Borough Council - Regular Meeting

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me Yeah. Heat. Thank you. [Music] Good evening. I'd like to call the May 28th, 2025 World Council meeting to order. Will the clerk please read the open public meeting statement? Adequate notice of this meeting has been provided as required under chapter 231 public law 1975 specifying the time, date, and location by posting a copy of the notice on the municipal building, municipal website, providing a copy of the annual notice scheduled to the official newspapers of the burrow. It is on file on the burough clerk's office. Will the clerk please call the role? Council President Zero here. Councilman here. Councilman Daniel here. Councilwoman Payne here. Councilman Pnansky here. Councilman Potter here. Mayor Murray present. Burrow attorney Peter Mcnolo present. Burough engineer Mike Mlen here. Burrow engineer Lupus Skunkanka here. B administrator Fred Carr. Bur clerk Gretchen McCarthy and former burough clerk Monica Erlando present. Will everyone please stand for a moment of silence which will be called by the state of the flag.

To the flag of the United States of America to the stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for [Music] all. So, I'm going to read the oath of office for the new clerk. I, Gretchen McCartney, do solemnly swearly swear that I will support the Constitution. I will swear that I support the Constitution of the United States in the Constitution of the same state of New Jersey that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and the governance established in the United States and in the state under the authority of the people and that I faithfully and partially the duties of her uh to the best of my knowledge. [Applause] Okay, we have swearing in of three police officers.

face that way. I'll face that. They don't see I state I do solemnly affirm do solemnly affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey and the Constitution and the State of Georgia that I favor true true faith allegiance to the same to the same and to the government established and to the government established in the United States in the United States and this state and this state under the authority of the people and under the authority of the people together I faithfully and I will faithfully andartially and justly perform and justly perform all the duties of the police officer all the duties of the police officer to the best of my ability to the best of my ability Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] I state your name so that I support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey that I truly pledge of allegiance to the same and to the government

established to the government in the United States and this under the authority of the people of the people and that I will faithfully and justly perform all the duties of police officer to the best of my ability to help me. Heat. Heat. I state your name. I, John Gaga, do solemnly swear domly swear that I of the United States and the Constitution and the Constitution of the State of New Jersey [Music] and the government established to the government in the United States in the United States and this state and this above the people and I act faithfully and I act and justly for all duties of police officer of the duties of the police officer to the best to the best of my ability

Anyone know? Please stay back to normal. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you for Congratulations. Congratulations. Um, when it comes to the organ for it to be streamed or is it going to be airing somewhere? This is streaming right now. It'll be YouTube.

That was all our guests. I showered this week. Okay. Next, we have a presentation from Miss Miltown Historic Preservation Committee. Good evening. I am Randy Ruth, chair of the Miltown Historic Preservation Committee, and I am here tonight to present to the council the committee's bi-anual obligation outlined by ordinance. Also here is Miltown Historic Preservation Committee and Miltown Historic Society member Barbara Santoro, who will be presenting a portion of this presentation shortly. Diving right in. Recent events include participation in Middletown Day back in 2024 and two roundts in partnership with Middle Sex County and Preservation New Jersey which began as a collaboration that incorporated county municipalities to host various preservation themed events. One was the Miltown uh the historic preservation uh roundt uh theme historic preservation master planning and was on November 30th 2024. There was another round table entitled preventing demolition and adaptive reuse that was held on December 10th 2024. Both events went were well attended with one in December having about uh I think it was a little over 20 people. Most recently, we were at in attendance at East Jersey Oldtown uh at History Day, which was May 17th. This event was also well attended and

offered us to connect to various people in the greater Middletown community. Next slide, please. While the existing committee has made significant contributions, it's important to note that it lacks the authority and power of a historic preservation commission. Such a commission which requires professional involvement is empowered by municipal land use laws. It sets forth the rules of historic preservation and ensures equitable practices. The absence of such a commission in Miltown due to the municipality not pursuing the necessary legislation has hindered our efforts in securing grants and funding. The municipal land use law enables municipalities to establish a a commission. However, Miltown has not yet taken advantage of this provision. The first step towards establishing a commission involves incorporating a historic preservation element into the master plan. These planning elements are crucial and have significant impact regardless of of the uncertainty of the outcomes. The recent success of the South Main Street rehabilitation plan, which involved extensive review by planning and zoning board and considerable community outreach, serves as an exemplary model. It demonstrates the effectiveness of well-thoughtout planning and the positive outcomes that can result. A historic preservation element in the master plan plays a similar plays a similar role as the South Main Street rehabilitation plan. It establishes guidelines set the standards to help in planning for the future. Contrary to misconception, it's not about dictating minor aesthetic choices like house colors. The focus is on promoting property value growth, protecting properties, and preserving cultural heritage through architectural details. It's about celebrating Miltown's past, shaping a future that respects our history and enhances and while enhancing the town's appeal to

both businesses and residents. There are so-called weak and strong commissions, and they are both useful for residents. At this time the request is to develop a week commission so as to provide some better level of preparedness while at the same time not create any excessive barriers to development. Next slide please. There are other strategies that have been proposed in lie of preservation of a preservation commission such as placement of demolition restrictions. Demolition restrictions these do not uh work. um they don't work entirely on their own. And by decreasing derelict buildings or preventing a building from being uh an overgrown lot, restricting demolition, it encourages rehabilitation and adaptive reuse by boosting surrounding home values. New Jersey law allows municipalities to improve uh impose demolition delays up to a year for his for things that are designated as historic or scenic structures. This pause opens up opportunities to secure funding, plan for reuse, or negotiate sales by avoiding hasty demolition. Another option is New Jerseyy's demolition bond loan program, which offers municipalities access to lowinterest loans for unsafe building removal conditional on planning and reuse strategies. By salvaging the materials like bricks or timber that make up the structure, municipalities can offset demolition expenses. Miltown can also set demolition permit fees to fully cover administration of costs, plan review, inspections, documentation, which it I'm sure it does to a certain degree now, but maybe could be reviewed. However, we already have a version of of this embedded in the South Main Street Rehabilitation Plan, but it really doesn't do enough. Next slide, please. The current state of affairs is

that the South Main Street Rehabilitation Plan encourages adaptive reuse of structure of historic structures, but only in the Firehouse District, which mandates adaptive reuse of the firehouse and Miltown Historical Society buildings, where demolition is only allowed with strong justification. Well, that saves money by avoiding full uh full reconstruction, reducing landfill costs, and preserves architectural identity. It also lowers capital expenses and and offers reduction infrastructure stream from new construction. Why don't you put it on? Keep in mind that South Main Street includes vacant buildings and old infrastructure with an average construction date of 1904. Likely, this number is older, but the housing data may not be 100% accurate. We should be implementing more rehabilitation strategies that prioritize reinvestment over raising properties since this preserves tax revenues from uh improved property values and avoids tax loss from vacant lots. The buildings that were demolished across the street from the firehouse could have continued to provide tax revenue had they had not been demolished and and sat as an empty lot idle for over three plus years. There are al also aging water and sewer lines that would need costly upgrades if if demolition led to large-scale redevelopment that can't support it. By promoting controlled rehabilitation through preservation, this reduces stress on these fragile systems. This can help defer utility capital upgrades by moderating demand growth in key areas of town. Next slide, please. So, we do have restrictions. Now, these already exist, like I said, and it says, "If demolition of the firehouse or either of the Stark homes within the district is approved by burough council, the developer shall arrange to have the buildings and the sites documented with photographs, a scaled site plan, scaled floor plans,

and a scaled exterior elevations. It is at its sole cost of the developer and the documentation provided to the burough. The developer shall also permit the burrow or its design to salvage any distinctive feature, memorabilia, or other items from uh from the building elements that may have historical value to the burrow. This is better than nothing, but it doesn't address other properties on South Main Street or elsewhere that could be subject to development. We as a bureau should be more proactive with a weak commission. Next slide, please. So why this is money? Because why this is uh time is money and we need to be proactive. There are a there are things that we don't fully know or appreciate. This includes properties nearby in the south street uh to the firehouse district. Now I'd like to pass to Barbara Santoro for something a little different than the typical ask for. Thank you, Randy. Can I have the next slide, please? This map is an 1876 map of Miltown, obviously not to scale. And this was found also in the very first history of Miltown book that's on the inside cover. And at one of our historical society meetings, we were looking at the names of the folks that were in town. And one thing that really caught our eye was on the bottom right. You see Schwinderman spelled incorrectly and then Dart and then a piece of property, a building that is set back from the street and it says H Brown C. Well, we didn't think that was Henry Brown, Colonel Henry Brown. So, we wondered if that meant colored. And it was next to a house that says Mrs. Vdda, and that's the proper

