Township Committee - Regular Meeting

Okay. Are we ready? All right, good evening everybody. I'd like to open up the meeting at 8 PM. We're going to do a stand up, we're going to do a flag salute, and then a moment of silence, please. Mr. Stackworth, would you like to start the Pledge of Allegiance? Certainly. Thank you, everybody. You may be seated. Kathleen, if you could read the notice about the quick statement, please.

Sure. All attendees and participants agree to conduct themselves in a manner appropriate for public gathering. Individual speakers should be advised that no right of privacy protects a person's public comments made in a public forum. Accordingly, all participants bear responsibility for their own statements and commentary. Resolution 26-144. Resolution to read budget by title only. Okay. Need a motion? Motion?

I'll make a motion.

Motion to adopt.

Adopt, yes. Motion to adopt. Do I have a second, please? Second. Thank you.

Roll call. Committee person Zabrowski? Yes. Committee person Ziner?

Yes.

And Mayor Farrell? Yes. Okay, next is the presentation of the 2026 municipal budget.

Okay. Good evening, everyone. I'm Melissa Pierboom. I'm the township CFO. Tonight, this is the 2026 budget adoption for Millstone Township. Here's our township committee. Some of our Kevin Abernathy, myself, Kathleen are here tonight. We also have our tax collector. Our township board member is also here, along with our township attorney, Brian. Just to let you know, this is not an overnight task. We actually start end of prior year gathering information. Departments work very hard putting together budgets they're submitted to the finance office they're reviewed along with myself and the township administrator Kevin Abernathy we review if we have questions we meet with the department heads we then meet with township committee We do a workshop. We go over pretty much line by line of the entire budget. So if anybody has any questions, everything's clear. And then we move to introduction.

Can I just interrupt you for a second? Sure. The budget workshop, is that open to the public?

Yes.

Okay. So anybody and everybody's invited?

Everybody's invited. Okay. So first slide, Millstone Township tax bill. Oh, you moved.

Oh, it's your part?

Yep. Okay. Just start. So along, I guess, with myself and many other co-workers, many residents call and, where did all my tax money go? Well, this is where your tax money goes. So out of our entire tax bill breakdown, 66.9% goes to the school. So for the 2020 tax year, it's $37,749,000. Next up is the county, which is 14.9%. WHICH WE'RE CURRENTLY ESTIMATING TO BE ABOUT 8.3. WE HAVEN'T RECEIVED THE FINALIZED NUMBER ON THAT. THE MUNICIPAL RECEIVES $5,292,000. THE SPECIAL DISTRICT, WHICH IS OUR FIRE DISTRICT, IS 3.479. AND THEN WE HAVE A DEDICATED MUNICIPAL OPEN SPACE TAX, AND THAT TRUST WILL RECEIVE $1.5 MILLION WITH THIS YEAR'S BUDGET BREAKDOWN. so for the 2026 you could see our net valuation taxable and then actual it from 2025 currently the 26 is estimated we had a four percent 4.6 increase the local amount to be raised by taxation we went up 291 000 from prior year we're anticipating our local municipal tax rate to be 0.21 Last year it was .208. Our tax collection rate that's used last year with the actual collection rate was 99.07 and this year we're estimating at 98.38. The average home assessment for 2026 is estimated to be $642,000 and an average home will pay $1,356 in municipal tax only. That's just the municipal tax.

And that's for the year?

That's for the year. So can you repeat that please? $1,356 for an average home assessment at $642,000 the municipal township of municipal office will receive. So that average, so we have an increase of $66.44 from last year tax bill. So some of the goals that we've discussed for the 2020 six budget was to maintain a stable and responsible municipal tax levy fund, necessary capital improvements to preserve, enhance our community. prioritize expenditures to align with the township operational needs and our long-term strategic objectives, and to continue investments in energy efficiency and initiatives to reduce operating costs and improve sustainability. So here you'll see two charts. One's our annual net valuation taxable from 2017 to 2026. and also along with our local municipal tax rate from 2017 to 2026. Our annual tax collection percentages have been pretty steady the last few years, with our lowest tax collection rate being in 2019. We just recently had our highest annual tax collection at 99.08. so here's a summary of our revenue fund balance this year we're using 1.7 compared to last year we used 2.8 million dollars with a change of 1.1 one of the reasons for the utilization going down is last year we had a fully funded capital ordinance so we paid cash for the road improvement program and some equipment purchases for DPW. Grants this year, we have in our budget $86,763. Last year we had a grant from the DCA that we're currently using for our benches and tree program at Millstone Park for improvements. Our interest on investments, we're utilizing the same. It's flat. Miscellaneous revenues slightly increased. Those are our fees, not construction fees, just like regular land use, municipal clerk fees and stuff like that. Municipal courts remained flat at 30, our property tax. ARE INCREASED 291,000. RECEIPTS FROM DELINGUA TAX, STATE AID, OUR CELL, THE OTHER TOWER LEASE, AND OUR CONSTRUCTION CODE ALL REMAINED FLAT. SO...

SO THE NET OPERATING COST TO RUN THE TOWN ACTUALLY WENT DOWN.

YES. So, fund balance surplus overview. New Jersey budgeting laws require municipalities to only anticipate revenues to the extent received in prior year. So, for such as for the construction revenue. If we received, say, $475 last year, I can't use more than that in the budget for the next year.

Which is why you went from $450 to $450.

Yes. So, whatever we receive in prior year. Obviously, the goal... is to put back to surplus as much as we can and increase our revenues. So I tend to be a little bit conservative on my interest because I know we have some good investments, and I know that number is going to cover any of our shortages if construction doesn't meet our anticipated revenue. I know we have a couple other accounts where we will bring in additional funding to cover those loss of revenue. Fund balance and surplus is accumulated in prior years is used to balance the budget So I just gave a little synopsis of the prior years of what we've The balance of the surplus what we've utilized in the budget You know last year we did use quite a bit of cash which again we used for a fully funded capital ordinance So with utilizing the $1.7 million, we will still have a surplus balance of $1.9.

Don't we also pay down debt?

We do. We have a slide coming up. You can see where we're at with our debt service.

Do you want to go to the next slide?

