or better program, and that's a very difficult task to achieve. But we're gonna go through the process, because I think it's important, because this is untamable. And everybody knows that. There was a seminar last week that Tanya participated in as well. We discussed alternatives to the state health benefits It's a problem we're all experiencing, but I think we've got to go through it instead of sitting back and letting it continue to spiral. Hopefully, the new administration for the governor is going to be able to offer some relief to us, and that's why.

Thank you.

Mr. Seifach. Very briefly, I just wanted to prize the council there. Last week, the New Jersey Supreme Court came out with a unanimous decision Oprah, specifically that while you all have large township governmental email accounts, any township business you may do on your private account, a Gmail account or whatever, is definitely operable. So I think you probably all knew that, but this was affirmed from the Supreme Court.

And you just have to be cognizant of that.

Obviously, I would prefer you to do everything on your large task of governmental email, but if something innocently is on your Gmail or whatever account you have, that will be openable. So just keep that in mind. Thank you. Thank you.

Question?

Just a few things I have here. Primary election is over.

And so it was

The county did a great job, as they always do, with the clerks. I gave you a summary of the official report. I know it's on the website, but some people like paper already. And so, also, there were two board applications. I know this summer you will be reviewing them. We will go back and look at them once, because I know you guys need to know all of them. People have been putting in for them. And I just want to do a little housecleaning item with regards, I want to piggyback on our attorney when it comes to public notices and also Oprah. We all know last year in June, the governor of Mercury put in the new law about public business and also with social media and all this stuff. And a lot of that just changed. The law and statute changed kind of the same. However, the publication of the opinion that we now advertise on our township website, all of us was tasked with creating a hyperlink to the state portal, the Secretary of State portal, along with the township where we spent 10 months creating all of this stuff in the background. We did unique codes to make sure that we are compliant with that law. I don't want us to get blurred between social media and public notices. Because Facebook, X, and all those other things, they are very good to put quick information out. But they're not a legal notice. So legal notices are on our website. I am going to change the way our so that we can put more so people can look more at the public notices. The clerk was also tasked with a monthly, we do a monthly on the online news publication, which is Tritonian, we have that on there, where we have to say these are the two links, and we have to do that up until December 31st to get the public more engaged and to look it on our website, because that's where a wealth of information is. Kirk's office get a lot of calls about a lot of things, and we have a lot of information on there. We have information about what the meeting just had regarding the housing plan. We have all minutes, ordinances, resolutions. We are required by law to do that. put the resolutions, the official proclamations, bids, they're all there. So I just wanted to just kind of clear the air that we do our official notices. We still publish in the online newspaper, which we use the Tritonian. We still put it on the bulletin board. We still, and we are mandated to put it on the website. and sometimes if you read the social media and it has a little thing, just please contact us so we can kind of clear the air on that.

Okay.

And I think that's all I have.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Taylor. Moving on to unfinished business. Do we have any new business, old business? Anyone? All right, Mr. Green. You've been very patient. Public participation, please.

I appreciate you.

Thank you.

First I want to thank the council I was going through the RFP.

Thank you. The other thing, I want to just give a little background on the purchase.

Thank you for purchasing the little building on Landover Road. That was the first neighborhood center.

When we moved here in 1941, we moved into a little house.

Wasn't much bigger than that little church. And it was 10 of us, eight children and mom and dad. No running water. The road right in front of that little church was dirt.

In winter, you know, When the mud froze, you could put a car in the road and you'd need a driver to go right on down the end of the road. But the other thing, we didn't have any electric in that little house. And we got permission from the owner of, well, you represented the Seventh-day Adventist people.

My father got permission to run a cable to their meter.

They had electric.

And so my father ran an electric meter, a cable, to, it poked up to their meter, ran it into the bedroom window, and we had electric cords running all over the house.

We were fortunate that, that, I mean, your father was with us. Little did I know that years later,

I would be operating out of that same little building, starting the neighborhood center. So I just want to give you a little background. That little building means a lot to, not just to me, but to my family too. Thank you. I have a question. Thank you for sharing that.

Who owned, so Seventh-day Adventists owned it for that entire period of time? Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Even when it was operated as the first... Yeah, and the family in the neighborhood used to have a Sunday school on Saturday mornings, and I attended some of those Sunday schools.

But, yeah, that building, a little building, served my...

My family in more than one way. That's wonderful. Thanks for sharing that, Mr. Green.

Jim Cleek, almost as old as Mr. Ring, but I haven't been here as long. Only 45 years or something like that. But anyway, a couple of things. One, when we're talking about missing June 10th, also, it doesn't seem to be any talk about any celebrations for the anniversary, which is right around the corner. Did I miss something? Well, anyway, I know I'm not supposed to ask questions. I'm just throwing this out. And I know I've only got two minutes left. So 2-18 and 2-19 here is about payment in lieu of taxes. And that, this is, I'm falling by ignorance, in fact, because the whole subject about that I presume it has to apply only to the municipality, not to the state, because they're a separate entity. But I thought that that kind of thing was for like hospitals, And the prep school, I remember when the prep school used to give this a pit and said, in other words, people had a pit about it. And now they went up to where they give it a lot, places like that. But these sound like private businesses. I didn't understand why you would have payment in lieu of taxes for... something like that, rather than just taxes. So I will say two things. Are you? Yeah, I don't expect, I'm not supposed to ask questions, so I don't expect the answers.