German spelling of that, which you will not find in most other census. And um I thought, okay, because I'm a genealogy nut to the point that I hired a genealogologist to do some work for my family background. I know it takes months and months and lots of digging to find all of the answers. So, I may not have all of the answers, but we have a lot of information that points to a conclusion that that may have been the home of Henry Brown, a an African-Amean. So, can I have the next slide, please? In the 1860 census, it shows Henry Brown with his daughter Sarah, who's two years old. And then you might be thinking, well, 1860 census, was he a freed man? Where did he come from? that I have not been able to find out other than the fact that New Jersey passed passed, excuse me, the gradual abolition of slavery act on February 15th, 1804, which meant that Henry Brown in 1860 was a free man. And he was living in the Miltown section of East Brunswick. And we know it is the Miltown section of East Brunswick because at the bottom of the page, that's what it says. It's the village of Miltown in East Brunswick. So any man or woman that was born in 1804 after the 4th of July once they e reached the age of 21 a woman would be free and age 25 for a man. New Jersey was the very last northern state to begin the process of ending slavery. So I find this to be very very interesting that in the village of Miltown we had this family living here. Next slide please. So this is the 1870 census and you can see that all of Henry Brown's family is there. I marked a little blue dot next to his family and that there are other familiar names on this page as well. And the interesting thing I have found about

genealogy and census reporting is that whoever is doing the census may not understand what the person is saying and they spell the names incorrectly. So the uh WDA family coming from Germany may have said or Welder or whatever. And then this was then written down as Wela Welde D. But remember on that map that was the neighbor to Henry Brown. So to me this shows that Henry Brown did raise his family in Miltown, the part of East Brunswick. And there are other names that are familiar on this. If I had the whole page, there's the Schlloer family and some other families that have uh names very familiar to Milttown. Next slide, please. In the 1880 census, you still see the Bale the family and down near the bottom is Philip Schlloer who is listed as a grocery and saloon keeper. And Henry Brown is still here with his younger children and his wife. So, if we can have the next slide, please. Then we had this in the Miltown Museum, which is a picture of Philip Schlloer's store at about 1890, and it's in the caption saying that it's Philip Senior to the left, Philip Jr. to the right, and Rooster or Brewster Brown. Now, this would not be Henry Brown Senior because he would have been 70 in 1890. So, it could have been one of his five sons. So that family was still in the area in 1890. Next slide, please. Um Randy, if you could please comment on this section on on this map. This is so this this is a map of a the firehouse district on the on the left,

which includes the Miltown Historical Society buildings. Um and then across the street would be the Schwendaman property and in the lower right hand corner would be the section which is called which is known as uh heritage of Miltown the developer owns. Okay. [Music] So the idea is that if we have the absolute proof that the Schwendaman property that's property number 86 is where Henry Brown raised his family. We feel that that's a very important historical factor in saying that we need to have some kind of a commission so we can designate historic properties or even create historic districts. When we say creating a historic district, we're not trying to look at the whole town. We're not trying to look at blocks and blocks, but to start small so that I even the Schwendamin family has a lot of history behind it and their influence within the town and their building was built in 1859. So again, anecdotally, if that house was built in 1859, and the next house in chronological order would be built in 1893, 1903, and 1908, it's very likely that this was Henry Brown's residence in 1860. and that if we could designate that as a historic building, historic property, a small historic district could be created by including not only the Schwendaman property, but lots uh I'm sorry, properties 83, 84, and 85, which is the Miltown Museum, the Miltown Museum annex, and the South Main Street Firehouse. So, some points about having historic districts. If you've driven into different towns, welcome to historic Cranberry. Welcome to historic Jamesburg. All of these different towns really play up the fact that they have

something historic about them. So, if you had a designated district, perhaps that can also be marketed to bring more business and more interest to South Main Street as well as the entire town. And it not only would bring more of an interest to the history of the town, what's behind these different buildings. We have a lot of old buildings, but old doesn't make it historic. So in order for us to continue this type of research, we would certainly involve the town and historic society and say if we can just have these little pockets within town, doesn't have to be the whole town being historic, that it really will leverage interest in Miltown itself and the museum if we have this as a mini historic district. And again, the commission can use this historic district as an example to let the residents know that there's not going to be government overreach if we designate small pockets as historic districts and we show that we're not going in there, as Randy said, to tell you what color to paint your house, what kind of porch to put up, and all of these things that I think that that would really assuage a lot of fears that people have in having a commission. So, Randy, do you have any closing remarks? Yes, thank you for your time. [Music] So, I just wanted to add that um if you leave it. Um so, the the Schwene property is adjacent to um the heritage properties that are slated for I mean they've been considered in the South Main Street rehabilitation plan for redevelopment. Um, and I think it's reasonable to to assume that the property owner could be interested. And as it stands right now, there's no protections or demolition protections like we have with the firehouse and historical society buildings. So, it's kind of like we've just focused on one

spot and said, "You know what? We're going to protect these, but yet we haven't been proactive enough to plan for the things that we don't see coming down the road, you know, and when the time comes, things are lost, things have of historic value to the point where there's not even a consideration, not a pause, not a twoe delay for even the count for these things to come to council. They are handled just by right administratively." And uh that's when people say, "Well, how come nobody stopped it?" And everybody says, "Well, we we didn't have the authority to." And that's something that a commission can really help help do is at least give the council more power to have a better say when these things come come along that none of us will come down the road. So with that, um I have nothing else, but if you have any questions, I'm sure me or Barbara could answer. Thank you. Not a not a question, but I'd like to talk about the uh the two older um homes that you have, the one that the the Historic Society has the museum in. Um I I I feel that since we own these homes that that we should we should do some kind of maintenance or upgrading um because because we own them and I I know the one uh the house behind to me looks terrible and and I I think we should we should do something about that. Um, unfortunately financial wise, we we don't uh have a lot of money to to do that. I know there's there's grants in this grant I'm going to talk about um in my DPW report to possibly help historic preservation in the town. Uh because I I appreciate your cause and your dedication and I think that that we should do something to help you get somewhere with that. That's that's what I have to say. I appreciate it, Gary. I appreciate you being uh the liaison. Um the only thing I would add add to mention to that is uh by having a commission you you basically set the rules and once a lot of people don't want to give burrows or individuals money if they can't trust that that

money is going to be spent properly. So that's what a commission really does is that it sets those rules and that groundwork so that way the bureau is then eligible for a lot more grants to come in and um so therefore there's there's less public dollars being spent. Well, I was going to say one other thing. I I talked to a friend of mine who's who's political and because of the situation and and um I know that you guys are talking about the the house and needing uh work and and paint and what I told him that I was going to do tonight was to I wanted to donate the money for the renovation for um paint and supplies and he said don't do it you're going to get yourself in trouble and I also said I would help paint if you had some kind of a work so where it wouldn't be the right money if if the money does come in. I'd be happy to help if you have a fee and I'd be happy to do any. Yeah, I think that's more of a decision based off of a liability than the burrow attorney would address. But but I'm I'm offering. Well, check with your attorney. Bren, um I have a question. Uh thank you um both for the presentation. I really appreciate it. Um so as as it exists. It's called the Miltown Historical Society. So, there are two groups. There's a historic historical society that's been around since the 60s. They're focused mostly on the the stories, right? You know, uh the the artifacts that tell those stories. Whereas the historic preservation committee, which was always intended to eventually become a commission in some form, uh is really the the the the beginnings of that that that brokerage between public and private partnership, right? Because it would fun a commission would function like a pl like a planning

board, you know, it would be a part of the municipal government. So, um, so can you explain to me a little bit more about that process? Like, has there been an application to be a commission? Well, so it doesn't it's not really an application. It's more of that there's no there's no restrictions for the uh the burough council just like any other ordinance to to pass it, right? And that process is outlined by the municipal land use law. Just like if you wanted to combine a planning board and zoning board, Miltown doesn't need to figure out how to do that. They just look to the the land use law and the instructions are effectively there. And those same types of instructions exist for Historic Preservation Commission, which sets um in motion a lot of little things that create uh a a very comprehensive package like the historic preservation element of the master plan, right? That that needs to be a part of it. The actual body that would be looking at things, there would be a secretary, right? these types of things would would um would be developed and the exact rules are really determined by by the council. So what how strong of a commission uh is really up to the ordinance. So just so just for clarity, so you mentioned that this falls under land use law. Mhm. But that in addition to that, it would require municipal ordinance in order to establish the commission. Do we have that right? Like how do we begin like how do we begin the process? It's my understanding that Yeah. So it's my understanding that

one there would need to be buyin for and I don't know which comes first to be honest with you whether it would be the I'm pretty sure it's actually the burough ordinance which basic you know these things they come in a series or wave of ordinances there's the ordinance to have a commission then there's the ordinance for the the the um the planning element of the master plan you know for the for the planner to do his part so I'm pretty sure that the first is to the ordinance to have a commission and then the other pieces start filling in what that process looks like. I mean, I don't know. I would defer to maybe have Peter weigh in. So, yes, that was going to be my next suggestion to the c to my colleagues on the council. Perhaps Peter um could weigh in on this. Um, I can weigh in on the fact that if if the bureau is mayor and council are interested in pursuing uh commission potentially certainly we can look into that. I think there are a couple different places we want to get information from. One of those individuals would be your burough planner who probably has information and input on the benefits and benefits of having um but it is as easy as adopting an ordinance but it's much more complicated than just adopting an ordinance. I mean there are ramifications for what happens when you have them. There are things so I think those are things that if you want looked into someone can look into those. Um, but at this point I I don't have a readym made, you know, answer to all the questions. Well, I well, I would appreciate, you know, that maybe you just take a a peek at it and let us know what the pros and the cons would be. So then then we could discuss it as a council at some point. That's at least one step in the right direction. Appreciate it.

