Township Committee - Regular Meeting

All right, I'd like to open up the meeting at 8:04. Thank you. If everybody could stand, we're gonna salute the flag and then just stand up for a moment of silence after the salute. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay, thank you. You may be seated. Can I bring the statement of adequate notice, please?

Okay. All attendees and participants agreed 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. Ordinances. First reading. 26-10. An ordinance accepting rightway dedication for a portion of block 48 lot 11.02 located at 103 Brookside Road. Explanatory statement. This ordinance accepts the right-of-way dedication for a portion of block 48 lot 11.02. Motion to adopt the table. I move to adopt. Thank you. Second, please. A second.

Thank you. Roll call. Committee person Zabroski. Yes. Committee person Ziner. Yes. And Mayor Pharaoh. Yes. Second reading of public hearing to be held on May 20th, 2026 at 8:00m at the Milstone Township. Oh, sorry. You do have Comm uh Deputy Mayor Morris on the line. Oh, I I apologize. Deputy Mayor Morris is on the phone and Kevin Abernathy Township administrator is on the phone. So, I'm going to redo the roll call vote. Deputy Mayor Morris. Yes. And then we have a yes from committeeman um Zabroski Ziner and Mayor Pharaoh. Correct.

Okay. Sorry about that. Second meeting and public hearing to be held on May 20th, 2026 at 8:00 p.m. at the Milstone Township meeting room, 215 Milstone Road, Permineville, New Jersey. First reading 26-11. Ordinance accepting conservation easement for a portion of block 16 lot 9.06 located at 900 Reichight Drive. Explanatory statement. This ordinance accepts a conservation easement for the portion of block 16 lot 9.06 upon completion of improvements and release of performance guarantees. Motion to adopt the table, please. I'll make a motion to adopt. Thank you. Second, please. I'll second. Thank you. Roll call. Committee person Zoski. Yes.

Committee person Ziner. Yes. Deputy Mayor Morris. Yes. Mayor Pharaoh. Yes. Second reading and public hearing to be held on May 20th at May 20th, 2026 at 8:00 p.m. at the Milstone Township meeting room, 215 Milstone Road, Perineville, New Jersey. Resolution 26-17. Resolution to adopt temporary emergency appropriations number three. Motion to adopt the table. I move to adopt. Thank you. Second, please. I'll second. Roll call. Committee person Zabroski. Yes. Committee person Ziner. Yes. Deputy Mayor Morris. Yes. Mayor Farah. Yes.

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. 26-118 payment of vouchers May 6, 2026. 26-119 Resolution appointing member to the Open Space Preservation Council. 26-120 Resolution authorizing the Township of Milstone to enter into the New Jersey Cooperative Purchasing Alliance Cooper Cooperative Pricing Agreement. 26-121 Resolution opposing Senate Bill S-183. 26-122 Resolution of the Township Committee of the Township of Milstone committing to an advanced payment of the municipal contribution to the affordable housing alliance for the construction of a 67 unit project on 27 Burnt Tavern Road, block 57 lot 16.03 03 and authorizing execution of a fourth amendment to the developers agreement between the township and affordable housing alliance. 26-123 resolution appointing full-time certified public works manager. 26-124 resolution appointing clean communities coordinator. 26-125 resolution appointing historic preservation commission secretary.

Thank you. Motion to adopt the table, please. Move to adopt. Thank you. Second. I'll second. Roll call. Committee person Ziner. Yes. Deputy Mayor Morris. Yes. Committee person Zoski. Yes. And Mayor Pharaoh? Yes. Okay. Next is the appointments. Mayor's appointment to the zoning board. Yes. That I will get that to you.

Thank you. Thank you. May's appointment to the Milstone Township zoning board of adjustments. Be it resolved by the mayor of the township of Milstone that Christopher Couch is hereby appointed as an alternate two member of the Milstone Township zoning board of adjustments to fulfill the unexpired term to fulfill the unexpired term ending December 31st, 2026. He further resolved that a copy of this appointment be forwarded to Milstone Township zoning board of adjustments and to the appointee. I hereby certify the the foregoing to be a true copy of the appointment made by the mayor of the township of Milstone at its meeting of May 6, 2026.

Thank you.

Okay. Township committee minutes regular meeting minutes April 15, 2026. and committee person Ziner was absent. Motion to adopt the table. I'll make a motion. Second, please. I'll second. Mayor. Thank you. Roll call. Deputy Mayor Morris. Yes. Committee person Zabroski. Yes. Committee person Ziner. Abstain. Mayor Pharaoh. Yes. Executive meeting minutes April 15, 2026. And again, committee person Zer was absent. Motion to adopt the table, please. I'll make a motion to Thank you. Second.

I'll second. Thank you. Roll call. Deputy Mayor Morris. Yes. Committee person Zoski. Yes. Committee person Ziner. And Mayor Pharaoh. Yes. Okay. Mayors on reports. Try the other. I have a ton again. Okay. Okay, this is like my third meeting in a row. I have a ton. Just bring the mic closer to you. Okay, you have the floor.

