Council - Regular Meeting

and gentlemen, welcome to the combined agenda regular meeting of the Monroe Township Council on this date of September 3rd, 2025. I'd like to call the agenda session to order and will all please rise to honor our flag. I pledge algiance 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. You may be seated. Will the clerk please call the role? Councilman Charles Diro. Councilman Michael Markel here. Councilwoman Rupa P. Seagull here. Council Vice President Terren Vanzora here. Council President Miriam Cohen here. Would you please read the Sunshine Law into the record? 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 board within the municipal building on December 27th, 2024 and remains posted at that location for public inspection. Two, printed in the Home News Tribune and the Cranberry Press on December 27th, 2024. 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. Next, we move to some presentations this evening. And first on our list is the our Monroe Township Police Department accreditation certificate presentation, which will be presented by Mr. Harry

Delgado, New Jersey Association of Chiefs of Police. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Congratulations. My pleasure. My pleasure. So, I'm going leave you my bag here for a couple minutes. It is fine. All right. So, I come here to celebrate uh or actually to recognize your police department tonight. And it's quite an occasion because I understand that they're going to sw uh that four off of going to be sworn in today and they should know that they're actually going to be part of an accredited agency in the state of New Jersey. And so to add context to what I'm about to say in the next two minutes is there's um there's over 600 agencies law enforcement agency in the state of New Jersey that would be eligible to apply for accreditation in the state of New Jersey and that includes prosecutor's office, local law enforcement, sheriff's office, uh prosecutor's office as I mentioned before uh colleges and universities and out of those okay only 54% of them made it successfully to what is a to to what it is a very rigorous process. The Monroe Township Police Department now has become one of those. So, if you indulge me for two minutes, I'd like to share with you the significance of the achievement. So, the Monroe Township Police Department has made a commitment to adhering to best practices at the state and national level in a highly regarded statewide law enforcement accreditation program. This program administered to the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police and the New Jersey Law Enforcement Accreditation Commission has helped to transparently demonstrate the professionalism, transparency, and preparedness of states law enforcement agencies in the state's public safety system. Now, during these uniquely challenging times and the threat to health and safety, encouraging law enforcement agencies to follow practices and policies, standardized practices and policies, excuse me, is potentially a life-saving and cost-effective investment of time and resources. accreditation status represents a significant professional achievement. All of which all those that are going to sworn in today as well as those that are present here today should be very proud of. This prestigious

accredited status demonstrates Chief Griffin Bo's firm commitment to state and national standards and the continuous expectations for quality, professional, and ethical policing. Now accreditation provides objective evidence of an agency's commitment to excellence in leadership, resource management, management and service delivery. Government officials can be more confident in the agency's ability to operate efficient and me community in meet community needs and offices in accredited agencies can take pride they have been objectively recognized for their professionalism and adherence to the highest standards in the nation. Now out of that report out after the rigorous process we actually come to the site and we make sure that uh the agency proves compliance with over 112 standards in the state of New Jersey that required over 400 items of proof uh of adherence out of that report that is generated and I have the privilege of making a recommendation to either accredit it to the commission or not. In this case obviously it was a positive uh you know uh recommendation. I'm going to paraphrase uh uh for you some of what was said by the assessors under Chief Banos leadership. Whether future issues involving a steady increase in population in Monroe Township, the staff increases to meet that level of service or budgetary constraints as many of us face, this agency continues to assertively move forward with a commitment to following best practices with a preparedness plan and a verification of excellence. Now another thing that we find typically there's one or two things that we might find and we actually uh try to uh clear while we come here. Uh in the case of the Monro Township Police Department there was not a single issue that we had to actually uh look into or question. So therefore they had what we call a remarkable final assessment. So it is the opinion of the assessment team that Monroe Township Police Department is a highly professional and committed agency which exemplifies all of the tenants of law enforcement accreditation at the state and national level. So therefore, it is indeed my honor here tonight on behalf

of the New Jersey State Association, the Chiefs of Police and the New Jersey Law Enforcement Commission to congratulate Chief Griffin Banos, Creation Captain uh Leanne Solomons, the members of the Monroe Police Department, many which I see here tonight, the mayor, council president, and those cities that they so proudly serve for achieving their state accreditation, joining a very exclusive group of law enforcement agencies that have made this important commitment to excellency in policing. So to all indeed congratulation. This is where you get the clap. Thank you. [Applause] [Applause] Thank you very much, Chief. I understand we are swearing in new police officers tonight. First, I'd like to say a few brief words. Of course, I just like to say thank you to uh New Jersey State Associate Chiefs of Police, Harry Delgado, uh for getting us through this. It wasn't an easy task. My entire police department had something to do with it. Uh my crediation manager, Leanne Solomon, she was instrumental in getting this done and getting it done fast. Uh I spoke to other chiefs around the state and in speaking to them, I've realized that we've gotten it done faster than most. So, um that's a testament to my employees and my accreditation managers. Thank you very much. [Applause] Please proceed. All right. This is actually one of the fun things that a chief gets to do. Swear some people in. So, um I have four officers that started recently with us.

Um bringing our total up to I believe 73 officers. So, um, this is huge and I thank the council and the mayor for giving us our additions. It's it's noted uh it's noticed at the PD and we thank you for that. So, uh, first we're going to go on badge badge order. So, Officer Francancy Bueno would please come forward. Officer Bueno grew up in New Brunswick, New Jersey and graduated from New Brunswick High School in 2012. He was hired by the New Jersey State Corrections and began his career as a corrections guard in 2018 working in Trenton State Prison. In 2023, Officer Bueno was hired by the Perth Athley Police Department and upon completion of the Kate May Police Academy, he began working as a patrol officer in Perth Amboy until we stole him and brought him here April this year. Second one we stole from them. With Officer Bueno today are his mother Derilla Peralta, his father Jose Bueno, and his girlfriend Christy Nunees. holding the Bible for officer Bueno will be his mother Derilla and his girlfriend Christy. They could please come forward. Okay, right hand up. Left hand out the back. Right hand up. Right hand. I Please state your name. I, Francancy Bueno, do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the State of New Jersey and the State of New Jersey. that I will bear true faith that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States into the government established in the United States and in this state

and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully impartially and justly perform impartially and justly perform all the duties of police officer for the Monroe Township Police department. All the duties of a police officer at M Town Police Department according to the best of my ability. according to the best of my ability. So help me God. So help me God. Congratulations. [Applause] [Music] Stay there. Officer Leaporta. God damn you. Officer Joseph Leaporta is a 2020 graduate of Coleneck High School and a 2004 graduate of Stock University where he earned his degree in criminal justice. Officer Leapora attended the Mammoth County Police Academy where he graduated in May of 2025 and has been working for us since. Prior to joining our force, Officer Leapora worked as a class one officer for the Bradley Beach Police Department. Here with Officer Leaporta today is his father Thomas Leaporta Senior, his mother, his mother Ann Leaporta, and his sister Gabrielle Leaporta and niece Ava Wa. His father Thomas will be holding the Bible for him. [Music] Right hand up, left hand. Repeat after me. I please state your name. I, Joseph Laora, do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of

the United States and the State of New Jersey and the State of New Jersey that I will bear true faith and I'll bear true faith and allegiance to the same and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and to the governments established in the United States and in this state and in this state under under the authority of the people. under the authority of the people. And that I will faithfully And that I will faithfully impartially and justly perform impartially and justly perform all the duties of police officer for the Monroe Township Police Department. all the duties of a police officer for the Monroe Township Police Department. according to the best of my ability. According to the best of my ability. So help me God. So help me God. Congratulations. [Applause] [Music] Officer Scotchillis. Officer Sebastian Scotchillis grew up in Hillsboro, New Jersey, where he graduated from Hillsboro High School in 2022. He then attended Ryan Valley Community College, earning his associates in automotive technology in 2024. Officer Scotchillis attended the Kate May police academy as an alternate route recruit and was hired by Monro Township on June 1st, graduating the academy a few weeks later. With Officer Scillis tonight is his father uh Marchin, his mother Karolina, his sister Patricia. Holding a Bible for offscreen chillis tonight is his mother Karolina.

Right hand on left hand on the Bible. Repeat after me. I please state your name. I, Sebastian Scotchillas, do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the State of New Jersey and the State of New Jersey that I will bear true faith that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and to the governments established in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully impartially and justly perform impartially and justly perform all the duties of police officer for the Monroe Township Police Department all the duties of police officer for the Monroe Township Police Department according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability. So help me God. So help me God. Congratulations [Applause] Get out of Kyle's way. Officer Michael Smith. Much easier name to pronounce. Officer Michael Smith grew up in Edison, New Jersey, where he graduated from Edison High School in 2019. Officer Smith then attended Milsis County College, where he graduated an

associates degree in criminal justice in 2022. Officer Smith entered the Atlantic County Police Academy in February of 25 as an alternate route recruit. He was hired by us July 1st and graduated the academy a few weeks later. While in the academy, Officer Smith won the Don Soder First Aid Award. With Officer Smith tonight is his mother, Jarn Barton, and Karen Barton and his father, Robert Smith. Holding the Bible for Officer Smith tonight is his mother, Karen. a little bit. Repeat after me. I Please state your name. I, Michael Smith, do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the State of New Jersey and the State of New Jersey that I will bear true faith That I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same and allegiance to the same and to the governments established in the United States and to the governments established in the United States and in this state and in this state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully impartially and justly perform impartially and justly perform all the duties of police officer for the Monroe Township Police Department. all the duties of police officer for the Monroe Township Police Department. According to the best of my ability. According to the best of my ability. So help me God. So help me God. Congratulations. [Applause]

