Township Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening everyone as I call the chamber to order. Thank you. Will everyone please rise if you can and join with me as we salute our flag with the recitation of our pledge of allegiance. Pledge 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. Would you all remain standing for a moment for a moment of personal reflection? Thank you. Clerk, please call role and announce our statement of adequate notice. Councilman Bahal here. Councilman Wendell here. Councilwoman Rickson here. Councilwoman Zimbicki here. And council president Makavoy here. Also present, Mayor Brad Cohen here. Administrator Joseph Priscilla here. Township attorney Anthony Aayakoka here. And deputy clerk Lauren Morris present. Adequate notice of this meeting has been provided as required under chapter 231 public law 1975 by specifying the time, date, location, and to the extent known the agenda by posting a copy on the bulletin board located in the main lobby of the East Brunswick Municipal Building, providing a copy to the Homes Tribune and the Asbury Park Press newspapers, posting a copy on the township's website, and by filing a copy in the office of the township clerk, which will be entered into the minutes. Thank you, council. You have before you resolution 25 hyphen 166, adopting our meeting minutes from our April 14th, 2025 meeting. May I have a motion to approve? Motion to approve. Can I get a second? Second. Is there a need for correction

or clarification on these minutes? Seeing none, roll call, please. Council member Hall, yes. Councilman Wendell, yes. Councilwoman Winston, yes. Councilwoman Zimbiki, yes. And Council President Makavoy, yes. Council, we have a mayoral mayoral proclamation proclaiming the month of April as arts, culture, and creativity month. Council Zambicki, will you please tend to this matter? Thank you. Good evening. I think we have a group of people here representing the arts. Look at this group. The arts are alive in East Brunswick, right? Wow. Oh, awesome. Where would you like us? Um, just around. Yeah, spread out. We're not going to switch because we have the presentation, but awesome. Come on up. Come up this way. Come up. All right. Thank you so much. So whereas arts and culture enrich our lives, fostering creativity, innovation, and provide a better understanding of our community. And whereas the arts play a vital role in the economic and social fabric of our community. And whereas we celebrate the diverse artistic talents and cultural expressions within our community. And whereas East Brunswick is the home of a robust arts and c cultural community with groups like Playhouse 22, the East Brunswick Arts Commission, the East Brunswick Arts Coalition, the East Brunswick Symphony Orchestra, the East Brunswick Historical Society, and the East Brunswick Museum, East Brunswick Indie Film Festival, among others. among others.

Among others, I mean, that's a lot, right? Whereas East Brunswick's diverse and expansive art groups present hundreds of programs led by driven volunteers featuring live music, theatrical performances, and visual celebrations recognizing East Brunswick diverse cultural tapestry. And whereas the innovative in the initiatives, I'm sorry, help make East Brunswick a special place to live and enhance the quality of lives of our residents. And whereas recognize the important of local artist and art organizations. Therefore, be it proclaimed that Brad J. Cohen, mayor of the township of East Brunswick, along with the township council, do hereby proclaim the month of April 2025 as arts, culture, and creativity month and encourage all residents to celebrate the power of arts in our community. And there is no doubt that this community is grounded by the arts and we celebrate the arts. and look at the this crowd here with us tonight. So, thank you so much for everything you do. Thank you. I don't know if anybody wants to come up and give a few words. Hi everyone. Um, thank you. This is an honor. Um, as a resident and the president of the East Brunswick Arts Coalition, I think East Brunswick is so lucky to have so many organizations that support arts and culture um that provides opportunity for our community to engage in many events, workshops, concerts, and festivals. Um, the art coalition is extremely proud of being

part of this, focusing on connecting local artists and businesses to the community um through events like our Lunar New Year and our Harvest Fest and our Gala for the Art Center to fund raise to do more for the township. It's a testament to our community. It's a testament to our community's belief that art and culture matters. Um, history matters, culture matters, no matter what it is, whether it's performing arts, visual arts, cinema arts, theater arts, we have it all and it's amazing. Um, all the amazing people, all the hours dedicated to, u making this all happen and keep, you know, we keep on raising the bar. Um, thank you so much to the council and the mayor for all your support and believing that art matters. Thanks, Anybody else want to say anything? Good evening all. U my name is Larry Goldsmith. Um I first of all I want to thank the township council and the mayor for your support um for the museum. Um most of you know um our our objective is artifacts of East Brunswick and the surrounding area. Um recently, um some of you may know or may not know, um we have a collection of artifacts from Governor Hoffman, the Republican governor. And um we have three reels of movies that have haven't been seen before. Thanks to a small grant we received from the county, thanks to them and to George Francancy, um we had the movies restored. They were very, very fragile. And on June 21st at the Community Arts Center, we're going to be presenting them. So this is from the Lindberg trial. Um, so if you're interested, please come. By all means, please, we encourage you to come to the

museum on Sunday afternoons. And I'll turn the mic over to my fellow cultural colleagues. Hello, my name is Anna Bronn and thank you so much, Councilwoman Zimbicki. Uh, as we all know, I I am so happy to be here. Now, I'm wearing a different hat tonight. Usually, I'm wearing an arts hat because I'm a retired music teacher, and it's wonderful to see my colleagues here from the East Brunswick Symphony Orchestra, which is really a dream come true to have an organization of this caliber in our community. But I'm tonight I'm representing the historical society because as we all know East Brunswick has been a great place to live for the last 5,000 years because of course before long before Highway 18 the Lape people came here and it was a great place because of our proximity to the shore and to the to the South River and to the Raren River, the Lawrence Brook. Um, and through the ages, of course, we even had some famous visitors. Benjamin Franklin walked through East Brunswick, right down the middle of Old Stage Road on his way from Boston to Philadelphia. And of course, we also had General George Washington and the Continental Army came through on July the 1st of 18 17. Whoopsies. No, I'm I got Yeah. 1787, right after the Battle of Mammoth, and they came through New Brunswick Avenue up to Ryder's Lane, probably went right past the municipal building, which I think would be a great place for a historic Martin uh marker. So, I'll be in touch, Brad. Anyway, thank you all so much.

I just want to echo some of the comments from my colleagues thanking the council and the mayor for this honor. Um, arts is alive in East Brunswick. I just want to point out just something for the entire audience to understand. This weekend alone, we saw Playhouse 22's production of wit open had three shows. The East Brunswick Arts Commission kite flying event was on Sunday. The historical society hosted an event uh with New Jersey historian Linda Bart. and Eastbun Public Library supported the seek culture and awareness appreciation and that was just this past weekend. This upcoming weekend the symphony orchestra has the May the 4th what's the new word for Cheryl who the Star Wars themed concert and on the future the arts coalition has the gala coming up and the historical society has the film and the museum uh presentation at the arts center. So arts is alive in East Brunswick and I want to thank all the volunteers that are here because it's all driven by volunteer work. So again, thank you for this honor and we look forward you seeing you at the theater wherever you want to go to see arts and culture. Please join us in front of the base. Thank you so much. Thank you for everything. [Applause]

