Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening. We'll call our meeting to order of the September 2nd, 2026 combined agenda and regular meeting of the Monroe Township Council. May I ask everyone to please rise as we salute the flag. Clerk, can we please have a roll call?

Councilman Miriam Cohen? Present. Councilman Charles DiPiro? Here. Councilman Terrence Vanzora? Here. Council Vice President Michael Markell? Here. Council President Rupa P. Siegel?

Here. Thank you. Can you please read item four?

In accordance with the Open Public Meetings Act, it is hereby announced and shall be entered into the minutes of this meeting that adequate notice has been provided by the following. One, posted on the bulletin boards within the municipal building on December 26, 2025, and remains posted at that location for public inspection. Two, printed in the Home News Tribune and the Cranberry Press on December 26, 2025. Three, posted on the Monroe Township website. And four, sent to those individuals who have requested personal notice. In accordance with Chapter 3, Section 17 of the Monroe Township Code, public comment shall be limited to five minutes unless further time is granted by the Council President.

Thank you. This evening we have two proclamations on our agenda. September 2026 is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and Township of Monroe Senior Center Month. Clerk, can you please read Item 6?

Ordinances for first reading at the set September 2nd, 2026 regular meeting ordinance. Oh nine, 2026, zero 18 ordinance authorizing the execution of a purchase sale and redevelopment agreement by in between the township of Monroe and CEP renewables LLC for the purchase and development of the former municipal solid waste landfill known as lots 36.0, one and 37 block one 48. property known as lots and property owned by BFI waste systems of New Jersey Inc known as lots twenty three point oh one twenty four twenty five twenty six and twenty seven in block one forty eight point six zero ordinance oh nine twenty twenty six oh nineteen ordinance amending chapter 108 article 10 signs of the code of the township of Monroe to extend the time of placing political signs prior to election. Ordinance 09-2026-020, bond ordinance provided for various capital improvements in and by the Township of Monroe in the County of Middlesex, New Jersey, appropriating $2,392,045, therefore, and authorizing the issuance of $1,000,000 $882,855 bonds or notes of the township to finance part of the cost thereof.

Great, thank you. And can you please read item seven?

Resolutions for consideration under the consent agenda at the September 2nd, 2026 regular meeting R9-2026-157 through R9-2026-170.

Council members, can you please review the resolutions? Anyone have any resolutions to be removed? council president I just have one R9 2026-158 thank you we'll move on to public comments these are limited to agenda items only five minutes per speaker may I have a motion to open so moved may I have a second all in favor Any opposed? Public comments is open. It's five minutes per speaker, agenda items only. Please make sure to state your name and address for the record.

Good evening, Allen and Rain, 64 Starlight Drive. I just have one quick question. council or the chairperson will entertain it, and that is how do the items on the consent agenda get on that agenda? That is, when does somebody meet to get the consent to put the items on the agenda?

So just I'm the township attorney. So maybe I'm appropriate answers question. That's really the agenda is prepared by the clerk's office and the administrator's office. And it is placed on the agenda where we are right now is we're in the workshop shop session. So the workshop is where we review the agenda. then if there's something that for instance council wanted removed off the agenda that it would be removed and then it wouldn't be on the the public portion of the meeting which is coming up right after this meeting okay so so basically it's something that happens because yourself as the attorney and the township manager that's actually the administrator and and the clerk in consultation with the council president correct that's how it's done thank you very much you're welcome

Good evening, everyone. Hope everyone had a nice summer. Nice to have you back, Councilman Vendazaro, however you say your name. But meanwhile, here's my name. Lucio Panos, 1208 C Vendero Plaza, Monroe. Ordinance 019, what is the timeframe that you're gonna be extended to on the signs, political signs? 020, how much does this township actually owe in bonds? How much is our total outstanding bonds? 158. How much is the release? And what's the maintenance guarantee that they're putting up, that they're posting? 166. It says a conditional redeveloper. What are the conditions for this redevelopment? 168. Oh, I was just happy that one was a decrease. 169. How much, again, what's their maintenance? What are they posting for their maintenance? How much is being released? How much are they posting? What's the percentage? And 170, why is the extension of time necessary? What's holding it up?

Sure.

Do you want me to?

Do you want to answer 019 first?

Sure. 019. We're extending it to because the state has now has mail-in ballots. The mail-in ballot date currently is no less than 45 days prior to the election. So we made it 45 days before whatever the date is that the state requires you to have the mail-in ballots. So in this case, it'll be now it'll be 90 days instead of 45 days.

Okay, and it remains the same as to when they have to come down?

Yes, they still have to come down in 10 days after the election, correct.

After all the ballots are counted?

10 days after election day.

Oh, okay, because it's usually a week to count the ballots.

Yeah, but it doesn't really matter because your ballot has to be in on election day, so it's not, yeah, correct. So you can't mail your ballot after election day, so that day stays the same. The conditional, if I can, while I've got the floor. The condition of redeveloper, the condition is that they execute the redevelopment agreement. And the reason we do that is because it requires them to post an escrow so that they can cover the township's costs to date for preparing the redevelopment plan and the redevelopment agreement.

And did they post that escrow yet?

No, because we're going to pass the resolution tonight authorizing the agreement, and then they'll sign it and post it.

How much is it?

I believe it's $25,000. Correct. Thank you. While I have it on my screen, I guess I'm on a roll here. 158, the performance bond was $2,142, and it's being replaced with a maintenance bond, which is 15%, which is $321.30.

Okay, and that goes to, I guess, is 15% the standard?

15% is the statutory, and it's also in our ordinance.

Thank you.

And then, Council President, for 170, we're asking for an extension of time to the NJDOT. They awarded us a grant last year of $415,000 to design and implement a road paving project in Heritage Chase. We have to award that contract to the contractor by November 13th of this year. We are still in the process of putting the financing in place. We had a bond ordinance on last month that did not pass the council. It is on tonight again for council reconsideration and assuming that we put that financing in place between September and October, then we'll still be eligible for the grant. This extension just gives us an opportunity just in case to ask the DOT for a little time if we need it. Hopefully we don't.

And are all the RFPs prepared already?

So Center State Engineering has done our engineering design and bid documents, and they are currently at the DOT's office for their review before we can go out to bid. So yes, they're ready. They're just under review.

Okay, thank you. And then the last one, how much do we owe in bonds? How much is this town bonded for? Total.

Yeah.

