Township Council - Regular Meeting

And good evening everyone as I will call this chamber to order. Will everyone please rise if you can and salute the flag with our pledge of allegiance and remain standing for a moment of personal reflection of the United States of America and to the stands nation for all. Thank you.

Township clerk, Miss Lawful, will you please read our statement of adequate notice and call role? Council member Hall here. Councilman Wendell here. Councilwoman Winston absent. Councilwomani here. and Council President Makavoy here. Also present, Mayor Brad Cohen here. Administrator Joseph Kusculo here. And Township Attorney Anthony Aayaka.

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, council. You have before you resolution 25- 265, adopting our meeting minutes from our July 28th, 2025 meeting. May I have a motion to accept

and a second? Second. Is there a need for correction or clarification? Roll call, please. Council member Hall, yes. Councilman Wendell, yes. Councilwoman Ziki, I did read them. Yes. And Council President Mackoy, yes. We will address ordinance 25-28 with a second reading in a public hearing. Township clerk, will you please read the ordinance? An ordinance of the Township of East Brunswick, County of Middle Sex, State of New Jersey, amending chapter 228, the zoning of the township code of the township of East Brunswick. I have a motion to approve. Motion adopt

and a second. Second. Any council comments. I'll now open this ordinance to the public for comment on just this ordinance. Seeing none, I'll close the public portion. Roll call, please. Council member Hall, yes. Councilman Wendell, yes. Councilwoman W Zimbicki, yes. And Council President Makavoy, yes. We'll now move on to our reports section of our meeting. And let us begin with our mayor, Mayor Conn.

Thank you, Council President. A couple of things. As you know, the the township's department of planning and engineering is in the process of continuing our pavement improvement program. We are well on our way. Actually, I think we're closer to being completed than we are to the beginning of the process because we got out early. And um we've got uh uh the things that were held up were being held up simply because we wanted to make sure that school was out to do some of the roads that many of our buses um would be on so it wouldn't interfere in in school. Those have um for the most part been taken care of, including our transportation trust fund money that we got this past year, which was to do village drive. That's now all complete. So, uh that's very good. Parks and recreation, I'm not going to probably take anything away from what you said. I just wanted to say that they're doing a really great job. I know we've got a couple of good weekends where Crystal Springs has been pretty busy. I'm not able at this point to tell talk about finances of that, but uh clearly it's a weather dependent thing. Um and they're doing great. As far as police, uh I know I've gotten a couple of comments regarding and letters regarding people in town that rev their vehicles and take off very quickly. Um questions about whether it constitutes a noise uh issue. Uh and um while I've answered those individuals, for the public, uh one, most of the time in order to catch someone like that, you would have to have an officer at that particular spot at that time, which is highly unlikely. Secondly, you'd have to measure the decibel level of the uh of the cars at the point where it could interfere at somebody's home. Um, and there's a drop off, which means that there's an overwhelming likelihood it wouldn't even

be a uh offense uh for us to even issue a summon. Um, but to know and for the public, our police force has realigned a lot of their um department to place more officers on the road, which is something people have been asking for us to do for a long time now. If you look at our statistics, summones are up. Uh and so they are catching a lot of these uh individuals. It's just you can't have somebody in every single place at every moment when uh someone's to do a violation. That's just impossible. Um and I do want to give them a shout out for doing a phenomenal job keeping the fair uh safe uh and uh using our technology and and and force where necessary to make sure that people were able to have an enjoyable county fair. and and and to do it in a way that was completely secure and safe. So that is my report.

Thank you, mayor. Thank you. You're welcome. Our business administrator, Mr. Krisculo.

Just two quick items. Reminder, water meter and radio replacement is still going on. Those of you who received letters, please schedule a date to have uh the meter replaced or the radio installed or replaced. We're trying to get through this project. Uh, also we are looking for um residents that are interested in joining the water advisory board. Unfortunately, we lost a couple members there. Uh, few moved out of town and one had passed away. So, we're looking for a couple members there. We'll put a an ad out uh for that as well. So, if anybody's interested, send your intentions to um the mayor's office and with a cover letter and resume and we'll consider you for for that board appointment. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chriscula. And you're welcome. Our township attorney, Mr. Ayakok. Thank you, council president. There's nothing to report at this time. Our township clerk, Miss L. There is nothing to report. Any council members with reports or boards? Thank you, sir. Councilwoman Zambicki.

