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Jul 21 2026 · Council
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Speaker 0 Speed.
Speaker 2 Good evening everyone, and welcome to the Piscataway Town Council meeting for July 20th, 2020 first of 2026. Adequate notice of this meeting has been provided as required under chapter 2 3 1 PL 1975, specifying the time, date, location, login, or dial in information, and to the extent known the agenda by posting a copy of the notice on the municipal building, the municipal court, and the two municipal library bulletin boards municipal website, providing a copy to the official newspapers of the township, and by filing a copy in the office of the township clerk in accordance with a certification by the clerk, which will be entered in the minutes. There will be public comment periods for both remote and in-person attendees separately, each member of the public shall have only one opportunity to speak during each public portion, as the technology does not allow us to know if there are multiple callers on an individual phone line or logged in user account. We ask that if you wish to speak, that you log in or dial in separately so that we can recognize you as a separate individual should you have any further comments or questions. The Town Council is always available by email and phone, and you could always call the mayor's office during the normal operating hours.
Speaker 2 Well, I'm not gonna say Ms. Cedar. Jennifer, can you please call the role
Speaker 3 Of course. Council Member Cahill here. Council Member Carmichael here. Council Member Espinosa Here. Council Member Lebowitz. Council member Rashid here. Council Member RN here and Council President Lombardi
Speaker 2 Here. And would everyone please join us in the flag salute
Speaker 0 States of America Republic for which it stands, one Nation under under God in liberty and justice for all.
Speaker 2 Number five is comments from administration and counsel regarding adjournment of any matters on the agenda. Do we see any? Seeing none, we'll move to number six. Number six is open to the public for comments regarding items number eight, the consent agenda items. Again, it's just the open portion for the consent agenda items
Speaker 2 For each public comment portion For remote attendees, if you wish to speak at this time, please raise your hand either on the Zoom app or if by phone, by pressing star nine. When it is your turn to speak, you'll receive or hear a request. To unmute yourself, please click the prompt or press star six on your phone to unmute yourself. At this time, please state your name and address and know that you have three minutes in which to make your comments. The council or administration will respond if necessary. After you have completed any comments or questions, we're now open to the public for remote attendees.
Speaker 3 Council president, I'm asking the first attendee with their hand raised to unmute themselves please.
Speaker 4 Hello? Can y'all hear me?
Speaker 2 Yes, yes we can.
Speaker 4 Okay. My name is Sarah Radford. I live at 13 Dunbar Ave. I just have a quick question. I feel like maybe I'm not understanding where to find information about the items in the consent agenda. 'cause like what's listed in the agenda online seems really vague. Like saying things like, you know, waiving health license, late fees, approval of corrective active action plan. It just seems really vague to me. So am I missing where I'm supposed to find more information about these items?
Speaker 2 Is that your only question for the evening?
Speaker 4 That's my only question.
Speaker 2 Okay, thank you.
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney) Yeah, double public meetings Act only requires a notice to, to the public as to the TI by title on the agenda. They all the resolutions are available in the clerk's office. They're usually not drafted until the day of the meeting and draft the drafts are still a continuing work product until I get them finalized. So, but usually you can do an Oprah request for backup if it is available before the meeting or everything is usually available after the meeting.
Speaker 3 Council president, I'm asking the next attendee with their hand raised to please unmute themselves.
Speaker 2 Hello? Hi,
Speaker 6 Good evening. This is Jessica Kratovil, 1247 Brookside Road. Can you hear me?
Speaker 2 Yes. Good evening.
Speaker 6 Yeah. Hi. I have two questions about the consent agenda. The first one is for item D as in David. I wanted to know to what matter does the corrective action plan refer? My second question is for item M as in Michael, what equipment are you receiving from the federal government and how will it be used to assist residents?
Speaker 2 Thank you Mr. Val.
