[0:00] Allegian to the flag of the United
States of America and to the republic
[0:05] for which it stands. One nation under
God, indivisible, with liberty and
[0:11] justice for all.
[0:19] » Good evening and welcome to the
September 8th, 2026 regular meeting of
[0:23] the Jackson Township Council. Pursuant
to the provisions of New Jerseys open
[0:28] public meeting act, adequate notice of
this meeting was properly provided by
[0:31] transmitting a notice of the meeting on
January 9th for publication. Notice of
[0:35] this meeting in the township councils
but posted the in the corridor of the
[0:38] municipal building on the township
website and in the office municipal
[0:41] clerk. We'll begin with a roll call.
Councilman Barlli
[0:44] » here.
>> Councilman Breie
[0:46] » here.
>> Councilman Pollock
[0:47] » here.
>> Council vice president Paul Mary
[0:49] » present.
>> Council President Bernstein
[0:51] » here. Also attending this evening is
Mayor Cune, Attorney McGucket,
[0:55] administrator Tara Franco, and myself,
Cassandra Martin.
[0:59] The first item for this evening's agenda
would be the small business recognition.
[1:04] Council President Bernstein.
>> So, I'm going to turn the floor over to
[1:07] council vice president.
>> Thank you.
[1:11] Tonight, we are proud to recognize
another great Jackson business as part
[1:16] of our small business highlight program.
[clears throat] Aspen Tree Experts is
[1:22] celebrating an incredible milestone. 50
years in business. Five decades Aspen
[1:28] has been a family-owned business serving
Jackson and communities throughout our
[1:33] area. I recently had the opportunity to
spend time some time with co-owner Steve
[1:37] Chisum. Learn more about Aspen's history
and see firsthand the pride they take in
[1:43] the business they built.
Reaching 50 years is a tremendous
[1:47] accomplishment and it speaks to the hard
work, dedication, and commitment of the
[1:52] entire Aspen team. So tonight, on behalf
of the mayor and the township council,
[1:57] we are proud to recognize Aspen Tree
Experts as our Jackson Township small
[2:03] business highlight and congratulate them
on 50 years in business. So Steve,
[2:08] congratulations. And if Yep. [applause]
[2:20] And if you and everyone that you brought
would like to come up please and we'd be
[2:25] honored to present you with this
recognition.
[2:29] Um Steve, how many generations of
Chisums have been involved in this
[2:33] business? Three. Congratulations, guys.
[applause]
[3:08] Thank
[3:14] Thank you very much.
[3:18] [applause]
[3:24] [applause]
[3:53] Thank you. We're going to continue with
council township comments starting with
[3:58] council president Bernstein.
>> Okay. So, thank you madame clerk and
[4:02] thank you and congratulations to the
Chisum family. I had the opportunity in
[4:06] serving for a little bit of time with
Steve I guess Junior. Um we appreciated
[4:10] all the work that you did here on
council and uh I appreciate the work
[4:14] that you're continuing to do on ROA. So,
I just want to start with a couple
[4:17] updates. Um we had a ROA a Roa Farms
committee meeting last week. It was
[4:22] actually one of our more well attended
meetings as of recent with the new
[4:26] engineer. Um and he updated the team on
what the status of some of the um
[4:31] submitts were and um he gave us a
commitment I think it was last week
[4:35] Monday that he would have everything
ready by to the township by Friday for
[4:39] it to be submitted for final D. We
generally try not to add anything onto
[4:44] the agenda last minute but I felt I gave
a commitment to the ROA team that I
[4:47] would be comfortable with it. Council
was emailed probably about a half hour
[4:50] before the meeting. Everyone should have
it on their seat in front of them. A
[4:54] add-on to the bills list um for $2885
which is a check from the town to Ocean
[5:01] County Soil Conservation District. So
the town hopefully I know the business
[5:05] administrator um signed the paperwork
today. So hopefully fresh and early
[5:09] tomorrow we can reach out to the
engineer and we can submit it to D to
[5:13] Ocean County soils and to the Ocean
County Planning Board so we can finally
[5:17] move move it to the next step and um to
the residents who have been waiting for
[5:24] many many years. We apologize that we're
going to continue to keep our feet on
[5:28] our foot on the gas to try to move it
forward. Um, I just want to give a
[5:32] couple of other updates on things that
we've been working on that we hope to
[5:35] look we're looking forward to over the
next couple weeks. Um, Councilman Paul
[5:39] Mary and Councilman Pollock reached out
to me about um, working on some of the
[5:43] ordinances with regard to warehouses. I
had the opportunity in speaking for a
[5:47] long time to our attorney and our
engineer this week. I got an email not
[5:50] so long ago which I will forward to my
colleagues with some of the ideas that
[5:54] we're working on to try to pro better
protect some of the surrounding areas
[5:58] where warehouses are located or going to
be located potentially in Jackson. Um
[6:02] Councilman found some stake islands were
able to use it as maybe a a a buffer and
[6:07] maybe as a guidance. So we look forward
I'm hoping to have a draft ordinance
[6:11] ready by the end of this week to get
over to council and to go from there.
[6:15] Um, additionally, I had some back and
forth with my colleagues on council
[6:19] pertaining to um, we had introduced a
ordinance which we put on hold with
[6:24] regard to storm water. Um, which I do
believe is a very very big issue is that
[6:29] we are we are continuing to see more and
more flooding within some of our
[6:32] neighborhoods as people, you know, make
various additions and lose some of the
[6:35] impervious coverage. There was some back
and forth that was brought up by the
[6:38] council meeting um, by two residents
pertaining to the um, appeal process.
[6:43] Um, and we um had some back and forth. I
got an email about a half hour before
[6:48] the meeting um from the resident who
I've been in touch with um who is
[6:53] studying it and we are um forwarded to
our attorneys already and we are going
[6:57] to continue working on that. I would
like to introduce it this year because I
[7:01] do think it's something important um and
I think it's something that will help
[7:03] protect some of our neighborhoods and
definitely some of our higher dense
[7:07] neighborhoods in town. So, we're going
to be be moving forward on that. Um,
[7:11] additionally, I just want to take a
moment and just really recognize um and
[7:15] wish a condolences to the to the family
who lost their nine-month-old child last
[7:20] week in a horrific accident here in
Jackson. Our prayers are with them. Um,
[7:25] I unfortunately um had the sad um
opportunity or um a misfortune. The
[7:34] family lives about 10 doors from my
house. My children know them very well.
[7:37] I know the the parents. I didn't know
the child. and I had to tell them Friday
[7:40] night and it's never an easy
conversation to have with a uh when my
[7:45] daughters know their older older
children um their child hopefully is is
[7:50] in a better place now looking down and
our condolences to the family because no
[7:54] one should ever have to bury anyone let
alone a child like that is such a such a
[7:58] terrible terrible tragedy and um I just
want to also mention that you know I
[8:02] think times like this we all remember
that we're all Americans we all bleed
[8:05] the same blood and we have to look past
our differences and and remember that
[8:09] because um I got the first phone call as
I was actually pulling into town hall. I
[8:13] had a meeting with the clerk. I sat in
my car for 15 minutes crying. Um and
[8:17] because I just couldn't come in um and
our prayers to the family, our prayers
[8:21] anyone who knew them and uh we should
never have to hear such news again here
[8:25] in Jackson Township. Um I also want to
take a moment. I know the mayor is going
[8:29] to do a proclamation for for 911. And I
apologize if I'm a little long. Um but
[8:33] it hit me today. Um it it is obviously a
huge um it's been a while since 911
[8:38] happened and I was thinking today I
interviewed someone for a job today and
[8:42] I saw her resume. She was 22 years old
and she was applying for a teaching
[8:46] position and it hit me. They have no
idea it's it's after it's after they
[8:51] were born. Um I'm not that old but I
still remember I was in seventh grade. I
[8:55] lived in Cleveland and the airplane um
one of the airplanes at that point had
[9:01] had turned around and the rumors were
that they were over Ohio for a few
[9:04] minutes and I was in a you know a Jewish
school with over a thousand children and
[9:09] obviously obviously everyone was
panicking and we went into lockdown.
[9:12] I'll never forget that and obviously I
can never relate to those who actually
[9:15] lost dear ones in the in the towers or
in in Pennsylvania or on the planes. But
[9:20] a special special thank you to all of
the men and women from here from
[9:23] everywhere who went out of their way to
to give up their lives and we all know
[9:28] what went on down there and to give up
their lives from their family and
[9:31] everyone in order to save fellow
Americans, your service will never ever
[9:35] go um unnoticed. And I think as
educators and those in in public office
[9:41] and really as moms and dads um looking
around the room, I think most people
[9:44] here were born after before 911. But we
should do a the best job possible
[9:49] educating our children, educating the
next generations of what happened on
[9:52] that day because, you know, we're
running out of people who remember World
[9:55] War II. And we can't we can't ever
forget. We already have deniers to what
[9:59] happened to 911. And we already have
unfortunately people who support 911
[10:04] being elected in in office. And we must
stand together as Americans and say
[10:07] never again. And we have to rise up
against hate of all form. Thank you and
[10:11] have a wonderful night.
[applause]
[10:14] Council
[10:19] Vice President Pomeary.
>> Thank you, Clerk. Um, I'm going to kind
[10:22] of talk on it as well, and I don't want
to take too much away from the
[10:26] proclamation, but uh, it's a solemn
anniversary, the 25th anniversary of of
[10:32] 911.
It is something that we must always
[10:36] remember and teach the next generation.
Everybody that's a senior in high school
[10:40] right now wasn't even born during 911.
So we say never forget, but we really
[10:47] need to, especially those that were
alive for it, we need to teach our kids,
[10:52] our grandkids, and let them really
understand what happened, who did it,
[10:57] and why. It's important that we never
forget that there almost 3,000 lives
[11:03] that were lost and even after many died
because of the uh what they were
[11:09] breathing down there. And to all of our
first responders, those that were are
[11:13] here this evening, those that were there
and gave their lives, and those that
[11:19] unfortunately succumbed to illness
thereafter.
[11:22] They're are heroes. These are our
heroes. If we could just give a round of
[11:24] applause for our heroes that are here
[applause] here tonight for doing what
[11:28] you did.
[11:33] So, may we always remember it. May we be
may we be vigil. And uh God bless you
[11:39] all. and God bless America.
[applause]
[11:47] » Council member Elli.
>> Uh thank you, Clerk Martin. First of
[11:49] all, um my thoughts and prayers are with
the mother uh family of the nine-month
[11:54] baby um who was killed in the MPGs uh
parking lot. Should have never happened.
[12:00] Um I see that we are recognizing
aspentry experts and it's nice to see uh
[12:06] the Chisum family with us tonight. Um,
congratulations on an amazing uh 50
[12:10] years in business. They are a great
Jackson family, a great Jacksonbased
[12:14] business who continue to serve and
volunteer in our town. Uh, much
[12:18] congratulations to uh, Steve Chisum
Senior and your beautiful family and uh,
[12:24] your hardworking staff on building an
incredible and successful business right
[12:28] here in Jackson. Uh, I also wish all the
kids of Jackson, I know they started
[12:33] school today, including my grandkids,
Lucas and Ellie, a fun and rewarding and
[12:36] successful new school year. In closing,
I know my colleagues had touched upon
[12:42] the 25th anniversary of 911. Can't
believe it's been um that many years
[12:47] since that beautiful Chris September
morning that began like any other day
[12:51] and turned very quickly into our
nation's worst tragedy. and all of us
[12:55] were deeply affected by the events of
September 11, 2001, especially being so
[13:00] close to it in New Jersey. Thank God for
the people who got out of the iconic uh
[13:04] Twin Towers. And we'll always remember
the people who perished on that horrific
[13:08] day on the four hijack planes. I think
the hardest part um is there were
[13:13] children on some of those planes.
Remember those who perished in
[13:17] buildings, the workers like Ed Oliver
and Joe Mangano from Jackson, the
[13:22] visitors to the towers that day.
incredibly brave firefighters and police
[13:26] officers. Um, see some of you in our
room who serve Jackson and thank you for
[13:30] your service and people who continue to
this day to pass away from the results
[13:35] of being exposed to the environment
after 911 like Richard Skinner of
[13:39] Jackson who passed away four years ago
from working at the World Trade Center
[13:44] attacks. We honor their memories today
and always. and we honor the memories of
[13:48] our servicemen and women who have died
since then to keep America safe and
[13:52] secure from another terrorist attacks.
And please keep your thoughts and
[13:56] prayers with the people who are still
affected and impacted by the events of
[14:00] September 11, 2001. As always, thank you
to our first responders. A big way we
[14:05] can honor those who perished on 911 and
afterwards from the effects of 911 is
[14:10] respecting and supporting our law
enforcement officers, first responders,
[14:13] and military personnel and supporting
leaders who will advocate for them and
[14:17] advocate for policies that will keep our
great country safe and secure from
[14:21] another 911 from happening. Let our kids
be taught the real truth and history of
[14:25] the events of September 11th, as council
president uh Bernstein had alluded to.
[14:30] stop the appeasement and political
correctness. So many heroes from that
[14:33] day and afterwards. Thank you,
[applause]
[14:41] » Councilman Brazie.
>> Uh yes, thank you. [clears throat] My
[14:44] condolences definitely go out to the
parent lost that child with an accident
[14:48] that should have never happened and uh I
guess it's every parent's nightmare if
[14:52] they have to bury a child. So, my
condolences to the family and and really
[14:57] heartfelt. [clears throat]
Steve Chisum, I've worked with you for
[15:01] years. Your family can't say enough.
You've done a lot for so many people and
[15:06] uh thank you for all your services
you've given to the town. I really
[15:09] appreciate it and your family.
Talking about 911 real quick. It was
[15:15] pretty much the area we live in. We got
hit pretty hard. Mayor Raina lost his
[15:19] brother. I have St. Veronic's teachers
lost their husbands. We lost a coach. It
[15:24] was very heavily felt in this area. Um,
and our first responders that went out,
[15:30] I don't know here who's here out of them
tonight or some are, but there was uh
[15:34] three captains. They were officers at
the time. There were captains at that
[15:38] time. They went out there almost
immediately for five days and they
[15:41] stayed out there. Captain McBride,
Captain Heratco, and Captain Ca all went
[15:46] out there for five days, stopped very
little, ate very little and little water
[15:50] for five days, and they responded right
away. I know other EMTs went out there,
[15:54] other fire people went out there. God
bless them all and God bless their first
[15:58] responders all the time. We really
appreciate it. Um 911 is something that
[16:03] is not easy to speak about. It happened.
We cannot forget about it. And uh at one
[16:09] time it pulled this country together and
I think that has to happen again. So
[16:13] thank you for coming out this evening.
God bless.
[16:21] Councilman Paul,
>> thank you. Uh, you know, I think we're
[16:25] all sharing very similar sentiments
tonight. I think that's a good thing.
[16:29] Uh, what happened to that nine-month old
child is absolutely disheartening. Uh,
[16:33] it's sad and it's what every parent
fears in their life. And uh we're just
[16:39] uh want to let the family know, you
know, we care about you. There's
[16:42] anything we can do, we are willing to do
it. Um just uh you know Jackson cares no
[16:47] matter who you are and you lose a child
this community needs to be there for
[16:52] them and anything we could do that's
what we plan to do and uh another solemn
[16:57] occasion of course is 911. Uh you know
I'm from Stagger in Staten Island so
[17:03] there was a lot of people from Staten
Island that were lost that day. Uh I had
[17:07] a best friend lose his father. Another
friend lose his uncle. My brother-in-law
[17:12] was in there. Thank goodness he got out
safe. But it it affected so many
[17:17] people's lives. Is an awful tragedy.
What followed has been a tragedy, too.
[17:22] Whether it be the the long-term wars,
everything that happened after has been
[17:27] devastating to this country. But the one
thing that always stood out was the
[17:33] first responders. They ran in there,
giving their lives. Too many. That's
[17:41] bravery. That's courage. That's more
than any other person can give, right?
[17:47] Respect that. We respect our first
responders in every way possible. And um
[17:52] just thank you guys for what you do and
uh let's just uh keep focusing on
[17:58] improving Jackson. I'm I'm very happy
with a lot of what the council's doing
[18:01] lately. I think we're doing a lot of
good work. I like a lot of these
[18:04] ordinances and uh you know, little
moment of unity is always a good thing
[18:09] and I appreciate what's happening here.
Thank you.
[18:13] » [applause]
[18:20] » Mayor I think you want to go into
the proclamation. Floor is yours.
[18:25] » Thank you, Council President.
[18:29] Good evening, everyone. As we gather
here tonight, we approach a significant
[18:33] moment of remembrance, the 25th
anniversary of September 11th, 2001,
[18:38] just a few days away. It is a time for
reflection on the profound impact that
[18:44] day had on our nation, our communities,
and our lives. As we prepare to mark
[18:49] this solemn anniversary, let us take a
moment to honor the lives that were
[18:54] lost, the families forever changed, and
the courageous individuals who stepped
[18:58] forward in the face of ultimate
sacrifice and danger. On that day, while
[19:04] others were running away from danger,
our first responders were running
[19:08] towards it. They made the courageous
decision to enter those buildings
[19:12] fulfill fully aware of the risk that
they were taking drive driven by one
[19:17] simple mission to protect to rescue and
to save lives.
[19:22] Their actions exemplified the very best
of America and the spirit of bravery,
[19:26] sacrifice and service that defines not
only our emergency services but our
[19:31] entire community. As we approach the
solemn anniversary, let us remember that
[19:35] the values are emerged by the the
tragedy day. Courage, unity, resilience,
[19:40] and the unwavering commitment to one
another. In the spirits of remembrance
[19:45] and hope, I would like to ask the
council president for permission to
[19:48] recognize the first responders who are
here with us tonight.
[19:51] » Absolutely, Mayor.
>> As they're already standing,
[19:55] » mayor, just if you could just before you
that could just explain the process why
[19:59] we picked the ones who are here. So what
I did was um I was at an OEM meeting and
[20:04] it was approaching uh 911 and I just had
said we really should do something. I
[20:09] don't know what we do but it's coming up
on the 25th uh year anniversary and we
[20:13] would like to give it out to any of our
police, EMS, fire department, anybody
[20:18] that wanted to come who wanted to offer
that we could have them. I was hoping to
[20:21] honestly have the room filled with
everybody just to remember and thank
[20:24] them. Um that they're still here with us
25 years later because I know that when
[20:28] this time comes around um everybody
reflects. I know I reflected all weekend
[20:33] and we just wanted to say thank you.
Thank you for being here, have you in
[20:36] uniform and say a couple words and just
create a proclamation that's uniform for
[20:40] everyone that was there. Um and just
read it and again give them something
[20:45] that they know that we have not
forgotten just like the youth that's
[20:48] sitting up here. um they can get to see
that we do remember, we do appreciate
[20:53] and we do forever hold you in our hearts
and thank you. So with that being said,
[20:59] um we have Chief Stanley O'Brien Senior
here. Thank you, sir.
[21:05] [applause]
[21:10] Fire Commissioner Alfred Cuchiniro,
[applause]
[21:17] Firefighter Steve Gibson,
[applause]
[21:23] Chaplain Revlin Dan Schaefer,
[applause]
[21:30] firefighter Jimmy Kellen, retired um
FDNY firefighter,
[21:37] » [applause]
[21:40] » firefighter Brian Alysia.
[applause]
[21:49] Um, also just to give our chief from
EMS, he was the only first responder
[21:54] from EMS to to uh attend. I would also
like to to be on ground zero. I would
[22:00] also like to ask anyone that is here
this evening who was present at ground
[22:05] zero or directly involved in the
responsing and recovering efforts to
[22:09] please stand to be recognized.
[applause]
[22:22] If if you don't mind, if if you're able
to, I'd like you to continue to stand as
[22:27] I read the pro proclamation in your
honor tonight. And then at the end of
[22:32] reading the proclamation, I'm going to
ask the first responders and anybody
[22:35] that would like to come up, I have uh uh
proclamations signed by uh the mayor and
[22:41] council in your honor that you could
take home. And if anyone would like has
[22:45] a first responder at home or anybody
that they would like to give one on
[22:48] behalf of Jackson, we would like to give
that to you. So they are sitting up at
[22:51] the front. I'm going to read the
proclamation now and then the reverend
[22:55] is going to say a couple words.
Proclamation honoring the first
[22:58] responders on the 25th anniversary of
September 11th, 2001. Whereas September
[23:03] 11, 2001 remains one of the most solemn
and defying days in the history of our
[23:08] nation when our country suffered an
unexpected
[23:12] uh terrorist attack that claimed the
lives of nearly 3,000 innocent people,
[23:17] including firefighters, police officers,
emergency responders, and countless uh
[23:22] civilians. And whereas in the immediate
aftermath of the attacks, law
[23:26] enforcement officers and emergency
personnels from communities throughout
[23:29] New Jersey and across the nation
answered the call without hesitation,
[23:34] leaving their families and their
communities behind to enter into an
[23:37] environment of unimaginable danger and
uncertainty in the order to help those
[23:43] in need and support the massive recovery
efforts at the World Trade Center site.
[23:48] And whereas the first responders who
answered the call on September 11, 2001
[23:54] ran towards danger while others sought
safety, placing the lives and well-being
[23:58] of others before their own and embodying
the highest ideal of service and
[24:03] sacrifice. And whereas we honor the
validant men and women who lost their
[24:09] lives that day and as well as those who
survived and continue to serve despite
[24:14] the physical and emotional burdens they
carry in the years that follow. And
[24:19] whereas 25 years later, the courage
displayed on September 11th, 2001
[24:24] continues to inspire generations and
reminds us of the importance and the
[24:28] compassion, unity, and preparedness and
a steadfast commitment to serving others
[24:34] even amid extraordinary dangers and
adversary. And whereas on this
[24:38] anniversary,
it is fitting and proper that we pause
[24:42] to remember that we lost honor those who
served, recognize those who continue to
[24:48] answer the call, and reaffirm our
enduring gratitude to all first
[24:53] responders who protected and care for
our communities each and every day. And
[24:57] now therefore, be it a proclamation that
I, Jennifer Cune, Mayor of Township of
[25:02] Jackson, County of Ocean, State of New
Jersey, together with the Jackson
[25:06] Township Council, do hereby recognize
the 25th anniversary of September 11,
[25:11] 2001, and commemorate not only the
events of that tragic day, but also the
[25:17] bravery, service, loyalty, and
commitment of those who responded to
[25:22] help our community endure and recover
during one of its darkest hours. Be it a
[25:27] further proclamation that on the
township of Jackson and its residents
[25:31] unite in remembering the victims of
September 11th, honoring the courageous
[25:35] first responders both from our very own
Township of Jackson and from our
[25:39] communities across the nation who
answered the call to serve, support the
[25:44] families affected by this tragic day and
reaffirming that the heroic hero heroic
[25:49] sorry heroic actions, selfless
sacrifices, and the lives forever
[25:54] touched by September 11th and remain
forever remembered and never forgotten.
[25:59] Thank you. Everyone, please come
forward. Mayor, [applause]
[26:13] [applause]
[26:15] I'm going to ask all the all those who
responded to come forward. And Reverend
[26:20] Dan Schaefer, if you can say a few
words, Reverend from the mic if you if
[26:23] you don't mind and everyone can sit
down.