So, first of all, I apologize for not being here at the last meeting. I had a conference for work that I had to attend, but one of the residents, Anthony, former student of mine as well, um, spoke about the hours at Crystal Springs and wanted them to be expanded. And I just wanted to explain that the Reckom Parks board look at that very, very carefully. Ever since COVID, we don't have the number of lifeguards, although it has it has been getting better every single year, but there are certain standards that we have to abide by with um the the oversight uh um star guard that um certifies us and we are looking to expand. They did do some um Friday night open swims this year. Um so we're we hear you. We're working on it as best as we can. Um and hopefully our lifeguard numbers keep increasing. But I do want to applaud the recck department um as the mayor said for an extremely successful season so far. Um summer camp just ended. It was very very successful. They had a record-breaking amount of students enrolled in this with all kinds of new options including week-long camps which is something that's very helpful for for our parents. Um, additionally, Crystal Springs um celebrated National Water um Park uh day and lifeguard appreciation day at the end of July. And our Crystal Springs staff are doing amazing job. They had their um Stargard did their first um audit and they did beautifully with it and they're expecting another one in the month of August. Um Parks and Rex is always looking for new ways to expand. Um, right now you can reserve a tent, tables, and grill for the month of August at Crystal Springs. On September 5th, they're doing a new event, a Lazy River 5K from 11:00 a.m. to 100 p.m. It's 22 laps around the Lazy River, and

you get a shirt if you're one of the first people. um our senior citizens this year through the senior center got to enjoy Crystal Springs in the morning before it opened by um enjoying and doing like fitness days and and walking in the um lazy river. Um so that's something new that was wonderful. Um the East Brunswick Wreck is also offering adult art workshops from August 18th through September 17th. There's about six different workshops you can sign up for. We have the food truck palooa on August 23rd from 4 to 8 at the community arts center. This Wednesday we have s'mores and the movie inside out 2 at the community arts center at sundown. There is a brand new youth tackle rugby clinic for middle and high school boys and girls. Mr. Mack um and that is the 12th and the 14th of August and the full season is from August 19th to October 23rd. And we just had another new event, Pro- Wrestling Night on July 30th, that was so well attended. Um, and of course our acoustic Mondays and more. So, I just have to give a really shout a big shout out because they're not they're always thinking outside the box and trying to think of other ways to reach all members of our community from our youngest members to our seniors and everybody in between. So, that's my report. Thank you. Uh let's just go back before we before we leave this and revisit the competitive nature of uh something that the councilwoman said.

So you're going to have something on the lazy you're going to have a 5K on the lazy river. Oh, and Mr. Krisculo is chiming in with this smile and this. Okay. So here here's what happens. All of a sudden, we find that in one of the tubes is Councilwoman Zambicki and Councilwoman Winston, who's absent, and in the other tube is Councilman Makavoy and Councilman Wendell. And then we're coming to the finish line and it's going to be Oh, well, there's a clear win.

I'm not done. Can we like push or shove or can I say to the councilman Jim go get them and they competitive? Oh. Oh, I didn't. It's non-competitive. I must have missed the non-competitive. It's just to get your 5k laps in. You're 22. But it's non-competitive. It's a friendly 5k. Okay. Part of the mayor's wellness program. There you go. But if you're in a tube, I'll be there. We we are doing uh our podcast live from Crystal Springs tomorrow. Cool. Okay.

It won't be broadcast live, but we'll record it there and play at a later date. So, right, a lot going on bottom line. 100%. And we still have a couple of weeks left in the summer. 100%. Yep. Before the children have to go back to school, which is traditionally on some level the end of the summer. Um, I'll now open the meeting to the public. Uh, township clerk, could 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 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 his discretion may choose to respond or not respond.

Thank you. Anyone wish to address the council president? Council mayor, hi. Thanks. I've never done this before, so my apologies and bear with me. It was I'm George Francancy, 11 Princeton Court, and I'm here as in my capacity as president of the East Brunswick Museum Corp Board of Trustees. I want to tell you about some improvements lately at the museum and just to thank you for them. Um, we're treated well by all the township employees so far. Um, but this one in particular, uh, is a standout and I I wanted to single out Phil me, buildings maintenance manager, uh, for some work that he's done, not just now, but but going back a while. Um, shutters on the museum building itself. Um, they're 8 feet tall. They're arched to fit the church that this building once was. It's not something easy to to find. They had to get a contractor, you know, and and have them fabricated and they went through 18 lumber, which, you know, is a whole thing just to give them a plug. Um, but it it came out superbly and we just wanted to thank you for those. Uh, they they look great. Come and see them. And this this goes back to uh 2023, I think, when they when one of them first fell off the building. Uh, so we we've got more to go, but they came out great. Uh, gutters, shutters, and gutters. I know, exciting stuff I'm here to talk about tonight, but uh we had the gutters and downspouts replaced at DVO 166 Main Street, Applebe DVO Memorial Library, the first library in the township. And um and that's really important because, you know, for to state the obvious that it directs water away from the building because we're not really sure what's under that building, but water and freezing and thawing could be pretty bad. So, it's not a traditional slab or um you know, con cinder blocks or whatever. So, we got those done and I I've been we've been trying to get those done for about seven years now since