We will have audience picture taking in a few minutes. We have some agenda items that we need to go through. And one of them is is always my honor and privilege to introduce our mayor, Steven Delina, who will be presenting a plaque to our retired library director, Leah Wagner. First, this is impressive. So impressive. I think we're going to have to put an addition on the new edition. Again, [Applause] congratulations, Chief. Um, and obviously to the officers to uh to put this accreditation together. Uh, the monumental task to be recognized is truly all inspiring. Um, just so thank you so so very much. And and obviously to our uh our new family members here, uh, Godspeed uh on the roads. Um, and just know to the family members here that um thank you for sharing your most beloved family member with us. I assure you we will treat them with the respect, love and understanding as a family member of part of Monroe Township. Um they will keep us safe and I assure you we will keep them safe. So thank you so so very much. So, with that being said, time to wax poetic about a very special person here in Monroe Township, Leah Wagner, recently retired, uh, director of our library. And, um, Leah, just a couple things here. I did not get the opportunity to espouse my love to you um, at your at your retirement event. Um, so, you'll

have to indulge me a wee bit with everyone else here. Um, and please note I am am again wearing my library tie. Okay, we still haven't coordinated yet. You haven't worn your scarf, but we still got some time. Um, so Leah, it says 30 36 years. 36 years. Um, that's crazy. Um, thank you But there's a lot of people here, Leah, but right now it's me and you. Okay. Um, I want to say something as the mayor. I want to say something as a former co-orker. For those of you who may not know, um, when I first moved to Monroe Township in 1998, um, I used to work in the library. I have a master's in library information science. I'm a dorky guy. Yeah. So I but I had the document that I could work in the library and and Lee and I work together. So So mayor coworker, but most importantly, Lee, I talked to you right now as a friend. Um yeah, the mayor thing. Yeah. Oh, you did a great job. As Terry Vanzor, Councilman Vzour Vanzor always says, "I never heard anything bad about you, so you must have been good." But we know it's more than that. Um, your level of professionalism that you brought to our library um was at the highest peak. um and seeing what you were able to do for your staff, but most importantly for all of the citizens that always talk about that crown jewel of Monroe

Township, that library, and it it's it's you. And we always talk about, oh, it's a beautiful building, but we all know it's the people that work there. And to have a director like you lead that staff, it's wild. Wild coworker. Um, I never got in trouble, so I guess I did a good job as a co-orker. So, I hope you enjoyed your time with me and and chatting, but more as a friend now, Leah. um you know knowing each other um as as as friends your family uh you know I mean Hannah your daughter I I drove her home from her SATs and I I and and I think I may have driven her there which maybe even helped her do so good on the SAT so I'll take a little credit your son David um playing on the same soccer field as as as my son um so spending time with you and and obviously There's Ron, you know, I got to spend time with Ron as well. So, that that level of friendship, um, being a coworker with you, um, but more importantly as as the proud mayor of Monroe Township, I just want to say thank you so much. Um, and there's always a happy and sad in regards to when somebody leaves, but you know, there's there's nothing but happy. And again, this is because of that friendship because I know, Leo, what's what's ahead and it's all about you and that zest for life. It is the same zest that you used for your li to be the director, but that zest for life, Leah, the world is waiting for you. Enjoy it. So, with that being said, I ask Leah Wagner to come on up

and I shall read this plaque. Presented to Leah Wagner in recognition of 36 years of outstanding service and director since 2019. Did I get that correct? No. Oh, yes. Oh, yep. Okay. Well, well, that's what it says here. So, I'm done. Wow. I tell you, she's she's two months off the job and her mind's gone already. That's a good place to be. I was going to say supposed to be. So, anyhow, wishing you the best on your new adventure. And we should put a an S on there cuz it's adventurous. With much respect and gratitude, enjoy the next chapter. Mayor Steven Delina, the Monroe Township Council, and your last day was July 31st, 20 uh 2025. Thank you so much, Leah. [Applause] Okay, it's all you. It's all yours to say. It's all good. I'm going to take this off because usually when they do this first, I'm too short. They're over there and I had it all planned that I'd be standing over there. Okay, I promise I won't take too long. It's almost 7:00. So, yes, it's true. It was 36 years. And the mayor may think that that's wild, but I think that's wild. So, I have just a few thank yous that I'd like to do. Um, I was hired as the children's librarian in 1989 when there was no library and it was my job and the director's job to begin library service here in Monroe Township right here in this building in the basement. And um, it was a tiny little space, but we were able to do an awful lot. When I started that path, I had absolutely no idea

where what direction my life was going to take. And over the last 36 years, it's been absolutely amazing. Um, it is wild, as the mayor would say. Uh I could not imagine that I was going to not only develop library service for the town of Monroe Township. We would build a building, we would add to that building to give you the building that you have today. We would start bookmobile service. One of the things I am most proud proud of the people I would meet through volunteers, through staff. I had no idea what was in store for me. And I feel so blessed to have had all of what has happened those 36 years. All of that has contributed to the amazing Monro Township Library that everyone uses today. So my thank yous. I'm going to excuse my back for a minute because it's for them. Thank you, mayor and council. I cannot thank you for all that you have supported us over the past years and recognizing the value of the Monro Library to the community. You have made my job much easier. To the board of trustees, we have a library board of trustees that meets monthly. They are the policy makers for the library. I have known them. We have one member that has been there as long as I have been. And it is that group that has supported me and my staff as we moved forward to create service here at the library. Ah, to my staff, to my staff, they are the best. I would like to hope that we had a great time. I miss the laughter. That's what I miss the most. But they are the best. They were always willing to go along with some idea that we had and they would do it and they do it so we could be successful. So, I cannot thank them enough and I hope they know that. to the friends of the library and the

foundation of the library. They were always there to support the library and the staff and to make sure that we met our mission and we were able to provide the best service to the township residents and that is what we do. And then lastly, of course, I should thank the family which you may have noticed is not here today. You know, back to school and work and grandchildren, you know, it takes over. But I cannot thank them and they know what I was going to say. I had told them. I cannot thank them enough. They came to programs when I needed to kind of have an audience and I needed to make sure there were people there. They helped when I needed help. If there was a an something happening at the library and I needed extra hands, I could count on them. And all of that made it so much e easier for me as their mom to be at the library for all of those years. So, thank you council and mayor. Thank you staff. Thank you board. Um, we move forward now. I look forward to everything that the township does and the library does in the future. Thank you so much. Thank you, Leah. Uh, we have three proclamations this month. It is childhood cancer awareness month in September. It is the Township of Monroe Senior Center Month in September and additionally Ala Gracal's 100th birthday celebration. So these are all wonderful things to be aware of but we would like to take a five minute recess so you can take pictures and then we will re

We will proceed with the ordinances for second reading. Would the clerk please read the ordinance 082025-019 bond ordinance providing for the acquisition of North Disb Hill Road for use as open space in and by the township of Monroe in the county of Middle Sex, New Jersey appropriating 2,635,000 therefore and authorizing the issuance of 2,59,500 bonds or notes of the township to finance part of the cost thereof. Ordinance 08 2022. Ordinance to acquire by negotiated agreement and donation real property known and designated as tax block 2, lot one and block three, lot 25 on the official tax map of the Township of Monroe, Middle Sex County, New Jersey, located off North Disbarrow Hill Road for open space and recreation recreation purposes. Ordinance 08 20221 Ordinance amending chapter 108 article 6 zoning district regulations reszoning of highway development district along Butcher Road. Uh council president, may I be heard on this ordinance just for a moment? So um I um I'm actually going to ask uh the council to table this uh particular ordinance until next month. there are certain uh notice requirements under the MLUL uh for any zoning district changes and I and I just want to confirm that we've fulfilled those notice requirements um uh to to ensure that that this ordinance gets adopted uh properly without any without any question as to the legality of it. U may I ask a member of the council to please propose tableabling this ordinance, please? I would move for the tableabling of the

ordinance. May I have a second on that? Second. May I have a roll call vote to table, please? And I just want to make clear, it's it's actually a motion to table it to our next council meeting, which the date of which madame clerk is. Uh the next meeting is October 6th. Correct. And there'll be a new public notice done. You right here at all. We're in the agenda. No, I I understand I understand. We're removing it from the agenda. Okay. We are right. No. No, this is an appropriate place to do it. Okie dokie. Should I do a roll call? You should do a roll call vote on this, please. Yes, please. Councilman Diro, yes. Councilman Markell, yes. Councilwoman Seagull, yes. Council Vice President Vanzora, yes. Council President Cohen, yes. Ah, madame council president again just for the uh uh benefit of the public um just could you please confirm what ordinance was we just tabled ordinance zero I'll read it 8 2025 021 021 021 okay just wanted to make sure the public hearing and adoption will be tabled till October 6th no just no need to be read however I did want to just make a couple comments in regarding to the um please do um the the body of of the three ordinances here um on the agenda. These ordinances are a series of highlevel measures uh designed to accomplish certain planning goals here in the Mandro Township uh for the next decade and and beyond. So this is this is larger larger vision here. Um there are a number of moving parts as uh as seen here on the agenda which will play out

over the next few months uh here at the council as well as our planning board. Um but as mayor, I just wanted to just give a brief uh synopsis of what we're trying to accomplish here. Um and um share my thoughts with you in regards to the ordinances tonight and the positive steps uh that were taken to reduce the impact of the affordable housing obligations and the benefits to our residents. First, we're preventing a warehouse at the corner of two residential streets that is incompatible where a warehouse development should be, providing relief to those residents who came out on MOS at our planning board. Um, two, we're reducing the number of courtordered family housing units by 479 and converting another 350 family units to senior units, reducing the potential impact to our schools by 829 homes. This is significant. Um three, we've also negotiated for beneficial tax ratables where warehouse space is directly on Route 33 where it belongs where it was originally should have been um which will help our tax space immensely. Um these efforts additionally will also preserve over 200 acres of open space and allow for a park on Disbro. There are certainly many other challenges uh that affordable housing brings to many of the municipalities not Germaine here to Monroe Township but the all the municipalities in our state. Um but obviously my focus our focus needs to be on affordability and the quality of life for our residents and I thank you so much for the opportunity just to

appreciate the clarification and the information sir. We would like to move to ordinances for introduction. Item seven on the agenda, please. Ordinance 092025022 energy savings obligation refunding bond ordinance of the township of Monroe in the county of Middle Sex, New Jersey providing for the acquisition, construction, and installation of energy conservation improvements in connection with an energy saving improvement program of the township appropriating 11,500,000 therefore and authorizing the issuance of not to exceed 11,500,000 energy savings obligation refunding bonds to provide for a portion of the cost of such improvements. Ordinance 092025023 bond ordinance providing for the acquisition, construction, and installation of energy conservation improvements in connection with an energy savings improvement program in and by the township of Monroe in the county of Middle Sex, New Jersey, appropriating 4,600,000 therefore and authorizing the issuance of 4,380,000 bonds or notes of the township to finance and it's part of the cost thereof. Thank you. Item eight of the resolutions for consideration under the consent agenda at the regular meeting. That's R92025-171 through R92025-190. All council members have had an opportunity to review. Are there any resolutions that you would like removed from the consent agenda? Then we move to item nine, public comment section, limited to agendum