Speaker 7 I'll answer that question, those questions. Council president, every year, as you, as you may know, the township is required to have an audit. And in that audit, the auditors review all functions of our financial operations, municipal operat operations compliance with state statutes, state regulations, and so on. So the corrective action plan is required. So through our audit, I, I would like to first of all commend our finance department because through our entire audit of I would say approximately $98 million of our budget, there was one item and that one item that required a corrective action was to ensure proper budgeted dollars for our recreation utility. I just wanna point out that a recreation utilities is self u liquidating entity. However, that utility is also used not just by rate payers, it's used by our residents. Ch our youth go there after school. They're welcome to stay in the central lobby.
Speaker 7 Our schools use the swimming pools, we have meetings there. Our OEM office is there. So it's not in the true form of a sys of a utility because it's kind of a quasi utility. And because of that we, we underestimated, well, in 2025 there was an underestimation of operational costs. So now we included all the costs respective of that utility and that corrective action was put in our 2026 budget. So we are good and the utility is thriving, it's doing very well. And my understanding is that kids in camp are enjoying it very much. They just had a talent show. And your second question was respective of the less so resolution. That's a resolution where the US Department of Defense, it allows state, federal, and local entities to receive equipment that they no longer need. I wanna give an example. We have mayor, I think it's a high water rescue.
Speaker 7 Yeah, so the high water rescue vehicle, we already have one. And I think the value of that vehicle that we got for free was at least a quarter million dollars, if not more. So this allows us to accept whatever surplus that the US Department of Defense is willing to give us and we can continue to apply for whatever we can get. Whatever we apply for free obviously will not cost our taxpayers and it's equipment we need. And it's a good, good program and I'm glad that, and I'm hoping tonight that it's authorized because it's something we've been doing every year and I hope we continue to do that.
Speaker 2 Thank you so much for that clarification.
Speaker 3 Council president, I'm asking the next remote attendee to please unmute themselves.
Speaker 8 Hello, Brian Rack 1247 Brookside Road. So about that 10 33 program. So we have no idea what we're getting. It could be a tank, it could be a box of firearms, it could be whatever, but we're authorizing to participate or we're authorizing to accept it.
Speaker 7 We're just authorizing to be part of the program. So if something comes up that's desirable by the township, we could request it. This isn't a like a potluck where, oh, we're gonna hand you a raft or whatever, A boat. This is something that there's a process in place and the government requires us to get governing body authority to enter into an agreement to accept this surplus of equipment, whatever that might be, whatever the township deems necessary that it needs.
Speaker 8 So would that come back to council at that point? If you pick some equipment,
Speaker 9 Council president, if I may, we're trying to apply for another high water rescue vehicle.
Speaker 2 Thank you for that. Clarifi, keep on
Speaker 9 North side of town. Thank you.
Speaker 2 Are you done with your questions?
Speaker 8 Sure.
Speaker 2 No. Okay. We're closing the, the remote portion now and we'll now open to the public here in the building for each public comment portion in your, for the in-person attendees if you wish to speak at this time, please come up to the podium, state your name and address and know that you have three minutes in which to make your comments. You may take your seat after the completion of your comments or questions and the counsel or administration will then respond if necessary. This is for the consent agenda items only. So anyone wishing to come up for the public portion, please do. Please do so at this time. Seeing none, I'll close the public portion. Number seven is an ordinance Second reading, authorizing expansion of utility agreement with the Piscataway Township Board of Education at four 50 River Crest Drive. It will be open to the public. It's a resolution adopting ordinance. Ms. Johnson, can you please read this ordinance
Speaker 3 Be resolved by the township of Piscataway Township, New Jersey that an ordinance entitled ordinance authorizing the execution of an agreement to expand a permanent access and utility easement affecting block ten four zero two lot 1.01 Kakac School, 5 2 0 5 Witherspoon Street and property known as Block 7 3 0 5 lot 19.0 2 4 50 River Crest Drive in the township of Piscataway County of Middlesex State of New Jersey, was introduced on the 30th day of June, 2026 and had passed the first reading and was published on the township website on the first day of June of July, excuse me, 2026. Now therefore be it resolved that the Aset ordinance having had a second reading on July 21st, 2026, be adopted, passed, and after passage be published together with a notice of the date of passage or approval on the township website. Be it further resolved that this ordinance shall be assigned. Number 20 26 13.
