Township Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening, East Brunswick. Welcome to the May 28th meeting of the Township Council. We are going to do the Pledge of Allegiance and then we are going to do a moment of silence. I would ask for you to stay standing for the moment of silence. And today we are remembering a longtime community member and graduate of East Brunswick High School, Julie Murphy.

Thank you.

in the discipline of liberty and justice for all.

Thank you.

Ms. Lawful, would you please proceed with the roll call? Councilman Bohol. Here. Councilman McEvoy. Here. Councilman Wendell. Here. Councilwoman Winston. Here. And Council President Zimbicki. Here. Also present, Administrator Joseph Cuscolo.

Here.

And Township Attorney Joseph Plumbitt.

Here.

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 Home News 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 so much.

May I have a motion to adopt the minutes from the May 11th meeting? So moved. And second? Second. Thank you. Roll call.

Councilman Paul? Yes. Councilman McEvoy? Yes. Councilman Wendell? Yes. Councilwoman Winston? Yes. And Council Presidents and Vicki? Yes.

I'm going to take a little bit of liberty to adjust the agenda schedule, and we have a proclamation, but we are waiting on our honoree, so we're going to move that and come back to it. So that takes us, we don't have any ordinances on the agenda for today. So that takes us, this might be the quickest council meeting ever. That takes us directly to our committee reports. Mr. Crescola, do you have a report this evening? Mr. Plumbin?

No report.

Ms. Lawful, I know you have a report.

That I do. Just a brief report on the upcoming primary election, which will be held next week, Tuesday, June 2nd. The polls will be open from 6 a.m. until 8 p.m. on Tuesday, June 2nd. Early voting continues here in East Brunswick Township at the Community Arts Center. The polls will be closed today at 8 p.m., and it will reopen tomorrow, May 29th, and Saturday, May 30th, from 10 a.m., until 8pm and on Sunday from 10am until 6pm. Sunday will be the last day of early voting. For those who have received their mail-in ballot, just a friendly reminder to please return your ballot. And there are three ways in which you can return your mail-in ballot. You can return it using the U.S. Postal Service at no cost to you whatsoever. You can also drop it off at the Board of Elections located at 26B Kennedy Boulevard here in East Brunswick or conveniently utilize our ballot drop box located within our municipal complex by our municipal court and our police station parking lot.

And that is all I have to report. Thank you. Counsel, do any of you have a committee report?

Mr. President, from Park and Recreation Board, I have few update on upcoming community events. On May 29th, tomorrow Friday, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., East Brunswick Youth Sports Day will take place at Heavenly Farms, 440 Dunham's Corner Road. It's a free community event that allows families to meet local volunteer coaches and gives children the opportunity to try out various sports offered in our township. On June 6th, from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m., will be East Brunswick Fishing Derby, which will take place at Dellen Back Lake, accessed by Crystal Springs, 380 Dunham's Corner Road, East Brunswick. And East Brunswick 5th Annual Flykite Day, which was originally scheduled for May 25th, but was postponed due to bad weather, is now rescheduled for June 20th at Community Arts Center. 721 Cranberry Road, East Brunswick, New Jersey from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Free kites for the first 100 children in attendance with additional kites available for cash purchases. That's all.

Thank you. Anyone else with a report? Okay. We'll close that portion of the meeting and we are moving on to the public comment statement.

So would you please read that? 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 10-4-12A and the East Brunswick Rules of Council, the council asks the public to limit their comments to five minutes or less. At the conclusion of the statements or questions from a member of the public, the council president at her discretion may choose to respond or not respond.

Thank you.

Is there anybody from the public that would like to address the council today?

You can come to the podium. Anyone? No? Going once? Going twice? Okay. Close the public portion. This is unusual.

Going extra fast.

All right. We are going to move on to our consent agenda. We have several resolutions. 26-187 through resolution 26-196. Does anybody need anything pulled? Could I have a motion for... 187 through 196. Yep.

So moved.

Are we moving the bill this separately? It's 197.

Oh, I'm sorry, 197. I never made that. Sorry, I apologize. Because we added... Thank you. 197.

Do I have a motion? Motion. Motion. Second. Okay, thank you.

And roll call vote, please.

Council Member Hall. Yes. Councilman McEvoy.

Yes.

Councilman Wendell. Yes. Councilwoman Winston. Yes. And Council President Zimbicki. Yes.

Okay. We are to... I'm stalling a little bit here. We are to... Okay. We are to the good of the cause for this evening. Mr. McEvoy.

Major shout out to EBTV. who is thrilled to announce they have won four JAG awards at the annual Jersey Access Group Conference on May 19th in Edison. EBTV took home first place in the categories of news magazine for EB stories, instructional or training, for Flavors of East Brunswick, a production with and in coordination with the Human Relations Council, and my favorite, single-camera sports production, with this smirk on my face, for the coverage of East Brunswick High School boys' basketball game, featuring myself and retired athletic director Frank Knoppenberger. We'll pat on the back of Kevin Macleod. Thank you. Featured in the photo of the EB staff on the EB TV website are station manager Anthony Pagliarucco, Connor Chung, video production assistant, Michael Dowling, video production assistant, Brian Belzer, video producer, and Paul Kapioski, as well as Michelle Yang, Madeline Herrick, Barry Key, Reed Luftig, Mike Vastano, AJ Solisito. You can view the production of these award-winning EBT productions on our EBT channel. Congratulations to everyone. Thank you, Council President.

Congratulations. ABTV's back in the booth. Are they hiding back there? Anybody else have anything to add? Yes.