Yes, please. So this is just an analysis of our budget appropriations. General appropriations inside cap, $6 million. TOTAL GENERAL OPERATION, THIS IS INCLUDING, LIKE, OUR CAPITAL. OUTSIDE CAP, 469. CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS, WE HAVE 317,000. MUNICIPAL DEBT SERVICE, WE'RE PAYING DOWN 1.6 MILLION. AND THEN THE RESERVE FOR UNCOLLECTED TAXES IS 915,000. SO A LITTLE BIT OF ANALYSIS OF OUR CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS. I just want to, this is just an estimated projection of our capital projects within the next years, six years. Since we are over 10,000 residents, it's required that we have a six-year plan in our budget. This is not, these are not definite items that we're utilizing. These are, again, it's just a plan. This year, we're planning for certain elements. If We do them or don't. But if it's not in my capital, I would have to resubmit a capital budget. We would not be able to authorize any funding unless it's been in the capital plan. So over the next six years, we have an estimated public works of equipment 563,800. Our road improvement program, we're expecting to spend another $4,252,000. That does not include... DOT grants that we do every year. We apply for a DOT grant, and we usually don't proceed with a road program until we've received a grant. We generally receive one every year. Improvements to building and parks, $539,000. I just want to specify that does not include grants. And land purchase and improvements, $6 million. So here is our debt management slide. As you can see, our highest point of debt was 1.886 and that was in 2020 and has increasingly gone down. 2021 we've been paying down our and this this number also includes the open space debt that any money this that we had borrowed through the open space to purchase open space so that was a year the rates were very low that we refinanced

everything we could we borrowed extra money. Basically a 12-year average life was slightly over one point like you know one six percent net. It was cheap to borrow money. So that's why we loaded up as much as we could you know rates are anywhere haven't seen that time you know since then. And we're reaping the benefits of it.

So our net debt for the percentage of three years average equalized valuation for 2025 is 0.474. So it's going in the right direction. So the next slide just contains what the average homeowner pays, $1,356.09 or averages $113 a month in municipal tax. These are the items, some of the items that are provided from our public works, vital statistics, community events. This year we did have an additional event, the America's 250th at the Thomas Barrett Homestead, the encampment. We have recycling. We have revenue collection. We have additional. We pick up Christmas trees. We do spring and fall brush drop-off. So these are just some of the items that we work on during the year with the $1,356. So continuing ongoing management, we collaborate and we work effort to manage new challenge and priorities. We continue to review appropriations and try to reduce costs. We research additional revenue sources and we responsibly manage our debt. And that's it. And that's just an overview of our budget for the year 2026. Okay.

At this time, I'd like to open up the budget review to the public. If anybody would like to come up and ask a question, make a comment.

We're opening it up at 8.15 for the public hearing.

Okay. Anybody? You did a great job. There's no questions.

All right. Make sure that's in the minutes. Yeah. No, for real. Make sure it's in there, that it's in the minutes, that there were no comments from the public.

No public comment. Yep. And we... I'll make a comment from this, thanking Melissa for the hard work, effort that went in and the rest of the team that pulled these numbers together.

You've got to close it first.

Can you please close it? At this point, since there's nobody from the public, I'd like to make a comment. I'd like to close it out at... 816.

Okay, now you can speak, Kevin.

I definitely want to thank Melissa for the effort that the rest of the team for putting up You know, all the information that's required to do this. Obviously, you can't give everybody what they want, whether it's the residents or the employees. So we try to do what we can best. So I think she did a great job with a very sensible budget.

Okay. Okay. So we have the resolution 26-145, resolution to adopt the 2026 municipal budget.

Thank you. Do I have a motion to adopt the budget? I vote to adopt. Second. Roll call.

Committee person Zabrowski? Yeah. Committee person Ziner?

Yes.

And Mayor Farrell? Yes. Okay, budget is adopted.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So the next up is a public hearing on a grant application. Monmouth County Municipal Park Improvement Grant program application for Abbott Park, 29 Charleston Springs Road, block 45, lot 5.33. Kevin?

so yes monmouth county is kind enough to do match funding of grants for uh parks parks improvements historical type of things and they've given out quite a few i think uh 51 of the 53 towns have actually taken advantage of it we've taken advantage of it in numerous times whether it's our historic i believe last year uh park uh acquisition on spring road in park improvements that we've done so usually what they would look for is projects that develop new or expand uh improved recreation opportunities so um they also have you know past performance a municipality's record for completion of projects these are all different criteria that go into it uh relationship to monmouth county open space plan other planning efforts and that includes supporting open space, which Millstone does to the tune of roughly a million and a half a year, as Melissa just described. Innovative design and historic preservation, which I mentioned, but one of the things they also want is community support. Expression of public support through testimony at a public hearing or letters, participation of partners or outside funding support. So basically at this presentation, that's what I'd be looking for to inform the township of what we're looking to do and look for the township's resident support. If you look on the back of the room, we have a picture of the survey of Abbott Park kind of as built on the right hand side. And on the left hand side, you can see some of the conditions of some of the courts that we have currently. So obviously that's not acceptable and we're gonna be looking for the county to ask the maximum award that they would give is up to 500,000 and that's what we'll be looking for. The park itself has been, roughly, I think, 19, almost 20 years old, and it really hasn't had any kind of major facelift in a long time. There's an existing wall that was used for a handball that's fallen apart, so we're going to remove the asphalt surface there. We're going to probably put a synthetic-type surf with sand base to allow it to be used for, say, a batting cage or some other functional type of recreation space. The existing tennis courts, there's three of them currently, will be replaced and We're still looking to see what type of material we're going to replace it with. As many of you know, asphalt holds up for three to five years. There's a new high-tension concrete court system that's available on the market. Friel Township actually is installing it over at Tide Park. We've actually went over there to check to see how it's being done, a cabling type of thing with four inches of concrete. Supposedly, they will give us a 50-year guarantee against cracking. So asphalt, that's unheard of. The company that supports the guarantee is like a billion-dollar company, so they should be around in 50 years. I know I won't be. So the court right now has three tennis courts on the tennis court, and we'd like to put in four pickleball there so the footprint will be slightly expanded. to provide proper spacing for the pickleball and better accommodate that proposed layout. The basketball court will be removed and replaced with hopefully the high tension concrete surface. I say hopefully, it all depends on some of the grant. If we don't get the 500,000 or a very small portion of that, then we might have to break this down into phase one, phase two, or come up with a different material. The existing courts have experienced above average cracking, So the township supports the decision to consider a more durable long-term solution, although the initial concrete construction may or will be higher. Acrylic playing surfaces will still be put on top. About every 10 years will need to be redone. However, that would also be required with traditional asphalt courts. So the key advantage is high-tension concrete would be based to provide a more durable, stable foundation. It's one of our only parks that doesn't have a flagpole. There's been some residents there that would promise the flagpole, so we'd like to do that, maybe extend the parking lot. And if the funding is available where the stone is to maybe even asphalt, continue that through. So I'd be looking for the township support, I'd be looking for the resident support, and obviously we'll be sending an application out to Monmouth County by early July, and I'll be looking for their support as well.