[Music] [Applause] I believe so. Yes. Yes. Yes. Good. Okay. [Applause] Furthermore, council, we have another mayoral proclamation regarding the month of May as mental health awareness month. Councilman Beha, will you tend to this, please? Yes. Thank you. And there was anyone in the audience who will join the [Applause] councilman. Proclamation. Whereas mental health is essential to everyone's overall health and well-being and addressing the mental health needs in East Brunswick of children, youth, adults, seniors, and families is fundamental to having a healthy community. And whereas all people experience times of difficulty and stress in their lives and with the prevalence of me mental health conditions in our nation, it's important for all members of the community to know that specific tool tools exist which can be used to better handle the challenges and protect one's health and well-being. And whereas the prevention is an effective way to reduce the burden of mental health conditions and with early and effective treatment individuals with mental health conditions can recover and

lead full productive lives. hand. Whereas it's appropo appropriate to recognize the importance of improving the mental health of all our residents and East Brunswick is committed to raising awareness about mental illness, promoting effective community partnerships and collaborations to serve the mental health needs of our community and increasing access to culturally and linguistically appropriate mental health services. Whereas with effective treatment, those individuals with mental health conditions can recover and lead full productive lives. Now therefore, be it proclaimed that Brad J. Cohen, Mayor of the Township of East Brunswick, along with the township council do hereby proclaim May as mental health awareness month in the township of East Brunswick and encourage all citizens, businesses, organizations, and agencies to work collaboratively to reduce the stigma of mental illness and to increase the mental health of our community. given under uh his hand and the great seal of township of East Punzig this 28th day of April in the year 2025. Mayor Brad Johan. Well, thank you very much Councilman Bahal. Appreciate that. On behalf of our entire team, I'd like to thank Mayor Cohen, President Makavoy, and the entire town council for this uh great honor and for allowing us to do this work. Um, if it's okay, I would like to us to just to tell of a couple of events that are coming up that are very important to us and hopefully the township. So, I'd like to uh have one of our teammates now come up and just uh give us an update. Hello. I'd like to let everyone know about a very special event happening at the East Brunswick Library on Friday, May 16th

from 5:30 to 8:30 at night. It's our teen stressless night. A night to bring teens together from grades 8 to 12. All schools. I mean, if you live in East Brunswick, you can attend. And it's to recognize the special mental health needs of teens. It's going to be a fun night, but a night with a serious purpose. We start start out with pizza and cookies. We're going to have calming meditative crafts done by our library staff. Lowfi music. Don't ask me what that is, but the teens all tell me that's what they listen to. Therapy dogs on hand. A peaceful nature walk around the pond and a guided meditation done by one of our library staff with no cell phones. And embedded in all of this, we are going to have mental health counselors from NJ4S, which is Ruter's Behavioral Health, and an organization called 1800 Turning Lives Around, which is dedicated to teen violence and teen date violence specifically. So again, this is a night um to address the special needs of teens pertaining to mental health. Uh we hope that the teens will stop by and talk to the counselors. We're strategically putting the therapy dogs right near the counselors so that they'll that they'll lure the teens, but to talk about all the mental health needs that teens have, whether it's academic, peer pressure, family issues, depression, and the list goes on and on. So, it's our first step to really recognize that um we're all in this together. And again, the mission of the mayor's mental health initiative is to make mental health respected and

treated and understood just as if it were a physical health condition. [Applause] Hi, I also want to say thank you for providing um this proclamation for us this May. Um, I know when we came together, which seems like yesterday was now like probably eight months ago, um, we've come so far in developing our goals and being able to um, put out to the community um, how people in our town struggle with mental health challenges and how important it is to um, look at the stigma um, of those mental health challenges and as Karen said previously, just address mental health the same as we would our physical health. So, um, another event that we have coming up in May is May 21st. Um, it's going to be a mental health symposium. Um, it's going to be entitled Teens and Screens, a mental health conversation. We have a keynote speaker, Jonathan Breezy, who is a principal, I'm sorry, assistant principal of a school in Ocean County. He will be talking to us about um, The Anxious Generation, a powerful look at how smartphones are shaping the emotional lives of today's youth. Um it's directly mostly towards parents, but any children that have uh teens that have an interest can feel free to attend because we're also going to have a student and expert panel. Um and so we'll be able to answer questions or kind of talk. We'll have some school staff there. Dr. Figo is also going to be on our panel. Um we have students from our schools that will come and talk as well. and we just hope to have an engaging night where people feel free to talk about um the effects that maybe smartphones have had um on their mental health. So, thank you. [Applause] I'm sorry we're a little lengthy and I'm reiterating a little bit, but I have a

family that was personally touched by mental health. I have a son who has had mental health issues and thankfully is a functioning member of society. He's a paramedic dating. So I just feel that we cannot stress enough the importance of normalizing mental health because when he speaks about his journey, he talks about the fact that he was able to talk to people about the fact that he had these mental health issues because I was able to do that and because I didn't look at it as any different than any other illness. So as much as access to care is important, I cannot stress enough how important normalizing this illness is. So, as part of our program, we have made these stickers uh which is our slogo which say mental health is health. EB stands together. We've been going around to stores and asking people, we're handing them out. We'd love everybody to put them on a car, on a store, on a house window to show that everybody in East Brunswick feels this way, that this is a no a stigmafree town and people who have issues can feel free to talk to anybody about how they're feeling. Thank you very much for doing this for us. [Applause] Let's do a photo shoot, please. Thank you.

Um, we're not ready yet. Those those uh those of you who really don't want to stay with us with regard to governance, you surely can exit. But if you want to see an exciting and dynamic uh town council meeting, just stay seated. I don't see anybody moving. So, at this time, we will receive a a presentation from PSENG regarding their gas line replacement project here in the municipality. And to my knowledge, um it was Kelly Roy who was going to take her team through the introduction, but if that's not the case, is it Mike Gallagher? Coyle Mike Coyle, please. The floor is yours. You're looking for an exciting and dynamic start to the meeting. So, I figured I'd do 30 seconds. Um, I'm Mike Coyle. I'm the public affairs manager for PSCG Mayor Council. Thank you for giving us this opportunity to come to to see you tonight and talk about our project. Um, Kelly, we'll talk in a minute about the details. We've identified a little over 10 miles of of pipe in within town that uh that need to be replaced. Uh we'll be doing that under our our BPU approved gas system modernization program. Um looking to start the work sometime in June of this year. Um so I would like to bring up Kelly to talk about the details what where we're going to be working, what we're going to be doing, and how we're going to be keeping the the administration and the residents informed of of the project as we go along. Good evening, mayor and council. Thank you for having us. Um just uh myself, I am the project manager for the guest construction work that we're going to talk about in a little bit more detail. Tyler Keefe is um going to be transitioning is project manager. So we're working together. And then we have uh three gentlemen here with us tonight that represent our outreach, our customers. Uh we're going to transition to them in the presentation to talk through how we're going to handle um

customer outreach uh before we start and during and after the project. So again, thank you for having us. Um, just to give you a little background, um, I guess since the initiation of this gas system modernization program stipulated with New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, East Brunswick was one of the kickoff towns that we started with in the beginning. So, we've lived through GSMP 1, we've lived through GSMP2, and we're currently under a GSMP2 extension program. So to date in East Brunswick, we've completed about 13 miles and touched about a little like about 1300 residents. So successful to date um since the beginning of the program work that we did. Um the recent work that we're here to talk about now that was recently identified um under the program is bare steel infrastructure. So the GSMP program that's stipulated with BPU uh requirements is replacement of aging cast iron infrastructure and bare steel infrastructure. The bare steel it's anything that was installed around 1962 and didn't have a certain production of pro protection on those pipes. So we've se we have seen those pipes age uh faster than other utilities in the ground. So in East Brunswick um during that vintage year there was a lot of neighborhoods spill, a lot of pipe bill at that time. So right now what we've identified is about five miles um which we're calling our phase one which is impacting about 400 customers um with those pipe replacements. We come in, we put new main in the ground and then every um service at every customer's location is replaced from the street to the house. And then if the existing meters are in the homes, they have to be moved to the outside of the home. That is one of the stipulations with the BPU in terms of safety. So it's quicker response time for our emergency services, fire, police. They can by moving the meter outside, we can access

