Transcript for Piscataway Council meeting on January 23 2025
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 1 00:00:10 We are now called to order the Township of Piscataway Council meeting of January 23rd, 2025. Speaker 1 00:00:19 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, and to the extent known the agenda by posting a copy of the notice of the municipal Building municipal court, and two municipal library bulletin boards municipal website, providing a copy to the official newspapers of, of the township. And by filing a copy in the office of the Town Township clerk, in accordance with this, a certification by the clerk, which will be entered in the minutes. There will be a, there will be public comment periods for both remote and in-person attendees separately. Each member of the public shall only have one opportunity to speak during each public portion. As 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, if you wish to speak, that you log in or dial in separately, so that way we can recognize you as a separate individual. Should ha should you have any further comments or questions to township console is always available by email and phone, and you can always call the mayor's office during normal operating hours. Speaker 1 00:01:32 Roll call please. Speaker 2 00:01:34 Council Member Cahill here. Council Member Carmichael. Here. Council member Liebowitz. Council Member Lombardi. Here. Council member Rasheed. Here. Council Member Ern. Here. Council President Espinosa here. Speaker 1 00:01:52 Please join me if still leading the flag. Speaker 0 00:01:57 I pledge Alicia to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, individual with Liberty, Liberty, and justice for all. Speaker 1 00:02:15 Good evening everybody. We would like, we would like, we would now like to present the awards to the winners of the Holiday House Decorating Contest Speaker 3 00:02:27 Council. So President, if I can have both you and Councilwoman Lombardi down here, and then Paul's gonna read the names off and we're gonna have the folks come up Speaker 1 00:02:37 Here Speaker 0 00:02:48 White. Sure. Yeah. So, so I first like to thank those people that Speaker 4 00:02:59 In this year's holiday life decorating contest, thank you for getting involved and thank you for giving community something to do during the holidays by riding Speaker 5 00:03:10 Around, around and taking a look at your houses. So Speaker 0 00:03:15 I can, there we go. Oh, she's got one. Alright, now we're Speaker 5 00:03:19 Organized. Okay. So we will do the presentation of plaques at this time now. So we'll start first with the most traditional third place goes to 53 Lehigh Avenue. And that's Danielle Ruano. So if your hair here, please come on up. And if you have any family members with you, bring them up. Speaker 0 00:03:48 We did it for you. Yeah, we did it for you. We decorated. Yay. So I, so I think he's gonna work for lemonade. Stand there to pay off the PSEG Bill. Big smile. Big win. Okay. Thank you. I don't think it's dishwasher. Speaker 5 00:04:28 Second place is eight Fountain Avenue, Tyrone Nando. Speaker 0 00:04:50 Wow. Very good. Thank you. Speaker 5 00:05:03 And first place for most traditional is 51 Hedgerow Street. Michelle Rol. Speaker 0 00:05:22 Congratulations. Big smile. Big smiles. Speaker 5 00:05:50 So now we'll move on to most creative. Third place in the most creative category is one 10 Nether Wood Avenue, Dawn and Sean Sitler. Speaker 0 00:06:08 Okay. Speaker 5 00:06:09 They're not here. Second place was 43 Azalea Place. Joe Witz. Speaker 0 00:06:21 Represen. Say your mom and dad, right? Yes, yes. Anymore. Did you help? I helped. Okay. That was great. Great. Speaker 5 00:06:45 And first place in the most creative category is 28 0 8 Hudson Street. Michael Cruz, you didn't wanna come out in the cold weather. So the best overall category, third place, 37 Crestwood Street, Bob Campan, second place and best overall. One 17 McKinnon Street. Melissa Neve. Speaker 0 00:07:54 Six years and thank you. Speaker 5 00:08:12 And first place in the best overall was 1 22 Perrine Avenue, Janina and Jonathan ra. Congratulations. Speaker 0 00:08:38 That's perfect. Somebody has to be the gc. Good job. You gonna help Mom hold this. Can you help with the lights? Thank Halloween. A house. Okay. Speaker 5 00:09:02 25,000. Speaker 0 00:09:03 Thank you Mr. Speaker 5 00:09:06 Alright, we'll remember that. Thank you everyone. Okay, Speaker 0 00:09:15 You got something left? Speaker 1 00:09:35 Thank you Mayor. Mayor, we have a proclamation that we want to present tonight. Speaker 3 00:09:39 Absolutely. Council president. And then when I'm finished reading this proclamation, I'll have you and Sarah Rashid come up for a photo and then we're gonna have the Iman and the rest of the congregation come up. Whereas the Academy is a proud of its rich cultural history and diversity. And whereas the township of Piscataway is home to a significant Muslim American population from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds is home to the Muslim Center of Middlesex County and in no Academy. And whereas Muslim Heritage Month highlights the achievements and contributions of Muslim Americans in various fields, including science, medicine, education, arts, business and more. And whereas strong commitment to family, faith, hard work and services enriched and enhanced our community. And whereas Piscataway Township strives to foster understanding, appreciation and unity among our, our diverse community. And whereas Muslim Heritage Month highlights the rich histories, cultures, and shared principles of Muslim Americas. Now, therefore, I, Brian Wahler, mayor of township of Piscataway County in middles six state of New Jersey, along with the township council, recognized the contributions of Muslim American community declared a month of January as Muslim Heritage month and encourage all residents to celebrate the strength found in our community's diversity and support efforts that promote respect, inclusion, and cultural awareness. So with that, if I could have Iman Smith come on up and, Speaker 0 00:11:24 Okay. That's wide lens. She could, I want you to court date. May Yeah, Speaker 6 00:13:02 May I say something? Speaker 1 00:13:04 Sure. Speaker 6 00:13:06 I just wanted to thank the mayor and the council. This is really an honor for honoring Muslim heritage Month. So thank you for the community coming out in the cold weather. I know it's not easy, so thank you for coming out and thank you mayor and the council. Thank you. Speaker 1 00:13:20 Thank you. Okay. Thanks everyone. I'm going back to business here. Okay. Are there any comments from the administration and council regarding the Adur adjournment of any