Transcript for Piscataway Council meeting on March 13 2018
Note: Transcripts are generated by rev.ai and may not be fully accurate. Please listen to the recording (below) if you feel any text is inaccurate.
Speaker 0 00:00:00 Administration Council regarding German, any matters on this agenda? Item number six, which is open to the public if there are any comments regarding item number 10, agenda items. Item number seven in ordinance on second reading amending chapter two administration, section two dash six, council meeting. This ordinance is open to the public ms, either can you please read the ordinance be resolved by the town of Council, the Township, New Jersey that an ordinance entitled ordinance to amend and supplement the revised general ordinances of the Township of Theca, county of Mental Sex, state of New Jersey. Amending chapter two, administration to section six council meetings was introduced on the 27th day of February, 2018 and had passed the first reading. It was published on the second day of March, 2018. Now therefore be it resolved that the after of ordinance having had a second reading on March 13th, 2018, the adopted pass and after passage be published together with the notice of the date of passage or approval in the official newspaper. Be further resolved with this ordinance shall be a sign number 18 dash five. Thank you Ms. Sea. Are there any comments or questions from the public at this time? Okay, do I have a motion? Motion? I double a second. Second. Ms. Senior, can you please hold both? Mr. Bullard? Yes. Mrs. Cahill? Yes. Mr. Kahn? Yes. Mrs. Lombardi? Yes. Mr. Shaw? Yes. Mr. Earn? Yes. Mrs. McCollum? Yes. Thank you Ms. I second reading. Item number eight is a resolution authorizing the reading of calendar year 2018 Budget by title. Speaker 0 00:01:34 It's the resolution to make it by thank be resolved by the Township Council of Piscataway Town from New Jersey. That whereas NJSA 48 4 dash eight provides that the budget be read by title only at the time of public hearing if resolution is passed by not less than a majority of the full governing body, providing that at least one week prior to the date of hearing a complete copy of the approved budget. A as advertised has been posted in the municipal building. The local public library and copies have been made available by the clerk to persons requesting them. And whereas these conditions have been met now therefore be resolved by the Township Council, the Township, the scouting county of Middlesex, state of New Jersey. But the budget shall be read by title. Thank you. Do I have motion? No. Do I have a second? Second. Ms. Peter, can you the role Mr. Bullard? Yes. Mrs. Cahill? Yes. Mr. McConn? Yes. Mrs. Lombardi? Yes. Mr. Shaw? Yes. Mr. Uhrin? Yes. Mrs. McCollum? Yes. Okay. Item number nine, public hearing on calendar year 2018. Municipal budget. Do I have a motion? Speaker 0 00:02:44 Have to open this to the public. Are there any comments or questions? Have a motion. Motion. Have a second. Second. Mr. Bullard? Yes. Mrs. Cahill? Yes. Mr. Cahn? Yes. Mrs. Lombardi? Yes. Mr. Shaw? Yes. Mr. Uhrin? Yes. Mrs. McCollum? Yes. Item number 10, which is the consent agenda for efficiency items have been consolidated into consent. Agenda to be voted on together in terms of these items have been distributed to the council in advance of the meeting at this time, are there any items that the council would like removed? We consent agenda to be discussed? Do you have a motion? Motion? Second. Second. Mr. Bullard? Yes. Mrs. Cahill? Yes. Mr. To Mrs. Lombardi? Yes. Mr. Haw? Yes. Mr. Rin? Yes. Mrs. McCollum? Yes. Thank you. Item number 11, are there any announcements and comments from your officials at this time? Councilman blower. Nothing. Thank you. Council Gabriel, nothing at this time. Council president. No thank you. Speaker 0 00:03:57 I would again like to offer a special thank you to everybody. Helped us to get through this last incredibly crazy storm that we've had here at Skyway. From the dispatchers to the girls that answered the telephones at DPW, from the police policemen to the firemen rescue squad personnel. I'd like to thank them all for an incredible job that they have done. And also to the people who plowed the roads at about 6 30, 7 o'clock. It was like chaos hit in his and anyone who is involved or knows what happens during those emergency services understands what it takes for a town to be able to get through this together. So during these times, everyone comes together and gets it all done. I wanna thank them. Thank you. Council Haw. Councilman Hern, Mayor Tim or business with district Council. Speaker 1 00:05:04 Just wanted to clarify one thing. There was a discussion last week regarding compensation to Robert Wood Johnson for the emergency services. Wanted to clarify that they do not get paid for the services, but there is a payment to them required under Medicare for the minimum amount and that Township pays them the minimum amount that they can in order to prevent the RWJ from charging Medicare recipients of the Township of Piscataway, any deductibles or copays. So essentially the only payment they receive is not for their services, but to, to, to reimburse them as pursuant to Medicare regulations so that they don't go out and charge any medical recipients with deductibles or focus. Speaker 0 00:05:50 Okay. Thank you Raj. I I just wanna take a, a few moments last night with the Piscataway High School, our Winter Sports Award banquet. And I know that there are a couple people who were there last night. So I just want to announce some of the awards that were actually given out. There are eight sporting teams. Was basketball a gentleman by the name of Antonio Chandler was the MIP that the most improved player. A gentleman by the name of Mathias Dale was the most valuable player. This is for boys basketball. Girls basketball. The MIP was Maya Lee and the most valuable player was Nia Miller. Just happened to be biased towards basketball since I played. I just wanna mention boys Winter track. The most improved player was Jaden Terry and the most valuable player was happened to be my son, Larry McCollum. So congratulate them girls. Speaker 0 00:06:45 Winter Track MIP was Khalia Arrington and the most valuable player was Shante Nelson. And I have to say something about Shante Nelson. Shante Nelson is a junior. She did a phenomenal job last year, but she will be on the wall at Piscataway High School. So anybody who went to Piscataway or a parent who have children at Piscataway High School, when you walk down the hall, those pictures that you actually see, those are people who are nine times outta 10 state champions that are listed up there. So as a junior her picture will be up there. She's phenomenal. So just wanna congratulate her on that. Boys and girls bowling. So there's two ips and two most valuable players. One for the boys and one for the girls. So the MIP for boys was Randy Cruz. Most valuable player was Justin Ula for the girls. MIP Taylor Brown and MVP was Jessica Kovich for Boys and Girls Swimming. Speaker 0 00:07:39 The MIP was Kaitlyn Napoleon and they said that she always smiled. If you ever