Speaker 2 Thank you, Ms. Johnson. We'll now open this to the public for anyone wishing to speak on number seven for the remote attendees. At this time, we are now open to the remote attendees regarding number seven,
Speaker 3 Council president. There are no remote attendees with their hand raised. We're
Speaker 2 Closed for the remote attendees and we'll now open for the in-person attendees for the ordinance. Number seven, seeing none, we'll close the public portion. Can I have an offer to accept this
Speaker 10 Offer? Councilwoman
Speaker 2 Cahill, can I have a second?
Dennis Espinosa (Ward 2 Councilmember) Second Esposa.
Speaker 2 Ms. Johnson, can you please call the role
Speaker 3 Council member Cahill?
Speaker 10 Yes.
Speaker 3 Council member Carmichael? Yes. Council member Espinosa. Yes. Council member Rashid? Yes. Council member rn? Yes. And Council President Lombardi?
Speaker 2 Yes. And this ordinance passes number eight are the consent agenda. Resolutions for efficiency items have been consolidated into a consent agenda to be voted on together. And the materials for these items have been distributed to the council. In advance of the meeting, do have a motion to accept the consent agenda?
Dennis Espinosa (Ward 2 Councilmember) Motion Espinosa.
Speaker 2 Do I have a second?
Speaker 10 Second Cahill.
Speaker 2 Ms. Johnson, can you please call the role
Speaker 3 Council member Cahill?
Speaker 10 Yes.
Speaker 3 Council member Carmichael? Yes. Council member Espinosa. Yes. Council member Rasheed? Yes. Council member Ern? Yes. Council President Lombardi?
Speaker 2 Yes. And the consent agenda passes. Number nine are announcements and comments from officials. Councilwoman Cahill.
Speaker 10 None at this time. Council President
Speaker 2 Councilwoman Carmichael.
Speaker 12 We'd just like to mention the summer concert is scheduled for Thursday at Columbus Park. The Voodoos are the guest band and it looks like the weather on Thursday is going to be good. So come on out to Columbus Park and enjoy the concert.
Speaker 2 Hopefully Smoke. Yes. Councilman Espinoza?
Dennis Espinosa (Ward 2 Councilmember) Yes. Good evening. I would like to just remind everyone that on September 26th, just almost two months away, we have the Piscataway Bike tour coming up. So we've gotten our route. We're going to publish that pretty soon to the public and hope to see a lot of people there.
Speaker 9 Thank you.
Speaker 2 Councilwoman Rashid?
Sarah Rashid (At-Large Councilmember) Hi, I just wanna do a reminder for the art contest that is still open. The deadline is August 22nd. The art contest is open to everybody in Piscataway. All artists are welcome. So please make your submissions before August 22nd.
Speaker 2 Councilman er?
Speaker 14 Yes. Our Papa owner program starts this Monday and I'm happy to say that all levels are full with a waiting list and also cheer.
Speaker 2 So wonderful. Great seat. Congratulations. Wonderful. I do believe from
Speaker 14 Two teams to three teams in Flag
Speaker 2 And I do believe that your Patriot Stadium baseball evening was a very, very good success. Thank you for that. Mayor.
Speaker 9 On some of the road projects of Love Guard Street's proceeding, we're expecting to have that finish sometime at the end of September, early October at the latest Centennial Avenue between Knights Bridge and River Road. We're also expecting that to be hopefully finished by October. Obviously old New Brunswick Road's been finished. The other block program where they're gonna start milling on Murray Avenue this week. After that they're going to Richardson Evans and then Hamilton Boulevard, the contractor for a curb program with engineering departments over on Sturbridge development right now. And then they're gonna go over to Palisades and then Harold Place. And then they still have one other block of, of Hamilton Boulevard to do so that'll take care of it. And then the engineering department will be out to bid on the sidewalks for, on South Randolphville Road down by the back of the cemeteries in that area within the next couple of weeks. So we're expecting that. So we're hoping that construction will be finished up before the end, before the winter hits. So we're very productive area. And then on top of all the storm damage that Public works has been picking up over the last couple of storms, they've been very busy with some of the flood damage and down trees. So that's pretty much it. And I wanna welcome the, the three new our cadets now probationary police officers that we brought on board
Speaker 2 Business Administrator Paula Elli.
