Transcript for Piscataway Council meeting on March 5 2024
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 00:00:14 Date, location, login or dial in information and to the extent known the agenda by posting a copy of the notice on the municipal building 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. There will be public comment periods for both remote and in-person. Attendees separately, each member of the public shall have only one opportunity to speak during each public portion. As the technology does not allow us to know if there are multiple callers on an individual phone line or logged in user account. We ask that if you wish to speak, that you log in or dial in separately so that we can recognize you as a separate individual. Should you have any further comments or questions. The Township Council is always available by email and phone, and you can always call the mayor's office during normal operating hours. Ms. Mitch, would you please take the roll call Speaker 1 00:01:28 Councilwoman Carmichael. Speaker 2 00:01:31 Here. Speaker 1 00:01:32 Councilman Espinoza. Present Councilwoman Lombardi. Here. Councilman Rouse. Here. Councilman Shaw. Here. Councilman Ern here. And Council President Cahill Speaker 0 00:01:46 Here, would you please join me in a salute to our flag? Speaker 2 00:01:53 Allegiance. Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Speaker 0 00:02:14 Okay, that'll bring us to number five with our comments for administration and council that's on this agenda. Are there any counsel or not at this time? Thank you very much. And take us to number six, then open to the public. This is comments regarding item number 10, which are the consent agenda items, so anyone in the public wishing to speak or about item number 10. This will be the time. And let me just read, oh, so hold on one second. Okay. For each public comment if you wish to speak at this time, this is for remote attendees. We will open it up to remote attendees. First, 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've completed any comments or questions, Speaker 1 00:03:42 Council president, there's nobody with their hand raised for this agenda item. Speaker 0 00:03:47 Thank you Ms. Mitch. So now we'll open it up to the public who are here in person. If you wish to speak at this time, please come to the podium, state your name and address and know that you have three minutes in which to make your comments. You may take a seat after completion of your comments or questions in the council or administration will respond if necessary. And again, just as a reminder, this is for items on the consent agenda. Agenda, which is item number 10. Scene none. I'm gonna close that public portion. Okay. That'll bring us to number. This is an ordinance on second reading. It's an ordinance releasing extinguishing and vacating the rights of the public in portions of Clawson Street, Brook Avenue and Field Avenue. It will be open to the public and it is a resolution adopting ordinance. Ms. Mitch, would you please read the resolution Speaker 1 00:04:45 Be it resolved by the Township Council of Piscataway Township, New Jersey that an ordinance entitled an ordinance releasing Extinguishing and vacating the rights of the Public in portions of Clauson Street, Brook Avenue and Field Avenue in the Township of Piscataway County of Middlesex and State of New Jersey, was introduced on the second J of January, 2024 and had passed the first reading and was published on the fifth day of January, 2024. Now therefore be it resolved at the AFO said ordinance, having had a second reading on March 5th, 2024, be adopted past and after passage be published together with the notice of the date of passage or approval in the official newspaper, be it further resolved that this ordinance shall be assigned number 2024 dash oh eight. Speaker 0 00:05:27 Thank you Ms. Mitch. And so now we'll open this up to the public and again, we'll open it up to the remote attendees first and then those who are here in person. So for the remote attendees, if you wish to speak at this time, please raise your hand either on the Zoom app or if by phone, by pressing star nine. When it is your turn to speak, you'll receive or hear a request To unmute yourself, please click the prompt or press star six on your phone to unmute yourself at that time, please state your name and 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've completed any comments or questions. Speaker 1 00:06:13 Council president, there are no individuals with their hand raised for this item. Speaker 0 00:06:17 Thank you Ms. Mitch. We'll open it up to the people here who are in person. If you wish to speak at this time, please come to the podium, state your name and address and know that you have three minutes in which to make your comments. You may take a seat after completion of your comments or questions and the council or administration will then respond. Speaker 3 00:06:38 August 58, Curtis getaway. This thing about the public giving away rights to a property. Is that, does that mean that that 400 square feet that happened in in Curtis Avenue, is that legal and you want us to vacate from