see her about smile on the face, it just will never happen. The most valuable player was Ashley Otis. For the gentleman. Mr. Nick Rousey was the MIP. And the MVP was Ashley. Did I say Ashley Otis already? Okay. So Winter cheerleaders, the most improved player was Layla Galin. And they had two MDPs, Amanda Crda and Kada Andrews. And wrestling. The most improved was Elijah Pit Good and the most valuable player was Michael Petite. So just wanna congratulate not only the athletes that were recognized, but all of the athletes that participated in the winter sports of this year. So great event. Now we have the opportunity to open the floor to the public. Are there any comments or questions from the public at this time? If you could please come to the podium and state your name and address and you have three minutes in which to speak. Hi, my name is Ellen Witt and I actually live in Highland Park. I, Speaker 3 00:08:54 I was, was the coordinator of the community effort to get a written policy in Middlesex County, which limited the county's assistance to ICE immigration and Customs Enforcement. This policy was adopted by the Middlesex County free holders last June. In fact, free freeholder, Ken Armwood of Piscataway voted in favor of that policy and with the support of Sheriff Mildred Scott of Piscataway, part of that policy ended the practice of helping ICE with arrests in the county courthouse. We were very happy to see elected officials from Piscataway play a positive role in this effort for the county. However, immigrants continue to need the support, not only of the county, but also of local townships for policies that limit local collaboration with ice. In particular, Piscataway continues to need to adopt such a policy. These policies not only benefit the community, but they also protect the Township. We can supply you with model policies. Speaker 3 00:10:00 I believe perhaps some of you have already seen them, some which have been vetted by the A CLU attorneys to, to use is you develop your own version. These policy set guidelines for what local personnel should do when contacted by ice. By taking this step, you would protect your own personnel should including the police from being forced to make decisions regarding ICE actions on the fly decisions, which could easily result in liability problems and costly lawsuits. For Piscataway. You would also take pressure off of your own employees by allowing them to clearly state should they ever interact with ice, that they are simply following the township's policies as decided by this body. I understand there has been perhaps some hesitation by this body to passing, to passing such a resolution or policy. Let me review just a few things that such policies due and do not do. Speaker 3 00:11:06 First, these policies do not violate federal law. They simply make clear that the Township will not act as an arm of immigration enforcement. It will not provide support to ICE unless a valid court order signed by a judge is issued or a law obligates it to do so. The Township and these policies would not now, or in the future, sign on to any 2 87 Jeep agreements with ice that would deputize local police to act as ice agents. Piscataway employees, including the police, would not assist ICE with immigration raids or other ice actions. And the resources of the Township, such as records and equipment would not be provided to ice. In other words, the Piscataway police and staff would not become partners in the mass deportation efforts of the federal government by making it clear to all your personnel as well as to the community that you are not part of this deportation machine. You help protect everyone's rights as well as the integrity of your own institutions. So I stand ready to help answer any questions that the town Council may have about these policies or to put you in touch with attorneys who can address any of your concerns because I and others in the community have worked on this extensively. Thank you. Thank you. Can I just ask you your full name again 'cause I didn't get it in. It's Ellen Whitt, W-H-I-T-T. Thank you. Speaker 3 00:12:43 Any other comments or questions from the public at this time? Speaker 4 00:12:48 All. I'm s Madison. I live in Piscataway. I've been a resident for almost 18 years on immigrant rights. I'd like to lead read the lead paragraph from an AC UL website. Our immigration detention system locks up hundreds of thousands of immigrants unnecessarily every year, exposing detainees to brutal and Maine conditions of confinement at massive cost to the American taxpayers. The second paragraph free just follows, the lock em up Approach to detention is, is contrary to common sense and our fundamental values in America. Liberty should be the norm for everyone and detention the last resort. What we are asking for is a policy that limits on American approach to immigrants and follows our fundamental values. Thank you. Speaker 3 00:13:46 Thank you. Mr. Madison. Speaker 5 00:13:51 Hello, my name is Judy Payne. I'm from one 17 Fountain Avenue. Good evening. Me, you guys. I know many of you. I would just like to know on the same subject, how would Chris Getaway respond to a request from someone from ice? If you have any policies set? Speaker 2 00:14:11 Sure. Speaker 1 00:14:13 So right now, the, I we're actually looking into a policy as we speak. I've had conversations with the police department, et cetera. I can tell you that we've never had any detain requests, any requests from ICE at the present time. We've, and they've also never assisted ICE in removal enforcement procedures. There is no written policy right now. We're looking into it. We have to, there's various aspects we have to look to make sure that we meet our insurance policy requirements to work with insurance company working with, we're looking at other townships, not police departments, what they're doing, et cetera. The, the Township does not, the Township does not collect any information on, on immigrants, et cetera. They don't ask for immigrant status at at any stops and or, or in court. I think the 2 87 G was brought up with the Township doesn't plan to participate in any 2 87 g deputization agreements. I think that covers all the requests I can think of. So, Speaker 6 00:15:23 You know Speaker 5 00:15:24 What timeframe you're looking at since you said you've been looking into it, like how much longer it'll be before you come up with a written policy. Speaker 1 00:15:33 I, I kind of probably give it time, but we are working towards all, so, Speaker 2 00:15:39 Okay. Speaker 5 00:15:39 Thank you. Speaker 6 00:15:40 Thank you Ms. Mayor. Hi, good evening. Hi, my name is Jessica Stelton. I'm actually from Highland Park as well, and I worked on the Middle six County policy in, in addition to Ellen. With Ellen, I just wanted to follow up to the, to the statement that was just made about the insurance policy. I wanted to ask a little bit more about what her clarification, what you meant. I hadn't heard that from other, we worked on a policy in Highland Park and I wanted to understand what you meant by the insurance policy request for Speaker 1 00:16:14 So, so liability