Borough Council - Regular Meeting

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Good evening. I'd like to call the August 18th, 2025 Burough Council meeting to order. Will the clerk please read the open public meeting statement? Adequate notice has been provided as required under chapter 231, public law 1975, specifying the time, date, and location of this meeting by posting a copy of the notice at the municipal building on the municipal website, and providing a copy of the annual notice schedule to the official newspapers of the burrow. Notice is also on file in the municipal clerk's office. Will the clerk please call the role? Council President Zabbrano here. Councilman Collins here. Councilman Mo here. Councilman Posnansky is absent. Council, Councilwoman Payne, here. Councilman Potter, here. Mayor Murray, present.

Burough attorney Peter Vnolo, present. Brow engineer Mike Mlullen, present. Bro engineer Luke Pleska, present. Brow administrator Fred Carr is absent. And I am here. I am present as well.

Excellent. Will everyone please stand for a moment of silence, which will be followed by the salute of the flag. [Music] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. [Applause] Now is the time for public comment limited to the resolutions on the agenda only. If you wish to speak, please step up to the microphone. State your name and address uh for the record. Again, this is a p public portion is limited to the comments only on the resolution listed on the agenda at this time. There'll be a 5m minute time limit as set forth by the rules of council. If someone raises their hand, please come up to the microphone, state your name and address for the record. Seeing none, I'll close public comment. Approval of meeting minutes June 9th, June 23rd, July 7th. Do you do have to do it individually, Gretchen? Or you can do it all in one shot

if you want to do it all in one unless someone has objections to any of them. Okay. Do it all in one shot. I have a motion to approve the meeting minutes. So moved. Second. I have a motion made by Council President Zimbrano, seconded by Councilman Potter. Will the clerk please call the role? Council President Zambran, I. Councilman Collins, I. Councilman Mako, I. Councilwoman Payne, I. Councilman P. I. Motion carries. Mayor.

Ordinance public hearing, second reading. The following ordinance was introduced on June 23rd, 2025. Published accordance to the law. If any member of the public wishes to comment on this ordinance, they may do so after reading. Will the clerk please read resolution I'm sorry, ordinance 251571 by title. An ordinance to amend chapter 11, establishment of police department of the revised general ordinances of the burrow of Miltown to establish the position, powers and duties of captain of police, amend the powers and duties of lieutenant of police and establish the duties of sergeant of police. May I have a motion and a second for motion? Second.

I have a motion made by Councilman Collins, seconded by Councilwoman Payne. Now I will open up the public hearing on ordinance 251571. Please state your name and address for the record. These comments are limited to this ordinance only. Seeing none, I'll close public comments. Does any council member have any comments? Seeing none, wait a minute, Mr. Mayor, I got a question. This is for the police dispatch. No, no, this is for the police contract. No, no department. It's for the department. Was that 51? 271. Jesus Christ. 2515. 2515.

We're on the ordinance. On the or 271. Okay, I got it. I'm sorry. No worries. Okay, it's all good. Will the clerk please call the role? Council President Dbrano, I. Councilman Collins, I. Councilman Manga, I. Councilwoman Payne, I. Councilman Potter, I. Motion carries, ma'am. Authorizing payments of municipal obligations. Next on the agenda, we'll have authorizing the payments of municipal obligations. Will the clerk please read resolution 2025-267 by title? Authorizing the payment of bills, claims, and statements against the Burrow of Miltown in the total amount of Oh, I'm sorry. We're in municipal obligations. Yep. Correct. Okay. 6,250,685.

You have heard their reading of this resolution. Is there any questions? Yes. I just want to ask Phil a question. Phil, there's a one call on the pages 16. It says one call concepts. I don't know if you know what that is. Who's a vendor, John? One call concepts. one call concepts. I think that's the I had the same question because I I was under the impression that we had gone away from one call. Um that's one of my questions to to Fred. Um it's it's sort of should have replaced civic alert. So I don't know if it's contractual or not, but once Mr. Mr. Car comes back, we'll figure that out. Thanks, Phil. Agreed. Councilman. Nope. That's it. Mr. Mayor. Okay. May I have a motion in a second, please?

So move. Second. Have a motion made by Council President Zambrana. Second by Councilman Potter. Will the clerk please call the role? Council President Zambrana. I. Councilman Collins. I. Councilman MO. I. Councilwoman Payne. I. Councilman Potter. I. Motion carries. Mayor,

thank you. A consent resolution has been prepared for the resolutions listed on the agenda. All matters under listed under the consent agenda are to be 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 and if so removed will be treated on as a separate matter. Any items requiring expenditure are supported by a cert certification of funds. If any member of council wants any resolutions acted upon individually, please give me the resolution number and it will be pulled from the consent resolution. Yes, Mr. Mayor. I'd like to pull 2025272 and 2025277.

Is that it? Yep. Oops. Sorry, Mr. Mayor. Uh will the uh clerk please read the consent agenda resolution please?

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 presented before the burough council at its August 18th, 2025 regular meeting appear to have the unanimous approval of all members of the burough council. Resolutions 24 2025247 through 2025 271. Resolutions 2025273 through 2025276 and resolutions 2 2025278 through resolution 2025288. Now therefore be resolved by the burough council of the burough of Miltown that each of the above listed resolutions be approved and adopted by the burough council with the same legal effect as though each was read in its entirety at the August 18th, 2025 regular meeting and adopted by separate vote.