uh shut off at the meter point. We're also putting stop valves in at the curbs for quicker access so they don't have to enter the premise in an emergency. And um we're also putting flow valves on those meters. So if there's any type of change in gas pressure from the outside of the home or within the home, that valve at that new meter will shut off gas going both ways to the home. Um so just to talk about the benefits, safety, what I just kind of hit on is the one of the biggest benefits, right? Um in addition to that safety benefit are the reduced leaks. So with those aging steel mains, there are um degragation that has leaks that are safe leaks. Um with the reduction of those leaks, we've reduced our methane emissions. Again, just to hit on this safety and reliability, um we're putting plastic in the ground. That plastic's lifespan, you know, is estimated at 100 years plus. So the next time we would have to come in town to do any type of replacement, it would be that type of timeline. Um and again just I've mentioned about the relocation of the meters. So just to kind of talk about more specifically um the recent work. So I talked about the historical work done to date. The new work overall um there is about 11 miles of work identified in three different phases. Our first phase that we're looking to start is in the Frostwoods neighborhood area. Um that's couple just sorry excuse me. um the Wong Road, Rolling Road, Hudson um area. Uh we, as mentioned earlier, are anticipating a June start and that work should take us through January of 26. Working closely with Keith and his team, we would look to restore those roads um in the spring of 26 once appropriate settlement and weather um comes about. And then the next phase is um in MB. Well, that's our map number that we refer to, but a couple roads in that map

area are the um kind of I think that's uh east of the turnpike. Um University Road is the main drag that runs through that map just for a reference point. And then the third area that we're looking at is a smaller map, but it's near New Brunswick A, Old Stage Road, and Sandalwood just for reference. There's a couple maps that we'll go through on the next slides. Again, this first phase um is about 5.4 miles, 400 services, 30 streets impacted, and a June start and January 26 end date anticipated. This is the second map. About 15 streets impacted over near University A. And then the third phase takes us into 2026. Um, and right now, um, what we're working on is identifying any other Bears still maps. So, PSCG is getting ready to file for a GSMP3. Um, we will be filing sometime this summer. Approvals usually come out in the fall time frame and we'll have a little bit more information, but there is a lot of bare steel in East Brunswick that is qualifying um for replacement. So, we're going to continue to work with your team to identify any future opportunity as we move forward in our program. I am going to turn it over to Jason. Jason is going to talk through our outreach process, how we uh communicate ahead of with the customers. Council President, may I just ask a couple questions? I remember you were here years ago, weren't you? Yeah. You know, on the first first round, correct? Um and and that went really well and you guys worked very very well with the town. Um I just want to confirm for the residents that these gas services are going to high pressure gas rather than a low pressure gas because you're pulling the

the new service through the old service line to the house. So in this these particular maps with these bare steel maps it's actually pressure to pressure. So changing pressure on these maps that we're talking about. In the past, we've had some sections of town that were because I know when you did my house, it changed to high pressure. Correct. So there was certain sections of town that were our up system utilization pressure that relied on regulators. Um so that did change pressure in the time, but right now the pressure will remain the same. Okay. Um it's just an infrastructure upgrade in terms of that that bare steel pipe. Okay. That that's all I want. But to your point about you're not digging up somebody's front yard. You're pulling correct. Nine out of 10 times we are our intent is to utilize the existing uh pipe that's in the ground. So usually our plastic service can be inserted because it's the right size. It's not size for size. Typically going from steel to plastic. So our intent is a hole towards the curb line and a hole towards the house we can insert. There are situations which are case by case where someone has built a porch or we can't access the side of the house that the meter is on because of an addition. Right. When that meter has to be moved outside, it has to be, you know, we try to go right where it is inside to the outside. So there are different Yeah. You kept mine inside. Okay. based upon my request because I was putting a we and we might not have had it's pretty and that is an area that's pretty uh finite with us like we have to follow a certain protocol to leave it inside there might not have been a safe uh place per standards with the BPU but I mean this is basically the same thing you did before and you're working with Keith and his team um to you know restore the roads and everything else and you out. I think you you guys did a great job last time. So, thank you. You know, thank you for that. Looking looking forward to, you know, seeing the upgrades. Thank you. We'll

get back to our presentation now. Thank you, sir. Yeah. Yeah, I'm good. Yep. Because all the variables are going to be covered. This is we we we've seen far too many situations where there are mistakes and that has that has not not been the case here in East Brunswick. The floor is over here. Mayor, I just wanted to uh confirm for the public that when you go about repairing roads that the work is done at or better than the condition in which you found it and that was what you did last time. I'm assuming that with this work it would be the same philosophy. Correct. Yes. So during you know ahead of the final final restoration which is a more of a milling and paving on the road our trenches and our our holes that were left are maintained to be safe in the road and if there are issues you know we've worked closely with Keith's team to and I think Joe right um when there are issues or there's degregation in the road we will address them and you know during the project so no I guess for residents they know that we've spent the last eight years on a very aggressive plan to restore and repay pave many of our roads. And so if a road has just been repaved and now you're coming in and digging it up, it has to be replaced at or better than the way you found it. So if it was pristine when you found it, it will be pristine when you finish. If it was a crappy road to begin with that we haven't gotten to yet and you need to put in a trench, you'll repair it. will look better than it did before, but you're not repairing and repaving the entire road system for us in the township so that people have their expectations set appropriately with this work. Yes. Everything you said is where we will be with the project and restoration. Thanks. And that's the message that comes from the deis to the community that's watching this meeting this evening. We want to make sure that everyone knows what the mayor is talking

about and how it's going to affect your home, your property. Thank you. Thank you, Jason. Good evening, mayor and council. Thanks for the time today. Uh my name is Jason Pastino. I'm a project outreach supervisor. Um often municipalities and members of the public will ask, "How do we learn about the project? Who can we reach out to with questions?" So, here at PSNG, we have a team specifically dedicated to project outreach. So joined with me are my colleagues Casim Gomez and Khed Wright. Um they make up our outreach portion of our outreach team and really we have a thorough and comprehensive um outreach strategy which entails informing customers um of the various phases of the project. As Kelly mentioned we have pre-construction outreach um strategy, mid construction and post construction outreach strategies. And really what that consists of is various forms of communication that we use to spread the messaging details and information about the project. So, we'll before the project kicks off, you know, we'll send letters out to everybody informing them that the project is coming. You know, your road will be impacted. Um, you know, this is what you can expect. And then throughout construction, throughout the uh various phases um that we kind of work through, we'll send out additional notifications out. So, as Kelly mentioned, there's a portion that has service work on the meters. We'll send out letters and notifications specifically on that. So, um, again, just touching on the different forms that we have, and you can kind of see on the screen, and I've also brought some physical copies if you guys would like to see. We have, um, letters that we'll send out in the mail. Um, we will send out door knocker notifications that gets dropped off at folks doors. We'll send out phone blast, email blasts. We're happy to partner with, if you guys have a social media team to get some of that material on your website, we're more than happy to do so. Um, we also have a website, which I'll touch on in a second. And then most importantly, a dedicated hotline which you'll see on the next slide here. So our intent is to bring the calls to PSEG as opposed to to to yourselves. You know, we want people to reach out with questions. That way the experts can answer them. We're

really that middleman liaison between the project team and the public. So if anyone does have a question or concern, we can connect them with Kelly and Tyler and the appropriate supervisors to make sure that their addresses u their their concerns are being addressed and and heard most importantly. So, uh, again, we do have a thorough and detailed plan, um, to notify customers and keep them in the know, um, as we progress through our construction and, uh, again, we we strive to to bring them to us. That way, we can, uh, address the calls. And then lastly, we also have a a website, um, through PSENG where we'll be posting updates as well. Uh, we'll have the street list of everyone's whose street is impacted throughout this project and kind of provide updates in terms of your street is in progress, your street is finished, or your street hasn't started yet. And again, just another tool that we use to provide updates to the public and get the messaging out uh about the work. And that'll really conclude it. Any questions regarding the communication process? Will um will Kendall and Cassim, am I pronouncing that right? It's Cassim Kh. Will will you be knocking on the doors? uh depending on the urgency of it. Yeah, it's possible that you're So, just make sure that you have the uh the proper ID and Right. You I mean, you've been down this road. Yep. You know, I just I get a knock on my door and I You never know. We have like our identification badge. Yeah. I'm well aware, you know, and that's where we are today. I hate peeking. Yeah. But that's what we have to do. And uh you know it's part and parcel to everything that you've said with regard to public relations that all of our residents will sort of expect and then they can go to the website and they can of course right exactly we want we want the residents to feel comfortable and know that it's us right as Councilman Wendell said we I I recall as well the last time you were here the same similar