purposes, either from lawsuits, et cetera, our insurance companies, the JF et cetera, we need to run it by them to make sure that any policy, written policy that we have, you know, is, is approved, acceptable to them also. Speaker 6 00:16:27 And I would just like to follow up on the fact that I'm, I'm sure you may have read about two recent lawsuits that were filed against either counties or municipalities related to unlawful detainer requests in Henrico County, Virginia. There was a lawsuit settled for someone who was held past their time. That was in June of 2017. And I would also like to add more recently in, in just February of 2018, a massive lawsuit in Los Angeles County. I think thousands of unlawful detainer requests for people holding for law enforcement, holding people who should be allowed to leave past, past their time. So just something to really be mindful of as it, when you said insurance, that's what I thought of. I thought of, of, of the possibility of protecting yourself from some of these lawsuits. Speaker 1 00:17:20 Yeah, I mean we, our intention is never to have, to never to act in a way that would cause those lawsuits in the first place. And, Speaker 6 00:17:26 And, but not having written policies in place is, is making you susceptible Speaker 1 00:17:30 To that. Which is why, which is why we're, we're working out. We want our, well, our officers have an idea and understanding of, of what they're meant to do. We wanna make sure that it's uniform and there's written policy taken, referred Speaker 6 00:17:40 To and training too. Thank you. Thanks Ms. Hudson. Speaker 2 00:17:45 Are Speaker 6 00:17:45 There any other comments or questions? Speaker 1 00:17:47 No. Speaker 7 00:17:50 Hello, my name is Brian Lee. I come from neighboring Somerset. And I would just like to reiterate the, my support for a fair and welcoming policy, which is to say that you will not help ice deport people. And while that might seem like a remote possibility to, to, to some of us right now, I can tell you that in my town, Franklin Township, I've been trying, working with the Mayor and the Town Council to, to pass a policy like this. And they keep telling me, oh, ICE never comes here. You know, ice is not around. And then recently ICE did come to our town and they took away Liam, who is a Chinese Christian refugee from Indonesia. He fled, you know, poms in that country. He's got relatives that were, that were killed by, you know, by xenophobic and anti-Christian forces. And he fled to the US thinking he would be safe here. Speaker 7 00:18:45 But then ICE has now grabbed him and they're detaining him. And his deportation has been stayed, but he's still in detention. So when you don't think that ice would ever come here or that you don't have a population that's affected, it could still happen without, you know, it would just happen. And also I would like to say that, you know, this policy is about making sure that your immigrant community here can trust the local police, can trust the local government, which is actually a really important thing right now. 'cause it's a very, very difficult time for many immigrant families. Recently, drew, this is part of the ice raid on the Indonesian refugee community. I went to the aftermath of one, which is, you know, ICE came to this housing complex and they knocked on some doors, but they left. And I went with Pastor South capo of Highland Park and we, he has some, he knows some of the Indonesian refugees there. Speaker 7 00:19:43 We knocked on some doors and they were all terrified. They were all hiding behind the doors. And then there was a school official who came by who said that he had heard that this kid didn't come to school because his parents got deported. And what we found out was that his parents, I were actually, they were not deported. They were not in trouble yet, but they were too terrified to send their kids to school. And this school was literally right next door. I mean, it's just, it is, it is the next building over. So, and this is what's happening and to, to people all over the world, all over the US and all over New Jersey. And another way that the police can wind up being inadvertently dragged into helping isis. Last year in Elizabeth Ice came to Elizabeth, they came to this store looking for this woman who was undocumented. Speaker 7 00:20:30 But the women, you know, she knew her, right? She wouldn't let them in with other judicial warrant. So what they did was they called the local Elizabeth Police. They were like, why don't you convince her? So the police came and knocked on their door and you know, then they were a little more scared of the, the local police. So they let the local police in. But you know, luckily they were smart enough to not let ice in, but the local police tried to convince 'em to let ice in. So if you don't have policy, these are the kinds of things that your police could wind up doing. And we know that in New Brunswick there have been rumors and even eyewitness accounts of the Brunswick Police helping us even after policies were passed. So it's very important to pass policies and to have the training to make sure that, you know, that there is no coordination. Speaker 0 00:21:17 Okay, thank you Mr. Lee. Are there any other comments or questions from the public at this time? Speaker 6 00:21:29 Good evening. I'm Staci Berger, 2 33 Ellis Parkway. Ms. Mahome, thanks for your comments about the banquet, the award ceremony last night. It was really very nice to be there with all of those students my son got was ity letter, so that was awesome. We had a couple of questions last week and we didn't really get to finish them up about the, the developments that are being promoted, the warehouse mostly warehouses and some of the manufacturing developments. And I think those tie into the discussion we're having here about fair and welcoming status. Because one of the things that we talked about last week was we don't have any written guarantees or any concrete reporting that those jobs are going to go to people who live in Piscataway. And so we can expect that some of them at least are gonna go to folks who don't live in Piscataway. And we have all kinds of other jobs here for people who don't necessarily live here. So even if the council feels that, you know, we don't have a, a large undocumented population, which I don't think is accurate, we potentially have people coming to work here and driving through our town who may in fact be susceptible to ice race. So, so Speaker 0 00:22:28 If I could just comment, so we don't restrict employment, so we have teachers that are, that come from this town who teach in our schools and they're from other towns. Of course, you know, we Speaker 6 00:22:37 Have right. I'm not suggesting we restrict employments to Piscataway only, I'm just, what I was asking last week and what we ascertained through the back and forth was that the work, the companies that got the payment in lieu of tax abatements that came to Piscataway and, and got a tax incentive to be here, didn't necessarily have to make any commitment to hire Piscataway residents. And so one of the things that this connects