Transcript for Piscataway Council meeting on November 22 2022
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 00:00:05 Recording in progress. Speaker 1 00:00:14 Good evening everyone. This is the Town Council meeting for Piscataway for November 22nd, 2022. I'd like to call this meeting to order. Adequate notice of this meeting has been provided as required under chapter 2 31 PL 1975, specifying the time, date, location, login or dial in information N 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 of the official newspapers 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 in the minutes. The Township continues to use the remote meeting format in an effort to mitigate the chance of exposure of Covid 19 as a part of the town township's ongoing effort to slow the rate of transmission and avoid overwhelming our treatment centers. Speaker 1 00:01:12 In order to make sure a clear record of the meeting can be made and that all parties are heard in an organized faction, all members of the public will be muted during the meeting. If a member of the public wishes to speak during any public comment portion, please raise your hand. This can be done either through the Zoom app or by pressing star nine on your phone. When it is your turn to speak, you will receive a prompt or request to unmute. Please click the prompt or press star six on your phone to unmute. Upon being unmuted, you should begin to ask any and all questions you may have. You will have three minutes to speak at the conclusion of which you will be muted again and the counsel or administration will respond as necessary. Should you have any further comments or questions, the Township Council is available by email and phone and you can always call the mayor's office during normal operating hours. Speaker 1 00:02:04 Each member of the public shall only have 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. Individuals may also submit written comments to the town clerk up to 48 hours prior to the meeting to be read by the Township clerk during the public comment portion of the meeting. Said Comments shall be limited to three minutes of reading. Thank you in for your patience as we continue to move the Township forward during this health emergency. Can you please call the role Councilman Bullard Councilwoman Cahill. Councilman Cahn. Here. Councilman Rouse. Here. Councilman Shah. Yeah. Councilman Uhrin. Here. Council President Lombardi. Here Mayor. Brian Wahler. Speaker 2 00:03:11 Present. Speaker 1 00:03:13 Business Administrator. Timothy DC Speaker 2 00:03:15 Here. Speaker 1 00:03:17 Township. Attorney Anthony AKA. Here. Deputy Township. Clerk Kelly. Mitch here. And I'm here. Melissas the Township clerk. Would everyone please join us in the flag salute Speaker 4 00:03:36 Of America and to the Speaker 2 00:03:40 That's level delivery. Speaker 1 00:03:52 Do we have any comments from the administration and council regarding adjourn of any matters on the agenda? Speaker 1 00:04:02 Seeing none, we'll move to number six, which is open to the public and it will be open to the public for comments regarding the consent agenda items only. Please be advised again this is open to the public For the consent agenda items only. 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 that time, please state your name and address and know that you will 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 comments regarding the consent agenda item. Council president, I'm asking the first individual with their hand raised to unmute themself. Speaker 5 00:05:18 David Akins, Goomer Council, Speaker 1 00:05:22 Welcome. David, we can you make it a little louder? We can. We can't really hear you well. Speaker 5 00:05:28 Oh, sure I can. I can do that. Item number nine, alpha nine, alpha nine, echo nine Hotel and L Lima for nine A. Would you explain to me what that is exactly? Representing the Sterling Village Senior Housing Utility, the church, the Lutheran Ministries. Speaker 1 00:06:09 Okay. David, let me just follow up. You want nine a, nine D, nine E and nine H Speaker 5 00:06:20 And lma. Speaker 1 00:06:23 Okay. Okay. Speaker 5 00:06:24 You know when will that be ready? Speaker 1 00:06:26 Okay. Let me refer that to Mr. Dacey. Speaker 6 00:06:34 So Alpha is resolution awarding the A two year bid to Lutheran Social Ministries. So every two years we go out for a bid for the management of Sterling Village. Their current contract ends at the end of this year and we put it out to bid this fall and the recommendation is to order to them again for a two year term. Price actually dropped slightly for this year and and next year over what we paid for the last two years, which was good. D was a tech settlement regarding 29 Johnson Avenue. We dropped