Okay.

I'd like to open that to the public also for comments or questions. That's what I was just about to say. Sorry.

No, no, no, that's all right. At this point, because this is on the public agenda and Kevin did a presentation on it, I'd like to open it up to the public and ask if anybody has any comments, any suggestions that would help us out in order to enable us to ask for that grant. And hopefully with your support, we can get it.

Okay, we're opening it at 823.

and Murphy 38 Cabbage Way. As you guys know, Habate Park has been a point for me, and I strongly support it.

Oh wait, let me turn that microphone on, sorry.

Should I stop you in the end?

Yeah, would you please? Thank you.

Dan Murphy, 38 Carriageway. As the board knows that I've been in here and talked about Abate Park, and I'm very happy to see that some progress looks like it's going to be made. I believe this township is worthy of first class parks, and it's a great step towards it. On that note, I would donate the flagpole should you get that grant approved. So if there is Any question from the county looking for donations? I personally would donate the flagpole. And I spoke to someone in the business alliance now. We might need some sort of effort to get some money, raise some money funds, whatever we can through the business alliance for that project. If Monmouth County gives us the full grant. So it gives you something to go back to the county and say, we have some people that are willing to put some residents, put something in the pocket.

Yeah, I think they would probably look for a little more. So we, we, we, we already tell them we've got to have it, but, but to have a letter or something from you that I could put in with the application would be helpful.

I would put up to... Actually, to his point, not just a letter from you, but a letter from everybody separately. So the more letters we have from different individuals, we'll go a lot further.

I would include it right in the application package. Here are some of the groups.

And you know, I live down the block from Agate Park. I walk in the park. Every day almost. Residents, whatever. My kids, my grandkids play in the park, so I expect them to outlast that 50 years of that. And I would say that I would get up to $10,000 in donations for that if you can get the county. And I'm putting it on the record now. If you can get that county, I'll get $10,000 towards that.

If you could go back, not just to the business alliance, but to anybody, ask them to write a letter of support.

We want to leave that effort for all the parks, including Millstone. If we can get grants based on residents or getting donations, I believe that's very important for the residents and the kids in this town. Perfect, thank you. It's on the record there. Thank you.

Do you want to announce a duty of support?

Yeah. Sorry, Dan. We actually have to have the application in by, I think it's July 9th. So if you could have it by the end of June to me, this way I could have it all bundled in with the package. According to the letters of support. Yeah, letters of support. Thank you.

You got that back?

Yeah, it's down lower. I'm sure. Pat Butch, Forty Prado and Way. I'm very happy to see that this is moving forward. The Millstone Township Open Space Council has been talking about this at the last couple of meetings. We actually didn't know that you were taking this action with this grant in particular, so we were actually looking for grants that we could possibly leverage to do some of this work. We also, the Councils, both the Open Space Council and the Ag Council, had been talking about the potential of using some of the funds raised at the Clambake this year to purchase the flag. So you actually have two different groups that have prioritized that as a potential donation. The Open Space Council could certainly supply a letter of support for this grant since we have discussed that we're all in favor at the last meeting. The Friends of Nelson Township Historic Registered Properties also have talked about it at their last meeting and support the project. The Historic Preservation Council meets tomorrow night. That is on their agenda as well. I do have a couple of things I'd just like to point out in the grant application as I'm understanding it from your presentation. So we are not losing any of the recreation-type facilities that are currently there. Is that correct?

You would be losing handball that hasn't been used.

So the handball court would go away.

Correct.

But that's going to get replaced by the pickleball. But we would be adding other aspects, which are for pickleball courts. What else is being added?

There's going to be an area where you could maybe throw lacrosse balls or a batting type of cage area as well on a synthetic surface, which we don't have.

Are we also adding any parking? or do we not have a need for extra parking?

Well, if we expand the parking lot, right now it's gravel, so we wouldn't be necessarily expanding. Around the flagpole, there's been a roundabout to turn around, so there would be something there, but it all depends on Are we going to have funding for parking spaces per se or whatever? I don't see putting in electric type of things yet at this stage.

And then as far as trails, there is an existing trail there now.

Correct.

Is that expanding as well or is that going to remain the same?

Not at this time.

I also just want to point out that I didn't have a chance. I wanted to get out my tax maps. I think there's trails on other properties next to the park.

I believe that would be to your south on the left-hand side is some trails.

So I think it would be good if you can put it in the grant to expand or connect that trail with the other trail, because that also shows an expansion of services to the residents, which is what this grant is looking for.

That's exactly what they're looking for.

Okay, so I think that that's great. I just wanted to put it on the record that there are definite additional activities that will be available to residents with this design of park improvement. The other area that I'd like to talk a little bit about is leveraging of funding. My belief is, did you apply for another grant from another source for this park? Not that you know whether you've been awarded it, but did you apply for it?

I don't think we were awarded it.

You don't think we're getting anything from that grant?

I wouldn't bet on it at this stage, correct.

Okay, so that this would be. And then also, just to be very clear, the funding for this PATH, it's a matching grant, so we have to put in what we get, the same amount of money. That would be coming from the Open Space Trust account, correct? Correct. Not from the municipal tax rate?

Correct.

So I just want to make sure that that's on record also. And the organizations I belong to would be happy to... to give you those support letters that you're looking for.

And they would be greatly appreciated by the end of the month.

Yes, and good luck. I hope that you get a full award.

Unfortunately, it's a very competitive award. The county started, it used to be like four million, and they'd get about seven million dollars of requests. Then they went to six million. Then they'd get about eight million dollars of requests. This year it's gonna be up to seven million, but it's open to 53 towns. Some of the awards go for as low as $30,000, some they cap out at $50,000. So there was a presentation today the county put out over in Hominy Hill that I attended. There wasn't 53 towns there, but you don't know who's going to be applying. So it's competitive. We have to be, they don't really like just fixing up courts. As you alluded to, you'd like to increase what your capacity is. They've been very good to us, so we like to try to work with them under the scope of things and try to do what they would like to invest the money in.