here? Speaker 0 00:07:09 You might wanna explain what the vacate really means here. Speaker 4 00:07:14 Yeah, so this isn't giving away rights. This is Township land. The Township is, feels that it is, doesn't need anymore paper streets. And we've done that around town to, to assist because where roads will never be built, the Township doesn't need to continue to maintain those pieces of property. So this is basically vacating those pap, the couple of paper streets, a portions of them. Speaker 0 00:07:40 Okay. There Anyone else? See none then we'll close the public portion on that item. Do I have an offer? Speaker 3 00:07:48 Offer then? Speaker 0 00:07:49 Do I have a second? Speaker 3 00:07:50 Second, Speaker 0 00:07:53 Ms. Mitch, would you please take the roll call? Speaker 1 00:07:55 Councilwoman Carmichael? Yes. Councilman Espinoza. Yes. Councilwoman Lombardi. Yes. Councilman Rouse. Yes. Councilman Shaw? Speaker 3 00:08:05 Yes. Yes. Speaker 1 00:08:06 Councilman Ern. Yes. And Council President Cahill? Speaker 0 00:08:10 Yes. And the ordinance passes on second reading. That'll bring us to number eight, which is an ordinance on first reading. This is to exceed the municipal budget. Appro appropriations establish a cap bank. It is a resolution adopting ordinance. And just so everyone's aware, we need to do this every year before the official budget comes or the monies that we know from the state. So this is sort of our interim piece that we, we we have to do every year to fill that gap. Ms. Mitch, would you please read the resolution? Speaker 1 00:08:43 Be it resolved by the Township Council of Piscataway Township, New Jersey that an ordinance entitled calendar year 2024 Model Ordinance to exceed the municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish a cap bank NJ JSA 40 a four dash 45 14 B and is hereby adopted on the first reading that it be published in the official newspaper. And that a second reading and public hearing be held at 7:30 PM prevailing time at the Piscataway Municipal Building 4 55 Post Lane Piscataway, New Jersey on the 16th day of April, 2024. Be it further resolved 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. Speaker 0 00:09:29 Thank you Ms. Mish, do I have an offer? Offer? Do I have a second? Second, Ms. Mitch, would you please take the roll call vote. Speaker 1 00:09:38 Councilwoman Carmichael? Yes. Councilman Espinoza. Yes. Councilwoman Lombardi. Yes. Councilman Rouse. Speaker 0 00:09:45 Yes. Speaker 1 00:09:46 Councilman Shaw? Speaker 5 00:09:47 Yes. Yes. Speaker 1 00:09:49 Councilman Rin. Yes. And Council President Cahill? Speaker 0 00:09:53 Yes. And the ordinance passes on first reading and that'll bring us to number nine, which is also an ordinance on first reading. This is authorizing Execution of financial Agreement with Clawson RP owner Urban Renewal LLC. It is a resolution adopting ordinance Ms. Ridge, you please read the resolution Speaker 1 00:10:12 Be it resolved by the Township Council of Piscataway Township, New Jersey that an ordinance entitled Ordinance of the Township of Piscataway, county of Middlesex, New Jersey, authorizing Execution of Financial Agreement with Clawson RP Owner Urban Renewal LLC, pursuant to the long term tax exemption law NJ js 40 a 20 dash one EC B and is hereby adopted 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 the Piscataway Municipal Building 4 55 Hose Lane Piscataway, New Jersey on the 16th day of April, 2024. Be it further resolved 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 Speaker 0 00:11:00 Thank offer offer. Do I have a second? Speaker 5 00:11:06 Second. Speaker 0 00:11:08 Thank you. Ms. Mitch, would you please take the roll call vote. Speaker 1 00:11:11 Councilwoman Carmichael? Speaker 0 00:11:13 Yes. Speaker 1 00:11:13 Councilman Espinoza. Yes. Councilwoman Lombardi. Yes. Councilman Rouse. Speaker 0 00:11:19 Yes. Speaker 1 00:11:19 Councilman Shaw? Speaker 5 00:11:21 Yes. Speaker 1 00:11:22 Councilman Earnin. Yes. And Council President Cahill? Speaker 0 00:11:26 Yes. And the ordinance passes on first reading. That'll bring us to number 10. These are the consent agenda. Items for efficiency items have been consolidated into a consent agenda to be voted on together for the material. 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 removed from the consents agenda to be, to be discussed or voted on separately? See none. Then I'll ask, do I have an offer? Offer? Second. Second. Ms. C Ms. Mitch, please take the roll call Speaker 1 00:12:04 Vote. Councilman Carmichael. Speaker 0 00:12:06 Yes. Speaker 1 00:12:06 Councilman Espinoza? Yes. Councilwoman Lombardi. Yes. Councilman Rouse. Yes. Councilman Shaw. Councilman Shaw? Yes. Councilman Ern? Yes. And Council President Cahill? Speaker 0 00:12:23 Yes. And the consent agenda Items pass. They'll bring us to number 11, which solution? This is the introduction of calendar year 2024. Municipal budget. Ms. Mitch, would you please read Speaker 1 00:12:38 Municipal budget of the Township of Piscataway County of Middlesex for the fiscal year 2024 Be it resolved that the following statements of revenues and appropriations shall constitute the