Council President, as of the December 31st, the annual debt statement, which is posted on our website, $79,216,055. $79,216,000?

Yes.

And you can find that right on our website under administration finance. All of the annual debt statements and financial statements are there.

Thank you all very much. Thank you.

Shell Arminio, 9 Nathaniel Street. The ordinance for first reading tonight, 092026-018. This is regarding the landfill and to my surprise, there seems to be two lots or two ownerships. It says on here, the purchase and development of the former municipal, solid waste landfill and it talks about block 148 and then the property owned by BFI waste systems of New Jersey and they mentioned block 148.6 so all this time we've been talking about Monroe Township owning the landfill as a matter of fact last meeting last month meeting it was said that The township has always maintained the ownership of the underlying land, and BFI was, had, I wanna be accurate here, BFI had the use of it, and I guess ownership of the use of it. Operational control, there you go, I found my word.

Okay, so there are joining lots, by the way, they're not on the landfill.

There's like, I didn't ask the question yet.

But well, I'm sorry. Okay, you're always told that they owned and these are joining those are joining lots.

So why did it has one head? Why has this come into play now when we've been talking about the settlement of the lawsuit?

is that CEP, who is going to develop the solar fields, are going to buy the landfill from us and the adjoining lots from BFI. It's all going to be in one agreement. So the reason it's in the caption of this is because there's going to be one purchase and sale agreement between the three parties, and all of those lots and blocks are going to be in it. So BFI is selling its lots to CEP, and we're selling our lots to CEP. Our lots are the landfill. Their lots are some adjoining buffer lots that they had purchased on the street.

And what does this council know about those lots?

I'm sorry. They're owned by BFI. They're not owned by the township.

So what about What's on them? Is there toxic waste? There's nothing.

They're not on the landfill. I guess there were buffer lots that they bought that were adjoining between the landfill and the streets.

And the township's not buying them. They're going to another company who would have to do their own due diligence.

They're going to CEP, who is going to be owning the landfill.

But we are party to the settlement, and we are party to the sale. And they're adjacent to the landfill. So is there potential for the leachate to invade that? So we keep having this discussion about who is responsible for a toxic Superfund site, albeit closed, but still underneath there's things going on there, and there's still methane gas... uh... monitors so it's still sort of alive in my opinion uh... i'm not an expert but it sounds like it is and now we have this new piece of property and i think councilman thankfully, asks a question about, well, what happens when there's private ownership of this land that we own, that we're selling? And lo and behold, now we're talking about private ownership, and we have nothing to do with it. I think that was the fear that was trying to be addressed last week. So now we have this new parcel of land that's going to – is it in the settlement? Is it part of the settlement agreement?

Part of the settlement is that the township is selling the landfill and the – by the way, the responsibility for maintaining the landfill to CEP. And BFI is going to sell whatever remaining buffer lots that they have so that CEP, which will be one entity now, will own all of it. and control it and be responsible to DEP for the maintenance and operation of the lender.

And I've heard that same argument or information or statement, however you want to call it, for years about BFI being responsible. And they haven't really been responsible. And we've spent millions of dollars. We're not getting back. Now, the argument was made last week that we're getting out of the problem, which in and of itself may be a good thing. But the argument you're saying that the township, and I'd really like my elected representatives to speak to this, because they're the ones who are supposed to be looking after the people. I think I would like to have a little bit more. This is a serious problem. I would like to have a little bit more time, Council President. This is a toxic waste dump that the township the township and and okay and I'll just let you finish your sentence and then well how okay and we've also yes I will and by the way there'll be this is only for introduction so there'll be a separate public hearing on this at our next meeting and you can also of course speak at it I understand and I'd like to put this on the record now so maybe we can have some really um significant information but my question is we've also talked about that it's not I'm sorry many of your time is up Yeah, and that's the problem. Our time is up, and we don't get a chance to know that the Middlesex County. Ms. Arminio, your time is up. The Middlesex County utility authority is going to still pay, and that's taxpayers' money involved in this landfill still. We've been told no more taxes against the people.

Any other members of the public wishing to speak?

Pat Swall, J586A, Madison Drive. This wasn't a topic I was going to speak on today or ask a question on. I have other questions for the public portion. But just from the exchange that happened, this company, CPI, is buying. There's a sale. They're buying these lots. Is that treated as any other, when somebody buys a piece of property and they want to do anything on it, there's the zoning codes that cover their responsibility. So my question I guess is, is this a case where CPI would be covered or required under certain zoning codes?

So first things first. So all of these properties were put in a redevelopment area. So they're covered by a redevelopment plan. that limits the use of it to just solar project that's going on top of the landfill. So they're covered by a redevelopment, a redevelopment plan, which is effectively the zoning ordinance for it. So I don't know if that answers your question, but the answer is that under the redevelopment agreement, which is why we do a redevelopment agreement, they can only use the property as part of the solar project. So it's limited to that by agreement and by the redevelopment plan.

Thank you. And just to quickly add to that, they still have to come into our planning board with a full site plan application, now utilizing the redevelopment plan as the underlying zoning regulations that they have to follow.

Yes, thank you. Thank you.

Any other members of the public wishing to speak? Seeing none, may I have a motion to close?

So moved.

May I have a second?

Second.

All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed? May I have a motion to adjourn the agenda meeting? Move. May I have a second? Second. Roll call, please.

Councilman Cohen? Yes. Councilman DiPiero? Yes. Councilman Vanzora? Yes. Council Vice President Markell? Yes. Council President Siegel? Yes. The time is 6.49. Thank you.

May I have a motion to open the regular meeting? So moved. May I have a second?

Second.

Roll call, please.

Councilman Cohen? Yes. Councilman DiPiero? Yes. Councilman Vanzora? Yes. Council Vice President Markell? Yes. Council President Siegel?

Yes.

The time is 6.49.

Thank you. May I have a motion to approve the payment of claims per run date August 28, 2026? Moved. May I have a second? Second. Roll call, please.

Council President, I just have a quick question. I noticed on the bill list that we are paying for some past employees' dental. for a selected amount of people, not all retirees employees that work for the town, but there are a few. Is there is there a I know we do pay Medicare Part B for most of them that retire, but I've noticed these dental for certain, I guess employees. So can I get an explanation?

Council President, it's my understanding there's a few employees who have that as part of an employment agreement that predates me, but that would grandfather them into that dental coverage in their retirement. But it's something that hasn't been a practice in a long time.