Right, and just to note, it's only been a couple of years now that the award amount is up to $500,000. It was at $250,000. They've doubled that as well, so the last couple of years they've been giving larger awards.

They call it as the Lee property on Spring. We were the first ones to jump in there, and they've actually taken advantage of that.

We've used this grant over and over again for acquisitions, for development.

But we will delete that from the county. I don't want them hearing that part.

You can leave that part out. Okay, thank you.

Before you go, I just want to say publicly thank you for all the work that you did for the 250th celebration at Bear Park a couple of weeks ago. I understand it was close to 700 or 800. guests that came in and were part of the activities and it was a very successful event. I think it was a year in the making just to let you know and she chaired it and she got a lot of people to volunteer and it was a great event so thank you.

You're welcome. We had about 50 volunteers that day. We did an exit survey at the end and the rating for the overall survey was like 4.89 out of 5 so It was very well received by the public, so very happy with the results. A little windy that day, but it was a good day. Yes, it was. Thank you.

Kevin and I were holding tents down.

Is there a written plan for this park so we can sort of- shop it around, give presentations, helping with the... We are in the process.

It's still... I want to get through here today, and then we'll start fine-tuning it. The problem is, without knowing the exact amount of money we're going to have, we're dealing with material, square footage, and we haven't put it out to, you know, three contractors. We have a good idea what it's going to cost. Yes.

I'll get...

I'll be able to get something to you.

Yeah. and it will give us an opportunity at the Business Alliance to present it and say this is what they're proposing, would you like to be a part of it?

I'll get something out publicly fairly shortly, but I've got to get through to May 1st.

Okay.

Anybody else? All right. I'd like to close it at? 833. Thank you. And now the consent agenda resolutions. Okay.

resolutions consent resolutions all matters listed under item consent agenda are considered routine by the township committee and will be enacted by one motion in the form listed below there will be no separate discussion on these items if discussion is desired of any item that item will be considered separately 26-146 payment of vouchers june 17 2026 26-147 resolution authorizing the issuance of Alcohol Beverage 2026-2027 license for the Loyal Order of Moose Jackson Lodge number 1459, license number 1332-31007001. 26-148, Resolution Authorizing the Renewal of Alcohol Beverage 2026-2027 license for Vesuvio's Family Restaurant, LLC, license number 1332-33001010. 26-149 resolution authorizing the renewal of alcohol beverage 2026-2027 license for dome isle restaurant court pocket license number 1332-33003011 26-150 resolution authorizing the renewal of alcohol beverage 2026-2027 license for wines and liquors millstone llc license number 1332 44004008 26-151 resolution appointing seasonal clean communities employees 26-152 resolution authorizing monmouth county park grant improvements to abbott park 26 dish 153 resolution conditionally approving a two-year extension of the mining pit for buck mining and materials Inc block 28 lots 11 and 13.01 26 dish 154 resolution approving and authorizing the submission of a grant application and execution of a grant agreement with the New Jersey Department of Transportation for improvements to Windsor Road 26 dish 155 resolution authorizing self-examination of budget Thank you for that The motion to adopt the table, please Thank you second roll call please Many persons of roski. Yeah, many person designer. Yes mayor Farah. Yes. Yes Reports from various departments for May 2026. Tax collector, $10,444,673.62. Clerk's report, $996. Dog license, $701.20. Municipal court, $9,914.89. Recreation, $134,506.57. Construction, $39,925. COA, $11,250. And the 2026 interest revenue is included.

Thank you. I have a motion to file.

I'll make a motion.

Do I have a second? Second. Thank you. All in favor? Aye. Aye.

Okay, township committee minutes. Regular meeting minutes, May 6th, 2026.

Motion to adopt the table?

I'll make a motion to adopt. Thank you, second? the roll call. Committee person Zabrowski? Yeah. Committee person, oh sorry I didn't wait. Committee person Zabrowski? Yes. Committee person Ziner? Yes. Mayor Farum? Yes. Executive meeting minutes May 6, 2026. Motion to adopt the table?

I make a motion to adopt.

Thank you. Second?

I'll second.

Roll call please. Committee person Zabrowski?

Yes.

Committee person Ziner?

Yes.

Mayor Farah. Yes. Applications for raffle licenses. Freehold Township High School Community Partners, Inc., RA number 353, on-premise 50-50 raffle to be held on August 4, 2026 at Charleston Springs Golf Course, 101 Woodville Road, Millstone. Motion to approve a table, please.

I'll make a motion to approve. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you.

All in favor? Aye.

Aye.

Freehold Township High School Community Partners, Inc., RA number 354, on-premise merchandise raffle to be held on August 4, 2026 at Charleston Springs Golf Course 101 Woodville Road, Millstone.

Thank you. Motion to approve the table, please.

Make a motion to approve.

Do I have a second?

I'll second.

Thank you. All in favor? Aye. Aye. All right. Here's our reports.

Yes, I got a couple of things. So the millstone township master plan reexamination report and land use element digital survey is live and will be open until Wednesday, June 24th. Last Wednesday, we had our planning board meeting where we reviewed the information that was collected from the public portion. And we also reviewed some of the digital survey responses. And as of yet, we only have 168 responses to this digital survey out of all the residents we have. So if you could please go online, fill out the survey and make sure your voice is heard. We would greatly appreciate it so that we can take this into consideration as we're doing the master plan reexamination. The seniors had their meeting this past Tuesday. If you're interested in joining their next meeting is 11 to two 30 on Tuesday, June, July 14th at the community center. And it's their annual 4th of July celebration. They're having a barbecue. So if anybody's interested and you're a senior, please come over and see what they're all about. The open space and Ag Council Clambeak was last Sunday, June 7th. I think we had a great turnout. Pat was instrumental. Suzanne was instrumental in organizing this, kicking this off, getting all the volunteers. And we had a lot of people show up. And I think it was very successful.