[26:28] Thank you.
[26:35] Dan Schaefer. I'm a resident of Jackson
for many years. On 911, I was contacted
[26:43] by Port Authority
and I was assigned doing chapency and uh
[26:51] management of emotions and did many many
services, many funerals.
[26:59] Five of my best friends uh have since
gone on to be with the Lord and u it
[27:08] just was a great honor. Nobody ever
thought that we would have to face what
[27:13] we faced in those days.
And like I said, there's so many today
[27:17] that we can't forget those that are
still paying the price. They're still
[27:22] suffering and many have died.
So I'd like I'd like those people that
[27:28] stood up before. Would you you guys or
Gand up again if you were there please?
[27:32] You stood up before you served there.
>> There's one more on the side. Good.
[27:38] I'd like us to have a moment of silence
and you pray as you pray
[27:45] and ask God that never again. That was
one of the sayings at Port Authority.
[27:53] N said never again. And we hope and pray
that it'll never ever happen again. So
[27:58] we bow our heads please. Almighty God,
here we are the greatest the greatest
[28:04] country in the world. some of the
greatest people in the world. We thank
[28:10] you for the soldiers, whether they were
police, fire, EMS, iron workers, they're
[28:16] all soldiers. They're all warriors. They
came to the call and they stood tall.
[28:23] They didn't think of themselves. They
thought of others. So, we thank you for
[28:28] this opportunity from Jackson. Just
remember, we will never forget. And I
[28:34] pray for my six my five friends who were
who lost their lives there that you
[28:40] would continue to support their
families.
[28:44] We ask this in your holy name. Everybody
said amen.
[28:48] » Amen. Thank you.
>> Thank you Reverend. Now those who sir if
[28:52] you can come in the middle and council
will stand behind. Um
[28:57] and mayor I'm also going to ask those
residents who are not who come up also.
[29:01] I think I saw three residents stand up
before. If you can come up also if you
[29:04] if you're comfortable coming up. Um
okay, no fine. Um Reverend, can we move
[29:09] over more to the middle? Um Mr. Couturro
and
[29:22] tell us when to stop here.
[29:50] And I just want to add one more message.
Anyone who has an American flag or
[29:54] doesn't have one, let's all put it out
for 911. Let's remember these heroes and
[29:58] let's remember all those who continue to
volunteer daily to make our keep our
[30:01] country safe. God bless you and God
bless America.
[30:06] [applause]
[30:13] » We're going to take a 30 second uh just
to clear.
[30:17] » And anyone who wants proclamations, the
mayor is going to give them out in the
[30:20] hallway if you have a family member who
couldn't make it tonight or if you know
[30:23] of a neighbor or someone who you think
would appreciate it. And if not, feel
[30:26] free to reach out to the mayor's office
tomorrow. Um, and uh, we will we want to
[30:31] honor as many of those who served.
[30:36] Wait a minute.
[30:41] I'm just going to wait for them to go
out.
[30:47] And just because I saw a head of our EMS
here, I just want to take a moment and
[30:51] just thank him. um recently has been
obviously a tragedy and the professional
[30:56] work of EMS together with and I see one
of the members who I saw in some of the
[31:00] pictures who volunt who who showed up to
the scene of that ter that terrible
[31:03] tragedy from Atala just want to
recognize them working together to make
[31:08] sure that any victim no matter who and
no matter what receive the proper cure
[31:12] that they deserve. So, congrat Thank you
for your service to our local um
[31:17] responders and uh we hope to never need
our first responders for anything other
[31:21] than a child birth. Thank you.
[applause]
[31:28] And now now on to town business.
The next item on the agenda is the
[31:34] second reading and public hearing of
ordinance 202626 repealing and replacing
[31:39] township code section 245-5.
At this time, if any member of the
[31:43] public has any comments to make, please
address the council at the microphone
[31:46] and state your name and address clearly
for the record. You have five minutes to
[31:49] speak and may only speak once. May I
have a motion to open public comment?
[31:52] » Motion.
>> Second.
[31:53] » All in favor?
>> I.
[31:54] » Any opposed?
>> Council see no one come forward. Motion
[31:59] to close public forum.
>> Second.
[32:03] » All in favor? I.
>> Any opposed?
[32:06] May I have a motion to adopt ordinance
2026 26? Motion. Second.
[32:13] I'm sorry. Who's the second?
>> Councilman Breie.
[32:15] » Thank you.
>> Council member Belli.
[32:18] » Yes.
>> Councilman Breie.
[32:20] » Yes.
>> Councilman Pollock.
[32:22] » Yes.
>> Council Vice President Paul Mary.
[32:24] » Yes.
>> Council President Bernstein.
[32:26] » Yes. And again, I want to thank our
friends from Howell who came to that
[32:29] meeting and brought this up. And um I
think this will be an extra another
[32:33] extra deterrent. And I'm hoping that our
municipal courts and our prosecutors uh
[32:38] take this seriously.
um and make sure that sometimes a higher
[32:43] fine and a recurring fine is what deters
people from from doing wrong. And um we
[32:48] have to protect our neighborhoods, we
have to protect our communities and uh I
[32:51] I appreciate council's uh unanimous
support in that. So yes,
[32:57] » the next item on the agenda is the
second reading and public hearing of
[33:00] ordinance 2026 27 authorizing the
execution of a deed conveying all right,
[33:05] title, and interest.
>> Madam clerk,
[33:08] » so I'm just for the public. So, I had
some back and forth with attorney
[33:11] mcuckin today and then I had the
opportunity in speaking to everyone from
[33:14] council before. Um, I am going to be
asking in a minute for a motion to table
[33:18] this ordinance and I just want to give a
little background. So, this ordinance
[33:20] came um from a developer who had an
agreement with the now defunct um um
[33:28] commission for
industrial commission, sorry, industrial
[33:32] commission. and um there are legal
complaints that he has feeling that this
[33:36] was supposed to be something that he
receives. By the last meeting, one of
[33:41] the questions was asked at all the taxes
that were paid over the years and how
[33:44] does that work? Additionally, I brought
up to attorney McCain and you know,
[33:47] Attorney Mccucken is not the one who's
involved with our affordable housing
[33:50] litigation. I think another resident
brought up certain concerns also. This
[33:54] um property is one of those who is
currently suing the town um for some of
[33:58] his affordable housing complaints. This
property was zoned as R9 single family
[34:03] homes and he's asking for a density of
somewhere between I think eight or 12
[34:06] units per per acre um in an highly dense
already area. Um I think there are
[34:13] questions that need to be answered
before this moves forward and I want to
[34:16] make sure that we are um going through
all possible avenues and if we have to
[34:21] have that conversation um with their
attorney. Um, I would like to ask
[34:25] council to make a motion to table and I
would like to ask attorney mcuckin if
[34:28] you could reach out to that attorney
again and get more clarity uh making
[34:32] sure that we're not rushing in without
all all the information possible. So,
[34:35] council, what do we have?
>> Motion to table ordinance 2026-27.
[34:41] » Second.
>> Councilman Brell,
[34:44] » yes.
>> Council Brassie,
[34:46] » yes.
>> Councilman Pollock,
[34:47] » yes.
>> Council Vice President Paul Mary,
[34:50] » yes.
>> Council President Bernstein,
[34:52] » yes. And again, council, legal counsel,
it's my understanding we table if we
[34:55] would want to introduce it, we'd have to
go to a first reading again.
[34:57] » No, you would just be able to republish
the notice if you choose to do so.
[35:01] » Okay.
>> Um, and we will be in contact with their
[35:03] attorney. There are a couple of
questions that have come up since at the
[35:06] last meeting and since then. I just want
to confirm
[35:08] » and I appreciate the council's
tableling.
[35:11] » Okay. Thank you. So motion passes to
table for now, madam cler.
[35:15] » Thank you.
The next item on the agenda is the first
[35:18] reading and introduction of ordinance
202628 amending and supplementing
[35:22] chapter 103 entitled vehicle and traffic
article 14 schedules. Council President
[35:28] Bernstein, are there any comments?
>> Yeah, Madam Cler, hold on one second. I
[35:30] apologize. My notes are a little bit all
over the place here tonight. Here it is.
[35:35] So, this ordinance, if adopted, would
establish an additional no parking zone
[35:38] along the eastern side of Gail Chambers
Road from Sam's Road to Cook South
[35:41] Cooksbridge Road and was requested by
the Jackson Township PD Traffic Safety
[35:46] Bureau. But I just want to add this
ordinance also came from there were
[35:48] multiple residents who reached out to
myself. Um, I was actually on I was on
[35:53] the phone. It was raining and we met a
bunch of residents out there. Um, this
[35:56] is something that the residents in the
neighborhood feel would be in the best
[35:58] interest of the safety of the
neighborhood and this is an
[36:01] introduction. and I would like to have
that conversation going forward about
[36:04] this issue.
[36:07] » May I have a motion to approve ordinance
202620 and first reading introduction
[36:11] and to authorize the notice of the
public hearing?
[36:14] » Motion.
>> Second.
[36:16] » Councilman Brellley.
>> Um this is rel related to which
[36:19] ordinance are we referring?
>> This is the no parking on um
[36:23] » sorry on Gail Chambers and part of Sam's
on one side.
[36:26] » Okay. Now, is there
the use that's there is it current do
[36:31] they receive the required and necessary
permits?
[36:36] » So, because I feel like we're again like
with some of the roads in our town,
[36:40] » we're just putting a temporary effect.
>> Sure. So, I had that conversation with
[36:43] the residents over there and I
definitely hear that perspective. So
[36:47] far, zoning has deemed the use over
there to be a permitted use um based on
[36:51] the fact that all the permits were
acquired. Um and um the conversation
[36:56] I've had with the residents who don't
use that use in the neighborhood was
[36:59] that that was where this where this
ordinance request came from and I told
[37:02] them I would submit it and then I would
welcome all council members in the next
[37:06] two weeks to go down and better
understand the issue that's going on in
[37:08] that neighborhood. And we c we have two
weeks now. I think this council has
[37:12] shown that after we introduce something,
it's not an automatically um a yes vote
[37:16] on the second on the second, but that's
that's where it came from. And I and I
[37:19] don't mind contact um in um after the
meeting giving you the some of those
[37:24] emails that came from some of those
residents requesting it through traffic
[37:27] safety.
>> Okay. Well, for now I'm going to vote
[37:32] no. Just going to do my due diligence in
the next couple of weeks. Um I just feel
[37:37] like this is definitely different from
Woodlane. Woodlane, I know we approved
[37:41] no parking on that street. It's a very
busy area of our town. That was
[37:45] definitely um something that was needed
that needed to be done. It was
[37:49] understandable. Um it's a long stretch
of road, but this is a neighborhood that
[37:53] I'm we're referring to. I just want to
make sure like what's going on there is
[37:59] being uh done abiding by the laws that
we have on the books currently and that
[38:03] we're not just, you know,
having a temporary solution to fix um a
[38:09] problem to accommodate possibly an
illegal use that might be going on.
[38:17] » I vote no at this time.
>> Council member Brazie,
[38:19] » thank you.
>> Yeah, I understand this also was
[38:22] recommended by the police department.
It's the first reading. We can still
[38:26] look on it all vote. Yes.
[38:35] » Any vote? Yes, madam clerk.
>> Thank you, Councilman Pollock.
[38:40] » All right. So, this is a lot of the
issues we face in Jackson, right? Um,
[38:45] uh, crushed by a lawsuit, uh, forced
non-residential uses in our residential
[38:50] neighborhoods. We got to figure this out
because it's it's hurting the community.
[38:56] It's getting people angry.
We have to come together and figure out
[39:01] how to make this better. Do it in a
legal way that's not going to cause
[39:04] problems. Find some kind of compromise
because this is the stuff everybody's
[39:09] sick of. Um I get it. We want safety.
There's issues being created, but people
[39:14] have lived here for 20, 30, 40, 50
generations, and they're seeing
[39:19] everything change in a way they don't
like. and we got to figure this out. Um,
[39:23] for tonight I'm going to be a no, but
you know,
[39:29] I I don't know if it carries through. I
I'd be happy to go to the area and talk
[39:33] with people and and my vote could change
if I think it's going to improve things
[39:37] and make it safer there. But, uh, for
now, it's a no because I'm kind of tired
[39:40] of these things and, uh, hopefully we
can figure something out in the future.
[39:43] And that's that's the idea. All right.
Thank you, though,
[39:47] » Council Vice President Pomeary.
So, what I'd like and I'm going to ask
[39:51] residents that are here tonight and who
may be watching um I would like to hear
[39:55] your perspective if this goes to a
second uh reading in two weeks. So,
[40:01] please come out, let us know uh if
you're for this and if you or if you're
[40:06] opposed to this. Um
I'm unsure, but I would like to give the
[40:12] residents the opportunity to come up
here and voice their opinion. So, I am
[40:15] going to vote yes, not because I'm
necessarily voting yes in two weeks. Not
[40:20] because I agree with this, and I agree
with a lot of what Councilman Burelli
[40:24] and Councilman Pollock have said. We
can't just keep um putting no parking
[40:28] everywhere because that's not going to
fix a problem, a systemic problem.
[40:32] However, for those that live here in
these areas, please come out in two
[40:37] weeks and provide us with your
perspective. And that's how I will
[40:40] decide how I will vote in two weeks from
now. Thank you.
[40:44] Council President Bernstein.
>> So, first of all, I I thank the council
[40:48] for that for that back and forth. Um, I
was originally when the when the res
[40:52] first residents reached out to me in the
area, I had similar thoughts to
[40:55] Councilman Pollock and uh Councilman
Belli with some of the concerns. Um, and
[41:01] I did go out, like I said before, on a
rainy day. I met with the residents who
[41:04] were advocating for it. And actually,
some of the other residents in the
[41:07] neighborhood weren't so happy about it
because, you know, they were losing some
[41:11] of their parking spots. Um, and you
know, I had conversations for about a
[41:15] week or so with with with a lot of
different residents um, with what was
[41:20] going on in the neighborhood and this
seemed to be a compromise that they
[41:23] supported, but I I definitely do agree
with Councilman Pulary. I hope that
[41:27] people from that neighborhood um, I'm
not sure if they knew it was on the
[41:30] agenda this week. I did tell one person,
but I will reach out after this meeting
[41:33] and let them know. I would like to see
the room full with residents from that
[41:37] neighborhood, let them express what they
think is in the best interest of their
[41:40] neighborhood. and and Councilman Pollock
and Belli and and really everyone here.
[41:44] I will after the meeting either tonight
or tomorrow depending what time we end,
[41:47] I will um forward some of the emails
that I received and some of the
[41:51] background and then help help feel free
to reach out to those residents who
[41:54] asked for this um to make a more
informed decision and I vote yes just to
[41:58] move it forward. Council President, one
thing. Um, for those that may not be
[42:02] able to make it here in two weeks, uh,
if you would permit, can the township
[42:06] social media pages put this ordinance
out and ask solicit feedback so we can
[42:11] get emailed as well as on social media?
So, if they're not able to make any
[42:14] tweets, I still would like to their
perspective.
[42:16] » So, business administrator um,
Terafenco, I see some of our our media
[42:20] team is here. Um, if you give
permission, I will reach out to them
[42:23] tomorrow and uh, ask him to put
something out. But again, I think this
[42:27] is knowing the neighborhood and going
know going down there a couple times. I
[42:30] think this is a neighborhood question
that needs to be discussed and obviously
[42:34] we take everyone's, you know, view into
into account, but I really want to hear
[42:37] from the the residents in that
neighborhood on both sides of the aisle
[42:41] and all all sides of the aisle really
over there with what they think is going
[42:44] to be in the best interest of of their
neighborhood. Um, I think Councilman
[42:48] Pollock said, you know, there are uses
that are going on in in various
[42:52] neighborhoods and like I said, we went
through a history in litigation and some
[42:56] of those uses um are now permitted uses
within those neighborhoods and we have
[43:01] to make sure that we are doing our best
to while to find that compromised road.
[43:05] So, I can go both ways by the next
meeting also. So, we'll have that
[43:09] conversation. So, yes.
>> Thank you. Motion carries.
[43:14] The next item on the agenda is the first
reading introduction of ordinance 202629
[43:18] repealing and replacing chapter 350.
Council President Bernstein, are any
[43:22] comments?
>> Yes. So, um, I'll read my prepared
[43:25] comments and I'll add on. This
ordinance, if adopted, would amend the
[43:27] town of short-term rental ordinance to
prohibit rental residential rentals of
[43:31] less than 90 days as opposed to up to 30
days, which is currently prohibited. It
[43:34] would also allow no more than two 90-day
rentals in any 12 day 12-month period.
[43:38] And before I I ask my colleagues if they
if they have anything they want to add.
[43:41] This came from a resident in the crowd.
I'm not sure if she's here today. Um I
[43:45] think she is. Uh I see her here. This
idea came from her. Obviously had a
[43:49] little bit of compromise and back and
forth. Um thank you attorney McGuckin
[43:52] who really looked into this about the
constitutionality of some of the of of
[43:56] of banning the short-term rentals. Um I
think this is a very fair compromise. Um
[44:02] the the reality is no one in Jackson
wants people moving in every month into
[44:06] onto their block at transient. It it's
not good for the neighborhood. There's
[44:10] no sense of community, but obviously
when people don't live, they don't have
[44:12] sense of pride in their community, and I
think this could lead to issues. Um when
[44:17] the draft was first prepared, I thought
it was going to be a one 90-day rental.
[44:22] I had this conversation with Councilman
Belli. He actually want to point it out
[44:25] to me rightfully so that the Edentown
ordinance which we're using as our base
[44:28] over here from a legal perspective a
little bit had too um so I think this is
[44:34] a a a major step in the right direction
and again I just want the residents to
[44:38] know you come to a council meeting you
bring up ideas um we we're listening
[44:42] we're trying and um I was very impressed
with the feedback um we sent out this
[44:46] draft we're trying to do a little bit
earlier to all the council we got great
[44:49] feedback and it was a great conversation
for the past week so and councilman vice
[44:53] council vice president I know you to say
something.
[44:54] » Yes. Thank you, council president. So,
just to add to to what this ordinance is
[44:58] and after that resident came up uh few
meetings ago, it really set a a fire in
[45:03] my in my belly with this. I wanted to
get some on the book strong. Actually,
[45:06] this is like a 70% compromise. What I
wanted, you can ask council president
[45:09] Bernstein. I I actually wanted it a
little bit more heavy-handed, but our uh
[45:13] legal team advised that that probably
wouldn't be appropriate. So, we did the
[45:17] strongest we could with within staying
in a legal format. And I even went back
[45:22] and forth a few times with Councilman
Pollock on this as well. We we were kind
[45:26] of trying to uh get something that was
enforcable and had some some meat on it.
[45:32] So, just quickly to kind of go over some
highlights, it's stronger, legally
[45:37] enforcable ordinance, clear rules, clear
violations, clear penalties, gives the
[45:42] township real tools to act when
violations occur. Uh it protects
[45:46] residential neighborhoods. It prevents
homes from being routinely operated as a
[45:51] short-term hotel or Airbnb. And it
states in there, shall not enter into a
[45:56] short-term rental agreement more than
two times in any 12-month period. So, if
[46:01] they if they rent out their home
short-term for 90 days, they do it
[46:04] twice, the other six months, they can't
do it. So, how many landlords are going
[46:08] to want to sit on six months of not
collecting rent?
[46:12] It helps address noise, traffic,
parking, and neighborhood quality of
[46:16] life concerns.
Commercial short-term rentals are
[46:19] prohibited.
Residential invest uh investment
[46:24] commercial rental properties cannot be
used for short-term rentals. And here's
[46:28] a caveat to this, which I'm ex I'm very
happy about that we're reiterating.
[46:35] Pool and backyards cannot be rented
separately. No renting residential
[46:39] amenities for parties, gatherings, or
other commercial purposes.
[46:44] Stops de facto rooming houses. Multiple
rooms cannot be rented to separate
[46:50] tenants. Very limited allowance for one
room, one tenant with strict
[46:55] requirements. Owner must actually live
there. For permitted single room rental,
[47:01] the homeowner must be owner occupied
yearround.
[47:06] Inspections and registration is
required. Rental co township
[47:11] registration, insurance, parking and
compliance with health, fire, zoning and
[47:16] safety and occupancy codes. Illegal and
this is another good one. Illegal
[47:21] advertising prohibited gives us
enforcement avenues when prohibiting
[47:26] rental prohibited rentals are being
advertised online. Real enforcement
[47:31] authority. Not only can code enforcement
enforce this, and we know code
[47:35] enforcement, they don't work 247, but
who does? Our police department. So, not
[47:41] only can code enforcement enforce this,
but so can our police department. They
[47:44] can enforce this ordinance and
meaningful fines. First offense, $500.
[47:50] Second offense, a,000. Third offense,
$2,000. And guess what? After your third
[47:53] offense, every day, if we wanted to, we
could find you $2,000 per day. So,
[47:57] continuing violations can result in
daily fines. So, my takeaway, we didn't
[48:02] want an ordinance that simply looked
good on paper. We wanted something
[48:05] clear, legally enforceable, and capable
of protecting Jackson residential
[48:09] neighborhoods while respecting
legitimate property rights. And that's
[48:14] why I'm happy that we are starting to
accomplish this here.
[48:19] » Thank you, [applause]
>> Madam Clerk.
[48:25] May I have a motion to approve ordinance
2026 29 on first reading and
[48:29] introduction and to authorize the notice
of the public hearing.
[48:32] » Motion second.
>> Councilman Brellley.
[48:35] » Yes.
>> Council Brassie.
[48:36] » Yes.
>> Councilman Pollock.
[48:38] » I think uh Councilman Palmary laid it
out very well for everybody. Uh I think
[48:42] this is a good ordinance. I think it's a
great step. Uh we're defining things. We
[48:46] are are putting language to help enforce
our rules. And uh it's definitely
[48:51] getting a yes from me tonight. Good job,
guys.
[48:54] Council Vice President Paul Mary.
>> Yes. And this is your government working
[48:58] together. So this is something to be
really proud of. We're working together
[49:02] and we're getting things done. So
absolutely. Yes.
[49:04] » Council President Bernstein.
>> So before I vote again, I just want to
[49:08] thank the entire council. Um I think uh
Councilman Paul Mary was definitely on
[49:14] my back about this also and I appreciate
it. He reached out some of the other
[49:17] members um and and kept me informed with
what really what the consensus is. And
[49:21] thank you, Nino, for for your input on
that. Also, um I think this is long
[49:25] overdue. I'm going to request I I know
this is a constant conversation I've had
[49:29] with Mayor Cun is we can pass all the
laws possible, but enforcement is the
[49:34] key. Um business administrator
Terafenkco before we go for a second
[49:37] reading. I would request that you can
send this to Chief Nelson YC is here to
[49:41] code enforcement um director or chair
Mr. Cheney um getting their input on
[49:47] this also because these are obviously
code and PD you know have some
[49:51] authority. I would also would recommend
if this can be sent to the court because
[49:55] we want to make sure we've had in the
past where ordinances have been passed
[49:57] and then the court came back whether
it's a prosecutor and the municipal
[50:01] judge with concerns with some of the
state guidelines. I I know we put a lot
[50:05] of time and energy into this but I want
to make sure they're all okay with it,
[50:08] you know, moving forward. Um I think
Councilman uh Paul Mary said it well.