So when you say grandfathered, grandfathered forever or just this year, or how does that work?

Yep.

The agreements at the employment agreements at the time were for them to get dental benefits through their retirement. So it's not for a period of time. It's for their full retirement.

So forever.

Well, as long as they're alive. Yes. Thank you.

Thank you. Can we have a roll call, please?

Councilwoman Cohen.

Yes. Councilman DePiro.

Abstain.

Councilman Vanzora. Yes. Council Vice President Markell. Yes. Council President Siegel.

Yes.

Motion carries. Thank you.

Moving on to the approval of minutes, may I have a motion to approve the minutes of the following meetings as written and presented, August 3rd, 2026, agenda and regular combined meeting. Moved. May I have a second?

Second.

Roll call, please.

Councilman Cohen. Yes. Councilman DePiro. Yes. Councilman Vanzora. Yes. Council Vice President Markel. Yes. Council President Siegel. Yes.

Motion carries. Thank you. Clerk, can you please read item four?

Ordinance for first reading. Ordinance 09-2026-018. ordinance authorizing the execution of a purchase, sale, and redevelopment agreement by and between the Township of Monroe and CEP Renewables LLC for the purchase and development of the former municipal solid waste landfill, known as Lots 36.01 and 37, Block 148, and property owned by BFI Waste Systems of New Jersey, Inc., known as Lots 23.01, 24, 25, 26, and 27, in block 148.60.

Thank you. May I have a motion, please? Second? Second. Roll call, please.

Councilwoman Cohen. Yes. Councilman DiPiro.

I got a question about this. Who's going to be paying the MTUD bill for the leachate waste?

Whoever the operator is. So right now it's BFI and then it'll be CEP.

So they're going to continue paying that. Correct.

Exactly. It's their responsibility because they'll be the operator. They'll be the owner and the operator of the landfill. So they pay all of the utility costs.

They'll pay all.

Yes. And I think some I'm sorry, there was a statement made that somehow the that the Middlesex County Utilities Authority was somehow going to continue to pay something. That's not true. The answer is, is that's going to.

So the entity.

Yeah, they'll they'll pay us. And obviously we pay.

Right. Now, I saw the purchase price for a dollar, but I just didn't see who's paying MTUD for the leachate. I didn't see that in the agreement.

Well, it's like anything. If I sold you my house for a dollar when you bought it, you'd be responsible for paying the sewer bills going forward.

Well, some people don't pay the bills, so that's why they get repossessed. That is true. So I'm not going to be completely there is I just want to make sure that we don't get it back and we're paying Middlesex County waste and you know got to look out for and there because they're there's a lot of responsibility under that landfill and I just don't want to pass the torch to have somebody else in a different name the show game here correct, but not thank you. Yes.

Councilman Ben Zora Council vice president Markel. Council President Siegel.

Yes.

Motion carries.

Thank you. Clerk, can you please read the next ordinance?

Ordinance 09-2026-019, Ordinance Amending Chapter 108, Article 10, Signs of the Code of the Township of Monroe to extend the time of placing political signs prior to election.

May I have a motion, please? So moved. May I have a second?

Second.

Roll call.

Councilwoman Cohen.

Yes.

Councilman DePiro? Yes. Councilman Vanzora? Yes. Council Vice President Markell? Yes. Council President Siegel? Yes. Motion carries. Ordinance on 920 26020 bond ordinance providing for various capital improvements in and by the township of Monroe in the County of Middlesex New Jersey appropriating 2 million 392,000 $45 therefore and authorizing the issuance of 1,000,882,000 $855 bonds or notes of the township to finance part of the cost thereof. Thank you may have a motion please may have a second. Roll call please. Councilman Cohen. Yes. Councilman DiPiero.

I just want to make an explanation on this. I know this was defeated last month and this is reconsideration for this one. But after reviewing our reserves and then after reviewing the bond interest rates from Phoenix that they just sent us this past week, I just didn't see any change. So as far as some of the purchases that we could have just paid cash for instead of bonding for nine years, especially the vehicles that are not gonna have a nine-year life. So I'll have to say no.

Councilman Vanzora. Yes. Council Vice President Markell. Yes. Council President Siegel.

Yes.

Motion carries.

Thank you. Clerk, can you please read item five?

Resolutions for consideration under the consent agenda R9-2026-157 through R9-2026-170 with the exception of R9-2026-158, which will be voted on separately.

Thank you. May I have a motion, please? So moved. May I have a second?

Second. Roll call, please. Councilman Cohen. Yes. Councilman DiPiro. Yes. Councilman Vanzora. Yes. Council Vice President Markell. Yes. Council President Siegel. Yes.

Motion carries. And item six, please.

Resolutions removed from the consent agenda for consideration. Resolution R9-2026-158. May I have a motion, please?

Moved. May I have a second? Second.

Roll call, please. Councilwoman Cohen. Yes. Councilman DiPiero. Abstain. Councilman Vanzora. Yes. Council Vice President Markell. Yes. Council President Siegel. Yes. Motion carries. Thank you.

Moving on to Administrator's Report, Mr. McGowan.

Thanks, Council President. I'll be brief. I just want to briefly touch on what Councilman DiPiro was just talking about before, and I fully respect his opinion on this. However, from the administration's perspective, our opinion is that we budget every year for both capital items and what we can spend in annual operating expenses, right? Those items that can't be capitalized and funded over time. Every time Lori and I put a bond ordinance like this together, we look to see what additional money we have from older bonds that maybe haven't been spent out yet or ways that we can do without certain items for a period of time. So this was actually a very pared down ordinance compared to our capital ordinances from prior years. We feel, again, just the administration's perspective, that these items are necessary. They can be capitalized. To replace them with operating dollars would very negatively impact the operating budget. I don't agree that we have the reserves to pay cash. I know the councilman had the opportunity to look at our bank statements, which is just a snapshot in time as money flows into our accounts and then out of our accounts. For example, we had to make our quarterly or more than quarterly $18 million payment you know to the school district as we collect their taxes payments to the fire district payments to the county right because we're the tax collector for all of those entities having our surplus um is essential in making that happen and if we didn't have that surplus we'd be we'd be in dire straits as as the other 500 towns in in new jersey would be as well so i fully fully appreciate and respect the opinion that we should you know use our own money before we go out but with $100 million budget and the complicating factors that I just talked about sometimes, that's just not always possible. And so this is the most prudent and fiscally responsible way to go about that. And I just wanted to just provide that perspective. I appreciate the time.