So I had the privilege of going to a fire department ceremonial event on June 8th with Kevin. Kevin was with me. Our Millstone Township Fire District ended up swearing in two new firemen. And that goes to help out the radio runs and the calls of service to all Millstone residents. In addition to that, we had one captain retire and somebody who was a lieutenant was promoted to captain, so we're keeping filling the ranks. And there were numerous awards that were given for bravery and courage where several firemen, some delivered babies, other extracted people out of vehicles, mutual aid, that means that our fire department ended up helping a different municipality when they were in need, and they helped save lives there, helped transport victims and injured people to different hospitals, and they've got several awards for that. Kevin, do you want to chime in on anything?

Yeah, they all said... an event at the school where they had to evacuate somebody from like 40-something feet and high, so you had a lot of rope and things like that.

They actually got an award for bringing one of my good friends back to life, so that was good. Actually, somebody went DOA in the ambulance while they were transporting, and they got the vitals back, and they brought them to Center State, and that person is still with us because of the efforts of our fire department. What Kevin is referring to, there was a middle school student that was in the impact center that was 40 feet in the air in the catwalk during a presentation. and ended up losing their, you know, a little consciousness, was not able to be conscious to the point where they knew what they were doing and was holding on. FD responded, I think it was mutual aid as well from other departments, Manalapan and Jackson and Monroe came, and they ended up doing some sort of hoisting system, put the child into like a bed, And they actually lowered him down to safety and then took him over to the hospital. Thank God that child is fine. He's happy and healthy. So that's good. So these are all things that happen that you guys don't know about that we want to tell you about, you know, all good things. So thank you to the fight department that we have. We work very closely with them and we support them 100%.

Well, I have one more. Go ahead. that's been going on for about 18 years, the Scooter Corner. They're actually putting together a pre-construction meeting. So they've moved the poles, they've been moving the wires. We should be hearing very shortly what the plan is, how it's going to be laid out, but it's going to take... It's not a quick job. It's going to take quite a while, but I'll have more details in hopefully the next meeting.

Now to his point, the reason why it takes so long is because there's Millstone involved, there's the county involved, there's New Jersey State involved, and there's the federal agencies involved. So you know how the wheels of government move very slow. Now multiply that by four different government agencies, and that will give you some sort of idea of how long the pendulum takes to go from one side to the other. But we're chugging along, and we're going to get there eventually, so thank you for that. All right, that's all I have as far as that. New business. Jersey Meds Management, a presentation of new CBD law. Who would like to come up and speak? And I'll put your presentation up as well.

A brief introduction, okay? um so my family owns a cbd store in millstone and um okay v-o-t-h-a-r l-a-n So my family opens at address, I'm not local actually, but my address is 30 Belmont Circle. Okay, so my family owns a CBD store in the Millstone Township. It's on Millstone Road. near the outlet mall. So basically, we are now in the third year of business and the store has been successful. More importantly, we built a strong relationships with local residents who have appreciated having a convenient access to these products close to home rather than traveling elsewhere. So over the past years, we've demonstrated that we can operate responsibly, comply with regulations, and be a positive member to this community. Our customers have consistently supported the business and have expressed appreciation for having a trusted local retailer. So recently, the CBD product, well, previously mentioned changes in both New Jersey regulations and anticipated federal regulations have moved CBD products into more regulated cannabis framework. And that's why I'm bringing my partners. We have a Jersey Meds dispensary in Pennington, New Jersey. And we want to transition from the CBD business into a cannabis business. And we have a cannabis consultant who would like to present Jersey Meds management.

Good evening. Absolutely. My name is Ellie Siegel. I am the CEO of Longview Strategic. I am here on behalf of Jersey Meds. And Longview Strategic is based in Marlton. Do you need our office address as well?

Sure.

Sure. It's 10,000 Lincoln Drive East, Suite 201, Marlton, New Jersey, 08053. And that was Longview Strategic. And I'll give you each five copies. I think we worked out pretty close to that.

So let me know when you want to go to the next slide.