So, the planning board, please join us on Wednesday, May 13th at 7:30 p.m. for the Milstone Township master plan re-examination report and land use plan element public input session. The meeting will be held here in the municipal meeting room at 2:15 Milstone Road. If you can't attend the meeting in person, there is a button on the Milstone Township master plan re-examine report and land use element public session notification on the Milstone Township website and you can actually click on the share your thoughts button and you can give your input electronically on the website. Um, Milstone's 250th celebration, George Washington encampment will be held on Saturday, May 30th from 11:00 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Baird Homestead at 24 Baird Road. It's free and open to the public, family-friendly with activities of people for people of all ages. Come join Milstone Township as we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution. Food and drink will be available for purchase from food trucks on site. Free parking will be available across from the Ved Homestead at the Milstone Township Middle School. The seniors, the 2026 annual picnic in the park will be held on Thursday, May 14th from noon to 3 p.m. at the Thompson Park Activity Barn at 805 Newman Springs Road in Lingraftoft. There's limited space, so you need to call to register. The number to call is 732-4317450. And the picnic is open to all Mammoth County seniors, adults living with disabilities, and veterans are invited to attend this free picnic and lunch. Seniors, again, the New Jersey Property Tax Relief Seminar will be her hel held on Tuesday, May 19th from 2 to 4 p.m. in the Agricultural Building at 4,000 Klosski Road in Freehold. They will have um help filling out applications for the senior freeze, the anchor, and the stay

New Jersey for senior homeowners. And lastly, open space preservation and agricultural advisory council will hold their annual clam bake on June 7th, which is a Sunday, at Wagner Farm Park at 4 Bar Road. Um you can buy tickets um at the township building. Tickets are $60 for adults, $15 for children. Please come out and join them. That's all I got. Okay. Thank you for that. Do you have the other?

Okay. I have a couple things. Uh the historic society uh weekend in Mammoth, Friends of Milstone Township and the Historic Preservation Commission hosted a site. Uh they did house tours and animals, etc. They also honored Van Deevent family who graciously donated the windmill, a windmill. There were approximately 50 to 70 people on Saturday and close to that amount on Sunday as well. Thank you for all who volunteered and all who helped put that together that day.

Uh the recreation commission we will be starting the repairs on the bathrooms at the baseball fields. Uh starting date is to be uh determined. As soon as that's done, we will let the public know. We'll be re reviewing the scopes of work with the budget for the renovations of Abate Park. The township committee will be viewing reviewing the turf situations at Milstone Park and at Wagner Park. Uh we received a call from David Pape uh regarding the revival of a wrestling program. He will attend the next recreation commission meeting to discuss it with the commissioners there. Uh DPW, I'd like to welcome Bill Kaine as our new public works manager. We are all looking forward to working with him and uh redeveloping and revamping our DPW department. Uh that's all on that. Uh I also received uh a phone call from Chief Maloney on uh on May 5th. They they responded our township fire department responded to a mutual aid call in Freehold Township uh right over 537 and P Island Springs, but on the Freehold Township side. uh firefighter Jim Lebruno while fighting fighting a home fire in Field Township on a mutual aid call on May 5th, 2026 uh right around 537 Panelink Springs. Suffered se secondderee burns uh fighting that fire for our neighbor and was taken to the burn unit and he was treated for second degree burns throughout his body and his head. So we wish him well. Uh I actually got a picture of the scene. It was an intense fire. If anybody wants to take a look at it, I I don't wish this on anybody. So, thank you to our firefighters for helping our neighboring town and making sure that everybody is safe, including the homeowners, the firefighters, and all first responders that went to that uh situation. Uh there's going to be the the primary

ballot drop off boxes. Uh please, if you're going to drop off your ballots, do it at a certified ballot drop off locations within specified uh locations. Do not put your ballot in the mail. Uh it may not get there. According to uh statistics from the post office in Allentown, Allentown Burough Hall, the front entrance which is located at 8 uh 8 North Main Street, Freehold Burrow Burough, Freehold Municipal Building, 30 Mechanic Street, Freehold Township, Special Services Complex Building, side entrance at 300 Halls Mills Road. Uh Freehold Township, Freehold Township Municipal Building, uh located at one municipal plaza, Manalapin, Manalapin Township Municipal Building, front entrance 120 route route uh road 522. Milstone uh Milstone Township building at 470 Stage Coach Road and Upper Freehole Cream Township of Upper Freehold Municipal Building 314 Route 539. So, if you are going to do your ballots, you vote by mail, please drop it in those authorized locations. That's all I have. Kevin, do you have anything?

Yeah, we have a couple things. Um, so with the road program, you know, they successfully rolled out, you know, uh, with some DOT help, a lot of the roads we've taken care of, Spring, uh, Pay Island, parts of Disro. Um, I just want to let the the residents know that we realize there are other streets that still need desperate help and we're trying to figure out ways in our in our budget and and creative financing to try to get some of those done ahead of time. Um, I've also what do we have here? Uh, there there was some discussions about the application in front of us in front of boards to remove the power lines. Um, and you know, there was some information that was being rolled out there that, you know, it it really had nothing to do, you know, it's always great to get residents involved, but what happened was since the wind bills are not happening, uh, the state BPU, New Jersey Energy Coalition policy co coalition decided to break their contract. they're terminating the agreement that was responsible for breaking those costs of transmissions due to the the circumstances. So they're basically uh at the end of uh April, they decided they're breaking that agreement. So there won't be any funding for it. So therefore, all the applications, you know, throughout us and and the rest of the state that was part of that is is now been at least for now put on hold. Who knows what happens down the line, but at least that was taken care of. Um, I appreciate Chris mentioning the the uh the fields, you know, we need some help looking at them. We've already reached out to Ruckers uh where they have some expertise in some of the best grasses they grow throughout the the country. So I'm going to come ask them to come in and do a full assessment for us and I'll have the powers that be uh different

commissions here and teams or whatever meet with them and hopefully they'll give us a a robust you know more than just a a quick fix plan. How are we going to fix them going years forward? We've already looked at some equipment as in like top dressing equipment machines that could break up that hard soil out in Milstone Park. Um and also uh Abbott Park is uh you know in desperate need. Um we should hopefully have a scope of work to be within a week. The engineers have been designing and what they're going to do and then we'll I'll come to you to propose. If you guys are happy with what we're looking to do, then we'll get that out to bid and hopefully the contracts uh will start rolling and get that work done.