Thank you. Moving on to our engineer's report, Mr. Razumowitz.

Thank you, Council President. I'll be brief as well. We finished paving our 2026 milling and paving program of approximately 18 roads. We have one road that still remains, and that'll be milled and paved as we go into early fall here. There's a little bit more extensive work to do on it, but the rest of the roads are completed and paved and striped. The Middlesex County project, Prospect Plains and Applegarth road intersection, that project continues. There's been delays with the JCP and L utilities as well as Verizon. Right now there is a closure on northbound Applegarth from Prospect Plains heading north. Overnight, each night, Verizon is out there replacing conduits that are in the ground as well as some concrete chambers that they have. So it's pretty extensive work right in the middle of that northbound lane. That work should be wrapping up next week. Also, Jersey Central Power and Light is out there installing or replacing utility poles. They had to be moved to the opposite side of the road. So, again, those delays were primarily through the utility companies, but they are out there working. And, again, Middlesex County is monitoring that daily, and it's moving along. That's my report.

Thank you. We'll move on to council reports. Councilman DiPiro.

Thank you. I'm not going to argue with the business administrator or the way this was done that's fine. It's just that after reviewing our reserves, I'm concerned to see our reserves dwindling and going in a downward direction. And that's a big concern sitting up here. So maybe we tighten our belts. Maybe we stop spending. Maybe we start saying no to some things. I don't know. I don't have all the answers. You guys are getting paid to do the job that you do. We're elected. We represent the public. We are all taxpayers up here. We're all concerned about the future of Monroe. And when I see a vehicle, an average vehicle in an average home, you don't keep a vehicle for nine years. When you see a first responder vehicle that's on the road seven days a week, 24 hours a day, the life expectancy is definitely not nine years. So fiscal responsibility, I look at it a little bit different. I look at reality in the sense that I don't think um in nine years from now that those vehicles are going to be sitting in our in our police department i hope i'm wrong i hope that the values of everything seems to be getting out of out of control and i do see um our reserves going down just look at look at our audits and that's a big concern that i have as an elected official i know all my my council up here including my mayor they they we do care and we do we are concerned and we have to have um i feel that i can't just say yes to every single thing and that's something that was true true to my heart was buy some of the things that were 30 40 grand pay cash for it that's that's that's all i'm going to say um I have a question for our attorney, Council President. Lately, we've been getting some emails about lawsuits concerning, does our GIF pay our attorney or are taxpayers paying our attorney?

GIF does.

The GIF pays our attorney?

Yes, sir.

So when there's a settlement to whoever sues us or if it's MTUD or if it's the township, police department, whoever it is, and there's a settlement, so the GIF pays our professionals?

Correct. Okay. Just like, well, I shouldn't say just like, you have a deductible, but after that, the GIF pays everything, correct?

Okay, thank you. We're having our 9-11. Unfortunately, it's a 25-year, you don't even know what to say. It's just 25 years of a nightmare more than a celebration or an anniversary like you would want to call it. It was more of a nightmare for all of us. And we all remember where we were. and my brother and i built that park so i i definitely i will be there as long as i can be there and i just want to say to our staff that does everything and maintains it or dpw and and everybody that takes care of that park it's very uh It's a sad day for all of us, but it's 815 or so. We all know the time when the towers first got hit, but it's sad to say we're at 25 years already. So I just wanted to remind everybody. I'm concerned about the top paving for MTUD. I brought it up a couple times last year and the patches still did not get done. One in particular right in front of municipal building on Schoolhouse Road, it's still base paved. It's been about two years now, so I think it's time that we could mill it and top coat it. And also the one in front of District 3 Fire Company, there's another one that's not top paved. And if there's any other top paving, now's the time to get the paving done. I wanted to remind everybody that school started today and yesterday teachers were in I believe some of the students so just please pay respect to the school buses and our students walking sidewalks and and the streets and wish our teachers and their staff back so I just wanted to point that out and then i wanted to ask the striping if we have a striping schedule for any more roads a federal road intersection needs needs some striping and many other intersections if we are doing any more road striping this year

Council President, I believe most of the striping is complete on the roads that we paved. They're the only scheduled striping offhand that I believe is the one road that we haven't paved yet. Offhand, I'd have to check to see if there's any other roads that weren't paved that are getting striped, but I believe everything's taken care of. Okay, thank you. I'm sorry, Council President, but I will note you indicated Federal Road. The intersection. Yeah, we'll take a look at that and add it to a list to work on getting it straight.

Thank you. We had a celebration for 4th of July on August 28th. A lot of us attended. It was well organized. It was a great celebration as far as the fireworks are concerned and it was nice to see the community come together on the 28th and the staff that did all of the work. I wanted to point out Monroe Township Hockey did their first newsletter that the rec department emailed to us and it's something that we have to say thank you for the volunteers. They had an open gym, floor hockey. It was a big success. And we got to get the word out to people, our residents, that this is something that we got to support and continue to keep going. I want to thank the volunteers and the boards that make it possible, and all our sports as well. But I noticed Monroe Township Hockey had their first newsletter. I sent an email in reference to Applegarth Road for county's traffic study. I received a couple calls about the schools. They're concerned about the buses coming out during school hours. Is there a updated traffic study from the county for Applegarth Road?

Council President, I'll defer to Mark. I'm not aware of any specific county traffic study. Mark, there's usually applicants who make an application who are in the area of Applegarth provide traffic study, but I'm not sure I understand the question.

I'm not aware of a regional study of Applegarth Road that the county is doing, but I believe the council had, we did a resolution where the county was doing some work at the intersection of Union Valley, Cranberry Station, and Applegarth. They were going to be doing some improvements to that traffic signal to get dedicated left turn arrows in all directions. Right now it's in two, and I know that signal has been problematic. So they are doing something on that. And again, I just don't recall if I saw a draft agreement or if we actually did one at the council recently.