the assess value from 257 to $40,500. Speaker 6 00:07:25 E was resolution to accept we we're getting in on the opioid settlement, the nationwide opioid settlement. So we're taking money in for our budget. The state has directed how the money will be spent. So right now we're just doing a chapter 1 59, which is in essence putting into a reserve account. And the amount, the amount of money I received in this check was $11,208 and 95 cents. H was for fire district, fire district three, they send to us for an annual basis to prove the amount of money that the commissioners are compensated. So this is just the council acknowledging what the fire district is going to pay the elected commissioners for next year. And Lima L is to the minutes for the amount of money that we're spending our bill list for the month of October. Speaker 1 00:08:30 Thank you Mr. Dacey. Council president. There are no other individuals with their hand raised at this time. The public portion is now closed. Number seven is a fully funded ordinance. It's first reading 1,080,000 for various capital improvements. It's a resolution adopting ordinance. Mrs. Cedar, can you please read this ordinance be resolved by the Township Council, Piscataway Township, New Jersey that an ordinance entitled Ordinance appropriating $1,080,000 900,000 of which is from the Capital Improvement Fund, $125,000 of which is from a 2022 current budget appropriation and $55,000 of which is from a developer's contribution for various capital improvements in and by the town of Piscataway and the county of Middlesex, New Jersey. Ian is hereby adopted on the first reading that it be published in the official newspaper and that a second meeting in public hearing be held at 7:30 PM prevailing time at the Piscataway Municipal Building 4 55 Piscataway jersey, as well as by remote meeting format on the sixth day of December, 2022. Be further result that a copy of this ordinance shall be posted in at least two public places within the Township prior to the day of the second reading and final passage. And a copy of this ordinance shall be made available at the office of the Township Clerk for any interested member of the public. Thank you Mrs. Cedar. Can I have a motion to accept the first reading on this ordinance? Speaker 7 00:10:02 Motion. Motion? I'll second. I'll second that if there's no other else. Speaker 1 00:10:09 Miss Cedar, can you please call the Councilman ca? Yes. Councilman Cahn Speaker 7 00:10:16 On? Speaker 1 00:10:16 Yes. Councilman Rouse. Yes. Councilman Shah. Yes. Councilman Uhrin. Yes. Council President Lombardi? Yes. And the ordinance passes. Its first reading. Number eight is a bond ordinance first reading 9,700,000 slash 9,215,000 for various capital improvements. And I believe we all received a package on those. It's a resolution adopting ordinance. Miss Cedar, can you please read this ordinance? Be it resolved by the Township Council of Piscataway Township, New Jersey that an ordinance entitled Bond Ordinance providing for various capital improvements in and by the Township of Piscataway in the county of Middlesex, New Jersey, appropriating $9,700,000. Therefore, and authorizing the issuance of 9,000,250 thou $15,000 bonds or notes of the Township to finance part of the cost. There are B and is here by Adopt on the first reading that it be published in the official newspaper and that a second reading in public hearing be held at 7:30 PM prevailing time at Piscataway Municipal Building 4 55 Lane Piscataway, New Jersey, as well as by remote meeting format on the sixth day of no of December, 2022. You further resolve that a copy of this ordinance shall be posted in at least two public within the Township prior to the day of the second reading and final passage. And a copy of this ordinance shall be made available at the office of the Township Clerk for any interested member of the public. Thank you Mrs. Cedar. Can I have a motion to accept the first reading on this bond ordinance Motion a second please. Second. Speaker 1 00:11:53 Thank you. Ms. Cedar, can you please Councilwoman Cahill? Speaker 8 00:11:58 Yes. Speaker 1 00:11:58 Councilman Cahn. Speaker 7 00:12:00 Yes. Speaker 1 00:12:01 Councilman Rouse. Yes. Councilman Shah. Yes. Councilman Uhrin? Yes. Council President Lombardi? Yes. And the bond ordinance passes First reading Number nine are the consent agenda. Resolutions for efficiency items have been consolidated into a consent agenda to be voted on together. The materials for 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 remove from the consent agenda to be discussed or voted on separately? Seeing none can have a motion to accept the consent agenda. Speaker 8 00:12:45 Motion Councilwoman Cahill Speaker 1 00:12:48 A