May I have a motion and a second, please? So moved. Second. I have a motion made by Councilman Potter, second by Council President Zbrana. Will the clerk please call the role? Council President Zambbrana, I. Councilman Collins, I. Councilman Mako, I. Councilwoman Payne, I. Councilman Potter, I. Consent agenda is approved. Mayor,

thank you. Will the clerk please read resolution 2025 272 by title? Resolution 2025272 authorizing board of contract under fair and open process burough planner MJ Planning LLP. What's the pleasure of council? Yes, Mr. Mayor. A question on this one. It doesn't um it says this is in effect from August 21st, 2025 to December 31st, 2025. Do we and it's $165 an hour. Do we know how many hours he usually bills? I

I don't know that there is a regular number of hours, Councilman. It's really uh based upon what type of work we task him with. So, typically our planner has assisted us with our affordable housing obligation. It's assisted us with Ford Avenue redevelopment and also the planning board. So, um it's really a function of what we tked them and that's the hourly rate. Demand function. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. May I have a motion in a second, please? So moved. Second. I have a motion made by Councilman Potter, seconded by Councilwoman Payne. Any um will the clerk, please call the role. Council President Zabbra. I. Councilman Collins. I. Councilman M. I. Councilwoman Payne. I. Councilman Potter.

I. Resolutions adopted. Thank you. Will the clerk please read resolution 2025-277 by title authorizing community energy plan services global associate I'm sorry Gable Associates Incorporated uh what's the pleasure council yes I had a couple questions on this it says here it's the total project cost is $10,000 is this all covered by a grant all covered by a grant it is but then says there's a $50,000 charge here somewhere. The certifications of funds was changed that you had a second pack of resolutions. It was updated.

So, it's just $10,000, right? Yes, sir. It's all covered by a grant. Okay. That's all I just wanted to. Excellent. May I have a motion in a second, please? So moved. Second. I have a motion made by Councilman Potter, seconded by Councilwoman Payne. Will the clerk please call the role? Council President Zambbrano. I, Councilman Collins, I, Councilman Mo, I, Councilwoman Payne, I, Councilman Potter, I, Resolution is adopted, made. Excellent. Uh, reports uh, and comments from elected officials. Council President Zimbran.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, I only have one short report tonight. Um, and that's really um, a shout out. Uh, two weeks will be September 1st. September 1st is the deadline for uh registration for Miltown Day, which will be September 27th, a Saturday, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Um, you can go to recreation site. You can look for Miltown sponsorships. Uh, we encourage everyone to uh register using community pass. It makes it easier for for everybody uh all around. And we look forward to um everyone having a wonderful day that day. Uh that day will be rain or shine. And that's concludes my reports. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, Councilman Collins.

Yes. I have Councilman Pausnanski's reports, too. I'll read after mine. I just have the library report. The summer reading program was very successful. The library will now have two yoga instructors, two classes in the morning and two classes per in the evening per month. Please call the library to inquire about it. On Tuesday, my microphone's in the way here. On Tuesday, August 19th, estate planning 101, that's tomorrow night at 6 PM. Please call the register. Wednesday, August 20th and 27th, sketch club at 100 p.m. for ages 4 to 10, please call the register. Saturday, August 23rd and September 6th, crocheting at 11:00 a.m. Monday, August 25th, journaling at 11:00 a.m. Tuesday, August 26th, drop in play at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, August 26, library book club at 6 p.m. Wednesday, August 27th, 2:30 p.m. Movie Cool Hand Luke with Paul Newman. to Thursday, August 28th, story time babes and tots 10:30 a.m. and all ages 11:30. Thursday, August 28th, bingo with Debbie M at the senior center at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, September 2nd, estate planning for basics at 3 p.m. Wednesday, September 3rd, 2:30 p.m. Movie Dead Poet Society, Robin Williams. Please note, no story time on Thursday, August 21st and September 4th. The library will be closed Saturday, August 30th and Monday, September 1st. And that concludes my report. Do you want me to read Councilman Pazinski's report or you want to wait till he comes up?

Um either or it doesn't matter. Okay, I'll wait till he comes up.

Okay, Councilman. Uh so uh regarding the water and sewer department, the following report I will say the uh hydrants were replaced at 57 Janet Court and 206 North Moes Drive. Um and just in case for people who don't know that is something we used to pay a considerable amount from outside sources to do and over the last I know few years I'll say three four we've hired a few people who have the ability to do that internally at a much better at a much cost saving to the town. Uh and it's important to understand that it is good to invest in our water and electric system. I'm glad we're buying them some new vehicles because they've been under supported for quite some time. Uh no particular fault of anyone, just simple economics, but sometimes it just is what it is. You want good service, we have to support them. Uh with that said, as well, uh the electrical department uh replaced a blown transformer that was on Henry Street. A wire transformer was completed on Mary Court to a previously set pole. uh tree limbs that have caused outages on South Durst and the surrounding area uh were cleared and the power was restored. Street lighting was repaired as needed. Line clearance was performed in various areas. Um, and with that said, this is a very, very hot summer and the taxing that it puts on the grid, that it puts on our staff that I just appreciated that our town is positive and supportive and patient. Um, things happen and no matter where you are, no matter who is providing your service, things are going to happen. And if power goes out at 2 am, at noon, on a hot day, on a cold day, it's never going