matters on this agenda? Speaker 2 00:13:42 None. None. Speaker 1 00:13:44 Thank you. Okay, we're gonna open to the public comments, I'm sorry. Comments regarding num. Item number 11, consent agenda items Speaker 1 00:14:01 Open to the remote attendees First, if you speak at this time, please raise your hand either on Zoom app or if by phone, by pressing star nine. When it's your turn to speak, you will receive or hear a request to unmute yourself, please click on 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 console or administration will respond if necessary after you have completed any comments or questions. Cedar, do we have anybody in queue? Speaker 2 00:14:35 Council president, there are no attendees with their hand raised for this agenda item. Speaker 1 00:14:43 Thank you very much Ms. Cedar, opening up to the in-person attendees, if you wish to speak at this time, please come to the, the podium, state your name and address and know that you had three minutes in which to make your comments. You may take a seat after completion of your comments or questions and the cons or administration will then respond if necessary. Speaker 7 00:15:05 Yeah. Hi, Pratik 29 Redwood Road. Just a question on number E, which is adopting township affordable housing share obligation program. And I just have a fundamental question. When I came to this township in 1998, I know we were not doing that great. However, I didn't hear all this stuff about affordable housing. I mean, people were still able to do their jobs, get their merry way of free markets and, and able to find a housing based on the mortgage rates and whatnot. Now, if you're talking about that this township has become prosperous, why do we need affordable housing? And to be more precise, this is nothing more than just creating a welfare state. And they call it affordable housing. I just call it affordable hertz, which in the long run, it promotes more welfare than the benefits that anybody in the council can promise. Thank you. Speaker 7 00:15:56 And I would just like to understand what is this about? Because if you are, if you are doing this for everyone, let me just give you an a good story. One of my tenant who graduated from Presca High School was not able to pay the rent. He had to find a job in Colorado for whatever reason. And his wife is here and he has to go up and down. So I don't know how your programs work, but they're not working for the citizens or whatever for the township of this, this county. Thank you. Thank you. Speaker 3 00:16:25 Council is mandated by the state. It's a new council of affordable housing law. This, in effect, every town had a submitted plan. We, they gave us a GIS map of where they think there was developable property. The problem was we had to go through the map. They had this complex municipal complex here in the public work chart for affordable housing. They had the ecological part for affordable housing. They actually had the mosque as affordable housing, houses of worship as affordable housing, parts of school districts property affordable housing. It, it, it was discombobulated to say the least. I'm not too thrilled with this right now, and I'll be honest with you, because we're lumped in with Somerset County and Huntington County and those towns that did not have a zero obligation means that the towns that are left have to pick up more of the burden. Speaker 3 00:17:23 We did the calculation of the about 60 acres that allegedly is supposedly available or affordable housing. We would have to build 50 units per acre, 50 units per acre. That means it would have to, it would have to be at least six floors high. Six floors high. Now I know when these get cited in certain neighborhoods, the neighborhoods are gonna go through the roof on that. And I don't blame 'em. But this is being mandated by the state. And you have housing advocates around the state that are salivating with this. They don't care. You know, proper planning goes out the window with this. It's just, I I like to think that all along, we've been having affordable homes here, meaning our obligation, we've always met our obligation and we'll continue to do so. But this time around, it's not fair that Piscataway shouldering the burden of, of, of the region. Not, not in this area of the region. The Somerset County. You had towns in Middlesex County, three or four towns that had zero obligation, zero obligation. Speaker 8 00:18:28 Mr. Mayor, if I could ask, why aren't those counties being held accountable? Because it is mandated by the state, right? It's a law. Yeah, that, Speaker 3 00:18:37 That's a good question. Question. I, I, I just, when they passed this law and the state legislature signed by the governor, they didn't bother to tell anybody about the affordability debt, the other towns that were left that you're gonna be shouldering the obligation of all the other towns. I mean, normally you'd have ms. You, you're, you're finished with your comments. So, but that was one of the big deals. I mean, we came up with a plan. We're gonna, we're gonna contest this number because it's just not logistically feasible to have that many. Because by the time you add in the storm water management regulations, the DEP regulations, the roads, and this, that you're gonna have 70 units per acre, which is, which is crazy. And there'll be no room for parking or anything. Speaker 5 00:19:19 So the question, it's, Speaker 3 00:19:20 It was, it was not a well thought out for, for every community in the state in Europe. And the fact that they were using GIS maps, that they had the DPW yard and this building, this property right here, our entire municipal complex, the community center was on the property Speaker 8 00:19:36 And the calculation Speaker 3 00:19:37 And their calculation, everything, it's just, it's crazy. Speaker 5 00:19:39 Crazy. The question I have is, can we find out who anybody or our residents can call regarding this issue? Speaker 3 00:19:50 Well, I, I think what Speaker 5 00:19:51 It is, contact or contact, Speaker 3 00:19:52 This is too early. The deadlines the 31st of this month for, for all 565 towns to submit their plans. You can either agree with it or contest it. Obviously we're contesting it because Speaker 8 00:20:03 You can't include this building. Speaker 3 00:20:04 Yeah. You, you can't. It's just, it's just absurd. So Speaker 5 00:20:07 You can give people a a, a name that they can contact with. Speaker 3 00:20:11 So it'll be the Department of Department of Community Affairs. That's Speaker 5 00:20:14 What I'm, that's what I'm saying, Speaker 3 00:20:17 Sway. When they passed this law back over the summer, we only got the GIS maps. I think. I think Raj, what about two weeks ago? If that, two weeks