municipal budget for the year 2024. Be it further resolved that the said budget be published in the star Ledger Ledger in the issue of March 11th, 2024. Notice is hereby given that the budget and tax resolution was approved by the council members of the Township of Piscataway County of Middlesex on March 5th, 2024. A hearing on the budget and tax resolution will be held at the municipal building on April 16th, 2024 at 7:30 PM At which time and place. Objections to the said budget and tax resolution for the year 2024 may be presented by taxpayers or other interested persons. Summary of current fund, section of approved budget, general appropriations for appropriations within caps, municipal purposes, $55,187,187. Appropriations excluded from caps municipal purposes, $27,677,613 and 74 Total general appropriations excluded from caps $27,677,613 and 74 cents reserved for uncollected taxes. 99.05% of tax collections, $1,884,313 and 73 cents Total general appropriations $84,749,114 and 47 cents. Anticipate less anticipated revenues other than current property tax. $31,052,726 and 27 cents. Local tax for municipal purposes, including reserve for uncollected taxes, $49,921,872 and 20 cents. And minimum library tax. $3,774,516. Speaker 0 00:14:52 Thank you Ms. Mitch, do I have an offer? Speaker 6 00:14:56 Offer? Speaker 0 00:14:57 Do I have a second? Speaker 7 00:14:59 Second, Speaker 0 00:15:00 Ms. Mitch, would you please take the roll call vote. Speaker 1 00:15:02 Councilwoman Carmichael? Yes. Councilman Espinoza? Yes. Councilwoman Lombardi. Speaker 6 00:15:07 Yes. Speaker 1 00:15:08 Councilman Rouse. Yes. Councilman Shaw? Speaker 8 00:15:11 Yes. Speaker 1 00:15:12 Councilman Earnin. Yes. And Council President Cahill? Speaker 0 00:15:16 Yes. And that'll bring us to number 12, which are announcements and comments from officials. Councilwoman Carmichael. Speaker 7 00:15:26 Thank you. Madam President. Yes, I would like to say happy Women's History Month since it is March and we are celebrating women and the power of women and the women's voices and positive change. So we are celebrating that and I'm happy for that. And we have a lot of great women here on the council and working in the Township. So we're in good hands. And also the Seniors Citizens Center will be celebrating International Women's Day on Friday, March 8th from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM Speaker 0 00:16:01 Thank you Councilwoman Espina, Speaker 8 00:16:04 I would like to echo Sharon's wishes. Happy Women's History Month. It's a great start. Thank you. Speaker 6 00:16:13 Thank you Sharon. That was one of mine. So thanks for covering that for me. But more importantly, we had a very unfortunate situation happen here in Piscataway last Wednesday where we had a fire at our fish food pantry Market Avenue. So first and foremost I'd like to thank all of the emergency services personnel, the firemen, the policemen, the rescue squads and everybody that came out to help to keep, contain that fire to what they kept it contained. That's number one. Number two, I'd like to also give kudos to Lisa Couch and her husband who run the fish food pantry for their unbelievable strength and inspiration to move the pantry forward. So they had a special meeting, the insurance people are there checking out whether they can keep the back portion of the building and they are, they're planning to try to rebuild if they can, but they also were out there on Monday morning, even though they had a fire last Wednesday with tables in the parking lot with food for those who needed it. So that was the most inspirational part of the whole situation. So there are ways that people can help. You can donate by check right now they need financial help and gift cards. So if anybody wants to write a check, you can go on the website for fish and find the address of where to send a check. Or they're taking gift cards, $20 and under to any of the local food, food stores in the area. So the community always pulls together in situations like this. And that makes me very proud of Piscataway. One minute, Speaker 0 00:18:17 This is not the public portion. Speaker 6 00:18:19 And then last but not least, it's also Natural Nutrition Munch. And everybody knows how much I like nutrition, so, so everybody, it's National Nutrition Month, pay attention to what you're eating. Speaker 0 00:18:31 Part of the mayor's health and wellness campaign. Mayor? Yes. We're gonna go outta a alphabetical order because we have Councilman Frank Ern sitting right here. So Councilman, would you like to have any comments? Just Speaker 9 00:18:47 Echo Sharon's word about all the great women in Piscataway? Speaker 0 00:18:52 Oh Frank. That that was an appropriate statement. That's all I have right now. Very much so. Councilman Rouse, Speaker 10 00:19:02 I, I agree with Frank. It lot has already been said, especially about the great women. I have about four special ones that's on my Mount Rushmore, of course my mom, my grandmother, God bless us with a lot of great women who are stepping forward more and more as they can continue to pave the way. So God bless you. Speaker 0 00:19:23 Yeah. And one