to get fixed fast enough. Uh, but our guys are consistently there and they try and they do everything they can. So, uh, I just appreciate the town keeping that in mind and supporting our guys as we all do. Um, believe that to be it. Thank you. Councilwoman Dane.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, on behalf of the police department, between July 1st, 2025 and July 31st, 2025, the police responded to 1342 calls for service. During this period, the police conducted 93 radar details in numerous locations. Police made 597 motor vehicle stops. During this period, police investigated 16 motor vehicle accidents. 21 arrests were made, eight for shoplifting, six DWIs, five for active warrants, one possession of cor controlled dangerous substances, and one possession of drug paraphernalia. Um just a reminder to um if you don't have the app, right, remembering that NIXL switched to civic ready. Uh if you want to receive emergency messages messages only, text the word Milttown uh to 38276. The non-emergency line for the police department is 732828100. In case of emergencies, always dial 911. Um, concerns that do not need to be addressed immediately can also be submitted on the burrow's website under report a concern on behalf of the Miltown Fire Department. For this month, um, for the month of July, I'm sorry, there were 34 total incidents. um and the total number of incidents um for the year uh at 571. Uh there were two notable fire calls. Uh one on 74 on Hey Avenue um and that was during the parade uh that that they looked into that. And then also on 76 they assisted the Highland Park Fire Department um cover for a fire that was um happening in Miltown. The 4th of July as reported by the MFD uh went very well

um for them and for of course all the rest of us. Uh almost every member participated in the events of the day. Uh the Miltown Fire Department went to Highland Park. That is what I refer to in terms of fire protection. Um the department sadly paid respects to a North Brunswick fire um company number one firefighter Steve Smith. The department was very busy planning for drills and preparing the firehouse for Fourth of July and the fireworks standby. Um and there were also several um of the vehicles at the fire department were serviced and outfitted. Um and there was a very lively month of drills. Uh one of them included an early August live burn. I learned all about live burns. I asked about that. Um they would like to give a special shout out to Ralph um for the AC units uh that he provided as the burrow is getting the HVAC systems repaired. Uh and members are needed as always. Candidates interested in joining the Miltown Fire Department are encouraged to stop by the firehouse Monday night at 6:30 p.m. or email join Miltown Firegmail.com. And my last report is for the Miltown Rescue Squad. Um during the month of July, there were 110 calls, 60 of those in Miltown, 15 on the Turnpike, uh and others split between rescue, rehab, standby, and mutual aid. Um the Rescue SW will be holding a blood drive on September 21st from 9 to 3:00 p.m. And you can sign up at www.nyb nyb c uh.orgle i z i a. Thank you to everyone that went came out for national night out and saw all the demonstrations that the rescue squad provided. Um like the fire

department, they are always looking for new talent. Um, anyone interested in joining the rescue squad or becoming an EMT should email recruitment miltown rescue squad.org. Applications for October 25, 2025 need to be submitted by September 15th. Um, and that concludes my report.

Thank you. Councilman Collins reading Councilman Ponzanski's report. Uh, pothole repairs are ongoing. Street sweeping is ongoing out. Fall pipes are cleaned per D regulations. Quarterly catch bases being cleaned and completed. Tree removal and cursor street tree cleanup at JFK. Dead tree was removed. Uh, new safety material was installed at various playgrounds around the town. The new recycling cans were picked up for the first time on 811. We appreciate everyone's patience as this is new for Miltown. Our grant-f funded recycling drop will be open designated Saturday mornings from 8:00 a.m. till 12:00 p.m. at the DPW at 50 Washington Avenue. Except items are cardboard, metal, electronics, tires, two pieces of bulk. We are not accepting glass and cans at this time. Please call 732-828-2100 extension 136 for day of operations. Uh let's see what we got. They had a recycling meeting on u July 29th at 6:00 p.m. We went over numerous questions with appropriate answers for the transparency of the residents so as to be informed. Change is difficult. We had this meeting taped to be viewed on channel 15 and YouTube. Again, for the residents concerned concerns to be addressed, please be patient during this time of transition. This is a county program that the DPW and the council is helping to facilitate facilitate. And I'd like to make a special thanks to uh Ralph Jnusa and Beth uh and the public works for their help during this trying time. Miltown Senior Center report. All classes and activities participants must be 60 or older with no exceptions. The remaining

August trips include Tuesday, August 19th, bus trip to Amazing Savings and HAL. The bus will leave at 9:30 a.m. Monday, August 25th, bus trip to Ali's and Trader Joe's in Lawrenville. The bus will leave 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, August 26th, bus trip to the Barge Restaurant in Perthboy. Bus will leave at 11:00 a.m. Water aerobics will be held Wednesday and Fridays at 9:30 a.m. Throughout the month of August, no advanced signup is required. The VNA nurse will be available for appointments on Tuesday, August 19th. The services available for Melttown Res seniors free of charge each month. Please sign up at the bulletin board. Let's see what else we have here. We have a weekly lunch program on Wednesdays sponsored by Elijah's Promise Soup Kit Soup at Wednesdays 12:30 p.m. Please check the calendar for dates. There is such a need for shelters that we will continue collecting throughout the year. This includes unopened dog and cat food, litter, and unused toys and accessories. We are having a bingo sponsored by the Miltown Library on Thursday, August 28th at 12:00 p.m. 12:30 p.m. All seniors are welcome to attend. That concludes the reports, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you, Councilman Potter.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. From the Miltown Recreation, summer highlights, and upcoming events. We had an incredible summer at Albadoo Camp with perfect weather and no miss days over the entire six week season. Campers enjoyed theme days, pool days, exciting trips, and the highlight of the summer, Carnival Day, which was a huge success. Despite a slow start due to the weather, the pool season rebounded with amazing hot days. A special thank you to Lisa and her amazing snack shack team for bringing fun and delicious new treats each week. Their contributions have been a fantastic addition to the pool experience. Join us for the final day of the pool season on Labor Day, Monday, September 1st from 12:00 noon to 8:00 p.m. Enjoy activities for kids and music by DJ Chris Vez from Roar Roar Music Productions. This event is open to Miltown residents and badge holders only. Our first floating sound bath was on this past Thursday, August 14th, was amazing and sold out. Due to popular demand, we're hosting another session this Wednesday, August 20th. Space is limited. Please register via community pass. Pre-teen nights have been a big hit this summer. Only two nights remaining with the final event on Tuesday, August 26th. The Splash Squad is wrapping up a great season. Our final mini meet is scheduled for Sunday, August 24th. Unfortunately, our Christmas and July event was cancelled due to inclement weather. However, it's been rescheduled for this Friday, August 22nd. There's still time to register for this festive celebration. Adult and youth program registrations open this week. Adult programs include yoga, pilates, women's volleyball, men's basketball, and co-ed softball. For youth programs, they include fall soccer, flag football, multisports, tennis, chess, musical theater, and