items only, five minutes per speaker. May I have a motion to open public comments? Thank you. May I have a second? Second. All in favor? No opposition. Anyone wishing to address the council, please come forward now stating your name and address for our records. Gary Busman, 7 Monarch Road. Uh, I want to commend the council and particularly the mayor for the explanation he just gave for the addition of the open space and particularly as a member of the parks and recreation advisory board. I want to thank you all for approving the park that is completely necessary in the southern part of town. There are no parks. There will be one probably starting construction near the garden or within the garden site on Alpag Goth Road probably this spring. But beyond that now we're going to have a full-size park. So I thank you for that consideration and it is a tremendous benefit to the residents of Monroe Township. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Good evening, Council President. Good evening, George. Um, I have a number of items, so I' I'd like to go through them so I can stay within my five minutes if you don't mind. Um, right along. Okay. Um item seven which is the u having to do with the uh installation of solar stuff. There are two items under number 7 uh 22 and 23. One calls for refunding bonds and the other just calls

them bonds. I I I'm not clear as to what the difference is and I'm not clear as to how those finances are going to work. No mention of a bond period. I'd like to know what the bond period is. Moving on to the consent agenda. Item 179, uh, 180, 181, and 182. Appertenses. Uh, if you use the dictionary, it won't help you. Appertenses. Yeah. Do you know what they are? Pertes. Nor do I. Parts of things. Of pertinances. Okay. Parts of things, right? They go along attached to land. Yes. Things attached to land. Things attached to land. Correct. Not to water and sewer. Anyway, I want to know what they are. I want to know how many of them there are. And I want to know what the unit price is that's discussed here. Um, I have a sneaking feeling that we're talking about manholes, but we'll find out. Moving on to um item 185 under the consent agenda. Um, what are these capital improvements that are that are being covered by this? Um, and what and it I think it calls it a does. Yeah, it refers to as a down payment. What is the total value? Not the down payment. What is the total value? And what are these capital improvements that we're funding? And then um number 186. I believe we talked about this a little bit at an earlier meeting, but we uh it didn't

seem to have any impact. I'm still curious as to why the town does not go after the ENO uh errors and omissions from the contractor that we used to do the survey work to identify if there were problems with that site. Um it it's the cost of that is included in our payment to them. They don't finance it out of their own pockets. uh why wouldn't we be able to collect on that? Why would we have to turn around and pick up all the new overages and extras uh for work on the environmental cleanup when we paid someone to do a survey and I'd like to have some kind of an response to that and that's all I have. That's all you have. Should we begin with you? Sure, council president. I'll take it a little bit out of order if that's okay and allow the um allow Joe to talk more about the water water sewer aspect of it. Um so the two bonds uh that are in for introduction, the two bond ordinances for introduction tonight are both related to our solar EIP project. Uh one of them as you point out is a refunding bond. The other is a what's called a general obligation bond. So, um, as the presentation from our solar consultants talked about last week, uh, last month, the this project, uh, $15 or $16 million in its totality, um, is budget neutral in that the savings that we receive from, um, uh, putting solar at various facilities, reducing our electrical costs, and qualifying, if we get this done, if we get this approved before the end of the year, qualifying for a $3.5 million federal tax incentive. All of that compounds to make this a budgetneutral project where uh no additional taxpayer funds are are uh are expended. The refunding bond

specifically does not require a down payment because the revenue generated from the electric savings is paying for the uh is paying for the bond costs themselves. Uh it's my understanding that there is a statutory limit on how much uh you can um include in that refunding bond based on the EIP laws. And when this comes back for um for adoption in November, uh we'll do another uh our solar consultants will be here to do another explanation of that as well. So, we had to add another uh general obligation bond that does require um as you pointed out the uh resolution 185, the $225,000 down payment. At at the end of that, the the cash flow analysis is that we still end up in the positive over the 20-year life of the solar panels and these solar projects where we're not um we're not expending any additional taxpayer funds. Sorry. and the uh change order for Garveys at 186 period 20 years. Okay. Um the change order for Garveys um for the underground oil tanks that were discovered. So we didn't know what that cost was going to be until the work was completed, which it has been now. And uh now that we have those final costs um the the the um the the subject of this change order tonight uh we can put in uh the appropriate insurance claim uh to try and recoup those funds. So that was an open-ended contract. It wasn't a fixed price. They didn't bid it. We had a we had a demolition contract that was bidded that was bid. Um this this issue came up. uh there was no way to know uh right away what the what the cost was going to be to remove the tanks and remediate the site and now we have that. So we're here for that change order and we'll put in the as you say put in the appropriate um insurance claim for that.

Can we move to is it now did you want did Joe want to comment on that the pertinances? Joe, do you have any comments for 179 through 183 in terms of what generally what those items are time to do it? Let's finish it now. I think they're listed in the resolution for the record. Just Yes, they are. Yeah, they're they're they're actually listed in in the actual resolution. Go ahead, please. Thank you. Uh, council president. Excellent question, Mr. Gunglman. Uh, they are listed in the resolution. There's a lot more, but the way the resolution is worded, there are general categories, and I'll just go through a few of them just so that you understand. Uh there's brass house service connections, cast iron house service connections for clamp repair clamps and bell joint repair clamps. Wide range of repair couplings. These are things that we use every single day. Stainless steel service saddles. Uh cast iron sleeves and retaining glands and gaskets, gate valves, ductal iron pipe, plastic pipe, fire hydrants and parts, and meter pits and accessories. Okay. Like everything but manhole. everything but man, right? Is is there an estimated um cap on this that these are these are unit costs and essentially the way that bid was awarded is we've gone back through 5 years of how often we use these things based on the incidents that occur and these are estimates so they could be uh essentially under or over depending upon what happens during the course of the year. Close this now. George, are you okay till the next session? Yeah, sure. Good. Thank you. Did I hate

Shell Armin09 Nathaniel Street? I'm going to start with 184 on the resolution. Um, one of the things that we did say and and and I also might leave the answers till the end. Um, I'm worried about the statement about federal funding. Uh, what if that federal funding doesn't come through? You don't have to answer that now. That's a it's not really a hypothetical. I think it's a concern that we might have that federal funding would be pulled. Is there going to be some kind of plan B if that happens? Because that's going to be down the road. and I'd like that to be considered. Let's see if I have more time. I also agree with um Mr. Gungkelman about Garveys. It seemed like a um an expensive way to go when we should have known up front what kind especially I think it might be oil tanks in the ground that should have been established before we paid out. Um and I don't know, you can correct me uh when I'm done about if that those are oil tanks. Those are easily found out before um a closing is done. That should have been done either by us or it should have been done by the people we hired. You know, we should have asked for that. Oil tank garbage has been there a long time. Oil tanks were probably present also for a long time. Um thank you, mayor, for your negotiating all of those things about uh affordable housing, which is um something I've always been interested in. Um I do have two very important questions about um how the donation was established as a donation. I do have the resolution in front of me. It says that um a negotiation of a donation of approximately uh 55 acres. And I I'd like to know what is a donation because the follow-up question would be uh it seems like the builder

did receive valuable consideration for the negotiation. So then it becomes really not so much a donation but part and parcel of the transaction that is being made with the developer. Do you want me to wait till you're please? And then water allocation always a big thing. A couple years ago, I think when we were doing the master plan, we talked about water allocations. Uh we would be safe for about 50 years. But the more we build, even when we reduce the building of housing and residential and even as far as we go for commercial um things, uh water allocation is going to be really used up in 50 years very very quickly. And that is my concern. And I've always been concerned about the quality of water, the amount of water we have going forward. I mean, I'm not going to be here in 50 years, but many of the young people and some of the police officers that we just hired might be. And I would like to make sure we have potable water. And we have to really again a matter of planning for residential things in order to protect our uh natural resources. So that's another thing. and might be able to wait for this. Um, like I said, I'm worried about the federal tax allocations that you're including. And I also think that my question is, did we ever did the council or the planning board or whoever negotiated this, did they ever talk to Honeywell about maybe doing an estimate for what you're talking about? And is the majority of what this energy savings is going to be a solar energy? uh solar energy panels, which I am fully in favor of, but I think that for $14 million, if it's if it's primarily solar panels, we could have found just a solar uh commercial solar uh con uh constructor

or developer to put them in without this energy thing. Plus, and don't forget 19,000 of this doesn't sound much, but if it's such a great energy saving, why do we have to pay 19,000 for a guarantee return on our investment? And I'll stop now. Sure. Do you want me to answer the question about the 55 acres? Absolutely. So, so a negotiation is a negotiation. So, they're not one-sided. You don't One side doesn't get everything and the other side gets nothing. there were a lot of um I don't want to say moving parts but there are a lot of different parts of the of the negotiations and things that we were trying to achieve. So number one on the hit parade was to reduce the number of family units that was achieved by reducing the total number of units by 479 and reducing the number of family units by 350. 479 in what round or total all the rounds? So this is so this is all the third round. Third round. But what we did is that we in in the third round and I'll let me try to explain it this way. The JSM South project, right, which was part of your third round plan had 1479 units in it, right? Uh 206 of those units were affordable units. What we what we did was relocated and reduced the total number of units to a,000 but still 206 affordable units. So of the remaining units under the JSM South project, all of those units were going to be family units. Now 350 of them are going to be seniors. So we reduce the overall size of the project by 479. And then we in the component parts of the project, you reduce 350 units from senior to uh from family to senior. So thus reducing the total number of family units. So this is all third round. Okay. the 55 acres. So once again, like I said, there's things that we wanted to achieve. So number one, on the hip parade, we want to reduce the number of

family units. Number two, we want to reduce the overall number of units. Number three, we wanted to make sure that Regency had a buffer because it was surrounded by developable land. That 55 acres is 55 acres of developable land that but for this transaction would have been included in your fourth round. So that's the other thing that this did. It took it out of your fourth round calculation. So it provided a buffer for that developable land so that Regency would not have to worry about that. The other 100 acres is wait this is protecting Regency. It's it's adjacent to Regency. Oh okay. Yeah it's it's a right adjacent to Regency. So it buffers Regency from all of this other development. Okay. So that that those were the two things. And now the and in addition to that the developer obviously is going to be able to build a warehouse that's a ratable. So that goes that goes two ways, but that was part of the giving up 479 units, giving up family units, getting a warehouse, putting it in the right place, which is the the right planning place to put, right smart growth place to put it. So So those were all I mean, and there were a lot of other little parts to it. If you go through it, you could see that, you know, we we um we were careful in terms of the details. For instance, the one thing that the mayor didn't mention is that we're extending the water and sewer to the folks on Bentley Road who were here two or three months ago uh about that. So, as part of this project, that's something that this developer would not have had to do at its cost. They will be doing at their at their cost. Oh, it is now at their because it was ours. We were going to do it, right? Well, we we could have done it, right? Yeah. Uh but if we were going to do it, it would have been at our cost. So, that was another another part of it also. your turn. I can I can go go quick through the other issues. Um uh 184, the federal funding, it's it's a great point. Um we the federal tax incentive um to do these