[50:13] Um, this is everyone working together
and really now what I'm looking forward
[50:16] hopefully seeing is all of our
departments. There's obviously a rental
[50:19] aspect of this. We need the housing
rental bureau. We need code enforcement.
[50:22] We need a lot of our departments working
together and um I I think they will, but
[50:27] we need you to to do that part. So, I'm
just going to ask for that, you know,
[50:30] for that to be done. I will follow up
with you tomorrow and I vote yes.
[50:34] » Motion carries.
The next item on the agenda is the first
[50:38] reading and introduction of ordinance
202630 amending township code chapter
[50:42] 103 entitled vehicles and traffic
section 103-43
[50:46] entitled vehicles prohibited certain
hours. Council President Bernstein are
[50:50] any comments?
>> Yes. This ordinance if adopted would re
[50:53] would restate the township's ordinance
provisions with respect to the parking
[50:56] commercial vehicles and more
specifically unhitched trailers and
[50:59] township roadway. just to give the
background to this and you know someone
[51:01] asked I I saw this on social media and
I'll just have a kudos about making sure
[51:05] people have a better understanding of
where ordinances come the sponsor and
[51:09] you know I think in this council so far
there's been a lot of sponsors this
[51:12] sponsor actually comes from Sergeant
Hemba um he sent this Councilman Palmer
[51:16] you on the emails there was a little bit
of back and forth on some of that um and
[51:21] I I delayed a little bit because I
really wanted to make sure I fully
[51:23] understood the issue in the past two
weeks I've been driving around town a
[51:27] little bit more and getting a better
understanding This would in would this
[51:30] would prohibit an unhitched trailer from
being left on the road. You obviously if
[51:33] you're doing construction, you can leave
it on your driveway but not on the
[51:36] roadways. And again, this goes to
enforcement. I know our traffic safety,
[51:40] I don't know if we have the numbers,
they've been giving out a lot of tickets
[51:42] recently on on roadway issues. Um, which
is I think fantastic. And hopefully this
[51:47] is something that Sergeant Hemp and his
team will take a lead on it. If I can
[51:51] add also, you know, just just to be
clear, this as the council president had
[51:55] said, this was brought to our attention
from traffic safety and they were having
[51:58] a major concern. And the concern was
that these trailers are unhitching and
[52:03] leaving their unhitched trailer for days
on end. And there was no ordinance that
[52:07] our uh police department could ticket
these trailers. And if tow ticket Yeah.
[52:13] toe if an ambulance a fire truck had to
get down it was could potentially cause
[52:19] a problem because this unhitched trailer
was there. So you can't unhitch and
[52:23] leave it. Now that doesn't mean you
can't have a hitch trailer for a moment
[52:26] to unload something and then and then go
about your business. You just can
[52:28] unhitch your trailer and leave it there
indefinitely because it's a traffic
[52:32] safety concern for our uh
>> and just a question that came up today.
[52:35] A resident called me on the way to the
meeting today with I think a great
[52:38] question. Unfortunately, and I just want
to clarify, Attorney McGucken, this
[52:42] would not apply to county roads, right?
This is only municipal roads because we
[52:45] don't have that's that's correct. So, I
had recently we did another ordinance
[52:49] that affected municipal roads. I sent an
email to the county which I have not
[52:52] heard back. I'm going to follow up
again. This is something I would request
[52:54] a county to look in on the county roads.
I can see there's 30 something towns in
[52:59] Ocean County and um I can't imagine any
town would have an issue on this. So, we
[53:02] are going to be reaching out to our
county colleagues because we have a lot
[53:06] of county roads and the roadway the
resident mentioned to me earlier was a
[53:09] county roadway which unfortunately this
this this would not apply to but yes um
[53:13] that's the background. Madam clerk,
>> I have a motion to approve ordinance
[53:17] 202630 on first reading and introduction
and to authorize the notice of the
[53:20] public hearing.
>> Motion second.
[53:23] » Council member Brley.
>> Yes.
[53:25] » Council Brassie.
>> Yes. Especially a trailer not most of
[53:28] the time won't have lights on it and
just sitting out there at night. You can
[53:31] see it.
>> Councilman Pollock.
[53:34] » Yes.
>> Council Vice President Paul Mary.
[53:37] » Yes. And thank you to our traffic safety
bureau for bringing this to our
[53:40] attention.
>> Council President Bernstein.
[53:42] » Yes. And I'm actually going to thank the
mayor. I know this is something I think
[53:45] all sides politically could agree to. We
need more guys and and men and women in
[53:49] traffic safety. And I think that's an
area that we put a tremendous emphasis
[53:53] in the past I would say three months.
last year. I I think the line that went
[53:57] around was that there was no one on the
roads. There are people there are men
[54:00] and women on the roads now. It's quite
clear. So, thank you, Chief, for your
[54:03] leadership on that. Thank you to I think
it's Captain Rodriguez and uh and I
[54:07] think Sergeant Hemba on on on really
following up. And just to put it out
[54:11] there, um the you know, the officers in
this department are giving tickets to
[54:15] anyone they see. No special fa no
special favorites. I know I saw that
[54:19] online. Um they are literally giving
tickets left and right. I'm getting
[54:22] calls at what is going on in Jackson and
you know ladies and gentlemen, drive
[54:26] carefully, park safely and please keep
our roads uncluttered and so people the
[54:30] roads could be used for what they're
meant for.
[54:33] » So yes,
>> motion carries. Thank you. The next item
[54:37] of business is the authorization of
payment for bills and claims.
[54:41] » Madam clerk,
>> thank you. The following abstensions
[54:46] apply to Council President Paul Mary
B141791
[54:52] and Councilman Brley Ae1 D1 E Y1 NJ4
R U T04 and R U T11.
[55:04] Um as
>> Madame Clerk, um I just want to add I
[55:07] don't know if any other obstensions.
So on page two of the bills, there's a
[55:11] vendor which I think we've brought up in
the past. I'm not sure why it's back on
[55:14] here, but I never got a great answer, so
I would like to pull it. Is the vendor
[55:17] Empusio and Mcderma, which is a former
labor council. Um, and I would like a
[55:24] little bit more clarity. Obviously, if
they did work while they were still the
[55:27] labor council, they deserve to get paid
and they legally have to be get paid,
[55:30] but I'm asking if we can pull that
further review. Um, secondly, I just I
[55:35] just want to reiterate for for also for
our business administrator. I know I had
[55:38] this conversation with him earlier is
the way the bills people have asked
[55:41] about the bills list if it could be done
a little differently. We use a certain
[55:44] system. This is the way it generates and
once the system is pulled once the
[55:48] checks are pulled um we could only pull
it publicly up here. Um, and I am going
[55:53] to ask our business administrator if you
could have if we could have a
[55:55] conversation with our finance team
because this is something I noticed
[55:59] earlier in the week before our council
got it and I would have pulled it
[56:01] earlier but I just didn't have a way
because once it's generated the only way
[56:04] to do is white out and if we put white
on on the bills and claims I think
[56:08] people would be asking me what was uh
the conspiracy theories would be coming
[56:11] out so it's on but I like to pull that.
Additionally, there was an add-on um
[56:15] which we added right before the meeting
which I mentioned earlier for a hand
[56:19] check which was signed already by the
business administrator. Obviously, it
[56:22] can't go out until council votes on it
for $2,885
[56:27] to the Ocean County Soil Conservation
District which would be the permitting
[56:31] process for Roa Farms long overdue.
[56:37] » Thank you. Are there any additional
comments? Um, council president, if I
[56:41] may see something that stood out on the
bills and claims, and we're trying to re
[56:44] in spending, I know, especially after
the,
[56:47] » you know, the last budget. Um, CW
01 office renewal for 90,000
[56:55] 54925 under CW
DDW, government incorporated. Is that
[57:03] like something that's done annually? And
what is that?
[57:05] » Sure. Hold on one second. I just want to
pull up my papers.
[57:07] » Sure. passing your the bills and claims.
Sorry. What page is it on? Council
[57:12] » uh page uh
great
[57:15] » page three
>> CDW government incorporated.
[57:20] » Hold on one second. I'm just finding it.
I have to go through it twice. Um office
[57:24] renewal. That is I think our new
Microsoft um if I remember correctly,
[57:27] Madam Clerk, I think that's our
Microsoft um software which Okay.
[57:31] » Um I think has to be renewed currently
annually. I think we had an issue la am
[57:35] I correct? Yeah, we had an issue last
year. We all know that, you know, the
[57:39] email was down. This is our upgraded
system that hopefully we won't be having
[57:43] our emails down. But this is our
Microsoft for all of our 300 and
[57:46] something employees and everyone up here
and anyone else who has emails and
[57:50] Microsoft.
>> All right. Just want to make sure it's
[57:53] an actual
>> It makes sense. I mean, I paid $2,500
[57:56] for my small little operation in my
business. So, yeah, we're we're a big
[57:59] town, but that's what it is.
>> All right.
[58:02] » Yeah.
>> Thank you, Nina. May I have a motion to
[58:05] approve the bills and claims with the
extensions noted and the removal of
[58:10] Abraio McDermott in the amount of
3,676.50
[58:15] on page two.
>> Motion.
[58:17] » Second.
>> Councilman Bradley
[58:19] » with those abstensions but yes to the
rest on the bills and claims agenda for
[58:23] tonight.
>> Councilman Brassie.
[58:25] » Yes.
>> Councilman Pollock.
[58:27] » Yes.
>> Council Vice President Paul Mary.
[58:29] » Yes.
>> Council President Bernstein.
[58:31] » Yes. And thank you, Nino, for
>> highlighting that. I'm happy I
[58:35] remembered.
>> Thank you for the explanation.
[58:37] » We're going to get in a minute. We'll
have open comments soon.
[58:41] » Madam Clerk, we're going to have time
for anyone soon who wants to speak.
[58:44] We'll get we'll get we'll get to you in
a minute.
[58:46] » Madam Clerk,
>> the next item on the agenda is the
[58:49] consent agenda listed for tonight's
consideration of resolutions uh 225
[58:54] through 236 2026 listed by title.
Council President Bernstein, are there
[58:58] any comments?
>> So, I have some comments before that.
[59:00] Does anyone from the public want us to
pull anyone off for a separate vote?
[59:03] This is not a public comment section.
Anyone have anyone for separate vote?
[59:08] Okay. So, I'm just going to highlight a
couple which I think deserve to get
[59:11] highlighted. R225, a resident came to
the last meeting asking about Insanity
[59:16] Farm and we gave a commitment that it
would be on this agenda. Um, I know
[59:19] attorney McGuckin had spent the past
couple months going back and forth with
[59:22] the attorneys on the for the farm. Um if
I understand correctly the story over
[59:26] here is that the PD um had to confiscate
a couple of animals um and they just you
[59:33] know deposited it by a by a farm. The
first payment the township made attorney
[59:38] muck can correct me if I say anything
wrong here. The first township payment
[59:41] the township made um and the second one
it was a a a dispute if the township
[59:46] should or not because there was a court
order from the municipal judge that
[59:48] really the person whose animals were
were responsible. So this resolution at
[59:52] the end of the day, this this farm
stepped in and helped the town. This
[59:55] resolution would authorize the town to
pay and then for the town to for the
[59:59] person who owns the animals to be
responsible to pay back the township. We
[1:00:03] hope we see the money, but we felt the
first thing is making sure the person
[1:00:06] the farm that took care of these these
animals were taken care of legal
[1:00:10] council. Is that correct?
>> That is correct.
[1:00:11] » Okay. And I just want to thank some of
the residents. I see she's not here who
[1:00:15] reached out to me, tagged me on social
media, and I promised her we'd get it
[1:00:18] on. So I'm happy to see it's here. Um I
also want to highlight R233
[1:00:24] um which is the fairness for school
district in development restricted areas
[1:00:28] act. Now resolutions we all know are
resolutions sometimes but um there was a
[1:00:32] settlement with meta which gave the
state of New Jersey hundreds and
[1:00:35] hundreds of millions of dollars and that
is supporting Assemblyman Suiki's um
[1:00:39] bill calling for the money to be
distributed to the schools um $800
[1:00:44] million. If Jackson got you know even 10
15 we'd be very happy. Um, but we
[1:00:49] deserve some of that money. Um, and uh,
asking for it to go back to children
[1:00:53] because Meta was a lawsuit over
children, I think would be great. I also
[1:00:57] wanted to highlight the last one, R236,
which I think goes into Councilman Paul
[1:01:03] Mary's um, way he starts off in his
meetings. That's a place transfer
[1:01:07] preliminary retail consumption license
for CGs. Um, I'm not going to profess
[1:01:12] I'm the biggest CG customer, but many
residents I know everyone loves CGs here
[1:01:16] in Jackson. supposedly their wings are
the best. Um, everyone goes there after
[1:01:20] work for a for for a good drink. And the
fact that they're expanding here in
[1:01:23] Jackson, I think is a sign of a
successful small business. And I just
[1:01:27] say kudos to CG's for staying open and
continuing to fight and serve the
[1:01:32] residents. So, um, I think that was a a
a great one. Those are the ones that I
[1:01:36] wanted to highlight for now. Oh, and
then the last one, just because I'm sure
[1:01:40] um I'm not sure if it will come up, is
R235. That is supporting the county. The
[1:01:44] county is looking into looking nothing
finalized. The county open space
[1:01:48] committee is looking at that property on
Grottown. I think it's 277 Grottown
[1:01:53] which obviously the township tabled for
now for moving forward with it. Um
[1:01:56] contrary to popular belief um that came
to the township the resident came here
[1:02:00] on her own. She came to the township
obviously the township decided at this
[1:02:03] point it wasn't in the best interest of
use utilization of our open space funds
[1:02:08] but the county is now looking into it.
It doesn't mean it will happen, but the
[1:02:11] county needs a resolution just
supporting them to to to pursue it
[1:02:14] further.
>> And I think I covered the big ones.
[1:02:19] » I have a motion to authorize the consent
agenda resolutions 225 through 236 2026.
[1:02:25] » Motion
second.
[1:02:27] » Council member,
>> um I'm going to vote yes on the
[1:02:31] resolutions except for resolution
235-2026.
[1:02:36] Um, I'm just going I I'm going back and
forth on it. Um, I really hope the
[1:02:43] owners of the property I know they've
been very eager to sell sell it. I hope
[1:02:48] they do. I just don't think it's
appropriate to do it with taxpayer
[1:02:53] monies. Since we last voted on it, the
last we heard um is the council uh from
[1:03:00] the council is that there was a legal
matter regarding the property that we
[1:03:03] were holding off on it. Also, since we
last voted on it, um it was discovered
[1:03:08] there were some wetlands on the uh 3.32
acre property. So, I question how much
[1:03:13] of it is really buildable buildable. I
don't think a lot of it maybe I think
[1:03:18] not a lot of it at all. Maybe a house or
two um if that. So, we're not protecting
[1:03:25] our town from sprawl or overdevelopment
in this case or per I think preserving
[1:03:29] that much. So, I don't think it's a wise
use of county open space
[1:03:34] tax dollars either, which Jackson
taxpayers pay into as well. Um, I wish
[1:03:39] the property owners well and selling
their property, but I don't think it
[1:03:43] should be done with taxpayer monies.
Also, there's no address indicated on
[1:03:48] this resolution or the amount the
property. So, um, is possibly being
[1:03:53] purchased for by Ocean County. So, I'm
voting no at this time. Thank you. Yes.
[1:03:58] for the rest on there.
>> Councilman Brassie,
[1:04:03] » I'm going to vote yes. That property,
the county's looking at it. They'll do
[1:04:06] their due justice. Uh I don't want to
discourage the county from looking for
[1:04:11] property in Jackson. We don't do that
that often. Uh they may have other plans
[1:04:15] for it. They'll look at it. If it's too
wet, they're not going to buy it. Or at
[1:04:18] least let them look into it and uh see
what happens. I vote yes. W
[1:04:24] » Councilman Pollock.
Uh we're speaking specifically on
[1:04:28] council if you don't mind your mic.
>> Yeah.
[1:04:31] » Uh we're speaking specifically
>> all the resolutions.
[1:04:34] » All of them. Yeah. Okay. Uh so I'll run
through uh let me first say election
[1:04:40] time is always the best time to lobby
your governments. That is the time they
[1:04:44] are willing to do the most for you.
Don't forget that. Uh R225 Perfect
[1:04:50] Insanity Farms. I actually spoke to the
woman a while back. Uh they they took in
[1:04:54] animals for the town. They initially
were getting paid and then they stopped
[1:04:58] getting paid and they had to spend time
fighting with their government here,
[1:05:02] fighting with the government here and
I'm really happy they're getting what
[1:05:05] they deserve. They go out of their way
to help the town and take care of
[1:05:08] animals. Uh they they deserve what they
were supposed to get. So that's a really
[1:05:12] good thing that's happening. Um as far
as uh R235,
[1:05:18] uh I agree with Councilman Blli. nothing
against the homeowners in any way,
[1:05:22] shape, or form, and I feel terrible, but
you know, we diligently look for land to
[1:05:28] preserve. Uh, you know, and I'll even
give the the mayor credit there. I may
[1:05:32] not agree on a lot of things with her,
but but she's looking uh the open space
[1:05:36] committee, uh, Councilman Brelli is
always looking for land to preserve
[1:05:39] because it's what's important to us. We
pay into that fund and we want to, you
[1:05:43] know, we care about nature. We care
about the environment. Uh, you know,
[1:05:46] Councilman Belli brought up a 30 acre
parcel that's going for $1.85 million
[1:05:53] » in in relation that you know, you're
looking to spend $800,000 on 3.2 acres.
[1:05:59] I'm not sure why.
Listen, I don't trust this government.
[1:06:03] Maybe I'm right, maybe I'm wrong, but
there's a lot of very strange
[1:06:08] surrounding properties to it, which
always makes me question what's going
[1:06:11] on. powerful, rich, influential people
own property around it. Uh, so I always
[1:06:16] question things. I could be wrong
sometimes. Listen, but, uh, I have a
[1:06:20] heavy distrust for government. I have a
heavy distrust when there's a lot of
[1:06:23] money involved. Uh, so I'm going to be
voting no on that. Um, I hope Ocean
[1:06:27] County would like to pitch in for bigger
tracks of land that we're looking at as
[1:06:30] well, and we can hopefully preserve
Jackson with the county. Uh, but, uh,
[1:06:36] everything else Oh, wait. I have to just
recognize CG's. Uh, I will probably be
[1:06:41] going there for wings and a beer after
this.
[1:06:44] » I knew it.
>> Uh, [laughter] it is it is my favorite
[1:06:46] place in town. So, I'm I was very happy
when I heard they were going to be
[1:06:50] expanding. Uh,
>> it makes me feel happy for the Jackson
[1:06:54] community. Um, so, uh, aside from 235,
everything's a yes.
[1:07:02] » Council Vice President Paul Mary.
>> So, I just like to talk um on R236 as
[1:07:08] well. CG's was a small business
highlight last year and I spoke with the
[1:07:12] owner at Jackson Day and I was so
excited to hear when he said he was
[1:07:14] looking to expand. Uh so I'll definitely
be back there for a uh a rehighlight,
[1:07:18] you know, just to kind of acknowledge
when he's done uh and uh bring it to
[1:07:22] everybody because I think it's great. We
have small businesses that are
[1:07:25] expanding. We have small businesses that
are growing and it's just it's just an
[1:07:29] amazing thing and the feedback has been
tremendous. R233,
[1:07:33] [clears throat] Assemblyman Suiki's bill
48
[1:07:37] 4860.
Uh it's essentially a bill that's paid
[1:07:42] for with the uh with the money we're
getting from Meta. And this could
[1:07:47] potentially, if passed, bring back $5
million to the Jackson School District.
[1:07:51] It's a It scratches the surface. Over
the last eight years, if you add up the
[1:07:56] aid reduction every single year and
compound it, we lost over $60 million in
[1:08:01] state aid from uh Trenton. But this 5
million, of course, every bit helps. So,
[1:08:07] if this bill would have passed, uh
Jackson would be getting a very needed
[1:08:11] $5 million. So, I would like to thank
the assemblyman because, uh, he's always
[1:08:14] been a very strong supporter of Jackson
and the and the Jackson school district.
[1:08:19] So, uh, I'd like to thank him for that.
And I vote yes. Council
[1:08:23] President Bernstein.
>> So, um, before I vote, I just want to
[1:08:27] just respond to some of my colleagues.
Um, with regard to R235, I just have to
[1:08:32] put it out there. When it first came to
to my desk, um, I was not aware that it
[1:08:38] was strategically located, as some
people, you know, alleged on online, you
[1:08:42] know, next to certain developers
property and was going to be used as as
[1:08:46] a park. That was never the intention of
anyone here. Um, that being said, I
[1:08:50] understand the concerns. Um, I think
when we have that county who's willing
[1:08:54] to look into buying open space, no
matter what it is, I always like to, um,
[1:08:59] consider it. Um, I'm just going to put
out there for the record, the county is
[1:09:02] also, they do have a referendum, as
Councilman Blli has mentioned in
[1:09:05] previous council meetings to increase
the open space tax. I'm not telling
[1:09:10] people how to vote, but we do need the
county to be pitching in more as if
[1:09:14] possible for open space. The county
right now, I'm just going to make, I
[1:09:18] guess, a formal announcement. Um, the
county right now is currently in the
[1:09:22] process of an appraisal on over 160 or
150 acres of buildable land off of
[1:09:28] County Line Road in Jackson, which I
think would be the largest open space
[1:09:32] preservation of buildable land in a very
very long time in Jackson at an
[1:09:36] intersection that intersects Lakewood
and Jackson by the by the Lakewood
[1:09:40] border. Um, that if that area gets
developed, good luck. Um, whatever's
[1:09:44] left the county line road. Um, and
obviously this doesn't and I and I
[1:09:48] actually called one of the the
commissioners today and I said I just
[1:09:50] want to make sure this does not take
away from the other work that we're
[1:09:53] we're we're looking into and I got a
firm commitment not the property owner
[1:09:57] reached out and they want to make sure
the town doesn't have any hesitation.
[1:10:00] This does not come from our open space
um fund. And just to also to add to and
[1:10:05] I'm sorry for speaking too much but just
to add for those who wanted to know how
[1:10:08] this you know this this property when
the property first came actually the
[1:10:12] mayor um gave it to me um to look into
and I got the appraisal and the
[1:10:16] appraisal had a value um which was a lot
higher than um than what the the sellers
[1:10:24] were willing to. So I'm not a real
estate expert. I've negotiated on one
[1:10:27] piece of property in my in the past and
we obviously entered into contract
[1:10:31] negotiations and there were some legal
questions that came up with the way some
[1:10:34] of that was done. Um but I'm at the end
of the day the town council spoke,
[1:10:39] residents spoke. We heard you. Um but
I'm not against the county considering
[1:10:42] to buy more open space here as long as
it actually remains open space and
[1:10:46] doesn't get used for infrastructure or
anything else for anyone else. So I
[1:10:49] would support the county moving forward
on purchasing that. Um again I just want
[1:10:53] to echo CG's. I think it's great when
small businesses um grow and um I think
[1:10:58] it's, you know, something that everyone
in town loves. Um I've been there a few
[1:11:02] times. Nothing too great, but I mean,
not too many times, but it's I think
[1:11:04] it's a fantastic place and I vote yes on
everything.