Speaker 7 Thank you Council President Lombardi, I just would like to say thank you for passing the resolution for the LED fixtures. Right now we have sodium vapor lights. It could even be, yeah, they're, or Mercury, you know, I don't know what's up there. They're pretty old. So in any event, we are replacing eight of the lights, sports field lighting at Riverside Park. So the LED lights not only reduce our electric consumption, that reduce our carbon footprint, obviously they're not toxic, they last longer less maintenance and less light pollution in general. And then for our neighboring, I don't think there's many residential near that park. But in any event, it helps control the better lighting. I also would like to add, someone had brought up the corrective action plan. I'd like to also reflect with that audit. Couple positives in that audit. The township currently has a fund balance of, of $40.6 million.
Speaker 7 That money is used to offset tax increases and whatnot. We actually use 17 million to offset this budget. And a lot of the reason why we have this fund balance is, is, is because of cost control. Our department heads work very, very diligently under the mayor's direction to ensure that we are spending and getting our fair price for the products we purchase and the services we receive. So that, and in addition to the amount of grants this township has received, and that I'm gonna segue into the fact that we just received a check, a direct wire for $5.2 million for, from the federal government for our solar project. So yeah, so we got it. As a matter of fact, it's $36,000 more than the auditor had. I mean our, our tax accountant had planned for. So that's super. I would also like to say thank you to our PCTV and IT departments.
Speaker 7 They have been working nonstop. As you see, we've got a little bit of an Octo set up here. I don't know if you're a Spider-Man person, but in any event, we've got George back here leading the charge. So everyone get on Zoom. We were having a lot of technical difficulties, A lot of that was result of a software update that totally threw the Zoom module off. So thank you George and your team and to Stan and his team for getting us up and alive here today. I also, the mayor did mention DPW Cruz DPW Crew worked July 3rd and the July 4th holiday. Most of them missed whatever they had planned for July 4th in making our town safe for us and passable roadways. So I just would really like to recognize that as well. And as the mayor said, I, we, we were here for the promotions of two of our showmen that are now sergeants and are bringing on our three cadets.
Speaker 7 And we should be very proud or the township should be very proud of our police department. They work diligently, they work hard. We've got some nice young people coming in and we've got experienced officers that will I'm sure guide them along the way. And I just wanna make note along with the officers. August 4th is National night out. So that'll be from five to nine Tuesday, it's right where the community center is, but the street fair is held. National night out is a night for you to come out, put your porch lights on, take time to get to know your neighbors, talk to each other. You never know who might need help in an emergency. Come out and enjoy all the festivities. I know the PD worked very hard in making this event what it is. So Oh, zip lining this year. Zip, oh maybe from the municipal building. I don't know. I don't know where it's coming from, from the trees. I don't know. Yeah, and, and that's all I have to say tonight. Thank you. Thank you
Speaker 2 Counsel.
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney) No comments tonight. Thank you.
Speaker 2 Well, as it goes, there's usually nothing left for me to say, but I did want to also congratulate those police officers that were promoted and congratulations to the recruits that became officers last evening. So much congratulations to them. Also thank you to the Piscataway PD for graduating the second class of Piscataway Youth W Week and encouraging our young members of Piscataway to get engaged and learn what happens with the police department. It's, it seems like a very, very good program. And thank you for graduating the second class of that. And again, national night out on August 4th is always a great night here in Piscataway. And if you Zipline line, I'll zip line too. Okay, deal. All right. So I think we're done with announcements. We'll now move to number 10, which is the agenda session for the August 11th, 2026. Meeting. On that agenda will be an ordinance second reading, amending and supplementing chapter 21 zoning to establish an enact affordable housing.
Speaker 2 Seven ah seven zone. And it will be open to the public and it'll be a resolution adopting ordinance. Also on that agenda will be a resolution authorizing cancellation of taxes for 100% disabled veteran status. There will be a motion to accept the report of the clerk's account for June of 2026 and a motion to accept the council meeting minutes for May 14th and June 11th, 2026. At this time now we will open to the public for the remote attendees for anyone wishing to speak on any matters. We're now open to the public for remote attendees. Please be advised you have three minutes in which to speak. Please state your name and address.