Right, because all of those intersections, the ones we're doing now, as Mark and I was talking about, that was started 25 years ago. and we're finally building the intersection of prospect plains and applegarth but all of those intersections the county seems to neglect the left hour left hand turns and now we come back and we revisit it but my concern was if there's a traffic study done by middlesex county on their street of applegarth road which is their road if there's any kind of a traffic study done i know we do get we just had an approval for a strip mall next to noonan's garage and at close to that intersection but if there's is there a traffic study on applegarth road is was my question no

Council President, again, on that, it was last month that we did the resolution here at the council under the traffic signal agreement with Middlesex County for that intersection. The intersection of a prospect plane to Applegarth is obviously under construction now as well. Again, there's no study of the entire Applegarth Road that I've been provided from the county. I'm not aware of one. But they have studied the intersections as the applicants have come through. So the improvements to this intersection at Applegarth and Cranberry Station came about as a result of the application that was before the planning board. And those costs are all on accounting, between accounting and a developer. That's my point.

Okay. Thank you. The last thing I want to say is... We had National Night Out for first responders, and that was really well attended, and all of our first responders were there, and our council and mayor, everybody was there. It was really nice, and it was a good turnout with the car show and everything. I just want to say thank you to everyone that made that happen. Thank you.

Thank you. Councilman Ventura?

Thank you, Madam President. We're at that time. As we're heading into that time of year September's always I always look at it as a almost like the new time of year school starts again even in the courts and stuff it's the new season so as we get out there so many things that we can do now that uh you know as we head into the new season and charlie already mentioned it he took like three of my things i was going to mention one is be careful with the kids going back to school but also if you get a chance uh maybe catch a high school football game or soccer game or whatever might be going on, volleyball and some of the other things. The kids out there, they put in an effort, and it's nice to have the town support them. So it's nice to see when it's not just the parents that are out there. All the parents support the kids, but all the different things that we have we offer. The kids try really hard, and we've had a lot of success over the last few years. So if you can, continue to get out there. We do have 9-11, which it's hard to believe is going to be next week, 25 years. So not a happy remembrance, but it's something that we all attend and we take seriously and we learn from that, you know, to appreciate what you have. I think the one thing that did come out of 9-11, we've learned to appreciate our first responders more than ever before. And that's something that I hope has continued and will continue to happen. um i do want to say um i've been out and about a lot and uh i have noticed uh the job you know we get the roads done every year but if you ride around our town you ride around other towns i think by and large our town does a really good job at keeping the roads in good shape and uh very happy with what they've done they've also done a lot this year with uh With all the bad weather we've had and the branches down and things all over the place, they have cleaned up these things relatively fast to the point where the roads are passable. And I don't know how much people appreciate how much work there was, but guys are out there all the time. And even this morning I saw the town out picking up stuff. So they do a good job. And the other thing I wanted to say is as we go forward, next month's going to be Oktoberfest. We have that. and if you get a chance just check out every month we get the the list of things that the library offers if you get a chance just go on their website i'm not going to go through each and everything but they have so many programs that cover so many different things that are good for so many different people i just want to give them a shout out and tell people take advantage of the things that this is what your tax dollars go toward is to have programs available for the town, so enjoy it use it and As we get into the next season. Good luck to everybody. Stay safe.

Thank you Thank You councilman Councilman Cohen Good evening, everyone Like my colleagues we were all at National Night Out and we were all at the fireworks Which were usual as usual. They were lovely kudos to our Recreation Department to Public Works to our Police Department for making sure that all of these events are well staffed and that they go off without a hitch and if I watched Mary Lang run back and forth one in her car to make sure everything is functioning as it should and it was Just lovely, just lovely. I hope all of you join us at the 9-11 ceremony. It is brief, memorable, and the effects of it are important for all of us. And for those of you who have children, you could bring them with you so that they too can see and learn and remember. that that would certainly be very helpful. I also had the opportunity to hear a presentation from Keep Middlesex Moving, which is a not-for-profit 501c3 dealing with transportation issues within Middlesex County. And this particular program was dedicated to older adults. All of the resources that are available to people who are no longer driving, some of them The presentation was about an hour and everyone sat through. No one had anything but good questions to ask. So if you hear the presentation being offered in town, I would suggest it's worthy of your time and attention. I learned that if you wish to use an Uber and don't have a smartphone, there's a phone number that you can use to call to arrange for an Uber. There was much discussion about the buses, about arranging transportation for people to go to hospitals and back. And much praise, of course, as it is deserved, was given to our senior center for all of the wonderful work that they do. But this is a marvelous adjunct. And I hope we see more of that as the population of our entire country. not just Monroe, ages, there are more folks that are not driving or not driving very far. So this was really a wonderful, if you see it, please go, you will enjoy it. Thank you.

Thank you. Council Vice President Markell.

Good evening, everybody. I'm just going to, a lot of the things that people already said, I'm not going to repeat because everybody doesn't want to hear it again, I'm sure. I'm going to hit on three items. I'm on the commission for six commissions and boards in Monroe right now. One of them is the aging, commission on aging, which is, I don't know why I'm on there. I'm too young for that, but aging. But tomorrow morning I have a meeting at 9 o'clock. It's one of my meetings. But I wanted to touch on the Senior Citizen Month. I don't know if everybody's aware, but I'll give you an example. Something like 85,000 people run through the Senior Center every year. And these people handle it pretty well. So I just want to shout out to the Senior Center. The second thing I want to, I'm on the Human Relations Committee. And one of the things we're having in September, on September 23rd from 6 to 7.30, we're having what we call the Taste of Monroe, where various restaurants bring their samples of food. and they highlight what their specialties are. One of the things we ask is anybody that comes bring a can of something to help supply the Betty Schneider Food Pantry, which is up and running and it's a very successful thing. If you go on the Senior Center website, it'll show you items they need. They have plenty of canned beans, but there's other things that they really need for Thanksgiving, for people for Thanksgiving. So if you take a look on the Senior Center, Senior Center, Senior Center. center website you'll see that uh... and that's the taste of monroe once again nine twenty three from six to seven thirty lastly uh... one of my other committees is the economic advisory board and we just appointed a young man uh... jeremy Fab rel who's got some great ideas. We've got some things in the works. I don't want to announce what they are right now because they are an official and they're not scheduled but look forward to looking at some very exciting things that are becoming up that are going to be sponsored by the economic advisory board which will be for everybody here in Monroe as well as the businesses. Thank you very much.

Thank you mayor Delina report.