ago. And the staff was scrambling, going through line by line. Speaker 8 00:20:30 So we're gonna submit what we propose based upon taking out these locations, correct? Yes. Speaker 3 00:20:37 But we figured it out. There's Speaker 9 00:20:39 50 12 acres best Speaker 3 00:20:41 Throughout the town. All once. So Speaker 9 00:20:45 If you do the math, it's 2,500 units. So even though the, the obligation would be 500, you gotta times that by five, so Speaker 2 00:20:53 Right Speaker 9 00:20:53 Times five. So it's 2,500 units. Speaker 3 00:20:56 So then the problem is you're looking at the, Speaker 9 00:21:01 And in some Speaker 3 00:21:02 Maybe more six Speaker 9 00:21:05 Stories, Speaker 3 00:21:06 Could you imagine some neighborhoods Speaker 9 00:21:08 That have a six story, seven story high rise in neighborhoods? What do you think residents? I Speaker 3 00:21:13 Think we're gonna, I think we'll send their complaints Speaker 9 00:21:15 Down to fair share housing and housing Speaker 3 00:21:17 New development. Speaker 1 00:21:21 Thank you Mayor. Anyone else open to the public? Speaker 9 00:21:28 I just set one more question from H Speaker 1 00:21:36 Close to the public. We are an ordinance second reading, designating a qualified purchasing agent this year, Speaker 2 00:21:51 Be it resolved by the Township Council of Piscataway Township, New Jersey, that an ordinance entitled an Ordinance of the Township of Piscataway, county of Middlesex, state of New Jersey, designating a qualified purchasing agent pursuant to NJ sa. 48 11 dash nine was introduced on the second day of January, 2025 and had passed the first reading. It was published on the eighth day of January, 2025. Now therefore be it resolved that the offers had ordinance having had a second reading on January 23rd, two, 2025, be adopted past and after passage be published together with a notice of the date of passenger approval in the official newspaper. Be it further resolved that this ordinance shall be assigned number 2025 dash zero one. Speaker 1 00:22:32 Thank you Ms. Theater. We're gonna open this to the public for the remote attendees. If you wish to speak at this time, please raise your hand either on Zoom app or by phone by pressing star nine. When it's your turn to speak, you'll receive or hear a request to unmute yourself, please click on 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. Ms. Cedar, do we have anybody in queue? Speaker 2 00:23:03 Council president, there are no individuals with their hand raised regarding this agenda item. Speaker 1 00:23:07 Thank you Ms. Cedar. Opening up to the in-person attendees, if you wish, if you wish to speak at this time, please come to the podium, state your name and address and know that you had three minutes in which to make your comments. You may take a seat at the completion of your comments or questions and the council or administration will then respond if necessary. Do we have any in-person attendees? I see none close to the public. Sorry, may I have a motion please? Speaker 8 00:23:48 Motion Councilwoman Cahill. Speaker 1 00:23:53 Second. Second. Speaker 5 00:23:54 Councilwoman Lombardi. Speaker 1 00:23:56 Thank you Ms. Either roll call Speaker 2 00:23:58 Councilman member Cahill? Speaker 8 00:24:01 Yes. Speaker 2 00:24:01 Council member Carmichael? Yes. Council member Lombardi? Yes. Council member Rashid? Speaker 8 00:24:09 Yes. Speaker 2 00:24:10 Council member Ern. Yes. Council President Espinosa? Yes. Speaker 1 00:24:16 Second reading pass. Okay. We have a first reading amending Chapter seven, traffic, section eight, resolution adopting Ordinance Ms. Cedar Speaker 2 00:24:30 Be resolved by the Township Council of Piscataway Township, New Jersey that an ordinance entitled Ordinance to amend and supplement the revised general ordinances of the Township of Piscataway, county of Middlesex, state of New Jersey. Amending and supplementing Chapter seven traffic. Section eight be and is hereby adopted on the first reading that it be published in the official newspaper. And that a second rating in public hearing be held at 7:30 PM prevailing time, I'm sorry, at 7:00 PM prevailing time at the Piscataway Municipal Building 4 55 Ley in Piscataway, New Jersey on the 11th day of February, 2025. 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 1 00:25:16 Thank you Ms. Cedar. May I have a motion Speaker 8 00:25:19 Council president? I'll make a motion, but I also wanna make a comment that I'm glad to see this, but I'm guessing we had some problems with people parking in the electric stations. Okay. So that makes good sense. Right? We wanna make sure that electric vehicles have those spots to charge. So I'll make that motion. Thank you. Speaker 1 00:25:38 Thank you Councilor. Gail, may I have a second? Speaker 5 00:25:43 Second. Councilwoman Lombardi. Speaker 1 00:25:46 Thank you. Roll call please. Speaker 2 00:25:48 Council member Cahill? Yes. Council member Carmichael? Yes. Council member Lombardi? Yes. Council member Rashid? Yes. Council member Rin? Yes. Council President Espinosa? Yes. Speaker 1 00:26:03 First reading passes. Thank you. Going down to the consent agenda where 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 removed from the consent agenda to be discussed or voted on separately? Speaker 0 00:26:31 None. Speaker 1 00:26:33 I see none. Thank you so much. Speaker 8 00:26:49 Got it. Speaker 1 00:26:51 And may I Motion please? Speaker 8 00:26:54 Motion. Speaker 10 00:26:57 Second Carmichael. Speaker 1 00:26:58 Thank you. Roll call please. Speaker 2 00:27:00 Council member Cahill. Yes. Council member Carmichael? Yes. Council member Lombardi? Yes. Council member Rashid? Yes. Council member Ern? Yes. Council President Espinosa? Yes. Speaker 1 00:27:20 Okay. Announcements and comments from the our officials. Councilwoman Gabrielle Caho. Speaker 8 00:27:25 Thank you Council President. I would just like to remind folks of some events that are coming up this Saturday at noon. There'll be the India Republic Day flag raising at the community center at the Y there. And then at 1:00 PM at Kinneally Library will be the Muslim Heritage Month event. And that is all for me. Thank you very much. Speaker 1 00:27:48 Thank you. Councilman? I'm sorry. Council councilwoman Sharon Carmichael. Speaker 10 00:27:53 Thank you Mr. President. Yes. I would like to congratulate the winners of the holiday decorating contest. That was so fun, even though I didn't do it. And happy Muslim Heritage Month. I think it's great that the town does that kind of recognition. The third thing I want to remind everyone, this Saturday at 9:30 AM we will have the Piscataway Civil Rights Advisory Commissions annual Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast. And