projects is expiring 1231 of this year. Uh without that tax incentive, this project would not have made financial sense. It would have cost us money instead of saving us money. Um, we have it in our contract which the council will be presented with in in November. Um, and which is sort of standard across these contracts that if for some reason the federal government pulls that tax incentive, we would not be liable for uh moving forward on the project. Uh, however, we're we're confident that we that the federal tax incentive is in place as long as we get 5% of the project started in 2025. And really that just means we have to buy 5% of the solar panels before the end of 2025. Most of this is going to happen between 2026 and 27, but we're still now in that safe harbor to receive that federal tax credit, which is important. The other thing I'll mention is that these um this plan, this proposed savings, um has to go through a series of rigorous reviews. We hired a third party engineering firm that did an independent review and verified that we are going to achieve these savings. The Board of Public Utilities in Trenton reviewed our plan over the last couple weeks. They got back to us on Friday that we are approved that we will achieve this savings. And then on the in um over the next few weeks, this has to go to the local finance board in Trenton, which is why one of our resolutions makes application to the local finance board and they also have to review and approve to asssure that we are going to receive those savings. So, um, a lot of belt and suspenders there, but but beneficial due diligence was done. Due diligence for the township, correct? Okay, let's see how that plays out. Thank you, mayor, again, for the affordable housing stuff. That's essential, and I hope again we keep in mind the potable water issues. Thank you, sir. Good evening, everyone. Uh, Bob Valentine, Monroe Township, 68 Union Valley Road. Just a clarifying question on the financing for the project. You

mentioned that part of this is going to be financed through refunding bonds. So, we're going to retire some older debt to help and and help use that to help fund this project. Do I understand that correctly? Or is it you hear refunding? Sure. That's what I think. Council President, I might ask our auditor Gary Higgins is here and and and maybe he could sort of more articulately than I can um as a as a a municipal auditor sort of explain the the concept of the refunding bonds. The term refunding bonds um in the statute, this is under the local public contracts law, but it also goes back to the local bond law 2-51. They use the terminology refunding in various different ways. You could be refunding tax appeals. You could be refunding, as you just said, old bonds, taking them out, and then gaining a savings based upon different interest rates. In this case, they're not taking out old bonds, but the title of the respective statutes under title 4A calls them refunding bonds. Okay? All right. So, it's the terminology, but no, it is not taking old bonds and retiring. These are new bonds. Uh they're fully deductible against the debt under 482-6 under the local bond law. Uh so they don't go against the debt borrowing capacity of the town because the way the local finance board is going to look at this when they see the application. They're going to look at it and ensure that the savings are there to offset the debt service. Therefore, it's debt neutral. Okay. So it's all so that's it goes back to what you were doing with the due diligence. It's all tied to those savings being realized. Okay, that's correct. And the other piece then is the uh energy credits which will then pay down that debt. But under the local public contracts law, that piece has to be separated. That's why we have the one at 115 and the other at 4.6. Yeah. I just wanted to clarify the use

of it's confusing. The terminology is kind of confusing. Correct. Yeah. I have time one more question. I I hear you with everything you're talking about the due diligence in terms of the being able to achieve the savings. The question I would have is does the due diligence process undertaken include validating that what you're being paid out, what you're paying for the project is appropriate and I'll call the best price and do they also look at the methodology like I'm I understand it's probably pretty consistent how you do this but I just one I was wondering your presentation last month was okay I understand why we want to use this firm makes sense I get it um but if you don't look at anybody else how remotely you might be how do you know like their approach, their style, what they're going to do is is the optimum. There isn't anything that could be missed. So that's why kind of not just about the price, but that plus approach and and project plan, making sure those are all optimized. Sure, Council President, that is part of the due diligence process. Great. And and it's also, you know, we look at other towns that have done similar other um boards of education that have done similar projects. Okay. So, Piscatoaway and Caucus on the town side, North Brunswick and and even Monroe is is uh starting a project very very soon. So, you're you're 100% right. That has to be part of it. Okay. Great. Thank you. Council President, if I could just follow up with one thing because I know there's concern about deductibility of the debt, the authorization of the debt. One thing that should be noted under the local bond law, uh there's a calculation whereby you do 3.5% of your three-year average equalized valuation. Um, and from the last audit, just so you know, the public knows, uh, the town could borrow $474 million. Uh, at this point in time, the net debt is roughly 67 million or 14% of that number. So, if somebody thinks, you know, we're piling on more debt, uh, your debt percentage is 57 100s of the 3.5% you could go up to. So

your debt load probably compared to many other towns is lower than most towns and you could borrow another 407 million under the statute. So there's no um feeling here that you're overloaded on debt with respect to the bond law. And that's a calculation that's done for every community in the town. And um yours is um 0.57% versus up to 3.5% or only 14%. So I wonder let the public know that. Thank you very much. And there's there's also another benchmark if people are concerned about debt. The only time you do get into a problem with debt if your debt goes greater than 25% in your annual budget. That is a needle pop on the division of local government services uh board that would say you have a serious problem. You have too much debt. Your debt in your 24 uh 24 audit was only 9.65%. 65% of your budget. So that's only 38% of what you could go up to before the division of local government services would notify you that your debt load's too heavy in your budget. So both of those indices based upon the respective state statute shows that uh the township does not have stewards of our money. The the town does not have a debt problem based upon those indices and the benchmarks that promulgated over the New Jersey municipalities. Thank you sir. Are there any other financial covenants that they have to follow besides that? We're all out of time now. Well, you did take some of my time. You had lost your time, please. Oh, okay. All right. I'll I'll come back. I'll come back again. That's the question. Come back again. Anyone else wishing to address this, please? Yes. Good evening. Uh Chrissy Scurvby, 21 PNIS Drive. Um, following up on the same conversation with the ESV program, what company did the township um are they

using for this program? Uh, Schneider Electric. Schneider. Okay. And did you say you we you are um planning on taking the guarantee? We are. Yes. Okay. Um, has the town reached out to the school district to Laura Allen, the business administrator, because there was a very long um, and I know many of us were there, Mr. Mr. Gungleman, myself, Mr. Armeno, I think Mr. Valentine, and we we sat through various presentations by Honeywell, that is who the uh school district went with for their ISA program. And they told us that in I forget how many years, 25, 30 years, they never paid out the guarantee. Uh the board of education did an extensive um evaluation of that and they decided not to um take the guarantee. So, I'm just wondering what the reasoning is with the township if you're saying that um all of these figures are looked at and and it sounds like you're um assuming that we're going to realize all of that savings. Why would you be giving away um money for that guarantee? Right. Uh it's a good question, Council President. So, we we evaluated it in terms of um a $15 million project uh expending an additional $19,000 to guarantee at least 90% of the savings. Um it is uh you know a fraction of the cost of of of what we're doing in the cash flow analysis that is built in. Um which shows that we're still rec with the savings that we're getting, we're still recouping those funds. Um, we've talked to other towns including, uh, I'd mentioned Piscatoaway and and Caucus and, uh, uh, we were put in touch with West Windsor's Board of Education. I believe some of our folks from Schneider even talked to, um, Honeywell. I'll confirm that, but, I I believe that that happened. Um, and it and it's just, you know, it's an extra guarantee. There's volatility in the, you know, electric market.

Can you explain how the guarantee works? Sure. So um if the the um our general contractor uh Snyder Electric guarantees uh n that we will achieve at least 90% of the savings that have been promised and anything below that they would owe us the delta on that. Um again it may never happen. It it may be um sort of an insurance policy that we never have to use. Uh but but in my opinion um I thought with such a large project um and and in consultation with our financial adviserss and and and bond council that we work with uh we decided to recommend that as part of the uh as part of the project. That's a good question. Yeah, because it was I mean it was it was discussed at Nauseium at the board of education level and I'm surprised at the township and they've already started the ESA program that's been already running. Um, and it it's a shame that the township didn't reach out to the board of education and perhaps um do something in collaboration with them and maybe even get a better get a better deal on that. Um, yeah, council president. I'm not sure. I the board of education can borrow money differently from the township. So, I don't know if you can It had to go through a refunding bond as well. It went through a correct, but that was not the decision we made and we moved ahead with a contractor we feel safe with. and you moved ahead, the board of ed moved ahead with contractors they felt safe with. I mean, we all be successful. Yeah. I mean, I just, you know, it's any amount of money. I mean, my taxes went up $1,700 this year alone. Um, I don't like to see any wasteful spending or any um, you know, just saying that I was it's, you know, a small amount of money. I I'd really like to know I'd like to see perhaps if that's a public record the document um explaining the guarantee because what was explained at the board of education level there were there were

all these stipulations um and it was going to be uh really difficult to even have that guarantee be meaningful to the deal. Um so it just to me I I'd like to see as a taxpayer what you guys have agreed to. um because I I think that that that's something that really should have been vetted more and I don't like to see any of our taxpayer money being uh squandered in any way. Thank you. Anyone else wishing to address us please come forward now? See see seeing and hearing none sir you are waiting for the regular meeting or I have had some concern raised with the council regarding the garbage disposal. Wait for the regular meeting that we're getting to as I close the public comment section. May I have a motion? Motion. All in favor? I public section is hearings is closed. This meeting is now adjourned. We will reconvene immediately with the regular meeting. I turn to my correct pages. Put my glasses back on. Regent meet regular meeting of this Monroe Township Council this September 3rd is called to order. Motion, please. Motion. Second. Second. Roll call. Councilman Dapiro. Yes. Councilman Markell. Yes. Councilwoman Seagull? Yes. Council Vice President Vanzora? Yes. Council President Cohen? Yes. May I have a motion? The time is 7:50. 7:50. May I have a motion to approve claim payments of claims for the run date of August 27th, 2025? Motion. Thank you. Second. Second. Thank you. Roll call.