creative movement. We hosted our second round of basketball clinics this summer with Sandy Molinowski and the turnout was excellent across all age groups. These clinics are great opportunity for both beginners and experienced players to develop their skills. We were organizing a group outing to Ruckers football game on Friday, September 19th at 8:00 p.m. against Iowa. A flyer will be coming out soon with ticket purchase details and parking discount information. We're in the early planning stages for our September 11th candlelight visual to be held at the American Legion Pavilion at 700 p.m. More details will be shared soon. Planning a family pick picnic or birthday celebration? Consider Albert Avenue Park for your event? Contact the recreation department and reserve your date. Please be sure to visit our recreation web page to familiarize yourself with the upcoming programs and help us continue to make Miltown recreation a community in motion. Uh from the planning board, the meeting in August was cancelled and the next scheduled meeting is for Wednesday, September 3rd. And Mr. Mayor, that concludes my report.

Thank you, sir. Um I have brief report. Uh earlier this month, uh the Schwinderman Homestead Committee met um so we could start to get some preliminary ideas down and try to schedule the next meeting that will be coming up soon and then I'll provide another report from there. It's the end of my report. Uh report from Burough Professionals, Peter Vignolo. No report tonight, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. See me Lou.

Yeah, thank you, Mr. Mayor. First a report on the water meter project. Um to date 2,133 meters have been replaced which is equivalent to approximately 82% of the total. 64 others are incomplete. 196 are currently scheduled and unfortunately there are still 193 replacements that are not yet scheduled and we need those residents obviously to contact the contractor and get those scheduled. Um secondly, um there was a discussion at the last meeting about funding for lead service replacements. Um it's our understanding that there is a line item in the state budget for $1 million for Miltown for the lead service lines. Um once the budget is passed and that money is available, there's a number of tasks that are going to need to happen to um basically do that project. Um the first thing is the bureau will need to introduce a spending ordinance to formally accept the grant. um adopt any resolutions as necessary to authorize the expenditure of the funds. Um the bureau will need to meet with the grant coordinator to review the scope of the project and any reporting requirements associated with the grant. The um service line inventory will need to be compiled. Um as the council knows that is going on with the water meter project. To date, we have 54 lead services identified. But as I noted, 193 um replacements have not yet been scheduled. So we have not been in those homes to determine if they have lead or not. Um once the uh total number of lead lines are known, the project costs will need

to be estimated. Um those costs would then be compared to the grant to determine if there's sufficient funding available. the bureau may need to introduce an ordinance authorizing the access to the private properties to do the work. Um once all that's done, we'll move into design phase for the project, develop the contract documents and construction cost estimates. Um we would work with the burough's QPA to put a bid out. Um the bids would be reviewed once they're received. Then there would be contracts executed. um for the construction and a notice to proceed would be issued to the contractor. That would move us into the construction phase um where we would hold a pre-construction meeting um perform site observations of the service replacements and ultimately um once the work is done, the project would be closed out and any uh grant coordination to close out the grant would be done. And that concludes our report. Mr. Mayor, uh, quick question. Lou, the grant, is there a estimated time frame when they're going to be looking to pass the state budget?

Not two months. Two months from now, three months from now. Okay. Uh, and then we should know shortly after that. Okay. Uh, and then I guess then would you be able to work with Mr. Venolo to try to coordinate whether we need the resolutions first and so on so forth? And Mr. car and Mr. Carr obviously. Yes. Okay. Beautiful. Thank you. Lou, quick question. What would be the time frame once the budget's passed? It was a lot of lot of information you put. What do you think the time frame would be? The um the budget passed to when we design this project should go very quickly. I would say um 30 to 60 days to um get the documents prepared. Okay.

Oh, I got a question. How you're going to make sure it coordinates meter replacement with the line replacement? Correct. Well, the meters will all be replaced at that time by that time. So, this would be for the lead lines. Oh, so they can replace the meter without the lead lines. They may need to take the meters out and put them back in, but the meters will be there. Okay. By that time. Thanks. Excellent. Um, administrator clerk. Correct.

Uh, just one item, mayor. Uh we are currently looking for poll workers. Anyone interested in working on election day uh November 4th I believe it is. It is a long day but there is payment for the day. Um anybody interested please call the burough clerk's office.