Okay, so Randy, I got a question for you. Being that most of the houses have been renovated that are historic in town, like how much of a percentage do you have to have for it to be historical? So again, it really depends on how strong of an ordinance and how strict it is, right? Um I think when you have a weak commission, you're not you're not forcing anybody to do anything necessarily. One thing that I'd like to point out, a very a simple thing, you know, there's a lot of porches over the even over the past five years where people put new railings in, right? They put in the ones that they get at Home Depot and they're very tall, they're odd, and they definitely don't need to because there are two codes, two building codes within New Jersey. There's one for older historic structures and then there's one for modern structures. So, you know, it could even potentially benefit um property owners where say, "Hey, you know, you can save money by rehabilitating this and the the commission would put a stop, you know, from them just doing it by right, it's just a check and a balance." Um, in terms of reverting things back to what they used to look like, that gets a little bit more uh not I don't want to say arbitrary, but subject to interpretation. So, if somebody says, "I want to make a change to the front of this building and it was in a historic district," it would come before a a commission and then it would go through the review and they've already have things outlined of what is and what isn't of of really of a concern. And I think uh and I brought this up in the past, you know, there's certain things like maybe solar panels. there's things that go against priorities within the burrow. Maybe that architectural detail of that roof, you know, like a slate roof. Okay, we understand that's going to be a lot more money to replace in kind and because we're not trying to provide a a hardship to the residents because that's the other thing. If a resident says this is a hardship, it's

just like anything else that comes before like a planning board, you could you guys could have the final say for an applicant if it were to get that far. Um, but it would be mostly a way of a means to inform the property owners when they want to make a change that this is where this is where you're at. And by contributing uh in kind, you can not only maybe save money in the process, but also you'd be beautifying the community. And then as um Barbara uh to um John's point to uh Barbara had mentioned, you could do it in small areas like you can yeah I mean that's how you would keep so usually the way things and especially in larger cities and municipalities there will be a historic preservation commission and then some sort of district which is just one designated area um it doesn't necessarily have to have the natural boundaries um but it should have some logic and then when that district is created you start defining the historic character elements and say you know what this is a district because and then you know that's the that's what really guides guides the rules you know the unique characteristics and it can be small could be the whole town but we're not trying to do that we're trying to do it in in small sections be for a variety of reasons does that create a challenge when you do it in small sections in the sense of if um if I'm in a small section and my neighbor's not just because the lines aren't repaired and my porch is he's is in need of repair and I'm forced to follow a pattern that causes me cost me an exorbitant sum it uh that that's where I run is

that we're a small town and we certainly do have clusters of houses that are different and similar all you know inner space you know they go down main street. I do see some of those nice wraparound porches and I do see a lot of nice aspects, but I do wonder too is that is it a detriment to someone who bought their house 40 years ago that when their house becomes historic, they'll have to the buyer may have to look at it and go, "Oh, by the way, if you want to replace the deck porch, expect that it's going to be 30% more than the house at school or the house over there. Even though the house in many ways does not create or distort termination does not create a greater value for the resale house. Well, see that's just false. I mean there are every historic district that I've ever been to uh property values have increased. But if we're doing small so the property values of arbitrarily of three four houses small cluster it's not arbitrary. I mean it could be but that's why during the process you define lines which have some logic and reason. It's just like any other planning process. You know you look at something and say you know we could do it here we could do it there but this doesn't really make sense and it becomes a consensus that the body would would look at. Anything that would come that the commission would would vote on the council would would if it's a weak commission they would have to approve it anyway. So any of the arbitrariness would be likely not existent. Would the people or the owners of the houses have the option to opt in or out of that generally or is it it's just told to them their house has now become this and with that they have a new set of rules? Well, the only real

obligation to to a property owner is that they can't do things necessarily outright. So if they wanted to demolish a section or rehabilitate something rather than them having to when they go to get their permit, they would say, "Hold on, this needs to come under review. What's your plan?" Right? That fundamentally that's the most basic obstacle that a property owner would run into. And depending on what that plan is, you know, it would either be accepted by the by the board or by the commission or it wouldn't. And as I've said, we're not trying to create any um hardships to a to to any residents, but I can say that if the hardship were to fall on a developer that's doing things haphazardly and quickly, we would want to slow that down because that's somebody that may be trying to demolish a building to turn it in a lot, which would take revenue from the burrow. It would take away that ratable. This has already happened. So, it's about preventing demolition in such a way mo more so more than just than uh like we even gave the example trying to tell somebody, oh, you can't paint it this way or paint it that way. When it come we're we're not trying to recreate what something looked like. We're not going to require people to recreate what it was. Does that make sense? It it does. I just um I mean we don't have a tremendous amount of development that goes on. I just more wonder that a home that was purchased pre being designated historic then be falls under different laws or different controls then the idea of being grandfather if it wasn't and now it is that is convenient for some or inconvenient for others to think about well I can tell you that during the south main street rehabilitation

planning Nobody seemed to have that opinion who showed up. At least I never heard it. Um, were homeowners directly soffected by that? There were well the people who attended I assume that homeowners or property owners that were a part of that rehabilitation plan showed up. I mean, it would only make sense. Uh, I'm sure other people did, too. If a commission were to be formed and an ordinance were to come come to a vote, I'm sure that those people would be notified and they would have a chance to speak like they do at any other uh you know any other ordinance reading and they would let you know if they think it's a bad idea or a good idea. Got a question. So what year is this that you're you're you're particularly giving this uh presentation? Is it like three four? It's about Yeah, it's funny. I actually reviewed my pres uh my presentations and notes from uh I think it was 2022. So, okay. So, three years. Yeah, four years something. But I don't remember. This is the first time that I've seen the historic district kind of thrown into this presentation. So, um, it's interesting, you know, again, it's it's interesting that, you know, the South Main Street Rehab kind of already encompasses that part of town and somehow you folks have figured out, done the work that there's actually history there. Schwintman or Mr. Brown, you know, so interesting. Yeah. And so just just so you know, there was a an architectural report done by the county in 1978 that identified at that time potential historic properties. And then in around 2005, maybe 2009, the historic preservation committee at that time retook the photos, put together a map,

and that's where you saw that excerpt um for where these houses had numbers associated with them, right? And um so there was a potential concept of where where these historic buildings already are. So a lot of the work already exists. It's a matter of okay, would we want to set the boundaries here or there or or you know whatever whatever makes sense, but we're not really at that that point. Um at least not right now. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Now is a time for public comment limited to the resolutions listed on the agenda only. If you wish to speak, please step up to the microphone, state your name and address for the record. Again, this is the public portion is limited to the comments only on the resolutions listed on the agenda at this time. There'll be a fivem minute time limit set forth by the rules of council. If someone raises their hand, please come up to the microphone and state your name and address for the record. Need help, Elma? Are you okay? You need help? Are you okay? I'm okay, Mike. Thank you. I'm Elma Applegate of 66 Miller Lane, Miltown, New Jersey. And I'm here to wonder why we can't get our road fixed. I understand it's going to be then it's not going to be. To me right now, this road is my life. I'm 90 almost 97 years old. I get joy walking up and down the street. I can't do it. It's very hard. I got to watch every step because there

are patches, there's big holes, there's stones where the trucks go up and down. I want to know why my road can't be fixed. I've been in Miltown 96 years and I feel like I'm part of history. That was interesting listening to him. Elmy, you are historic. What? You are historic. I I do have news for you that um uh working with Luke from CMA, your road will be repaired, but it's going to be in the spring. It's it's it's Reva first and then Miller's Lane. It it's it's on the schedule, just so you know. Thomas. Yep. And thank you. It's It was I I like to walk I used to walk all the way downtown and back and now I can walk to the end of the lane and back. So, so just to let you know, just to piggyback on what uh Gary was saying, it was brought up in our last DPW. Big guy or not? Big guy. The big guy. It will be fixed and it was we had a meeting with CME and it is on the list to be fixed. Thank you. Oh, just to add, my name is Michael Lneski. I actually live at 70 Miller Lane and that's where they dug the road up in front of my house and in front of Dave's house next door at 72. And that's what she's talking about. The road is more than halfway dug up. The dirt's sunk in and it's in bad shape. So, okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Dave Nkins 59 West Foch. Uh I wanted to

speak about uh ordinance 251566 the flag policy. Uh oh resolution. What am I saying wrong? only the resolution on the agenda. Okay. So, I'm not correct. Yeah. Correct. Come back. The resolutions listed on the agenda. Thought that was on. Okay. That was quick. Seeing no more, I'll close public comment. Ordinance. Introduction. First reading. This introduction on ordinance 25-1560. There will be no public input on this ordinance tonight. This introduction summary will be published as required by law and second reading, public hearing and final adoption will be considered on the June 9th, 2025. Full copies of the ordinance will be posted on the bur website on the bulletin board at the municipal building and available at no cost in the office of the municipal clerk between the hours of 8:30 a.m. 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Will the clerk please read ordinance 251560 by title? Ordinance to amend chapter 34 comprehensive development section 34-14 schedule of fees of the revised general ordinances of the burrow of Miltown. May I have a motion in a second, please? So moved. Second. I have a motion made by Councilman Potter, seconded by Council President Zabbr. Is there any comments? Seeing none, will the clerk please call the role? Council President Zambrana. Hi. Councilman Collins. Hi. Councilman Moso. Hi. Councilwoman Payne. Hi. Councilman Posnansky. Hi. Councilman P.

I. Motion is carried. This is the introduction on ordinance 251561. There will be no public input on this ordinance tonight. There's an introduction summary will be published required by law and second reading. Public hearing and final adoption will be considered on June 9th, 2025. Full copies of the ordinance will be posted onto our website, the bulletin board at the municipal building and available at no cost in the office of the municipal clerk between hours of 8:30 a.m. 4:30 p.m. Monday through Fridays. Will the clerk please read ordinance 251561 by title? bond ordinance providing for various capital improvements and the acquisition of various capital equipment appropriating $1,515,000 therefore and authorizing the issuance of 1 million1000 bonds and notes to finance portion of the cost thereof authorized in and by the burrow of Miltown in the county of Middle Sex New Jersey. May I have a motion in a second, please? Motion second. I have a motion made by Council President Zambrana, seconded by Councilman Potter. Is there any comments? Yes, I'm I'm um I'm not in favor of this right now. I was hoping that that Mr. Carr would be here tonight because I have questions and um there's no one here that can answer the questions that I have. I expected him to be here tonight. I was hoping that that um that we also be uh uh doing the the segmenting for the budget because I'd like to ask Joe some questions on this and as it stands um I don't I don't agree with this as it as it stands because there's no one to answer any questions that I have. Will the clerk please call the role? Council President Zra I. Councilman Collins I. Councilman Mao I. Councilwoman Payne I. Councilman