especially at home, I'd say Councilman Shaw. Speaker 10 00:19:32 No thanks. Speaker 0 00:19:34 Thank you Mr. Mayor. Speaker 11 00:19:38 I'm gonna reserve my comments, sir, afterwards, but I would like to congratulate Frank Ern for being honored by essential Jersey Elks as follow. Speaker 6 00:19:46 Congratulations Frank. Speaker 0 00:19:50 It's a great honor and not a surprise in the least Tim. Dacey, Speaker 10 00:19:56 Nothing tonight. Thank Speaker 0 00:19:57 You. Thank you very much, counselor. Speaker 10 00:19:59 No comment. Thank Speaker 0 00:20:00 You. Okay. And I'll just echo what everyone else says And because I'm married to an Irishman, I do wanna wish everyone a very happy St. Patrick's Day. And so that's it for us up here. We're gonna go into then our consented agenda or our agenda session for April 16th, 2024. There will be the ordinance on second reading to exceed the municipal budget appropriations and establish a cap bank at that time. It'll be open to the public and it'll be a resolution adopting ordinance. Any comments or questions? Seeing none that will be on. The next item will be an ordinance on second reading authorizing execution of financial Agreement with Clawson RP Owner Urban Renewal LLC. It will be open to the public and it'll be a resolution adopting ordinance. Any comments or questions regarding that item? Okay, seeing then that will be on, that'll bring us to number 14, which is open to the public for remote attendees. If you wish to speak at this time, please raise your hand either on the Zoom app or if by phone, by pressing star nine. When it is your turn to speak, you will receive or hear a request. 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've completed any comments or questions. Speaker 12 00:21:41 Council president, there are no individuals with their hands raised for this agenda item. Speaker 0 00:21:45 Thank you Ms. Mitch. And now we'll open it up to comment for people who are here in person, if you wish to speak at this time, please come to the podium, state your name and address and know that you have three minutes in which to make your comments. You may take a seat after completion of your comments and questions or questions and the council or administration will then respond if necessary. Speaker 3 00:22:09 58. Curtis, why do you suppose I pay $480 more on homeowner's insurance than anyone in my neighborhood? Negligence Piscataway maintenance is not working for the public. Not fact, I go over there looking for Paul. Paul, where is he in court? Two months, three months. I chase him around every complaint I make. About 58 Curtis and ordinance violations around it is non-existence. And our Mayor has the most recent copy. Our district leader came by, he saw the mass, he saw the violations. One of the people from property maintenance came over there. He says, Hey, there's a problem here. I gotta call a landscaper to come and see. That didn't happen. Speaker 3 00:23:27 I paid for that. Rebuilding the, the roof when the tree fell on the house. That was in the complaint, but it didn't exist. The copy you have in your office of my complaint is nonexistent. Is that Mr, you came over there and saw the property. Did you have your ice closed? You didn't see a thing? Take care of Piscataway seventh and Washington has to get curbed and all them trees that are way outdated. Take them down. They become a hazard. There's a blind spot. I came over here, light that intersection up, people are hitting the curb. Okay, sake, take a good look then a police officer there to make a report. Speaker 13 00:24:34 I Speaker 0 00:24:39 Thank you. Is there anyone else wishing to speak? May do. So at this time, come to the podium, state your name and address and note that you have three minutes in which to make your comments. Seeing none, I'm gonna close the public portion. That will bring us to a moment for the Mayor. Who'd like to make some comments about the, I address Speaker 11 00:25:00 The comments from the gentleman. The two streets that he's talking about happened to be county roads, west seventh and Washington Avenue. They are under engineering design. Okay. The entire length is under engineering design from the South Plainfield Plainfield border down to the intersection. So we have to be patient, we have to work with the county to do this. So as far as the project would go, it would replacing two signalize intersections and also all the curbing and sidewalks and to tire lengths. So it's a very, very, very expensive job to looking at. Probably gonna cost about $14 million. Speaker 0 00:25:44 And that includes the road too? That's correct. Everything But the other stuff. Do we know when the count, when the engineering might be? Speaker 11 00:25:50 I, I don't know. They have to get re-engaged. 