we will have a, as a guest speaker, Mr. Mark Morial, who is the president of the National Urban League. And we'll have other guests from the community speaking and we'll also have Mr. Reggie Johnson from the N-A-A-C-P and myself will be co-hosting. And so we are going to have a wonderful time. We're gonna have food, we're gonna have a great band. Valley Adams and the Dimension Band will be there again. Everyone loves them. Yeah, I've always, and so we're looking for a great time. So come on out, bring your, oh, if you haven't or SVP No, it's, Speaker 5 00:29:02 It's clothes Speaker 10 00:29:03 Shine. Yeah, it's closed. I'm sorry. Speaker 5 00:29:05 Oh, it's, oh, I was gonna say, I don't even know if there's any room. I was gonna, we Speaker 10 00:29:09 Invite you, but if you didn't SVP Is it on Zoom? I think it might be. No, it it's sold out. Oh yeah, yeah. No, but it might be. So it's a, we'll take pictures and we'll share. So looking forward to it. Thank you. Speaker 1 00:29:27 Councilman Councilwoman. Michelle Lombardi. Speaker 5 00:29:29 Thank you President. I would like to thank our DPW for their first snowstorm job. They did a very, very good job. We were out and about on the roads that evening, watching some of them doing what they were doing. And we, we feel they were doing a good job the first storm down. Hopefully not many others. But thank you to the DPW for their work in our first snowstorm of this season. Speaker 1 00:30:01 Thank you. Councilwoman Lombardi. Councilwoman. Sara Rashid. Speaker 6 00:30:07 Hi. So the only thing I wanna say, thank you again. Muslim heritage man. Very excited. Looking forward to the weekend events. I do want to wish Happy Chinese New Year Gong Chai. It's the year of the snake and so, you know, hai to everyone that's celebrating Speaker 5 00:30:26 The year of what? Speaker 6 00:30:28 The year of the snake? Speaker 8 00:30:29 It's the year of the snake. Snake. Yes. That's the, I was born in the year of the snake. Speaker 5 00:30:33 I know, I know. It's the year snake. It's a Speaker 8 00:30:34 Good thing actually. Speaker 1 00:30:37 The snake. Your cause Women's Sara Rashid Councilman Franker. Speaker 11 00:30:41 No comment at this time. Council president. Speaker 1 00:30:44 Thank you sir. Mayor Speaker 3 00:30:46 Council p We weren't able to award house on tonight, but we're expected. Speaker 12 00:30:57 Yeah, we should have it on for February 11th. Speaker 3 00:30:59 Okay. No, there's gonna be an amendment to the 10 Normandy drive redevelopment plan. Evidently the owner bought the chase the small adjacent house next door, so it has to be amended by the council on that. So that should be on for the next, next meeting. Also, I wanna let the council members know there's been a lot of talk down in Washington about the elimination and municipal bonds, tax admissible bonds, which would be devastating to all local government entities throughout the whole country. Was that last week. Basically they want to take the tax free entity off right now, counties and towns account for almost 90% of the infrastructure work that's done in this country. Whereas the federal government's probably 10%, if you take the availability of us to borrow and get the rates like that, that means the costs are gonna be passed on to the, to the local rate payers here. If they, if they do that, I think that would be devastating. The other issue is, is that our solar project debt's underway, they're talking about eliminating the, the tax credits, which we fought very hard to get. So, which, which could have financial implications for this town and many other towns across the country. So stay tuned on this one. There's gonna be a, a bloodbath going on in Washington. That's not bad news. We will be a tax bill Speaker 8 00:32:21 By the way. How, how soon is that supposed to be Speaker 3 00:32:24 On? Well they're, I'm ex expecting that they're gonna be proposing a tax bill something sometime in the next three, three months. So I'm expecting some time over the summer that they'll, they'll pass some bill. But you know, some of the things that are being proposed there are, could be quite devastating to us. Local, locally. Speaker 0 00:32:42 Oh yeah. Speaker 1 00:32:45 Thank you Mayor. Speaker 0 00:32:46 And Speaker 3 00:32:46 By the way, could, can we council president before we go into the next session? One or the other is here. Okay. Speaker 0 00:33:05 This is place. Alright. Speaker 13 00:33:09 So we have our most creative first place winner. Michael Cruz for 2 8 0 8 Hudson Street. Speaker 0 00:33:22 Put, should be coming doing this. They should be coming down. Speaker 1 00:33:49 Thank you mayor. Business Administrator. Paula, apologize. Speaker 13 00:33:55 Thank you. Thank you. So I just wanna bring attention to one of the resolutions that are on the agenda. It's for the local recreation improvement grant that is done by the state of New Jersey. It's, I think the third or fourth year that the state has done this. And we are applying for the maximum of a hundred thousand dollars. Hopefully we'll get a little bit more if I can write a very convincing narrative. But the, the point of the, what our ask is for is to continue the goal of the mayor and the council here to continue our sustainability efforts. And what we're doing is we're replacing the metal allied lighting at the Riverside softball park with LEDs. And to put that in perspective, a metal halli light has a 3000 hour lifetime and LED has a hundred thousand hour lifetime. We are already at over 5,000 hours of use. So it's time to replace the LED lights are also, they're, they control spillage. So in other words, you're not spilling light in areas you don't want it and the glare. So that's, that's on the agenda as well as the application approval for the ecological park. It's the A-H-D-S-R-F, the township is asking for grant money to remediate that property. So, you know, if you don't ask, you don't get. So that's what we're doing. And I just wanted to put a reminder out that the rabies clinic is January 25th. This, Speaker 0 00:35:28 It's Speaker 13 00:35:28 Saturday. Saturday from 9:00 AM to noon for last names, beginning A through K and then Saturday, February 1st, 9:00 AM to noon, last names beginning with L to Z and this is held at the Public Works garage. And that's all I have to say. Thank you. Speaker 3 00:35:48 And this is a reminder at those lights that on all the ball fields that were installed in 2005 that are 20 years old, Speaker 13 00:35:56 20 years old, I can't believe it. Speaker 1 00:36:02 Thank you. Tasha P Rajkumar. No comment. Thank you. Thank you. Ms. Paula stole my thunder i's going to mention the vaccine, but it's okay. That's fine. I love that event by the way. It is a freeze