[1:11:08] » Motion carries.
[1:11:16] » At this time, if any member of the
public has any comments to make, please
[1:11:19] address the council at the microphone.
>> Before that, one second. There was a
[1:11:21] gentleman I know who has to leave. I I
don't like cutting line.
[1:11:23] » We all have to.
>> Okay.
[1:11:28] Again, if Madame Clerk, if if you're
able to come, if everyone's will let you
[1:11:32] go first. I know you mentioned to me
twice, but
[1:11:35] » come up to the mic.
[1:11:39] » We have the motion.
>> Okay. Madam clerk, we have a motion.
[1:11:43] » May I have a motion? Open public
comment.
[1:11:44] » Motion.
>> Second.
[1:11:45] » All in favor? I.
>> Any opposed?
[1:11:48] » Thank you. My name is Randall. I live in
Sunny Brook Road in Jackson here. Um
[1:11:53] there's a home across the street from
me, 259 Sunny Brook Road going back was
[1:11:59] for sale and a week before
it it it changed to lease. An LCC group
[1:12:08] had purchased it and rented it out to
six families that had four children in
[1:12:15] it.
In January, they had to leave because
[1:12:19] another LCC
group bought the home. And there's seven
[1:12:24] gentlemen living in that house now. And
uh I I don't I came here, I made the
[1:12:30] complaint here because
I don't feel safe.
[1:12:35] And I I went over to they sent me from
here to the blue building to building
[1:12:40] » housing across the street. Yeah.
>> Right. And they told me that was illegal
[1:12:44] and that I should go over to the little
building over there where they
[1:12:47] » code enforcement.
>> And they told me, well, they couldn't do
[1:12:50] that because they're renting, sharing,
paying the rent, but they got to leave
[1:12:55] in October. So, whoever's renting it out
is it's a one one year lease to all
[1:13:03] these people.
Uh, and is there some Nobody got back to
[1:13:08] me as many times as I called.
Is there anything that could be done
[1:13:11] about that or is it legal?
>> So, I'm just for you because I know you
[1:13:16] have to leave otherwise I'm just going
to take notes.
[1:13:18] » My wife is
>> Yeah, I'm going to take notes. Um I'm
[1:13:21] going to ask you if I do you have the
business administrator's uh email
[1:13:25] address. If you can email the business
call or email the business
[1:13:28] administrator. Um I do know and again I
I want to talk to the attorney about our
[1:13:33] ordinance now is that the the we had we
had a round table once on on housing.
[1:13:38] you are in America, you are allowed to
and I think this is I think something
[1:13:43] that Denise Ner usually responds. Our
ordinance does not restrict someone from
[1:13:47] um having multiple families living in
there. They have to have equal access to
[1:13:50] everything. And many times when our code
or our housing department are going in
[1:13:54] there, they're finding some of the
issues that they might not find. I don't
[1:13:57] know if there's a housing inspection
done there yet. You can definitely reach
[1:14:00] out to Mr. Terafeno and he can get that
information and hopefully get someone
[1:14:03] down there. I talked to one of the when
I bought the last time inspector and I
[1:14:07] talked to the inspector. He says, "Oh, I
know that place. I know the I know the
[1:14:12] owners. I will talk to them. They're my
good friends."
[1:14:16] » Oh. So, if you don't mind to reach out
to Mr. Terafeno and uh Mr. Terafeno,
[1:14:21] could you just You have your card here
or no? I know the gentleman has to
[1:14:26] leave.
>> Okay. Thank you.
[1:14:28] » Thank you.
[1:14:31] My name is Patrick Panella. I live at 15
Quail Road.
[1:14:37] I've been a resident of Jackson for 32
years. All of my children have gone to
[1:14:42] school here.
And you know, you are all sitting up
[1:14:45] here talking nice about new agendas and
enforcing this and enforcing that. It
[1:14:50] all sounds good before election time.
You just don't enforce anything. Okay.
[1:14:56] I'm still waiting to hear from Mr.
Terrafano about 18 deer lane which I've
[1:15:01] emailed all of you about. I've watched
over a 100,000 people over the last
[1:15:07] three years. No exaggeration. I've sent
pictures. I've told you I could provide
[1:15:13] more proof. My neighbors have complained
to all of you
[1:15:19] and still nothing. We're going to send
the code enforcement officer over there.
[1:15:23] Right. Well, I contacted the mayor on
March 27th.
[1:15:28] It's September 8th.
I've emailed Mr. Terrafanka. I've
[1:15:33] emailed the mayor who isn't here. That's
how important all of your comments are
[1:15:39] to her.
And that's the truth. [applause]
[1:15:43] It is time for people to stop talking.
And you aren't going to do it because
[1:15:48] you haven't done it
for years. So you could sit there in
[1:15:53] your suits, talk down to people, and run
all this language across people. We've
[1:16:00] been here for years. I paid over the
years approximately $150,000
[1:16:05] in taxes since I've lived here. Right.
After sending some of my emails and
[1:16:12] photos to the township, I got visited by
animal control,
[1:16:18] right? because a dog took a poop in
front of 18 Deer Lane,
[1:16:25] right? So,
I emailed the board
[1:16:31] and I said, "Well, obviously," and and
the gentleman told me the mayor sent
[1:16:36] him, right? I have the paper at home.
This isn't fictitious, folks. People are
[1:16:43] not making this up, right? I don't own a
dog, okay?
[1:16:49] So retribution,
you swung and you missed the games and
[1:16:55] your delay tactics. Like it's been five
months since I contacted the mayor about
[1:17:00] 18 Deer Lane. When I say a 100,000
people and listen, nobody goes through
[1:17:06] the front door. Can you tell me why, Mr.
Bernstein? When you go to a friend's
[1:17:10] house, do you go through the front door?
I do. My other neighbors that are Jewish
[1:17:16] go through their neighbors front doors.
So tell me, Mr. Bernstein, what is 18
[1:17:21] Dear Lane?
[1:17:25] It's not on a corner lot. It doesn't
follow any of the ordinance or zoning
[1:17:30] laws or anything.
You know, you are all sitting up there
[1:17:34] as this town is being steamrolled
and you wonder why people come to a mic
[1:17:40] and say the things that they say or when
people get so frustrated something comes
[1:17:44] out of their mouth that they don't mean.
[1:17:51] I pray to God
that those that can be replaced are
[1:17:58] replaced. And I pray to God that those
that may replace them
[1:18:03] learn by what's happening here. Because
all that is happening here is money is
[1:18:08] being thrown around to different people,
different political parties and people
[1:18:13] are playing games with people's lives
who have lived here for over 20, 30, 40,
[1:18:19] 50 years. Right, Mr. Teriff Franco? You
can look at me all you want. Listen, I
[1:18:23] served in the Marine Corps. I served in
law enforcement for 27 years and
[1:18:27] retired.
This isn't a game to me. This is my
[1:18:31] life. This is my town.
[applause]
[1:18:38] The shaking of heads and all the little,
you know, honestly, you are all just
[1:18:43] full of it. always
[1:18:49] [applause]
>> I'd like to respond uh to uh
[1:18:55] » is
>> 18 Deer Lane is a residential home.
[1:19:00] » Yes, I I'll address it later.
>> This is this is one of the biggest
[1:19:04] problems we have and I we're afraid of a
lawsuit. We're afraid of our Lupa. I'm
[1:19:10] sure our R loopa attorney is telling us
to do nothing. But when somebody's not
[1:19:14] doing the right thing, like how do we
just sit here and not do anything about
[1:19:18] it? I [applause] I I know it's it's
[1:19:23] this is just a common sense that upsets
every single normal person in this town.
[1:19:28] They don't care who you are, what your
your house is being used for. It's just
[1:19:33] disrupting their neighborhood. They're
having extra traffic, extra people
[1:19:36] coming through all the time. It's just
it's common sense and it's a problem and
[1:19:42] and we got to work on this. I I'm
thinking the government's starting to
[1:19:45] listen more now. Um things seem to be
changing a little bit and I hope we can
[1:19:49] continue down that path and things like
this just can't be tolerated and places
[1:19:53] like this can't be operating illegally
for years, for long periods of time, and
[1:19:58] then all of a sudden go, you're
approved. We need to punish wrongdoing.
[1:20:04] You know, I we heard our mayor going on
about illegal immigration. You care
[1:20:09] about law and order, but you don't do
anything about you what you can actually
[1:20:13] do in your own town with your own power.
So, like we have to do something.
[1:20:19] Lawsuits be damned sometimes.
Do you want like the people to just be
[1:20:24] furious all the time in this town?
We We have to
[1:20:31] I wish he stood.
>> Elliot. Elliot Shmpa running for mayor
[1:20:35] of Jackson Township.
[applause]
[1:20:42] You know, I'll address the gentleman up
here, Papanella.
[1:20:46] And um
look,
[1:20:50] it's got to be action over optics. I
know it's an election year, but at the
[1:20:55] end of the day,
this council, this government needs to
[1:20:58] do better. They need to be better. and
you've made strides. Again, I don't know
[1:21:03] if it's because it's an election year or
you just are starting to do better or
[1:21:07] maybe because Chris Pollock is on the
council. I'm going to go with the latter
[1:21:11] because Chris Pollock's on the council
holding [applause] people accountable.
[1:21:19] So, Mayor Cune has recently gloated over
the state finally approving the
[1:21:24] delinquent 2026 budget, which follows
her delinquent 2025 budget for which the
[1:21:29] council under her leadership was fined
by the state. Looking at the budget
[1:21:34] details, it's nothing to be proud of.
First, let's not forget that at the two
[1:21:38] most important council meetings in 2026
where her budget was introduced, Miss
[1:21:43] Cune was absent, abdicating
responsibility. Over the last two years,
[1:21:47] Mayor Cune has approved the complete
draining of Jackson's surplus fund, our
[1:21:52] savings account, if you will, down from
$17 million to next to nothing. All all
[1:21:58] pretty much gone. She did this to claim
your tax rates not going up. And I'm
[1:22:03] going to continue to remind everybody at
these council meetings until the
[1:22:07] election. It's a catchy talking point,
but at what cost? Here's the hard truth
[1:22:12] about the shell game disguised as a
budget. Approximately 20% of the 2026
[1:22:17] budget was funded by the surplus fund or
savings if you'd like to call it. A
[1:22:22] one-time revenue gimmick that will not
be available in 2027, setting Jackson
[1:22:28] Township up for insolveny by 202027.
But don't take my word for it. Download
[1:22:34] the budget and ask Miss Cune, who by the
way is once again not here, how 2027
[1:22:40] will be funded. House massive cuts to
various departments. Operating expenses
[1:22:45] will be restored to reasonable levels as
administration personnel and other
[1:22:51] expenses are soaring at large
contractual wage increases coming due.
[1:22:57] Ask how DPW can function with operating
expenses approximately down 44% from
[1:23:03] 2025 and how the PD can function with
operating expenses approximately down
[1:23:08] 55% from 2025.
And while you're at it, ask how she
[1:23:12] justifies spending over $120,000 to push
out employees she doesn't like through
[1:23:17] so-called separation agreements,
expensive parting gifts, using our tax
[1:23:23] dollars like monopoly money to purge
good people from township employment. In
[1:23:28] addition to this budget crisis, we have
much more to address.
[1:23:32] Rahm Emanuel once famously said, "You
never want a serious a serious crisis to
[1:23:37] go to waste." He said that with regard
to the financial crisis of 20 2008 which
[1:23:44] was Obama administration was embroiled
in.
[1:23:48] Perhaps it is not coincidental that
Mayor Cune has taken the absolute
[1:23:52] tragedy where a child's life was lost
and sought to turn it into political
[1:23:57] opportunity for herself while a
financial crisis and other real problems
[1:24:02] loom here in Jackson Township.
Calling out sanctuary state policies as
[1:24:08] at such sensitive times is not
leadership. It was shameless
[1:24:13] opportunism.
Seemingly repeated every election cycle.
[1:24:18] What we need in this moment was empathy,
humanity, and compassion, not talking
[1:24:25] points and countless inconsequential
media interviews, which quite frankly is
[1:24:31] embarrassing.
What we needed then and continued to be
[1:24:35] needed is real leadership in Jackson.
The governing body has already made
[1:24:40] repeated overtures to reject the concept
and practice practice of sanctuary state
[1:24:46] policies having pass uh resolutions
denouncing the same in 2018 and 2025.
[1:24:56] That's not needed or to be repeated when
a life is lost and coincidentally
[1:25:01] two election years as well. That makes
three in a row. You got the trifecta on
[1:25:05] that one. Needed more than ever are not
distractions from this administration
[1:25:10] failing, but answer to real questions
the Jackson constituents continue to
[1:25:15] ask. What will my tax bill look like
next year? Why are Opas taking forever
[1:25:20] to come back, which is a violation of
the law? with some of the 2026 budget
[1:25:25] revenue maneuvers which will not afford
replenishment of the surplus fund at the
[1:25:30] same rate as previous years. What is
being done to manage debt and stabilize
[1:25:35] the tax burden?
[1:25:38] » Mayor, you can help bring the community
together simply by addressing the many
[1:25:41] issues that are brought forward by
concerned residents while the council
[1:25:45] president regularly runs cover for you.
In fact, it's your administration who
[1:25:50] oversees the various township
departments.
[1:25:53] I had 10 more seconds.
>> Okay.
[1:25:56] » My question is, how could you do so
poorly with the important matter when
[1:26:00] you've been trained to sell real estate
in our very town? Conversely, I on the
[1:26:04] other hand have been building
significant budgets in business in the
[1:26:08] business world for nearly two decades
and have done so with consistent
[1:26:12] effectiveness
because my job is always on the line.
[1:26:17] What you soon will realize is that your
job is on the line as well. And on
[1:26:21] November 3rd, the ramifications for your
unsatisfactory job performance will come
[1:26:26] to fruition. In the business world, I
answer to shareholders and stakeholders.
[1:26:31] In government, you answer to the
residents. I'm Elliot Shmpto, and I'm
[1:26:35] running for mayor. Tachet needs
accountability, financial responsible
[1:26:39] leadership, transparency, fair
treatment, and equal application of the
[1:26:44] law for every single resident. Thank you
for the extra time, council president.
[1:26:47] » THANK YOU.
>> [applause]
[1:26:54] » AND I'M JUST THERE'S A long line and
people are waiting on long line. So try
[1:26:58] to keep it to five minutes. If we have
to give a couple extra seconds, we will.
[1:27:02] I wasn't saying it only to you.
>> Hi, I'm Sarah. I spoke here two weeks
[1:27:07] ago and before I begin tonight, I want
to clarify something. When I finished
[1:27:11] speaking last time, I ran out of the
room. I had arrived at 6:30 and by the
[1:27:15] time I spoke, I had been here for close
to four hours. I have six children at
[1:27:18] home waiting for me, so I really did
have to run. But I made sure to come
[1:27:21] back inside specifically to explain to
you, Chris, that I didn't want to be
[1:27:25] rude. Afterwards, you posted a clip of
my speech on your Tik Tok page under the
[1:27:30] headline, resident claims councilman is
fighting Jews.
[1:27:35] That's not what I said. I criticize
political rhetoric and I trusted your
[1:27:39] intelligence to know enough to know the
difference. You also use an Israeli flag
[1:27:44] for the letter E in the word Jews. I am
Jewish and I'm proudly connected to
[1:27:48] Israel, but I did not stand here as an
Israeli. I stood here as an American
[1:27:52] citizen and a Jackson resident speaking
to my local government. On an
[1:27:56] algorithm-driven platform like Tik Tok,
pairing the words fighting Jews with an
[1:28:00] Israeli flag creates a very different
framing.
[1:28:03] And Chris, I understand that you are not
responsible for other people choose to
[1:28:07] comment, but you are responsible for the
content you put out, the way you frame
[1:28:11] it, and the environment you create
around it. comments called me a coward,
[1:28:16] claimed I was paid to speak, and said I
ran away because I couldn't face your
[1:28:18] response. You knew why I left and I came
back and told you and yet you allowed
[1:28:22] that framing to stand without
correction. So, back to the slogan,
[1:28:26] fight for Jackson. I don't like focusing
on problems without solutions. There's a
[1:28:30] concept that change happens in three
stages: awareness, acceptance, and
[1:28:33] action. At the last meeting, I brought
up the awareness. Over the last two
[1:28:37] weeks, I felt it's a sort of acceptance.
And tonight, I'd like to move to action.
[1:28:41] I know that you stated publicly that
Fight for Jackson was your idea, and I'm
[1:28:44] not claiming to know what anyone's
intentions were. But words don't exist
[1:28:47] in a vacuum. Words like protect,
preserve, restore, and fight can
[1:28:51] represent completely legitimate ideas.
But when those words exist alongside
[1:28:55] conversations about them moving here,
them changing Jackson, their houses,
[1:28:58] their schools, their money, their
political power, eventually people
[1:29:02] understand who them means. And that's
where Fight for Jackson became difficult
[1:29:05] for me, especially in your comments,
which again are not deleted or responded
[1:29:10] to. So, I'd like to offer an alternative
to fight for Jackson. Perhaps you could
[1:29:14] do fight to unite Jackson.
>> Sorry, I didn't hear you.
[1:29:17] » Fight to unite Jackson. Let's fight to
actually unite the people who already
[1:29:22] live here. Let's create a committee
where longtime residents and newer
[1:29:24] Orthodox residents can sit down together
and discuss the issues that concern
[1:29:27] them. I'll sponsor the lunchon. When I
lived in Brooklyn, our library hosted
[1:29:32] Mommy and Me programs. Our lives may
have looked different, but for that
[1:29:35] hour, we were simply mothers interacting
with our children. Why don't we have
[1:29:38] that here?
Why don't we create more opportunities
[1:29:41] for local businesses instead of our once
a year Jackson day? Last month, I took
[1:29:46] my son to Sky Zone and there was a
little boy playing nearby, not Jewish.
[1:29:49] My son had extra tokens on his card and
they played together and shared a pizza.
[1:29:55] Two boys, that's it. Why don't we create
more activities where our children can
[1:30:00] meet each other? I don't believe that
most of Jackson is anti-Semitic, but it
[1:30:04] is easy to fear a group of people when
the only place you encounter them is
[1:30:06] through Facebook posts, political
arguments, and stories about what they
[1:30:09] are doing. It's much harder when you
actually meet them. And respect has to
[1:30:13] go both ways. We have to do things
legally and respectfully.
[1:30:18] On Shabas, our Saturday, my family
values quiet. My next door neighbor
[1:30:22] blast his 80s rock music. It's a
fantastic playlist. It's not my choice
[1:30:27] of music. [laughter]
I also saw a neighbor on Cook's Bridge
[1:30:33] burning mail in a makeshift fire
makeshift fire pit. I called the local
[1:30:37] fire department to make sure everyone
was okay and I moved on.
[1:30:41] I also had neighbors that started
putting on fireworks on Friday night at
[1:30:45] 11 p.m. All my babies woke up. I had to
start bedtime all over. It was
[1:30:49] frustrating. It was annoying. But they
have the right to their Saturday and
[1:30:53] their Fridays. That's part of being
neighbors.
[1:30:57] So, I'm not asking one to stop caring
about Jackson. And unity doesn't mean
[1:31:00] sameness. It just means our differences
don't automatically make us enemies. I'm
[1:31:04] asking us to think differently about
what we're fighting for. Let's create
[1:31:07] committees. Let's create programs. Let's
give our children opportunities to know
[1:31:10] each other. And especially as we
approach September 11th. Maybe we can
[1:31:14] remember something bigger than all of
us. We are neighbors. We are Americans.
[1:31:19] Awareness, acceptance, and now action.
Let's fight to unite, Jackson. Thank
[1:31:23] you.
>> [applause]
[1:31:27] » Chris, two way.
I'm just I I don't I just want to take a
[1:31:33] moment and respond to a couple of them
because I see Chris wanted to respond to
[1:31:36] her also. So, I'm just going to go very
quickly through some of them. And um
[1:31:41] with regard to the very quickly, yes, I
got it very quickly. Um with regard to
[1:31:47] more cultural events and more areas
where people can get together, um I
[1:31:51] think Jackson Day was great. I know July
4th fire fireworks were obviously on a
[1:31:55] Saturday it doesn't work. I think
everyone here we've talked to Fred and
[1:31:59] and the recreation team about doing more
events. The only way we're going to
[1:32:02] learn how to live together is by having
conversations and I think those
[1:32:05] conversations actually have been
happening in the past uh couple weeks
[1:32:09] past couple months. I think the tone has
changed and like I said I think having
[1:32:13] people here a broad spectrum of Jackson
I think goes a long way to to to helping
[1:32:18] that. Um, and I'm not going to comment
further on their political slogan, but
[1:32:23] um, we definitely heard you. Um, with
regard to resident brought up Oprah's,
[1:32:28] and I see other residents here. Um, I
know the clerk is doing her best, and we
[1:32:32] actually have pretty overall pretty
decent um, um, response time. And, um,
[1:32:38] there are some very broad and
complicated ops that are coming in. And
[1:32:41] it's easy for everyone to say from the
other side, oh, the council president or
[1:32:45] the mayor interfering with Oprah's. We
don't. We we haven't and we have no
[1:32:49] plans in doing that. But I'm gonna
respond to the rest later because in
[1:32:52] case you have to run out to your six
children again. Chris, you want to?
[1:32:55] » Well, there's a whole lot to say. We
could have a giant conversation about
[1:32:58] this and I'm always willing to have it.
Um I did use your words. You did say
[1:33:04] what is Fight for Jackson fighting Jews.
Um, so those are your words and yes, I
[1:33:08] am a little controversial online because
it gets attention, but if people
[1:33:12] actually listen to what I said, it was a
message of trying to come together,
[1:33:16] trying to work together. But there are
issues. There's people from the
[1:33:20] prominent people in the Jewish community
said they toppled this government who
[1:33:23] are on video justifying Jewish children
not playing with non-Jewish children.
[1:33:28] You have rabbis from the VA talking
about taking over towns as a conquest.
[1:33:32] These are real things. And I'm the only
counter voice to it who people can't
[1:33:39] seem to knock down and take out with
claims of anti-semitism.
[1:33:43] And
I seem to kind of be accepted by most
[1:33:46] people because I think most people
understand it's not coming from a place
[1:33:49] of hate. People will make those claims,
but it's not. I would love to do the
[1:33:53] things you said. And as much as we may
disagree, I kind of got a lot of respect
[1:33:57] for you because you come, you say, you
come at me and you're good. You speak
[1:34:01] well. [laughter] Um, and I I would love
for counsel.