Thank you madam council president be very very brief tonight very brief I did want to just touch upon obviously we talked about some of the events that we've just had the national night out. and our fireworks celebration kind of capping off the summer, a celebration of 250 years of freedom here in the United States of America. But I did want to recognize what we call in the mayor of the day, Sergeant Major retired Miles Cappiello, a veteran for 40 years of service to the united states of america very happy to have him here in monroe township um and he had the honor of counting down the the fireworks so i just wanted to Highlight that. Some of the upcoming events, obviously, we've talked about 9-11. It officially starts at 8-46, which is the time that the airplane hit the first tower. Obviously, if you want to get there early for some quiet solitude beforehand, I would recommend that. But it will officially start at 8-46. And I did just want to highlight two events for the mayor's wellness. Coming up on September 22nd is a gentle yoga and sound bath for those who might need a little relaxation. And if you want to get out and about to enjoy the fall weather here in our beautiful township, on October 1st, we're going to be having a hike. Please see the website calendar for further information. Madam President, I am done. Thank you.

Thank you. We'll move on to public comments. Five minutes per speaker. May I have a motion to open? So moved. May I have a second? Second. All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed? Public comments is open. Five minutes per speaker. Please state your name and address for the record.

Good evening again, Lucille Panos, 1208 C, Landera Plaza. I just want to highlight over Childhood Cancer Month, it's more than a proclamation. I just want everyone, Council President, that if you've ever seen a child, my husband spent some time in Sloan Kettering 10 years ago, and we dealt with it, but when that kid walked in the playroom, He had to walk out. Childhood cancer is a horrible, horrible thing. So I know today I made my donation. It's September. So if everybody chips in, maybe we'll get this over with. Things that concern a lot of residents, especially us seniors, is the water and the electric bills. They skyrocketed. We're all expecting a big increase. So I'd like to know, with these solar companies, solar farms, I believe there's another one, It seems this one that's going up, the immediate benefits will benefit the residents in that area. And then I think Mr. McGowan had said it'll eventually get to the rest of the town. Why doesn't it get to the rest of the town from the get-go? We paid that money. It's our township. And I know it's in that neighborhood, but electric is hitting everybody, especially us seniors. And so I question that, and I hope when whatever comes up that maybe you can expand that. The other solar farm, you had to go on a lottery. Why? Just it's a solar farm on the other end of town. Some people signed up. Maybe there could be something that the whole township benefits from these wonderful solar things and water utility. Oh, my good. It's killing us in the senior centers. Like I asked the last time I was here a few months ago, you budgeted how much in water bill collection? collections, and how much did you actually collect? From what I got, it was two million, and we collected 130 something thousand. Are we gonna get jammed up next year? It's really, I would hope that we start to think of better budgeting. Maybe you could ask the business administrator how much we budgeted and how much we collected again. Everybody should reap the benefits of solar farms. That road pavement, that was complete in the engineer's report. I'm glad that's happened. But is that why the change order, which I'm also glad for, was decreased by 60? Is that the same company that the engineer had said that it's complete? And then I think it was item 168 or whatever, that there was a change order decrease. Is that the same project?

Mr. President, two different projects. The project that's being released is 2025. The project that's under construction is 2026.

They don't have a change order that increases. That's usually the game. And lastly, poll clerks. You know what? We've had such a horrendous primary where people didn't show up. People dropped out. And I appreciate that the township clerk wrote to the board of elections administrator, I think Councilman DePiro did, as I did, as the Democrat coordinator did. Is there something that could be done? We have a lot of people interested, but they have to take training up in Piscataway. You know, we thought maybe we could have something here, as they did in the past. Then there was... straight over there, Tom. Somebody had suggested online training might happen. I got noticed yesterday, none of that's happening. All those seniors, everybody in Monroe has to go up to Skataway. There was even the proposal that they have substitutes There's people who might take the training knowing that they might not work and they won't even get paid to get trained unless they work. That's not even open anymore. We need more support for the process. especially in Monroe, where there's so many seniors who get into it but just can't anymore. So I appreciate what the clerk's office tried to do, and I'm very disappointed in the Board of Elections, and I hope that everybody gets on their case. Thank you.

I have three questions and a brief comment. So if I can have my whole five minutes and then the questions can be answered after. One relates to the zoning map. So our zoning map was created in January of 2017. AND I UNDERSTAND THAT THERE IS A REGULATION AT THE STATE LEVEL THAT REQUIRES ANOTHER LOOK AT THE ZONING MAP AND AN UPDATED ZONING MAP EVERY 10 YEARS. SO THAT WILL BE JANUARY OF 2027. AND MY QUESTION WITH THAT IS, HAS THAT PROCESS STARTED, YOU KNOW, THE LOOK AT THE ZONING MAP AND THE REDEVELOPMENT, I GUESS, OF THE ZONING MAP? Second question is we have a lot of elderly people in Monroe and they are at least the ones that come to me and ask all the time what is being done to protect our polling places. We hear a lot about what measures some states are taking to prevent people from voting, ICE agents at polling places, FBI agents at polling places. So my question then is, are we in our community focusing on safety at the polling places? I think safety is a big issue for any polling place in the climate we're at in our country. And we have 15, I believe, Councilman Markell could correct me, but 15 polling places. And I just would suggest that we have a police presence either riding by the polling places or stopping in. And if we can do something as a community to let our community members and our residents know what is not permitted at a polling place, so just have a flyer or in our next... Monroe News, to have something about the regulations for polling places. My third issue is It's land use. I know I've been investigating a lot of the artificial intelligence facilities and their land use. In 2019, Mayor Tamboro started working on the site of that juvenile detention center. And at that time in 2019, there was like a six year timeframe for it being closed. At that time, there were 663 acres on that piece of property that's owned by the state. 2028 to sell or do something with that is not far off. It's less than two years. Mayor Delina, you worked with our legislative assembly people and our state senator, Linda Greenstein, and you have preserved 92 acres of that piece of property, but that leaves 570 acres still out there. that there was a report that came out just recently, January of this year, recommending to the state not to further any juvenile detention centers in New Jersey. And what they're suggesting on that site is something like a... therapy center or a recreation center something that's a more kind of average land use and that is the recommendation from this committee that was at the state level so my question on that is I understand we have a council liaison to that detention center. If the timeframes that I'm looking at are in fact correct, then that piece of property is up for grabs in 2028. So I'm wondering where we are as the township on which that 571 acres is still sitting. Where are we with protecting that piece of land from a huge warehouse or an AI detention center, something like that. So those are my three questions. The zoning map revision, what we can do to ensure people that our polling places are safe, and then where are we with what's going to be an upcoming issue with that 571 acres on that juvenile detention center property.