second. Speaker 7 00:12:49 Second. Councilman Speaker 1 00:12:52 Cahn. You Councilwoman Cahill? Speaker 8 00:12:56 Yes. Speaker 1 00:12:57 Councilman Cahn. Speaker 7 00:12:58 Yes. Speaker 1 00:13:00 Councilman Rouse. Yes. Councilman Shah. Yes. Councilman Uhrin? Yes. Council President Lombardi? Yes. And the consent agenda. Items pass. Number 10 are announcements and comments from officials. Do we have any announcements from Councilwoman Kale? Speaker 8 00:13:23 I would like to just say two things if I may. Council president one. I would like to say that, you know, it was a very sad day on Saturday and our very dear friend Chanel McCullum, her mother Millie Scott, her father Richard Scott and all of the Scott and McCullum family lost their daughter, their sister, their aunt, their mother, their grandmother to breast cancer, which as this group here knows, I'm now a four time breast cancer survivor. And I have just want to say how much I feel for this family and just want to continue to lift up Cheryl Scott and do anything that I can to help support the cause to find a cure in her name. It was a very sad and emotional day, but testimony to who she was, there were a lot of people there. And the other thing I'd like to say on a note is that this Thanksgiving when you're with your loved ones, just remember we weren't, we don't always have an opportunity to have them with us. So cherish that time. Speaker 1 00:14:51 Thank you. Thank you. Councilwoman. Councilman, Cahn. Speaker 7 00:14:58 Well, I don't, I don't know that I could say it any better than my colleague Gabrielle, but for those of you, for those of us who knew Cheryl, she, she was just a unique and terrific person. I, I unfortunately had to, my parents are older and I had like a quick run down of Florida to check on them. My wife was there. I couldn't be there. I, but I, I, I'm not sure what more I, I can say that Gabrielle didn't already say if, if you knew her, she was really a terrific and special person in a, in a terrific and special family. And I, my condolences goes out to, to Millie her husband Rich to Chanel and to, you know, her daughter Alyssa. She's got a granddaughter, you know, she had a granddaughter, a really terrific person who will be missed in town. Speaker 1 00:15:54 Thank you. Council MCC Lynn would Rouse Speaker 9 00:15:59 Just no more than was already been said, did the opportunity to share with them. And it is such a, it is such a touching time. Last year I was going through the same thing and I, and, and she remembered how much he was there for me with my sister passing in and a nephew at the same time. So it's just a matter of being there and we'll just keep praying for the family but always it's something that is part of life and we just gotta help each other to get through it. That that's it. Speaker 1 00:16:39 Councilman, Shah, Speaker 10 00:16:44 Milli and Jim and everybody is like 30 plus year. I know that I'm family and very sad news this thing because I've been through that same thing for my mother day before Thanksgiving. She passed away after 10 years cancer. So I know how much pain, so I have no word for that. Speaker 9 00:17:09 Yeah. Speaker 1 00:17:13 Councilman Uhrin. Thanks. Speaker 11 00:17:15 I just wanna express my condolences to Chanel and family Saturday. Yes. It was very sad day and very emotional. I echo Gabrielle's words. It was just a sad day. And on note, I just wanna everybody a happy than Speaker 1 00:17:35 Thank you Mayor. Speaker 12 00:17:40 Well we gave, we gave a good Piscataway sendoff his the same. So yeah. On a sad note, Mike Baker, our Township attorney's mother-in-law passed away late last night. So the funeral was held today. So condolences goes out to the baker family for their loss and that's about it other than hopefully everybody will stay safe during this holiday season. And just remember the food pantries are open for business and they can always use some extra goods and things like that. Not just for this holiday, but for the up and coming month of December. Thank you Council president. Speaker 1 00:18:18 Most definitely. Business Administrator, Tim Dacey. Speaker 6 00:18:22 Just wish every than Speaker 1 00:18:27 Council attorney, Speaker 13 00:18:30 My deepest condole is to Chanel's family, to Mike Baker's family. And happy Thanksgiving to all. Speaker 1 00:18:37 Thank you. And with that, as everyone has said, it was a very, very sad day. But it did make my heart very happy to see how our Township people and all of our Township officials came together on Saturday and really embraced and helped and supported the Scott and the McCullough McCullum family. We really do come together as a family in difficult situations, so I'm very, very proud for that moment of coming