to is the fact that there are people in Piscataway who may not be residents, but may in fact be undocumented. And therefore we need the protection of a fair and welcoming policy to protect our entire community, whether or not they're residents. Because one of the things that we've heard folks say is that we don't have a large undocumented residential population. And I think we need to look beyond just the folks who live here and we need to consider the people who work here and travel through our community because it's a very large one and we have people coming in from all over cutting in, cutting through town to get to other places. So I just think it's important that we look at not just the, the, the folks who live here, but the folks who enjoy all the aspects of our community. I did wanna just follow up on the question of timing. I know you don't know exactly when, but can you give us kind of a, you know, bigger than a bread basket, smaller than a vw? Like what's the, is it a month, six weeks, a year? Speaker 1 00:23:48 I, I can't tell because, Speaker 6 00:23:49 And somebody on the council maybe give us some sense of what your commitment to this is. Could you at least, maybe even if you don't have all the pieces, could you pass Speaker 1 00:23:56 A resolution because they're in the out outreach right now, or outreach phase connecting with other, other, or to townships. They're also working with their accreditation company. There it is all about the response Speaker 6 00:24:06 Time. I'm sorry, the accreditation Speaker 1 00:24:07 Company. There's a, there's companies that accredited all police departments would want make sure that, that their, that our policies match the accreditation requirements. So there's, there's various aspects to making sure that legally these policies are, are, you know, don't cause any issues to the police department. Sure. As well as are they're doing the proper constitutional and accurate, you know, actions. And, and that's number policy. So because of the, because of the fact that we're relying on other third parties to respond, that's partially why I can't, I don't wanna give a deadline and then pass the deadline and you come up here and say, well, it's been a month, you know, you told me a month. So for that reason, you know, yes, we definitely, Speaker 6 00:24:47 Well I'm just trying to get a sense, like a six months a definitely follow up. What's the, what's the, what's if you could, if if somebody has a, it's Speaker 1 00:24:52 In progress. It's in progress. So it's not gonna be a six months or a year, but you know, well we came Speaker 6 00:24:56 Here a we came, Speaker 1 00:24:58 We can definitely connect, you know. Oh, as things move forward, we'll definitely connect and give you updates. Speaker 0 00:25:03 Okay. So at this point in time, we don't have a timeframe at this point. Speaker 6 00:25:07 Okay. Speaker 0 00:25:07 Thanks. Sure. Any other comments or questions from the public at this time? Information to adjourn please. All a second. Second. All in favor? Aye. Meetings adjourned. I'd like to move on to the agenda meeting. I'd like to pull the meeting to order. Adequate notice of this meeting has been provided as required of the chapter 2 31 PL 1975, specifying the time, date, location, and to the extent no the agenda by copy of the notice on the municipal building municipal court, and the two municipal library bulletin awards, providing a copy to the official newspaper of the Township and by filing a copy in the office of the Township clerk in accordance with the certification by the clerk, which will be entered into the minutes. Ms. Senior, you please hold the roll. Mr. Buller? Here. Mrs. Kay? Here. Excuse me. Mr. Cahn? Here. Mrs. Lombardi? Here. Mr. Haw? Here. Mr. Uhrin? Here. Mrs. MCC stand for the number five is a resolution to adopt county 2018 calendar year municipal budget. Are there any comments or questions at this time? Item number six, which is a resolution authorizing award of bid mix, asphalt or construction materials. The bid opening will be on March 15th, 18. Are any comments this time of that? No. I could name a few potholes that could use it right here. Speaker 0 00:26:50 Item number seven, a resolution authorizing award of bid for the 4th of July fireworks. The bid opening will be March 15th, 2018. Are there any comments or questions at this time? Speaker 9 00:27:01 No. I just want to make, Speaker 0 00:27:02 I just wanna say that every year we have Speaker 2 00:27:04 Lots of people Speaker 0 00:27:06 From Speaker 9 00:27:06 Other towns coming to Speaker 2 00:27:07 Us. Speaker 0 00:27:09 I like that too. Item number eight, A resolution authorized in 2008 solicitor's license for Hector Rosado. Are there any comments or questions? Item number nine of resolution authorizing raffle licenses RA 1357 for the American Legion Post 2 61 RA 1358 and RA 1359 for Plainfield VI INC and RA 1360. The BPOE Ms. Stanley Lodge number 2 4 24 14 And Big O license RA 2 64 EPOE SCA Lodge number 2 4 14. Any comments or questions? Item number 10, a resolution authorizing cancellation of taxes for 2 55 Stelton Road. Are there any comments or questions? Item number 11, a resolution authorizing professional air engineering services for the senior center's HVAC controls upgrade and not to exceed $11,500 there. Any comments or question Speaker 2 00:28:11 Item Speaker 0 00:28:12 Number 12 or resolution authorizing change order number one, department of Public work Public Works HVAC renovations TTNM Associates not to exceed $6,000. Any comments of questions? Item number 13, a resolution authorizing award of contract under National Cooperative Purchasing Agreement. This is for playground equipment for replacement at Purine Red Blood Sturbridge, Tara and Yorktown Parks by Play Power lt Arlington INC, which is not to exceed $899,153 and 45 cents. Any comments or questions? Item number 14, a resolution authorizing award of contract under Middle states Regional Educational Education Services Commission 2018 Park Shelter replacements not to exceed $76,807 and 64 cents. Any comments or questions at this time? Item number 15, a resolution authorizing refund of overpayment of taxes due to tax court judgment for 88 Centennial Avenue. Any comments or questions? Speaker 9 00:29:22 I just wanna say this is an example of what we've talked about the last couple of meetings where it's a, it's a building that's either unoccupied or under occupied in this case we are refunding $24,000 in overpayment of tasks for 2017. It's an example that we talked about and trying to fill Speaker 10 00:29:40 This space so we can avoid having to do this collecting money rather than getting it back. Speaker 0 00:29:47 Item number 16, resolution authorizing return of engineering and inspection fees at 20 Duke Road and five 12 Union Avenue. Any comments or questions? Item number 17, resolution authorizing return of senior housing security deposit for Alberto Ho Ban, Nabo Naba and Apartment 3 52. Any comments or questions? Item number 18, resolution authorizing return internal landscape bond. Cynthia Pen at 22 Popular Road. Any comments or questions? Item number 19, a resolution