Okay. Just I just want to ask you a question on the road program. Do you know how much the price of asphalt has gone up in the last several weeks or months? Yes,

it's gone up dramatically since we we had committed with a little bit of a cushion in in our road program from last summer. Um, and we actually came in pretty much right where we had predicted. I believe in the last two weeks. Uh, it had probably gone up another good 10% at least. Uh, but I heard some I haven't had a chance to look at the markets today, but I heard it's actually backfalling. So, it all depends if we can solve what's going on over there uh quickly. It's that's more of a global issue. We don't really import a lot of oil out of Iran, but uh it just takes some of the speculators out of the market if they could put that back to bed. Okay. Thank you. All right. Any comments from the DA?

N. Okay. At this point, I'd like to open up to the public. 8 8:20. Hold on.

Okay. Just please state your name and your address. John Penhe 107 Lakewood Road. Um Al just you and I had a nice conversation after the last meeting outside about the tree problem that we have in Millstone hanging in the roadways and I'd like to talk to you and see what's what we're going to do with this. We one way or another we have to get this figured out and solved. So I did I did go back and speak to Nick. I had Nick reach out to you. I had spoken to Kevin about that and emails were going back and forth as far as you know after you had delivered the letter.

Yep. Uh, but the letter was too broad. So, I had to ask Nick to reach out to you to find out specifics. You know, Stage Coach Road is a several mile road. We can't, you know, we're not going to, we needed some more guidance from you as to what parts of of Stage Coach Road that you were referring to on which is Hollow. I believe Kevin did reach out to the county, but it's not the county problem. It's on homeowners pro property. It's not on I understand. Kevin reached out to the county. So I I I believe Nick actually has gone out there himself and is reaching out whoever we can find out there if there's additional properties besides the county.

So we're trying to make it a collaborative effort, you know, for the county to help out the homeowners and with us and see if we can move forward in a cohesive manner. Okay. Uh so I I believe what Nick is doing right now is trying to identify those parcels of of street to condense you know don't give us a broad view give us more of you know you know between this this you know address and that address so we could pinpoint it understand how broad it is and then put it out the bid and have somebody come in and and hopefully take care of it because Nick told me you know he sent me an email saying he's not enforcing any ordinance is without your approval. Do you guys have

No, hold on. I I I'll answer that, Kevin. No, what what you had requested was to send letters of I requested to enforce ordinances that are on the books. That's what I requested. No, what you requested was to send out a notification to all 4,200 something residences letting them know if you have this issue, you need to take care of it. and and we have the emails. So, I I do too.

So, Nick came back to you and said, "I don't have the authority to spend taxpayer money to do that." So, he wanted you to give him a a more pinpoint accurate information of what the roads are from address to address so we could assess it and then try to take care of it for you. Al, if I could interject for one second, we also are going to take that information of the ordinance and we're going to post it on our website and then I'm going to have uh to the people that have signed up for emails, we will email if this affects you, could you please address it, etc. So, we will be sending out to the town as well, not the individual because we don't know, you know, got 240 miles. So, we'll send it out abroad to the whole town and hopefully people can start addressing some of the issues. But according to your ordinance, it states it must be addressed within 10 days.

Has to be identified, right? No, it has to be addressed. It has to be taken care of within 10 days. And within this 10 days, if it's not removed, then the township will remove it and trim the trees and then go after the homeowner, I guess, to get paid. I understand what you're saying, but we have to identify. But this has been 13 years. This started in 2013 when this all started. So we're 13 years into this.

So John, we we took a $60,000 grant and and we had hired a tree expert who walked most of the town. I think 80% of the town and we actually took a GIS listings and said your tree at this part of your property and there's people in the room that got the letters. We sent out notices to them asking them to please, you know, fix their dangerous trees. Okay. But nothing was done or minimal was done. Maybe some of the homeowners did it, so maybe some of them didn't. Most of them did. John, you know how much a tree grows in 13 years?

A lot. I mean, you you Kevin and Al in 2020, we drove around to a couple uh roads and then you guys hired a tree service to come in and you cut all of Agress Road and did a wonderful job. And I've said that many, many times and I'll continue saying that. You guys did a very, very good job on Agress Road and cleaned up Agaras Road very well. It it was move on to that. just aggress.

Yeah. But you did all of Agress and then you did some on Red Valley what the township owns. You did some on Still House with the township owns. You did on Bard Road which the township owns. I think a little bit on Backbone which the township owns but only on township owned property. But you did all of Agris completely in Agaras from one end to the other. But the other roads was only township owned property. Okay. We have 240 miles of lane. So So again, you you know your routes. Yeah. Okay. you know where where the the anomalies are. So, we're just asking you give us some help. But we went and we drove up which is hollow.

Do you want me to go with you again? We'll drive around again. Sure. Whatever you want. And I cuz that's what I did. I sat with you and I wrote down all the addresses and we took care of it. So, if if you don't have the addresses and want to expedite it, then I'll sit with you. We'll drive around and you and I'll write it down. We'll do it again. We need to do something because Okay. And it's not just me. I mean, what happens? You We have delivery trucks on the road, FedEx, tractor trailers bringing stuff. Sooner or later, a fire truck is going to hit a tree, damage the truck on the way to a fire, and then who knows what's going to happen. Somebody could get caught in the fire in the house. They can't save them. I mean, this is a major problem, not just for my equipment. Didn't I just tell her to drive around with you?

Yes. I'm just I'm just bringing up a point. I'm just bringing up a point. I hear you. I'm I'm here to help. And if you don't want to give us a list, I I've tried. Nick won't talk to me anymore. He said in the last email it says we cannot talk about this situation anymore. Well, you threaten the lawsuit. So you said you're bringing the lawsuit. So it's kind of Well, it is what it is. No, no, but once once you say that, then he doesn't have the ability to talk to you and then it's got to go through attorneys. So, I don't know if I wrote the at a letter to attorney in 2020 and then the attorney never responded to the letter that I wrote in 2020. That I don't know about, but I'm not aware.