Speaker 3 Council president, I'm asking the first person with their hand raised to please unmute themselves.
Speaker 8 Hi Brian Wrack till 47 Brookside Road. Still, I'd like to begin by addressing some of what happened during the previous council meeting. For starters, while it's true some other towns in the county don't have any new obligations for affordable housing, that's because they're towns that either have significant amounts of affordable housing or significant population density. In new Brunswick's case, Piscataway actually paid them back in 2003 to take on some of Piscataway burden of affordable housing during that round. It doesn't make sense to now blame them for helping Piscataway with affordable housing back then, but not being able to. Now there's some other talk about how the state's info about what was buildable was bad and how that was a big problem. The methodology documents the state provides actually talk about this and provide a mechanism for them to be corrected. It's fairly unreasonable for them to expect or it's fairly unreasonable to expect.
Speaker 8 The state had perfect knowledge about every single square foot of land in every town. And they realize this. One of the big factors driving up Piscataway number of affordable housing need is the fact that it's number two in the county for equalized non-residential valuation factor. In short, that's how much the value of commercial and industrial billings have gone up since the last round. All the warehouses that keep getting billed are contributing to this. Why are we still incentivizing them with pilot agreements and tax breaks? Are there any programs to incentivize the owners to convert their existing properties to affordable housing? That's one of the things that Edison has in their affordable housing plan and they have an even higher number than Piscataway. Are there any plans outside of just rezoning individual properties? That's it.
Speaker 2 Thank you. I'll have our counsel answer that question for you.
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney) So I'm not sure about any contribution to New Brunswick. I was around but I wasn't part, part of it. So I-I-I-I-I have yeah. Making contribution to New Brunswick at all for any affordable housing. In terms of the, the inaccuracy of the land map that we got from DCA, you know, I mean it wasn't just, it wasn't just mistakes, it was clear. Just they literally looked at the satellite map. It picked everything that was green. We analyzed it. I think it went from over 300 acres to about 60 acres of developable land. It wasn't small mistakes that made it. We, you know, I've talked to the council many times about the process that, that we went through and let's just say the, the entire process was not smooth or in anybody's favor that was dealing with this process. You know, it just, I, I think it's disingenuous to try and say that the township's, it's the township's fault to have to build on every acre that the township has. So
Speaker 2 Anyone else on the remote, no other remote attendees. The remote portion is now closed. We'll now open to the public for anyone in the room wishing to come up at this time, please come up. State your name and address and know that you have three minutes in which to speak.
Speaker 15 Good evening, Mr. Mayor Town. James Lang from 13 Kate Terrace in Piscataway. And just wanted to, you know, Mr. Mayor, members of the town council with all due respect where it belongs. I've never done anything like this before in my life and I really hope I don't have to do it again. I don't come here so just please bear with me for a minute. Didn't come here to cuss and fuss and make a ruckus. I'll come here tonight because we have a problem inside of Dorn Park. I grew up there in Dorn Park and I have no memory issues as to what it was like then compared to what, what it's like now. And I take my hat off to you, Mr. Mayor for cleaning it up. You did a fantastic job. When my grandchildren come to visit, I could let them go out into the park with full confidence.