I've been on the board. So, it's great that we really appreciate that you empower the employees to get the to get these projects done. Uh, so it and then this follows I'll just throw in I know late night tonight so I don't want to keep you here and it'll be under five minutes for sure but um we had a water main break in January in in Dvau Library and the water department took care of that expertly. Uh we had a car uh crash through the fence in the sideyard and uh and they fixed that up. So there's just this ongoing, you know, spade of, you know, fixes that have been going on there and we we just I just want to express my thanks for it. This isn't exciting stuff, but it's important. Come see them. We're open every Sunday 1:30 to 4. We have great tour guides in uh Anthony and Carlen can tell you about the place. Um, so I know you get compliments, noise or whatever it was, but just wanted to give you some compliments. Just thank you.

Anyone wishing to address council president nal do oaks drive east. So I'm again here for the same thing that I have been coming here over and over again. East Brunswick has a sister city with an Israeli city. Israel is committing holocaust of Palestinians burning them alive uh starving them to death in the past few days. There are hundreds of people who died of starvation and mostly these are people who have special need because they cannot have the little bit of food that might be coming in and they need some special food and they're kids. We have seen kids their their stomach is now attached to their back and the parents are only waiting for them to die because that's all they can do. Yesterday Israel precision strike killed five journalists of Al Jazzer. It's all over on the news. Anus al-Sharf was one of the most famous journalist. His crime was that he was showing the terrorism of the occupation. So again like we keep that sister cities are based on common values. What common values do we have in East Brunswick? Are we teaching our kids in college how to kill other people? Are we teaching our kids to go into the army right after college and then just go and kick people out of their houses? A lot of people in East Brunswick are second or third generation or fourth generation and they're very proud of it. Imagine multiply this by 50 or 60 generations and then imagine someone from Ukraine or Poland who has no DNA of that land just come to that land and kick you out of your house because that's exactly what's happening in Palestine. And are we teaching our kids how to steal other people land? Are we teaching our kids

that they are supreme like white supremacy? Because if we are not teaching all of this to our kids and I hope not then we do not share any value with any Israeli. So I really want this this council to consider breaking ties because at some point very soon because Israel on a path Israel is on a path of self self-destruction. What they are doing is not going to go unchecked. It will go down in history as a holocaust of Palestinians and there will be accountability. If not now, in coming months or days, I hope it days. I hope it's weeks. I hope it's not years. But then is this is this town council really waiting when the whole world will stand up and say drag all these terrorists who killed these Palestinians into the court and then we will say okay fine now it's time to break the ties or are you going to do it? It's it's already too late. It's been two years. Israel is committing holocaust since last two years. So what are we waiting for based on I I don't think American values will I mean I became American as an adult. I don't think that American values you all are most of them are born here. Is that what is taught in our school system? No. So based on our values based on American values break the tie with the country that's committing genocide. That's all. Thank you so much. Anyone else Mr. Council President Mr. Mayor um quick question is um I'm concerned about the safety of these kids that ride around a motor schoolers. I mean, if it's a motorcycle, there's no license on it. They are dangerous. They just shoot across the street. I mean, what's the

requirement on it? I mean, it'd be nice to know that they have a license or it's registered. So, just tell it's a safety issue because I seen them shoot across the street just getting missed by a car. They don't care. It's a phone call to the to public It's a phone call to public safety to figure out to get a report on what all the rules are. It happens all over even on the bike lanes. I I I'm well aware. I know what you're talking about. Everyone up here knows what you're talking about. I'm a person of safety. So that's what I'm concerned about. I don't want nobody getting hurt. And um the other thing is as far as this year's leaf pickup will be the same as last year as far as having the leaves on the on the grass. Same same routine. Same routine.