Absolutely. Thank you. It's kind of wonderful to be following a budget presentation. We propose to be a new source of revenue, essentially. That's the summary high level. Just like the lines that you went through, we would come in significantly higher than, for example, the telecom antenna, less than some of your other revenue sources. But the idea is here, we're going to talk a little bit about a few different things. But ultimately, it's an opportunity for the town, the township, that is. And I can answer any questions. We brought the team so that you can understand what it is that we're talking about. We completely understand that the township is currently opted out. And so one of the things we wanted to do is just talk about what we've done in the location where we do operate. To give you an idea of what we could do in this location that is currently a shuttered CBD store, if you could go to the next slide for me. Just as a high level, I'm going to give you a minute or two on where we're at with cannabis. I'm going to talk specifically about Jersey Meds in that, and then specifically the Millstone Commercial Corridors and the framework for municipal success, if you were interested how we would propose that it could move forward if the township were so inclined. Um, next slide please. So our leadership team is here. Uh, Jersey meds management is a class five license holder. That is a class five licenses. The retail license issued by the cannabis regulatory commission in New Jersey. Uh, Jersey meds holds one of those. They operate what is Mercer County's top independent retail store. highest revenue for an independent retailer in all of Mercer County. The proposed site currently, as Pratibha mentioned, is 504 Monmouth Road. because they did operate a CBD location. It is currently shuttered. It would be a viable spot to activate relatively quickly with a regulated cannabis shop. And we believe firmly that the facility would bring prosperity for Millstone Township. As you can see featured on the slide, we have Dolly with us. Dolly has decades as a successful local business owner in various businesses. Dolly has owned gas stations. She's owned convenience stores, most recently a very successful cannabis retail operation in Mercer County. She's also dealt with many regulated items in the stores, including alcohol, tobacco, lottery, and now recreational cannabis. Kapil, who is with us as well as the managing director, active management experience driving the store's success, many legal regulated businesses as well. And then Pratibha is a doctor, a medical director and co-owner of the business, has decades of experience in managing physician practices, and came to the space when it was medical, you know, with a focus on helping patients. The team transitioned to recreational. when it was possible to serve a wider variety of consumer, but with a focus on wellness and health and keeping people, providing access to products that people want to feel better. If you could go to the next slide for me. They are Mercer County's favorite local retailer. As you can see, the cannabis experience today, as shown in that right picture, that is the inside of their store in Mercer County. That's a giant screen at the end that features all kinds of different things on the screen about their business. It can feature things about local businesses, historic aspects of the area. All kinds of great things that can be featured within the space. But it's a beautiful store. And what I would point out is that today these operations are similar to a jewelry store or even in some cases a medical office. They can only sell legal products from a licensed supplier, which is a supply chain that is all completely regulated from seed to sale. The orders are made online almost all the time. It's a very high majority of orders that are placed online now, and people generally come through to pick up. No lines, no big traffic delays or anything like that. The products are sealed in child-resistant packaging. That's required by state law, so they are not open or displayed. Nobody's allowed to touch or smell or see any of the products in the store. That's by regulation. The control is access limited. People must be over 21. They are carded, must show valid ID. It is a one-to-one service after that, so there is a very close interaction, educational process. Oftentimes, you'd be amazed by the demographic of customer that comes in, sleep issues or knee pain, and they're just trying to figure out what might help. Other people, it's social anxiety or things that they just want to kind of describe and have someone help them to figure out what that would be. It's a very personal experience, so a lot of times it's a one-on-one transaction. Then there's software that tracks every single sale. Like I said, seed to sale, these products are tracked through the whole supply chain to that end consumer. Ultimately, this is a source of revenue to the township because The trickle down is a 2% tax to the township. And so one of the numbers that we're highlighting here is that in just 2025, only their second year of operation in Pennington, Jersey Meds paid to the town $101,360. It is ramping up. That is increasing over time. They're doing better and better every day. Some places throughout the state, saturation is causing stores to go in the other direction. Jersey Meds is actually finding that they're still capturing market share and growing. The total transactions for them in 2025, as you can see, 64,433, so a large volume of transactions, all handled completely compliantly, no issues, just gold standard. Um, so, you know, we wanted to talk about here, um, you know, how this translates from Pennington, uh, to Millstone township. Obviously, you know, the, the goal here is to have a conversation, see if the township would consider opting in. Um, if so, we believe they're an experienced operator that would bring benefit. Um, and so we wanted to present here today, the opportunity. to discuss and answer questions. Next slide, if you would. This is just a map to give you an idea. The number of cannabis dispensaries in Central Jersey has grown as the market has grown throughout the state. But as you can see, that little red arrow points to where Millstone Township is, which is sort of in a bit of a desert, although what this doesn't show is that you do have some coming in towards the top where Freehold Township is. They are now going to have one that's not on that map yet. And to the left of the arrow right up in there, I think it's East Windsor and a couple others that have opted in and have dispensaries coming. So we wanted to point this out in simply saying that The municipalities are adapting to these markets. You have East Windsor. Heightstown, that's another one that has come in and freehold. There are now over 300 dispensaries statewide. Roughly 40% of municipalities have opted in. And so for that reason, we know that even townships that are opted out reconsider every now and again. It's just the nature of the thing that we know that folks wanted to wait and see. test the waters, let other municipalities get out ahead. Now we know the sky hasn't fallen, that this is something that's generating revenue throughout the state. And so that's one of the reasons that I come to you today. The market is one of the country's strongest in New Jersey. It's got a safe, consistent reputation. And so from our standpoint, we propose to operate here in a strong way that would provide a lot of benefit for the municipality. We target roughly $75,000 to $200,000 in tax revenue that we could generate. On the back of the handout that I provided to you, you'll see a breakdown of projections for what we believe the retail store could do. And that translates, of course, into revenue, which trickles down to tax revenue for the township. And these numbers are- Conservative, very much so, based on the performance of the other store. Of course, we factor in location, traffic counts, and everything that goes specific to this site in determining these numbers. And so we wanted to just lay that out to give you a sense. If you could go to the next slide for me. To wrap up, I wanted to just cover quickly specifically Milstone Township. You guys have what would be two great zoning opportunities. To the north, you have the industrial mixed use. To the south, it's your main retail corridor. That's where this site is located. There's other retail all around it. So in terms of fitting the nature of the area, we think it would very, very well. Cannabis zoning throughout New Jersey is considered to be different in every township depending on what they're going for with the location. So we really wanted to open it up to see if you have any thoughts on where, if you were going to consider opting in, where you would want it. And then the next slide, if you would. Specifically, if you work to consider that south area, this is 504 Monmouth Road in a little bit more detail. It's roughly an 1,800 square foot retail space. This describes the benefits of the shopping center that it's located in for this use. We estimate that there's 13 to 15,000 cars a day and that's how we, you know, one of the factors that we use in contemplating what type of business this store could do. And as we mentioned, there has been a successful CBD store there for quite some time now that has not had issues. The general public seems to like it very much. And so, you know, the compliance plans are even significantly more detailed for a cannabis operation. Security product tracking, age verification, as I mentioned, no open products or cannabis consumption at all. And then last slide, if you would. Second to last. This is what we propose to support the framework for municipal success. I'm sure your attorney and your team have an idea of if the township wanted to opt in, how that might look, what they might be able to put together. We just kind of laid out some different concepts that we've seen in other townships to consider. You know, essentially that in that third number, the most important part is determining the pathway for the resolution of support, what that would look like, whether it would be an application like an RFP process, which some townships have done, you know, just selecting locations and going through the planning board process, which some do through their zoning. Uncapped resolutions of support is that last one. I don't recommend it. It's just a mess in other places. And so it's something that I would highly recommend you not do because it leads to a bit of administrative chaos and ultimately sort of a real estate battle within your zone and potentially litigation. Um, and then ultimately saturation if, if everybody were to succeed. Um, lastly, on that last slide, um, you know, we really just want to say thank you for the opportunity to present to you, uh, to make ourselves available and, you know, to follow up with any more information that might help you. Uh, we'd be certainly happy to sit with if you have an economic committee, um, or anybody from the township that focuses on new revenue opportunities. My contact information is here. Again, I'm the CEO of Longview Strategic. I've worked with Jersey Meds through their entire process of becoming a regulated operator and opening. It's been a delight. And I can tell you that they're an incredible family story and operator, and they care a lot about the community where they operate. And I think they would be a wonderful partner for this township. So I leave you with this leave behind as a handout. Kevin also has on the computer a copy of the presentation. But if you need either of these, we can certainly get you More of them or more information about anything that we discussed today Are there any questions that I can answer while I'm here or any any ideas that you might have as to I

The other location that you have, what are the hours of operation, days of the week, type of security that you have there?

Absolutely. So it's currently shuttered because CBD is now being – No, no, no. Oh, I'm sorry, Pennington. The Pennington location, if you want to speak to – we actually have Karan as the manager. You want to give the specific hours?