presentation and uh the big the big thing about the roads was they came out pretty they came out pretty well. We give PSE and G an A+ for that. Good to you. Any other questions? Uh listen, if if this program runs as well as you ran the last time, I have no concerns. You guys did a very good job last time. The communication was fantastic um to both the council and to the public. And um you know, I'm I'm excited that that we're getting these upgrades. Excellent. Thank you, Councilman. I'm confident we'll run well with Keith in our department, and they all know I still have Frank Lucasy's number on speed dial. So, uh Kelly, I hope you stay through the project. I hear you're transitioning. Did I hear right? So, we finally got you trained and you're going to leave. Okay. So, but uh please reach out to Keith and I will get you in touch with um Greg, our information officer, and he'll help uh facilitate getting um the word out. Also, uh Lieutenant FM is here today. He's the uh information officer for the police department. So, if we could just get it maybe a quick team meeting together with your team and uh Jason, Keith, myself, and and Greg T and and we'll get it going. Sounds good. Thank you. Just want to again remind residents that there's now and and will be like it's been for the last couple years. Lots of different projects, road projects being done all at the same time. You're coming in in the summer. We have our road improvement projects in the summer. The county does their work in the summer. Uh and um so all of these are going on at the same time. So it's often very difficult to know, oh, is that a is that a PSCG job? Is this a county job? Is this the townships? Is

this the state? They're all working at once. Uh and so it can be confusing. Uh so that is why uh council president is just asking that we all do this in some sort of coordinated manner so that we're not inadvertently all in the same section of town at one time. Right. Yeah. We'll we'll definitely coordinate our best. Thank you. All right. Thank you everyone. Thank you. Thank you for coming. Appreciate you. We appreciate it. Thank you. Joe, is the laptop going to stay? Yeah, that's that's Yeah, we could if they're any residents. Anybody want to take the mic and I leave it right right there. I saw you strolling up the old lines, especially in the road. I'm guess nobody at home can hear you. So, I asked that to come to the mic while Kellyy's still here. And then we need uh Mr. Thank you. Bruce Barrett, uh, Bradford Road. Is this these new lines going to be run parallel to the old lines or you going to take the new lines out? They're ran parallel to the So, you're going to leave the steel lines in, possibly trap gas inside those lines? We purge purge them with water or something. So, there's a a process where they're purged and capped at the ends and made safe to be Okay. All right. I guess that's different now. Thank you. Okay. Thanks, Kelly. Council,

we have six ordinances for a second reading in a public hearing. Township clerk, could you please read ordinance 25-1 11? An ordinance of the township of East Brunswick, County of Middle Sex, State of New Jersey, amending the useful lives set forth in bond ordinances number 19-16, 22-16, and 21-26. and finally adopted June 10th, 2019, October 11th, 2021, and July 11th, 2022. May I have a motion to approve? Move to adopt. Second. Second. And Mr. Chris Gulo, these are leftover monies, correct? These are re restructuring of some old bonds that we have in place um to make them useful. Thank you. Roll call, please. Oh, open the public. Oh, I forgot that. Yes. open this portion of uh of resolution 25-1 to the public. Anyone wishing to address the council president on this issue in this issue only? Seeing none, close the public portion. Roll call, please. Council member Hall, yes. Councilman Wendell, yes. Councilwoman Winston, yes. Councilwoman Zimbicki, yes. And Council President Makavoy, yes. Attach clerk, will you please read ordinance 25-12? A capital ordinance providing for various capital improvements in and by the township of East Brunswick, county of Middle Sex, state of New Jersey, appropriating 879,500 therefore from the capital improvement fund. Motion second. And did I hear a second? Second. I beg your pardon. Um Mr. Kusculo, once again, a capital. These are capital items that we're going to be paying cash for. Um, still requires a capital ordinance, but it's not a bond. Um, so we're just paying cash for this. Thank you. Roll call, please. Open it to

public. Oh, public once again. I beg your pardon. Anybody from public wishing to address this matter and this matter only? Seeing none, we'll close public portion. Roll call. Mayor, I beg your pardon, Mayor. Just wanted to remind council that we, as you recall, we approved $4 million in capital uh to be used this year towards our capital projects. We're dividing it under ordinance 25.12. It's the it's a little over $800,000 that we're paying in cash. The remaining is about 3.2, which you'll see under ordinance 25.14, which is a bond. So that's why the 4 million is is split out differently. I think one's cash, the other's a bond. Thank you, Mayor. Roll call, please. Council member Hall, yes. Councilman Wendell, yes. Councilwoman Winston, yes. Councilwoman Zimbicki, yes. And Council President Makavoy, yes. Dr. The clerk, you please read ordinance 25-13. A bond ordinance providing a supplemental appropriation of 500,000 for the replacement of various water main lines in and by the township of East Brunswick, county of Middle Sex, state of New Jersey, and authorizing the issuance of 500,000 in bonds or notes of the township to finance the cost thereof. Have a motion to approve. Motion to move and a second. Second. Um, we've discussed this. That's self-explanatory. Open to the public. Anyone wishing to talk on this issue? This issue only. Seeing none. And this is not taxpayer dollars. This is water, right? Authority dollars or water utilities. Utilities. Yeah. Roll call, please. Council member Hall. Yes. Councilman Wendell? Yes. Councilwoman Winston? Yes. Councilwoman Zimbicki? Yes. And Council President Makavoy? Yes. Clerk, can you please read ordinance 25-14? A bond ordinance providing for various capital improvements in and by the

Township of East Brunswick, County of Middle Sex, State of New Jersey, appropriating 3,276,300 therefore and authorizing the issuance of 3,112,500 in bonds or notes of the township to finance part of the cost thereof. Motion to approve. Motion to approve. Second. Second. Uh let's I have a note here. Mr. Pulo, can you clarify? Quote, the township will finance part of the cost. The exactly what the mayor had just said before. This is the remaining part that we're bonding for and actually we have a down payment in that. Want to hear it again because it's a separate ordinance 25-4. Open this to the public. Anyone wishing to discuss this on the public? Seeing none, we'll close the public portion. Roll call, please. Council member Hall, yes. Councilman Wendell, yes. Councilwoman Winston, yes. Councilwoman Zimiki, yes. And council president Makavoy, yes. Um, council clerk, can you please read 20 ordinance 25-y 16? An ordinance of the township of East Brunswick, County of Middle Sex, state of New Jersey, amending the township code, chapter 101, Bilman. Motion adopt. Second. Second. Uh, film industry, self-explanatory. Uh, anyone from the public? Seeing none, close the public portion. Roll call, please. Council member Bo, yes. Councilman Wendell, yes. Councilwoman Winston, yes. Councilwomani, yes. And Council President Makavoy, yes. Township clerk, our final ordinance for now. Uh, please read ordinance 25-y 17. An ordinance of the township of East Brunswick, County of Middle Sex, State of New Jersey, authorizing a drainage easement and a roadway improvement easement between the Township of East Brunswick and Bright View East Brunswick