Pnansky. No. Councilman Potter. I motion carries. This introduction to ordinance 251562. There will be no public input on the ordinance tonight. The introduction summary will be published as required by law and second reading. Public hearing and final adoption will be considered on June 9th, 2025. Full copies of this ordinance will be posted on the bar website and the bulletin board at the municipal building and available at no cost in the office of the municipal clerk between the 8 hour hours of 8:30 a.m. 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Will the clerk please read ordinance 251562 by title? bond ordinance providing for the acquisition of a utility truck appropriating $145,000 therefore and authorizing the issu the issuance of $137,750 bonds and notes to finance a portion of the cost thereof authorized in and by the burough of Miltown and the county of Middle Sex, New Jersey. May I have a motion and a second, please? Motion second. I have a motion made by Council President Zbrana, second by Councilman Potter. Is there any comments? Seeing none, will the clerk please call the role? Council President Van Brown, I. Councilman Thomas, I. Councilman, I. Councilman, I. Councilman Penski, I. Councilman P. I. This is an introduction of ordinance 251563. There will be no public input on this ordinance tonight. The introduction summary will be published as required by law. Second reading public hearing and final adopts will be considered on June 9th, 2025. Full copies of the ordinance will be posted on the burough website on the bulletin board at the municipal building and available at no cost in the office of the municipal clerk between the hours of 8:30 a.m. 4:30 p.m. Monday through

Friday. Will the clerk please read ordinance 251563 by title? bond ordinance providing for the acquisition of a bucket truck appropriating $230,000 therefore and authorizing the issuance of $218,500 bonds and notes to finance a portion of the cost thereof authorized in and by the burrow of Miltown in the county of Middle Sex, New Jersey. May I have a motion and second, please? Motion second. That okay, thank you. I have a motion made by Council President Zbrana, seconded by uh Councilman Collins. Is there any comments? Okay. Will the clerk please call the role? Council President Zambra. I. Councilman Collins. Hi. Councilman Mango. I. Councilwoman Payne. I. Councilman Posnansky. Hi. Councilman Potter. I carry. This is an introduction of ordinance 251564. There will be no public input on this ordinance tonight. This is an introduction summary that will be published as required by law. and second reading public hearing final adoption will be considered on June 9th, 2025. Full copies of the ordinance will be placed under our website and a bulletin board at the municipal building and available at no cost in the office of the municipal clerk between the hours of 8:30 a.m. 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Will the clerk please read ordinance 251564 by title? Ordinance to amend chapter 23 streets and sidewalks section 23-1.8 fees of the revised general ordinances of the burough town. I have a motion and a second, please. I have a motion made by Councilman Potter, seconded by Council President Zimbran. Is there any Oh, I'm sorry. Councilman Pazanski, is there any comments? Seeing none, will the clerk please call

the role? Council President Zamba. Hi. Councilman Collins. Hi. Councilman Ma, I'm sorry. He didn't answer. Oh, thank you. Uh, yes. Hi, Councilwoman Payne. Hi, Councilman Posnki. Hi, Councilman P. Hi. This is an introduction of ordinance 251565. There will be no public input on this ordinance tonight. This introduction summary will be published as required by law. The second reading public hearing of final adoption will be considered on June 9th, 20125. Full copies of the ordinance will be posted on the burough website in the bulletin board at the municipal building and available at no cost in the office of the municipal clerk between the hours of 8:30 a.m. 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Will the clerk please read ordinance 25156 by title? Ordinance 25-1565, Ordinance amending Chapter 14, Parks and Recreational Areas, Section 14-7.2, Recreation Program Fes of the Revised General Ordinances of the Bureau of Miltown. Um, may I have a motion in a second, please? So move. Second. Are there any comments? Seeing none, will the clerk please call the RO? Council President Zado, I. Councilman Collins, I. Councilman Mo. Hi. Councilwoman Payne. Hi. Councilman Pnansky. Hi. Councilman Potter. Hi. Just an introduction to ordinance 251566. There'll be no public input on this ordinance tonight. The introduction summary will be published as required by law and a second reading public hearing final adoption will be considered on June 9th, 2025. Full copies of the ordinance will be posted on the bar

website in the bulletin board at the municipal building and available at no cost in the office of the municipal clerk between the hours of 8:30 a.m. 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Will the clerk please read ordinance 251566 by title? An ordinance to amend chapter 2 administration of the revised general ordinances of the bur of Miltown to add article 89 flag policy. So moved. Second. I have a motion made by uh Councilwoman Payne, seconded by Council President Zabbrana. Is there any comments? Yes. Um I have different concerns. I have concerns of legal complications by leaving possible. Seven people up here picking and choosing which flags they deem acceptable. And I I feel like we're ruling without the consent of the govern. I believe this is an issue of flags that should be brought up to a referendum to be voted on by the citizens of Middletown. I'm concerned I'm also concerned with the uh the relig religious liberty part. Um this came up last year and it's interesting that it's coming up again. Um there was a case in Boston. It's Sherlo versus the city of Boston. It's the Supreme Court held that the city of Boston violated the first amendment rights by denying a Christian organization the right to raise a religious flag on the city bus city flag even though the city had previously allowed other groups to raise secular flags. The court determined that the city's flag raising program was not government speech but rather public form for private expression and therefore the city could not discriminate against the Christian flag based on its religious content. Yes. I I I'd like to know why we did this last year. Why are we remaking the wheel here? Because I was requested to draft it. Excuse me. Someone requested that I draft it. Oh, so so I requested next

year. Unilaterally decide policy. So if I want it next year, you can remake the wheel again, right? Sure. But that the taxpayers's expense. Taxpayer expense. Yes. I I I do work for the burrow. So Right. So I mean we could just go next year and we could change it and the next year we could change it and the next year we could change it. Sure. Sure. Although although that doesn't make much sense that drafting ordinances is something that's covered by by retainers. So you don't ask for but then come back to this council because then there are resolutions ready to come forward. Councilinski I I just direct to me. So I'm I'm merely explaining that I I looking at them but I'm leaning it toward but I know resolutions are forthcoming. So I feel that that we're becoming an actress council. Uh I the the initial request that I received was for a resolution for the ability to place a flag on one of the flag poles that is not located outside. in reviewing the ordinance that was drafted and passed by the council last year. That uh ordinance limits the flags that can fly at any burrow property to a series of four enumerated flags. Um, at that time it was requested that I draft an ordinance that preserved the flags that would fly at Bur Hall while creating the ability for the council to entertain requests for other flags to fly and other properties within the burrow uh while also maintaining the uh the fact that the ultimate decision was by the council and it was the council's speech. It is not an open public forum. So that you did not implicate the concern that as a public forum you be required to entertain anyone's speech on a flag because the only people who are

going to speak on a flag ball would be the council of the world. That's why that was my concern. My concerns also we're $30 million in debt. We're owed $7 million for 23 acre derelic property in the center of town. Drastic rises in water taxes and electric costs. Empty storefronts and empty lots. I believe for our taxpayers, these are priorities. We can't lose sight of this. I'm not very grateful. I mean, I I was happy with the ordinance we passed last year. Now it's like we're going to change it this year and and next year, you know, it's like this seems redundant to me. Oh, right. Progress. Oh, we've done it. We did it and then we're going to redo it and then we're going to make redo it again. You know, it's like is this is this the most important thing we have to do in the town? But it's a different ask, John. It's different than I don't see discussed last day. By the way, I would defend anyone who wants any of these flags that I know are being thought of here. If you want them on your private home and someone tries to take it down, I'll be the first one at your house to defend that flag. But I don't feel the same way at at the Burough Park or any of these other other flag polls in town. When you have 7,000 residents and this accommodates very few, we were elected to think about the majority of people in town. Will the clerk please call the role? Council President Deborah, I. Councilman Collins, no. Councilman Mango, no. Councilwoman Payne, I. Councilman Posnansky, no. Councilman Potter, I mayor, we have a tie. No. Motion does not carry. It f authorizing payments of municipal

obligations. Next on the agenda, we have the authorizing payments of municipal obligations. Will the clerk please read resolution 2025-190 by title? Authorizing the payment of bills, claims, and statements against the burrow of Miltown in the total amount of $4,27,529 15 cents. I have a motion in a second, please. Motion. Second. I have a motion made by uh Councilman Collins, seconded by Councilman Potter. Uh will the clerk please call the role? Is there any comments or questions? Sorry. Seeing none, will the clerk please call the role? Council President Zambbrano, I. Councilman Collins, I. Councilman Mako, hi. Counciloman Pay, I. Councilman Posnki, I. Councilman Potter, I. Motion carries. A consent resolution has been prepared for the resolutions on the agenda. Listed on the agenda. Four matters listed under the consent agenda are considered to be routine in nature and haven't been reviewed by burough council will be enacted on in one motion. Any items may be removed from the consent agenda at the request of any council member. If so removed will be treated on as a separate matter. Any items requiring expenditures or support certification of funds. If any member of council wants any resolution acted upon individually, please give me the resolution number and I'll pull it from the consent resolution. Um, resolution 2025 196. Resolution 2025 20125205.