authorizing release of performance, security and cash bonds at 365 Randolphville and 365 South Van Oakville Road. Any comments or questions? Item number 20, resolution authorizing return of driveway bond at two 11 Hamilton Boulevard. Any comments or questions? Item number 21. This is the proclamation for Parkinson's Disease Aware Ms. Monk, this will be done in April. Any comments or questions on us? Speaker 10 00:31:02 We should invite the president, definitely. Foundation. Speaker 0 00:31:06 Definitely have we have invited him. Okay, great. Item number 22. Are there any announcements and comments from officials at this time? Mr. Bullard? Speaker 10 00:31:17 Just a quick statement and that is that you all know our library has lots of community events and this Saturday at one o'clock at the community event is basically for international, for people to bring international foods there and things of that nature. So you get an opportunity to eat things from here, there and every place else. Speaker 0 00:31:43 Is this the make, is this the makers? Is this the makers? What is makers? Speaker 10 00:31:50 Last Saturday in which they had every thing including drones. Okay. Being made right there for youngsters. That's that Speaker 0 00:31:58 Saturday. So this one is the international? Speaker 10 00:32:01 Yes. Speaker 0 00:32:03 Is that JFK only here Speaker 10 00:32:05 Too? Yes. I know. Right next door. Yeah. Okay. At one o'clock. Speaker 0 00:32:10 Thank you. I agree. Be remiss since I married an Irishman not to wish all those a very happy sea. Patrick, stay Councilman, Cahn Speaker 10 00:32:23 Comments in a serious nature today. Speaker 0 00:32:26 Councilman member Lombardi. Everyone's Irish name. Patrick today council Shaw Councilman. Franker Mayor. Speaker 10 00:32:36 I'm the seventh generation Irishman Speaker 11 00:32:39 Pretty tight. I got my feet, I second very quickly from the storm damage, we're gonna have an emergency contract to do the damages in some of the parks, mainly the backstops or several of parks. Everybody knows that baseball season's like starting now, it's imperative that the contract gets awarded next 27th because believe it or not, on the 28th the prices of the costs of the steel for the backstops going up because of the tariffs that the president installed. So the, the company which is other state contract is gonna hold the price, but the next day is going up. So Speaker 0 00:33:20 Council president, just in addition Mr. Mayor, is there anything else that we need to look into in Speaker 11 00:33:26 We're doing, we're doing China quickly. The, the backstops. So the, the immediate thing, because the baseball starts right now, so some of the parts will not be able to use because backstops are totally caved in, which tells you the way of the smell because these were steel very structurally sound and that it the way that the smell cad it in, which is pretty impressive. So that was big parking corner. This part in a part of way Speaker 0 00:33:55 Tim. Tim. Any comments? Speaker 11 00:33:59 No comments. Thank you. Speaker 0 00:34:00 And I don't have any additional comments at this time, so I'd like to open the floor to the public if you have any comments or questions, please come to the podium. State your name and your address. So we have three minutes and we should speak. I have another question. Do I have to second Judy Payne, Speaker 5 00:34:16 17th Avenue. What is Township doing for other branches? Like on individual properties that are down? And I know you have, Speaker 11 00:34:27 I may Council president, starting on March 19th, we will be collecting only those branches that were storm damage. We're not expecting people to clean out their entire backyards, just put it at the curbside neatly cut up and then we will be collecting, we're gonna do the entire town within a two week period. So just keep an eye on our, on our website. Speaker 5 00:34:48 Starting what date was Speaker 11 00:34:49 That? 19th. Okay, so in other words, instead of having a St Patrick's thing, you could be out there in your yard putting it at the curbside like a lot of people are gonna be doing. So because these are the same public works employees now they gotta take care of the storm damage, but we're trying to fill potholes at the same time. So we're gonna have a two week window where we're gonna go around collecting all this stuff for folks at the curbside. Speaker 0 00:35:13 Okay. Speaker 5 00:35:14 And on another note, I think I was in Edison the other day and I know you mentioned about getting businesses that pay taxes into Piscataway as opposed to us paying back to them, but at the same time, looking around it's, you know, you can have a high road of development or a low road of development and trucking bays. It's just not very attractive for anybody to wanna live here. And I just happened to take some pictures of this area and I was just like, I hope my town doesn't end up looking like this because I would just not wanna live here and, and I don't see why anybody would want to. Speaker 9 00:35:58 Judy, I, I grew up in Edison. I, I still work there. I love Edison, but Edison is perhaps the greatest example of terrible zoning that you could ever possibly imagine. You, everything is all over the place. Mixed up with no thought in many areas as to what the facade looks like. And the town has gone from, you know, being a small town to Billy to some degree when I was a kid into being overdeveloped mess that almost looks like it just dropped it out of the sky. No offense to my friends in Edison, but I mean this is exactly description. We've been much more careful in how we zone things and where we place things here historically not, and this goes back long before I was involved there, light, you know, and others zone certain things in certain ways. Like you don't see on hose lane for example. It doesn't look like Route 18 in East Brunswick, even though it's route 18. It's not zoned that way. You couldn't go to McDonald's, you know, on hose lane. So fantastic. I wouldn't suggest that we're perfect, but we, but we've had an eye towards how we zone things, where we place things for the generation stuff. Speaker 5 00:37:11 But doesn't it seem like the trucking thing so close to people's homes and residents are, it's just not a good idea? I mean with the pollution that it brings and the harm that's been, cause our kids, Speaker 0 00:37:24 So this, that area that I think that you're speaking of on Centennial, right? So it's been zoned like that for I think what, maybe 40 or 50 years? Years, 50 years now. So it's not for Yes, light industrial, Speaker 5 00:37:38 You call it trucking light industry. Speaker 0 00:37:40 That's the, that's the definition. That's what the lobby redesign that Speaker 5 00:37:43 We wake it up. Thank Speaker 0 00:37:46 You. Sure, no problem. Speaker 9 00:37:47 Judy. I'll talk to you about either after the meeting with some other time and what the reality I think is that site to thing. Speaker 0 00:37:55 Any other, any other? Yes, just some clarification. I'm Jackie Littlejohn, I'm at 15th from Hollow Road. Mayor, you said that on the fifth, on the 19th they'll start