'cause it was stalled for a number of years because of the school board holding up at the intersection of, of West, west seventh and Rock Avenue. Remember the whole tree issue? We didn't wanna go away. Speaker 0 00:26:04 Oh that, yeah. Speaker 11 00:26:05 So that was resolved. So the, the county's gonna hopeful. So it's Speaker 0 00:26:08 Under engineering now. It potentially could be next year. It Speaker 11 00:26:11 Has to, they have to reengage an engineering firm because what happened was it was stalled for a number of years by the school district members and then they finally deeded over the easements right there. So, you know, we're, we're trying to work through it. I think what's gonna end up happening is they're gonna do the intersections first and then take a look at the entire length. Because Including Speaker 0 00:26:31 The signal. Yeah, Speaker 11 00:26:32 Including the signal. So there's a lot of, sir Okay, we heard you. I I, I can't as Mayor wave a magic wand out there. Sorry. It just doesn't happen. Right. Speaker 0 00:26:46 You had some comments about this week's events. Speaker 11 00:26:49 Yes. So President, I would like to send our condolences out to the Bernet family for the, for the loss of their siblings. So want to make the council members aware of that. The other issue, I just want to give an update, Councilman Lombardi spoke a little bit about the fish right there. So we're in the process. We, we did have a discussion item with the folks in Fish. We're, we're gonna, the council was gracious enough to execute an agreement tonight to allow temporary housing of fish of their dry goods at the old Italian American club building. So department of public work should have everything finished up within the next week or so. So to have them start housing and packaging their things, they still wanna distribute as Councilman Lombardi knows out, out, out of their venue next to the Baptist church. But at least they'll have a temporary 90 day storage place until they can figure out what the church, Baptist church, how, how they're gonna go about if they're gonna rebuild or whichever route they plan to do. So we're hoping that'll transpire over the next week or so. Speaker 6 00:27:56 Yeah, the biggest issue now is when the community food bank comes with their truck. They have proteins, so they have frozen meats and things. So if the, they don't all get used by those who come that day. They need to find a place to keep the frozen meats. So I believe the church down at the, the T intersection a little farther down the TRO street on New Market is letting them use their freezers right now to keep the proteins. So no. Right. That they're the two walk-ins. But Mayor, they are gonna utilize our facility for the dry goods. Yes. Speaker 11 00:28:39 Okay, great. And then we have that's great overflow capacity in our walk-ins are at the senior center Speaker 6 00:28:44 Too. Yeah. The reason they wanna stay in the parking lot over there is that's what people know and be Yeah, they're used to it and that's where they know to go. So when you change things, it's, it's a little difficult. Yeah. Speaker 11 00:28:56 On a side note, I wanna thank the council members and the professional staff for putting together the budget. We're fortunate enough the municipal budget rate is dropping by almost four points again, so I don't know if everybody got a chance. There was an analysis done by an outside media agency of all the tax rates of all the municipalities in the entire state. And I suspect the star ledger's gonna be doing the same within the next month or so. It shows that our tax rate here in this town is the second lowest in Middlesex County. And that's a credit to everybody, you know, on the day. And also the professional staff. I want to thank Daniel and his team, the finance director for, and also Tim and the rest of the department heads for putting together, together the budget. Speaker 11 00:29:43 It hasn't been easy putting a budget together. And I, and I, and I say that reason why, 'cause we're very fortunate over the last several years through the economic development, we've been able to do a lot of great things in our community while trying to keep things affordable for our Township residents. For instance, we built the community center. We have great parks out there, we have great programming at the senior center. We free sports, free sports right there, as Frank fondly says, that doesn't happen by accident. That happens by planning and being able to keep things affordable for, for the residents out there paying our, our professional staff here in town, police department, public works, the recreation department, all, all the professional staff that's tied into the missile government. And also, I wanna also say that that alludes to the other taxation districts. The the school district. Speaker 11 00:30:44 They pay their teachers. And we're fortunate enough now that the tax rate of that almost 39% of that tax rate comes from the commercial base. Right now, there's not too many towns in the state of New Jersey that can say 39% of the taxes come through the commercial base. Most times it's like 80% is the local homeowners that are picking up the costs. We're fortunate enough now that we have some availability that we can get some of the roads that, like for instance, we, we have about 25 roads that are scheduled to be reconstructed this year. And that doesn't include the ones that are under engineering design, more improvements to the parks. Some of the parks are gonna