Speaker 15 They will not be subject to the things that I was subjected to growing up in the neighborhood. With that said, back to the problem and the reason why I'm here. Within the past few years there's been a pickleball court installed inside a dorm park directly behind my house at 13 Kate Terrace directly behind my house from the center of the court to my property line. It's 120 feet when they get playing out there. The sound of that pickle, ball made of hard plastic shell, similar to a wiffle ball, but harder being smacked with a wooden paddle gets extremely loud and it's consistent, it's continuous, it's intrusive and it's disturbing. It disrupts my sleep, waking me up almost on a daily basis, especially on the weekends. Some days these folks are out there as early as five 30 in the morning, some days six o'clock some days, six 30. I like to read my Bible and meditate with the birds singing in the morning hours. But with them out there, that ball around, not only do the birds all fly away, but it distracts me from having my time of peace. I have files here. If can I give this to someone to
Speaker 2 Give them to the police officer and he'll disperse them? You can. You can continue. If you have anything more
Speaker 15 Now with the state benchmark, NJAC seven dash nine and the code authority chapter three of the police regulations, section two, three and two or two and three noise
Speaker 15 Says is declared policy of the township of Piscataway to safeguard public health, peace, safety, and welfare by prohibiting unreasonable and excessive or unnecessary loud noises that disturb the quiet for response of the township residence. It shall be fully aware of any persons that make and continue the cause or be made to continue to make loud noises unnecessary within the township limits. Daytime hours from 7:00 AM to 10:00 PM 65 deep decibel levels DBA during the daytime hours, nighttime hours 10:00 PM to 7:00 AM 50 DBAs like I said. And they're out there some mornings at 6 5 30 in the morning and then some nights they stay out there until nine, 10 o'clock at night. And so they're abiding by the dust to dawn regulations but they're in violation of the sound regulations.
Speaker 2 And sir, sir, kind of wrap up what you can, 'cause you've exceeded three minutes at this point. That's okay.
Speaker 15 They come in groups from out of town. I've approached them on one occasion asking them that they could have some common courtesy for the people living in the houses close to the courts and the hold off plane until at least seven o'clock a according to these rules. I was polite and respectful to them as they were to me, but they felt as though it was okay for them to continue to play. I spoke with the police twice about the situation but obviously they're not interested in getting involved and I'm not one to call the police. So what I did was I put together a petition, I got some signatures and I put together a resolution and brought it here to present to you this evening to reestablish permitted hours of play from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM Monday through Friday and 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM Saturdays and Sundays. And for the courts to be reserved for Piscataway, taxpayers only, and anyone from out of town having to get a permit or a pass to utilize the pickleball courts. Thank you.
Speaker 2 Thank you. Thank you for you
Speaker 15 Resolution.
Speaker 2 Take care. Thank you for letting us know.
Speaker 15 Put it into effect.
Speaker 9 You got Mr. Lang. We'll we'll take a look at that. Okay.
Speaker 2 Thank you. Thank you for filling us in on something that we were not aware of.
Speaker 16 I'm Tracy Thomas from 28 Charles Terrace and I'm on the park path. I'm joining to that where they park in front of my house at five 30 in the morning. Some nights are out there, maybe he doesn't hear it till 11, 11 30. Dispatch knows me very well. But like the other morning I called at 5:45 AM or around five 30 they came, cops came around 5 45, went down the path and told, oh you could stay. Just keep the noise down. I have recordings of what that pickleball sounds like inside my home from my fence line to the pickleball court can be more than 20 feet.
Speaker 16 And I'm on the park path and they're parking in front of my house and they park in front of all the way to the corner. And I'm Ryan all in front of my house. I have guests, they have to park 10 houses down the street. I spoke with the mayor's office, I think her name is Diane. I still have the voicemail. She said she was gonna do something about it. But the problem is I come home from work, either somebody's coming outta Ryan or somebody or I'm coming outta Ryan and you can't see because the car's got the corner covered and the street. And I've called the township the police at least 20 times 'cause they block half my driveway and then have the audacity to tell me it doesn't matter your one car. Oh, well, hey, my husband's son aren't home right now. It's none of their business. They literally block half my driveway repeatedly. That's all.
Speaker 2 Thank you.
Speaker 17 Ash Kumar seven Simon Code. Welcome. So I was here basically to address the the rental property, which is going up and in the parking lot. I was told that that's not happening today. And I'm just surprised like how come nobody was there? And I, I asked council woman, Carol, Mike, Sharon, Michael Michael, yep. And she said, that's not how it works. I I don't know how it works, whatever. I mean, I wish some kind of communication should have been sent out that this, this has been postponed so that I didn't have to leave, leave at four 30 from New York City to be here to attend this meeting. Anyway, that's, that's one of the things.