picking up the, the tree branches and I have a tree. So does, does that mean that it has to be cut up the entire tree and bundle? Yeah, Speaker 11 00:38:16 Just the, the normal procedure, what it is always has been for the last 40 years in the town. When it comes to a situation like that, whether you have a curbside pickup, it has to be X amount of, I mean, you know, you're not gonna have a 20 foot section of a tree expecting 'cause the truck doesn't fit in the truck. Speaker 0 00:38:32 So I Are you asking if the tree is like it's not totally cut down or are we gonna come and cut it down? No. Does it have to be cut? Does it have to be branched in order for you to pick it off? Yes, exactly. Okay. Because I have two full trees that fell. So they have to be Are they, are they town trees? Yeah, they are. No, no, no. They Speaker 9 00:38:52 Right away there are trees in their Township Speaker 0 00:38:55 Trees. Right. Unless, well I didn't, we didn't plant the trees so I'm assuming that they're Township trees. Speaker 9 00:39:00 Are they, are they along the curb line? Speaker 0 00:39:03 One is if one is and one is on the side of my house, we didn't plan either one. The previous owner could have planted in for, I know, but we did not plant. So it doesn't make a Speaker 12 00:39:11 Difference. If you play, if it's on your property, then that would be yours. If it's the Township tree, Speaker 0 00:39:16 Which might be in the curb line, no one is definitely a Township. The other one is debatable. But one for sure the entire tree fell Speaker 9 00:39:24 Wrong. Mayor, if it's a Township tree, our folks can, Speaker 11 00:39:26 Yeah, we'll take care of it. But, but the end game is, is that, you know, if it's on the, their property, you know they need to have it cut up and put up the curbside. Speaker 0 00:39:35 So how are you gonna know the difference if I set both of 'em out or how are you gonna know that one is your tree and one is not? No, no. So the one, if you cut the one that's on your property and put it out, we'll take it. But the one that's the Township tree, give us a call and we'll let you know or we'll send someone out there and we can identify whether that is our tree or something. Okay? Okay. Thank you. Yeah, Speaker 9 00:39:55 Just if it is a Township tree, the Township will come and declare this. Okay. Speaker 0 00:40:00 Wants to know that's what you Okay, thank you. You're welcome. Speaker 9 00:40:04 Thing we did in Sandy. Okay. Speaker 10 00:40:06 Any other comments? Thing to do is just call DPW and give me your address and they'll send some out. Take a look. Get it. Speaker 0 00:40:13 Thank you. Sure. Any other comments or questions at this time? Please come to the podium. State your name and address. You have three minutes. Let she speak. Speaker 3 00:40:22 Okay. Ellen Whitt from Highland Park. I just wanted to follow up. I I think I'm happy to hear that you're working on a written policy on interactions with ice. I wondered right now exactly the one thing I don't think you quite addressed would, if ICE actually came to Piscataway and were to request assistance in from the police, for example, to go to a house or to go to a workplace for a raid, what would be the response of the police in that case? 'cause I Speaker 11 00:40:56 May counsel, we don't do that. We have enough on our plate. Speaker 3 00:41:00 So you would, so the police would reject that request. That's We have enough, Speaker 11 00:41:04 We have enough Speaker 3 00:41:05 On our plate right now. So they understand that that's the position. Okay. Speaker 3 00:41:11 The o the other thing I just wanted to mention that there are a number of municipalities that have done the work on this and in in fact in particular, Hoboken, Jersey City, Newark as well as of course Highland Park here as far as local towns, have spent a lot of time vetting this stuff and working through it. And I would point you in that direction to talk to some of those places. Or we could get you materials from them in some place. Cases people are, you know, it's not like everything has to be in one resolution. Even for example, Hudson County just ended their contract of 2 87 G. It's nothing to prevent the council from simply passing a resolution that says we to put on the table that we will not sign on to 2 87 G in the future. It's one thing to say that verbally here, but to be able to say that publicly and in writing and a clear statement, I think does help. Speaker 3 00:42:10 It helps the whole effort around the state. And you may, you know, wanna consider just going ahead and doing that. That doesn't require vetting or anything else. The other thing I just wanted to mention is that as far as consulting a lot of places, as you're talking to some of these townships, I think that would be valuable perhaps, but you also can make it a situation where you're consulting every possible contractor for permission to do what is legal. I mean, all of these things are actually legal and in fact, even for the threats that have come from the federal government at times about taking away funds from townships, there's been two federal court cases very recently that decided both in California and Philadelphia, that this is not legal for the federal government to deny funds. And the federal government hasn't denied funds to anybody yet. Speaker 3 00:43:08 I mean, they haven't actually distributed funds to anybody, whether you had a an agreement with them or not. So it, it doesn't much matter. But I, I think it's important to recognize that you could play a very important role as a town and make a real contribution to everyone else by taking, going ahead and taking a stand and not making it so complicated for yourself that it drags on and on and on. Which I can imagine if you had to get everybody who you get accreditation from and this and that, you could just make it more difficult when it's a completely legal policy. That's why the A CLU spent so much time vetting it to make sure for the state of New Jersey, they're totally legal policies. Okay, thanks a lot. Thank you. Any comments or questions? Speaker 13 00:44:01 Hi, Speaker 3 00:44:02 Good Speaker 11 00:44:02 Evening, Fred White, 6 0 7 Speaker 3 00:44:04 Ellis Parkway White. Speaker 11 00:44:06 I noticed you had this admissible data sheet and I wanted to thank you very much for making that public. I'd like to have a question. It says introduced budget, but I wanted to ask you, regarding 2017, is that audited figures or is that just left over from last year's budget? Speaker 10 00:44:25 We're, we're in the process of January 17. What now? Speaker 11 00:44:30 Well, I, I was told in early February You have it ready in about a month. How, how many weeks out are we? Speaker 10 00:44:35 No, absolutely not. It'll be done by June. Speaker 11 00:44:38 June. Right. Just just so you know, our council president, now's the time that all the towns in the city New Jersey go through the audit and it's going be ready for Joe Speaker 2 00:44:49 Or comments. Thank you. Sure. Any other comments or questions from the public? Sure. Speaker 11 00:45:09 David Akins and Gross Valley Lang. Good evening counsel. Good evening. Ms. Speaker 