rabies clinic. Our residents should definitely take advantage of that. Please take care of your, your, your pets, especially your, your dogs, your cats. It's, it's, it's a great event. Just go there and it's a drive through by the way. So you get to stay in your car, the dogs stay in the car with you, you have to hold them and then they'll give the shot. You don't really necessarily have to get out of the car. So that's how convenient this is. It's freezing out there. Put on the heater and just, you know, wait online and that's pretty much it. So please, please come take advantage of that. Speaker 1 00:36:52 I would also like to, you know, to a shout out to Jen Johnson. She actually ran our first Piscataway Business partnership event last I think it was, what, a week and a half ago. And it was a huge success. I was there, councilwoman, Sharon Carmichael was there, Councilman Earn was there, and also councilwoman, Sarah Rashid was there. And we met so many local, local businesses that I wasn't even even aware of. And it was just a night full of networking, meeting people having conversations. The, the mayor took some time to speak to the res to the business owners, enlightening them of what's going on with the township, which is crucial to some businesses, roads, commute, travels through the, through the roads and streets and upcoming construction and road work. So, you know, it was very important for them, not just for the residents, but local businesses so that way they can also communicate or prepare for, for any events that are happening, road closures or anything like that. So it was, it was a great night. I'm looking forward to every month attending to these. I know they're, you know, I'm not sure of the schedule I know itself, but if you have any questions pertaining to that, then just please call the township office and they'll gladly give you a schedule and update on how you can join the networking. Speaker 13 00:38:20 And those happened at the Y correct? Speaker 1 00:38:22 That's correct. It happened in the community center. We had some refreshments. I know I had a rapper or two, so, but yes, it was, again, it was very social and I got to, we got to meet a, a lot of great people, Speaker 5 00:38:37 But I don't believe they're gonna be at the Y every time that it's gonna gonna move around. Yeah. The next time is the different businesses are gonna host at the people at the Speaker 1 00:38:45 Bank. Yeah. Different this, that's right. Yep. Yeah, different businesses are gonna be sponsoring each event. So that's why I said I don't know exactly where it, where it is, but, but if you call the township, you can definitely get that information. Or it should be on the website as well. Thank you. Speaker 1 00:39:06 Okay, agenda session for February 11th, 2025. Ordinance second reading amending chapter seven, traffic sec section eight. Open open to public resolution, adopt an ordinance, ordinance resolution authorizing contract amendment, data collection and inspection services for tax assessor's office realty data systems LLC not to exceed $5,080 resolution authorizing return of Sterling Village Security deposit and payment of areas to township Piscataway Apartments 1, 4, 1 and five 50. Resolution authorizing return of escrow block 57 0 1 lot 2 16 16 90 South Washington Avenue. 22 dash PV dash 13 blocked. 12 8 0 1 lot 4 14 21 River Road 20 dash Z as in zebra, B as in Bravo, dash 38 slash 39 V as in Victor, block 3 0 3 lot 42 0 1 17 90 West seventh Street, 22 dash zeba bravo dash zero seven slash 23. Victor resolution authorizing return of safety and stabilization guarantee block 1513, block 15 and 16, 2 33 Stelton Road 1818 dash zero bravo dash 39 slash 55. Victor resolution authorizing return of temporary certificate of occupancy guarantee block 47 0 1 lot file 0.5 0.0 5 3 30 South Randolphville Road 19 PV dash 43 resolution authorizing return of soil erosion sediment control and driveway bonds. Block 14 0 1 lot 15 0 7 0 7 8. What is ary to Siri? To Siri To Siri. Court block 4 14 0 1 lot 15 0 5 0 5 9 to sir court block ten nine zero one lot 2.0 2 7 10 River Road. Speaker 1 00:41:27 Okay, we're gonna open this to the public for in, for remote attendees. If you wish to speak at this time, please raise your hand either on Zoom app or by phone by pressing star nine. When it's your turn to speak, you will 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. Ms. Cedar, do we have anybody in queue? Speaker 2 00:42:04 Council president, there are no remote attendees with her hand raised regarding this agenda item. Speaker 1 00:42:09 Thank you Ms. Cedar. Opening up for the in-person attendees, if you wish to speak at this time, please come to the podium, state your name and address and know that you had 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, we'll then respond if necessary. Please state your name and address. Speaker 16 00:42:32 Gusta. S 58. Curtis, good Speaker 1 00:42:36 Evening. Speaker 16 00:42:37 This 77-year-old grunt is out in the street with his garbage can in a rake picking up your trash. He cuts the long along the walkway, along the curve for a hundred meters and he trims bushes and he's across the street trimming cherry trees as well. He helps his neighbors as best he can in every way. Some of them will defy ordinance. Think that he's crazy, crazy dirty old man. I went to the senior citizen's office looking for some support. I went to property maintenance looking for support. They summoned me and fined me $300 for nothing. I went to the veterans looking for support. Oh, they're not involved with politics. Come to this council looking for support. This man is crazy. The neighborhood people who think I am crazy are the ones who violating ordinance. That oak tree on Washington Avenue and Ance Ave still getting hit. That goes to show you what kind of work ethic you got. It's nothing but a finagle job. Ethics is nonexistence. If they have no voice labor for you, Speaker 3 00:44:46 Just let the council know. South Washington Avenue is a county road, municipal road, Speaker 1 00:44:55 Thank you. Speaker 7 00:45:00 29 Ru Road. Congratulations of and first time coming into the council. And I hope the changes on the way. With that said, there are a few things that I would like to raise. There were a lot of, because obviously the past council, it was just a rubber stem for me. That's my perception. I could be wrong, but everybody has their right to their perception. There were a lot of rules and regulations that I went and looked into the E code. This is a task that I would like to give it to you. Look over through a fine tooth comb and see which one of them are constitutional and which one are not, and which one are basically now becoming government