Speaker 17 So among all the gripes I have, one of the things is, I don't know if you use a text website, the new one, which went live in 2026, you cannot see the payments made on that website. And twice in 2026, I have seen a quarterly payment applied in to my benefit. I didn't pay it to my benefit. And of course I, I brought it to their attention. Alex, everybody knows the tax collector. He corrected that mistake and that the same mistake happened for the sewer. But this, this time it was against me. He corrected that as well. So I mean if anybody who was selecting this software, that's the first thing you do. It's like you can't see your transactions. I mean, who selected that, right? I live on Simon Court, mayor, it'll be very nice if you can repave it. It has not been paved in 35 years. I moved there in 1991. This is 2026. I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you.
Speaker 2 Thank you.
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney) Just wanted to notify. We did. As soon as we knew that, that we were having to move the ordinance, I did reach out to one of the members of the group of neighbors plus the attorney to notify them that it was being moved so we could hopefully they would spread the word
Speaker 2 Well. So we have to look into the software at the tax office to see what's going on with that.
Speaker 18 Hello Goodie. Hello, my name is Nancy Salgado Cowan. I live at 1 2 4 Stanton Avenue, Piscataway, New Jersey. I'm here with two positive notes. Number one, I wanna thank the police officers behalf of partnering with the school board in order to have the youth police event that happened and that was great. And secondly, I wanna thank council member at large Sarah Rashid for coming and partnering with the school board and having a watch night for fifa. Thank you.
Speaker 2 Thank you.
Sarah Rashid (At-Large Councilmember) If I can just say thank you in return, it was really great to see the match on a really large screen. It was great.
Speaker 15 How are you? Afternoon. My name is Jonathan Ex Fireman. I know I'm getting old. I got the bald squad now, so I know they're gonna pick that up. I am at 1274 Carlisle Road. I'm trying to, I guess fix an issue that was done in Piscataway earlier this year. So let me start. My name is Jonathan. I was an ex fireman for Company three for about four years. After that, I transferred over to the rescue squad. And then after that I joined cert Community Emergency Response team. And then I became a volunteer suicide counselor for military veterans for New York and New Jersey. And I would like to thank all of you for supporting us. You guys are a huge help sometimes and we actually do need an extra hand. There is an issue that I'm trying to fix that started earlier this year. It's in Piscataway dealing with two people working at the bus company.
Speaker 15 And it's escalating to a point where I believe the police are probably gonna end up getting involved Thursday when this goes to superior court. So I work as a bus aid on the short bus for the children who have heart issues and medical issues. That was about January 30th this year. And someone had pulled me inside and said, Hey, you're gonna be on bus two 17. There's a bit of an issue we actually have because the bus driver we know may have problems. And I said, okay, that's fine. I'm, I work with people who have issues like that before. The problem is it began to escalate to where kids were being taken out of their seat belts put in the front and they would continue driving. And then after the first incident with the bus driver ended up going at me on camera. My manager, his name is John at the bus company, pulled me aside and said, Hey, he joked laughingly, I thought I told you already, the bus driver has issues with everyone.
Speaker 15 And then he broke everything down. They had four aides before me by January 30th. That meant they had an aide each week for January, you're allowed one aide per year, but for some reason the bus driver can't work with, they don't like it. And then afterwards, again, after another incident, he already told me, well, they don't like the job, they don't want to be here. I'm like, that's fine, but we can't take that out on children because New Jersey buses have cameras on them that are there to protect the children, but also watch in the case of an accident. The problem is other incidents happening. I ended up emailing Paula Miller who was the secretary. And the problem is it began to escalate to a point where it was a huge issue. So after the bus driver ended up doing the last issue, which was we was on the bus and it was the grand school down there.
Speaker 15 Someone had actually just mentioned it, they took a child named Zacharia out of the seatbelt who was very, very young, put him in front of the bus and then continued driving without a seatbelt. The issue is there are some officers that have children at that school, and I know if they find out that that's their child, they're gonna be pretty upset. And so I spoke to my boss about it after I ended up yelling at the bus driver, we can't do that because they will catch it on camera. That's the issue. So he said, fine, I'll look at the video, I'll figure it out. I was told not to come in the Thursday afternoon, not to come in Friday, Monday, not to come in the afternoon. Then Tuesday they said, we're removing you from that position. And then I was told, you're gonna have to work with another school.