The letter that you have that I gave you a couple weeks ago that was sent to the township in 2020. All right. If you have a list, we'll gladly take it. If you don't have a list, send me an email. You got my email with some dates and times that you want to drive around. I'll drive around with you. Kevin will follow and we'll do the same thing we did five years ago. And and the fire department does reach out from time to time asking us the school does regularly. There was a some branches on Milstone Road the other day and we you know reach out to the homeowner asking them to you know correct it quickly.

Um so you know when we find out we we don't just sit on the information we try to pass it on and get it taken care of. LA last for I believe September of 25 uh the schools were were going down actually right around your area over Brewer of Brewer and there was low hanging trees because the trees were touching each other from both sides. I mean it's ridiculous. Trans, you know, transportation administrator called Kevin. Kevin reached out to I don't even know who he reached out to and we got it done. So we will take care of things. help us out. We sent it We sent it to all the residents in there. It was probably about a half a dozen or more homes and they took care of it.

Some did it very quickly and some had to get a reminder, but it gets done, right? All right. So, send me an email and we'll go around. Thank you. You got it, John. Thank you. Doug Nielson, 270 Stage Coach Road, 30-year resident of Township. Talked to Al, talked to Nick, talked with my neighbor. Um, I think there was 12 or 13 people got sent out letters about storage containers on their property on Stage Coach Road.

I don't know if that if it was that many. It was 1213. I thought it was less than that. Go ahead. 12 or 13 on there. They all got the same notice at the exact same day. That's why we were all here that day. Mhm. Talk to you. Well, you tried to talk.

Well, we tried to talk and I saw what it was coming down to. And when you told the neighbor he's got to get rid of the container no matter what, I'm right next door. So, I took it. If you're telling him, you're saying to me, too, because you're not going to say, "Hey, you got to get rid of your container." But your neighbor is going to keep his. So, that's where it ended. Monday or Sunday, we get the final notice. June the 1st, you will get rid of all your trailers or you're going to be further convicted, subject to fines, penalties, and directions by the judge. Not one other person, not one other person on that list, got this final notice. My neighbor, Greg, which it all started with from John John Lorenzo. I talked to John. He's the one that started it with the neighbor.

Was he in with the meeting with us? No, Greg was That's what I'm saying. You're referring to Greg. He was in the meeting. Greg was there. Okay. John Lorenzo started because he didn't want that stuff there.

I talked to John and he said, "I've never I lived here 30 years too with you. You had the same stuff for 30 years. I never complained about your stuff." They took it upon themselves to do that. I just told them about Greg with his lawn care business and stuff like that. I never ever told them about you. And I said, "Well, I got caught up." And he says, "Well, it never bothered me." He goes, "If it bothered me, I would have said it 25 years ago when it was all there." So I said, "Well, maybe I need your little signature on there to say you don't hear about that." The other neighbor next to Greg, between John and Greg, she's been there for five or six years. They bought the house from people that we knew. They never met. They never said anything about me. Those trailers been there for 20 plus years. The new neighbors, Al Roza lived there before he died and they sold the house to the new neighbors didn't care about it. The new neighbors moved in. They don't care about it. So, I I don't really get it. I mean, there's got to be some kind of pre-existing that the trailers are there before this law went into effect. I know it wasn't in 2003 or 2002 when we put those trailers there.

Do Do we know when that ordinance came out? The new ones were 23 and 24 you can't answer that without having anything in front of me. What ordinance? What's the number? Well, the the ordinance here is 23 you did it and then 24 you did it. No, prior to Can you give me the number? Prior to that, you need the number. Just give me the number. It's 34. I mean 354461 is the new one that you voted on 24, I think. Yeah. Several years ago, and before that it was 23 you voted on. And then you voted again on 24 to do something else. But before that, there's no way in the world there was any kind of thing with storage containers in 23. I mean 2003.

Wait, 2003. Wait, wait. Oh, I remember reading that ordinance. So, originally the ordinance actually only allowed you one vehicle and one recreational. No, no, I'm talking about containers. Storage containers. There were never there were never So, right. There was never anything about storage containers ever. So, that No. So, so the original ordinance states that you were only allowed to have one vehicle and one recreational vehicle. Everything else was excluded from the original ordinance. That's what I read that first time everybody came. I'm saying if it was excluded that means it's prohibited. It's prohibited. You're not allowed. You mean to tell me in 2003 a storage container was prohibit?

There's no way. I'm telling you there's no way cuz there was more storage containers back then. Everybody had storage containers. So if if it was, you should have started 2003 going around and saying you can't have those before it got out of control then because 2003 and 26 there's no way that anybody would have drove down the roads and missed a storage container in somebody's yard. That that's not the right code though. Can you just 35 doesn't deal with what is bridges? Here's the stuff they sent us. It says to code it.

We looked it up. We can't go back any further than We can't get further than 23 and 24 when you voted the new stuff in. But it should be archived on the website. The code book is always on the website. That's all I could use. And all right, you can keep talking. I'll look at you want this here if you want. Well, you can look it up or whatever. 8:30. Okay. I mean,

wait, wait. Before you go further, I just I'm going to disconnect deputy uh Deputy Mayor Morris because he's got something to do. Chris. Yes. All right. I'm at my daughter's. No, no. I I I took you off a speaker. So, have fun with with your daughter's graduation and enjoy you when you get back. Thank you. Bye-bye. Okay. I'm going to note that he left the meeting at 8:35.