Council President, I can take the first and the third one, if I can go out of order, if that's okay. So in terms of our zoning map, our zoning map was updated in 2022 as part of our master plan process. And then it has been continually updated as we've made a couple of, Zoning changes since then I understand that there is a copy that that's the hard copy that's floating around has a 2017 date, but we do have We and we can get it to you and update it. It's on our website. It's in our master plan. It's on our GIS so there's there's lots of different places for it, but so we do it we we have updated the zoning map accordingly and In terms of the state home for boys, I think the issue is that that 2028 timeframe is actually not realistic. I understand back in 2019 there was a specific timeframe that was put on closing down the boys' home, transferring the rest of that property, preserving it in some way. But as the years have gone on, the state has pushed that back further and further and further. So we don't have an actual time frame in terms of when that's specifically going to happen. They are working on building programs for the youth that could transition them from that facility to other environments, not just here in Monroe, but there's another facility in South Jersey that's also trying to close down. And the Attorney General's Office, I believe, spearheaded that task force to come up with some recommendations for what could be replaced there but at this point it's it's it's too far out to make any specific plans because it could very well be you know four or five six years before before we see that so and then I don't have an answer on the on the polling place issue I don't know that it's an issue it's a safety concern that I think we should have some

something for the public of what is being done for the safety of the polling places. That would go a long way to reassuring, I think, a lot of our population in Monroe.

Thank you for your comments.

Council President, can I just add, as Kevin said about the state home, I'm the chairman, Terry's the vice chair, and also Kevin's on the committee as well. well we were told we have a meeting coming up this month and i would recommend if you can attend to our that meeting six o'clock um and you should come ask questions that you just asked here because the state comes and and they their representatives talk to us but the last meeting we did have they they had located two two parcels To build new facilities to take out, there's a little, about 105 residents at the time, which is inside the 90 acres, which is all fenced in. There's 42 buildings, okay? the acreage that you're talking on the outside the 90 acres was our or 92 acres was our old police department on spots for english town road which that's i believe is preserved as you said and i believe the outside of the gates are preserved as well for non the non-building so our mayors our past mayors our current mayor and our past council and this council is fighting everything that we could possibly do with the state of new jersey they change their plan and we try to keep up with the change of what they're doing right now there's only a hundred or less residents with 400 employees but I would recommend you come to our meeting and you can ask the questions we have a public portion and and I would definitely recommend you come okay thank you

Alan Moraine, 64 Starlight Drive. Madam Chairman, the United States has a president who told the state of Georgia to find 11,780 votes in order to subvert a presidential election, who incited a mob to prevent the peaceful transfer of power. who is now doing all he can to subvert the 2026 midterm elections, who tears children from their parents. There was a saying, I haven't heard it lately, but we've probably all heard it in the past, think globally, act locally. So the question becomes, what should Monroe do and what can Monroe do. I propose that for October 5 there be an agenda item for the meeting for a resolution declaring Monroe Township to be a sanctuary city. Monroe Township is fortunate to have Mikey Sherrill as governor. it should take advantage of our good fortune. Whatever pushback may come along, it will probably not be from Trenton. The late Representative John Lewis said, make trouble, good trouble. Martin Luther King said, in the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. Madam President, I suggest that it's time to make trouble.

Thank you. Thank you.

Shell Arminio, 9 Nathaniel Street. I'd like to begin with a tribute to one of Monroe's native sons, Darren Kutz. Darren Kutz grew up in Monroe. He loved this town. His father was a teacher in the Monroe High School. He was an avid outdoorsman. And he loved open space. He fought very hard to preserve open space and preserve good government and transparency and public participation. We lost him recently. and he was an honest, decent human being. He might not have always agreed with his perspective, but he was not a liar. He was a good person. He brought honesty and truth to his life and to the love of this town. He was also part of the Tree Commission. And I would just like to acknowledge him, that he's the kind of person that our community benefits by. So rest in peace. OK, next. In the August meeting, Mr. McGowan stated that he would provide the answer to the questions about the tax appeal settlements for 2025. And I wonder if we have those numbers, some of the higher numbers of the tax appeal, Madam Council President.

Council President, I apologize, I don't have that, but I will provide it to you, and I will bring it to the rest of the council as well.

Well, can we have it in public at the next meeting? There was a talk about the GIF. I don't know if the public is aware. I believe it's called the Joint Insurance Fund.

It is a joint insurance fund.

It is a joint insurance fund. Has the name changed, though? I think the joint insurance fund that was around for decades, I think went bankrupt or something happened. I'm not sure exactly. But it disbanded. What is the current fund called now?

So I just want to make sure. Joint insurance funds are the name of joint insurance funds. So there's a bunch of them in the state. We were in the Middlesex Joint Insurance Fund, which is, I believe, still in existence, didn't declare bankruptcy. but we're now in the Garden State Joint Insurance Fund, and we have been for three years?

I think closer to five now.

Closer to five years now.

Okay, and has the Middlesex Joint Insurance Fund sent us letters saying that we owe them money?

Yes, they've sent a lot of people letters that they owe them money. Well, I'm worried about Monroe. They're working through the Department of Banking and Insurance Issues. I don't have any clarity on it. What is the number that they're asking? I don't know it off the top of my head.

I believe it's a payout over 10 years. It's the payout over 10 years. I want to say it's 500,000, but we disagree with their assessment of that. And we've made our first payment under protest, but we haven't paid since.

Okay, so how much are we in for on the Garden State Insurance Fund at this point?

So the Garden State Insurance Fund is just, we pay monthly, we pay, excuse me, they call them assessments, but effectively we pay premiums for the insurance.

And what is that?

I don't know.

1.7 million per year.

1.7 million a year approximately? Correct. So that insurance fund is to indemnify public funds How does that work?

So think of it as all of our insurance that's not our health insurance. So it's our liability insurance, it's our property and casualty insurance, it's our workers' compensation insurance, it's our cyber insurance, it's our environmental insurance, it's all of those things other than our health insurance.

So we pay a premium every year. Correct. But is there a premium per incident as well?

There is a deductible.

Deductible, okay.

Yes, there is. And I'm adding other words because for joint insurance funds, we call them self-insurance retention limits. What is the deductible?

You know, as Lou mentioned, there's different lines of insurance, and each line is going to have a different deductible, so there's sort of a complicated formula on all these deductibles. But our big cases, our property liability insurance has a $25,000 deductible.