Councilman Deiro. Yes. Councilman Markell. Yes. Councilwoman Seagull? Yes. Councilman Vanzora? Yes. Council Council President Cohen? Yes. May I have a motion to approve the minutes of August 4th, 2025 agenda and regular combined meeting? Motion. Motion. Thank you. Second. Second. Roll call. Councilman Diro. Yes. Councilman Markeel. Yes. Councilwoman Seagull, yes. Council Vice President Fanora, yes. Council President Cohen, yes. Five. Ordinances for second reading, please. Ordinance 08202509 bond ordinance providing for the acquisition of North Disbrell Hill Road for use as open space in and by the township of Monroe in the county of Middle Sex, New Jersey, appropriating 2,635,000 therefore and authorizing the issuance of 2,59,500 bonds or notes of the township to finance part of the cost thereof. May I have a motion to open a public hearing on this ordinance, please? Motion. Thank you. May I have a second? Second. Anyone wishing to address us on this ordinance, please come forward stating your name and address for the record. SH Armen09 Nathaniel Street. Um the ordinance says um sorry, we're talking about 19. All right. To whom to whom who is the seller that is going to be receiving the 2,635 federal business centers is the property owner and they're okay. They're a part of the previous negotiations also. No, that's a completely different. So this is the whole of that property that was going to be a warehouse. No, this is just the part of it that the township's going to purchase. the other

the other part and that's the specific Latin blocks that are indicated in the ordinance. Okay. Um this is also um other land that is adjacent to it that is going to be given to the township. Um the but the other part the principal part let's call it of the the land where the warehouse is going to be part of it is now going to be part of our fourth round affordable housing settlement. And that is in the otherou that is in the I'm sorry that's that is in the otherou. Okay. So only so how much of the land is going to be the the purchase for open space? How many acres do you call? Um so the the acquisition is 22 acres. Correct. And then the donation is an additional 44 acres. The donation from from federal business same property owner and they're donating that freely without any valuable consideration. Yes. Is another builder or developer giving them money for that 44 acres? No. Is that wetlands? I am all the years I've been here, I am I have not known any developer to give that kind of land without something in return. My guess is that some of it is wetlands. It is probably use usable for active um active recreation. The thing about wetlands, and I I just we say this all the time. There's a move of foot in Washington to reclassify wetlands as buildable. Well, that's an awful darn shame in my opinion. There is. But what I'm saying is that so when we get 44 acres of land that you say, "Oh, well, it's just wetlands." Well, it's just wetlands today, but some somebody could blink at EPA and it could be developable. So, it's preserving land. I mean, it is there is a value to it for us there. there is a whole lot of blinking going on and changing the the quality of our environmental laws and policies. We're not behind that.

I I agree with you. And the Supreme and the United States Supreme Court has in some cases that they haven't decided yet, but that in the dicta in their cases have raised questions as to whether or not they believe that wetlands regulations are in actually in I know. But we should not be encouraging that here. No, but what we should be doing is preserving as much land as we can. Okay. And not being concerned so much the weather as well. Well, my my experience in the uh in the um parkland was that and and and you know, I don't want to say where where that came from, but the parkland, those 77 acres that we got for as a diversion for the parkland, a lot of it was not buildable. And all of the uh donations that we got from developers, they were almost glad to get rid of it. a lot of it had rocks and uh um hills and wetlands and all that kind of stuff. So my experience has told me that it is rare that a developer will give up good quality uplands for nothing. So I hope that the negotiations that went forward and I'm happy to have it. I'm happy to have but is anything going to be on the 22 acres? Is that where the park might be? Correct. And what about the 44 acres? What's the plan for that? It would be whatever it is would probably be passive recreation, trails, that kind of thing. Right. Is that contiguous to the 22 acres? Yes. Uh no, there's a there's a break in the middle of it. There's a break in the middle of it. Mark close, but they're not a joining property. And and the u the larger parcel, it it does have a lot of wetlands. It is uh somewhat landlocked and I think it's along the stream corridor as well. And that is in this ordinance 19. Yes, it's part of Well, actually, I think that 19 is the bond ordinance. Uh uh 20 is actually the acquisition ordinance. Is the acquisition ordinance, correct? Okay. Well, I'm certain certainly happy.

You know, uh open space is open space and sometimes even if it's passive, it's a great it's a great thing, but I just wanted to clarify uh that it might be a lot of wetlands. Okay. Thank you. Anyone else wishing to speak on this ordinance? Hearing none. I'd like a motion to close the public hearing. Motion. Thank you. A second on that. Second. All in favor? I. May I have a motion to adopt ordinance 082025-019, please? Motion. Thank you. A second on that. Second. Thank you. Roll call. Councilman Diapro. Yes. Councilman Markell. Yes. Councilwoman Seagull? Yes. Council Vice President Vanzora? Yes. Council President Cohen? Yes. Motion carries. Thank you. 082025-02 Ordinance to acquire by negotiated agreement and donation real property known and designated as tax block 2 lot one and block 3 lot 25 on the official tax map of the township of Monroe Middle Sex County New Jersey located off North Disbarrow Hill Road for open space and recreation purposes. Thank you. Motion to open open a public hearing please. Motion. Thank you. A second. Second. Thank you. All in favor? I. Anyone w anyone wishing to address the council on this ordinance, please come forward now. Michelle Arminino. Um I would just reiterate everything um that I had just said previously, but for the sake of Mr. Markle uh getting home early and uh having a you going to bed early, I'm going to refrain from that. and just say that my Are you inferring that I'm older? What's No, sir. I know that you like to go home early. You get No. Okay. I thought that

was the case. Anyway, um I I'm sorry. I It was a joke and you and I have joked before. Okay. He's not offended on that side, just so you know. Okay. Um, my only objection is I want to be consistent with all the years I've come up and said that I object to the word donation because I do think that valuable and consideration goes on with these things. That's that's my only objection to this ordinance. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else wishing to comment on this ordinance? Seeing and hearing none, motion to close the public hearing. Motion. Second. Second. Public hearing is closed. May I have a motion to adopt 082025-02? Motion. Thank you. Second. Thank you. Roll call. Councilman Deiro. Yes. Councilman Markell. Yes. Councilwoman Seagull. Yes. Council Vice President Fanora. Yes. Council President Cohen. Yes. Motion carries. We will move to the ordinances for first reading. 092025-022 energy savings obligation refunding bond ordinance of the township of Monroe in the county of Middle Sex, New Jersey providing for the acquisition, construction, and installation of energy conservation improvements in connection with an energy savings improvement program of the township appropriating 11,500,000 therefore and authorizing the issuance of not to exceed 11,500,000 energy saving savings obligation refunding bonds to provide for a portion of the cost of such improvements. Motion, please. Council President, I just had a question if if I could. Yes, sir. Um I believe one of the residents asked how long the term of this bond would be. I don't know if that got answered by our professionals. 20 years. 20 years.

20 years. 20 years. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Motion. Motion. Thank you. May I have a second on the motion? Roll call. Councilman Diapro, yes. Councilman Markell, yes. Councilwoman Seagull, yes. Council Vice President Vanzora, yes. Council President Cohen, yes. Motion carries. 092025-023. bond ordinance providing for the acquisition, construction, and installation of energy conservation improvements in connection with an energy savings improvement program in and by the township of Monroe in the county of Middle Sex, New Jersey, appropriating 4,600,000, therefore, and authorizing the issuance of 4,380,000 bonds or notes of the township to finance part of the cost thereof. Motion, please. Motion. Thank you. A second on that. Second. Thank you. Roll call. Councilman Dpiro, yes. Councilman Markell, yes. Councilwoman Seagull, yes. Council Vice President Vanzora, yes. Council President Cohen, yes. Motion carries. We move to resolutions for consideration under the consent agenda, R92025-171 through R92025-190. May I have a motion, please? Motion. Thank you. Second. Second. Thank you. Roll call. Councilman Dapiro. Yes. Councilman Markell. Yes. Councilwoman Seagull? Yes. Council Vice President Vanzora? Yes. Council President Cohen. Yes. Motion carries. We move to our reports, please. Our administrator's report. Mr. McGowan. Thank you, Council President. I'll I'll be very brief tonight. Um, I just want to uh thank the council for moving forward on the acquisition uh of properties on Disbar Hill Road. That's

very important to the township. Um, just want to give a brief update on JCPNL uh street light outages. So, we provided a list of 235 street light outages prepared by our police department uh and and given to JCPNL. JCPNL informed us that as of today, all but 95 of those have been repaired. Um the what's still left to be repaired on their list includes 80 um what are called fault repairs um uh deeper um issues with wiring in the ground. Uh those are now on work order and hopefully completed in the next 30 days. Um an additional seven head uh replacements which might actually be done by the end of this week. And there are eight pole replacements that are waiting on the delivery of poles. So we're uh we're optimistic that we're we're moving in the right direction. um and and happy that JCPNL uh reached out to us with that information. Um and lastly, just want to thank Lori and and our finance team and our solar consultants for preparing our application to the uh to the local finance board. And thanks to all the the residents who asked questions about it. Uh the uh um actual resolution to approve that will be at the November 5th meeting. Uh those bond ordinances are coming back for second reading on November 5th. Uh usually we'd come back the next month, but that local finance board process um will take uh the month of October. So we'll be back here on November 5th to um finalize and and give the council an opportunity to make a final decision on all of those items. And uh and that's my report. Thanks very much. Thank you, Mr. Razimo. Thank you, Council President. I'll give an update on some of the projects as we uh move into September here. uh the Mammoth Road flashing pedestrian signal that was installed and operational in time for the start of school. Um that took a while, but we we got it done. Uh James Monroe Park, the concession stand and park improvements project. Uh there

hasn't been much work going on uh out there in the last uh month or so. Um that project is scheduled to resume next week. Um the general contractor had a problem with one of its subcontractors and uh but now they resolved that and they're moving forward to uh to get the project completed this year. Uh the Monroe Township Police Department edition uh the contractor has some remaining site concrete work to do uh in the parking areas and then uh we're hopeful that they'll move forward with the paving uh of the parking lot later this month. Um the work inside the building continues and that project is moving though at a at a slow pace. Um it it is progressing. Uh let's see. Pickle the senior center pickle ball courts and parking lot improvements. Um that project is scheduled to start next week. It was awarded at the last council meeting and uh that contractor is anxious to move forward uh and again hopefully get it uh as much done as they can uh while weather permits. um hopefully complete it, but uh we we'll see uh how that goes, but that will start next week. And lastly, the Middle Sex County uh project for the Prospect Plains Road and Applegarth Road intersection traffic signal improvements. I'm happy to report that the county had a pre-construction meeting uh this morning that uh that I attended as well as uh Gary Labalo, our arborist um and uh and a member of our shade tree commission. Uh as you know, it is adjacent to the Monroe Oak uh at that intersection. So, a lot of uh precautions have been put in place as part of that project to preserve that and uh and and uh and and help the tree. Um that project is about to start in 3 weeks uh give or take. Um that is uh that is several months. There is utility

relocations that will be starting but uh I'm happy to report that that is that is going to start. Now you may recall that project is going to provide dedicated left turn lanes in all four directions as well as protected left turn arrows uh for our residents out there. So, uh, we look forward to getting that started and, uh, and completion, uh, sometime next year. That's my report. Council reports. I'll start with our ward one. Councilman, I'm going to make I'm going to make this uh, pretty quick. Just like remind everybody. Is this on? Hello. Okay. U,, I just want to remind everybody that the PA1 application is due by October 31st. Um, that's for the Yanker program, the senior freeze and the state New Jersey. You got to get it in. Please get everybody get it in who qualifies. Um, I just want to thank Kevin for the work he's done in this solar program. I'm very much for anything that deals with our environment and saving money at the same time. Um, this is a great program. I'm uh and um I think we should have looked into this earlier, but I'm sure Terry is happy about this happening. I don't know what kind of reaction I'm getting over there. We're all good. We're all good. We got to keep Terry happy. Um one other thing I just want to comment on on our uh one of the things that we approved is uh a vacuum truck uh a sewer vacuuming truck. And people look at money we spend here in Monroe. Um truck like that's $600,000 and people think it's a lot of money. It is a lot of money, but try to run a township without a vacuuming sewer truck and if it happens in your neighborhood, you'll realize that's money well spent.