Thank you. Um old business. Does any member of council have any old business to bring before council? I do have just a brief mention that uh I don't know how to impress upon the town that these uh remaining 193 it is mandatory these meters have to get done and at some point it's going to be um going to be there's going to be a a financial penalty or a lack of water in the household if they aren't done. It's not a nice way to say it, but it's simply the reality. They have to be done and uh it's getting later and later in the year. Uh we are I mean actually that's under 10%. Which is a great accomplishment. Uh but it just bears mentioning that it really needs to be done. If anyone knows anyone who hasn't had it done yet, implore them that you know the the time will be coming and it will be uncomfortable, but it's got to happen. It's the good of the town. It's just the way it's going to be. It saves the town a lot of money. It helps with billing. It helps with personnel. Um everything we don't like about our bills. Um we have something we can do about them. And that's what this is. Got to look at it that way. Thank you.

Thank you. Does any member of business have any Sorry. Does any member of council have any new business to bring before council? Seeing none. All right. Um, open to the public. The p 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 come to the podium. Just a reminder as under the rules of council, individuals wishing to speak during their public input part of the meeting shall be limited to five minutes and then may after others have speakers have finished may be allowed to speak for a second fiveminut period. All right. Good evening, council, and Mr. Mayor. Uh, my name is Leo Wagner. I live at 63 Janet Court. Um, and I'd like to talk about parks. First, I'd like to say I'm really happy with the um progress that was done on Albert A Park with the new bike path. I took my bike on it the other day and I think it's a good addition to the town. What I'd like to bring to your attention is in another park on Jennet Court, the Jennet Court pocket park. There's a path there. It's not in very good shape. Um, it's full of potholes, rubble, and lots of standing water. Uh, I I think that attention should be paid to it because I think it would be a good addition in my neighborhood to have a nicer path. I mean, it's a neighborhood where a lot of young families live. It's a good place. I mean, when I was young, I learned to ride my bike there. And I think, you know, right now, it's not so safe. Lots of potholes, dead trees, standing water leads to mosquitoes. So, I think that

park definitely used some some TLC, I suppose, and I thought I'd bring that to your attention. I I Leo, I made a note of that. Okay, cool. Thank you. Uh, Councilman Potter, is that the fire road? What's that? Is that the fire? Yeah, that is the fire. Okay. All right. Most commonly referred to as the dinosaur park. Yeah. Which in uh I will mention that I don't think that park has there have been a lot of updates to a lot of the parks in towns. a lot of the bigger parks over the past few years and that park hasn't really gotten much attention over the past

I live closer to that and I do see where it and again I know some years ago over the past few years there had been some patching done where they've dumped stone to fill in some of those potholes. Yeah. Uh but it was uh it's not a long-term fix and it would be nice if the town could look into that. Yeah. I think it could be a good addition to the neighborhood for sure. Thank you. Yep. Cool. Thank you for hearing me out. Thank you, Leo. Thanks, Leah.

Uh Debbie Miller, 92 Ford Avenue. I have a question regarding the lead line grant. If all goes well with that, is there enough money to accommodate all the people that may need to have that improvement done? And if not, will it go to like a lottery? So the um unfortunately we don't know the total count on the lead lines. So we can't do that assessment until we get all that data in. If it stayed the way it was now, um it looks promising.

Maybe maybe that's one reason some people are nervous to have their water meter checked because they know that the lines will be checked as well. So maybe with knowing that there might be some money for them, maybe they'll come forward. That's a good point. Exactly. Thank you.

And then the other thing that I would like to say is um I run the monthly bingos at the library and this past Saturday we had Lucky Cat and we partnered with Karma Catat and they brought some kittens for the people that came to play with and the kittens ran around. So if anybody is in need to adopt a cat or cats or kitten or kittens, I'm sure they would be happy to help you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Uh Lou, what I would what I would like to recommend or if we see um because we we had the conversations if it was approximately $10,000 a line to replace plus or minus um we'd have approximately, you know, um 80 80 to 100. the residents that actually went through the effort of getting their meters replaced and identified soon uh versus us chasing them down. I think they should go on the top of the list regardless to get their meters replaced because they went through the effort already. Absolutely.

So, just a recommendation. I I think we should capture that to take care of them first since they went through the effort. Got it. Thank you.

Thank you. Good evening, Scott Signal uh from 111 South Main Street. Thank you for the followup with regards to the lead pipe. I was here last month and I was a little concerned with what was going to occur and what wasn't going to occur. I concur with uh I apologize I didn't catch your name but her comment with regards to why people aren't coming forth with regards to changing their water meters. But the other concern is is something that actually I experienced uh with a rental property I had in Highland Park which might also be part of the problem that you're having here in Miltown. Uh they had the water meter replacement program just like we're having here. And because of the water meter that was being taken out did the sensor outside the building did not read the the water meter inside correctly. I was actually subsequently handed a $5,500 bill for water because the meter inside was actually reading correctly, but the one outside which I was which was generating the water bills was not. So, it's possible that your citizens are concerned that they're going to get hit with a water bill here that they're not expecting. Again, I experienced it. There's little recourse because the water meter is what the water meter is. Uh, and you may want to address that issue somehow. Uh, going towards I was here last time and you guys were talking about the recycling. Uh, I actually went down to the uh municipal I guess uh center and I wanted to get a second can and I was told that they're not available. I said, "Well, I'll purchase one.