overreach. Last year I got something from township, which was 16 dash 11.2, which was some landlord registration. Look, I didn't apply for srap or anything. Speaker 7 00:45:49 I believe in free markets. And for that, if, if tenants have any complaints, they have right to complain in Piscataway codes and file whatever motion that they have or issues that they have. Right now, what they're saying is, I have to submit this registration and every year I have to pay another a hundred dollars to the township. And for what services. By the way, when they inspected the stuff, there were a few things they didn't even check. So they come in and they just sign these papers. Nearly will do they have, do I have a fire extinguisher? Do I have this or do I have that? Look, I can do that myself. I don't need to pay somebody a hundred bucks for that. Okay? I think to me, that money I can spend for repairs or do something else in my own home that I own. Speaker 7 00:46:26 And by the way, over a hundred years for the house that I'm living in, they're gonna charge me $700,000 in taxes. Now, if you're gonna tell me that the equity of the house is going to cross $700,000 in a hundred years, then I'll understand that. But right now what government is doing is they're stripping out equity. Then the same mayor or the government or the state is gonna convene, need affordable housing. That's not how it works. If you're gonna pay the loans and if you're paying fair share of taxes, then they gotta re figure out a way to look at this new equation in terms of how the taxing is working. Because you know what taxing is now nothing more than a glorified form of leaching and extortion and it's distorting and their writing laws, which are not even constitutional. And, and the, the, the other thing that I would like to talk about is how many of the businesses in this township or even in state, are now just running because of legislation? Speaker 7 00:47:15 And how many are free markets? What I mean is a person going, a willing buyer, working with a willing seller on a business agreement and terms. And if they disagree, they can go to the courts that, hey, this is what, this is what we agreed upon if we didn't. But now we have laws on the books that I didn't consent for. They become laws. There were no petitions that were passed and all of a sudden they're becoming laws and I'm obligated to pay for it worth at, at a negative cost to me, and people call this as government, I don't think so. The government should work like this. The other aspect of it that I wanted to talk about was in, in general what I've seen is most of the meetings that I see in this agenda, I would like to propose a change where if they're putting any ordinances that are upcoming, I would like to get at least a month advance notice, or it should be written here. These are up a separate line at which call upcoming ordinance. And I would like to have a hearing on this that people are objecting or people are supporting those ordinances. And why, because nowadays what I've seen in last five years is their past ordinance, we didn't even know what were there, what were they talked about? And they were just rubber stamped. And for which we are, I have to pay for this. Oh, thank you. Speaker 3 00:48:24 I just wanna let the record reflect. I can't let this pass. Mr. Patel is an ultranationalist. He hates government at all levels. Please. He, he says this all the time. He gets plethoras of arguments every day. He's sending some crazy anti nationalists thing to the council. And you know, this is, he just, he just doesn't think the rules should apply to him. Everybody else complies. He does, just doesn't think the rules should apply to him. Speaker 8 00:48:51 Well, council president, if I may, I think more importantly is some of those things are on the books to protect renters. And it's not to protect the, the, the landowners or the landlords. It's there to protect people who are renting, who don't have the financial wherewithal. If something should go south, and you can just look at towns next door where people have no heat. You know, I don't know what their governments are doing with those buildings, but I can tell you in our town, we do protect the renters and the people who can't afford to necessarily pay for attorneys to defend themselves. Speaker 7 00:49:26 Government is not helping. I'm sorry. Speaker 6 00:49:28 True. But I think we should respect everybody's opinions and he does have the right to his opinion. So Speaker 3 00:49:34 That's true, councilwoman. But the fact is, you don't get the, the emails the crazy nonsense that he's been sending for the last four years. He's, he, it's all right if he wants to be an ultra nationals anti-government. But let's select to reflected. That's an Excel. Speaker 7 00:49:50 You know what it, it's, it's not democracy anymore, it's mayors. Thank you. Because yes, when he talks Ultranationalists, Speaker 3 00:49:57 And this is the supporter, a key supporter of the person who ran against me, an anti nationalist. Speaker 7 00:50:03 He's the fastest. Speaker 1 00:50:04 Thank you. Anyone else, please step to the podium quick. Speaker 19 00:50:15 I'm gonna be quick, Speaker 20 00:50:17 Nice quick. Yours, just quick. Speaker 1 00:50:19 Please state your name and address. Thank you. Speaker 19 00:50:21 Tyrone Gudo. Eight Fountain aav. I just have a general question. In the past on the township's website, we used to be able to see upcoming plans for road servicing and general infrastructure improvements. Speaker 3 00:50:37 I, when, when we get the list, we normally put it up when we, when we adopt a budget, Speaker 19 00:50:41 Say I haven't seen it in the last couple years, or it's, we Speaker 3 00:50:44 Haven't introduced our budget yet. No, it's been up there. We haven't introduced our budget. Speaker 19 00:50:47 I've been able to see it in a obvious place with all, at least I haven't seen it. And the reason why I'm asking this is that living on Fountain Ave, and I know that the Enbridge lines cause a different level of complications to it, but fountain enough is in dire needle resurfacing and the sidewalks need repairing. Speaker 3 00:51:09 You have a very unique street and I'll tell you the reason why, just for those folks. There, there was a lawsuit 20 plus years ago where the, that the homeowners filed against Duke, duke Energy not to touch the trees and everything like, and that includes the town. So therefore we may not be able to fix the street. Speaker 19 00:51:30 So I I I know there's Speaker 3 00:51:31 A lot of homeowners out there now, but the law is Speaker 19 00:51:34 Full. Yeah. So, yes. So having lived there since 2017, I came to notice by talking to the neighbors, I wasn't aware of this