And um as far as exploring pricing for that um Monroe's in a number of co-ops around the in mainly in New Jersey, but even as far as Houston, Texas to look for best prices. So we do Kevin and his staff do look for the best prices out there. Um, one other thing I'd just like to mention, uh, Councilman Diapro, uh, has been proposing a discount for, um, first responders and volunteers for a while. Um, I think that's a great idea and, um, I've been thinking about it a lot because it is a good idea for the people that volunteer in this town. um what's going on in the country, in the world with shootings and bombings and everything where we need our first first responders. Anything we can do to help help them and support them is very important. But I think an idea might be to expand it to uh our veterans. Um, we have a lot of veterans here in Monroe and if we could send some kind of discounts for fees and programs for our veterans, that might be a that might be a great idea. Also, if uh agree the council agrees with that, um, uh, there's a lot of events happening in the next few months. I'm not going to touch on it because I know Councilman Seagull will be mad at me for touching her, uh, fire there. So, uh, that's about it. Um, thank you everybody. And speaking of Councilwoman Seagull, Ward Two. Thank you, Council President. And yes, Mr. Markel, I will share a couple events. But first, I wanted to share with the community to be on the lookout for a survey to complete from the township over the next month or so asking the community to share ideas for the upcoming park that will be coming to

the southern southern side of Monroe, the north brid Disbro area. As a reminder, two years ago, we had applied for the green acres grant for the community garden and we were awarded $1.2 million. So we are very confident that we will do just as well or better when we apply for the green acres grant in 2026. So be on the lookout for that survey to complete. Um and then just a couple dates to share as liaison to some of these commissions. Our historic preservation commission has our annual vintage baseball game at Die Farm on Saturday September 13th from 12 to 2:30. It's free admission. It's always a lot of fun. And they have an exhibit this year. vintage toys and games from Monroe and Jamesburg. So, please do come and check it out. Um, our cultural arts commission has a lot of events coming up this fall. Um, our first one is our township Diwali event which will be on Sunday, October 12th from 4:00 to 7:00 at the senior center. Please join us as we celebrate Diwali and enjoy the cultural programming around dances from India. And we also have our local Indian restaurants and vendors too. So, please do come out. And we end our night with the beautiful deal lighting um back out on the pavilion at the senior center. And our cultural arts commission is presenting ABBA concert on Sunday, October 19th at 4 p.m. at the high school. Please check the cultural arts website for more information how to purchase tickets. And we had a ribbon cutting recently at the Red Agave Restaurant in the Gable Shopping Center. So wished the new um restaurant all the best and encourage our residents to come out and support this new restaurant. Thank you. Great. Thank you, council president. You're most welcome. Okay. Um I just want to touch on a couple things. Um, Sunday the diet farm we have uh Hannah Kerwin who um her mom uh Louise Cerwin was the historian for

Monroe uh back in the 60s and the 70s and uh her dad Bill Kerwin was a local real estate broker for many years. Uh went to school with Hannah. So she has a lot of history uh besides of of her family, but a lot of history um over 100 years of uh pictures and and and stories to tell uh the residents. So it's something good that's something good for the community at the one room school uh on Sunday at 1:00. as uh as our councilwoman Seagull just said, um I wanted to uh talk about the crosswalks uh at the schools and also uh where our crossing guards are. It's uh it's important that we get the striping done on these crosswalks. um schools started. Uh and also to to tell to just kind of warn everybody, uh drive safe, drive slow, and respect the bus drivers. It's not an easy job out there. They're always they have a busy schedule and uh wish the wish the the students and the and the staff and the teachers wish them uh good luck for for a successful year. But it's it's important that we uh we do the proper striping uh on on all in front of all these schools. We had national night out was a big success. Uh it was a very good turnout. I want to thank our first responders, DPW, parks, everyone that was part of that. It was a huge turnout. They had the car show and everything uh went really it was a beautiful night and everything went well and and putting that what we just witnessed tonight with our with our chief of police um Chief

Banos and his staff, it's just makes you feel sitting up here uh is very important, but more importantly, it's the people that work for our township that make it an exceptional town. and and the way that our police, they do everything from start to finish with with uh with our first aid and our and our fire departments, all the the hurricanes and now we're coming into another crazy season. They have no idea what is in front of them. But this this is this is a incredible group of men and women and we've just sworn in four more police officers. Uh, and it's just as our mayor said, it's part of our family and we thank their families for for giving them to us to to protect us and our our residents. So, I just wanted to congratulate everyone again uh on on that exceptional uh reward that they they deserved and they earned. uh well 21, the repairs that are getting done on well 21. Uh I' I watch it closely on on our on our infrastructure, our water towers, uh painting our water towers and the infrastructure and well 21. I know Joe and his staff is doing an exceptional job. I just wanted to make sure that that project is on schedule and is on budget. Uh yes, it is. It is that that's a great job and that's leadership that we we appreciate, Joe. And and uh I know it's not an easy task for what you guys do with that water and sewer, but thank you. That's great news.

Another note on water is the pump station number nine. Uh we've asked our attorney to uh send out a response uh about a uh body shop that is encroaching onto our township owned property. Um can I get an update on pump station 9? Your turn again. So uh council president, our um our attorney's office reached out to that property owner and I I believe that they are in communication. Um I don't have an update in terms of a schedule of when those vehicles are going to be removed. Vehicles are encroaching upon uh MTUD MTUD property. Okay. Do we do we have any right to remove these vehicles off of our property? Yes. Yes. Yes. So I mean we always try to do it if we can do it without resorting to litigation and that's that was why we called and said and tried to get them to do it. If that doesn't happen, we have an absolute right to do that cuz this been going on for so long. Um, and they keep encroaching and and and what's happening is a lot of our employees having a hard time just getting to to the to the pump station. And it's just not fair. I mean, they they work around the clock, our our crew, for this. And I just think if they don't remove the cars, then we should remove them at their expense. Um, that's that's Thank you for the update. uh 911, we have a memorial coming up. Um it's a it's a time that we all remember exactly where we were and what was going on at that time. And it's something that everybody says don't for we we will not forget. So hopefully um I know our first responders, our our staff will be there and it's something that um we all we all remember and we will never

forget. uh 911. It's 8 around 8:30, 8:45 uh on 911. Um tomorrow there's a ribbon cutting uh on England Road uh at 4:45. Uh there's a there's a trail that um was constructed uh used to be a street called Long Street for many many years. Uh a lot of people just used it for the hunting the hunting guys used to just use it. uh wasn't a road that people can drive a car down. It was something that you you uh all the hunting, you know, guys and girls, whoever hunted would use that long street. So that's tomorrow, ribbon cutting England Road at 4:45. On 9 and 9:20, uh September 20th is 10 10:00. uh at the high school there's a car show and also green fair is uh something that we always we go we attend and and we support I'm the liaison for the green team and it's very important to uh attend on on September 20th at 10:00. I also wanted to say uh thank you to Mark and to everyone involved with getting the county on Prospect Plains Road about the Monroe Oak and liaison for the Shade Tree and we don't stop talking about that Monroe Oak and protecting that Monroe. So, it's very important and I want to say thank you for you and your staff to make sure that the job gets done with the county. So, thank you Mark. Um, League of Women Voters, uh, they're having just meet candidates on September 8th at the senior center. It's 6 6 to9. It's just a a a day that just come out at the League of Women Voters. They always do a good job. And

uh, that's going to be their uh, their event on September 8th. And that that's all I have, Council President. Thank you. Thank you, Terry. Happy Terry. Thank you, Madame President. Um, let me first say uh to me the most significant thing the police accreditation uh tonight um when you move to a town, what do you look for? And probably the most important thing you look for is having a safe town. And year after year, we usually uh gain uh some form statistically speaking being one of the safest towns around. We owe that to having a great police force and not only do they do a great job, but they do it in a professional manner and and I I think they uh they certainly deserve whatever praise they get and and we very much appreciate them and I know all the citizens do too. When I first moved here, we had an incident where uh our front doors blew open in the middle of the night. The alarms went off and the police were there in like no time at all and walked us through the house. And the reason I say is they show that they cared. And you know, you want that out of your police. A lot of times nowadays, police get a bad rap. You know, uh, you see, you hear about bad things, but that's why I always like to emphasize when they do the good things and and our police are are very very good and we're we're very appreciative of them. Um, speaking of police type things, first of all, uh, Charlie sort of mentioned that, you know, kids are back in school now, right? So, we got to be careful driving. Um, there's a couple of laws in particular people need to know. When there's school buses, you cannot go around them. Even if you're going in the other direction, you got to let the school buses go. Watch out for the kids. When there are pedestrians in a crosswalk and you're going down the street, even if there's no traffic light there, state law is you must yield to

pedestrians. So, anybody that's watching this, please be careful. And it's for a safety reason. um because we don't want anything to happen to children or other people that might be in the crosswalk. Um so those are two items. Um just talking for a second uh about uh Leah Wagner who re uh retired, you know, and she says 36 years. That that's really is a long time. I've lived in the town 29 years and I think back when I came here, we we barely had computers going back then, you know. So, think of all the changes that the library went through and the fact that they were able to modernize and integrate technology to the point where when you you look at the uh the things that get done on a monthly basis and you know when I when I was young you went to the library to get books to read and that's it. Now there's so many things that they do and they just did a wonderful job growing as the times changed and uh a credit to her and the entire staff and and you always feel confident that we'll be able to go forward and that'll be a a continual uh source of pride. I did want to mention also um uh they finished all the paving at Inwood Estates which is right next to my development and I sometimes I go down there walking or riding the bike or whatever and they did a nice job. Those people had so much to put up with you know between the landfill and everything and there was a time when they had the construction and there was a time when they had trucks coming out of there tanking with the tank trucks taking out the leech. Um so to see that it's finally done. Hopefully those uh people in that section can have a little bit more uh peace of mind and uh you know move forward without a lot of uh a lot of other distractions. Uh I do want to thank mayor and administration for their work on the affordable housing that they did. I think it's a it'll be a long run a tremendous savings and and good for