[1:34:04] No, I would really love to do those
things with you. Uh, and I I think
[1:34:07] they're absolutely doable. I think the
the council, the mayor, maybe the next
[1:34:13] mayor would certainly be on board for
those things. And, uh, you know, thank
[1:34:17] you for having the the conversation, the
dialogue. There's a lot to say with, you
[1:34:21] know, you look at Lakewood,
what happened there. A lot of people
[1:34:25] don't want that to happen here,
including the Jewish community. Uh, we
[1:34:29] need to find a way to coexist and figure
this out. It's marching down a bad path
[1:34:33] and it's going to be bad for everyone
involved and I how we fix it is really I
[1:34:38] don't know. I wish we had the answers
but if we could have the conversation I
[1:34:42] appreciate it. Thank you for listen and
thank you for criticizing me too. I take
[1:34:46] criticism. I understand it. I may push
back and fight back with you but you
[1:34:51] know I understand it. Thank you.
>> Next [applause]
[1:34:58] floor is yours.
>> Hello. My name is Samorio. 21127 South
[1:35:02] Hope Chapel Road. I want to address the
council with an issue that recently
[1:35:06] occurred on my property on August 31st.
My wife was out in the field in the
[1:35:10] corner of our property located at 211
South Hope Chapel Road. It's a foreign
[1:35:15] getting to be a foreign idea in this
town. It's called a farm. We own a farm.
[1:35:21] Um we do horse rehabilitation with
miniature horses. Um, she heard the
[1:35:28] sound of heavy equipment. She hears
cracking noise. She watches a tree fall
[1:35:33] in the distance. She's on the tractor
doing this strange word, farmwork, and
[1:35:39] she drove the tractor over to find our
horse fence completely ripped down. We
[1:35:45] found I have a habitat. The man who used
to live next door, we used to be on I
[1:35:50] think one of the tree committees. Leo,
we always called him the bee guy. So Leo
[1:35:55] always had bees. When Leo left, some of
his bees, that's the property that's now
[1:35:59] completely destroyed. There's not a tree
standing on it. Um the bees needed
[1:36:04] someplace to go. So they resonated
towards this area where we had um
[1:36:08] butterfly bushes,
um honeysuckle,
[1:36:12] weeping cherries, and this other
flowering tree. Well, the man working
[1:36:16] the bulldozer put the bulldozer claw
over and destroyed the entire habitat.
[1:36:22] Ripped it all down. So now you got these
bees when you go out flying all over the
[1:36:26] place. They're looking for some place to
be. They just want to be and like I
[1:36:30] wanna my wife wanna they just want to
be. So um there's two men out there.
[1:36:35] They both refuse to cooperate with my
wife. They refuse to give any
[1:36:40] information. So she calls me. So I come
up to the corner of the property. See
[1:36:44] this extensive destruction. I ask both
of the gentlemen for their names. They
[1:36:50] refuse to give me their name. I ask the
gentleman who appears to be the contract
[1:36:54] site person, what's the name of the
gentleman operating the equipment? He
[1:36:59] refuses to give me the his name. He
refuses to give me the address for his
[1:37:04] company. He just points to the piece of
equipment. I told him if he again failed
[1:37:09] to provide basic information, I'd have
no choice but to call the police. So,
[1:37:14] um, he again failed to cooperate and
comply. and he said, "If you want any
[1:37:19] information from me, call the police." I
did call the police. The initial an
[1:37:24] older an older officer, a we'll call the
seasoned officer, excuse me, uh was the
[1:37:30] uh first to arrive on the scene. I
explained to him what happened and
[1:37:34] directed him to the area of destruction.
He observed it and he began to question
[1:37:39] the one man. Um I stated several times
to that officer that I was requesting
[1:37:44] contact information for the two
gentlemen on the scene.
[1:37:48] So, should I need it, I would have it in
the future. Go backwards on my
[1:37:52] background. I've got 32 and a half years
state, county, um, m I Yeah, we were
[1:37:59] never municipal. State and county. Um, I
was a probation officer and a senior
[1:38:03] probation officer. I've read mountains
of police reports. The big thing with
[1:38:09] the police report is that initial police
report that has all of the names and
[1:38:14] addresses or phone contact information
for the initial incident, the initial
[1:38:19] site. So I asked the officer for that
information several times. He confirmed
[1:38:25] to me that it would be all on the card
that would be filed with police records.
[1:38:30] So the next morning I call code
enforcement. There's a gentleman there
[1:38:34] that had helped me previously because
this is now the second time someone has
[1:38:39] ripped down my f fence. The first
contractor who cleared out all of Leo's
[1:38:44] property destroyed my fence. Gentleman
from code enforcement was very helpful
[1:38:49] because when I went out to address it
with that construction company, he was
[1:38:54] feeding pieces of house into this giant
machine that mulches stuff up and there
[1:38:58] were pieces of asphalt this big flying
at my head. When code enforcement showed
[1:39:02] up, it stopped and code enforcement
corrected it. And that fence wasn't put
[1:39:09] up right, but it was close enough that I
dealt with it. Well, when the guy pulled
[1:39:13] down this section of fence, horse
fences, tension fence, he now destroyed
[1:39:18] that section of fence, too. So, it's
just an ongoing incident. I explained it
[1:39:23] to code enforcement and they said, you
know, if you can get the information,
[1:39:27] someone from code enforcement would come
out and oversee the temporary fence
[1:39:31] repair. Please also back note, the
officer on the scene told the guy, he
[1:39:36] looked down the line, he goes, "Look,
you knocked the man's fence down. I need
[1:39:40] you to come out before nighttime and
repair this fence. Let's back up, too. I
[1:39:46] have 11 horses. We have miniature
horses. We do a horse rescue rehab.
[1:39:52] Thank God they weren't in there. They
would have been all over Jackson. Then
[1:39:57] who's liable? Who's liable?
>> This is disgusting. [bell]
[1:40:01] » And I've got I there there is so much
more to this. The the non Is that a
[1:40:08] minute of time? I don't know what.
>> So your your time's I'll give you
[1:40:10] another 20 seconds just to
>> So there's a great degree of information
[1:40:14] that's still contained in this. The
police the police contact card had none
[1:40:19] of the information. It was all redacted.
None of the contact information for the
[1:40:23] two gentlemen that I needed was not
contained on it. I um the the gentleman
[1:40:28] that you that um zoning was extremely
helpful. They helped me get the contact
[1:40:34] information for this guy, Steve. I had a
discussion with them. We would came up
[1:40:38] with an agreement because I want to keep
the town out of it. I want to just
[1:40:40] mediate situations because I've mediated
in the past. His answer was every 50
[1:40:45] feet he was going to park the property
and he didn't do that.
[1:40:48] » So I'm I'm going to ask you because I
first of all I I feel terribly going
[1:40:52] through what you're going through and
it's unacceptable. If you can go over
[1:40:56] while the next speaker is speaking and
give your information to the young man
[1:40:59] on side. Are you okay with that? And he
will he'll make sure that the business
[1:41:02] administrator and the mayor follow up
with you tomorrow to see where that's
[1:41:05] holding.
[applause]
[1:41:08] » I doubt I doubt he's gonna be able to
read my handwriting.
[1:41:13] Well, he'll write it down if you read it
to him.
[1:41:16] » Yeah. At least at least give yourself a
number so so the administration can call
[1:41:20] you tomorrow.
>> Good evening. Dan Puki, Brookwood
[1:41:24] Jackson. First of all, I'd like to say
my condolences go out to the entire
[1:41:29] Brookwood community for the loss of that
young child. Something that should never
[1:41:33] happen. Secondly, I'd like to thank the
council for their vote last council
[1:41:38] meeting for banning data centers. you
can let somebody know that Jackson is
[1:41:43] not stupid or poor. Okay,
[applause]
[1:41:49] I like to talk about traffic. Traffic in
Brookwood is a big problem. Um, on July
[1:41:55] 3rd, I spent 25 minutes going 04 miles
to get out of my property at 9:00 in the
[1:42:02] morning. It took me to 9:30. All the
roads in the area were congested and
[1:42:09] parked every which way due to the
opening of a summer camp for girls. I
[1:42:14] have no problem with a summer camp
opening. If they're going to have that
[1:42:18] much traffic in the area, maybe they
could give us some notice to plan
[1:42:23] different routes and plan extra time.
The parking on New Hampshire, Florida,
[1:42:29] Colorado, and Citadel
horrendous. If an emergency vehicle had
[1:42:34] to get to that school or that
playground, it would be impossible.
[1:42:38] Maybe we should do opposite side of the
street parking to make the road that's
[1:42:43] not parked passable for everybody. I
have to dodge school buses and dodge
[1:42:48] cars and Mr. Paul and he lives near
there. He can vouch for this.
[1:42:54] Um, also on on Brookwood Parkway, we put
up a new little um playground
[1:43:02] with a little fence next to the little
stream bed that is there. And what do we
[1:43:07] do? We put a porta body unlocked outside
of the little fenced in area. We just
[1:43:14] passed an ordinance and we can't follow
the ordinance that we passed. Are we
[1:43:19] being foolish here? I mean, come on,
guys. Also, they put up on each side of
[1:43:25] the street, three no parking signs. How
about you put up a sign, new playground,
[1:43:31] children at play,
because you can't see the playground
[1:43:35] until you pass it.
Garbage is a problem in this town, not
[1:43:41] litter. We have garbage cans that sit
out for a week. We have garbage cans
[1:43:46] that can't fit the garbage in it that's
piled up this high. The lids can't
[1:43:50] close. We wonder why garbage goes on
other people's property, why animals get
[1:43:55] after it. I mean, I have six different
garbage companies in my development
[1:44:00] every week. And there still I'm picking
up garbage on my property from other
[1:44:04] people's stuff. We've got to have an
ordinance that you got you need to bring
[1:44:09] your cans in, you need to have them
covered. And the same thing with
[1:44:12] recycling if people recycle. The
majority of the Brookwood houses do not
[1:44:17] recycle at all. It's a state law to
recycle.
[1:44:21] We don't follow that.
Another thing in town, we have too many
[1:44:26] dead trees. They're going to fall over
on on wires. We have a shade tree
[1:44:32] commission and asshelunk and all that.
Maybe we could get some ask people, the
[1:44:37] companies to do their job and take down
the dead trees before I'm without power,
[1:44:42] internet, and cable. I mean, come on.
It's not a big ask.
[1:44:48] Um,
Louisiana Parkway, they had a a water
[1:44:53] leak a couple weeks ago.
>> Water main boat.
[1:44:57] » Yeah, the road's still not fixed.
The gravel's still there, the dirt's
[1:45:02] still there, the street hasn't been
repaved. How long does it take? And now
[1:45:07] would you guys with the ordinance about
unhitched trailers?
[1:45:11] How about on the way here and on the way
home tonight, you have the trailers that
[1:45:15] used to flash Jackson Day. They're
orange. They're unhitched and they're
[1:45:21] not lit up at night.
What are we doing here? I know that's a
[1:45:25] county road, but it's still not safe.
Are we making any sense?
[1:45:33] And that's about all for tonight. Thank
you for your time. [applause]
[1:45:38] I'll see you next meeting.
[1:45:45] Welcome back.
>> How are you?
[1:45:47] » Great.
>> I'm Christina. Um I live here in
[1:45:52] Jackson. I'm going into my 25th year in
TW as we go into the new year. So I'm 24
[1:45:59] years. Um,
since all the high density development
[1:46:05] that has started here in Jackson,
um, I have noticed an orange glaze
[1:46:13] that's in the toilet water. I went to
and this has been now I've I've my place
[1:46:21] was built past 1986
because the MUA tried to tell me, "Oh,
[1:46:28] well, it's got to be the pipes." Well,
the truth is is my place was built past
[1:46:34] 1986 when they changed the rulings on
pipes.
[1:46:39] So you read about the
I brought this up the Kirkwood
[1:46:48] Cohansy aquifer
and high density development
[1:46:53] is a cause of doing this.
I don't believe this has to do with what
[1:47:02] our our religions are or anything.
What the real issue in Jackson has to do
[1:47:10] with the overdeveloping
that's happening in the town that could
[1:47:17] possibly destroy our water because once
you lose
[1:47:21] » I know one quick question just so I'm
taking notes. What part of what part of
[1:47:24] town do you live in?
>> I'm in 60 acres.
[1:47:26] » Okay, continue. Yeah.
>> Yes. But I was going to mention also at
[1:47:31] Jackson Day. I went to Jackson Day.
There was another woman there. She said
[1:47:37] she's finding brownwater.
So it turns out, but she's not from J 60
[1:47:44] acres. So I'm sandwiched in where I live
to Brewers Bridge Road. There's huge
[1:47:53] development going on there. There's huge
development on County Line Road. That's
[1:47:59] another side of the development where I
live.
[1:48:04] uh
down
[1:48:07] Bettz Mills and Cooksbridge, you have a
humongous building being built. I
[1:48:15] remember seeing the the those big um
pipes that are being put in underground.
[1:48:22] So, I'm going to read you again the
aquifer.
[1:48:26] Jackson sits a top the vast Kirkwood
Cohansancy aquifer system which provides
[1:48:32] most of South Jerseys freshwater and h
high density development massive
[1:48:39] warehouse projects unregulated sprawl
threatened to drain the lower the levels
[1:48:47] of water. You know there is danger of
the groundwater in the area is highly
[1:48:53] vulnerable to pollutants like PFAS.
Uh while tap water usually meets the
[1:49:02] federal limits, testing it has revealed
contaminants
[1:49:07] exceeding the EPA health guidelines.
Much of Jackson borders on the
[1:49:15] pinelands. Development projects
sometimes bypass the commission
[1:49:20] regulations and it allows for septic
systems and runoff that will pollute
[1:49:27] shallow porous aquifer. The reason I'm
bringing all this up is we never ran
[1:49:34] into this kind of stuff because the town
was never overdeveloped.
[1:49:39] Never. all of it because I've been here
24 years and all of a sudden
[1:49:46] we're getting so I'm literally
sandwiched in where I live and all of a
[1:49:51] sudden I called a plumber. I said, "Come
and look and see. What is this orange
[1:49:58] glaze? What is this?" He opened up the
tank. It's it's caked in all this orange
[1:50:07] stuff and it's coming from the water.
You know, this has nothing to do with,
[1:50:17] you know, I get along well with Mr.
Bernstein. I do. We talk.
[1:50:21] » Give me a lot of advice.
>> There we go. you know, and I get along
[1:50:26] with a lot of acidic Jews, but
we have to address that if you overpop
[1:50:33] populate Jackson,
we could lose our water and then you
[1:50:38] lose the whole town. I don't know how
else to say it. Who in you will not be
[1:50:44] if we lose our water here, then how are
you selling your homes to get get out?
[1:50:51] How do you how do you do that? Take take
another 10 seconds.
[1:50:55] » So, you know, to me, this is a huge
issue that everyone in town has to take
[1:51:04] into consideration with the
overdevelopment.
[1:51:08] » I'll I'll address it.
>> I guess that you know that's the best
[1:51:11] way to say it.
>> Thanks, Holly. [applause]
[1:51:19] » Good evening. Holly Reynolds. I'm on the
Environmental Commission, but Speaking
[1:51:23] as a resident tonight, I'm asking the
governing body to consider an important
[1:51:27] change to the way Jackson Township
handles major site plan applications.
[1:51:32] Jackson currently allows applicants to
seek and receive preliminary and final
[1:51:36] site plan approval together. I am asking
a council to reconsider that practice
[1:51:41] and amend our ordinance so that
preliminary site plan approval and final
[1:51:45] site plan approval are separate
sequential stages. This is not a request
[1:51:50] to make development more difficult. It
is a request to make the process more
[1:51:54] deliberate, transparent, and protective
for both the township and its residents.
[1:51:58] The municipal land use law recognizes
preliminary and final site plan approval
[1:52:03] as two distinct stages. Preliminary
approval is intended to establish the
[1:52:08] general terms and conditions of the
development. Final approval is where the
[1:52:12] applicant demonstrates that the detailed
engineering, construction documents,
[1:52:16] drainage, landscaping, utilities, and
other requirements conform to those
[1:52:20] preliminary conditions. When we combine
the two, we lose some of that
[1:52:24] distinction. The board can be asked to
evaluate the overall land use concept,
[1:52:29] environmental constraints, variances,
drainage, utilities, landscaping, and
[1:52:33] detailed engineering all at the same
time. For a simple project that may not
[1:52:38] create significant problem, but Jackson
is not dealing with only with simple
[1:52:43] projects. We are dealing with increasing
increasingly complex development
[1:52:48] proposals involving wetlands, seaw
waterways, flood hazard areas,
[1:52:52] groundwater recharge, endangered species
habitat in extensive tree clearing,
[1:52:57] septic systems, storm water
infrastructure, and other
[1:53:00] environmentally sensitive resources. For
those projects, I believe Jackson needs
[1:53:04] a process that t asks two separate
questions. First, is this development
[1:53:08] appropriate for the property? and is the
proposed development footprint
[1:53:12] environmentally and legally feasible?
That should be the pre preliminary
[1:53:16] approval question. Then after the board
establishes that appropriate footprint
[1:53:21] and conditions, the second question
should be, has the applicant provided
[1:53:25] the detailed engineering and
documentation necessary to construct
[1:53:29] what was actually approved. That should
be the final approval question. I am
[1:53:33] asking the council to consider amending
our ordinance so that an applicant
[1:53:37] cannot simply receive preliminary and
final approval at the same hearing.
[1:53:42] Instead, preliminary approval would be
would have to be granted first with a
[1:53:47] formal resolution establishing the
conditions of that approval. Only after
[1:53:51] those conditions have been satisfied
should the applicant return to for final
[1:53:56] site plan approval. I would also ask
that the ordinance specifically address
[1:54:01] environmental resources at the
preliminary stage. For example, where a
[1:54:06] property contains wetlands, wetland
buffers, sew waterways, flood hazards,
[1:54:11] significant groundwater recharge areas,
threatened or endangered species
[1:54:15] habitat, steep slopes, or other
environmentally sensitive resources. The
[1:54:20] board should make specific findings
regarding avoidance, minimization, and
[1:54:24] mitigation before granting preliminary
approval. This is particularly important
[1:54:29] because once preliminary approval is
granted, the developer receives
[1:54:32] statutory protections regarding the
general terms and conditions of that
[1:54:36] approval. We should therefore make sure
that the fundamental environmental and
[1:54:41] land use questions are answered before
those protections attach. I also believe
[1:54:46] this would help prevent a problem we
have seen in Jackson where extensive
[1:54:49] tree clearing or other site disturbance
can occur while a property then sits
[1:54:55] undeveloped for an extended period. If
the township is going to approve a
[1:54:59] development footprint, we should know
that the project is actually feasible
[1:55:03] and that the environmental conditions
have been properly addressed. I'm not
[1:55:07] asking council to deny development. I'm
asking council to improve the process.
[1:55:12] Separate preliminary and final approvals
would give the planning board and zoning
[1:55:15] board a clearer decision-making
framework, give residents a clearer
[1:55:19] understanding of what is actually being
approved, and give applicants a
[1:55:23] predictable process for moving their
projects forward. So tonight, my spec my
[1:55:27] specific request is I'm asking the
council to review chapter 244 and
[1:55:32] prepare an ordinance amendment that
establishes preliminary and final major
[1:55:36] site plan approval as separate
sequential approvals consistent with the
[1:55:41] municipal land use law. I would also ask
that the proposed amendment include
[1:55:46] specific environmental findings and
conditions at the preliminary stage,
[1:55:50] particularly for projects involving
wetlands, waterways, flood planes,
[1:55:54] groundwater resources, endangerous
species habitat, and significant tree
[1:55:58] clearing. Jackson has an opportunity to
make its land use approval process more
[1:56:02] transparent, more predictable, and more
protective of the natural resources that
[1:56:07] this community depends on. Thank you.
>> Thank you. [applause]
[1:56:20] Uh, good evening council and ladies and
gentlemen in the audience. Uh, my name
[1:56:24] is John Pajowski.
I live at Bartley Road in Jackson. Two
[1:56:29] weeks ago, our community was impacted by
a heartbreaking tragedy. A nine-month
[1:56:34] old child was killed and her mother and
sibling were severely injured when they
[1:56:39] were struck by an unlicensed driver
living here despite a final removal
[1:56:44] order from immigration officials.
This has rightfully brought new scrutiny
[1:56:49] to New Jerseys sanctuary state policies.
As a career law enforcement officer, I
[1:56:54] have seen firsthand the dangers of
sanctuary policies that prevent local
[1:56:59] law enforcement from communicating and
coordinating with federal law
[1:57:03] enforcement agencies, especially when an
undocumented individual has committed a
[1:57:08] crime within a local community. No one
is safer when a state prohibits law
[1:57:13] enforcement agencies from talking to one
another. This is why today I'm calling
[1:57:18] on the Jackson Council to join towns
from across the state in passing a
[1:57:23] resolution opposing the expended
sanctuary policies that the state of New
[1:57:28] Jersey passed into law earlier this
year. I hope the residents of Jackson
[1:57:32] will join me in standing up for safer
communities. This tragic event could
[1:57:38] have been any one of our family members
in any one of our parking lots.
[1:57:43] Uh, on a personal note, I understand the
why people come to our country. My
[1:57:49] parents came and immigrated to America
many years ago. I'm first generation
[1:57:52] born here in America and I'm grateful to
my parents and I tell them pretty much
[1:57:59] every day, thank you for coming to
America. We're blessed to enjoy
[1:58:04] everything we've got.
That being said, again, I asked the
[1:58:09] council in passing a resolution. I'm
going to pivot real quick. Um, second
[1:58:14] topic. My experience uh at 911 as a law
enforcement officer responder. Um, we
[1:58:21] were there right after September 11th.
We helped for months and months after
[1:58:26] the fact. As tragic we all know that
event was, um, one thing I noticed more
[1:58:33] so a year later and and a few years
after that, how that tragic event
[1:58:39] brought the rest of the country
together. We were united. It was
[1:58:44] America. Uh, we had flags on cars, flags
on houses, and for a while there you
[1:58:50] couldn't buy a flag. That's how united
we were. I just pray that we don't need
[1:58:56] another September 11th to bring us all
together. And the last thing I want to
[1:59:01] say, I do concur. CGS does have the best
wings. All right. And it's Wing
[1:59:04] Wednesday tomorrow, 75 cent wings.
[laughter] Mr. PCH, I got
[1:59:09] [applause and cheering] Mr. told Jeff,
you brought up illegal drivers and an
[1:59:16] accident. I'm going to bring up
something.
[1:59:20] February 17th, 2001,
my daughter was ran down by a drunk
[1:59:25] illegal person in the country driver.
She's alive today, thank God. She's on a
[1:59:32] highway behind a broken car that had an
accident. the car hit her and put her
[1:59:36] over the top to the front of the other
car. We got the call, my wife and I, to
[1:59:42] get down to Delaware immediately. We
didn't know what was going to happen.
[1:59:45] Like I say, we're blessed she's alive
today and well changed a whole career
[1:59:50] path.
And when you mentioned illegal drivers
[1:59:54] and drunk drivers, you hit a spot with
me because I can definitely relate to
[1:59:58] it. Especially when he got a $50 fine
and deported. That was it. So, it's it's
[2:00:05] hits home with that and it hits home
with a lot of people and that's why I
[2:00:09] said earlier tonight it was an accident
totally preventable and I'll sign
[2:00:12] anything to deport these type of people.
Thank you
[2:00:18] [applause]
[2:00:22] banning 22orn court in Jackson.
We're at a crossroads here as far as the
[2:00:29] rules apply to you. They apply to me.