2 00:45:12 Akins Speaker 11 00:45:13 On item 13 and 14. It's simple. Who pays Speaker 2 00:45:21 Which Are you talking about the park or I Speaker 11 00:45:26 13 And for today? Yeah, Speaker 10 00:45:27 For both. They're both parking budgets and they're being paid more by the Township. Speaker 11 00:45:35 Item number 12, the $6,000 is that for the renovations for the HPAC for both bathrooms. Just walk, Speaker 2 00:45:48 This is the bathroom. Right? Speaker 10 00:45:50 Right. What we're doing is we're, this is where change orders adding additional inspection costs in order to properly manage recommendations of the H-V-H-V-A-C system in the DPW building. It's just that they, the original contract was for 74,500 and they need to spend a little bit more inspection time, which will take it up to 80,500. Speaker 11 00:46:12 Okay. Do you know what necessitated the $6,000 increase in down something or what Speaker 10 00:46:18 They're gonna be doing? More inspection and more work? Speaker 11 00:46:28 One other question. It's been about two, well, two or three weeks ago I had asked about a parcel on School Street, I think it was 1 29 School Street. I asked last meeting and it was old at the time when I asked and we didn't have the information, why do we need that particular parcel? At first I thought it was with the project, but it wasn't, that was project that you were mentioning was for phase two. So this is, if I may, council president, this is a surplus piece of property sandwiched in between two residential homes. It has to go out to bid. One of the neighbors has asked about selling it 'cause they want to buy it. Okay. So it's gonna be sold. Yeah. Okay. If also meant there's been a lot of illegal dumping going on the property too. Speaker 2 00:47:23 So what doing the Speaker 10 00:47:25 Neighbor, the neighbor Speaker 11 00:47:26 Wants to buy it, right? Be put out for Speaker 6 00:47:29 Watching. I'm, I'm gonna comment on that. Okay. Thank you Ms. Safety. Thank you. Speaker 0 00:47:35 Any other comments or questions for the public at this time? Speaker 6 00:47:40 I, I just have a couple of follow up. Staci Berger bill 2 33. Ms. Hi. Hi again. Berger. Hi. So one of the things that we've, we've talked about in the, OR I found in the budget, which I'm, I guess I'm a little confused because in the first meeting the budget was adopted. Is that correct? I just wanna make sure I understand what the process was because it was on the agenda for last. It was on the, Speaker 0 00:48:05 It it Speaker 6 00:48:06 Wasn't a doctor. Okay. So is there an actual set of hearings for people who come ask questions about what's in the budget? Or is that, was that supposed to happen before it, it was this, these meetings move very quickly. So I'm just trying to make sure, and I understand everyone has other places to be, but I'm just trying to make sure I enter the process. Is that, is there a budget discussion where like the departments so over what they're spending or what they haven't, what they might not spend? Or is it just, how does that, how does that happen? Speaker 10 00:48:32 Yeah, we, we begin the, we began the budget process back in last end of last August. So we went through the CFO and I went through with all of our department heads, listened to their requests, listened to the needs, the rationale, and then the CFO and I put together, we gave that, we presented that to the council. The council introduced it last month and we were hoping to adopt it tonight with the state numbers more released. So we're hopefully without the next week. Speaker 6 00:49:07 Okay. So I, that that, that's very helpful. Thank you. My question was more about how people who live in the town can get information about what's in the budget and whether they have an opportunity to weigh in. Yes. Once the budget has been formally presented, is there an opportunity like for people to come see with charts and decide whether they want more money to go to parks or they want more money to go to the library or Speaker 10 00:49:31 Go ahead. We, we had a, we, it was on the agenda for tonight for public comment. Speaker 6 00:49:38 Okay. So this is the budget posted on the website where people could look at it and then come with questions? Or do they have to know that? I'm just trying to understand what the process, they have to know that they have to come to this meeting and read this, this budget between now and the time that Mrs. McCollum asked for a public comment in the very beginning. So Speaker 0 00:49:58 Right. So I think, so it was introduced some time ago. I can't recall which meeting. But then there's another opportunity next week it will be on the agenda. Speaker 6 00:50:05 But if that, if the state aid had not, the state aid numbers had been done, it would be done tonight. If the state aid numbers had been done, it would've been done tonight would be when is there a period at which the council advertises people can come ask the council questions about the budget? Yes. You've already done this. There are. Okay. I'm just, I'm asking because I I didn't see it on the website. I didn't see see the budget on the website. Is the budget on the website the proposed budget? It's not, it's it's not. It was published. Okay. It was published. I don't know what that means. It was published public. Speaker 10 00:50:36 It was, we advertise in the newspaper after the introduction Speaker 6 00:50:40 Publish. But it's not available on the website paper. Speaker 10 00:50:42 It's available here. Come get it from my office. You can get it from the clerk. You can get it from the CFO. It's required to be posted on the website once it's adopted. Speaker 6 00:50:52 Okay. I understand it's required. I'm asking if it's not possible to post it in advance. I know we discussed last week, we can't post everything on the internet, but we could probably post this. It's not that big. So the one, the one question I had about the fair and welcoming status issues that we've been discussing that are related to the budget, and I guess this is why I'm, why I'm asking this is because in the past when we came in September with hundreds of signatures and you all said you were looking into that and you, you get right back to us. One of the concerns that was raised from the council was that there were federal dollars at stake. I think Ms. Sweat really articulated why those aren't at stake. But I, looking at this and I'm confused about why you would've said that because there's, we don't get any CDBG money. We didn't get any last year. We're not anticipating, I'm on sheet nine. We didn't get any CDBG community development block grant dollars last year and we're not anticipating. Okay. Okay. There, I'm looking at what your general revenues say on sheet nine. And this is, I'm not trying to be adversarial, I'm trying to understand what's in the budget because this says zero. So I'm trying, so if you got CBBG money Speaker 10 00:51:53 Grant money, grant money is located, we do not anticipate grant money. But you anywhere in the budget. So it's not in the revenue columns. So Speaker 6 00:52:02 You're, it realized in cash in 2017. Speaker 10 00:52:07 I can explain