Thank you. Okay. So, so I mean at 2003 there was no there's there's no there's not it can't be an ordinance where they said there's no shipping containers, no trailers allowed on somebody's property. What what I tried to do was to sit down and understand what the issue was so we could discuss it and and talk offline. This is not the forum to discuss code enforcement or zoning or anything else because I we don't have the I know it's not the forum but I got this Sunday.

No, I I I understand that. But we tried to avoid that and you your your neighbor is not here, right? because he stayed and and he discussed it and and I talked to him and I talked to John, the one that started it and he said they're trying to talk me into I don't know if you guys talked to him. This is what he's telling me as of yesterday that you're trying to talk him into allowing him which the beginning of our conversation on there that meeting.

You said no commercial businesses out of house. Now he said they're trying to say allow him to keep one truck with the mowers there. He comes home, he parks it, he goes to work, he's not going to keep the stuff and allow him to keep the container till December until he maybe build another place on there. And I'm thinking to myself, I'm here 30 years and he you're going to let somebody that started the whole thing keep a container for till December and keep the business in the house that the whole thing started. I wasn't privy to that because I left right after you. Well, again, yeah, I'm I'm whether it's you or Nick,

that's what John Lorenzo told me. Okay, Mr. Nielsen, I I'll give this opportunity again to you if you'd like to come back in and discuss this at the township. I will be more than happy to discuss it with you and see if we could come up with some sort of solution that's amiable to everybody. So, this is not the word for that. See what See what gets me upset here is you sent me this. I didn't send it to you. Well, just like you what's John just said that you guys got to tell John uh Nick what to do. So if you guys said Nick send this out. No, that's somebody said that's not the way it works. Nick has a job. Nick is the code enforcement and he's zoning officer.

So he doesn't have a boss when No, I didn't say that. Okay. Okay. Don't put words in my mouth. he has a job and he goes according to what the ordinances are and if there are violations of that ordinance then he needs to react to it. If if there are complaints of a violation of an ordinance he needs to go out and assess and verify if there is a violation and then he sends out notices in accordance to that. Okay. Okay. We don't micromanage what he does because No, no, no. I'm not saying that. I'm saying John Lorenzo which called and complained about my neighbor. Mhm.

Nick came out, I guess, and walked over to the fence on John Lorenzo's property, looked at the trailer and the trucks there and said, "Yes, we're going to do it." In the meantime, we look over at my property and sees the two trailers and says, "Oh, I got another one." Then he drives down Stage Coach Road and he starts picking, "I got one here. I got one here." That's why 12 or whatever people got a letter that day. Everybody got the letter. It wasn't just one week this guy got it, you know, one week this guy, one week this guy. Everybody got the same letter the same day. So, what my I'm saying is how did what you're saying, you talked to Greg next door and you're trying to work something out with John and everything to cool it down on the property. Everybody else that got I mean, they're not talking to John because John don't even know the other neighbors. So,

you're you're you're referring to what people said who aren't here and that's known as hearsay. And well, I talk to them if you want. I can get a signature from him and state everything. But the mayor said this isn't the proper forum for this. If you got a notice from code enforcement, address it with code enforcement. So, you know, there's you're in you're not in the proper forum to discuss. I understand your frustration. I understand you're expressing that to them, but you have to talk to code enforcement officer. Well, he's the one who issued the notice, right, Nick? Yeah. So, he's the person to talk to and he's the one with the knowledge and he knows. So, he's the person you should be meeting with and talking to. We did. We tried. Well, you just got a new notice, he said. So I would I would the mayor's inviting you to talk to him again, right? Yes. But but it has to be a cordial encounter.

I mean, I'm willing to cordally talk about anything. But when we're sitting here and Okay, I'm not even going to say cuz when he said he's got to get rid of his container at that time when I just said, "Why am I hearing him?" Because if you're telling him to get rid of the container, the next one is me. He's going to say I can't get tell him to get rid of his container and you're going to keep them because then Greg's going to say, "Well, how come you're letting him keep his trainers and you're making me get rid of mine?" That's the dilemma, isn't it? So, I mean, I I like I said, I John Lorenzo's been a neighbor of mine for 30 years when I moved in.

We're We're going through the process. Yeah, but I'm just saying. And he told me and the neighbor told me nobody ever complained about my stuff. Okay, Mr. Neil, you're telling us that he complained about somebody else. I can I understand, but like I don't know you should really be standing. So you So what I'm saying is So can I just ask you did you really go to your like to your neighbors to find out like who complained? That's

No, no, no. We already knew he was the one because Craig, which is my neighbor that just bought the house next door, John Lorenzo, came over to him to the fence and said, "I'm making sure you don't get this here." So, I mean, I would have to be stupid not to know that John was the one that started it because I mean, you would have to be thinking like John came here to the fence, told him you're never having this here. I'm going to make sure of it. Maybe it was the neighbor across the street that started. I don't know. I know. But you're all speculating. Somebody obviously whoever I talked to John, but respectfully, it shouldn't.

If it were me that complained and you came and confronted me, there's no way I would tell you I was the one that called. John and me knows each other for 30 years. I understand. He told me, "Doug, if I had a problem with your property, I would have called 25 years ago." Oh my gosh. Okay. Okay. No. All right. Thank you. I I'll I'll repeat it again. Reach out to Nick, schedule an appointment. I will come in and meet with you again so we could discuss this in an amiable kind of non-confrontational way if if you if you will. Try it again. I'm willing to try anything. But just come in with an open mind and not an attitude. Okay. Trying to Well, you did it.