together to help and support them. And I also would like to wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving. Now move forward for number 11, which is the agenda session for November 29th, 2022. We'll have an ordinance, second reading, acceptance of traffic control signal intersection of New Brunswick Avenue in Carleton Avenue, a fully funded ordinance, second reading 2,000,500 for various sewer improvements, bond ordinance, second reading, non Speaker 12 00:20:04 Council president. If I make back to the sewer ordinance, this is gonna fund the storm drain improvement over there. Councilman Uhrin over in the cedarwood. This will finally finish out that long awaited project so we can finish the cedarwood road out in 2024. Thank you. Speaker 1 00:20:23 Great, thank you for that clarification. Thank you Brian. Yes, I'm sure there will be some very happy people over there. We have a bond ordinance second reading 9,000,001 million six hundred eighty nine eight hundred and eleven acquisition of a communication network that will be open to the public. Any questions? An ordinance first amending various chapters a resolution authorizing the cancellation of taxes due to tax court judgements block 31 0 1 lot 16.01 and block 47 0 1 lot 5.05 Resolution authorizing municipals for abatement of public nuisance, various blocks and lots. Pretty self explanatory for resolution authorizing change orders number five and number six 2019 2021 road programs for curbs, sidewalks, driveways, and ADA ramps for new concrete construction. The new prints concrete construction company incorporated not to exceed $62,069 70 cents and $129,004 resolution authorizing the purchase of electricity supply services for public use on an online auction website. Any questions regarding these items? Speaker 1 00:22:01 Say none. That will be on the agenda for November 29th. Meeting number 12 is open to the public. For questions of any matter if you wish to speak at this time, please raise your hand either on 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 that 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 property council president. I'm asking the first individual with their hand raised to unmute themself. Speaker 5 00:23:01 Davids and both Valley Lane have a question. And when you asked, think under the consent agenda, different items, you like to have 'em all at one time when you're responding to 'em. And this is a suggestion when you're responding to 'em and if something is still not clear, how can I or anyone say, wait a minute, pertain to what you're talking about, the present time, what has happened or what is happening? Whoever answers the questions, they just keep going straight down the line. How do we overcome that? Speaker 1 00:23:52 Mr. Atkins? We do have the open to the public portion at the beginning of the consent agenda in which you can an ask any of the questions regarding the consent agenda items. Speaker 5 00:24:07 I understand that. And that Speaker 1 00:24:09 If you have any further questions, you could always ask them at the next public portion, which is now. Speaker 5 00:24:15 Yeah, but I wouldn't be better to ask why we're on the topic. Speaker 1 00:24:21 It just makes it easier. Speaker 5 00:24:24 For instance, when I Tim Dacey in reference to item number nine Alpha, this is the questions when I'm trying to, when he finished it wasn't, it wasn't complete from what my understanding. So how do I do, do I tell him to stop and elaborate on a particular item? How do I overcome this? Speaker 1 00:24:48 You can ask it at this portion. Is there a question you have regarding it now? Speaker 5 00:24:53 Yes, number one. And another suggestion, when you go from say A or C or C, the the sound, you can't always tell what one you're doing. You have to look at and see what numbers are there and figure it out that way. But to answer your question on the number seven, fully funded is the first reading of a million dollars plus. This is just a question, where does that money come from? Speaker 1 00:25:30 All right. Why don't you ask the questions that you want clarified because we're running out of time. Speaker 5 00:25:38 Same way. What number eight? I'd just like to know the, the bond that money that we're asking for or is that money that's been allocated? Speaker 1 00:25:56 Okay, you're asking about number eight, correct? Speaker 5 00:25:59 I had asked but you wanted me to ask? Yes, Speaker 1 00:26:04 For the bond council Speaker 8 00:26:05 President, he's asking for seven N eight. And then probably just a clarification too, correct me if I'm wrong, Mr. Akins on the consent. Okay. Speaker 1 00:26:14 Yeah, we're having a little difficulty hearing him here. Speaker 8 00:26:19 Yeah, we might be able