Urban Renewal LLC in connection with Bright View Redevelopment Project. Move to adopt. Second. Second. Mr. Chris, that's a big one. Can you give us a Yeah, there there's a sliver of township property along Ryder's Lane near uh Cranberry Road there that the developer needs a access easement so they can get into the parking lot. So they're going to naturally pay for that e easement and also as part of that they will maintain the whole area including the tach township property for the time being. So that's actually a cost avoidance for the town when we don't have to maintain that grassy area that abuts the roadway. So they're paying for the easement. It's a driveway easement and it's just to let them into their driveway. And that's bright. Bright view. Yes. Bright view. Yes. Yeah. Want to give a quick uh synopsis? That's to give them access from both allowing them to have access from Cranberry Road and Ryder's Lane. Okay. just a a quick description of the whole project. Uh I mean quick view is a uh assisted living and above 55 uh rehab slash facility. There's a number of them popping up across the street. One in Homedale and one in um the shore area. Um as our population grows, there's big a need for these types of facilities. None of this construction has begun yet. So, you're at the intersection of Ryder's Lane and Cranberry. You have an abandoned house sort of sets back. A lot of uh weeds and whatnot. That entire area is going to be what Mr. Krisculo is talking about. And this is a specific tweak to what's going on. Um public, anyone from the public wishing to address this issue? Seeing none, close the public portion and roll

call, please. Council member Haw. Yes. Councilman Wendell? Yes. Councilwoman Winston, yes. Councilwoman Zimbiki, yes. And Council President Makavoy, yes. We'll now move on to our reports section of the meeting. Mayor Con. Thank you, Council President. Uh, first I wanted to update folks. I know the last time I was at the council meeting, I was telling everybody about uh our fourth round affordable housing obligation which was initially given us to us back in October of 2024 where we were told that for the period of time of 2025 through 2035 that we had to build and make accommodation for 314 affordable housing units in the township. As I told everyone last time, the township didn't really think that that was an appropriate number and used the DCA, which is the Department of Community Affairs own methodology and came up with a number that we were thought was more appropriate, which was 265. The DCA agreed with that number and agreed that it should be and they recommended that it should be lowered to 265. However, uh the builders association disagreed and sued every single town in the state of New Jersey that challenged the numbers that were given by the DCA whether or not your DCA number was changed and uh we were one of them. So, uh, we recently had to, uh, initiate a settlement process, um, with the builder association because the courts really do not want people challenging these, um, uh, numbers and they don't want to spend a lot of time in court defending and arguing these cases. So they put this settlement process in place that allows the town to work with the builders

association to try to come to an agreement um be uh before which or if you disagree with you could still go to to uh to court. The uh end result was that uh we were not willing to change our number and the builder association wasn't really willing to change their number very much. So the uh court which is a retired judge who acts in uh this these settlement hearings um relied on her expert witness who is a expert planner and that person's number was 296. Uh that was the number that the planner recommended to the court. The court accepted that number and is now um given us that number as a final that uh uh agreed upon uh number 296. Our choice at this point would be to disagree and go to court where they we were most towns have an abysmal rate of actually winning any of those cases. So we would be spending more lawyer time, professional time uh for a case that we have virtually no chance of winning or accept the 296. So the township has opted at this point to accept the 296. It's still less than the 314 that we would have had to do had we not started this process at all. Uh and um now the uh next phase of all of this if it's accepted by both parties is for the town to provide to the DCA where in the township those 296 units should be located. That is being worked on by our planning and engineering department. And uh since it is due by June, we should hear at this body um what those recommendations are because ultimately it needs your

approval. So that I just wanted to give everybody the update on that. Um also wanted to uh ditto a little bit about what Adam Neri said in terms of the busyiness of this last weekend and how it describes what is going in on in East Brunswick on a regular basis here. Besides what he mentioned, we had the Arbor Day celebration over at the memorial school. There was a big tricky tray um uh fundraiser at St. Bart's uh for uh for Daisy. Our cricket fields were opened officially on Friday. Uh on um Sunday we had a slew of activities from the uh Alpha Delta Alpha Cappa Delta Delta had a breakfast over Applebees. Um the EBA sponsored a bicesentennial park cleanup. Youth council had the um uh and the arts commission put together the uh color run and the kite flying. The historical society had a lecture sick awareness. uh and it's just on and on and I think that it just and the next couple of weekends aren't very much different. So, uh it really just goes to point on the number of things that are going on here in East Brunswick on many many different fronts and we couldn't be more excited about that. And on the point of being excited about that, uh, many of you have noticed or hopefully have noticed that we've embarked on a very aggressive marketing campaign to get the word out beyond just East Brunswick about the things that we're doing. Uh, and I had said previously on one of the podcasts that I had done that, uh, I remember growing up where I didn't even know where East Brunswick was. I didn't live here. Uh, but I knew that there was a crazy eddies here. I knew that it was the way you get down to the shore from Route 18 if you don't want to get stuck in all the crazy

traffic on the Parkway. I knew that there was Lmens and uh and I knew where East Brunswick was on the map just hadn't been here. But the point is is that for our commercial corridor to be successful, it isn't going to be dependent on just the people that live in East Brunswick. we need to get back to what we used to be in terms of having the rest of the world know that there's a lot going on here in East Brunswick. And so we're um putting the time and the effort to make sure that that word gets out to communities because that's how we get the business community back uh here working at the type of levels that we remember several decades ago. It's just has to work differently in 2025 than the way it might have done in 1975 and 1985, but we're getting there and I couldn't be more excited about it. So, thank you all for uh for helping and being part of it. Thank you, Council President. You're welcome. Mr. Krisculo, our business. Sure. Uh, one thing just on on the heels of what the mayor said about affordable housing, been working closely with AI, Anthony, and and Joe in the back of the room, our attorneys. Uh, we have asked the court for a 90-day extension for choosing the sites. So, we don't know if we'll get that or not. Uh, but most towns are asking the court for some leeway because they're really not getting their numbers they're getting their numbers late. So most towns are are filing a motion to ask for that. So just to be aware that we did and Joe will keep me informed of that and that I'll keep you informed. And I'd like to thank the council president for sitting in on some long trials and hearings and stuff like that and accompany me in my office uh along with Anthony and Joe and

his team. So I appreciate that. uh the podcast uh the buzz about EB. Uh if we're going to be at our what fifth episode? Yes. This week. I I uh suggest people to uh to listen to that podcast. It's available on on a lot of different channels. Actually, you can see it live on YouTube. It's available on iHeart and Apple and uh a whole swath of services in that particular uh industry and it's the buzz about EB. So uh it's a very informative program. Uh you could find out a lot of things about the town um and answer the the question is a hot dog a sandwich? So, if you're interested on the opinion on whether a hot dog is a sandwich, you might want to listen in on that that there. Um, special event application is now alive and well thanks to Rob Zuckerman, Jason Pharma, and Anthony and his legal team. And tomorrow, I think we've uh received about a dozen special event applications in the last week. I know Lauren's been working and tomorrow's been working uh hard on those from all the festivals uh from uh religious institutions and the fairgrounds uh and everything. And remember our main goal of of when we went through this process is to keep everybody safe and I appreciate Jason FMA and uh John Kasuk, chief of police working on that. So, it's to ensure that the next day everybody is is all safe and well. So, I'd like to just extend my appreciation to the team, uh, especially the clerk's office getting them in, getting them out, and everybody opining on those, and