They apply to everyone.
[2:00:34] One of the issues I have tonight is
parking.
[2:00:38] When a new project is presented before
the planning board and the zoning board,
[2:00:43] one of the very first things that should
be approved
[2:00:48] or asked from either any of these
boards, including the council, do you
[2:00:52] have sufficient parking?
If the answer is no, you cannot do the
[2:00:58] project.
I'm going to give you five examples. On
[2:01:01] Brewers Bridge Road, and they all happen
to be houses of worship. The very
[2:01:06] corner, the Bridgewater Court, there's a
building that's going to be built right
[2:01:10] after Tip Tam, there's a little tiny
house when you go down and the speed
[2:01:14] limit changes to 30 on the right hand
side that's going to be converted to a
[2:01:18] house of worship. And then you also on
the corner of Clear Stream. Not one of
[2:01:22] these places is going to have sufficient
parking for the building they built. Not
[2:01:27] one of them. Our streets are not meant
for overflow parking.
[2:01:33] They can't handle overflow parking.
Bitney Lane is a mess. A real big mess
[2:01:38] on that corner. Both way both sides of
the street are parked on. You can't even
[2:01:42] get through one way or the other because
you don't know if somebody's going to
[2:01:46] come the other direction.
We need to approve the parking
[2:01:50] requirements with these buildings that
they must meet 25 uh one one parking
[2:01:56] spot for every 250 square ft just like
the commercial building would have to
[2:02:01] do. We must meet the same requirements.
Otherwise, we we're going to be in
[2:02:06] trouble. There's always going to be
parking up and down the roads. Our roads
[2:02:10] are not meant for parking. Thank you.
[applause]
[2:02:20] uh Joseph Sullivan uh right here in
Jackson
[2:02:25] » and you're speaking as an individual.
>> I'm speaking as an individual, not as a
[2:02:29] member of the planning board or the rent
leveling board. But I do as a citizen
[2:02:34] have a problem when we have a council
member who calls for the resignation of
[2:02:39] the leadership of [clears throat] the
planning board very vaguely doesn't
[2:02:43] mention names and then alludes to
things. He alludes that they may be
[2:02:49] dirty, they may be on the tape, they may
be um politically compromised.
[2:02:56] He's done the same thing to all of you
in the council. He's accused all of you
[2:03:00] at one time or another of being on the
tape or being
[2:03:04] being uh politically bought and he gets
away with it. He gets away with
[2:03:08] everything he says. He attacks
that lady that came up here online
[2:03:17] » and then he comes and then he says,
"Excuse one second,
[2:03:22] » ladies and gentlemen. This is his time.
He has a right to say whatever he wants
[2:03:25] even as even if we don't agree with it.
He fills the room with his little
[2:03:29] gestabo of followers that that that run
their mouth.
[2:03:33] » Order. Or order
>> and make statements. And he sits there
[2:03:36] with a little smirk on his face because
he knows he controls the room.
[2:03:40] » This is the guy who guys,
>> please let him have his f Mr. Sullivan.
[2:03:47] Please stop. Please stop.
>> Pete, excuse me. Excuse me.
[2:03:53] Excuse me. This is his five minutes. You
feel free to come up and say I've been
[2:03:56] very patient to everyone else. Let him
speak.
[2:03:59] » Mr.
>> Okay.
[2:04:02] » Go.
>> I'm I'm speaking and my first amendment,
[2:04:05] right? And if you don't like it, puff,
>> I'll say this.
[2:04:09] » Return time to him if he wants.
>> Yes. Return my time, please. I a lost to
[2:04:13] this to this nun.
>> Please return his time.
[2:04:19] » Hold on. Hold on.
[clears throat] I want to stop for a
[2:04:23] second. There have been many things that
have been set up here over the years
[2:04:27] since I've been council president, give
or take, that I don't agree with. I I've
[2:04:31] never interrupted or I've tried never to
interrupt anyone. Let's give Mr. Svin
[2:04:34] the courtesy even if we don't like what
he says. And I'm sure Councilman
[2:04:38] Pollock, if he wants to respond after
when I get to all the comments, could
[2:04:41] respond. He knows how to defend himself
quite well.
[2:04:43] » Thank you. So, we have a man here in
Chris Pollock who uh followers accused
[2:04:49] me of being a homosexual.
uh accused made fun of my disability,
[2:04:54] made fun of my looks, accused me of
getting the town into a lawsuit on an
[2:04:59] ordinance he voted for. And then
you have the d the dichconomy. Here's a
[2:05:06] man whose followers and his groups call
me a homosexual, but he is marching in
[2:05:13] the gay pride parades when we get back.
Here's a man who tries to divide the
[2:05:18] town, goes after those so-called evil
Orthodox people, and it's all in those
[2:05:25] groups of yours, and then there you are
with pictures of you meeting with a very
[2:05:30] wealthy Orthodox individual who has an
ambulance company.
[2:05:34] You play both sides of the aisle so well
because these people want to believe.
[2:05:42] They want to believe that you will be
able to break the law for them. That you
[2:05:47] will be able to make all these people
disappear that you don't like. That the
[2:05:51] town will turn the clock back 20 years
because you want it to be that way. And
[2:05:57] it's just not going to happen. But
they're not all falling for it. Some of
[2:06:02] them are waking up to your shenanigans
and and they're starting to realize what
[2:06:06] they're dealing with with you. Even
though they saw those pictures, they
[2:06:10] know what they're dealing with. They're
dealing with someone who's a snake oil
[2:06:13] salesman who will say anything to get
elected
[2:06:18] whose running mate will turn the tragedy
of a death of a child into a political
[2:06:22] statement for his mayoral campaign
from a woman that will come up to the
[2:06:28] microphone and claim her house was home
invaded. And then we find out it was a
[2:06:33] rental property that she didn't live at.
It wasn't home invasion. It was a
[2:06:37] robbery in a neighborhood that was
having crime at the time.
[2:06:42] » So yeah, but it's not the house of
>> Mr. Sullivan to the chair.
[2:06:46] » So
I mean they they they will they will
[2:06:51] bend the truth. They will throw anything
at you. She made accusations or
[2:06:56] illusions that it was some kind of
political statement that someone home
[2:07:00] invaded her. It was a robbery at a
rental house, which I would like to
[2:07:03] know. she was on the registry of of of
landlords at the time because that would
[2:07:08] be an interesting thing to find out.
We're dealing with here people with no
[2:07:15] scruples that tell people to fill the
room and turn it into a circus sideshow
[2:07:19] so he can get elected with his team of
very men.
[2:07:25] » You look at this room and it's proof of
it. People will watch this video across
[2:07:29] the country and they'll laugh at Jackson
Township and it's all because of you.
[2:07:33] You've turned it into a circus. You've
turned it into a political statement and
[2:07:39] not reality.
You talk on both sides of your mouth.
[2:07:44] You chastise the uh the orthodox and
then you
[2:07:49] » and then you take the money from a rich
Orthodox.
[2:07:52] » Solvent. Times up.
>> Council, I really appreciate when he
[2:07:58] comes up and speaks. I think it is
wonderful. I don't think you do yourself
[2:08:02] a service, the mayor a service, the
Republican club a service, the planning
[2:08:06] board a service. When you come up and
speak, you say ridiculous things.
[2:08:11] I no, it just it's nonsense.
Attributing random people online based
[2:08:19] off of what you do and say what they say
about you has nothing to do with me. I
[2:08:24] don't care about you. Like like as as
far as like this stuff's concerned, I
[2:08:28] care about what the planning board does.
I do because I care about my town. But
[2:08:33] you know,
[2:08:36] » this is just nonsense.
>> Chris, we'll get
[2:08:39] » I'm here simply.
I was voted in. Why? To represent the
[2:08:44] people, to speak for the people. And
yes, I meet with Jewish residents.
[2:08:48] Because I'm supposed to represent
everybody here. And this is a problem.
[2:08:52] Yeah, I speak up a voice maybe on the
other side, but Jewish people here have
[2:08:56] a voice, too. I represent everyone. and
everybody could come up and speak to me.
[2:09:00] And that woman, yeah, maybe we disagree,
but you know what? I respect her for
[2:09:04] coming up and saying what she needs to
say to me, even if we disagree, even if
[2:09:08] it's mean towards me. I'm going to fire
back. We're going to have a back and
[2:09:11] forth. But you know what? We stood
respectful. And she wants to make things
[2:09:16] better. And I would sit there and work
with her on anything she wants to do if
[2:09:20] it's a good thing for this community.
You know what? You You want to make this
[2:09:24] about you? I can make this about you.
You were attached to the former mayor.
[2:09:28] You were a guy for the former mayor all
the time and now,
[2:09:30] » excuse me, excuse me, and now you're
attached to this mayor and this gowns
[2:09:34] and this dude, you're a bottom feeder.
>> We don't need people like this in
[2:09:38] government. Maybe you should take my
advice from last meeting.
[2:09:43] » I don't trust your judgment. [applause]
[2:09:48] » Coming up and we'll have time at the end
to respond more.
[2:09:54] » All right. Uh
>> order.
[2:09:57] » See if I can bring the temperature down
here.
[2:09:59] » It's all yours.
>> Dan, uh Dan from uh Green Street Drive.
[2:10:03] Um first of all, I just I want to
acknowledge the uh beautiful um
[2:10:08] proclamation that we had for September
11th here earlier. Uh it dawned on me
[2:10:13] today that um my 25th birthday was a day
after September 11th. So on September
[2:10:22] 11th, I was 24, turned 25 the next day,
and now we're 25 years later, right?
[2:10:27] Wow. So, uh, that I guess it just hit me
a little different today.
[2:10:32] » And then if you guys do the math on
that, that also means that when Aspen
[2:10:36] Tree Company went into business, I
wasn't quite yet born. [laughter] I was
[2:10:40] the bun in my mom's oven there. So, um,
that's awesome that they've been here
[2:10:43] for 50 years. That's amazing. So, um,
first of all, I I want to say that it
[2:10:49] was it's heartbreaking to hear about the
tragic accident that that took place
[2:10:54] just a couple weeks ago. Took the life
of a nine year ninemonth-old here in
[2:10:58] Jackson and severely injured the mother
and some of the other siblings as well.
[2:11:03] I had a chance to talk to Morai before
the meeting and my heart goes out to the
[2:11:07] family for their loss and whatever
positive impact that child would have
[2:11:12] made in this world, we will never know.
Um, but I'm sure the world would have
[2:11:17] been a better place with that child in
it. So, it is it's truly a loss for this
[2:11:21] entire community.
Uh, the administration's response is
[2:11:27] something I have an issue with and I
think that was one of her running mates
[2:11:29] that came up earlier and asked for a
resolution. um denouncing the uh the
[2:11:35] state's policy here. So, whenever
there's like a mass shooting, right, and
[2:11:40] Americans, they want to have a serious
conversation about gun reform, they're
[2:11:44] always told that it's not the time to
discuss that. And they're accused of
[2:11:47] politicizing a tragedy.
And I don't see how that's any different
[2:11:51] than the mayor's reaction. The mayor
called for the town council and so in
[2:11:56] her running mate to pass a resolution
denouncing the state's sanctuary state
[2:12:00] policy. Now, if I'm not mistaken, I
think LA beat me to the punch, but that
[2:12:05] was already passed by the council last
year. So, let's set aside for a moment
[2:12:09] the fact that the municipality has no
authority to supersede state or federal
[2:12:14] law.
I failed to see what the logic would be
[2:12:19] in repeating this action. So, how's this
supposed to go? We we we denounce it,
[2:12:25] the state does nothing. We announce it a
second time. What's the state going to
[2:12:29] say like? Oh, well, it's announced it a
second time, so now we're going to take
[2:12:32] you seriously. That's that's kind of
ridiculous.
[2:12:36] But more importantly, it it fails to
accurately understand what the state's
[2:12:40] policy actually is. So, I'm going to
take some time to educate the people
[2:12:43] here on the actual policy. And I want to
read a portion of the immigrant trust
[2:12:48] directive, which is available to anybody
to read on the state attorney general
[2:12:51] threat site.
The directive ensures that victims and
[2:12:55] witnesses feel safe reporting crimes to
local law enforcement without fear of
[2:13:00] deportation. So what that means is that
if I was an undocumented im immigrant
[2:13:05] and I either witnessed a crime such as
assault or robbery or rape or murder or
[2:13:10] was a victim of a crime, I could report
that to authorities without fear of
[2:13:15] deportation. So to me, that sounds like
it actually does keep the community
[2:13:19] safe. And to be clear, denouncing that
would mean that this uh policy, you're
[2:13:24] actually advocating for an increase in
unreported crime in the state. So the
[2:13:29] mayor's implication here is that if the
state didn't have this policy, that the
[2:13:33] tragic accident would not have occurred.
But I have yet to see any evidence of
[2:13:37] that. For that to be factual, that would
mean that either of the two individuals
[2:13:41] who were arrested would have had to have
an encounter with law enforcement
[2:13:45] previously that resulted in law
enforcement not informing ICE or customs
[2:13:50] and border control of the immigration
status of either of the two individuals.
[2:13:55] I have seen seen zero reporting uh
backing that claim and I've read m
[2:13:59] multiple articles on this.
I want to further read to you guys uh
[2:14:04] some segments of the immigrant trust
directive highlights uh which is
[2:14:08] available to the public. It's and that
and the 13 uh page policy are available
[2:14:13] also on the attorney uh general's
website. The immigrant trust directive
[2:14:18] seeks to strengthen the bond between law
enforcement and immigrant communities.
[2:14:23] No one should suffer in silence out of
fear of being identified as non-citizen.
[2:14:28] New Jersey law enforcement will comply
with and enforce arrest warrants when
[2:14:33] the warrant is signed by a judge. New
Jersey is not a sanctuary state for
[2:14:39] anyone who commits a crime in New
Jersey.
[2:14:42] New Jersey's law enforcement officers
will investigate New Jerseys state
[2:14:47] criminal offenses and any person who
violates New Jerseys criminal laws will
[2:14:52] be arrested and prosecuted for their
actions regardless of immigration
[2:14:57] status. And that's exactly what happened
in this case. Laws were broken and
[2:15:01] individuals responsible were arrested
regardless of their immigration status.
[2:15:06] Just give me 30 seconds to wrap up.
>> 20.
[2:15:09] » Thank you. Um, look, last week I I spoke
about or the couple weeks ago the need
[2:15:14] to unify the community and stop
villainizing each other. I see this as
[2:15:17] an attempt to just score political
points by shifting the focus on vill to
[2:15:21] to villainizing immigrants. I understand
the need to want to do something to
[2:15:26] acknowledge and honor the life that was
lost. I think there's a many potential
[2:15:30] ways we could do that. We could have
created an annual scholarship for the
[2:15:33] children here in Jackson in the name of
the the the child that was lost to help
[2:15:38] improve the future lives of of other
children here in this community or
[2:15:42] commemorate the tragedy in some other
way. But there's many ways we could do
[2:15:45] that that honor and uplift rather than
punch down on the minority community. In
[2:15:50] summary, I stand opposed to any
resolution that would uh as this
[2:15:56] accomplishes nothing of merit. It
promotes an increase in crime and does
[2:16:00] nothing to heal our community or honor
the life of a child that was tragically
[2:16:04] taken from us. Thank you. [applause]
[2:16:16] Hello.
Good evening. My name is Lori and my
[2:16:20] husband and I own Windhaven Farms here
in Jackson. I'm sorry if you have to
[2:16:25] hear this story twice. Um, my version is
slightly softer than the handsome guy
[2:16:30] who said it before with the gray goatee.
Last week I was out with our animals and
[2:16:35] I heard that sound. Not a branch
falling, but a deep cracking noise like
[2:16:40] something being torn apart. I looked up
and there's an excavator reaching over
[2:16:44] our property about 10 to 15 feet,
ripping out shrubs and fencing um that
[2:16:49] had been there for decades.
By the time I got there, 40 feet was
[2:16:54] gone. So, I physically got in front of
it, yelling and waving my arms to make
[2:16:58] them stop. And this wasn't the first
time. When the land was clear-cut for
[2:17:03] the subdivision a year or so ago, a
couple years ago, changing a landscape
[2:17:08] from garden, pastures, and serene
forests to nothingness, the machine
[2:17:12] operator back then was careless and some
of the trees fell into our fence. Of
[2:17:16] course, it wasn't the same fence. It was
down a ways. They apologized and it was
[2:17:21] patched up. They never told us if we
hadn't been adamant about checking our
[2:17:25] fence line because if one of our horses
get uh gets hit by a car, we we own the
[2:17:31] car.
They apologized back then and it was
[2:17:34] patched up, sloppy with inferior
product. They ran to Lowe's and got the
[2:17:39] cheapest stuff that they could find to
patch the area another 40 50 feet when
[2:17:43] they did that.
This time, like the first, they didn't
[2:17:46] notify us. I couldn't believe that this
was happening again.
[2:17:50] When the man's boss arrived, he started
with, "We have no plans to remove the
[2:17:55] fence." I informed him that he needed to
use the past tense because 40 plus feet
[2:17:59] had already been destroyed.
When he continued with, "I don't we
[2:18:04] didn't know that the fence was there to
our orders were to clear up to the fence
[2:18:08] that they didn't know was there." And
finally, we would have never touched
[2:18:12] your fence. You didn't need to worry
because according to the survey, it's on
[2:18:16] your side. And those explanations left
me with a simple question. Where does
[2:18:22] that way of thinking end? If a
hundred-year-old house sat inches over a
[2:18:26] property line, would a builder or an
employer of that builder think it
[2:18:30] acceptable to swing equipment into the
house and follow that order? Of course,
[2:18:35] a fence isn't a house, but the principle
is exactly the same. Before you destroy
[2:18:40] someone's property, you stop. You
verify. That's why I'm asking for
[2:18:44] something so basic. notice,
accountability, and respect.
[2:18:50] Our farm isn't hard to find. We get
texts, emails, phone calls, letters,
[2:18:55] even notes in our mailbox from people
who want to buy our property. By the
[2:18:59] way, we're property poor. Thanks for
doubling our taxes. If strangers can
[2:19:04] find us that easily, then surely someone
planning demolition work along our
[2:19:08] shared property line could have notified
us easily first.
[2:19:13] Meanwhile, along with the fence line, a
walnut tree older than me was ripped
[2:19:17] apart. One of the main limbs ripped off
by the machinery, peeling the t four
[2:19:23] feet of the trunk with the just it was
just hanging there. Leaving damage that
[2:19:28] most likely will kill it. This would
have been avoided by simply using a
[2:19:32] chainsaw instead to cut the limb that
was over the property line. Heck, if he
[2:19:36] had notified us, my husband would have
cut back the limb himself. He's quite
[2:19:42] good with a chainsaw.
Apparently, our tree represented no
[2:19:46] value to the builder. Shrubs we had
nurtured as pollinators covered in bees
[2:19:51] were lying at my feet destroyed.
Eventually, to make amends, the builder
[2:19:58] promised um survey markers to replace
the fence, but only part of that was
[2:20:03] done. Approximately 60% of the fence
line was marked as promised.
[2:20:09] and he promised to replace the fence
with proper livestock grade fencing. We
[2:20:13] explained to him that what he saw there
was the first fence and it and it wasn't
[2:20:18] good enough.
So, um
[2:20:25] when my husband went back to check on
their fencing job, he couldn't believe
[2:20:29] what he said what he saw. They had
installed the fence upside down.
[2:20:34] Yeah, that's the thing. when you have
livestock fencing, the lowest gauge uh
[2:20:39] the thickest wire is at the top.
And that's the thing. So, their second
[2:20:44] attempt with proper installers we were
promised was just as comical. We go out
[2:20:48] and we hear see them hammering seven
foot uh Tposts in three feet into the
[2:20:53] ground with carpentry hammers.
All you heard out there was dink dink
[2:20:59] dink.
And then they wound up getting yet
[2:21:02] another group that really knew what they
were doing. by the third time. And at
[2:21:06] this time, the fence is up. However,
it's it's still not properly tensioned,
[2:21:10] but I kind of given up at this point.
The saying is, ironically, good uh
[2:21:16] fencing makes good neighbor. For
decades, give me another 20 seconds.
[2:21:20] » We've cleared that line, not because the
survey said so, but because it matters
[2:21:24] to keep animals safe, to steward the
land, and to be good neighbors. Growth
[2:21:29] is coming. I get that. But growth
without respect destroys more than
[2:21:33] fences. It tears at trust. And I'm not
asking for anything special, just
[2:21:38] accountability and respect.
Um, I've heard in interviews, Councilman
[2:21:44] Pollock speak about how much of the
frustration surrounding development
[2:21:48] comes from the feeling of unfairness,
like different rules for different
[2:21:52] people. When people feel that, it breeds
resentment instead of trust. My husband
[2:21:57] and I have no plans of leaving Jackson.
This is our home. And we want to
[2:22:01] continue being good neighbors. And we
understand that growth is coming and
[2:22:05] we're not here to oppose growth. We're
simply asking that growth also respects
[2:22:09] the people who are already here. And I
believe in treating people the way I'd
[2:22:13] want to be treated. I believe that
problems can be solved with honesty,
[2:22:17] communication, and respect. And a simple
phone call or letter would have
[2:22:22] prevented everything that I'm talking
about tonight. Thank you for listening.
[2:22:26] » Thank you very much. [applause]
[2:22:34] Good evening, folks. Jim Hurley, three
Sunningdale Court.
[2:22:39] I'm glad I came tonight. It kind of
reminds me why I never ran for office.
[2:22:43] [laughter]
Um,
[2:22:45] I'm here to discuss the u
the ordinance that was adopted on the
[2:22:51] data centers. Before anyone
misunderstands me, I am totally against
[2:22:57] data centers. No question about that.
When the ordinance came up for adoption,
[2:23:03] I made a couple of comments. Those
comments related to the method under
[2:23:08] which you were utilizing to prohibit a
prohibited use. Um, and I was hoping
[2:23:16] that you might take a a a different
process, but you didn't. Now that we
[2:23:22] did, I think there are some things that
we need to address. And I'm hoping that
[2:23:27] what you're going to do is reconsider
that ordinance and make corrections to
[2:23:32] avoid the benefit that's being given to
a developer in this case. Number one,
[2:23:39] the title of the of the ordinance
itself. When you introduce the title or
[2:23:44] you introduce it by title, even when you
give public notice to to the people on
[2:23:50] adoption, you you identify it by title.
And the title simply says
[2:23:57] um amending the code and I'm just I'm
paraphrasing parts of it. Amending the
[2:24:02] code of the development regulations to
to regulate data centers. There's
[2:24:07] nowhere in this ordinance that you
regulate data centers. You prohibit it.
[2:24:13] And there's a major difference between
that word regulate and the word
[2:24:18] prohibit. I strongly suggest you take
another look at that. I'm raising it
[2:24:22] because I know where there are areas
here that can be attacked and I believe
[2:24:27] if attacked you're going to lose and
that's [snorts] a problem.
[2:24:32] » The second part of my my comments
relates to some of the whereas
[2:24:38] provisions your findings that you have
in in in this ordinance I think are
[2:24:42] okay. There are some that are not even
purposes of zoning but who cares. Uh the
[2:24:49] rest are okay. It's not a problem. But
one of the whereas that I'm really
[2:24:54] concerned about reads as follows. It
says uh whereas township council further
[2:25:00] finds that due to these characteristics
data centers may not be appropriate
[2:25:06] within many areas of the township.