to hear him better on the, on the computer, but I think seven, eight and council president. I think more clarification on the, on the award for the management on Sterling Village of, Speaker 1 00:26:34 Okay. Yeah, we're having a little difficult time. Speaker 12 00:26:35 Council president if you want, I'll take care of seven and eight. Thank Speaker 1 00:26:38 You David. Speaker 12 00:26:40 David Sevens regards to, it's a cash capital ordinance where we're not bonding. It has to do for equipment, like we're gonna be purchasing two more tandem trucks that we use to haul asphalt for the road projects. And there's gonna be a sewer utility truck and then one other jet mower that we're gonna have to purchase now that we have jurisdiction over the Green acres field. Number eight is regards, that is our road program. We got about 15 streets that we're gonna be reconstructing next year and the full blown reconstruction's gonna be Ethel Road West on there and many more streets out there. And then also it includes our annual curb program where we're fixing the curbs in preparation for the D P W when they do the in-house paving. So there's a multitude of streets in regards to in that, in that bond ordinance. I hope that answer your question in regards to number nine A on the agenda. Tim, that's Lutheran Holmes. I I, I think he's looking for some clarification on that. Speaker 6 00:27:54 So their contract expired, they've had a two year contract. The contract expires at the end of the year. We put it out for public bid and they were the only bidder and we're rewording it for the next two years. The first year is for $527,290 and the second year is for 540 2001 $49. And they manage the, they manage thoroughly village on a day to day basis. That's for the superintendent, the assistant superintendent, the cleaning, the manager, taking care of the paperwork, moving people in and out, keeping track of the apartments. They do all of that on behalf of the Township. And David, as a reminder, we post our agenda every Friday afternoon, so if you have any questions on it can always give me a call I'm in on Mondays or Tuesday morning and we can always clarify anything you want before the meeting. You don't have to wait until the meeting to ask questions. You can go on either Friday afternoon or Monday or even Tuesday. Just call office and we'll to clarify anything for Speaker 1 00:29:01 Thank you council President. I'm, go ahead. Speaker 7 00:29:08 I just, I just wanted to say if I can council president because we've been doing this remote for a long time and David used to come to a lot of the meetings and I've always enjoyed talking to David, so I, I just wanted to wish him and his family a happy Thanksgiving. Thanks Speaker 1 00:29:25 Council President. I'm asking the next individual with our hand to unmute the Speaker 14 00:29:35 Good evening. Stacey Berger, 2 33 Ellis Parkway. Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Speaker 1 00:29:40 Good. Speaker 14 00:29:43 I was curious if someone could elaborate on the last resolution that's listed about energy. Energy o auctioned for public use, Speaker 1 00:29:54 The purchase of electricity supply services on public use. Okay. Do you have any other questions? Speaker 14 00:30:01 Well, I might, depending on the answer to that question. Council President, Speaker 1 00:30:04 We, we ask that I Speaker 14 00:30:06 Ask all your questions. I know, but I can't anticipate, I can't anticipate a question I don't know the answer to because I haven't Speaker 1 00:30:11 Gotten, you're gonna be muted after you ask your questions, so if you have other questions please ask them now. Well Speaker 14 00:30:16 Per, I don't know if I'm gonna have other questions because I haven't gotten any an I can't anticipate, but I don't know. It's Speaker 1 00:30:23 Hard. That's the way we're, Speaker 14 00:30:25 I guess my other question is if we can do all kinds of event and activities all over town, it seems like, looks like we've got a pretty robust agenda for the holiday season and there's been a lot of activity at the, at the community center. Is there anyone there who can tell me what controlling authority, you all still have the municipal building closed and are not doing your meetings publicly? It seems a little strange at this point that you can't all be in person and we can't be there, which would eliminate some of the concerns that Mr. Akins has raised. I think Ms Ca appears to be shaking her head in agreement. I'm not sure if that's actually with me or with something else that's going on. Other people on the zoom seem a little distracted by what they're doing in the background. It would, I think that it's sort of strange at this point that you all are unwilling to come