Speaker 15 And then now they're telling me, you still work here, but then you don't work here. The problem I have is that the bus driver may not have a personal issue. They might just be bipolar. But the problem is if you're bipolar, you might not be able to be in that position driving the bus, which is the issue. So if they do have a mental issue, they shouldn't be there. But the problem is now it keeps escalating to a point where I'm trying to get some type of justice because I lost my job. But I was specifically put there because they need a man on the bus. We have a boy named Angel that has a touching issue with certain females.
Speaker 2 So Sum, sum up your story just a bit because you've exceeded the three minutes.
Speaker 15 I got you. So all that's happening is I went to the police department to ask for help about the endangerment of a welfare of a child and child abuse. And they said, well you really can't report that if that person works for the township. And I said, fine. So I'm gonna go ahead and draft a case for the Superior Court and I'm gonna do that Thursday and then Friday I'm going to news 12. I've tried to talk to different people about fixing this and getting some help, but no one's contacted me at all. I did go to the other part and they just told me, we have lawyers and insurance looked at it and they're just gonna do a payout. And I'm like, that's fine, but they're still working there. So I'll just wrap it up and just read the small little paragraph that's here for that.
Speaker 15 And that's it. The first one is gonna be the violation of the New Jersey statute and Wage hour law 34 11 dash four. Number two, violation of the contentious Employee Protection Act, NJ stat 34 19 3 and 19 dash 12, breach of employed contract, endangerment of a welfare of a child, New Jersey child endangerment, statute A and B, attacking the witness of a crime in retaliation or tampering with a witness or victim or informant Defamation 28 US Code 41 0 1 hostage taking because they, I was taking hostage on the bus that is on camera and up to now no one has assisted me at all. For some reason false claims and hoaxes speeding Workplace abuse and harassment, title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Financial retaliation against an employee promissory estoppel and unjust enrichment. So if anyone could just pull me aside for five minutes to talk to me, I would appreciate that. Before charges are filed, we'll be going to News 12 Friday to put this out.
Speaker 2 Counsel, thank you sir. I ask question, correct me if I'm wrong, that is a board of education does
Speaker 9 This has to do with the Board of Education Buses or a
Speaker 15 Pride Bus company, correct? They already, no, they already said that the lawyers are gonna just do a payout and I'm like that's fine.
Speaker 9 All right, well you got three members of the board of Education are out in the public, so have a meeting with them
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney) Outside. So these aren't, so I'll talk to the police department, but the, they're not, they're not township employees, they're school board employees.
Speaker 2 This clearly a
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney) School board. So, so this is a school board.
Speaker 9 Rivers there. Who else? So, got on the board. Yeah, the board president right there. You have three members of the board of Ed right here. Yeah. So, so you can go meet them outside.
Raj Goomer (Township Attorney) But if you also want to, you know, after the meeting, if you wanna talk, we can talk, but I just ask the council because there's allegations of a complaint. I just ask the council not to make any comments. But I'm, I'm happy to talk to you, but I think this, this is a school board issue really.
Speaker 15 Okay. I have a court draft here if you guys wanna
Speaker 2 Thank you sir. Seeing no one else, I'm gonna close the public portion for the evening and I'm gonna ask for a motion to adjourn. Offer a second. Can espino all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Thank you everyone for coming out this evening and everyone have a safe ride home. Thank you.
Speaker 9 Okay,
Speaker 0 How good. Good, good. Nice to meet you. Yeah, unfortunately the township not, doesn't run the bus, have contract, doesn't have anything to do with the claim. So even if we, see I was, we don't kind of sit who can, so definitely you can do that speech and there complain against, so I'm not sure, but the, I'll talk department anyway. Yeah, yeah. Just call the mayor's office. If the police department, they're, they're not following right? It's on multiple, so, but yeah. We'll, police work for the, yeah, they don't work the private company. So.