30. It was a little bit of conflict going back and forth because and then when I got this, it even made it even more because I was like I went and I talked to all the other people cuz they they were here that night. I I understand. And we went I talked to everybody and I said, "Hey, did you get a final notice like I did?" No. Did you get a final notice? No. But why don't you go talk to Nick? Maybe they just haven't arrived in people's mailboxes. You don't know for a fact that everybody didn't get the notice. So, what I would my suggestion to you is send Nick an email ask him for a specific date and time that you could come in and speak about this new notice. He'll I'm going to tell him to notify me when that meeting is going to be

and I will try to make that and we can sit down and discuss it like gentlemen. Okay. Fair enough. And we'll take it from there. And you should focus on your situation. Don't, you know, don't sidetrack it with who complained about what, when, where, how. I'm just keep the focus on your property. Who got what noted? Just keep it on yours cuz that's what you're said. How it all started. That's just my it 30 years there never had a problem. Boom. And it was a problem. Who? But I understand. However it started. Yeah, that's however it started. Sit down. We'll just wait Mr. Neil. However it started, you got involved.

Okay. Whether it was indirect or direct, you're involved now. So, so now the the question is how do we come up with a solution? Yes. Not who caused it, but now how do we come up with a solution? So, so please email Nick. Yeah, I will ask him for a couple dates and times. He'll notify me and we'll make it happen. Okay. Okay. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Good evening. Dan Murphy, 38 carriageway. I thought it was going to be a quick meeting tonight. Get the Knicks, the Yankees on, but

it is what it is. Couple questions, couple of topics. Uh, resolution 26120 that tonight. Let's hold on. The New Jersey cooperative purchasing agreement. Yeah. Is this new to Middlestone Township? No. You guys have been involved in that? Yeah. There there's several cooperative that we that we you know that we go to that we enter into. Okay. Some are good but this is not going to limit uh you guys going out for a little bit. No absolutely because there's some some cooperatives that you get involved in. You have to take their pricing going out for a little bit only if we choose to do it. Okay. Yeah. That doesn't that doesn't negate the fact of putting it out the competitive bid. Just want to make sure we just like to open up our options.

I am with you as many as possible. Right. You got it. Okay. Uh, you're appointing full-time certified public works manager and clean communities coordinator. Is this a new person? Yes. Okay. Good luck. Got got 30 years in the business. Uh, ran a larger DPW department, has extensive knowledge on on running a good department. And uh we were in conversation with the deputy mayor, myself, uh committ Ziner, uh Kevin, and uh and discussed with him what the situation is. And he's very confident that he's going to revitalize, reorganize, rebuild. We need it

and and make DPW, you know, better, stronger, faster, more efficient, and a welloiled machine. Can you give out the name yet or what resolutions? It's the It's on It's probably on the wall. I think we missed the resolution. Yeah, it's in the wall. William King. No, it's Yeah, it's the resolution is there. Uh he work keep hold

good stuff. Good luck to him. Hope he comes on. question. What I know we've been working on the roads. Everybody knows there's problems with the roads and the potholes. What is the process of what roads get done? Is there priority order? How is that happening? Because I saw old Noah Hunt was done and I drive that road, not very well traveled, not a lot of people on it. one house in that mile stretch that you did. I know there's a couple of side streets there, but that was repaved. And I I can never and I'm not gonna say there weren't potholes, but I can never say I'm driving down this road, hey, this is a rough road. This is a bad road, but it was just redone. And there are so many other roads that I know for sure were way worse than old Noah Hunt. And it seems also like you guys are picking secondary roads or the crossroads which are more highly traveled. But what about the the roads that people live on? I'll give this to you. This is just one fifth of my development.

This is this is this is my development carriageway. And this is fifth. What's the address of this development? What was it? Go from 38 to to the Charleston spring. Go from Charleston Spring to 38 carriageway. And that is just one of the loop and you got potholes you could stick your foot in. And I get it. These are all the same pictures. No, the those are No, no. All of carriage white. That's fifth of carriage white. No, no, I know. But these pictures are all of carriage white. Just carriage white. All right. and we'll give these to DPW tomorrow.

And I truly understand the problem that you guys have, but this has been going on years and years and we got to figure out. Normally what people do, residents like you usually put a call with DPW saying, "I got a big pothole or something in front of my house." And usually it gets addressed in a few next few days. Wait, you can see those some of those are potholes that are filled over and over and over. It's past the point

of continuous to fill it in. And my question was, is there a tracking system of the roads? Is there a priority order? How are we picking what roads are getting done? Should we start grading the roads and saying, "Hey, this is a priority." You can't even say that we should keep filling that section anymore because it just comes out. If you look on some of the pictures, you'll see all the asphalt coming out. So, there's a certain point where patching it is just not going to work. No idea. Kevin, are Kevin, you're speaking?

Yeah. Can I jump in? Sure. So, the priority starts with uh you know our uh arterial roads, you know, so you'll notice like Milstone Road, we have Spring, uh Pain Island, those are roads that we have a chance. We already got a grant already for uh Cars Tavern um for for the next time we do a road program. So, the DOT does not give uh any funds for the neighborhoods. So, so this year we like if you go back to old Noah Hunt about two two and a half years ago, there was a a lot it was a lot worse. There was a lot bigger cracks and things like that. So, what we did was rip up, you know, you know, basically saw cut the cracks out, packed it up, and I was able to hold it over for a while and then as that ground settles, and then we go back and and do what we did now. Um, there was a neighborhood right there, Brewer. So, while you're in the area working on one road, if you're working on another, um it it it helps on the on the cost when you're doing this. You're not moving your equipment around town. If you go over to Gordon right now, um which is near Parkside, you have uh Windsor Pineville, which you know is arterial road. Hopefully, we get a DOT. Um, if you go take a ride over Felure, you know, I I I don't see the pictures you're showing me, but I know your roads are nowhere as near as bad as those. Um, so I earlier in the meeting that we're trying to come up with additional funds and additional roads. Dugan's Grove is another one where there's pieces of that where um and some of them are, you know, potholes that we keep filling. We know which ones. Uh that one there I think estimated cost is going to be 168,000. Carriageway is is is a long road. If if you went to mill