back in person when the rest, when you're willing to go to all kinds of other activities. Speaker 14 00:31:18 And I've been in meetings with all of you. So it's, it's, it's weird and I'm wondering if someone could elaborate on why you're still refusing to reopen the building and come back to meeting in person. So that was, that's not really a related question to what I've asked about the energy audit. But I am curious, since you are gonna insist that everyone ask their questions in advance, I can't possibly know what my next question would be, but if we were in person I could potentially ask a follow up question because we would have actual interaction. Speaker 1 00:31:50 Thank you Mrs. Berger. Mr. Dacey, can you please answer the question regarding the electrical supply services? Speaker 6 00:31:59 Our current contract expires on July 1st, 2023. And there's a concern the, I'm on the board of the New Jersey sustainable energy joint meeting and we bid all of our natural gas over the past. We bid it actually twice over the past 10 weeks. And unfortunately due to the current energy market, we had to reject all bids. So anybody including us who are natural gas are all going back onto the tariff rate as of December 1st. It's about 135 towns, the statewide, so our current contract for electricity expires in July. First thinking going into the summer is probably not a good time in this market to be bidding electricity. We're gonna try to bid it next Tuesday. So we've got a 11 o'clock online option for our electricity for the Township. That would commence on July 1st. But if we get a price that makes sense, we would award it on Tuesday night. Speaker 6 00:33:07 If the pricing is high and it doesn't make sense, we'll not be awarding it. So we're kind of testing the market over the past the, to see where we are on, on electrical prices. We did try to go out with the renewable back in October and November and the market is just unstable that we were not allowed by BPU to, to bid it because of the instability in the market. So we're, we are attempting to try it now six months early. If it comes in too high, we may try it again in March. We're trying to do the best that we can for our, our taxpayers and trying at different points of the year. Cause we try to get it in April. We know we're gonna be probably facing into the summer. So the online electricity option is 11 o'clock next Tuesday. Speaker 1 00:33:56 Thank you for that, for that clarification, Mr. Dacey. And does anyone wanna elaborate on opening of the municipal building Mayor? Speaker 12 00:34:06 Well, it's very simple. We're hoping to have the build the building is open and respect that we're taken by appointments. The clerk's office is running, but there is gonna be changes in there where most people are paying their taxes online and or, and the Dropbox that will continue. There's only a handful of people that pay their taxes in cash that's been made arrangements with the tax collector, the recreation department handles everything online right now. So in that regards that there's no reason to come into the building on that. On that end, the clerk's office will be open as, as they have been to handle marriage license and licensing and everything in general. The other building down there in engineering and, and the public works is a little bit more problematic because we have the commoner, all the common areas over there for office space for our employees. So we're trying to work out how we're gonna handle that at, at there. So that's pretty much it. We're just waiting for some more material to come in and we're hoping to have, it'll be delivered before mid-December. So that's what we're expecting. So I hope that answered your question. Speaker 1 00:35:15 And I think the one question was when we're gonna be coming back to public meetings, council president, there are no other individuals with their hand raised. We're now closed to the public Speaker 12 00:35:45 Council president, if I may, the, the last person who called in about the aggregation. What Mr. Dacey said was in regards to that, the aggregation that was passed through pushed by Food and Water Watch. And the last person who was on the line, the bpu, said that we could no longer go through with it because the rates are higher than the tariff rate. So thus essence, that aggregation that they pushed failed miserably where the rate payers were paying a heck of a lot more money for energy than what they promised. So what'll end up happening, there's gonna be, correct me if I'm wrong with Mr. A lot of other towns are gonna be in the same boat that where I guess it was food and water watch push for those referendums in the communities that the B'S gonna be doing the same thing, right? Tim, isn't