191 196 2011 216 96 2011 2011 2015 Councilman Collins you good? Yep. Okay, let's check. Would clerk please read the consent agenda resolution minus 196205? Whereas pursuant to the rules of council, the council may establish a consent agenda for any regular or special meetings upon certain conditions. And whereas each of the following resolutions to be presented before the burough council 2025 to have as members of the burough council resolutions 2025 196 197 through 199 202 to 204 to 206 to 207. Now therefore be it resolved by the burough council of Btown that each of the above list of resolutions be approved and adopted by council with the same legal effect as though each was read in its entirety at the May 28 2025 meeting and adopted by a secretary. May I have a motion and second please? So move second. I have a motion made by Councilman Potter, second by council president Sbrana. Is there any comment? No. Please call the roll. Council president. Hi. Councilman Collins. Hi. Council. Hi. Council. Hi. Councilman Pnanski. I. Councilman Potter. I. Will the clerk please read resolution 2025-196 please? By title. Authorizing certain personnel actions construction department. Much pleasure. Council make the motion this uh resolution be adopted. Second. I have a motion made by councilman

Potter, seconded by Councilwoman Payne. Uh is there any discussion? Good. Number 96. Oh, okay. Um it's the uh plumbing plumbing person. Um, I had originally wanted this to be put up for bid and and it is not. Um, I understand it's hard finding someone for this position. U, but I I'd just like to uh vote separately on this p you are voting separately. I understand but that's why I brought this up. Okay. Um, is that it for that? Yes. Okay. Are there any concerns or regarding the microphone please council? Um, sorry. I mean, is there anything specific regarding the concerns or about I I don't want to I don't want to mention specific concerns. I'd just like to vote. I just want to know is this does anybody know if this is this his only job now? I because he retired from Miltown because last time he had like three jobs so we had trouble getting uh times for him. This is this is he's being hired as part-time just as the person who resigned as part-time, right? So, um I mean it's an employment position, so it wouldn't go out to bid. It's it's a job that was posted. It was posted on the League of Municipalities, was posted on the burough website. Um he was the respondent. Yes, he was the only one that he was the only one that we got. Um he currently he also works with our construction code official um in the other town that he works in as well. So, they work well together as it is, but it is a part-time position just as the gentleman that resigned is part or was part-time. Councilman Pasnansky, could you please explain the reason why you pulled this resolution? Would I explain? Yeah. And I'm just not clear. Yes. He

worked for us before and I had heard some some negative things. He also came to my house for for u a situation and it did not resolve very well on his part, not mine. So a personal? No, it's not personal. Well, who did you hear from? Some people you heard from? Yeah. Do you want me to give you names? Well, I think it's like, you know, here. Yeah. Discuss. I'd like to I'd like to vote no on this. Is that okay with you? You can vote no. That's fine. We should get into a discussion with someone else, right? You should not be discussing your personal interaction. Well, I I was asked something. Yeah. I didn't want to mention anything. I just wanted to vote. Well, then you shouldn't have pulled it and vote no against it. Right. That's your option. Well, I'd have to vote uh no or yes on everything else. Okay. If if if I may, in order for anyone to decide to vote separately and differently on any particular resolution, it needs to be pulled. Otherwise, they need to vote against the entire consent agenda which they may not want to do. So, that's correct, Miss P. I asked all I asked you was for clarification why you pulled it. I wasn't questioning the process. That's all I was asking. Thank you. Can clerk, please go. Council President Zra I. Councilman Collins, I. Councilwoman I'm sorry, Councilman Ma. I. Councilwoman Payne, I. Councilman Bosnki, no. Councilman Potter, I. Motion carries. Will the clerk please read resolution 2025201 by title? Amending resolution 2025-79, interim part-time business administrator for the Burough of Miltown. May I have a motion in a second, please? Motion. Second.

Have a motion made by Councilman Con, seconded by Councilman Potter. Uh, is there any discussion? Um, yes. I have concerns. I I I was hoping that that that U Mr. car would be here tonight and and that's a part of this is that I had asked last time if we could accommodate him because we we have a difficult time when when there should be a business business administrator by stat state statutes attending meetings for counsel and mayor president and I had questions for him tonight that cannot be answered and and I don't just want to be able to contact him at home or his other place of employment. I'd like to ask questions here for the transparency of the citizens in this town. So that is that is what I I brought this up for. We're doubling his salary and and he's he's not present. I understand at times he may be, but at times like this when I feel like he's needed, he is not here. So I'm sorry I can't go along. Will the clerk please? Oh, I'm sorry. I apologize. No, that's fine. Um I feel that Fred has done effective work for us. I feel that his salary is if anything I would say it's below what the rest of the state consider commensurate whatever that whatever that fancy word is that means equal to his performance or title. Thank you. But but I will take away your pen next time you bring up a statue. Um but I just feel really he and being as his entire situation of still being in Noville um which hasn't always been a very smooth ride for him. I consider that a boom to the town. I've come to

respect his opinion immensely and um I think that as we have not had a candidate that sufficiently met anyone's opinion on the personnel committee uh that really had no experience and nothing to offer the town but doubt and risk uh I like I'm okay if we can't be here for these meetings. I think he can make himself successful during the week. I think we all have work from home and all kinds of extenduating circumstances in this world and that you know emails, phone calls, anything we need to get, we can certainly get before tonight. and the questions that you want to have transparent, he can certainly answer and you can simply state them if you feel them need to be stated. But um as for a boat that is sailing well, I will not talk the Fred car boat. That would be my I I would like to add to council um Councilman Mo's comments that um Mr. car is readily available. Every time that I have a question, I email or or we have a phone conversation. Uh and just like uh Councilman MO suggested that if you wanted the transparency for the public, then you could report to the public um on a question that any council member could ask um our business administrator. Um and and that is how you can be, you know, if it's important for any council member to say this out loud to the public, you have every opportunity to do that. So I just want to reiterate that

Mr. Carr is always accessible, always responds in a timely manner, always returns emails, phone calls. There is never one thing where there's a misstep on communication with him. I'd just like to add that Mr. Carr has always been very professional and you know he's always given us answers and uh we're kind of in a bind right now with a lack of talent available in the talent pool as we've saw the past plumbing inspector that there's only so many applicants for these jobs and it's right now it's hard to find. So u I guess we're just going to have to we have to do what we have to do to keep the town running. So that's all I have. I also um agree with every what everybody said and um applaud the personnel committee for uh putting this forward and and uh just just to be fair uh he he did mention that he would not be here tonight more than a week ago because he's presenting this boxwood budget tonight. Correct. So he made sure to take care of our budget first before he took care of that budget. That's why he's not here. And the council had timely notice that he wasn't going to be present. So any questions could have been directed to him. And and let's be realistic, right? So, we don't we don't have we have a part-time BA who's a full-time BA in another town, and he's doing a great job. And let's be realistic, he's probably going to be here the rest of the year. I I don't know if we're going to find someone through the rest of the year. Um we're lucky to have him. He's doing a good job. Um are we actively looking for another full time? Sure. Okay. Sure. Well, listings are still there. Yeah, it is just a limited pool of talent to draw from. Uh and uh it's not a great pool of talent and and again I will stress that let's be realistic. If you really want something answered, call I call. I want it answered here. I

want the transparency of people watching trying to be realistic here. Trying to be realistic here. But but the compromise we have to make is that if we have if we're going to have someone we have someone and they are effective at their job and not for nothing, we got to budget in in what is almost effectively the first quarter of the year as opposed to previous years where you know where that hasn't happened. Um, from a part-time standpoint, um, you know, I mean, if I'm going to rate his performance, I'm going to go I'm going to do it highlight. And if I mean, I understand what you're saying is that you like the lack of a better word, I'm going to say it as a dog pony show of being able to have that conversation here and in public so that you can present that information. But that information can be done in the same in an email you send to him where he gives you the answers. You can simply regurgitate the sim same information that you would wish him to be able to accompany with and you can do in concert together. I I understand what you're saying, but if you look at the state statutes which which has laws that we go by, the person in his position should be here. And I appreciate what he does. I think he's done a great job. He's bailed us out. He bailed us out last year. He's doing the same this year by working his other job and working here part-time. But I really would like his presence here. And as much as I understand that, I think the state also has grown to understand that in a in a time frame where DAS are in short supply and necessary by every town. What do you mean the state? Well, you say that sometimes the state wants Will the clerk please call the role? Council President. Hi. Councilman Con. Hi. Councilman Baker. Hi. Councilwoman Pay. Hi.

Councilman. No. No. Councilman. Hi. Will clerk please read resolution 2025205 by title? Resolution of the Burrow of Miltown County of Middle Sex State of New Jersey authorizing the award of bid for the operation of the Miltown battery storage facility. May I have a motion and a second please? So move second. I have a motion made by Councilman Potter, second by Council President Zbrana. Is there any discussion? Yes, there is. Um, we were involved in this early on and this comes up to me as a surprise right now. The the asking of $500,000 for a year for 15 years. U, I had not heard that before. When the presentation was made, the idea was that we get this system free and they take 30%. So this this 500,000 could be a part of that, but it has never been detailed before. And when I speak at the senior center and the people ask questions, I go with that 30%. What I see now, I don't understand. And and also to go into unfortunately Mr. Car has not been here tonight. There are questions on this that I would like to ask him. There's no one here to ask. I've been to the battery backup site in South River. Has anyone else up here been there? Thank you. I don't know what that has to do with a half a million dollars, but that's fine. Um, and again, I'm sure I also Is your question about the money or is your question about the battery, the physical presence of the ban? Because they're both valid questions and they're both open for discussion. I've been contacted. I've been in contact with people at that site at the the site in Ohio. So, I've researched this and this part with the money I have not heard come up before. So, that's a valid question. It is a it is a shame to wait till now to ask a question. What do you mean it's a shame to ask? This just came out in the in the agenda packet this

past weekend. And today is Wednesday. Wednesday. Let's let's ask our engineers. Sorry, Mike. Is this standard operating procedure they use the on their systems that they have these guys operate? We have not been involved in reviewing the bids. So that I really can't answer that. We were, as you know, developed a site plan and uh um we were at present at the bid opening and that was reviewed by uh your QPA, your uh town administrator and your CFO. So, you don't know if they used an operating partner in this or not? Well, I think that the I can tell you a little about the way the bid was prepared. You advertise for a a vendor to basically install batteries so that when your peak loads arrived at the burrow, you would offset those peaks with the battery system. Let me see. Mr. McCloone, is this the same vendor that uh installed South Rivers? That's my understanding. That's correct. Good. Okay. So basically what this vendor what that fee is or what that percentage is is they actually monitor the grid um and they ensure that they hit I think the spec is hitting five peak demand days. That's approximately what the estim was. That's correct. I think it's five. Uh so that um if they miss those peak demand days, then they have to pay the burrow x percentage, but it's actually that's what the cost is to monitor the grid. Then through the course of the year, they actually operate the batteries. Um so you you won't even notice it, but they'll operate the batteries off the grid uh to to maintain the batteries, run them down, power them back up to to