I'd just like to express my sincere condolences to the Murphy family in losing Julie this past weekend. Julie was a lifelong resident of East Brunswick, graduated from East Brunswick High School, a close friend of mine, and a volunteer to anyone who asked. She was very involved with St. Bart's Buffalo's youth football and cheer for what would have to be 20 years. And she always did the jobs that nobody wanted or that there was nobody left. to do. She just picked it up and kept running, even if she didn't know what she was doing, she figured it out and she got it going. And great loss to the community, great loss to her family, and I wish her peace as she moves on, and the family. Thank you.

Councilwoman?

Thank you, Council President. This is a kind of a personal matter. Yesterday, one of my sons was involved in a very serious car accident on Summer Hill Road, and I got the call. and I ran down to the scene right away, and the East Windsor Police Department was there already. A driver had run a red light and pushed my son's car across the way into a light pole. The light pole then came down on top of the car, and he was a little bit stuck in there. I don't have the officer's names yet, but a very kind officer was able to get him out and pull him out, despite the fact that there were live electric wires underneath the car. Their professionalism, their collaboration, the compassion that they showed, and the way they secured the scene. I can't say enough about our police department right now. And I think all our residents are just so lucky that when you're in trouble, These are the kind of people that show up for you. And although I know this always in an ongoing way, when it happens to you and you need them and they're there, it hits you really hard. So thank you to the police department and to the EMTs who work with them. Again, stellar, compassionate people who are thorough and just... make a person feel really safe and like everything's going to be okay. And thankfully, my son will be okay. He's banged up and a little traumatized, but we're in a really good place. And it's in great part due to the work of our far finest. So thank you.

Yeah, 100%. And last, for the good of the cause, just want to thank the Park and Recs Department, specifically Ashy Falcon, for putting on a perfect Memorial Day service and pivoting at the last minute due to the weather, the incredible rain that we had on Sunday. We moved it into the Senior Center, and it was quite lovely work. and we had the Scouts participating and the East Brunswick Brass Band that also participated with Mr. Toth. So it was a very beautiful event, and I just want to thank them for once again putting on an amazing service in honor of all of our veterans. And last, we are going to go back to our proclamation for this evening. And Councilwoman Winston, if you would like to present the proclamation honoring Miley Wiener. And Miley, would you please come up to the podium with Councilwoman Winston.

I am very proud today to present this proclamation in honor of Miley. I had the privilege of serving with Miley when she was a student representative on the zoning board, and I was impressed from day one. Right, you sat right next to me. Yes. Her positivity, her intelligence, and determination stood out every meeting. No matter the challenge in front of her, she approached it with thoughtfulness, grace, and an unwavering commitment to making a difference. She is, as we like to say, an old soul will be 100 years. Miley is the kind of young leader who should give us all great confidence in our future. On behalf of our community, I want to congratulate her and thank her for being such an extraordinary example for all of us. I will now read the proclamation. Whereas Miley Wiener, a distinguished senior at East Brunswick High School, has been named a 2026 Coca-Cola Scholar, earning a prestigious $20,000 college scholarship. And whereas, she is among only 150 students selected from more than 107,000 applicants nationwide for this highly competitive honor awarded by the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation, recognizing outstanding academic achievement, leadership, and commitment to the community service. And whereas, Miley Wiener has demonstrated exceptional leadership within her school community, serving as president of both the National Honor Society and the Psychology Club, while also getting professional experience as a journalism and editorial intern for Girls Life magazine, and contributing to her local hospital as secretary of its Youth Advisory Council. And whereas, her most remarkable achievement arose from personal adversity, as she transformed her experience with gastroparesis into a mission of service by founding Miley's Bags, an initiative that designs and distributes adaptive backpacks for children who rely on feeding tubes. And whereas, through Miley's Bags, she has impacted lives across North America, Europe, and Australia by providing over 800 backpacks and supporting charitable causes, including Ronald McDonald House Charities. And whereas, her dedication to advocacy and storytelling will continue as she pursues a degree in English and a future career in writing, with the goal of uplifting underserved communities, particularly within pediatric health care. And whereas, she will join fellow scholars in Atlanta for the Coca-Cola Scholars Weekend, participating in leadership development, and the 38th Annual Coca-Cola Scholars Banquet. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed that I, Brad J. Cohen, Mayor of the Township of East Brunswick and the Township Council, recognize and celebrate Miley Weiner for her extraordinary achievements, resilience, leadership, and service, and extend our sincere congratulations and best wishes for her continued success and future endeavors. Congratulations.

Congratulations.

I'm not a big public speaker, I'm very shy, but I wanted to say thank you all very much for giving me this opportunity to have an award like this. I'm very passionate about serving my community and about being able to help children and peers in my high school and people all over North America and other continents. And winning Coca-Cola was an extraordinary achievement. And I am very thankful to have had that experience of going to Atlanta and now getting to graduate and make an impact in the community. So thank you all again very much for this opportunity. And even though he's not here, thank you very much to Mr. Mayor Cohen for this opportunity and proclamation as well.

congratulations I have a feeling you're going to do amazing things in your future and we'll be knowing you going forward as the Renaissance woman because you'll be involved in so many areas I have a feeling so congratulations would you like to do a picture come up yeah

Are we good?

Congratulations.

Okay, and as I said at the beginning of the meeting, this is unusual. Our meetings are not this fast and quick, but we did not have a very packed agenda. Our next meeting will be on June 8th. We'll be back to Mondays. We're Thursday this week because of Memorial Day, and I need a motion to adjourn. And second? Second. And all in favor? Aye. Good night, East Brunswick.

Thank you. Thank you.