Absolutely, yeah.

Oh, sorry about that.

Name and your address, please. I got you. Karan Lal Chandani. You can just lift it up. Karan Lal Chandani.

Oh, you broke it now. Could you spell your name, please? Yeah, absolutely. It's K-A-R-A-N-L-A-L-C-H-A-N-D-A-N-I. I thought you were on one of those. Oh, sorry. He's Dali's son. Yeah. Yeah, we're son. So ours operation opens seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. As far as security measures go, a very robust process. We verify every single ID that comes in. There's security measures in place where only the patients are entered through a buzzer. And so no one can just walk in the store. Essentially, there's a wall in the check-in area and then the actual physical store itself. But IDs are checked. That's the process essentially right now. Security guard in the front.

You have an actual security guard?

Yeah, we do.

And that's really a question of service in a lot of places. The township often doesn't require that, and it really is a question of whether that's an ambassador or a guard or a security guard. You know, we kind of fluctuate based on the environment, whether oftentimes in more urban metro environments it's a guard. In environments where it's more rural, you oftentimes see what is like an ambassador. But there's always somebody in that front that must verify ID and is serving that purpose. They are also always equipped with a panic button, something that if anything were to go wrong, security would be alerted immediately.

In the case of the security guard, are they armed or unarmed? Ours are unarmed. Unarmed.

Correct. Yes. And also IDs are checked again at the register just to verify the sale is actually going to the person that did check in. So there's no issue of selling the wrong product to the wrong person or to someone that shouldn't be there.

There are also cameras covering every inch of every regulated shop in the state. Every operation actually in the cannabis supply chain. And so those cameras have redundant backup. They have to be held for an extended period of time. Every single camera can be tapped into by the CRC at any given moment. So it's actually one of the most regulated spaces in the state, even in the corner in the break room of a dispensary.

Yeah, we have about 40 cameras active running, and I believe the township also we give access to.

Oh, yeah. We can also certainly provide your police with feed if that's something that you're interested in.

I know Pennington PD. They're fantastic people. They have access to our cameras at all times, and we voluntarily give that to them. I haven't seen a dispensary with more cameras than us personally.

So is it just a place where you come and basically pick up an order or is it like a place where people like hang out like it becomes like a lounge and you know people so it's literally you come in you get whatever your order is and you leave in other words.

Correct. We're strictly against any type of solicitation any lounge access it's a place where people come in they make their purchase we do guide them of course if they have questions and then They simply go on with their day. The majority of our orders are pre-orders.

If my math is right, about 17 people an hour?

Yeah, about.

Give or take a little more.

Yeah.

And the ordering, it's amazing, but it shifts very quickly to being pre-order and pick up once people are comfortable with the product that they're buying. Normally, it's the loyalty program. They pick based on certain things, and then once they're in the process... They generally are very quick shoppers. They're reordering, you know, a lot of the time. You'd be amazed. The turn time for pickup is sometimes two to three minutes because it's, you know, a very fast process.

Our average is two and a half minutes.

Two and a half.

From the time, from order to pickup? Correct, correct. Yeah, we get orders ready in less than 30 seconds. That many people?

Yeah. So it's a very quick process. So what is the largest, I'm actually not familiar, what is the largest amount somebody could order at a given time? Like, say, of the flour.

One ounce in New Jersey. And it caps them, and they can't, what's called loop, they're not able to come back into the store and buy another cart full.

Is there a time frame involved?

24 hours, within a day. And that's something that, you know, they're not consuming in the space anyway, so in terms of, you know, limits, it's really based on the state regulations and staying compliant more than anything else. Yeah, and it is that carries over into the other products as well. So edibles, tinctures, that's all, you know, has a weight of product associated with it. And so they can only fill the cart with so many of those until they reach that limit. And it won't let them put more in.

So it's an aggregate total? Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, they make it all equivalent to that ounce of flour, and they say essentially, you know, the edible is this much, the tincture is this much, and it happens all kind of in the background in your cart, but it makes it so that you cannot purchase more, and it'll sort of, you know, kick that last product out on you. Yeah. It's really tightly regulated in a way that makes it so that products can't go missing. There isn't diversion. If a product is bad, if somebody gets a product and it's not working and they bring it back to the store, it actually has to go back to the manufacturer. So the retail owner can't even just throw it in the trash. You're never going to end up with cannabis products in the dumpster outside the store. It doesn't happen. So no dumpster dive. No dumpster diving. It's all in that sense so tightly regulated that some of the stuff you would think like, this is crazy. It's to prevent diversion. It's to ensure that everything goes the way it's supposed to, essentially.

You wouldn't even find an empty wrapper outside our store. It's funny. You close up, and then you get 50 people going to your dumpster.

No. And the funny part is also that people don't – it's sort of a consumption thing that they don't do it right outside your store. We don't really have a problem with it. People always ask, are people sort of hanging around or in the parking lot?

That's why I was asking about the lounge.

part like are people like using it no it tends to be no it tends to be a little bit like any other convenience store you know purchase they're coming on their way to something or you know coming and going to or from something oftentimes this might sound crazy to the non cannabis user but people will buy on their way to work it's not about using it at the time of purchase it's about when can you get there to pick it up and then ultimately know it's it's a lot of times for you know a weekend or you know even that night and people just you know kind of hold on to it until they're ready to use it um i do think that in terms of the township's opportunity here uh this location it is a store that could be activated very quickly. If there was a desire for it to be in another location in the township, they've expressed that they'd be flexible and would look at if there are other sites that the township prefers. From our standpoint, that shopping center, is as good a location as any because it's in what is your retail corridor, where people are used to shopping. To your point, they're shopping there already, so that's probably what they would do there, and then they'd move on with their day.

And is it regulated how many people are allowed in the storefront at a time? You said that it was only a couple minutes to fill an order, but if you have 10 people that come in and want their order, then you have 10 people standing there.

That's a great question. I mean, we go by the local ordinance as far as how many people can be physically inside the store present. But generally speaking, that's the main objective of our security is to control the lines to ensure that there's not a chaos going on or, you know, like a Black Friday type of line. In those situations, and security generally just, they advise people to just wait in their cars, and then when one person leaves, the next one comes in. But we're really good at what we do, so it's very rare for that to happen.