maintain the batteries as full as a full charge. So it's sometimes referred to as peak shaving. Yeah, that's right. So it is presumed that the financial boon that will come from the batteries will outpace the investment. Yes, that's my understanding. So we're basically it should be positive cash flow. That's my for the town and should save or should and that should be again for the life of this when you say 15 years of that payment the excess windfall that be that becomes money for the town will be over the next 15 years we will make money off of that. So it does it does balance in the book. Uh, Councilman Mango, just with the materials, I believe that was provided with your packet, there was the bid uh, submittal from the uh, entity that you would be awarding to tonight. And according to their bid, the net benefit to the burough would be $583,000 a year and that is net of their monthly fee and their share of costs. And I would also like to add that Mr. Zena um alerted the entire council um with regard to this issue and he also said that if anybody had any questions um to feel free to call him. Yeah. The email went out last night explaining the savings and and um the percentages and everything else. Yep. And also to my knowledge this company's been very successful and managing the the battery project too. Yeah. Um, South River is actually installing a second 10 megawatt system right next to the existing 10 megawatt system. So, it is uh very beneficial for the town of South and and their system has been effective and safe and our system will be the better technology uh the most current technology available

for both its safety and its performance. And I also feel that uh of the few resources we have to try and better prepare our town and our citizens for the oncoming changes in the future that fossil fuels are going to be in higher demand. Everything will be up. Uh I see no other options other than trying to do something good for them. And this came in a team being proactive. being proactive, which uh you know, last year and what we did with with our with our water billing and some of these things, it's the future. We need to uh you know, we need to we don't need to go to the store the night before the storm. And um I just thank everybody who came up with this plan and brought it to us. I think that guy's not here either, but if anyone sees him, so yes. Will the clerk please call the role? Council President Zambr I. Councilman Collins I. Councilman M. I a thousand times I. Councilwoman Payne I. Councilman Posnatki. I. Councilman Potter I. Motion carries. Mayor. Reports from elected officials. Council President Zumbrena. Thank you. Uh Mr. Mayor. Um, next HRC meeting will be uh uh next Tuesday uh 7:00 p.m. via Zoom. Uh the following Tuesday uh will be revitalization uh committee meeting uh 7:30 p.m. via Zoom. Um would like to let everybody know if they if they have not already heard that community pass is open for Miltown Day registrations and sponsorships. So go to the uh community pass look for Miltown Day and register. Uh again, Miltown Day will be on Saturday, September 27th. Um

hope that you uh make a booking for that day. Um and that concludes my reports. Mr. Mayor, thank you, Councilman Collins. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just have two short reports. I'd just like to thank all the members of the board of health that participated in last night's uh rabies uh clinic. I'd like to thank Victoria from the county at Dr. Joseph uh Chiosi from the Sirbrook vet and his assistant Karen and uh we g they did 75 vaccinations for animals last night for rabies. So it was uh it was pretty impressive. That's the most we've had since the uh in the new building. We used to have 150 out the old building, but now we're we're starting to build on that. I guess people couldn't find out where it's at now. So uh initi where is it here? I just got a short report from the library. Uh Thursday, May 29th and June 5th, craft noon at 3 p.m. Saturday, May 31st, crochet for beginners 11:00 a.m. Monday, June 2nd, adult yoga at 9:15 and Emily Dickinson, the bell of Amherst at 6:30. Tuesday, Jo June 3rd, after school bingo at 3 PM and Wednesday, June 4th will be the color purple. And that concludes my reports, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Councilman. Uh, in a brief report, I will say that the uh the Miltown Council recently approved the uh bid for the battery project. So, that's moving forward. Uh, and as well uh a new truck. He was actually quite earlier in the year speaking with the DPW and the water department. Uh their a lot of their machinery was in dire need. They were uh using personal trucks and personal style, you know, uh more non-commercial style vehicles to get things done. And

uh I do think that we need to consider uh investing better in them uh every year we can down the road. Uh, I know that there was talk, one of the wish lists that they had was for an excavator and also a wish list was a uh a road saw being and not that we're going to do anything about it tonight, but just to keep in mind the work that was done over on Ryder's Lane during the winter that was very costly, our guys couldn't do with the current tools that they have. Um, the saw that they're looking at is a road saw that would take a 42in blade, allowing roughly 1/3 of that cut 18 in down. With an excavator, they could do that work themselves. each one of those uh breaks in that small area in Rogers Lane were on the average I think 60,000 per uh so um much like with the battery project um takes money sometimes to make or to save money. Um that's all I've got. Thank you. Thank you, Councilwoman Payne. Uh thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just a brief report. Um, I attended the rescue squad openhouse on Sunday, May 18th. Uh, and so, um, I just want to remind the public uh, if you would consider generously donating, uh, to the rescue squad, um, during their ongoing drive, they do wonderful work. Thank you. That's all I got. Thank you, Councilman. Sure. Um, I have two reports tonight. Uh first is is the senior center. During the month of May, they had three wonderful presentations. The first was May 13th presented by Miltown Rescue Squad and the other was May 22nd by our police leazison Nicolasinski. Both presentations were very

informative, provided our seniors with a plethora of resources. I want to acknowledge and thank both members of Miltown Rescue Squad, Lieutenant Will Kaplan and Nick Olinski for their genuine concern, care, and dedication for our senior residents. We truly love having you at the senior center and look forward to your next visit. Also, there was a class from Parkville. The uh kids came over to entertain the seniors. Uh it was it was a charming dance and singing performance. Um they did a medley of nine Disney classics and um I saw people smile that I never knew had it in them there. It it really entertained the seniors. It was very very nice. Uh Wednesday, June 4th, there's a bus trip 9:30 to Camila's. Monday, June 16th, 9:30, there's a bus bus trip to Ali's and Trader Joe's. Monday, June 23rd, 11 a.m. bus trip to Marina Grill. Tuesday, June 24th, 9:30, a bus trip to Ross in in Lawrenville. The VNA nurse will be available for appointments on Tuesday, June 17th from 12 to 3. Okay. Also, the DPW report. We have had two very important and meaningful DPW meetings with Ralph Chazinowski and CMA this month. There are numerous state aid grants available to us such as municipal aid in the form of bridge preservation, bikeway, pedestrian safety, quality of life and this could include historic preservation roadway preservation etc. Safe streets to transit projects could include safety enhancements for pedestrians, access to transit stops. This would be addressing the crosswalks that we have 10 to 12 crosswalks that need to be redone. Street headings of of the these important streets. We spoke about adding more flashing lights across the guard locations. We talked about two most pressing road renovations for the spring of 2026. The first being Ree Avenue, next being Miller's Lane. And unfortunately, she's gone because I wrote Alma. I hope you're listening. This one's for you. We also have a

possible Mil Pond bike path redo. The wooden crossing bridge needs to be redone also and hopefully this gets gets in the queue for next year. North road drive is progressing beautifully and I hope the residents enjoy the new road. Albert Avenue uh park bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike bike path is expected to begin June 9th. Shuttles in the ground and the culde-sac of Foch Avenue East Foch and uh the main street the water issue at the top of the of uh Main Street uh will be resolved and hopefully get gets going as we are able. A lot of the projects in the works uh yet we pushed through for transparency for the residents. And um I just have a question for uh Councilman Mango, sorry. It's about um metering for the pool water. I I know that we've discussed that and I was wondering if there's anything that's um been talked about as far as the new CC. I believe the meter will be meter will be uh on there for the for this season. How so? How so? Um, physically the installment. Sure. If I can if I can help folks. I'm just not sure I understand. Yeah. I had a conversation with um Don Herman who's the sewer teddy water utility. They had measured the water going into the pool last year through a use of a hydrant meter. So that's one way of doing it. um they have a number that they used last year and uh question is do you want to meter again it's going to be the same volume in the pool so there's really not a difference so um I think that as long as there was no concern about that metering process then you can still use the same number the reason I ask is because we we we highly subsidize the pool um to to 175,000 a year the pool is filled with high no I understand but I'm just saying the township the taxpayers subsidized the pool and anything we can do to to to figure where the water's going, coming and going going would be a big help. You have results from last

year and and I do know the pool underwent several repairs um significant repairs. There was cracking, there was some leaking that was taken care of. Um I remember the rec department speaking about that earlier this year. Um and it is up and running um and freshly painted after all the repairs. So it should be a more efficient unit as it goes. But uh but it is in in similar but you know just to mentioned in the same pattern the things that the amenities that are offered to our town that create the joy the prosperity of living in town where you can drop your kids to school and they can have a happy day is part of the package of what people live in Miltown for. And um in some ways, if you want families of four and five to live in Miltown and sustain Miltown and pay taxes and pay for water and be part of that package, we have to have things for them that besides a high water bill and a high electric bill. We have to have things to keep them in this town and to make Miltown market to a family that wants to move somewhere. If they decide to, you know, at some point when those families stop living in Miltown, fourbedroom houses become two-bedroom apartments, two twobedroom apartments. It becomes a whole different town. And you know, the historical society wants to preserve things. Um, and that's a separate matter, but I'm more mean that what we what I feel I truly I moved here 12 years ago because I fell in love with

the town from meeting people from coming to 4th of July, a Christmas tree lighting. Um, the dollars that we spend supporting what makes this town a place where our kids are happy, our people are happy. Um, I could hate the coach as much as I want, but if my team's winning and my kids happy, I'm going to play nice with the coach. And I think um, in some ways the overall finance uh, maybe I sorry, I digress, but I just mean we need to we need, you know, I get what you're saying, too. We do need to fix some things and manage it. I'm sorry to cut you off. This is this is reports. You guys are going to have your time for council at the end. Councilman Potter. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. It's a great segue to the Middletown Recreation Department. All adult and youth programs are currently up running with excellent registration numbers. A new six-week Pilates program was introduced in Miltown this spring. It received an outstanding response with 29 participants and a very positive feedback. The Cohen uh softball league kicked off its third season April 28th with six teams. Despite a few rain outs, games will be rescheduled and the championship game will be adjusted accordingly. Albert Avenue Camp and CIT registration opened on Tuesday, May 13th, and will close on June 15th. Camp runs from June 30th to August 8th. Camp trip registration will open by June 1st. Pool memberships went on sale May 13th. The pool plans to open Saturday, June 14th, and will close on Labor Day, September 1st. Splash Squad is returning for its second season. It runs from July 14th to