I think some of those approval, uh, will be on the council agenda tonight. So, there truly is a lot going on in East Brunswick. Thank you, Mr. Council President. Yes, please. So, I have a question with the affordable housing. It's a 10-year mandate. And if we get that extension, the 90-day extension, I mean, a lot changes in 10 years. Is there an opportunity to amend any of that to change the locations? Because I could see that being something that we may need in East Brunswick. It's limited the way, and Anthony, please correct me. I We're only relying upon what Anthony and I have gone through in the second and third rounds. Um it's limited to what you can change. Uh certainly the amount of units is not going to change at the location. But if you decide a particular location is a troublesome spot or there's there's some unforeseen thing, then you got to go back and get with the DCA fair share housing. And I don't know, I guess we have to petition the interveners at that point, right? because the properties identified to be included for the next 10 years will be reflected in a housing plan in the fair share element which needs to be approved by the planning board and then endorsed by the township council. So once that plan is endorsed that's the plan. So if there's any modifications you'd have to go back to the planning board and the council and we may need to get the affordable housing judge to uh amend it as well. Right. Amend amend it. Okay. So, thanks. Good question. Thank you. Our attorney, Mr. Mr. Hayakoka. Um, I have one comment. Um, on the agenda is ordinance 25-21, a bond ordinance providing for various capital improvements um pursuant to shared service agreement with the East Brunswick Board of

Education appropriating 11.5 million. I just wanted just to clarify uh for the uh the council that um back in February uh that a shared service agreement was uh for financing was fully executed by the township and the board for um 11 million in bond financing. Uh that contract is is active and in effect. Uh for the past couple months, the township and the board representatives have been going back and forth on the proposed improvements and the amount of the bond um financing. It has come to my attention that the board passed a resolution in uh April authorizing an amended shared service agreement um with a lower amount for bond financing. And so um for clarification I just wanted the account council to know you have two options. First option is if you wish to keep the original agreement in place with the $1 million in financing then no action needs to be taken uh other than introducing the ordinance this evening for the $1 million. However, if the township wishes to approve the amended agreement with which has the lower amount, then the amended agreement would need to be presented to the council for approval and we would have to introduce an ordinance the appropriate ordinance that reflects the amount in that agreement. Just wanted for clarification purposes. Thank you. Okay. Our township clerk, Ms. Waffle, uh there's nothing to report. Uh council any uh committee or board reports? Okay, I will now open the meeting to the public. Uh Miss Lawful, will you please read our public comment statement?

The public comment portion of our meeting is to allow the public to bring to the council's attention their concerns or comments. In accordance with NJSA 10 col4-12A and the East Brunswick rules of council, the council asked the public to limit their comments to 5 minutes or less. At the conclusion of the statements or questions from a member of the public, the council president at his discretion may choose to respond or not respond. Thank you. Let me let me open the public portion of our meeting to the subject of Gaza for a period of 30 minutes. Is there anyone who would like to address the council president to start us off? Please. Good evening. Nalto fell uh Tall Oaks tribe, East Brunswick. Uh Mr. McCoy, um I have attended these meetings repeatedly to express one central point. uh maintaining a sister city relationship with an with with an Israeli city at this moment in history is profoundly unethical. Israel is currently engaged in what can only be described as holocaust of Palestinians, a humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in real time. Just in last meeting, we presented this council with graphic, undeniable evidence, photos of Palestinians who were burnt alive, children with amputated limbs limbs, and in response, rather than engaging with the horror of what we showed, you referred to us dismissively as the Palestine Network. That term was not only inaccurate, but personally offensive.

Because what does Palestine Network even mean? Let me clarify something and that's coming really from my heart because I have been to many um places where we have Palestine network as you call it. We are Muslims, Jews, Christians and Hindus. We are black, white and all shades of brown. We are queer and straight. We are united not by a label but by a moral stance that we all stand against the holocaust of the Palestinian people. So, so I I really ask you again, what is stopping this council from severing ties with an Israeli city, part of a state perpetrating what we what may go down, actually not may, it will go down in the history as crime of the century. Israel is burning people alive. It's systematically targeting children, shooting them in the head and kneecaps to permanently disable them. And that's by the testimony of dozens of doctors who have served in Gaza. It is deliberately starving an entire population. And this is happening in 2025 in plain view of the whole world. So Israeli politicians and civilians are not just complicit. Many are openly cheering for the starvation of children. And this is only possible because governments and institutions around the world including this council remain silent or passive. All we are asking is that this council take a stand. Even if you believe honestly at this point that your individual action is small, every action creates a ripple. Even the smallest stand against injustice matters. So please listen to the voices of those you have labeled as the Palestine network. Take the ethical and moral path. End the sister city relationship with Israel. Let history show that at this moment you choose to be on the on the right side of the history. And one of my friends said in

the last meeting nothing will stop you from entering into the agreement once things are settled. But right now when the holocaust are happening when the holocaust of Palestinian is happening you have an agreement with the country that's doing this holocaust. So can you imagine the the unethical behavior of the city this city council at this point? That's it. Thank you. Anyone else wishing to address the council president? Gentleman with a hand. Thomas Whitehead, citizen of the earth. Um, how many of you have What's the address? I didn't I didn't hear you. Uh, citizen of the earth. Citizen of Earth. Citizen of Earth. Thank you. Um, a U. You will address the council president. Thank you. You were very insulting to a woman who is talking about babies being burned alive and you're just sitting there sleeping like this is like some boring thing that's happening. So I'd just like to comment on that. Um I'd also like to ask members of this council like how many of you have children? This is not a question and answer time period. This is a time in which you are allowed to make a statement. Um okay. So, how would you feel if your children's head was decapitated from their body? How would

you feel if your child's body was burned alive, covered with burns? How would you feel if your child's body was buried under rubble and you're hoping they live, but they're probably not? And the least you can hope is that maybe the rubble killed them and they didn't have to suffocate. [Music] under the rubble. I imagine that would probably be the worst day of your lives. I don't know you personally. Um, it would probably be worth the pain of like 10,000 sons, but honestly, like if it's Palestinian children and you're a bunch of racists, you don't care. Um, I'm not coming here to try to appeal to your sense of morality because you quite clearly have none. Um, these people have been coming here for the last 18 months. They've been saying the same thing week after week and you've done nothing. You are not worthy of the air we breathe. You are not worthy of food. You are not worthy of water. You are not worthy of peace. You are not worthy of safety. You are not worthy of happiness. You are um you do not deserve a long and a happy life. Honestly, even a short and miserable one is too good for you. Um, you're just the worst. You're really just the worst.

Um, you're the worst. You're the worst. You're the worst. You're the worst. You're the worst. You're the worst. You're the worst. You're the worst. Oh, yeah. I actually just remember to say um to say that uh you combine all of you combined together would be would be worth one Palestinian person would be the most grievous insult to a Palestinian person because if you take zero and multiply it by not 10, that is still zero. Um, I was going to bring up your a dirty sock and say you're worth less than that. Um, cuz like dirty socks actually serve a useful purpose. Um, that's and your five minutes has expired, sir. Thank you. Have a shitty night. We uh I no I'd be feeding into that that entire presentation. Everyone sitting in this sacred chamber this evening heard what I heard there. There is no place for that level of of commentary. But but again first amendment rights we we we allow everyone to take the microphone. Would anyone else like to speak to the council president? I was just referring to Okay. Thank you, Mr. C. Thank you, Councilman. So, you you run the chamber, Bruce. Bruce Bruce Barrett, Bradford Road. Again, I mean, I I I've heard that woman looking for support for Palestinian people for a few meetings now, right? And maybe as as a mayor and as a council, you can't support