lawsuit until maybe two, three years ago. And I still don't think it warrants that, at least the street doesn't get re serviced. I know that some of the sidewalks are presenting our trip hazard. There's, I see elderly people, young mothers walking their kids and almost every other sidewalk section is either elevated dipped and I don't see anything being done to, Speaker 3 00:52:12 Ultimately the sidewalks are the homeowner's responsibility. Speaker 19 00:52:15 Not when the tree between the sidewalk, Speaker 3 00:52:18 But you got a situation where there was a lawsuit Speaker 19 00:52:20 Is the one that's causing Speaker 3 00:52:21 I know, but there is a lawsuit. Normally we would go as a courtesy to take care of that, but because of the lawsuit, we can't take care of it. Speaker 19 00:52:28 Okay. Then the second thing that I have is that a couple years ago, I can't remember if it's two or three years ago now, they resurfaced bd, which is, I live on a cornered obedient fountain. And the curb drain that runs down from the top of the crest of the fountain going down Beatie, when they resurface it, the steam roller, the curb as adjacent to my property was steamrolled. And it essentially degraded the curb drain. And or every time the street super passes, it takes that, those tones and puts them in the middle of the street. Especially in the summer. It becomes a serious hazard because then cars driving up and down the street launch those little rocks like missiles. And my kids play in the yard. I've been in the yard, I've heard this rocks hit my siding. It's some, is there something that can be done about that? Speaker 3 00:53:18 Why? Why don't you just come up here and give Paul your address and we'll have the engineering department go out and take a look at it. Okay, Speaker 19 00:53:22 Sure. Thank you. Speaker 1 00:53:24 Thank you Mayor. I do have a question on this. I know what, so the lawsuit was, was there was a Speaker 3 00:53:30 Lawsuit. What in, in very try to 20 seconds or less, the Duke energy wanted to come in and clear out all the trees because it's where the pipeline is. You have three major pipelines. The one that was in Edison that blew up. They wanted to go into clerk. They have every right to do that. So the former Councilman steve com was doing pro bono work for the street ended up in the, the, the, the state supreme court. They ruled in favor of, of the residents and therefore the trees stayed. And so now the towns are, the thea can't touch the trees, which means you can't fix the sidewalks. 'cause if you touch the sidewalks, you're cutting the roots of the trees and denigrating the trees and to come down. So it's, it's a catch 22. The, Speaker 5 00:54:19 The trees are causing a problem with the sidewalks. Yeah, but you can't talk in a tree because of the Speaker 3 00:54:23 So, because of the lawsuit ruling. Right. And so what, this is one of the drawbacks. So consequently you have now more than probably half the homes or more have all changed hands. And the homeowners who bought in on that street didn't know about the lawsuit. Is there Speaker 5 00:54:37 A time limit on that? Yeah, it's perfect too. Oh boy. Speaker 19 00:54:42 So even if it, it's simple, but like, but the trees at this point in time are starting to age. And some of them, like every time we have a snow storm or wind storm, there's huge branches at four. No one even trims the trees. No Speaker 21 00:54:55 Maintenance. Speaker 3 00:54:56 I, I, I, we would love to go in and go off like any other street, but because of that suit, we'll, we'll go and take a look. I'll have the engineering department public works go out there. We got your number. Okay, thank you. Alright, Speaker 1 00:55:07 Thank you. Anyone else? Good evening, Curtis. Good Speaker 21 00:55:16 Evening. Curtis Grubbs. 1750 West third. A few of my neighbors didn't show up. I guess it's like Councilman, Councilman Lombardi says it's too cold. They didn't come out. One of them had an issue. They received a, I don't know if I mentioned it to Frank. They received a certified or registered letter reference to some soil about their yard or the houses on third on Hazelwood. I'm sorry, I didn't get one. So I'm assuming it's just the ones over there. I'm trying to figure out, and maybe the mayor or Frank could help me understand. I need, we need to know what's going on with the two properties, which is 1776 South second and the fence company that's across the street. Our knowledge is they're being sold. Speaker 3 00:56:11 Curtis, you're talking about the dead end of the street Speaker 21 00:56:14 To the left. Speaker 3 00:56:15 That backs up to where the new townhouses are in Den Allen. Well, the property, no application has been filed yet. The, I I guess the, the, the property spend, I guess is on the market from what I understand. And then obvious of them obviously. So whoever is looking to buy that property, they probably put letters out to find out where the delineation and then where the wetlands are. I'm assuming that's what it is. Speaker 9 00:56:45 So Speaker 3 00:56:45 Whoever's essentially is buying the property, Speaker 21 00:56:48 Which, you know, know of Speaker 3 00:56:50 Whoever is buying the property. We don't get formal confirmation here until an application's been filed and no application has filed for, quite frankly, I wish the property would get cleaned up because it's causing us a major headache over there for the residents. Right, Curtis? Speaker 21 00:57:05 Yeah, kind of. That's why you're, yeah. All right. We we're, you know, I was surprised that the people, like she said, it's Speaker 3 00:57:11 All the illegal dumping going on there and everything else you could think of is going on out there. Well, with the Speaker 21 00:57:16 Illegal dumping, no disrespect, Mary. We have cameras. Why, why haven't we caught 'em? We have cameras. Speaker 3 00:57:22 We don't, we don't have the cameras on the private property public rights away. Speaker 21 00:57:28 They're dumping down on them two pieces of property. Yeah. But Speaker 3 00:57:31 Frank Speaker 21 00:57:32 Knows that's, there's cameras on Speaker 3 00:57:33 Curtis that's private property down the end. Speaker 21 00:57:38 Okay. I don't think it is, but I'll have to do my homework and I'll talk to Frank. The other issue they was talking about, they, when the weather got before it got bad, the park and across the street from the park, when do they spray for the bugs and mosquitoes? When or when do they do? You're Speaker 3 00:57:57 Talking about the mosquito control commission? Speaker 21 00:58:00 Whoever's supposed to spray. Is that us or them? Speaker 9 00:58:02 Well, it's, it would Speaker 3 00:58:03 Be the mosquito control commission. They take samples of water, standing water throughout our community and on other areas of Middlesex County on a regular basis. Obviously they're not taking it during the wintertime because mosquitoes aren't re breeding during the wintertime. Speaker 1 00:58:19 Ma mayor, that's run through the, through Middlesex, correct? Speaker 21 00:58:22 That's Speaker 9 00:58:22 It. Yeah. Speaker 3 00:58:23 Middlesex County Mosquito Control Commission. Speaker 21 00:58:26 Well, we're trying to find out is there a date or the time that they do this? 