I don't care. It's I need one for my front of my building, one for the back. I participate actively in the recycling and I'm told that they're not available. The county hasn't allotted enough. And so my question comes is what is the time frame for that possibility? if it's going to be a possibility. Otherwise, I will address it some other way. I I think if and correct me if I'm wrong, Councilman Mango, um some of the residents didn't even get their hands yet. I heard that. I No, I I agreed. I I but again I'm still catching up and and I'm asking the question because what I what I do understand I do know that some have not received um actually one of those but the um

the other thing that I understand is that part of part of the second can question is simply that the uh I believe the county is part of the reason that they've given the one can and they've gone big with that and again I'm not exactly sure of this uh because it's more on the DPW side where but It seems that that is their aotment in how they're managing the town to give one can uh and that's what they' be picking up in order to pick up extra cans um is going to take also more time and in their mathematical formula of how all that works. I'm just not sure how that's going to fit in.

Mr. I do know that the RDPW has stepped up and in their program what they're planning is on they're going to have I believe a couple Saturdays per month. This was the first Saturday of it where they were open on Saturday and they were going to be collecting cardboard and other recyclables to help with the overflow. Um, and because of the way that they're situated, they're also usually there on the weekends most of the winter and the fall and the holidays that we're typically we're going to have more recycling, more cardboard. Um, they will be able to help you with that internally in the town with a simple drop off.

To be quite frank, I'm not worried about the uh cardboard cuz cardboard I can handle. It's the being honest. I mean, it's the cans. Uh, I mean, I see them all over town. I mean, it's a it's really unsanitary. But with that been said, I'm talking about the cans, the bottles, and things of that nature, which seem to fly elsewhere. And the way my building is situated, I have a an apartment in the front of the building and an apartment in the back. And so, my tenant in the back is not going to the front. And I'm trying to alleviate a potential situation. That's why I was asking the question. Okay. So, I mean, I I'm sorry, I misunderstood it. the just to make sure um if you're registered as a as two being two different uh Mhm.

Okay. residences then you should get your can eventually. Um I mean I I was kind of going with the other side where where some places are not going to get if a place is three uh three residences in only one on paper, right?

They only received one can and I believe that that will be the way that's going to be. Um but then you should get yours the time frame. I know uh our DPW did hand out some of the ones that they managed to um acquire or redd designate I think was probably the word cuz they were trying to help but they just uh apparently a few of the local towns a few other towns in this area that fall under the same contract and package they are also short. we are short by roughly a hundred. Okay. Um where I believe some of the other towns that are larger are short by by considerably larger numbers.

Um New Jersey and you know does really well with stuff like this. Then the actually last question uh and I actually caught it. Okay. Actually I was say Mr. Seagull I just want to I'm not sure about two cans for a two family house. So I I can try to get an answer to that for you. I know with respect to the roll out of multiple cans for a single residence. I I know Mr. Jazzinowski was trying to see how it played out a little bit and I can try to get an answer as to how long they're going to wait because as you might imagine most people with two family houses immediately said we need two cans. We just we automatically need it. Doesn't matter. We I wouldn't mind even paying for it.

No. And and I can appreciate that. But I think to the extent that this is being rolled out across the county and everybody's just trying to get an understanding of how much is really generated, how much is going to fit in a 96 gallon can and how many cans we need because it is a commitment for a 5-year obligation. You obviously have indicated you would pay for it. You'll bear that obligation. It's part of your cost of doing business. Not everybody is necessarily willing to uh to do that. So I think there's going to be some questions and some parameters that need to be worked out as we move along. And I think it's just going to take a little time. So, we'll see what we can get you as as far as answers for that. I appreciate that. Of course, you Jim Polus from the executive director of Middle Sex County Improvement Authority came down and was talking about that. You know, I was here that time.

Right. It's in the works. They're all barcoded, too. So, if you have two families, they're going to have to put another barcode on your, you know, your apartments. You have one for one apartment, one for the other so they don't get interchanged or lost or stolen. So that's what you know I don't think they realize that they have to make you know for the same address they have to put two different barcodes on. So I guess they're working on it. Okay. We'll wait see how it plays out. Go be a while.

The last thing is is as I we're all so used to just coming and going up and down Main Street. Uh and this I was actually on my way to the meeting here and quite frankly I saw a number of items just laid out on Main Street. People were just putting out there. Let's say I saw a washing machine down on somebody's lawn. Now, I'm not quite sure whether that was just being ready to get for bulk pickup, but uh I'm not trying to get anybody in trouble here, but I'm just concerned about the the overall appearance of the town quite frankly. Uh because that is Main Street and it's an important part of the town and uh because the rest of the town is is really nice. to take pride in ownership and I'm just curious as and I did see a code enforcement car in it recently this week and I'm just curious as to what's going on with regards to I guess both pickup and and checking on the appearances of the town.

I know code enforcement drives around quite a bit. Uh he's always uh sent in uh warning letters and summones and Mr. Seagull there is a report of concern. I know that obviously you you identify things and you wonder when they might be addressed. I know from personal experience that if you do reach out and you either report a concern or reach out to the um zoning officer directly um and make it more of a situation, he will look into it. So, um I'm not placing the onus on you, but just like everything else, if if you have to wait for him to realize there is a problem, it may take longer than pointing it out to him. Okay.

Okay. Very good. Enjoy. Have a good evening. Thank you. Please. Thank you. Lee Weisenberger, 99 JFK drive. I got a little chain of stuff here. We'll start with something easy. Uh, the water tank over by Home Depot. Yes, sir. Is that a direct feed from New Brunswick? No. To that tank? No. So the main feed from Brunswick goes many different directions.