the overall uh benefit of the town including the uh the Disbro Hill Road acquisition. They do need a park down on the southside. So that's a great thing to have. Um so all those things are uh great. And I have one last thing I wanted to end on. I saw this article actually in the home news. Young man named Christopher Jones Jr. from Monroe actually earned he's a boy scout and he earned all 139 merit badges that are offered by the Boy Scouts of America. And to give you an idea, the Boy Scouts have been in existence um well over a 100red years, I believe. And less than 1% of the Boy Scouts, oh 115 years, less than 1% of the scouts have ever been able to do that. So, we have a a young man in our town that did that. He deserves our congratulations as well as his uh his mom Christina and his father Christopher uh who guided him along on that journey. So, congratulations to Christopher and his family. That's all I have tonight. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. No report. That was brief. Everybody said everything. This is happens to me all. Um, I'd like to move to our public comment section, please. May I have a motion to open public comments? Motion. May I have a second on that? All in favor? I I know we have several people all waiting to speak to us. Thank you so much. Your name and address for our records. Christina Fahheim, 21 Avenue J. I'm bringing up awareness to a situation that happened on Thursday, August 28th, regarding dog violence and death. My parents helped me take care a little slow, more slowly so I can understand. I just want to make sure I I have enough

time. You will I want to hear your words, please. Thank you. My parents help me and take care of my children and dog while I'm working. They live at 24 Venezia Drive. I dropped off my dog and my baby that morning and my dad took my dog Roy for a walk while I was getting my baby situated. During this walk, the dog Scooby, a Rottweiler who lives at 16 Venezia Drive, escaped out of its home unleashed, charged unprovoked at my dog and my dad and murdered my dog. This was a preventable attack had a dog had the dog been appropriate appropriately contained in its home. Regardless, this dog has had multiple incidences not only in this neighborhood, but in the surrounding neighborhoods. This dog has shown aggressive behavior towards dogs and humans. One neighbor told me that they had reported the attack to the police at Veterans Park. However, the police failed to write a report and only gave them a verbal warning. Multiple neighbors have spoken to its owners about their negligent ownership of the dog over the past 2 years. Despite multiple conversations, they continue to expose the neighborhood to a wild animal, not a domesticated or trained dog. Currently, the dog still resides in its home, and it is pending the judge judge's decision on whether it will stay or be removed from its home. I have been unwell since the death of my dog, and I cannot sleep thinking what would have happened if my two kids were on that walk with my father. The whole neighborhood feels unsafe living around this dog. I would like advice on how to proceed if the judge permits the dog to stay in the neighborhood. None of the neighbors want this dog to stay in its home. I would also like the township to work on a program with animal control to ensure neighbors and following dog rules of the township are followed. In addition, I'd like to bring up an issue with the dispatcher that occurred the day that uh the day uh the day when 911 was called. My dad was in extreme distress when he called 911. He

literally sounded like he was dying. The dispatcher was not only rude to him, but asked unnecessary questions during an active attack instead of sending immediate help. This resulted in a delay in police and animal control showing up to the scene and allowed the pet owner of Scooby enough time to tamper with the evidence of the scene. If you would like to watch the footage of the gruesome attack, I have it so that you can understand the severity of the issue and how much danger we are in. Furthermore, we spoke to the postal carrier on that street and she reported that the day after the incident, the Monroe Township police officers went to the post office and informed them of the situation and distributed pepper spray to the carriers in case they come into an encounter with this dog. This just shows that the police themselves perceive this dog as dangerous. Meanwhile, we have no protection against him. What steps does this plan does this town plan to take to protect the people in these types of situation? Terrence mentioned that this is one of the safest towns because of the police. Thank you, Kevin. We can just discuss. Is it a I mean, is it a pending matter in court? So, and what our judge, our local judge or a judge in New Brunswick? I believe our local judge, that information wasn't given to me. So, certainly your comments will pass along to our police department. Uh obviously your comments about the way dispatch was handled will pass along to the police department. That's you can open a you can file a complaint there with the police chief with regards to that. So we can do that. You have personal your own civil um uh remedies if you want to pursue those. But right now I think if you're in court that and the judge is considering whether to remove the dog, that's a determination. It's not just to remove the dog. would be to put that dog down if it's a dangerous dog under the statute at least. So that's but like I said, if you have your your complaints, you should call the chief's office and you should register those complaints and they'll

conduct an investigation as to how the call was handled. There's a state statute on that. There is a state statute. I think it's the the second bite. I think that Yeah. Yeah, there is. Yeah, there absolutely is a state statute. I'm sorry. Can you repeat that? There's a there is a state statute that says if a dog is found to have bitten once before and it bites again the one it's a yeah it's called the one bite law. It literally um we don't subscribe to it. Well, it's it's a state law state law. It's a there is a state law. There is a state law in New Jersey. I I I I know that there's read a lot about Yeah. Well, at this point, the councilman and I both being attorneys that practice here in Middle Sex County, we're we're aware of the fact that there is such a law in New Jersey and that's why you're in court and then you have the ability to get the dog removed. So, see what happens then. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening everyone. You're welcome. Got five minutes. I'm going to go fast. The first one it's just for you to think. A second we go into name and address. Sorry. Your name and address for the record, please. Lonnie Kellan, Betsy Ross driving Concordia. Mhm. Okay. First one's just for you to think about. Um, when I moved here 5 years ago, we had an ESCO in place. An ESCO, Energy Saving Company. Yes. Mhm. And once the profit margin became narrow, the ESCO said, "We can't can't do anything for you." But it's been 3 years and now that our rates are going up as much as 20%. Isn't this something the town should look at? Did we not go out to bid again attempt to do that? Correct. So, we're we're in the process of working with our consultant to go out to another bid for energy aggregation. So, over the last couple of years, we have gone out to bid and many towns have and and haven't gotten a rate below the tariff rate. So, it does, you know, it doesn't make sense at that point.

However, um uh I've just heard uh as recently as last week that a municipality in Ocean County did a little bit better than the tariff rate. So, we are we're always looking for ways to but I think now that we have that 20% hit that's coming now, there should be a little bit of fat on the bone and that may very well be the reason why that other municipality got uh got a better rate and and we're going to absolutely work toward that. The second one I'm going to pick on you, but it's not personal. I was listening to you talk about JCP and giving you a pack of lies that there's 235 lights out and only 90 are still in disrepair. Is that roughly the numbers you gave? Of the 235 lights that we that our police reported um which does not include lights within gated senior communities. That's my next Okay. Correct. You the community managers of the gated senior communities have asked to communicate directly with JCPNL to provide those lists. We've just been encouraged in the last several weeks by the fact that 140 lights throughout the town, not in the communities, have have been repaired. So, we were um in comparison to other responsiveness in the past that that is progress. It's not good enough, you know, of course, but it is somewhat hopeful that we're we got the right people who are paying attention to this now. So, that's that's what I meant. Is there a dedicated um department within the JCP now that are supposed to attend to private communities? And not to make you laugh, but you said there were 90. We have 90 out in Concordia alone. I'm not even kidding. Doesn't But your community is reporting it. Your community manager, if I remember correctly, that's first service. They are responsible for reporting that to JCPNL. Right. I had actually had to tackle the JCPNL guidance. I'm sorry. No, but anybody want to thank we don't control. I understand that. Thank you for You're welcome, sir. You've been waiting patiently. Please.

Your name and address for our records. My name is Sing Akun AKG and living in 20 Cornell Avenue, Monro Township. The reason that I am here is the regarding the garbage disposal um prices increasing in our community and I'm aware of that since I'm living in this town uh since 1990 and every year like 10 15% that they are adding on and I reduced my um uh garbage disposal uh things to once a week. Still this year they raised again. And this is not only me and I checked with the also the town um um groups in the uh social media and everybody is complaining about this and they are not consistent with the uh prices. There are three companies that serving in in our town and each of them are just giving the numbers that which doesn't make any sense. Sometimes you have to negotiate with them and sometimes you try to tell them that they are going to cancel the service then they will start giving you some sort of price compromise. So I don't don't understand why our township cannot ask them to bid and like we did for the electricity before uh we can have uh one company uh that if they lower the price so you can recommend everybody so then everybody should know how much they are going to pay because I pay around $15 and some people are paying uh close to $300 in this for the garbage disposal. I don't

understand this kind of price uh uh variations in this town either. Sure. Sure. Can you comment on that? I know, M. Mayor is a is an issue. Sure. Uh so, Council President, uh it's an incredibly, you know, understandable and frustrating issue. The the prices have gone up and they are inconsistent across the township. So, we we appreciate the feedback. the mayor has the administration and I and our CFO and our DPW director constantly looking at this, right? Is is there is there a better way? Uh what are other towns doing? How can we um you know uh reduce reduce costs for the residents? And so we're we're we're always looking into that. We're looking at where other towns are coming out in terms of going out to bid. The only other option other than the option that we have now um which is essentially now you have the freedom of choice to go from one of those carriers to another um at at any time. The other option for municipalities under the law is that we would have to go out to bid for one single trash hauler. And those contracts are are long-term contracts. And um that may very well save us some money. It it may not. We're constantly looking into it. challenges that I'm talking to a lot of other business I apologize my microphone keeps cracking. I'm talking to a lot of other business administrators throughout the state and um many of them are trying to get out of that business because they've gone out to bid. They've been in a long-term contract. Maybe the trash hauler wasn't very good, wasn't very reliable. And it's it's very difficult, if not impossible to break that contract in the middle. Uh right now someone can cancel p their private contract with a trash hauler at any time here in Monroe. The other issue is as costs have gone up for Republic and and IWS and and and these other carriers that are passing those costs on to you, they're also going up