August 24th. Registration is available via community pass. We will be teaming up with East Brun to conduct a multisport camp. The camp will be conducted at Heavenly Farms from August 18th to August 21st from 9 to 12 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. Please visit the community pass to register. Registration for summer tennis classes opens Friday, May 30th. Classes will be held at Parton Tennis Courts from July 8th to August 12th. Registration via Community Pass. Summer chess and cartoon drawing classes registration is open. Please visit community pass to register. And Miltown's home Sandy Malnowski will lead basketball clinics for girls and boys in grades fourth and 5th and 6th through 8th grade. This 1-day clinic will be held at Joyce uh Joyce Kimmer School gymnasium. The clinic for the girls will take place on June 9th and the boys on June 12th. Please visit community passes to register. And finally, for the recreation department, we had a successful recreation advisory committee on uh Tuesday, May 20th. From the planning board, we will be having I have my packet right here. We will be having a planning board meeting on June 4th. And from the Miltown Fourth of July organization with less than two months away from our big day in Miltown, the Fourth of July organization continues to thank everyone for their continued support. Don't forget to participate in our Super50 raffle to win up to $10,000. Limited tickets are still available. And if you're interested in becoming a sponsor or participating in the parade, please email us at miltown4thgmail.com. For more information, please visit our Miltown4th of July website or follow us on Facebook and Instagram. And Mr. Mayor, that concludes my report. Thank

you. Bur professional burough attorney. New report, Mr. Mayor. CM. Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, just an update on the water meter project. Uh, to date, 1,495 meters have been replaced. That's 57% of the total. Eight others are complete and are being validated. 48 are incomplete. 298 are currently scheduled and unfortunately there are still 747 property owners who have not responded to the letters that were sent to them to schedule their meter replacements for administrator Fred Carr. Um thank you mayor if I could just go since I just showed up here to go on lose comment. We have a real problem and you all have the email u that I sent showing the our you know our friends and neighbors who have not contacted uh the our our our vendor to replace the meters. Uh and there may come a time where we're going to have to take hard action and and turn off people's water for denying us access to our property. It's holding up the project. It's it's in it's not invasive. uh we're not collecting, you know, secret data. We just want to replace your water meter so that we can accurately account for the water that goes through your meter and and have a good accounting for our water system. As we've talked about, we're going to put meters in the pool and the burrow buildings and all these kinds of places that we've never metered water before. Um, so if you know anyone's out there listening and you haven't contacted the 800 number yet, I encourage you to do so. Uh, just call the number. They will tell you what days are available. They will work with you. They work on the

weekends. They work at night. Uh, if there's something wrong, the engineering firm, uh, the Pearl, you know, the contractor engineer Don and the boys in the water department will fix the meter. They break it. the break and they break the pipe in your house because your pipe has been there since forever. Okay, they'll fix that too. Okay, just let them in your house and replace the meter so we can move on and fix something else. And Fred, I also want to add right now that is free under the grant that we have. It's free. Yes. Once that contract ends, then the burrow has to pay to have those meters replaced. Right. So, we've got all these free meters. got all this free money to to to do what's right for the town and we just don't want to do that by coming back later on and now charging the you know the water budget for something that we could have done for free. Correct. And even worse the plan doesn't move forward to which saves town money unless the whole thing is done. Well you know it's it's economies of scale. You know the more we account for our water the better it is. I mean, we've got, as you we talked all last year, as we rely, you know, talked about, you know, 20 million gallons of unaccounted full water. You know, we need to be able to say yes, we did. No, we didn't. So, get a hold of your friends and neighbors. Tell them to get off the dime. Tell them to replace the meter, you know, or I'm going to have to send Don Herman up there to bother him. And for nobody wants that for like 25 minutes and Okay. Please. Uh, just wanted to announce summer hours will begin next week. Um, Monday through Thursday 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Fridays 8 to 12. Does any member in council have any old business to bring before council?

Yes, Fred. I was interested in that. We were talking about those water re meter replacements. I I think maybe we should send a red card out to people and say, you know, there's the final and if you don't get the water meter, we can roll the cost of the meter into your new bill. So, that might be something that we could do. You know, we'll uh we'll consider that. I mean, we've already sent two letters out to people saying, you know, you got to send like the red letter, you know, so everybody reads it like in soccer. Yeah, I guess like a red card. Red card. Yeah, we do that. maybe maybe a test shut off date um somewhere in you know late August we just shut them off for 3 days and go by the way this is what happens in September uh I don't know if I want to get that drastic that's sort of you know I don't want I don't want to do it during the holidays that's what I'm worried about is uh you know do that I understand so I don't want to be totally arbitrary capriccious and unreasonable but I can be does Any member council have any new business? Yeah. No new business. Yes, Mr. Matt. Thank you. Um Dave and I would like to talk about a situation on Garver um with respect to um fire trucks and uh delivery trucks like UPS um not being able to uh drive through because of parking on both sides of the street. So, we did some research, public safety committee, spoke with the chief, um, you know, and so Dave's going to just fill you in on some of the details. Yeah. So, I want to just inform the the entire council on uh Easter, this past Easter, there was a fire on Gar and because of the parking on that street. Uh our fire the fire oper almost didn't make it, you know, in time, but they got there quickly. They move cars. But um so we

informed the uh the chief Johnson uh and Ralph and to go there and take a look at Gar and um give us um your opinion on what we should do to make it safe for like like fire apparatus emergency vehicles and then also too I also talked to uh the UPS driver and for him to get down that street he has to drive down halfway and then has to back up and go around because he kind of can't get around that bend if there are cars on that bend. So, what I would like to do is just ask the council if we can I can forward the email to Peter and we can draft an ordinance um for proper parking on Gar. There's any objection to that and I will have Peter. We actually tried to do this last year along with other other things we're talking about. So, there is a statement that you know has you know certain corners, fire hydrant, stop signs and crosswalks. Um, but Garver is the main issue in town. So, we'd like to see if we can uh push that forward to that ordinance for next introduction, comments, questions, concerns. I'm I'm for us addressing that. I know we had a package. the package didn't go through, but Garver was definitely um even I think Ray Jolly at some point had taken a ride by there and was like, "Yeah, this is just uh waiting to waiting to be a tragedy." I think was uh so I I can put that together. I can certainly put that together. Peter, thank you. I'll I'll forward you to email. We we certainly don't want to put anybody or anybody's house in jeopardy with with a fire situation, you know. So, something has to be done. Thank you. All right. We still in new business.

Yes. Um, I know we at some point talked about last year, um, the ordinance that would, I guess, involve, for lack of a better word, say, site hygiene of buildings that have been taken down or demolished properties. Um, and I think, uh, I just think it's something we should we should we look at that if we can get that in front of us again. Did you did you have one and we or never really got there? I started the roll. Um I started the bowl and I I did not get to the end. Um as as you were well aware, frequently uh fires arise that need to be put out and you know we don't get that was last year. I'm sure what's that? Oh yeah. I just mean listen any given day I can start off with anything and uh I get a phone call and there's something else that pops up for the bureau that I need to address. So, um, certainly I can dust off what I have and and try to get the ball rolling again. I guess the question would be, does the rest of the council see that as something we can do? Is that a priority or is it the the question or the the issue I would raise is that you have a finite amount of manpower in your burrow and the person who you would likely tasked with this is your code enforcement officer who already has a number of things that he is attempting to get to on your behalf. So tasking him with something that he can't accomplish is going to create an issue. So just something to take into consideration is by creating an ordinance that creates an obligation on the bureau to police that ordinance and enforce it could create a problem for you. So that's the only thing I would add to that is you may be in a position where you a either decide you don't want to adopt it because you can't put something else on his shoulders or alternatively have to hire someone else to assist him in attempting to you know fulfill his duties to the bird. So that's but it is a good idea. We should look to see if we can discuss that because I have this report for

tonight. I'm not going to get into the main article I have on it. But I've been in touch with Mr. O'Neal about uh about doing this at least our zoning officer um about that they're linked in empty properties on Main Street. I'm hoping that with empty a lot of that I know that that you've been working on that we can move things along and get some reconstruction beautifification on Main Street for our residents. We've lived too long with the neglect of our once beautiful main street which has fallen into decay and complacency. The taxpayers and residents deserve a beautiful fiber full of a town full of energy again. Working together, we can make this happen. Just just so we understand, if we create a vacant property registration ordinance, it's a registration ordinance. It it is not going to compel anyone to develop the property. Just so we're all on the same page, there is no ordinance you can create that says you have to do something with a property that's vacant. They they aren't someone who has vacant property is entitled to keep it vacant for as long as they'd like to. Indeed. Indeed. But maybe rather than making him draft that now, if we can budget in the idea of next year, maybe when we're not paying for a guy to go check meters, maybe augmenting the workforce of the people who are going to give out those summons for the way those sites are the state of those sites, whether they're, you know, just the overall hygiene of them and safety and, you know, maybe I if we get there's no need doing it when we can't get it done proper. Well, just so you can there's going to be a reporting requirement to it because most of the vacant property registration ordinances create an obligation to register. They create the ability to lean a property. What will pop up is every time a property is sold, someone is going to want to contact the burrow to make sure that that property that is being sold isn't on the list and there aren't leans on the property based upon that. So when the closing happens, the new property owner doesn't have an issue. So, you're going to need to have manpower available on a pretty regular