whatever. I mean, I I think I remember in the past supporting different things. I have to go back in my memory bank is too dusty and old to know. Can a a member, a council member even as an individual stand up and speak and support the the woman who, you know, just wants to get her point across that we all watch the news and we all maybe agree with it. I don't think it takes a lot to speak it up and and say it. I mean, unless there's some kind of bylaws or something that preventing people from doing it. Yeah. The public portion is once again for the individual to make a statement regarding I know a statement that's the way that that's that's the way we operate. Yeah. Please gentlemen back because I'm going to close the the public portion with regard to uh the subject of Gaza. I'm good. So, opening 30 minutes. Good. Thank you. Jeff Winston, Fresh Palms Road, East Brunswick. Going to go back to the uh the bond issue that's on the agenda tonight. We're looking for a little clarity and I appreciate Mr. Aayakoka's messaging. I do think there's an option here tonight. that would be to amend the ordinance to the uh what ultimately would be 8.315789 would be uh the amount that was in fact approved by um by uh the board of education. So more for clarity this this particular ordinance has taken a very interesting path. When it was originally introduced, it was 11.5 million, which was comprised of $600,000 of shared services and 10.9 million of capital improvements. And that was the first

iteration. Then the number got combined to 11.5 million as was pointed out to me tonight, and that's for shared services, but I'll get to that in a moment. On April 10th, in reference to what was mentioned earlier tonight, the summary from this is from the board of ed agenda. On January 16th, the board of education approved the new chair shared services agreement uh to finance capital projects and renovations and the acquisition of instructional non-instructional items and equipment described in the resolution. Um just to jump down further on that, the township of East Brunswick has requested a reduction in the principal amount being financed. The principal amount has been reduced by $3.2 million, which was the replacement of the Irwin uh elementary school roof, which by many estimations probably was the most emergent item on the list in its entirety. It's confusing to me what exactly is the shared services part of this because a part of what the board of ed asked for, they did list out what the money was for. capital improvements which included a bunch of stuff like turf replacement, PA system, security, safety improvements, some parking expansion, paving, milling, transportation, five buses, athletic facility and equipment, classroom furnishings and equipment. I'm not really sure where the shared services part comes, but that part came to 11.5 million and that's who included the roof. So, if this amendment came down, I don't think the excuse could be we haven't seen it because it was voted on in April 10th uh by a vote of 7 to1 of the board of education to change. So, what we're you're reading tonight doesn't exist. There is no 11.5 million ask from the board of education and for the district. The numbers clearly at 8.2 to for a laundry list of things that should never be approved in a budget problem in which they're having now full knowing that the budget is not

necessarily capital improvements. But one would think that as protectors of the taxpayers's dollar, you would want to pump the brakes, let this budget finish before we start shoveling money and bringing it over in a wheelbarrow on an ass that's never happened. If when you do receive this, you'll have to have yet another ordinance first reading. It'll be for 8.5 million. The next board meeting is not for another couple of weeks where they're going to probably have the 11.5 million back. And council president, there's a point of order in which we run things. Mr. Aayakoka said earlier in describing something, he said, "Well, it'll go from the zoning board and after that the board will approve." Of course, that's the order of operation. That's point of order. Tonight is not the night to have a reading on an item that simply doesn't exist. Unless you just want to send over 11.5 million dollars where it wasn't asked for. It's inappropriate. These are the taxpayers dollars. Slow down. Nobody's going to lose anything. Let the board get their their act together and what they're actually asking for. give the public a chance to respond to the board on the list of things that they're intending to do as they walk teachers out the door and have many, many other issues that need attention. With that said, in summary, what you're asking for tonight is on an item that simply doesn't exist. The easy remedy is to change the council to change your ordinance tonight to exactly 8,315,789 to which you will be approving a bunch of things that should not be prioritized in a difficult budget year and what they're having. Thank you very much. Let me uh go back to Gaza because I did shut it down. I don't want anyone to

feel that uh they were slighted. So if there's anyone who would like to take the microphone and address the council president, did I complete that? You're exhausted. Okay. Just wanted to make sure. please. My name's Henna. Mason Avenue, Main Street, Old Stage in East Brunswick. And um I believe the clarification that was requested is that we are here to ask for an action. Um and that is to dismantle the sister city ties with Yevnet in Israeli city. A member of the Arts Council actually just said a few minutes ago that we've been here for 5,000 years. That's not correct. She then mentioned the Lape who are the indigenous people of East Brunswick. They're no longer here because they were this country is built on colonized lands where the indigenous populations were exterminated. Much like the Palestinians are being exterminated by US weapons. Clearly, East Brunswick has chosen twice to be on the wrong side as YevNet is home to the headquarters of Aeronautics, an Israeli defense company that manufactures unmanned aerial systems, also known as drones. This makes East Brunswick, who has sister city ties with this city, directly complicit in the genocide that is unfolding of the Palestinian people. So, as we mentioned before, the action that is requested of the council is to dismantle this tie. As of right now, until this genocide that is unfolding can find some sort of resolution, that's our ask. Thank you so much. [Applause]

Anyone else wishing to address the council president on this issue? I'll close the Gaza part of our open public. Anyone else wishing to speak to the council president, please? Thank you. Uh Lori Herrick, Reva Avenue, East Brunswick. Good evening. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. I am the health educator, regional chronic disease coalition coordinator for Middle Sex County Department of Health Services. Our coalition works to strengthen partnerships to help residents become healthier through education, screening, and advocacy. We focus on evidence-based strategies from the New Jersey comprehensive cancer control plan and work to implement policy, environmental, and system changes to reinforce healthy behaviors and lower the risk of disease. For the 2425 grant year, we received additional funding to host the women's health event and I'm here to extend the invitation to each of you to our event. It will be held on Saturday, May 3rd at the Middle Sex County Public Health Clinic in East Brunswick. The event is titled Helping Women Bloom and will focus on providing breast and cervical cancer screenings to uninsured, underinsured women in our county. So far we have over 40 women registered to be screened. We will also have screenings for skin cancer, HIV, blood pressure and glucose. Additionally, vendors will provide resources that will address the social determinance of health as well as providing health education. We are proud to bring this initiative directly to our community because we are lucky to have the public health clinic located in East Brunswick. According to the New Jersey State Cancer Registry, Middle Sex County consistently ranks among the top counties in the state for overall cancer incidents. Breast cancer remains the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women

in Middle Sex County. Cervical cancer is detectable through regular screenings and followup. Yet, barriers such as cost, access, cultural concerns, and awareness keep too many women from getting the care they need. And our event this weekend aims to close these gaps. Our event is about reaching mothers, daughters, sisters, neighbors who may benefit from an early diagnosis simply because we made access possible. We would love for you to stop by and visit our event this weekend. Um there's so much again of great things that will be going on at this event. Um so I will email the flyer so that you have it. But thank you. Please, if I may, Lori, just one question. I Where is it being held? I didn't know. Uh over at 11 Kennedy Boulevard, the Middle Sex County Public Health Clinic that just reopens I think about 8 months, 8 to nine months ago. Um I know think some of you had stopped by when the clinic reopens. Um we were provided a grant through the New Jersey Department of Health for the Middle Sex Coalition. And so we picked the public health clinic to have our event um because we thought that it was at a central location where people throughout Middle Sex County were women could access. Um we will also be offering prostate screenings for men who are eligible. Um and we do not plan to turn people away. So, even if it's a walk-in, even if we can't accommodate you that way, that day, SED has its services there, which provides um screenings for uninsured, underinsured people, and we will make an appointment to have you um screened. That's terrific. That's a really great great event. Thank you. Anyone else wishing to address the council president? Gentleman in the

back, Mr. Mayor, Town Council, Vice President, Tom Ingressani of Deerfield Road. Uh, just have a few things I've been getting on my ring doorbell. You know, neighbors write things. There's brown water in the neighborhood around Deerfield Road, U, Racetrack Road. Just want to know why would that be? Okay. And then um on Gordon's corn Gordon Street and Summer Hill Row, there's still that broken pole which is about eye level. It's never been taken care of. Um and then on Summer Hill Row, right near the the Uric Rescue Squad, a sign Hope Street is missing. It's been missing a year, just so you know. And um the other thing is um this civic center vital statistics in this area. Would that help us get the u the license for the real license ID? Could they help you? Because uh that's what I was told to do. This could be a problem. A lot of people right now are having problems with it. My wife is one of them. But uh I understand that the statistics are vital statistics could help you at civ center driver. Where would that be and who could what's the hours at that place? The only thing I've told you Mr. Ingreseni with regard to that issue contacting Sterling Stanley's office or Rob Carabinek's office. Oh yeah. Because it says Civic Center Drive to contact. All right. I will contact them. All right. That's all. Thank you very much. You're welcome. Anyone else wishing to address close it? We will close the public portion and let's move on to the consent agenda of our meeting. And so does anyone need anything