Yes. Okay. And u one other thing, all these developments of these houses to be brought up on 18. Does that help our tax situation or is it privately owned that they have to pay their their share if they don't rent it? The whoever owns the property pays the taxes on it, not the person. We don't own it. East Brunswick don't own it. No, we do not. Okay, great. Thank you. Okay, Mr. ABC. Anyone else wishing to address council president?

Hello. My name is Thomas Whitehead. I was here a couple weeks ago. Uh, you have you have an address, Thomas? Why would I tell you that? So that if we need to get in contact with you, we can send you some mail. That's why we do that. Why would I want to talk to you? Um, well, you're going to be So, you don't want to talk to me right now? Well, I'm going to talk to you right now, but I don't want to contact you in the future.

That's not what you said, but go ahead. You have five minutes. Um um since you apparently don't care about the deaths of Palestinian children, um I will quickly read a poem about a citizen of New Jersey that killed by the state of Israel. Maybe you'll care then. Um it's called uh based on their names. Um, Aubber Ramy, Eden Alexander, two citizens of New Jersey, both in Palestine. Based on their names, can you tell who was a Palestinian child and who is an Israeli soldier? Based on their names, can you tell who was visiting family in the West Bank and who was taken as a prisoner of war on October 7th? Based on their names, can you tell who was shot 14 times by an Israeli soldier for sadistic pleasure and who was released on the false promise of humanitary aid? Based on their names, can you tell who came home to a parade and who came home to a funeral? Based on their names, can you tell whose family shall rejoice and whose family shall mourn? Based on their names, can you tell whose parents' joy shall be broadcast to glo to the globe and whose parents struggle for justice will quickly be forgotten? Based on their names, can you tell who will be lauded as a hero and who will be labeled as a terrorist? Based on their names, can you tell who will be used as a political pawn and who will be swept under the rug as a political inconvenience? Based on their names, can you tell whose name will be used to further the aims of our impressive state and whose name will inspire future generations of revolutionaries? Based on their names, can you tell who inspires me and who makes me want to puke in this world? You

can tell a lot about a person's fa based on their names. I wish it wasn't that way. Rest in power, Aber Ramy. And also, you have a really rude tendency of not listening to people when they're talking. Um, I wish your mother taught you better than that. And yeah, excuse me, Thomas. You are not here to pass judgment on anyone. You are not here to pass judgment. Well, I can pass judgment on people who are to make a statement.

Um, you are all complicit in genocide. I believe I am perfectly well within my right to pass judgment on all of you. Um, yeah. So, this is a citizen of New Jersey, a 14-year-old boy, so that was killed. Um, man, I don't know what to say. Um, [Music] you guys are the worst. We are just the worst. That's all.

Anyone else wish to make a comment to the council president? Seeing none, we'll close the public portion. Moving on to the consent agenda. Uh touch.

Uh one second. Let's just get the consent agenda statement read first, please. Resolution 25266 through resolution 25275. The following items are considered routine and non-controversial items by the township council and will be enacted upon by one motion. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless a council member so requests in which event the item will be removed from the consent agenda to be discussed and voted on following the approval of the remaining items listed on the consent agenda. Thank you. Councilman Wendell, did you want the floor? Um,

I wanted to just uh give the rest of council um background on resolution 25268 for the ice rink uh authorizing change order number two to terminal construction. I have met with Keith Kip, uh Michael Risner, and the mayor on these change orders, and these really aren't changes in the work. or just additional work that was outside the scope of terminals contract. It's for lockers and other such things and and the installation is same so that we don't need to go find another contractor to install these items. It was just more expeditious to uh give this change order to terminal to allow them to do this work. So, um, I'm very comfortable with the numbers. I'm very comfortable with with where we're at and I just want to let everybody know because I know I've been kind of a skeptic on some of this stuff and, you know, I have a lot of knowledge in construction background and and all of that and, you know, so I feel very confident with uh the move to approve this

and let it be known, Councilman Wendell, we respect your professionalism. Is there any is there okay before I not I just need I was for uh 269 the mayor touched on it if we could just get a list of the current road the roads this year that were done and any that have to still be paved. Thank you. Awesome. Thank you. So is there a need to separate any of the resolutions for discussion or comment? Seeing none, may I have a motion to uh approve resolution 25 hyphen 266 through 25 hyphen 275. So move. Second. Second. Uh roll call, please. Council member Hall. Yes. Councilman Wendell?

Yes. Councilwoman Sviki? Yes. And Council President Mackoy? Yes. Council, we do not have any ordinances for introduction. So are there any matters for the good of the courts? Please signify with an I if you are ready for adjournment. I the eyes have it. Good night everyone.