The water from New Brunswick comes into Elkins main and Elkins and pressurizes your system and fills the tank. Right. I'm just wondering about the metering how accurate it is. The meter is actually in New Brunswick at the connection where your transmission main comes from. Yeah. How often they change that meter? The Burough's utility department would be able to answer that. It's not something that we're involved in. Right. Because like I said, our water meters over the years been replaced many times from sediment. Like that are usually calibrated on a regular basis. I'm not sure this one has. Yeah. When I'm driving it leaks because like I said, our standard water meters get replaced all the time because of sediment.

Transmission veins about 25 years old as I remember. So it's uh probably due for a calibration has been done already. Right. I said it's a different kind of meter than residential. That's what's called the turpin meter. But with that water tank, what's the status of that broken line under the turnpike? Line has been valved off and the condition exists. How many years? I'd say probably over a little over a year, maybe two. Probably longer. Uh I believe we were looking for grant money to help with that.

That's correct. We still looking no progress. Well, there's a grant program that we've advised the bureau. It's a a loan program from D which would finance that. It's through the uh uh the it's basically a um I bank situation at D. They will pay and uh for the project and then the bureau has to pay back over probably 30 years, right? Low interest rate.

I'm just curious. I give Mr. Suzanne Brown of credit. Like I said, knocking on doors, finding grant money for water projects. Like I said, that one's been hanging around for a while now. So, good thing that you brought that up because it's a million dollars. If you do it back of the envelope, I don't really know how many, you know, we have we have 50 50 something, right, that are documented.

Let's just say we don't go above 70 or 80. Still like 200 grand that's laying around, right? The nice thing about grant money sometimes is you can go back to the to the state and you can say, "Hey, by the way, thank you so much for this money. We have this much left over. I'd like to roll it over into this over here." Nine out of 10 times it says, "Yeah, sure. Go right ahead." So, not to say that there's going to be money there, um, you know, to kind of help with that situation with the uh the pipe underneath the turnpike perhaps, but again, there's always next year you get in your assembly men here. Hey, by the way, well, that's the point. Need some more money. They keep knocking on the door. Yeah. Now's a perfect time.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, you knock on the door the whole year, but when it comes around spring of next year, 3 months before the budget, that's when you got to hit them. Well, either way, I mean, I I'll give you money, get a bigger knocker, and put it on a door, you know, make sure they hear you. But, uh, that's okay. But with water again, storm water management, you think that could be stretched to include curbing? You have to explain what you mean. I'm not sure what you mean.

Main Street, the curbs that are non-existent in a lot of places in disrepair for many, many years. That water is supposed to be directed to the storm sewers, but it's it wrecks property, puts mud, puts sediment, puts debris into the storm system, you know, curb would solve a little bit of that. Again, D, I get it. Tough outfit, but uh and it's also a county road. I mean, the question is whose jurisdiction is the curb? That's been a a matter of debate, I guess, for some years. Well, that's the point on knocking. Mhm. Like I said, knock on the door down there about the curbing.

Curbs. Curbs are good. As you come into Miltown, yeah, from New Brunswick, I wouldn't replace any curb until you put some drains somewhere. There's like a five or six block area, there's not one drain in place. And when it comes down, it's just like a river. So, take care of that first. Then, and you do the curbs at the same time. Okay. Again, it's just knocking on the door, just trying to get somebody to pay attention.

And last meeting got a little distracted. Like I said, I brought that article up about the chain of lakes, Lawrence Brookke, and uh like I said, the cubic yardage to, you know, remove that sediment. And the point of that was that that article, their solution to that was use less water. I mean, that's the D And I did some more research. New Jersey hasn't built a reservoir since 1971. And the one that was refurbished then was a city reservoir. Just a dinky little reservoir. So I don't know who's why we're paying these people for these kind of solutions. I think it's ridiculous. But when we applied for the dn snagging permit, me personally looking at this now afterthoughts, it's not the way to go. That chain of lakes concerns our neighboring towns all the way up. I don't know how often you meet with the other mayors. I think we need a big discussion with them and we need to turn the tables because the D is not helping anybody. They're helping some people but not us. That's a water source. That's the part that gets me cuz that grant that was sent in I got I opened the D to get that grant and who else got the money? I was shocked. the towns that received money and for stupid stuff. So, I want to turn the tide. I want to get the towns together, send them a document, a letter, something, and face to face or bring them down here and say, "What do you want us to do? You're controlling this. We're telling you we got to we got to clean it up, and

you guys don't want to do anything." I mean, that's crazy. Like I said, we don't need them in. get rid of the whole D. I don't care. You know, give that money to the towns and let we'll we'll take care of it. So, like I said, it's a suggestion, like I said, to talk to the other mayors because they're all contributing to the settlement and everything else, you know. So, let's figure it out. Let's do something. But uh I'm going to bring up another little one and uh I'll start with the fact I think you all know uh New Jersey Turnpike Authority and me bad relationship for 50 years. They don't care for anybody next to that turnpike. They just keep their road going and that's it. My neighbor was in contact with them recently about the overgrowth again, the root systems coming through the yards, the poison ivy, everything else. This is what you get. That's got to change. I don't know whose door we got to knock on with the state, too, but it's got to it's got to change. They don't maintain the drains. They don't do anything, you know. So, once again, it's it's a sad situation. And our yards are sinking. Our houses are taking a beating, but like I said, to fight them, good luck. So now I'm going to move on to something a little more serious. Mil Pond 8601 the block lot one. Been going at this a long time. Recently I found out some more information. I'll correct something that the tax assessor's readout that was provided to CME about the parcels in town. I did not know that the date on that is one

year late. So that means that was submitted to the assessor in December of 2019. We believe it was given to the assessor as of the other day. I have found no documentation anywhere that Miltown owns that property. No deeds, no nothing. County, state, this can't be. Tonight, I want to know. Once again, we've touched on it. There's a process to gain property, sell property.