for the single trash haulers that are serving an entire town. So, garbage trucks cost $700,000 when they used to cost $150,000. And landfill tipping fees are in the millions of dollars per year. So, other administrators are telling me, "Hey, 5 years ago, we had a good rate. We bid for a pretty good rate. Um, but now we're going out to bid again. We got one bidder and the price doubled for our our municipality, which means which means if your taxes are going to have to go up larger than what you're paying for garbage, we never want to put anyone in a situation where they're paying more. So, I I don't mean to suggest that there's there's an easy solution here. We're we're constantly looking through the various options that we have, but um we don't want to pull the trigger and jump into a a long-term contract that could year after year um increase increase taxes uh for our residents that would be uh you know detrimental to their affordability. At least the town can ask what's their prices rather than every individual they call them and get different prices from them. So if possible that only the three of them are serving maybe as a town you can ask their what's the their p price price list and because if I talk to them they are giving me a price and if my neighbor is calling and talking differently and they are giving different price so it's not a same price I don't understand that and the uh the other thing is the fuel cost is right now is going down and last year and year before we were paying much more for the gasoline and and the diesel and right now they I don't understand why the cost is going up and up. Maybe like you said landfill price and the other things but they I don't really see that how they

are justifying this. I heard that republic is right now having trouble with some states because they are there are some strikes against them in uh so they have some negotiations with their um u uh workers. I don't know if we are going to be impacted on that or not because I am with the republic at this point. Thank you for your comment sir. we come up with a solution, we'll we would be happy to share it. But right now, we're not we're still evaluating what our options would be. Okay. And thank you, sir. Hello. Good evening. Your name and address for our records, please. Hi, Mark Steel. One, Karen Court. Yes. Uh I've been a resident of Karen Karen Court in Monroe for about 20 years now. And a few weeks ago, I emailed to the council a sample resolution proposing that the township either uh refund the $150 municipal portion of the permit to carry fee or wave it entirely. Uh New Jersey recently increased the fees for firearms ID cards, pistol purchase permits, and permits to carry applications. And the cost for a permit to carry is now $200, which is a 400% increase from before the law was changed. uh of that $50 is paid directly to the state and um 150 is paid to the municipality. Beyond this, applicants uh also have to complete mandatory classroom training on use of force and live fire instruction known as CCARE certification which can cost up to $300 or more. These combined costs, potentially $500 or more every two years, create a significant financial burden. Whether intentional or not, this fee structure disproportionately affects lowerincome residents, effectively pricing them out of exercising a fundamental constitutional right. This

raises serious concerns about fairness, both socioeconomically and racially. To put this in perspective, imagine needing to pay for a public speaking course, prove your competency, and then apply for a permit to speak at this very meeting only to repeat the process every 2 years at a similar cost. Such a system would understandably feel restrictive and unjust. So the resolution I sent over to you, the sample, uh has now been passed in towns in Monmouth, Bergen, Sussex, Morris, and in Middle Sex counties. I respectfully urge the council to direct the uh Monroe business administrator to review that proposal uh that proposed resolution and collaborate with the township attorney to draft an appropriate version for a vote. Uh policies like this one in question here have real world consequences and I'd be happy to answer any questions you have. Additionally, I kindly request that the council take a preliminary poll this evening if you can to gauge your support for this resolution as outlined. Thank you for your time and consideration. You're welcome. We would not be taking a preliminary poll. That is not how this council operates. Uh we thank you and I did read the material you sent as I'm sure all of my colleagues did. Thank you. And no questions, huh? No. Okay. Thank you for your time. You're most welcome, sir. Are you in a race for who gets here first? Have a seat. You're there. Max Seitz, 113 Hoffman Road. Um, I've emailed the Department of Public Works and I know I spoke to you actually on Saturday about this, but I don't know how this town decides which roads they're going to pave. I know that's probably an engineering question or paint lines on the roads, but I've been on Huffman Road for over 30 years now. And in all that time, 24 years ago, they put the sewers in at

one end and they patched that side of the road. And then probably about a dozen years ago, they put fire hydrants at the other end and they patched that side of the road. And since then, that road has not been paved or striped. Um, it's full of potholes. The middle of the street is splitting. And when I saw the list of the roads that were getting paved this year, it was kind of frustrating because the Highlands got paved, which is effectively a private culde-sac road, which was put in after my street was last paved. So, I would really like I didn't even get a response from the person I emailed at the Department of Public Works, which is more frustrating, but I would like to know if there's any chance it'll be put on the schedule for next year. Um the road is not safe the way it is now. It's a 35 mph speed. There's no sidewalks. There's no shoulders. There's no lines on it. And cars since you put the light in at Buckloo and Hopman Station are speeding down that street in the middle of the road trying to avoid the traffic light. Last week I got passed illegally by someone on a curve who then sped up and passed a second car. And so I'm just asking for the road to be evaluated. Council President, I will say um we'll certainly look at that street for next year uh and review it. Um the way the process goes, it's uh you know, my office produces a list of streets based on conditions. The the police department provides a list of roads that they've seen uh uh that require paving as well as our public works department puts a list. And our three departments, we uh we will rate the streets. we will go out and look at the conditions of all those roads on those lists and um and put together a paving list for that year. Um there are roads that need paving. We can't pave all the roads in one year. Um there was about uh I believe 14 roads that we paved this year. Some some are

quite long. Um but we will look at that and typically it's around February we start looking at the streets and comparing our lists and u and we'll certainly look at Hoffman Road. uh offhand. I I believe it was looked at last year, but uh I I don't know that for sure, but I'm putting you on my list right now. So, we will certainly look at that and review it. I I can't tell you it will be paved next year. Um uh because I don't know all the roads uh that are going to be on those lists to review. Um but we're certainly going to look at it. There aren't even lines on the road. There haven't been lines on the road in years. I mean, fundamentally, the road the way it is is not safe. I won't even walk my dog on there anymore. I get in my car and I drive to where there are sidewalks to walk him. That's how unsafe I feel. We'll do what he said and he will look at it. I appreciate it. Thank you. Anyone else? Yes, sir. Bob Valentine, 68 Union Valley Road. Just wanted to finish the conversation we had earlier a little bit. Just two questions. Um, one was in addition to the monitoring how much we have, how much debt we have outstanding, um, are there any other financial covenants that the town needs to keep to on under these under these bond issues that are going out or or ones that we already have? And then second part is, um, was you required to get any kind of stub audit or greed upon procedures report done in connection with this project? And if so, maybe just a brief summary of the findings or comments on on that. Council person, sorry. Yes. Would you mind repeating the simple question? I didn't understand the first part. Oh, sure. First, financial covenants. In other words, um sometimes um in order to get bonds issued, the um you're required to meet certain financial covenants. So, debt coverage ratios, working capital ratios, how much debts outstance, right? Right. That's what I'm talking about. I know there are any. So, I was curious if there were.

Well, I don't think there are in typically those don't exist in municipal bonds. No, current currently they're going to issue the bonds under statutes that just require secondary market disclosure. Uh with respect to the future 20 years of filing the financial data with Emma which is the national repository clearing house. Yeah. Electronic municipal something. It it is it is a it is a government never get an acronym. It's a government website in which we all require our dis we file our disclosures every year. So if you wanted to buy municipal bonds, you could go and look at all of the disclosure for for instance bonds. But as as general counsel just says with this type of bond, you may get those covenants with a revenue bond at an authority uh where there's debt service reserves etc. But these will be general obligation bonds subject to no other reserve terms or anything other than what's in the local bond law which goes along with the ordinance to buy the the road you bought tonight or you're going to buy. Same difference, right? And did you have to issue any reports in connection with this fun this project? You know, any kind of agreed upon procedures or is there any requirement for an audit type of stub audits or No, no, not not on the financial side. on the on the power side on the under the local public contracts law with the audit of the numbers and the cash flow. Yes. But there's no separate financial reporting other than the annual audit which has to be filed accordingly. Okay, great. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. You're the reason I didn't leave too. Anybody else wishing to grab you because I stepped outside. Anyone else wishing to address us? Come forward now, please. And for the record, Emma is not the name of the board. It's MSRB. And they call it Emma because it's because they do. Because they do because it's MSRB.

Mr. Gunglman, George Gunglman, Monroe. Um, I'd like to request that the the the town, the mayor and council um consider requesting of our state elected um assemblyman and senator to support the immigrant trust act. The immigrant trust act. It's the best to to look it up because I'm not going to try and read the whole thing here. There's no point. But basically it's an extension of the policy that was I think called the imminent trust policy which dealt with how uh local police and officials would interact with um ICE for example or now as we see federal other federal agencies uh coming into town. So, it's it's a it's an act that's in front of entreton for consideration. Now, I would just request a look at it and see if the town thinks it's the kind of thing we would want uh to support or have our elected officials support just like there was another resolution to get uh support for uh some another act. And that's all I have. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else wishing to address us, please come forward? No. Your name and address again for our record. Good evening again, Chrissy Scurby, 21 Prickness Drive. Um, I'm glad to hear as a baseball parent um that the um renovations are going to be starting again. It was a very long hot summer without bathrooms or running water at James Monroe Park. Um I I wish that we would have known sooner that or or

addressed it. There hasn't been movement in months. Um I do want to say thank you to Councilman Depiro. Um I had reached out to him one day after a very long hot day of baseball and the fumes coming out of the portaotties was absolutely disgusting. Um not even usable. And the next day when we got there, um, those portaotties were emptied and cleaned. And, um, I just want to say thank you to Councilman Depiro. Um, I am here tonight to address a situation you may or may not know about. Our township resident, superintendent of schools, Dr. Sher Chanley was put on administrative leave 121 days ago with full pay and benefits. Not because of any misconduct, but because a Monroe Township employee who sits on the board of education, Pete Piro, his feelings were hurt when she pointed out a conflict that he had in voting for her. That's right. Our children in our schools are suffering because one person on our board of education got offended. a person who Councilwoman Seagull testified in court under oath she supported for election last year. Meanwhile, our taxpayers are bleeding money on legal games and power plays. This isn't about students. It isn't about education. It isn't about what's best for Monroe. It's about egos and vendettas. And the result is wasted tax dollars in a year when the school taxes increased the most in one year ever in Monroe. chaos in our school district and the absence of a leader who has already proven she can guide our district. Our children deserve stability. Our teachers deserve leadership and our taxpayers deserve better than this circus. While the council doesn't control the board of education, the council should not remain silent. Call it what it is, an abuse of power and a reckless waste of money. Demand that our board of education stop playing politics and reinstate Dr. Chanley and put Monroe first. Thank you.

Anyone else wishing to address us, please come forward now. Hearing and seeing none, I'll entertain a motion to close the public comment section. Motion. May I have a second on that? Second. All in favor? I. May I have a motion to adjourn, please? Motion. Second on that. Second. We are adjourned at what time? 8:52. Thank you. Have a good night. Have a good night.