and pave the whole thing is probably maybe close to a million dollars or or you know definitely north of 500,000. So what we try to do is take the the funds that we can get DOG money put some money that we have to match to finish those roads. If we can't get the money we don't do that road. So then we look back and see what we have left in our programs over the last five years uh make it six years. We probably spent more money on roads and it's not just because of price of asphalt. It it's you know we we've come up with a program where a lot of these neighborhoods all were built in the late 80s. So you know 30 years I agree with you almost every neighborhood that was built at that time is is coming due. Some of them were able to, you know, cut out cracks and we may do that on your road. If the the gaps are so far between and it's not all like feathered up crocodile type of stuff, we'll go over maybe this year. We'll cut them out, fill them in, let it sit for a year, let it let the traffic build it down, and then come back and and mill and pave. So, uh, it's it's a question of funds. As I mentioned to John earlier, we have two 240 miles of roads. You know, we could in theory if it's a 20 year life, you know, so 240 lanes, so 120 miles, we could spend $6 million a year and and just trying to redo roads, you know, on an average life. And obviously that's more than our budget. So you we got to pick and choose and try to get the worst. But take a ride over Gordon, take a ride over Felure, maybe the north end of Parkside, Dugans, and if you want to, you know, let me know that you're worse than that. I'll definitely make sure it's right there, but I I I'm not dismissing yours or a lot of these other developments. This year, we also got Van Arsdale, which we had, you know, cut the cracks out uh a couple years ago around the same time, Old Noah, and and we were able to finally get to it this year to mill. And

I don't know if you were there when, uh, you know, the price of asphalt is probably, you know, literally 10 15% higher than what we bid on this stuff, what we put it on last year. And hopefully it didn't, you know, if this thing settles down globally, you know, it'll be getting back down. I hear what you're saying and I I see it and I know there a lot of roads that are really bad. The question really was, is there a process or system that you have that is saying here's the order that we got to go? Do we have a public list and say, "Hey, we get it. These roads are really bad. We're going to put you guys on a list. This is where we're at. Is there a grading system?" Because this can go on years and years and years. Kev, Kevin, don't you do that with uh with the tup engineer?

Hey, we we we drive through. I know you've drive through I've actually sent down a couple roads. uh you know we would the question is you know do comes first because that's free money and then we we try to pick off some other roads that are kind of in the area and you know the ones that are desperately needed and and we you know we get the calls if the calls don't come in if no one tells us about it DPW happens to be driving up your street for whatever reason and notice it so they'll bring it to put it on their list but but if we're not informed of uh you know that It's we we have a go up quail uh quail hill. It's right off of uh Clarksburg and you know the first is like 400 ft. We won't be doing the whole road, but obviously that has been patched too many times. We waste a lot of time and effort. Um but but I don't have the funds necessarily to go in there and pave every road that needs to be. So we have to sometimes do, you know, quilt or patchwork.

I get it, Kevin. Squeaky wheel. I'm squeaky. Well, but no, but if I if I bring it to our attention, then we'll look at it. But but as I said, go drive down Gordon on the offer between that and tell me your rose worse than that and I'll be over there Monday morning. But I highly doubt it. It's pretty bad, Kevin. But I I I I back in Jersey and uh I'll be over there Monday, Tuesday. I'll drive it around. I I drove down, Gordon. A resident called up, made a complaint. I drove. It's It's bad. It's really bad. Windsor Road and And it's not just a pothole here. I mean, the entire road is bad.

There's a lot of them. I get it. So, so I actually reached out to uh to the mayor of East Windsor because half of the road is in Milstone, half the road is in East Windsor. So, we're collaborating on doing the entire thing together. So, and the same with

Yeah. And the same with Belgium. So, so you know, we do what we can. Okay. Again, we're we're 37 miles square and we could only do so much and and I'm not going to say this to just to say it, but if you want to do the entire town, it's going to cost an enormous amount of money that we don't have, which exceeds our budget annually. And if like what Kevin said, if we do 10% of roads every year, that's 27 miles, okay, of of road a year just to the the answer is not the answer is I'm 32 years. That road is 35 years old. It's never been repaved. I get the problem. You know, I understand what you're saying, but we have to solve the problem. How about not paving How about not paving two miles of a road where only half a mile really has to be done and saving that money and cutting out sections of carriageway and just doing that section.

This is what I suggested to Kevin just a week ago. Uh steeplechase. You go down steeple chase, it's all nice. You go around the bend and in front of 36 steeple chase. It's horrible. Okay. Just like quail. So I said to Kevin, you know, all steeple chase is pretty good. You know, you have a couple of divots here and there, but it's pretty good. We need we need to cut out that 30 foot section and redo it. So that's going to get on the list, not for this year, but it's going to get on the list for next year. A lot of the neighborhoods that are there for the 30 years, as I said, they're all they're all coming too, you know. So

So also, so you ask about the process. So the process is always a year behind. So, we'll drive around, he'll drive around, Dan Jen will drive around, we'll get, you know, calls from from residents. There you go. And in 2026, we have to document everything that is bad. We prioritize how bad those roads are and then we put it into the road program for 2027. Now, if if somebody like Gordon Gordon uh Gordon Road, you know, close up, we've never heard about Gordon Road having a problem. Now, it's on our radar. it's going to go to the top of the list because it's that bad. We need to fix it. So that's the process that I think you're asking for.