Absent
[2:25:13] absent rigorous sightsp specific review
and demonstration of infrastructure
[2:25:19] capacity and
uh compatibility.
[2:25:24] What have you done? You've given a road
map to a developer as to what he's got
[2:25:30] to present in order to get a devariance.
I can't believe you did that. And it's
[2:25:35] right. In fact, my suggestion to you is
take that phrase completely out.
[2:25:41] that I think is a significant problem.
The last item that I want to address is
[2:25:48] actually two items.
The last item,
[2:25:53] this is the last one. Section two is
being amended.
[2:25:58] Uh it amends article article 6 section
244 176.2
[2:26:05] entitled prohibited use. This is the one
uh place in the ordinance that prohibits
[2:26:11] data centers. And where did you put it?
The section you put it in is right to
[2:26:18] farm.
If you look at your own code as to what
[2:26:23] is a farm, a farm is where land is
actively devoted to agricultural and
[2:26:29] horicultural use. If I'm a developer,
I'm going to come in and say, "Wait a
[2:26:33] minute. the property that we on uh plan
to develop is not dedicated in any way
[2:26:39] to those uses and therefore I'm entitled
to go here. So your prohibit your
[2:26:45] prohibition prohibition that you planted
in this is ordinance is in the wrong
[2:26:51] place. Absolutely the wrong place. My
suggestion to you is if you want to
[2:26:56] prohibit it that way just put it in the
definition.
[2:27:00] Why not?
You can certainly do that. Makes it
[2:27:04] clear. So you're defining what a data
center is and it's prohibited.
[2:27:10] The um
[2:27:16] my my main concern here is I think you
have to relook at it and you have to
[2:27:20] redo the ordinance. And if you redo the
ordinance, and I I suggest strongly that
[2:27:26] you talk to your attorney about it
because when I fir the first version
[2:27:30] that I got from from the township
clerk's office, I will guarantee you was
[2:27:36] not de was not developed by the lawyer
and was not even reviewed by the or by
[2:27:41] the lawyer. I strongly suggest you
review this the ordinance, make the
[2:27:45] suggestions. What you've done here is
give a significant benefit to a
[2:27:50] developer. Thank you
>> Mr. Hurley. Sir can
[2:27:53] » sir I want to add
>> please can you give the crowd your your
[2:27:58] experience your professional experience
what you did
[2:28:02] sir.
>> I generally don't do that.
[2:28:06] » I know that but you did it last time and
I think it's needed.
[2:28:09] » Well I'm a lawyer.
[2:28:13] So Ken, I'll say Judge Hurley,
>> don't throw any rocks
[2:28:17] » was a judge for a very very long time, a
distinguished judge with a lot of land
[2:28:22] use experience.
>> Correct. And sir, I respect you and I
[2:28:26] told you the last meeting you came up, I
thought you had read some of my notes.
[2:28:30] And I'm no lawyer and I'm no judge,
trust me. And it's funny how I came up
[2:28:34] with a lot of them same things. and and
I definitely feel it has to be amended,
[2:28:39] redone or something quickly because as a
judge, you know what the time and
[2:28:42] decision rule is. So that is the law in
the town now. That ordinance data says
[2:28:48] it's signed.
>> Sorry for interruption.
[2:28:51] » That's not a problem because if an
application comes in for Dvarian and it
[2:28:57] gets re gets uh rejected,
they'll go to court and they won't only
[2:29:02] challenge the devariance, the denial,
they'll challenge the ordinance. That's
[2:29:06] what I'm saying. So with it in in play
now, they'll get hurt as a devarian.
[2:29:10] They'll get they get turned down.
They're going to fight the ordinance and
[2:29:13] everything. And if we lose that case
with the ordinance, that ordinance will
[2:29:17] only help the applicant.
>> And that's why when I said I'm voting no
[2:29:21] for the ordinance, but bigger yet, I'm
voting no to not help the applicants
[2:29:26] with that ordinance. That's what I said
in the last meeting and I stand by that.
[2:29:30] Thank you, sir. I just wish I wish
correct things so that you don't give
[2:29:35] the benefit to the
>> Okay, I'll I'll respond shortly. Next,
[2:29:40] Mr. [applause]
[2:29:45] » Helloetta.
So, I want to talk about what Joe
[2:29:49] Sullivan had just said and I think it's
very interesting that Adam comes up here
[2:29:54] and speaks. Code enforcement is at his
house. Pat from earlier comes up and
[2:29:58] speaks and or speaks out online and
animal control shows up at his house and
[2:30:05] he doesn't own any dogs.
On 114 2025 was election day. Let me
[2:30:13] pull up my police report
[2:30:18] by officer Andrew Kalash
on November 5th, 2025 at 2333 hours,
[2:30:25] which is 11:30 at night the next day.
There's 1,68
[2:30:32] homes in 60 acres, which is yes, it's my
rental property. Yes, I'm a registered
[2:30:36] landlord. I'm also covered under
Daniel's law. And for all those who work
[2:30:39] in law enforcement are fully aware of
what Daniel's law is. So, does it seem
[2:30:44] coincidental that somebody pulled up my
address and tried scaring me? Yes, it
[2:30:48] does. 24 hours after Chris won the
election. And it wasn't two men like I
[2:30:52] had thought it was. It was five men
according to the police report. So, what
[2:30:56] are you robbing at 60 acres? Why do five
men need to show up? What are you
[2:31:01] getting by the time you walk out? You're
going to split the stuff you stole from
[2:31:04] 60 acres? It's not a jewelry heist. It's
not a bank robbery. It it it just all
[2:31:09] seems very suspicious that 24 hours
later, my house has five men kick my
[2:31:14] front door down at 11:30 at night. Am I
saying it wasn't any of you? Am I saying
[2:31:20] it was a political stunt? Do I need
sympathy votes for this election? I'm a
[2:31:24] grown woman. I don't need anybody to
sympathize with me. Okay, I also work in
[2:31:28] law enforcement. I don't need anybody to
sympathize with me. So Joe could say
[2:31:32] whatever he wants to say, but it's
becoming a little ridiculous at this
[2:31:36] point.
Now, back to what I was originally going
[2:31:39] to talk about. I would like to address
our affordable housing plans in the
[2:31:43] Pinelands. Jackson has an affordable
housing obligation. I understand that.
[2:31:48] But according to the Pinelands
Commission, 58% of our fourth ground
[2:31:53] obligation is planned for the Pelands.
Why are we putting more than half of our
[2:31:58] obligation on environmentally sensitive
land that is protected for a reason? And
[2:32:02] where does this stand today? Has the
Pineland Commission approved these
[2:32:06] proposals? If not, what is holding them
up? And what is Jackson's plans if
[2:32:11] they're if they're rejected? If 58% of
our plan depends on development in the
[2:32:16] Pelands, residents deserve to know what
happens if those projects don't move
[2:32:20] forward. I also think residents have a
right to ask who benefits, who owns
[2:32:25] these properties, who are the
developers, and are there any
[2:32:29] connections to the people making these
decisions? As a mom raising my family
[2:32:34] here, I care about what Jackson looks
like 10, 20, 30 years from now. We have
[2:32:38] an affordable housing obligation, but we
should not have to sacrifice the land
[2:32:42] we're supposed to be protecting to meet
it. I would like to jump back to my
[2:32:46] other point about my house because I
just remembered. So, my tenant calls me
[2:32:50] at 11:30 at night to tell me what
happens. It's 11:30 at night, so we
[2:32:54] cannot get anybody to fix the door. He's
afraid that these men are going to come
[2:33:00] back. He's retired law enforcement, so
he's sitting on the sofa with his
[2:33:04] firearm all night. Who do you think's up
with him all night? Me. So, just because
[2:33:10] I didn't live there did not mean that it
did not affect me and my family. Thank
[2:33:14] you.
>> Thank you. [applause]
[2:33:26] Jim Seleia, 53-y year resident of
Jackson Township.
[2:33:31] Um,
want to talk tonight about Oprah a
[2:33:35] little bit. Mr. Bernstein, you made a
comment earlier about Oprah and how
[2:33:41] we're handling it. And I guess I'm going
to take you to task a little bit on it.
[2:33:46] So on August 13th, I submitted the exact
same OPER request to both Jackson
[2:33:52] Township and to the state of New Jersey.
And yes, it was on the budget. I was
[2:33:58] looking for emails between Jackson and
the state for the budget.
[2:34:03] Here is the email that I received from
Jackson Township.
[2:34:10] The request has been completed. There
are no responsive documents for this
[2:34:14] request.
That was done on August 19th. So yes, it
[2:34:18] was done in a timely fashion.
On August 24th,
[2:34:23] I received my email from the state.
This is in response to your open
[2:34:29] request. Attached are the responsive
records. There are eight PDF files with
[2:34:36] emails included in each one.
So the state had responsive documents.
[2:34:43] Jackson Township didn't.
It's kind of questionable.
[2:34:49] So this discrepancy raises serious
concerns about whether the township
[2:34:54] conducted a legally required goodfaith
search for records under Oprah.
[2:34:59] Custodians must either provide the
records, cite a lawful exemption, or
[2:35:03] certified that no records exist after a
proper search, which is what the
[2:35:07] township did. But the state kind of said
no. When a state can locate multiple
[2:35:12] responsive documents but the tachute
claims there are none, it suggests a
[2:35:17] breakdown in our opra process whether
due to inadequate searching, improper
[2:35:22] withholding or failure to forward the
request for the to the correct
[2:35:26] department. Not blaming anyone in
particular. Residents rely on Oprah for
[2:35:31] transparency. I'm asking this govern
governing body to investigate why the
[2:35:36] township's OPER response contradicts the
states and ensure that future OPER
[2:35:41] requests are handled in full compliance
with the New Jersey state law.
[2:35:46] Now, going through those emails from the
state, I want to point out a couple
[2:35:52] things that were said.
So on July 31st, Janette Larrison to
[2:36:00] Fatina
at the state. Now you'll see part of it
[2:36:06] was redacted so I don't get to see what
was there
[2:36:10] but the following statement says and
everybody should know this. Please be
[2:36:15] advised as soon as possible when when
estimated bills may be mailed as cash
[2:36:20] flow is becoming an issue. This is on
July 31st.
[2:36:25] We had cash flow issues supposedly
going back to June 25th
[2:36:33] and I'm going to ask some questions that
hopefully you'll all answer. Um the
[2:36:37] state sent an email to Janette Larrison
to Sandra Martin I don't know why this
[2:36:45] one but to our previous business
administrator L. Phillips.
[2:36:50] and it says, "Good afternoon. The
division has received notification that
[2:36:56] the userfriendly budget with complete
information was not provided to the
[2:37:00] public in a timely fashion." And then it
states the New Jersey administrative
[2:37:06] code. So my question is
this is the only email I got. So there
[2:37:12] was never a response back to the state.
Question is there something that we
[2:37:16] should be doing re in regards to this?
Do we have do we have to respond or not?
[2:37:21] My question is, did anyone on this
council
[2:37:26] receive this email so that you can
consider what needs to be done? Now, I
[2:37:31] understand the budget was adopted, not
approved. Got to get past that word.
[2:37:37] It's never approved
earlier, but this is a letter from the
[2:37:44] state. We're not responding. So, do we
just ignore things when it's convenient
[2:37:50] for us to ignore them?
We have to start being a lot better at
[2:37:57] what we're doing. So, you know, I know
no one's going to answer the question,
[2:38:02] but it's out there. Uh, and if there's
anything you want to have from me that
[2:38:06] show that that will help you guys
understand what you did wrong, I'll be
[2:38:10] more than happy to give it to you. But
somebody's got to start looking at Oprah
[2:38:14] because you can't have the state give me
eight eight email t it's eight
[2:38:19] documents. There's multiple emails in in
some of the uh documents. So and then
[2:38:24] this the township say no we don't have
any but the township is on these emails.
[2:38:32] [applause]
[2:38:48] Bernardum Cream Ra.
Um,
[2:38:52] I wanted
I wanted to make a quick correction over
[2:38:57] here because everyone wants to scream
transparency
[2:39:01] and um,
[2:39:05] telling the truth with omission is All right, let's be clear
[2:39:10] about that. It is not truth when there's
things being held out. So, I was here
[2:39:15] last month about uh perfect insanity
farms.
[2:39:20] I was at home listening to this meeting
and I says they're going to do the right
[2:39:23] thing and shame on me. Shame on me for
thinking a body would do the right thing
[2:39:29] and be fully transparent with it.
Perfect. Insanity Farm. Seven goats,
[2:39:35] four geese, one duck, 50 chickens. That
sounds a hell of a lot more than a
[2:39:40] couple of animals and I wish the
president was sitting here. Um,
[2:39:45] it's the first that I heard
right there. You know, a couple of
[2:39:49] animals. Just want to be clear about
[2:39:53] that.
>> Sir, we have children in the room.
[2:39:55] Please refrain from using language.
>> Who said that?
[2:39:59] » Um, Mr. Pelary.
>> Yes.
[2:40:01] » Don't stop me with my with my freedom.
>> I'm asking you to refrain.
[2:40:04] » And I'm telling you, do not interrupt me
again. Use foul language again then. Go
[2:40:08] ahead.
>> I'm telling you, do not interrupt me
[2:40:11] again.
Okay,
[2:40:15] that's that. So, I'm glad you're back,
Mr.
[2:40:19] Mki. So, you uh you said it was a couple
of animals. It's seven goats, four
[2:40:25] geese, one duck, 50 chickens. Um it was
brought up over here like an agreement
[2:40:31] was made. I don't understand how it's
put out as an agreement was made when
[2:40:37] the agreement has not been agreed on.
Okay. So, what the town is trying to
[2:40:42] push is $5673
and that was from three months ago. What
[2:40:49] Jessica Hillman is asking for is to be
paid to date.
[2:40:56] I'll give you the exact amount.
[2:41:03] So the exact amount till today is
$7,695.39.
[2:41:10] It is not $5,635.86.
[2:41:17] Okay. So she is ready to take on the
animals once you guys pay her to date.
[2:41:25] Not when she put in her complaint three
months ago and it took you guys 3 months
[2:41:29] to put it in whatever you had to put it
in. Okay,
[2:41:37] I have the emails
just so the town knows this is what full
[2:41:42] transparency is.
[2:41:50] Email starts
firstly. We absolutely want you to
[2:41:56] pursue collection of the full amount due
and owing to perfect insanity form. As
[2:42:02] of last week, that amount is $7,695.39.
[2:42:10] I want to ask you something. What did
you guys approve to pay today?
[2:42:17] You guys voted and don't know what what
you voted like the amount of
[2:42:26] You have you have your time. We don't
want to interrupt you again.
[2:42:31] » Mr. President, I'm giving you 30
seconds.
[2:42:36] » We passed the resolution which had a
little over $5,000 on it.
[2:42:40] » Okay. The amount due is $7,000. Ju just
so everyone understands that there's no
[2:42:46] agreement made. She did not agree. Full
transparency. Everyone wants to run
[2:42:51] transparency. There is no agreement.
7,600.
[2:42:59] I don't want to get it wrong.
Uh
[2:43:05] $95.39.
Okay. The more you prolong this,
[2:43:10] tomorrow if she has to buy hay or food,
that goes up. The next day she has to do
[2:43:16] it again, that goes up. Let's pay her to
date and she's willing to take on the
[2:43:22] animals. And it's not a couple of
animals. We're talking about 70s
[2:43:25] something animals.
Let's do what's right, not what's half
[2:43:30] right. Let's not put it out to the
public like we're doing what's right
[2:43:33] when it's not right. And let's just do
what's right. Let's stop playing the the
[2:43:38] politics and the
because I'm allowed to say
[2:43:43] And let's just get this over with. three
months she's been fighting for it and
[2:43:47] you guys didn't even get the right
number out.
[2:43:51] Come on. I don't want to come here
again. Let's just pay her.
[2:44:00] Um before the uh
>> you have a name a name for the record or
[2:44:04] » um Mike Brzinski 277 Grower Town Road,
Jackson, New Jersey.
[2:44:10] Um before the public comment started
underneath the consent agenda these guys
[2:44:15] I just want to know where it stands the
um R135
[2:44:22] 2026 where
Chris you said you voted no for it and
[2:44:28] I'm assuming
you said no also. Yeah but Bernstein
[2:44:35] said yes. What what does that mean? I
don't know where it stands. What did uh
[2:44:40] Pal Mary
>> That was for the county property. It
[2:44:44] passed. It passed. Passed 32.
>> So the now the county if they so choose
[2:44:47] to vote to buy it, that's up to them.
That's not up to us. The county has to
[2:44:50] vote.
>> Okay. Okay. That's because that was
[2:44:53] unclear.
>> Yeah. So we passed a resolution giving
[2:44:56] the county permission to continue the
conversation with the property owner.
[2:44:59] Okay.
>> Or urging them
[2:45:01] » not it's a consent
>> urging them that
[2:45:04] » the county never goes into a township
and buys open space without getting
[2:45:07] municipal consent. So that was the
consent to pass 32.
[2:45:16] » My name is Mark, 42y year resident of
Jackson. Um just I I'm only going to
[2:45:23] take a minute, but um first thing I
noticed that there are there were not
[2:45:29] enough um summaries to go around
tonight. I I don't I haven't seen that
[2:45:36] before, but a lot of people did, you
know, it's [clears throat] only half
[2:45:40] full and a lot of people didn't have
them, so just for next time. Um, second
[2:45:44] thing is, uh, I know that the the main
person in government here is is Mayor
[2:45:51] Cune. And I find it very disheartening
that when the public is speaking and she
[2:45:59] could hear
the true sentiments of the residents
[2:46:05] that she's always gone.
And I know I want I want the mayor to be
[2:46:11] sitting there for this whole meeting.
And I'm hoping
[2:46:16] that Mr. Shtov if he's elected will do
that because these these are very
[2:46:21] important meetings and I feel like um
the hearts of the people are are being
[2:46:27] exposed here.
Uh, and my the my main point is that um
[2:46:36] we talk about open space and we talk
about um
[2:46:41] the the big picture of of our town, but
it's our it's our neighborhoods, you
[2:46:47] know, that's where we live. And so when
we have um for instance um when we have
[2:46:54] yeshivas houses of worship being dropped
into our neighborhoods at
[2:47:01] basically to us at random in random
spots in existing
[2:47:07] single family houses and I'll use I
think it's 88 uh
[2:47:12] um
road I believe it's 88 but that's the
[2:47:16] one that is it's the house of worship.
There's probably 80 or 100 cars parked
[2:47:22] there all the time. Um the one across
from uh Camp Joy by Crawford Rodriguez,
[2:47:31] that's a a 1900 square foot house that
is now going to be a 14,000 square foot
[2:47:36] house of worship.
uh you know so when we talk about we
[2:47:42] could say you know get three acres here
and a few acres here it doesn't mean
[2:47:46] anything to me because on my block I
have houses with I've I have called code
[2:47:52] enforcement five times in the last two
months about a house in my neighborhood
[2:47:59] that has 11 cars parked there non-stop.
It's a single family house. I have not
[2:48:05] heard back. And I passed there tonight
on my way here. There were 11 cars.
[2:48:10] There's no reason in the world there
should be 11 cars in a single family
[2:48:14] home because there there can't be 11
adults living there. So, I'm just
[2:48:20] looking at this as a macro
um situation of just my bubble. I don't
[2:48:28] I care about the rest of the town big
time, but I think we have to look at
[2:48:34] ourselves on the blocks we live and and
and concentrate on, you know, too much
[2:48:41] too many cars, too much congestion, too
much overdevelopment, you know, this
[2:48:46] building going up here, this one going
up here. That's what's affecting us.
[2:48:49] That's all I have to say. Thank you.
[applause]
[2:48:57] Carlos with a notebook. That's
dangerous.
[2:49:01] Um,
you mentioned it. So, I'm going to read
[2:49:04] the the
[2:49:08] heading on my notebook.
Siht
[2:49:13] I have to write down because I'm old.
That's what my notebook is all about.
[2:49:18] Um,
okay. My main my main topic was going to
[2:49:23] be 911. Um wanted to I think we all here
have stories and and um I wanted to
[2:49:30] convey a story to you guys.
Um but some of the things came up so I'm
[2:49:35] just going to quickly address them. Not
really address them just mention it. Um
[2:49:40] the sanctuary state did that resolution
you passed it today?
[2:49:44] » There is no sanctuary state resolution
on the agenda today
[2:49:47] » yet. It will come. Okay.
>> I'll address that.
[2:49:49] » Okay. So, I will I would like to I think
I disagree with some of the stuff, but
[2:49:56] there you go. Uh I'd like to address
that in more detail then I'll wait I'll
[2:50:01] wait for that. That's good. Um on the
So, I'm on the zoning board. I don't
[2:50:06] know if I mentioned that.
>> Um and one of the things about the
[2:50:09] zoning board is you take an oath to obey
all the rules, right? State well, you
[2:50:15] have to do it. Whether you like them or
not, you have to obey them. Um so that's
[2:50:19] why before about the data center hadn't
passed yet so I could talk about it
[2:50:24] right now that it's passed I can't talk
about it. Um
[2:50:29] » I I just want to say about the data
centers though that um you know because
[2:50:34] of the comments that were here. I think
at least I got some nodding that this
[2:50:39] was like a preliminary right we split it
again. We knew we had to fix the way it
[2:50:45] was written and add more teeth to it.
Right?
[2:50:48] » I'll address that.
>> You know, I had a lot of problems with
[2:50:50] the way it was written, right? The
concept was good, but that's similar to
[2:50:55] the gentleman that spoke here. There's a
lot of issues. I I I believe. Okay,
[2:51:00] that's all I'll say so I don't get into
trouble. Um
[2:51:05] 911.
So, yeah, this was beautiful. Was great.
[2:51:10] Um
but you know you bring up uh let's not
[2:51:16] forget right and and um I would add to
that and let's not allow
[2:51:23] our educators starting school um and our
politicians to rewrite history. I'm
[2:51:31] really scared
um of what's happening you know Mandami
[2:51:36] in New York City and all that stuff.
It's not just remember
[2:51:40] I think Mr. Pal you mentioned it. Let's
remember why who and all that. Okay. And
[2:51:48] it's easy to forget because to us the
older crowd uh we lived it. We tasted
[2:51:54] it. We smelled it. Um I was down there.
I I was down there. I I worked at the
[2:52:00] time. This is the story part. Um at the
time I was working at the financial
[2:52:06] center. If anybody knows the financial
center, it's right across the Westside
[2:52:12] Highway. So, you have to go through the
World Trade Center to get to the
[2:52:15] financial center. Um, and and and
because I was there and I felt it, I
[2:52:22] heard it, I smelled it, I will never
forget. And I'm sure that's true for a
[2:52:27] lot of us, right? We'll never forget
where we are. But our young people don't
[2:52:30] have that, right? What they have is what
they read, what they see on videos. to
[2:52:36] them it might even look like a video
game to them, right? And then that's a
[2:52:40] shame. And so we definitely need um what
we did here today and educate on exactly
[2:52:48] what happened, why it happened, and
let's not rewrite history.