There are also ways, if there was, for example, some event that we expected to drive a ton of traffic for some reason, there are ways to manage pickup times through not filling the order. They don't get a text that says it's ready until the time. So if you expected high volume, you would manage it in that way and fill the orders in a pattern that would allow it to sort of flow evenly. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you all. Thank you all for presenting. Absolutely.

Any old business? Kevin? Nothing? Okay. Comments from the days? None? All right. At this point, I'd like to open it up to the public. 909. If anybody would like to come in.

Evening. My name is Brian Brown. I live at 18 Winding Creek. I have just a few questions maybe you can help me with. I moved to the township 32 years ago, and it was very rural and clean and so forth and so on. I've taken it upon myself recently to start picking up trash along Bergen Mills, Old 33, and I've gotten people helping out. They'll honk at me and so forth and so on. I've stopped by Stavola, spoken to them. They went out and brought a whole crew in and cleaned up their property, put up a new fence just yesterday to prevent people from dumping rugs and so forth and so on. My question is, if you go down O-33 and look across towards Colonial Stream, the RV place, there's a trailer that's been there for I don't know how long, and the Amazon workers stop, they park their cars and they just wait for a call.

Wait, are you talking about at the Triangle on the north side?

Yes, on the north side of 33. So there's been a trailer there for years and now they're parking and there's now tire parts, car parts, I don't know who owns the property.

So we know the owner of the property and there was another company that for whatever reason, there was a bit of a change in ownership. The gentleman owned it passed away or whatever and there was a company that started parking some trucks there and it was only for a few days and we sent the owner a notice, and they instructed the other people that we're going to tow you if you leave. So you shouldn't see any more trucks being left over. Well, there's one still there.

The box is there, the trailer.

Yeah, I think that was part of the owner's fault. I think that was done. But the other trucks that were coming in for like a week or so, they were there, actually, I don't even think it was a full week. They shouldn't see any more of that. But please let me know if you do. The tires, unfortunately, we get stuff dropped off around town. So who actually owns the property?

Who could I call?

So what is your concern with the property?

The Amazon workers are parking there. I'm assuming they're all Amazon workers because they're just parking, hanging out there, and then there's all kinds of trash all over the place.

All right, well, then I can handle that. So we did, I don't know if it's, do you see Amazon trucks in there? No, there's- There was tractor trailers that I know that people were sleeping in there or They were dropping off something and leaving for a day or two. I haven't seen that. Well, that was going on a couple weeks ago. We put an end to it. But I'll make sure the trash is cleaned up.

The Amazon workers now use their own personal cars, I know, in the whole area. They used to be the vans, but now we don't see them anymore. It's just private cars. So the private cars are there, and they're hanging out waiting for a call in bottles, cans, your own bottles, so forth. The trash, I'll take care of it. The trash in the place. Now, we contacted Amazon once, and they sent... somebody down, and they cleaned up real nice, and then it's back to where it was. So there's tiles and floor parts. I'll take care of that. So if you could help me out with that.

I'll notify the owner. He's going to get, you know, you've got a reasonable amount of time to get it cleaned up, or otherwise he gets a violation.

Yeah, I mean, and the other stuff is not your problem. It's Farrington Boulevard that goes all the way down to Amazon. And I was griping the other day when I dropped Dunkin' Donuts. I come down, Farrington, go back home. And there was urine bottles all over the place. So that is still my problem. Somebody cleaned it up. So those got cleaned up. They cut the grass. They picked up the water. So great. Wonderful. But now as you continue down towards the intersection of Millstone Road and Bergen Mills, I clean up. Bergen Mills, I clean up.

You and I have talked in the past about it, and I met with the gentleman from Stavola. Yes, John. He was even asking about continuing the fence to make it so, the deal. But you know where to find me, that if it gets worse, you know, we have our DPW, we've had clean communities go up there, where the Boy Scouts actually have gone up there, actually cleaned up as well. I know you do a very good job. But anytime he starts going south, just let me know, and I'll... I'll get a hold of the proper owners of where it is, whether it's the Farrington side, or if it's the other gentleman who's in the Triangle, or Stavola. I'll be glad to contact them.

No, Stavola's been wonderful. I mean, to find who owns the properties, Narcosa out of Dallas, Texas now owns them. And then John called me an hour later and says, I'll meet you there. He said, what do you need? All grass cut, dead trees taken away.

Yeah, he came in and pulled together permits and stuff. So that's what I'm saying. If I get notified if it gets out of hand, I can contact where it is with the owner. And if they don't, then they get violations. Appreciate that. Appreciate that. Thank you so much.

You have his contact info, right?

Yeah, we have to go back and find it. But if you wanted to send me another email just to freshen you up. Sure. That'd be great.

Okay.

Thank you. Anybody else? Okay, I'd like to close it to the public at? 914. Okay, and I just have one last thing. I apologize for ending this meeting on a sad note. Two weeks ago, we had a moment of prayer for one of our local residents, Ian Walker, and it was at 8 o'clock. And the family had asked everybody to say something in their minds to keep them happy. have him recover or something, you know, to better his condition. Unfortunately, he passed away. And his name was Ian Joseph Walker. He was 30 years old. Passed away surrounded by his loving family on Sunday, June 14th. He was born on March 26, 1996, and he was raised in Millstone. He worked for Anheuser-Busch as an operating engineer for eight years. Ian met the lovers of his life, Sarah, in the summer of 2020 at the Navisink Marina, and the two married in 2025. Ian enjoyed playing basketball, riding his Harley, drinking Bud Lattes, cuddling with his car tank, and watching the New York Jets and Knicks. Too bad he didn't see the next win. He was known for being incredibly hardworking, generous, and making everyone laugh. He was a charming force of nature and had a beautiful face that brought him peace as he battled his cancer over the past eight months. Ian is survived by his wife, Sarah, their pets Tank and Olive, our parents Scott, Christine, brothers Daniel, Ryan, Thomas, and Chuck. and a bunch of other relatives. He had a strong group of close friends and loving extended family, too many to mention. Visitation will be on Friday, June 19th from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Holmdale Funeral Home at 26 South Holmdale Road in Holmdale, New Jersey. unfortunately very sad our sympathy goes to the to the family and nobody should ever experience that so I apologize to ending the meeting on that note at this point I'd like to have a motion to adjourn I'll make it thank you and a second is he still with us yes all in favor all in favor aye

All right, timeout 9-17.