basis so that people who are trying to do transactions can get that information. Otherwise, you're going to run the risk of holding up people's ability to close title on purchases and sales because of that ordinance. So, just the there's a lot of moving parts to this. It's it's not as easy as just deciding you want to adopt an ordinance and have people register and and collect fees and and find out what's going on. So, just so we understand. Thank you. I appreciate the clarification and I pause my request. You're good. Yep. Okay, we're good. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. This is open to the public. The public comment portion of our meeting is to allow the public to bring to the council's attention their concerns or comments. The council will respect the public's time by refraining from any comments until the speaker has finished. It should be further noted that the public comment portion of our meeting is not structured as a question and answer session. Please state your name and address for the record when you come to the podium. Just a reminder that under rules of council, individuals wishing to speak during the public input part of the meeting is limited to 5 minutes and may after other speakers have finished be allowed to speak for a second 5minut period. If someone raises their hand, please come up to the microphone, state your name and address for the record. Jesus. Uh, Rich Revolinsky, currently still at 14 Elmwood Drive. Um, you guys make it so worthwhile coming back. I had a great time tonight seeing familiar faces, hearing familiar stories. Um, what brings me in tonight, as some of you may or may not know, I'm selling my home. Uh, lifelong Miltown resident moving out. And as I drive around and look at

the for sale signs and see if it's clear direction to my house, I notice places like 203 South Main. Now, we had talked about uh community preservation and historical preservation. That's great. I don't think it applies to grass that's been growing for the last 5 years isn't up to my waist. I just a guess. Um I want to thank Councilman Mango for bringing up that vacant lot ordinance. um not too happy to hear about the fact that we don't do things that will make this town better is simply because we don't have the employees to do it. I think that uh there's plenty of opportunity to bring on employees, especially when you have things like rental registrations and strict fines for people not complying when you have uh a lot of students going to the schools that are technically not Middletown residents that are costing the burough money in that regard. Uh, I think it's worth the investment to hire those personnel and to create these ordinances and institute a policy that keeps this town beautiful, at least to the extent that we can control because we all know Fort Avenue, we just simply can't control that all the time. Um, Mr. Mlullen, uh, you had mentioned that last year we metered the water that was going into the pool. You are correct to about 75 80% there. Uh, I had gone down when they were cleaning the pool. We noticed the cracks and at that time they were hosing power washing the the pool itself with hydrant water that wasn't metered until I had said are we going to put a meter on that so we actually know how much water is being used. So I would highly recommend that if you guys are interested find out how much total water is used for the pool. So I would start before they begin the opening process and cleaning it all off. Um just food for thought. Could be 500 gallons, could be 5,000. Don't know. God, there was a lot. I feel like Dave Matthews band, you know. So much to say.

So much to say. Monica, thank you for your time here. Um, it's nice to see that you're uh moving on. We've got a new clerk. Uh, someone said earlier that not everybody was here to thank for the battery project. I'm really happy to see that you guys move forward with that. Uh it was brought to us uh on behalf of Fred Carr last year as well as our previous burough auditor. Uh the mayor and I helped push it through and I'm glad to see our council president taking that and continuing to move that forward. I think it's going to be a great benefit for the residents of this town in the near future. Um God, like I said, so much to say. Uh it's been great. Love you all. Thanks for having me. And perhaps this won't be the last time I'm here. Thanks. Shocker. Shocker. Seeing nobody else council comments. Uh would any member of council have any comments? I have two things. They should be pleasant. First, I'd like to honor our Miltown Police Department and all the law enforcement. May 15th, this this has passed. I didn't have time to bring it up then. May 15th marks National Law Enforcement Memorial Day. This is a day designed designated to honor all law enforcement officers who have lost their lives bravery in the line of duty. We recognize those officers who made the ultimate sacrifice while protecting and serving the people of our nation. And there is a new medal of sacrifice awarded to families of officers who have fallen in the line of duty. The week also encompassing May 15th is also police week where we honor our dedicated police officers here in Miltown and around the country. These brace, brave peace officers leave their families every day to selflessly protect you and your families every day. If you feel safe in your lives, thank your law enforcement, especially your Miltown Police Department. And this is for Memorial

Day, which uh was was two days ago, but I'd like to talk about it now. I'd like to honor our fallen soldiers that were recognized by events on Monday. From our country's founding, the revolution brought us to where we are now. The citizen soldiers fought for the freedoms that we rever today. For almost 250 years, the American soldier has made the ultimate sacrifice for our country and family selflessly. In particular, today I'm specifically honoring those gallant 18 nyear-old 19-year-old boys, men, brothers, uncles, sons who bravely from the love of country, those they left behind and the American flag they held dear, gave up their tomorrows for today. These brave, stoic young souls spent their day on the beaches of Normandy, France on June 6th, 1944. beaches with names like Omaha where our boys were barrageed by overwhelming and fierce firepower to Utah Beach. Our allies and our poster free Europe of the evils of Nazi fascism landed at Juno Sword and Gold Beaches. These patriotic heroes stormed these beaches so you can enjoy your days at your favorite beach today. And I'll quote John 15:13. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. These American soldiers sacrificed their young lives for loved ones, their country and their flag. The flag is an ideal. Flag represents freedom. It does not represent a political party. It is what unifies us. It is in the heart of each of us if we let it as Americans. Thank you. I got something. Um, so, uh, I did have, uh, the honor of being, uh, work with, uh, the project for per, the purple project this weekend at the memorial garden, um, that the council graciously approved. Um, I would like also to apologize just uh, for not being at the last couple, well, the last meeting we didn't do much, but the two meetings previous I got stuck on a plane. uh went up to Boston and sat in a plane there for a while, came back to

New Jersey. So, I missed that meeting. Uh but the Girl Scouts in that meeting uh two of them, one of them being a direct relative of mine, uh had asked to do a uh civil silver award, which was done this weekend at the senior center. Um and uh it looked good and uh it's just a positive thing. Uh the memorial garden went up really quickly. It really did come together nicely. Um there were a lot of donations. It was uh all donations. Mike's Country Market um some of the people who were organizing it. Um let me say um intentions 10 organizational skills minus three. Mike's country marketing work um and they came through with some good stuff. people called Mike Country Market and just kind of threw money at it going whatever those guys doing and Mike kind of like discounted it. Anyway, um if you get a chance take a walk, it's back in the back part uh where the pool is on your left and if you go past where the basketball courts are, you'll see it. There's a big purple bench that someone donated. Um, there were probably 25 kids there that day digging dirt and soil and working like you would not expect kids to work cuz I know my kid and she doesn't know the world. Um, but that was for a friend. And I think uh it's it's just a positive thing. It reminds me uh as well as with the battery project, one other thing um investing in Miltown so that we make money in the future and ease our ease the burden on our taxpayers. Um and I think that's the theory we may have to look at when it comes to the ordinance about registering vacant properties and how they're maintained and who we get to

give those substances and how to work that. I get where you need a body there. We got to pick a chicken or an egg or we got to buy home. But it's what we got to do for this town because you can't clean that stuff up and we really don't want to make people look at it when we can we can do. So, we'll think about I hope. Thanks. Appreciate it. I'd like I'd like to thank someone that I I think that we we can't necessarily thank enough. Um Miss Orlando. I'd like to thank you for your time here. You you you bailed us out and your round of applause. I'm going to make this short, but I I I know she'll understand. And and Fred's old enough to remember this. He was an oldtime comedian, and when he signed off, he sang a song. It was called Thanks for the Memories, Baba. And I want to say thanks from the Memories. Um, I'd like to welcome Gretchie. Um, your first of hopefully many meetings with us. Yeah. Uh, I'd also like to thank Monica for your uh your um your service to our community as a burough clerk. I know you're not going far and I know you're still with us because you're still our planning board secretary. So, you're not going far. Uh, and I'd also like to congratulate our three new police officers this morning. Uh, Um, Mr. Mayor, thanks. Um, I would like to thank uh Randy and Barbara for presenting on behalf of the historical preservation society. I think citizen participation um on these kinds of committees is remarkable. Um, and I hope that this council in the future

um considers other recommendations like a flag policy that came from one of those citizen action committees and not turn it into a political issue and respect the citizen voice um on issues. I hope we can do better in the future. Thanks, Mr. Mayor. I'd just like to say thanks to Monica. You did an outstanding job. And I I noticed the sign's working right now for probably the first time in Miltown's history. And congratulations to the three new police officers in Miltown. Best of luck to you. And that concludes what I have to say, Mr. Mayor. uh you know be remiss if I wouldn't you know pile on to thank Monica uh for all the great work she's done over the last couple of years uh especially as the transition from you to Gretchen it's been pretty seamless um you made that easier as opposed to past clerks that we've had um again uh welcome to the three young police officers one of whom is a female and I don't think I've ever seen that in my entire time in Miltown so that's always good to see that uh progress is being made in that area. Uh thank you to Mr. Malinski for taking some of the credit for that battery project. You had that since May of last year and it just sat there hitting everywhere. I don't know what to say. Thanks to Mr. Carr for bringing it up this year and saying this has got to go. We got to go. We got to make this happen. And um if you need any help moving, you let me know. I'd like to oppose council comments. Uh at this time I entertain a motion to adjourn. So second. All in favor? I need