How about insurance for, like, officials and elected officials, things like that?

Yep, that's the same self-insured retention, $25,000.

So that's $25,000 per incident or per? Per claim. Per claim. Okay, sorry. Yeah, I don't know the language. No, it's okay. I'm done, huh? Okay. Thank you for your comments. You're welcome.

Good evening, Bob Valentine, 68 Union Valley Road. I just have five questions and a comment tonight. If I could do, I'll go through my questions and make a comment and let you respond. First question, the recently completed state budget included starting to make some reductions in the property tax relief programs, the state New Jersey program and such, and I'm sure it'll be under the microscope again next year when they do the state budget. And what I was curious about, given Monroe's kind of unique population, Did you request that the state provide any kind of redacted data to give you a sense of what the impact of those reductions are going to be on our community? I was curious about that. Second question, last month, I think it was a resolution got withdrawn because the capital plan was, in agreement with the numbers you already had, you need to change it. What I was curious about, is that capital plan the same numbers and spending that's included in the capital section of the adopted budget for 2026? And if for any reason it's not, if there's a different capital plan, is that something that could be shared on the website with the community so we can understand the correct capital spent? Next question I want to turn to is back in the budget in the spring, talked about health insurance was a big concern in this year's budget, big reason for the increase in property taxes. And at the time I talked about possible initiatives to try to get a handle on that as best we can, knowing that we don't control all elements of it. I was just curious, since that time, are there any initiatives underway that you're looking at in terms of trying to manage and find some savings in health insurance? Because everything I'm seeing, next year we'll probably be having a lot of the same discussions. So anything that we can implement this year to try to head some of that off would certainly be impactful. Next item concerns the audit. Kudos to the team. I saw no material significant internal control comments. Well done. They just had a couple of what they call suggestions to management. I was just curious if you have to respond to those and those things you put on the website. That's something that normally doesn't require that. And my last question kind of ties into the audit. Internal financials. I'm not sure how this works. I'm sure you do what everybody else in the state does. But do you prepare internal financials, either monthly or quarterly? If so, is that something that's available on the website somewhere so we don't have to wait all year to see how we're doing financially? And then just 1 comment, tying into some of the discussion you've been having last month and this month in capital. I think it'd be a lot more forthcoming in terms of sharing information, or at least better educating the community to understand all the impacts. We can't say what you should be spending on. We don't get information obviously, but. Things like what is the 3 year trend in debt service spending? Because the debt service is not such any cap in the budget. So, if there's no room anywhere else, taxes may go up with debt service going up. So what has been the trend of debt service? What has been this trend in capital spending? Is the actual capital spending reconcile to the budget? I mean, these are all types of information that you could provide that could be much more meaningful to help the public understand what's going on. I think all these areas in the budget that are not subject to cap, it's really important that we be more forthcoming and try to share some more meaningful information to help the public understand the why we have to do what we have to do. And with that, I'll turn it over to you.

Sure, Council President, I can answer a few of these and then I'll have Lori help me out on a couple of them. But in terms of property tax relief, that's a great question about the data from the state about how the Stay NJ program or the Anchor program are helping our community. Lou, I don't know if you've heard, I've heard that some of that data will be available by next year after the programs have run for a couple of cycles. So I'm eager to see that as well. because the mayor and the entire council and administration want to see how our population particularly is affected by that. In terms of health insurance, you're absolutely right. We have been looking at different possibilities and initiatives for trying to find savings. Right now we're doing an analysis about whether it is going to be beneficial to move from a fully insured plan to a self-insured plan and what those savings really look like. We'll know more within the next couple of months. I don't want to jinx it. So the mayor's indicating to me to stop talking about it in case I put a hex on all of us. But that is a promising idea that we're looking into. The audit suggestions, no, there's no publication of any sort of steps or actions that we have to take on that. And then I will ask Lori to help me out on the capital and on the other audit questions.

Hello. So the first thing I wanted to address is the audit suggestions. Even though we don't have to respond to it, I just want to let you know that I do work very closely with the audit team to see if how it's beneficial to implement whatever they're suggesting and also how we can do it. So it's a constant process, but I do take those seriously and we do look at it. The capital plan, it is the capital plan in the budget. So when we're preparing the budget, The first thing I do when people put in their capital request is I look for any other way that we can pay for it. Rather than go in the budget or to capitalize, I look, is there a grant? Is there trust money? Is there a donation? Is there any other way that we can pay for it before it even goes in the capital plan? All of the items on here, which I'm sure you can tell from the budget, are in the budget in the capital plan, which was presented to the public end here. So all of these items were there. You know, so that's, I don't know what other issues, if there were any other capital questions.

No, just the interim financials.

Okay, and one thing, the capital amendments, anytime that anything changes with the capital budget that was submitted, so it could be that we got a grant, it could be that we're spending less, it could be that, okay, now we got the quotes and it's going to be more, which we usually estimate for that in our plan. that has to be adjusted. And that's when we do the amendments. So will there be another one? I have to look at everything. But you'll know, because I'll put it out there.

No, that's why I understand. It can change. Things are going to happen, emergencies and such. So I understand.

So the interim financials, you are correct. We don't put that out. And that's something that is also, I'm working with the auditors, because that is something that should be presented on a regular basis to the public.

Thank you.

Thank you. Any other members of the public wishing to speak?

Good evening, everybody. My name is Bob Hanley. I live at 378B Sterling Drive inside Clearbrook. First of all, I just want to say that I'm kind of new to all of this. I've never been to a council meeting to share thoughts. My view is I don't see a D or an R. I see a smile or a frown. That's my belief. That's what I take into consideration. I'd first like to thank the mayor, the council, and everybody that was involved in it for supporting the people of Monroe in postponing the July 4th celebration and moving it to another day. As far as Mr. DiPietro's comment, I believe that we celebrate the 4th of July. I believe that we celebrate an anniversary. But my word for it is we commemorate the September 11th downing of the towers, the shank. I think we commemorate that. We don't celebrate it. It's the message that I try and instill in my kids. We have to remember. We have to put ourselves in the position of somebody who lost somebody else on that day. You have to remember those that we lost. That's all I have.

Seeing no one coming up to the podium, may I have a motion to close? You may.

Motion to close.

May I have a second? Second. All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed? May I have a motion to adjourn?

Once again, you may certainly have that.

May I have a second? Second. All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

We are adjourned.

We are adjourned. The time is 7.52. We are adjourned.