'cause I have my neighbor here, they haven't been there. That's what I'm trying to find out. When, if they supposed to, Speaker 3 00:58:36 They, Speaker 9 00:58:37 They've done some aerials last year. They did do some aerial spraying Speaker 3 00:58:41 Skyway. Speaker 8 00:58:42 They do those aerial spraying, but they're also looking at standing water. So if they're gonna target areas, it's based upon an issue that exists. Speaker 21 00:58:50 Which does exist. Right. Speaker 8 00:58:51 But they would, so it wouldn't be, so I should clarify. So then you wouldn't have like a standard schedule. Right. They're gonna start coming out when the weather's not, I get the, I get them all the time because I have the park right down the street from me. So we get the notices like at least once a year that they're gonna be spraying over by the Johnson Park area. I'm assuming that's because they're, we, Speaker 3 00:59:12 We do know if we receive a notice, we put it on our township website in the, in a map of the area where they're, Speaker 8 00:59:19 They're stuck. Right, right, right, right. I see it because we know that we have over in that park puddles that remain. Speaker 1 00:59:30 Do my homework. Thank you very much. Speaker 8 00:59:32 Thank you, Curtis. Speaker 1 00:59:33 Thank you Curtis. Anyone else? Evening Ms. Atkins? Speaker 22 00:59:49 Okay. Good evening Counsel. Speaker 8 00:59:52 Good evening. Evening. Speaker 22 00:59:53 David Atkins and both Valley Lane. Item 11 Alpha, that's from the consent agenda. I know you have addressed that. I know that the township has requesting a a hundred thousand dollars for, for a grant. Once that's finalized, will you make notice of what the results were? Speaker 1 01:00:25 Well, we, we, we would Speaker 3 01:00:26 Take it, we would do a resolution accepting whatever the dollar amount would be if we were successful at the grant to incorporate it into our budget. Okay. Speaker 22 01:00:35 Okay. Item number 11, Delta still the consent to judge agenda. The $275,000 for the gasoline. Is that for one year? Speaker 1 01:00:52 Yes. Speaker 22 01:00:52 Okay. Item 11 F for foxtrot. What was the amount before change? Number one right now, it's, Speaker 3 01:01:08 So, David, this change orders to p and g want an additional money to run the power lines to the towers when they overestimate it. We actually have a, a subcontractor doing this, which is PSEG wanted a quarter million dollars to run that. So we have somebody else running the line at a cheaper rate to do that. Speaker 22 01:01:28 What's the rate? Speaker 1 01:01:29 Well, Speaker 3 01:01:30 It's, it's more than half of what PSEG was gonna charge us. Speaker 22 01:01:36 I am 11 J for Juliet. I don't understand that statement. Can you clarify that for me? That's pertaining to the tax collector. I, I, I I didn't understand that. Speaker 13 01:01:53 That's for its software. So SHI is a reseller for, on the state contract for Edmond Software. That's the financial name of the software, right. That the tax collector's office uses in order for, to collect taxes for our utilities and your property taxes. So it's, it's just software to allow us to purchase that. Speaker 22 01:02:16 How often does that change as far as the software? Do you do it every year or do you how Speaker 13 01:02:23 The, the, I don't know what the town had prior to, if this is a new purchase, but Edmonds typically will be the software that'll be used by the tax collector's office going forward. Speaker 22 01:02:33 Any, any particular reason why you're switching up, Speaker 3 01:02:37 David? Pretty much 90% of the towns in the state of, of the New Jersey have Edmonds. Speaker 13 01:02:43 Okay. It's, it's a good program. I've used it before. It's, it's user friendly. Not, not that anything else is bad. It's just a different program and it, and it helps, you know, calculate lean redemptions and a lot of other things that the tax collector's office needs to do. Speaker 22 01:02:57 11. Mike, the hazardous discharge, is this something that's been approved or it's a, you're just waiting for authorization and will you fill, elaborate on that? Speaker 13 01:03:14 It's just, that's just the, that's the governing body approval that's needed in order to submit the grant application to ask for funding from the state de new New Jersey, DEP to provide funding for the remediation. So the township is hoping to get the remediation we're, we're eligible for is up to $3 million. Okay, I see. So hopefully we can get that money. Speaker 22 01:03:37 Okay. I see the Latin block. What's the address? It's the Speaker 3 01:03:40 Ecological Speaker 13 01:03:41 Park. It's right, you called, it's South Washington. Isn't that Speaker 22 01:03:44 South Washington. Oh, okay. Yeah, 11 November. Something else. I don't quite understand the compensation for the fire district number four. What's that all about? So Speaker 3 01:04:00 David, what, what typically is every fire district submit their compensation on? What they, they receive, meaning the five fire commissioners in each district? We have four, four districts, five commissioners. That's 20 commissioners throughout the town. Each district has to submit to the council what their compensation is and we have to vote on it. Speaker 22 01:04:19 You said that they get where, where do they get it from? Speaker 9 01:04:23 From the tax payer. Speaker 22 01:04:25 Okay. Speaker 9 01:04:26 So vote on those taxes and they have their fire commissioner votes, which is coming Speaker 3 01:04:31 Up the third, third Saturday of February, Speaker 9 01:04:35 Which is the 16th. And, and Speaker 8 01:04:38 Sorry, folks get mail-in ballots for those now too, mayor. So you'll see it if you do mail-in ballot, you'll get it in the mail, but you'll also get a notice to go vote. And that's when you, as the taxpayer can go either vote yes or no on the fire district budget. Speaker 22 01:04:56 Okay. Thank you. That's all I have. Speaker 1 01:04:59 Thank you Ms. Takens. Motion to adjourn Speaker 8 01:05:06 Offer. Second. Speaker 3 01:05:13 All those in favor? Speaker 1 01:05:14 Sorry. All in favor. Speaker 8 01:05:16 Aye. Speaker 23 01:05:18 Aye. Speaker 1 01:05:19 Thank you. Speaker 2 01:05:23 Have a good night.