separated? Seeing none, may have a motion for resolution 25- 167 through 25- 174. So moved. And a second. Second. Roll call, please. Council member Hall. Yes. Councilman Wendell, yes. Councilwoman Winston, yes. Councilwoman Dicki, yes. And Council President Min, yes. Council, we have four ordinances for introduction. Clerk, would you please read ordinance 25- 18? Um, an ordinance of the Township of East Brunswick, County of Middle Sex, State of New Jersey, establishing new chapter 65 of the township code entitled Hotels and Motel Operations. So move. Second. Second. Roll call, please. Counciloman Bahal. Yes. Councilman Wendell? Yes. Councilwoman Winston? Yes. Councilwoman Zimpiki? Yes. Council President Makavoy? Yes. President. Yes. May interrupt. We have the pleasure this evening to have Lieutenant Jason Palmer here. So, while he's here, we're not sure if he can make the next meeting. So, if there is any questions on the ordinance, I' I'd ask that you either ask uh the lieutenant at this particular time or or contact them during the week. So, um Jason was was instrumental in drafting this along with our legal team. So, um but if there's no questions, uh then we could just move on. I just wanted to make notice that Jason was here. Any comments on the ordinance? Um, council president, please. Listen, I I just um I would like to thank um Lieutenant Jason FMA on on the hard work that went into this. I know that there was several iterations that went back and forth over the past several

weeks or months. Um, when this was, you know, presented to me as as a um something that would be coming up by the chief, I was I was really happy to see it. And I know that that they took a lot of time vetting this out with legal and everyone else to make sure that it would, you know, be enforcable. So, I'd like to thank Mr. Trama. You know, um I'll just make one quick comment. I just want to say thank you, Mayor and Council, and Councilman Wendell. This uh ordinance, yes, it was a lot of time. those effort that was put into it with Anthony and his team Mr. All right, Koka. It's just encap encapsulates the best practices for deterring criminal activity. And that deter deterring of criminal activity is beneficial not only to the hotel and motel establishments, it's also beneficial to the police department, which in the end is going to be beneficial to the residents because we're going to be able to free up resources. the establishments are going to be able to deter criminal activity and like I said, we're going to be able to free up resources to be able to direct them to other areas of town that are in need of police services and also fire services as well. What and if I may, Council President, what what would enforcement look like? Would that be on the police department or would that be on So, um and I know we had some discussions enforcement. Do you want to comment on that, sir? Um, most of it's going to be probably the police department because we're going to be essentially the ones that are responding there. Um, but potentially we can use code enforcement as well. So, it's really going to be a blend of of the two, but I would say most often uh than not would end up being the police department. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Jason. Which

titer, would you please read ordinance 25-19? An ordinance of the township of East Brunswick, County of Middle Sex, state of New Jersey, establishing chapter 122 of the township code entitled body art establishments. Motion adopted. Second. Second. Clarification. Mr. Pulo. You got it. This is clearing up what we call the tattoo body art um ordinance section of our code. get us better in line with uh what's going on in the state and in over other counties to ensure public health. So, uh Anthony, myself, uh Robert Zuckermanman worked with the county health department to kind of put this together and make sure um that it meets the helps public with public safety, public health. Did we get did we uh we do a motion on that? Yes, we did. We need a roll call. Council member Hall, yes. Councilman Windell, yes. Councilwoman Winston, yes. Councilwoman Zimbicki, yes. Council President Makavoy, yes. Uh, 2520. I know the title. Deputy clerk. Deputy clerk, you please read ordinance 20. You like that, Mr. Wendell? Yes. I can't remember. I got these blocks in my head. Let's do uh resol ordinance 25 hyphen 20 an ordinance of the township of East Brunswick County of Middle Sex State of New Jersey amending township code chapter 109 article one retail establishments so moved second Mr. Chrisculo, anything? Yes, quite simple. Um, in the past we required vendors for food licensing that want to come to

festivals and events in East Brunswick to get a license basically every time they came in. Um, this provision allows them to get a license once for the year. We we have a lot uh the the phrase keeps popping up. a lot going on in East Brunswick and a lot of these same vendors go to these events at the fairgrounds and things that we have and the things that the township does. So, this will enable them to get either a a two-day license or a yearly license. So, that's really the main provision of this modification. Roll call, please. Council member Hall, yes. Councilman Wendell, yes. Councilwoman Winston, yes. Councilwoman Zimbicki, yes. Council President Makavoy. Yes. Deputy Clerk, please read Ordinance 25-2. bond ordinance providing for various school capital improvements in and by the township of East Brunswick, County of Middle Sex, State of New Jersey, pursuant to a a shared services agreement with the East Brunswick Board of Education appropriating 11,515,789 therefore and authorizing the issuance of 10,940,000 bonds or notes of the township to finance part of the cost thereof. Motion approved. Second. Second. Council president, if I may. Yes. Um, I just want to speak on this and, you know, being that I was one of the opponents to the school board borrowing this money and and questioning their budget and their their decision to um make these improvements. [Music] Um last Thursday, uh council president and I and the mayor met with

um Victor Veleski and uh Heather Gu, the uh chairman of the the school board and we talked through most of these or all of these improvements and we talked through their debt structure and we talked through many different things and and while it's not really seen. While they are cancelling only $3.7 million worth of debt with us this year, it's actually more than more than 14 million is what's being cancelled by the school board. So, they're not exceeding their debt service. Um it was also indicated that whether we went with the 8 million or the 11.5 here um they were going to go seek the debt for the roof at Irwin separately and pay higher interest rate than we can give them. [Music] Um, I was I was uh surprised to hear that the school board only carries currently $28 million worth of debt, which is much less than I would have expected and much less than other school boards carry in the state. um while they are in a a a difficult financial position at this point um and have been for the past year or two. Um, I came out of the meeting um feeling comfortable with this amount of debt being taken on and feeling comfortable that that the projects um that they're proposing uh as provided to us

in you know some some photos and such because certain degradation of certain certain facilities. I feel confident that that this is the right thing and that our ability to loan, you know, bond for this money for the for the school board um is something that is the right thing to do. We've done this for years and years and years and years. I mean, I've been on this council for 14 years and we've done this every year. So, um, I just want to let everyone know that I was satisfied with the answers given by Mr. Mi Mr. and Heather Guas uh, to us last Thursday. And that's why I'm comfortable supporting this today. Roll call, please. Council Mahal. Yes. Councilman Mundell, yes. Councilwoman Winston, abstain. Councilwoman Zviki, yes. Council President Mackoy, yes. For the good of the course, I just have one thing. Take your time. Thank you. So, I just want to appreciation for our township employees and all the work, especially this weekend. It was, I guess, long weekend, we'll say, right? Just event after event after event. And our wreck department was there working countless hours. Um, just the the Daisy Tricky tray alone, they started that and it didn't get over. They didn't finish cleaning up until like 1:30 in the morning. So, and all of our departments work so hard, but as a member of the Wreck and Parks Advisory Board, I just want to give a special shout out to our wreck department for going above and beyond this weekend. So, thank you.

Anything else? All those in favor of ending this wonderful meeting say signify with I. I. The eyes have a good night.