it? What, what Ppu said, jerk for the towns. Speaker 6 00:36:45 Yeah. The market, the energy markets right now are, are really outta whack and and unstable and I'm not sure what the towns just pass are gonna do cause they're forced Speaker 1 00:36:54 To. We're having a hard time hearing you Mr. Dacey. Speaker 6 00:36:56 So I'm not sure what the towns that were just passed the referendum a couple weeks ago are going to do because the markets are so unstable. But that would be tweaking the towns and their consultants and bpu. Speaker 1 00:37:12 Okay, thank you for that clarification. Do you have any questions? Speaker 7 00:37:16 I make a quick comment on that. Council president. I, I think it, some of this is a consequence of the decision of how to do this taken away from the governing body. We had a plan that the rate would've moved around and fluctuated and still given people the more choice about using green energy and choosing to pay more. We were kind of locked into a program, which was my concern about it. I voted for it, I supported and I was part of it. I I elected to have it here, but it didn't work because of some of the tight constraints that were put in with respect to the ordinance. It's very disappointing. I think we could have done it better had we been allowed to do so. Perhaps in the future when the markets are more stable in a far post covid in per post Ukraine war, some I'll be gone from the council only, but some, some other council can take another look at this and see if we can't approach green energy for the residents in the town in a more sensible way that doesn't just push green energy without considering the cost to the residents. Speaker 7 00:38:47 Because at the end of the day, whether we like it or not, most folks are gonna make decisions based on their pocketbook, not on how, how well it protects the environment. I, I, I'm, I'm one who differs on that. I was willing to pay, you know, slightly more, but most people won't. So I say that as a, a parting comment for my colleagues in the future that I hope at some point when the economy settles down, we can take a sensible, sensible look at how to do this better. Those are my thoughts. Thank you. Speaker 12 00:39:22 Well, the problem is, council president, you know, you're, you're absolutely correct, but it was really done just to build up an email list for somebody running for campaign. So that's what it was really about. If it was never about the environment, so, so we're gonna leave it that wish everybody a happy Thanksgiving. Speaker 1 00:39:40 Thank you Councilman Cahn for your comments regarding that item. Seeing nothing else, I'll Speaker 8 00:39:49 Move. Okay, council president, I'm sorry, just one other quick question for Mr. Dacey. Mr. D I apologize. So what, what will happen if the, you know, when you suggest, like what will towns do? I mean, will the state or federal government be able to step in and help if the rates aren't, you know, where, where we need them to be? You know, I understand, you know, the BPU taking us off the aggregation program because of that, the, the tariffs. But you were also mentioning that, that it's, it's gonna be an issue going forward. Is there any remedy yet or is that something that we need to solicit from our state or federal leaders? Speaker 6 00:40:37 I was talking in the last election, old Bridge and a few other towns had referendums similar to ours to require them to go out on the green energy. And the problem they have now is the market is so, so difficult that their governing bodies are gonna be forced to go through setting it up and doing, doing, getting a program going. And I'm not sure that the rates are gonna come in at, at anything near what the BPU is gonna prove. So it's just a difficult time to be trying to do referendums that they did. We actually tried pricing this fall. We actually looked at other towns and we put together about five towns and we still couldn't get prices that were anywhere near tariff freight. And so that's, I think where we are, I think the, probably the guess of the markets are that we're gonna probably be on tariff freight, natural gas and electricity at least for the next 18 to 24 months. We'll know more after Tuesday after we, we do our option, but the rates don't seem to be coming down right now, unfortunately. Speaker 1 00:41:49 Thank you for the clarification. Okay. Anyone else? Are we good on that subject? Seeing no other further comments? We're gonna move to number 13, which is an adjournment. Can I have a motion to adjourn this meeting? Motion to adjourn Second. And all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Have a good evening and a happy Thanksgiving everyone. Happy Thanksgivings. Happy Thanksgiving.