this to you or get, Speaker 6 00:52:09 Okay, I'm just trying to understand it. Speaker 10 00:52:11 So when we get, this Speaker 6 00:52:12 Is the first time a chance to, okay, so, so, so hold on a second. So we have to ask a question and then he's gotta get an opportunity to answer. Okay. And then, okay, just cross examination. Speaker 10 00:52:21 So when we get grant money in the CFO prepares an addendum to the budget, which goes in with grants and we, the council passes it, we send it to the state, the state approves it and it'll be calculated in with our grants. Speaker 6 00:52:38 And again, we Speaker 10 00:52:39 Don't anticipate, we're not allowed to anticipate the state. The state does not allow us to anticipate grants in our budget as revenue proceed. Speaker 6 00:52:46 But that would show up in the audit that Mr. White's looking for. Speaker 10 00:52:49 You can see the grants, right? You can see what grants we got in 16. In the 16 audit, which is on last summer. Speaker 6 00:52:54 Which is on the website. Speaker 10 00:52:56 Which is on the website. Speaker 6 00:52:57 That's correct. Yeah. On the website. Same question about the FEMA OEM grant. Grant emergency management grant. That's a lot of grants. I'm assuming that follows under the same category that you're not allowed to anticipate those Speaker 10 00:53:08 Right. And not allowed to anticipate. Speaker 6 00:53:10 Okay. There's some grant, there's some things in here that do look that do say grant and are anticipated. So I'm confused by that because you've got the recycling tonnage grant that 90 looks like $90,000. Speaker 10 00:53:22 Right. That's that we, that we get by state law. So that's what I'm anticipate. Speaker 6 00:53:27 Right. I'm just saying suggest, I'm suggesting that in this process you might want, I mean I'm not suggesting the state do the budget differently. I'm just saying it might be a good opportunity to explain to people what's in the budget if you had them, you know, were available beforehand because it would be helpful for people to know somebody didn't have to go back. Speaker 10 00:53:43 So we have it tonight, Speaker 6 00:53:44 So. Right. I mean I can't, I'm pretty smart, but I can't read all of this. Speaker 10 00:53:48 We're back for the 27th. So if you'd like, you can come in, meet with Daniel and Daniel would be glad to go over and answer any question. Speaker 6 00:53:55 I appreciate that. I just, do you have a, do you have outside of the, I'll give you Speaker 0 00:53:58 About 31 seconds. Speaker 6 00:53:59 I just wanna know what you might anticipate, even though you're not allowed to put it in here. Do you anticipate getting funding or can you tell me what was in 2016 for the, for either the CBBG grant or the FEMA only Speaker 10 00:54:11 Offhand. Speaker 0 00:54:13 So what, we can take that as an, you're talking about the housing community development. That was about 227,222. I think if my memory says me correctly, 'cause I went to that meeting, we can get the exact number for you. Okay, Speaker 6 00:54:28 Thanks. I appreciate it. Speaker 0 00:54:29 Sure. Council president, I just want to let the record reflect that dismissible tax rate is going down 12%. Any other comments or questions from the public at this time? Yeah, sure, please. So taxes going down, we have rate is the tax rate, tax rates going down pilot program, how is all of this going to once again factor into, I know that the, the municipalities have their own discretion on how they're gonna work this program. I'm just trying to figure out where can I, I've been trying to search and find these answers to questions I have. Again, my biggest concern is how these pilot programs are gonna affect the funding in the school. And I know you don't have to fund the schools with that money. And that's what I'm trying to figure out where the Township is going with these programs that have been implemented. Well, Goomer, you want take, I can take a crack. You could take a crack. It's a very, Speaker 1 00:55:34 I'll take one of even appeal and if I any, I think we talked about this last time. So there's two, two parts to a pi, a pilot agreement. Essentially there is the land and improvements, okay? Right. The land is, is still taxed like normal. The board of education gets their portion, the, the Township gets their portion, county gets their portion, et cetera, et cetera. Essentially the improvements part is where, is where on vacant buildings is essentially it's based on, you know, on commercial, but it's based on revenue, et cetera from the, those buildings. So improvements are generally down, which is what all these tax appeals are about. And we are refunding money. And one of the keys is that, that re those refunds, that revenue that's initially collected is actually a percent, a majority of percentages is provided to the board of education. Okay. When the re when the appeals are done because the property's not being used, those refunds are a hundred percent provided by the Township. Speaker 1 00:56:28 So the board of that actually collects money but never has to return it during appeals. Right. What the, what the Township has to, what the Township what for these pilot programs is, it's basically is these improvements portions are essentially near zero after appeals or, or close to reduced, et cetera. So what what the intention is, is to increase tax revenue essentially by developing those properties to create revenue. To build tax revenue. The, the board of education still gets their portion for the land. You're essentially getting money in, you know, your tax bill is, is board of ed as well as Township, you know, so your, your overall tax bill. If it is going down, it's because they're building billing tax revenue like Mayor Speaker 11 00:57:14 And, and the truth of the matter is they're spending $3 million a year in tax appeals and basically in essence, we're subsidizing the board of ed by $1.5 million in the county by I think around half a million dollars a year. And that's all inside the cap. And we're not in the business of subsidizing the county or the school district anymore. Speaker 0 00:57:35 And Speaker 12 00:57:36 If I may council president that by doing that pilot program, then we're guaranteed with, so without any worry of an Speaker 1 00:57:42 Appeal. Yeah. So that's the other thing with pilot programs, you set it, you set a minimum amount that, that we collect. So if the land goes vacant, they can't appeal it, they have to pay that they pursuant to the agreement. So it's, it's, it's guaranteed revenue for the Township even if the property goes abandoned essentially. Speaker 0 00:58:01 But I understood that there's another question. Okay. I think that's it for second. Thank you. Sure. Thank you. Any other comments or questions from the public at this time? Do I have a motion? Motion Speaker 11 00:58:16 Council president ver Mayor, all the taxation districts rates are going down this year. Our districts, I suspect that the school district's gonna go down double digits also as well as us. Speaker 0 00:58:31 I have a motion. Second. We had a motion. All in favor meetings, adjourn. Have a good evening everyone.