Basically, you're saying if you call, you complain, we check it out, we No, no, no, no. That's a process. That's a process. No, no. What I'm saying is the process is they go out, they inspect the roads, they prioritize the roads. So let's say, you know, Gordon Road is most severely, you know, bad above the the number one on the list. Well, Gordon, you know, Gordon Road is going to go to the top of the list because it's the worst one in town. Okay. And I get that. That's grading the road and saying this is the worst. That's the process. So, so, so when when it's supposed to be at the bottom, but we're made aware of it and it's really bad, we move it to the top because it's not right for the

engineering. The engineers will go out there and measure it up, kind of look at and see what it is and come back with a ballpark cost. Then we'll put that with the other streets that we know that need whether it's patching or repairs or as you said sections or whatever and then we got to go and see how how much money can we afford to you know put in that particular year's budget.

Right. Also to Kevin's, you know, point before, if if there are multiple roads that are close to each other, maybe one road is not as bad as yours, but it's going to be there the next year, but if we could save, you know, tens of thousands by doing adjacent roads, we're we're going to take that option. So, case in point, you know, if we're going to do carriageway in 2027 and parts of Charleston Springs need it, we're going to take care of that. So, so that that's that's the process. Okay. Thank you for explaining that. Okay. I know I was here a couple of weeks ago on Abate Park. They did take the trees away. I'll leave the pictures with you. Give them to the new public works guy who's coming in. I mean, it's pretty bad.

Which one is this now? This is about park trees. Abbott Park. Okay. So, they they just pulled the trees, but now they didn't clean up the clumps. They didn't you can't even mow over it. It's they So, this this is gone. No. Oh, that's still there. That's there this morning. They just dumped some trees right on the side of the walkway. So, that's good. Those are Yeah, those are cracks in the road that are four or five inches. Do you have this this is being addressed actually? Yeah.

I've heard this for three years. Social media postings that Kevin was going to go get estimates two years ago and it was being done. I'm just making your way. I I did get estimates and that was going to be putting a patch on it. We realized that for the amount of money to do a patch, it was best to go out there and redo the whole park. And we're got the funding squared away for that. And you know, to be honest with you, it's going to be a significant expense. Kevin, it's as you could patch it like a pothole to make it a little bit safer. No, he's not talking about that. He's talking about he's talking about the coding, the courts, the pathway. In the meantime, we got this stuff and weeds 6 in 8 in right now.

But that's I'll give it to the new DPW guy. Clean it up. He's got he's got a lot of work ahead of him. Yes. Well, it's been built up for years. Uh, on another note, I I I actually recommend that we just close it until we get a few. Oh, stop that, Kevin. That's not an answer that either. So, Kevin, that's not an answer to close the park. I know you posted that it's a secondary luxury, but that's not an answer. Construction in the next. How about fix the park? You talked about it for years, Kevin. That's not an answer. Construction. So, I don't know if they want residents working during construction, but we can walk it during construction, but we'll see.

Kevin, it's a taxpayer asset. You called it a secondary luxury. You don't want to clean it up and all you want to do is close it. That's That's despicable that you said that. No, no, he he closed it during construction. No, he didn't. He didn't say that. He said it. He said it at the at the February 4th meeting. He said, "I think we should close that park." I talked about closing that park. So, he said it a couple of times. While it's being fixed, I definitely think we should. Well, you Well, it's fixed maybe, but you know, close sections of it. Well, sections of reconstruction where it could be a safety issue. I agree with that. Absolutely. But, but he didn't say he was going to close the park.

Okay. But on another note, you know, Kevin brought up to John a few minutes ago, well, we can't talk to you because of a lawsuit that you threatened. And I think I've been very respectful to the committee and to the township, as you know, we're in a lawsuit. And twice now in the last month, Kevin has been posting on social media about the lawsuit. Okay. Twice. Wait, I I uh because of pending litigation, no one up here should discuss anything. Well, you should tell that to him to not do it on social media. Okay. I'm just saying here up here. Excuse me. Excuse me. Brian, could you actually you know

I'm not we're not going to discuss we're not going to discuss pending litigation. No, I'm just saying you couldn't even just say what the lawsuit is. We're not we're not discussing pending litigation in a public meeting. Kevin, Kevin, I'm cautioning everyone up here. Kevin, I'm cautioning everyone up here not to discuss pending litigation. That's it. All right, Kevin, please stop.

Okay. Brian, as you know, this township went to court and and filed a motion to stop anything going on social media. Okay? And the judge denied that motion. So, we could all post on social media if we want to. And if Kevin wants to discuss this on social media, I'm willing to do that and bring the receipts, but I'm trying to be respectful for the town and be respectful for the committee. But twice in the last month, he went on social media and started posting about it. And I didn't initiate it. I didn't start it. So I think committee should caution that, especially with an election coming up and mixing it up with the election. So I think somebody should caution him about that.

I I I did say to your point to Mr. Pinhas, even if the knowing that he put that in an email to to to Nick, I'm still willing to work with him to go around and and try to help out. So, let let's all work together. We all live in town. Let let's make it, you know, we'll keep it beautiful. You know, we have a new DPW, you know, supervisor coming in. He's going to get this. So, let's let's keep it very cordial. Keep it cool. I've tried six years. I appreciate it.

Very respectful. Don't bring it up. Don't talk to you guys about it. Don't come up here and cry about it. It is what it is. We'll let the court handle it. Let's end it on a positive note. Business alliance June 1st is having career night. Uh going out to all the schools. We are getting all the entrepreneurs, business owners in the town. uh June 1st 6 6:00 the Suvios and any students college kids looking for jobs high school kids coming back looking for work we'll have a lot of the business owners there college night

it's a career night entrepreneur night it's open to all high school students college student I just got your email on that so we'll end it on a positive note there thank you thank Anybody else? Okay. At this point, I would like to close it to the public at 9:06. Thank you. Motion to adjourn. I'll move. Thank you. Second. All in favor? I out it 9:06.