Has to go through the council. Got to agree on it. Whether to purchase it or not, something like Mil Pond got to be a title search. The town did a title search. Bonafide 1997 Boray when they put the application in which was approved because of his title searches, he got the go-ahad that came up in 2019. again the review memo by CME showing ownership to Mr. burger. Yet the end of that year, we attain that property with no evidence, no nothing. It's impossible. It's impossible. So, I want to know tonight who has the authority, who signed what document, the mayor, finance director, I don't know, the attorney. Who signed what? How could this happen? I better get an answer tonight because the authorities are going to get this real soon. This can't be. We had a big problem in the 80s and the state came in here and took over our finances. If you want that again, we can do that. I'm giving you the answer. I'm Everybody here has been on planning boards and everything else over the years. What transpired here? What's going on? Silence is not an answer. Nobody. Title search on a railroad trestle. April of 24. Do we know who owns it yet? Mr. Vanola.

Mr. Weisenberger. I I answer questions that mayor or my council members asked me to answer. I'll go through the mayor. Could you ask our attorney the trestle title search? Who owns it? Well, the trestle, we know Mr. Burgerer owns the trestle. Very good. The previous title searches that came up. Mr. Boray's title searches all show Burger owns it. Mhm. So, what's going on? Nothing. He owns it. I understand that. But how did title come into Miltown now that we own it? That's what's on the assessor's record. That's what's in the county.

I can't answer to that. I know he owns that. Got put on the tax maps. I think you you two gentlemen are discussing two different things at this point. Believe Mr. Weisenberger is discussing the pond at this point, not the not the tree uh train. So, I think with respect to the pond, you certainly have the title searches. I don't know that anyone here has any idea how the assessor designated that as being owned by Miltown. Um, and I don't know that anybody has looked into it. I know you have looked into it.

And like I said, I find out now in in 25 May, the planning board now approved something else now with ownership in our name. There's multiple things like this. Like I said, this can't keep going. Like I said, I've had it to hear. Other people have had it to hear. We got to resolve this quickly because I'm ready to push the button and that's it. Appreciate the time. Thank you.

My name is Lola Garcia. I live at 36 North Main Street. my husband. Um, in reviewing the borrow recycle contract that Oprah Connie sent to me on schedule A, um, it says that there is another option of getting a container for $15.52 additional. I I I understand that it takes time to assess. I understand that the roll out and the process takes time. I get it. Um, I know cuz I come from downtown Brooklyn, New York City. I get it. But what we want, what my husband and I want is just reassurance that once everything is assessed and established that we will get that opportunity. And we haven't received that confident answer that we will get there. We don't mind waiting and we don't want mind paying, but it does take our personal time to have to cut boxes and pieces and crush cans. That's we both work an average of 60 hours a week individually. So, um, and we're in the process of adopting children. So, that's just going to take more of our time.

So, we just want the assurance that the option is going to be there, not oh well, it might get there. It will be there. I mean, I read the contract. It's there. It's written. So obviously we'll be there, right? So that's just one um concern if you can just reassure us that. The other one is that um we live on north side of Main Street and just within this month we had one accident of a car that flipped over. We had a deer that was hit. My husband came out because no one was there. So he had to put something to stop and put some cones there. I work in construction. So, we had to put some safety cones there so nobody But it's so dark and cars are still speeding that even though we had something to to prevent them from passing, the car still speed and hit the deer again and drove it. So, um for the past year, we've seen many different things on that street and we were wondering if there could be safety lights. I I know that lights can be a concern for residents because everybody sleeps at night, but maybe um I can't even think of the umctor

the reflector to be there. Uh when that car and then earlier this summer there was another car that hit the light pole which stop all the lights. I mean it gets really dark and then especially when they're coming out of US1. It's like they don't think and they just continue speeding even though it says that there's a radar but maybe a reflector so that this won't occur. Obviously becoming even more concerned because we're adopting and I don't want the kids to come out and get hurt. especially our neighbors, you know, they have kids. So, those are the two things. So, just to answer your question, we we approved the speed study tonight. So, I'm glad CM is here hearing your concerns because they're going to be the ones taking that information as well and providing it to us. So, so thank you very much for providing that information. Thank you.

And I I know our Miltown Police Department was out um that whole entire next day throughout the night. Um yeah, the police department here is amazing. So, they After that occurred, they were out there. Uh I commend them for for just they basically had the car there and if anybody was speeding through there, they pulled them over and uh summoned them. So uh Oh, yeah. No complaints. The police department here is amazing. They really are. They're great. You have a great team. That was it. Thank you.

Thank Thank you. Seeing no further comments, I'll close the public comment portion of the meeting. Um, I don't have any comments. I'd like to introduce resolution 2025289. If the clerk, can you please read that? Read and close, sir. You want me to read the resolution as well? Uh just by title entering executive session resolution 2025289. Uh may I have a motion in a second please? Second.

I have a motion made by Councilman Potter, second by Councilman Collins. May will the clerk please call the role? Council President Dbr. Councilman Collins I. Councilman M. I. Councilwoman Payne I. Councilman Potter. I um are we staying here? We can stay here. Okay. Um at this time, we'd ask a request if everyone could leave the council chambers for executive session. Um and then after we'll open it back up. Thank you, Mayor. What is the sections?