I think this was fairly straightforward, and the tax attorney and tax manager can correct me if I'm wrong. But both of these files have already gone through the ordinance process and have been approved. This is a changing of who's going to be sort of in charge of the property and taking care of it. I'm aware of that. I'm just wondering why it was ever done. So I would say, or I know for 3131, I'm too late. For 3131, for instance, like that includes an affordable housing element. So that's the sort of beneficial reason for that. There are other things. When you mentioned the prep school, they don't pay taxes because they're a non-profit. So that's it.

And that's the kind of thing where I figured it would say you are a hospital and things like that. And I didn't understand why 3131 Portable housing or not. No I Wish you I'm sorry.

No. No, I just wish you'd come to the presentation because he would have had a more full explanation than I could get now because they had those training others there as well so and I don't know if well we wanted to add a

AREAS IN NEED OF REDEVELOPMENT AND A FULL HEARING WAS HELD.

THERE WAS TESTIMONY ON IT AND THE COUNCIL DID PASS THE RESOLUTIONS UNANIMOUSLY AND THIS IS A PROCESS THAT THE LEGISLATURE HAS PUT INTO EFFECT FOR EVERY MINISPALITY IN THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY AND WE TAKE ADVANTAGE Some of our buildings that are getting older and have been vacant. That specifically, with regard to that 3131, with regard to the Brookshire, that's actually a very old pilot. So many a few years left on it. And that's here because of a change in ownership.

So there's no real major effect.

ANY OTHER QUESTIONS? ANY OTHER QUESTIONS? ANY OTHER QUESTIONS? ANY OTHER QUESTIONS? ANY OTHER QUESTIONS? ANY OTHER QUESTIONS? ANY OTHER QUESTIONS? ANY OTHER QUESTIONS? ANY OTHER QUESTIONS?

ANY OTHER QUESTIONS? ANY OTHER QUESTIONS?

Ms. Farmer?

Yes. Mr. Guido? Yes.

Mr. Kanacki?

Yes. Ms. Santos? Yes.

Mr. Blanco?

Yes. Council initiatives and liaison reports.

Just to follow up on Mr. Cleek's question, Ms. Farmer, were you on the 250th committee as mayor last year?

Yes, I was involved with some of the planning. I know the first event that is going to occur is around July 4th is when a lot of the events are kicking off. And again, with our fireworks, we're doing some extra things like the reading of the Declaration of Independence, having a reenactor, and some additional add-ons for our celebration this year. And that's with the Lawrence Historical Society.

I knew about the fireworks, but I didn't know because I know down in Trenton they had the reading.

Yeah, we'll be doing the reading also.

Because a lot of people, I never realized how much there was to the full declaration.

Yeah. So there are additional events, and perhaps we can assist the town with the historical society in publicizing some of the events that they're hosting that are interjoining with the township. So maybe we can do a better job of communicating some of that. But I'm sure some of it's on social media, so I've seen it. With that, I will start council initiatives.

And ladies and gentlemen, of course, do you have anything

Just that on Thursday at 10 a.m., the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee will be hosting our Juneteenth celebration, and it's our third celebration. So the flag will be there, and we will be celebrating and recognizing the national holiday.

You can always come back. You're moved. Ms. Santos.

Yes. So on June 9th, the Health Advisory Board met. One thing I wanted to share, we were awarded a Rural Health Grant, which is going to expand their efforts in the rural parts of town. And these are things like education events, blood pressure readings. This is an effort to support migrant workers in the hometown and in these more rural parts of town. So that was good to hear. growth and redevelopment, also met on June 9th. And just wanted to share that we received seven applications for our student liaison, which was great. So they'll be holding interviews at the end of the month. Sorry, yes, business. Thank you. Mr. Kanepi.

Sure. The Trails Committee met on June 3rd. We had a presentation from Matt Sikowski, the Mercer County planner. He went over three large plan projects that were going through Lawrence. It was a really great presentation with lots of good information. And last week we had our master plan meeting. That was very well attended and there was lots of great dialogue.

And Jim forgot the dialogue.

On July 1st.

uh ben franklin will be reading the uh declaration and there'll be food trucks and ice cream and fireworks and live music and glow sticks or glow necklaces to uh support fred thank you and i'll say uh on our environmental green advisory committee members are still working on a white paper about turf fields as well as they are in conversation with the watershed about potential improved stormwater regulations one of the great things is that they have been in contact with our municipal engineer and talking about what issues he sees on a sort of daily basis and trying to navigate what makes sense for lawrence not just sort of before the play or the highest threshold so they're working collaboratively which is wonderful so um with that um communication that executive session do i have a motion to adjourn

Thank you all.