look to get more pickleball courts. We're looking at other amenities. We're also trying a major capital project to put the ecological park over the finish line. That does not happen by accident with the finances. Speaker 11 00:31:41 It goes hand in hand with economic development. Now I also understand that not every, this is America. Not everybody agrees on everything. However, we've been very fortunate in this respect that we're able to get a lot of these projects over the finish line and a lot of projects that are gonna come about in the, the future. Like for instance, the renovations to the addition to the museum and some other projects as well as the, like I said before, the ecological park. I wanna just tell the residents out there, not everything is perfect in town, but I gotta tell you, we're in better financial footing compared to some of the other towns in, in central New Jersey and North Jersey. During the pandemic, we didn't have any layoffs. We didn't have any furloughs during ida. We were able to come up with some money to house people temporally at the hotels when they were displaced along the riverfront at, on all the apartment. Speaker 11 00:32:37 That doesn't happen by accident. And for those critics out there, it's very interesting to see that they're, they don't like the economic development going on. The alternative is out there that the homeowners will take it on a chin if you don't have economic development. And it's incumbent upon us to keep continuing to do this because we have a lot of great projects that are on the line. And I also wanna say is that it's interesting that some of the critics out there had filed a lawsuit against the town project South Washington Avenue where they were complaining about two poten, two buildings that are gonna go up. Logistics buildings verse 275 townhouses. Now I have nothing against the townhouses or whoever, but we have met our COA guidelines. That project was not on the COA list. When you have large high density housing like that, it does have a cost to the community. Speaker 11 00:33:40 It, it, you know, you have potentially have kids in the school system, social services, additional needs of that municipal government will have to provide verse two buildings out there, which would have bare minimum costs on the community if you have high density housing along, especially along that I'm zeroing in on that particular site is that you have potential 1200 trip generations a day out there. So for those critics out there that we're trying to claim that it was being built too close to a school, I, I begged to differ because the same folks that filed on this lawsuit are some of the members that were part of the school district. They didn't have a problem with executing a contract down the road at the old New Brunswick Road in Centennial to put a pre-K facility in the middle of an industrial zone. So you can't have it both ways out there. Speaker 11 00:34:39 So not everything's perfect, but I don't see them, I didn't see them raising their hands saying they don't want to accept the revenue out there. 'cause they could, they're, they are accepting the revenue over the last five or six years around the town for the economic development because it's paying the salaries of the, of the teachers, the professional staff that run the school system. So before somebody goes and criticizes out there, they have to look at the legal guidelines out there and then if they don't wanna accept the money that comes into local government, then they should do a resolution saying they're not gonna accept the money. Because to me it just looks like they're just demagoguing it. So, but there again, hey, I'd rather be in a, a municipal community out here where we're, we're pinching to pennies, we're watching the tax dollars, we're getting things done. Speaker 11 00:35:26 It's not perfect, but we're in a heck of a lot better situation in a lot of other towns in central New Jersey and, and the state of New Jersey at this point. And I want to credit also our congressional delegation of Senator Booker and Congressman Plum for helping out getting a lot of federal grants out there for our community, especially the radio system that was just adopted contract that was awarded tonight, that is gonna take us in the next step in the future to public safety. And it's long overdue. And by the way, it was a federal mandate anyway by the FCC that this had to happen. So, but it's nice to know that we're not having to spend local tax dollars. So thank you Keim. I apologize for the length of this, but it need to be said about the e economic development. Thank you. Speaker 0 00:36:15 No, thank you very much. And certainly from when I first moved in here and we went through that downturn where we were bearing the brunt of it. It's good to see that the, the economic development is starting to take up more of the, the brunt of the taxes. So thank you. So with that, we come to our last item, which is an adjournment. Do I have an offer? Offer, Speaker 11 00:36:36 Offer? Speaker 0 00:36:36 Do I have a second? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. We are adjourned. Thank you. I.