[2:52:53] Um so a little bit, everybody has a
story about their 911. So but I'll I'll
[2:52:58] tell you just three things that I
remember very clearly.
[2:53:02] One of them was with with the um
with the the responders.
[2:53:10] So I was one of the fortunate ones where
my cell phone was actually working,
[2:53:15] right?
So um right away police officer and I
[2:53:20] think there was a a fire person there.
There was a whole bunch. Um but he came
[2:53:25] to me, oh, you know, took my phone,
tried to tried to [clears throat] to do
[2:53:28] emergency stuff. And what I remember of
that was the face
[2:53:34] of that person, the expression that I'm
sure inside you might have been
[2:53:38] trembling, but at that time what I saw
was um no fear. He was ready to go do
[2:53:46] whatever was necessary. Go in there. No
fear. Um and I'll never forget the look
[2:53:51] of that of his face. Um the other thing
I'll never forget was I couldn't get out
[2:53:57] of Manhattan at the time.
Okay, two more little things.
[2:54:01] » 10 seconds. Okay, just really quick. So,
I couldn't get out of Manhattan. So, so
[2:54:05] I went to Midtown, spent the night at at
a Marriott, blah blah blah. Waking up
[2:54:10] that morning.
All was I mean, Manhattan is never
[2:54:14] silent. It was nothing was happening in
Manhattan. You still had people selling
[2:54:19] newspapers and coffee. Did have that,
but that was it. There was nothing. and
[2:54:24] and and all you had airplanes, you know,
flying in the air, but that silence,
[2:54:31] I'll never forget that silence. So
>> So my story is I felt it. We felt it,
[2:54:37] right?
>> Our youth don't have that.
[2:54:40] » Yeah.
>> Okay.
[2:54:41] » Next.
[applause]
[2:54:47] » Gustapo from Jackson. And I'm really
appalled at the fact that you sit there
[2:54:54] and let a person defame not only me but
my neighbors and my township fellows.
[2:55:00] Okay. Without saying a word, but a man
who says something color.
[2:55:06] » No kids were present.
>> Shut up.
[2:55:08] » No kids were present. Shut up.
>> Don't tell me to shut up.
[2:55:10] » Yeah, it is. But don't point at me and
tell me I didn't say nothing. Kids were
[2:55:14] here. Kids were here.
>> Gustaf.
[2:55:18] If you WANT TO TAKE THAT TITLE, YOU TAKE
IT. But I'll tell you what, IF HE
[2:55:23] DOESN'T COME UP WITH PROOF, SHUT HIM UP.
I'm sick and tired of listening to this.
[2:55:29] » That's against the law.
>> Use all tape and you go and run for
[2:55:32] election or you're appointed to your
positions. You take an oath to the
[2:55:37] Constitution of the United States and
you spit on every single one of us.
[2:55:43] » We're tired of it.
And let me tell you, I HAD TO TAKE last
[2:55:49] beating off because I just needed a
vacation [clears throat] to get away
[2:55:52] from the three ring circus, which this
is. And I'll tell you what, the man who
[2:55:57] claimed to be a personal citizen who's
on two boards, not just one. Do you
[2:56:03] think I really seriously want him making
decisions for my town?
[2:56:09] I don't think so. Like I said, either he
puts up or shuts up. I'm tired of it.
[2:56:15] This isn't the first time he's done it.
It's more than that. But now getting
[2:56:20] back to the oath. Okay,
you guys. Uh, I saw a little clip of the
[2:56:27] last meeting. Lady come up here and she
was talking about what she did. The
[2:56:33] First Amendment gives her the right to
take videos of an alleged lemonade stand
[2:56:40] crime.
Okay. Everybody looked at her and looked
[2:56:45] down at her and deflected from it. Guess
what? If there was a crime committed,
[2:56:51] how come it's not being investigated?
That's your job. Make sure it gets done.
[2:57:00] But then I see in tonight um your uh
ordinance number 2629
[2:57:09] uh about uh
uh dwellings and housing and you're
[2:57:14] going to use the police,
okay, to do a job that they're
[2:57:21] overworked to start with.
You know,
[2:57:26] it doesn't make a difference whether
they're mafia or not. They're
[2:57:29] overworked. I hear their sirens going
constantly all night long. Give the guys
[2:57:34] a break.
You're going to have them bust into
[2:57:38] people's houses in the middle of the
night. What are you crazy? That's not
[2:57:42] something that's done like that.
Uh, you know, I understand there's a
[2:57:47] need for what needs to be done, but did
you check with the chief of police and
[2:57:52] see if her officers can handle that work
on top of what they're already doing?
[2:57:58] My god, you can't even stop the people
from speeding in this town.
[2:58:03] They're still flying down the road. I
hear all kinds of rumors about speed
[2:58:08] bumps and, you know, and and I'm looking
and listening to hear how you're making
[2:58:14] uh no parking on one side of the road.
You just opened up the drag strip for
[2:58:19] more speed. These people aren't
listening to you. You got to get to the
[2:58:24] people. And let me tell you something.
This is election year, so I don't expect
[2:58:29] too much of anything other than, you
know, we'll look at it. We'll see about
[2:58:33] it. I I expect more of the people at
home to start showing up because let me
[2:58:38] tell you, this is where they belong
because you work for us. We don't work
[2:58:44] for you.
All right? If you know, election time is
[2:58:50] coming, I want to hear what everybody
has to say. I've heard of Republicans.
[2:58:54] I've heard of Democrats. I've heard
independent Republican. What's an
[2:58:58] independent Republican? I' never heard
of that one before.
[2:59:02] I want to hear what they got to say. Who
are they?
[2:59:07] I didn't know any of you when I got
here. Some of you I didn't look at
[2:59:12] favorably. And let me tell you, some of
them some of you have really surprised
[2:59:16] me. I like to listen to the fact that if
you have an ordinance you want to
[2:59:20] discuss, you come out and you give your
opinion on it before you make the yes or
[2:59:25] no vote, which most people know which
way you're going to go anyway. It's, you
[2:59:29] know, that's
you wouldn't have it on on the docket if
[2:59:33] wasn't there.
But you just have to realize this is a
[2:59:39] year of optics. Everybody is watching
what's going on.
[2:59:44] YouTubers are going to be watching
what happened in this room tonight for a
[2:59:49] long time. And I'll tell you what,
they're not going to be happy if they
[2:59:53] really see now. You want to respond? Go
ahead.
[2:59:57] » No response. Thank you.
>> Thank you.
[2:59:59] » Have a good day.
[applause]
[3:00:03] » Um I I'll respond quick to Fred. I get
your frustration. Um don't get worked
[3:00:09] up. Uh but uh I understand. I relate. Uh
listen, don't
[3:00:15] I believe in freedom of speech. I
believe everybody can come up and say
[3:00:18] whatever they want. How ridiculous, how
horrible. I think you can use whatever
[3:00:24] language you want. I It doesn't bother
me. Uh so let people say anything. I I
[3:00:31] believe in freedom of speech and that's
it, man. I came up here speaking just
[3:00:35] like everybody else. That's how I got
into this. And I would get into it with
[3:00:39] the people up here. um and they'd fire
back sometimes and that's fine. Uh that
[3:00:45] uh kind of got me elected. So let people
speak. Let them show who they are. Let
[3:00:51] them say what they need to. The people
who come up here and they speak for
[3:00:55] others or people relate to it. People
are going to sit there clap and love it.
[3:00:58] Look at the reaction that that guy had
before. When you come up and you act
[3:01:02] ridiculous, you say things that don't
make sense. You come up with weird
[3:01:07] propaganda.
people see right through it and we're
[3:01:12] seeing I think we're seeing things get
better in this town whether you want to
[3:01:16] admit whether some people want to admit
it or not. Uh
[3:01:21] » well I I think we need to treat
everybody with the same respect and I
[3:01:24] listen I do give uh Council President
Bernstein a lot of respect for the way
[3:01:29] he's been running the meetings in a lot
of ways. I think he's more respectful of
[3:01:32] people. I I think he lets them speak
more. Uh, like I said, it's a huge
[3:01:36] » I'm not interrupt. Keep on going,
>> you know. No, [laughter] listen, we can
[3:01:40] disagree. I've yelled and screamed at
him. You know, it's fine. You know, I
[3:01:45] think he's done some bad things towards
me as well, but um, you know what? I we
[3:01:50] got to work together and
I love that we can on certain things and
[3:01:55] we'll still fight and we'll still go
back and forth and he may not want to
[3:01:59] see me elected again and I may, you
know, see what happens in two years when
[3:02:03] he's up. But you know what? We're
trying.
[3:02:06] » Two and a half,
>> you know, and
[3:02:09] Jeppi, I love working with you recently.
I don't like how you reacted to some of
[3:02:13] these people right now, but listen, and
I'm not trying to like fight me about
[3:02:16] it, you know, but I I think we got to
just all figure out how to make this
[3:02:21] work. And
>> Miss Jones,
[3:02:22] » we're trying.
[applause]
[3:02:28] Deb Jones,
I really don't feel like I need to give
[3:02:31] you my address because after this week,
I know you have it. Um, I'll get to
[3:02:37] that, but first thing I want to say is
I'm appalled at the way a resident stood
[3:02:45] here and what he said, and I have to
reflect a lot of what
[3:02:49] the person before me said. But what
bothers me most about that is this
[3:02:55] entire town grieved with that mother who
lost her child.
[3:03:01] And I never heard one comment
negative about what happened. Everyone
[3:03:07] grieved. We're all parents. We're
grandparents. We're aunts. We're uncles.
[3:03:12] We're grand. We're great-grandparents.
Nobody nobody thought that was good.
[3:03:19] We sad. We were sad. We grieved with
her. We're still grieving with her. A
[3:03:24] baby's gone. I also, and I'm sure I'm
not in the majority, but I also grieve
[3:03:31] for the girl who hit her. Hit the child.
She has to live with that for the rest
[3:03:36] of her life. That's a hard hard burden
to carry. Whether she was in the right
[3:03:41] or the wrong doesn't matter. She took a
life and has to live with that.
[3:03:47] I just can't even believe what I just
saw happen here. And I do agree with
[3:03:52] Chris. People have the right to say
something. What I don't agree with is he
[3:03:58] stood here treated very differently than
Eleanor Hanam stood here and called out.
[3:04:05] Our mayor, who was the council president
at the time, right or wrong, she made a
[3:04:09] comment about who she was dating and she
was ripped from this meeting. That's not
[3:04:15] okay.
Why isn't it the same for everybody?
[3:04:20] The brother sat here in a resident's
face. Now, I'm sure the excuse is, well,
[3:04:26] it wasn't him. It was his brother. Well,
you know what? It wasn't Chris making
[3:04:30] the comments on Facebook. It was other
people. Why is that Chris's fault? But
[3:04:35] this isn't
the man who stood here's fault. It's
[3:04:40] just the unfair
way things are going are horrible.
[3:04:47] That brings me to my next point.
I had a family member who called out one
[3:04:54] of the people that sits up here
for a post that was put up on Facebook.
[3:05:00] I've lived in Jackson. I've told you
since I'm in fifth grade. Never have I
[3:05:04] been in trouble with the law. I've
always paid my taxes. I have followed
[3:05:10] every rule that has ever been put before
me that was that I was capable to do.
[3:05:18] I find it awfully funny that two things
happened. My family had to call up call
[3:05:24] out a house up the street that has been
causing us issues since 2023.
[3:05:31] They've caused the problems. We're the
villains. Not sure how that happened.
[3:05:36] that and he called out someone on
Facebook.
[3:05:41] I had code enforcement at my house.
Sound like a familiar story that you
[3:05:46] guys keep hearing?
Well, and you know what? Code
[3:05:50] enforcement was awesome. There was an
ordinance. We didn't know the exact
[3:05:55] ordinance and what it was. We'll take
care of it. We will live the right way
[3:06:00] and follow the ordinances set before us.
But you better make sure everybody does.
[3:06:08] It's not right. Not only that, within an
hour, I had a police officer pulling
[3:06:15] behind one of my cars, parked on a road
legally, parking there for years, run my
[3:06:22] plates,
turn around, and go right back in the
[3:06:26] direction he came from. Why is he
running my plates? The car wasn't
[3:06:30] moving.
The car is registered, it's insured, and
[3:06:34] it's parked legally. Sound familiar?
Why does this keep happening?
[3:06:41] We can't stand up against something
without having to have repercussions
[3:06:45] because somebody's upset that we spoke
our opinion. I don't understand.
[3:06:51] And the fact that no one said a word, I
just want to read you a couple things.
[3:06:55] I'm going back to the Gestapo.
The Gustapo was the official state,
[3:07:01] secret state police of Nazi Germany and
Germany occupied Europe.
[3:07:07] This is so horrible.
The Gestapo operated above regular laws.
[3:07:14] Agents could arrest, imprison, or
torture people without trial or judicial
[3:07:19] oversight.
The Gestapo played a central role in
[3:07:24] tracking, arresting, and organizing the
mass deportation of Jewish people to
[3:07:30] ghetto to ghettos and extermination
camps.
[3:07:35] You know what? The people standing here,
we're nobody's secret police. We're
[3:07:40] standing here because we love our town
and we're going to fight for it. And you
[3:07:44] know what? I'm sorry if people have a
problem with the term fight for Jackson.
[3:07:48] We're all Jackson. Maybe we all need to
stand up and fight.
[3:07:52] [applause]
[3:07:58] » Ray, Katoner, I'm here to talk about
transparency. Um, for the record, I also
[3:08:04] often request the documents between the
state and our budget and I was uh
[3:08:10] received a notice there. No documents
existed in any communication.
[3:08:16] I'm here to talk about also I've been
trying to get additional documents. Our
[3:08:21] interim mayor stated that Jackson Day
was completely paid for by sponsorship
[3:08:27] money and vendor revenue. I went and
requested that I did receive some
[3:08:33] documents but we're missing where the
revenue end of the documents.
[3:08:39] Preliminary um evaluation is it's
probably not the case. I don't believe
[3:08:45] it to be totally paid for, but I don't
have the additional documents to prove
[3:08:50] my theory.
Uh certain things are picked out of my
[3:08:55] items and they're saying overly broad
and then I don't get the rest of the
[3:09:00] documents and they're rolling the over
request to a new offer request to
[3:09:05] another new offer request.
I that's against the law by the way. The
[3:09:10] GRC specifically states that my request
has to be answered. It can be narrowed,
[3:09:17] but it should still be the same request.
So, I don't have the data. I made that
[3:09:23] open request August 25th.
And I should be entitled to see the
[3:09:30] documentation to prove that. Right now,
it doesn't look like it the case. And
[3:09:35] I'd like to receive the rest of my
documents so I could prove the case. And
[3:09:40] I've had th those issues with other over
requests. You can't just say overly
[3:09:45] broad. I have an option to narrow that
request down,
[3:09:51] not turn around and say you deny the
request because one of the items is
[3:09:56] overly broad. I might ask for 15
different items. Those items are
[3:10:01] supposed to be sent to me.
And with that statement, it should be
[3:10:07] easily accessible. Somebody evaluated it
and said our revenues actually paid for
[3:10:13] Jackson Day 100%.
And I How long do I have to wait to get
[3:10:19] those answers? So I would appreciate it
if I can actually get the information
[3:10:23] that I request.
>> I plan on answering you tonight.
[3:10:26] » Thank you. Hopefully
[3:10:31] [applause]
[3:10:36] Randph Kubz.
My original address when I moved here in
[3:10:41] 1983
was rural Route 547,
[3:10:46] box 193.
Cows, chickens, and goats. Now it's a
[3:10:52] bus route.
I really don't mind overdevelopment,
[3:10:57] but I do mind the development that's
happening in this township right now.
[3:11:02] Is it an overtaking
of a community that was really once nice
[3:11:08] and now to
bring up a point that another person had
[3:11:12] made. You have these houses of worship
houses of [clears throat] worship
[3:11:20] popping up like mushrooms all over the
county.
[3:11:25] development all over the place. I don't
mind development.
[3:11:30] Development is healthy for a community,
but the kind of development that we have
[3:11:34] in this community is not good.
[3:11:40] When I moved here, my taxes
were
[3:11:45] about $600, $6,000 a year. Now, that's
what that's what I'm paying a quarter.
[3:11:53] When I got my estimated tax bill, I had
to get the digitalis out.
[3:12:00] When I saw it,
like $5,100 for the quarter.
[3:12:07] That's a $500 increase of what it was
last year.
[3:12:14] Now, you got to help me out here. I
don't really understand how my taxes
[3:12:20] went from $6,000
to $20,000
[3:12:27] when we have the same amount of schools
in this township right now than we have
[3:12:31] in 19 than we had in 1983.
[3:12:37] And you announced that you increase the
budget for the schools $6 million.
[3:12:45] When you have a when you have the same
amount of schools and lower enrollment
[3:12:51] and you have thousands of people moving
into the community, hundreds of
[3:12:55] businesses, where's all the money going
to?
[3:13:00] Why is it isn't that funding anything?
Why are my taxes being skyrocketing
[3:13:06] with all this development that's coming
into the community? I don't understand
[3:13:11] it.
[3:13:14] And you talk about open spaces.
[3:13:19] I spend $500 a year in in open space
money. And what do I get? I get
[3:13:24] congestion. That's what I get.
[3:13:31] I don't mind, you know, open spaces. You
had a golden opportunity for open spaces
[3:13:37] when Maple Lake Campground closed down.
You should have bought it and turned it
[3:13:43] into a a county park, a community
campground where everybody could enjoy
[3:13:49] it like they did at Turkey Swan Park.
But instead,
[3:13:56] it's going to be hundreds of houses in
there, another thousands of people, and
[3:14:03] another house of worship.
[3:14:07] I really don't get it.
the way this community is going, it's
[3:14:12] not going in the right direction.
[3:14:18] And
I also read
[3:14:22] a couple of weeks ago, I was buying a
bottle of wine at the liquor store up in
[3:14:26] the corner, Willy's Corner, and one of
my sources telling me that the
[3:14:32] McDonald's are going to go is going to
close.
[3:14:35] and this and they those stores in that
shopping center are also going to close.
[3:14:42] And I read on the Jackson's Facebook
that's exactly what's going to happen.
[3:14:51] I really don't get it.
[3:14:55] The way this township is going, it's
it's a takeover.
[3:15:00] It's not a diverse community like you
said it was going to be or should be.
[3:15:09] Well, I'm out of time. That's all I have
to say. Thank you for your time.
[3:15:14] » Thank you, [applause]
[3:15:17] [cheering]
council.
[3:15:19] » Seeing no one come forward. I motion to
close public forum.
[3:15:22] » Second.
>> All in favor?
[3:15:24] » I.
>> Okay. So, I want to res um
[3:15:28] » What?
Yes. I just I just don't want to go out
[3:15:31] of order, but before that, I'm just
going to ask again, as we've done the
[3:15:34] past couple meetings, um I may some say
some things that some people like, some
[3:15:37] things that some people don't like. Um I
won't run out after. Feel free to come
[3:15:41] over and yell at my face if you don't
like it, but let's just let me speak and
[3:15:44] let my colleagues if they want to add
anything. Also, there was a lot said, a
[3:15:47] lot of insightful uh ideas and questions
and other things. So, council council
[3:15:52] vice president before before I hit the
road. Yeah.
[3:15:54] » All right. Thank you. Uh to the
gentleman that we went back and forth a
[3:15:57] little bit. My apologies for cutting you
off. Shouldn't have done that. You had
[3:16:00] every right to tell me to shut up. It's
no problem. Why? Let me just explain why
[3:16:05] I said something to the other gentleman
and not uh Joe Sullivan when the other
[3:16:10] gentleman was using some foul language.
There were a couple of children that
[3:16:13] just walked in and maybe my father
instinct kicked in and I don't like that
[3:16:17] kind of stuff. So I asked him to
refrain. Now he could have legally
[3:16:20] continued to use profanity. That's his
legal but what I didn't think it was
[3:16:25] right that's all I asked and he
continued and I let him now if Mr.
[3:16:28] Sullivan would have been saying exactly
what he said with children present I
[3:16:32] would have asked him to curtail some of
the language now he could have continued
[3:16:34] going on with it even with Mr. Sullivan
with no kids present I I knew that Mr.
[3:16:39] You know, Councilman Pollock was more
than capable of defending himself, so I
[3:16:42] didn't need to step into that matter. No
kids present.
[3:16:47] » Correct. Yeah.
>> Okay. So, yeah, I and I agree you could
[3:16:51] 100%. You're adults. If there were
children here, his language was
[3:16:54] inappropriate. So, my point was, look,
I'm not trying to sanction people from
[3:16:58] speaking. You're legally able to, but
sometimes depending on the audience,
[3:17:01] what it might not be appropriate. And my
fatherly instinct will come out and if
[3:17:05] you disagree with me, I'm sorry. It's
okay. But I can't stop that. I'm a dad
[3:17:08] of three kids. So, I'm going to try to
not let the younger folks hear that type
[3:17:12] of language. So, again, my apologies for
cutting you off. I had nothing against
[3:17:15] you and we've had great conversations in
the hallway. So,
[3:17:18] » so before before I ask Councilman
Breathy to address some of the land use
[3:17:22] stuff, I just want to go to the most I
think the I'm not use to highlight, but
[3:17:27] the unfortunate thing that stood out
tonight. I think really by and large the
[3:17:30] meeting was a fantastic meeting. I think
we had a lot of great ideas. Um, and I
[3:17:34] just want to say it's not easy sitting
up here to what one of the residents
[3:17:37] said about, you know, there was a
resident who was pulled out in the past.
[3:17:41] I don't want to talk about that much due
to the fact that it's litigation. But
[3:17:44] since that I'm council president, I've
never cut anyone off even though there
[3:17:48] are people who have said some pretty
nasty things to my face, things that are
[3:17:52] hurtful, but that's my job and I've
never ever stopped. I do I I happen
[3:17:57] stepped out when that back and forth
went on. Um, I I always usually time it
[3:18:01] well. Um, but I apologize to the
children who are here that that they
[3:18:05] hear that. Um, because I do think that
there is a we just got to be careful. I,
[3:18:09] you know, I'm hoping that children
continue to come. I think it's great for
[3:18:13] them to see government working. So, and
I think it's great that the mom is able
[3:18:17] to be here with her children. So, um, I
I just want to start with, I guess, the
[3:18:21] most controversial thing. Um, I strongly
strongly disagree with anyone calling
[3:18:26] anyone in this room Nazis, Gestap, or
anything else. Especially as a member of
[3:18:29] the Jewish community who has relatives
and family and friends, grew up with
[3:18:34] with survivors of the Holocaust used to
come to my dad on the high holidays with
[3:18:37] the marks and sit there crying in his
office. There's a there there are
[3:18:41] certain red lines like I've said this
before um which are unacceptable and uh
[3:18:45] and um I wasn't going to cut off that
resident who was speaking. Um, do I plan
[3:18:50] on having a conversation with him?
Absolutely. I think that was
[3:18:52] unacceptable. Um, but the residents
here, I think, are vocal. They're
[3:18:57] passionate. We can just have a
disagreement what the words fight for
[3:19:00] Jackson means, and that's a fine
political conversation to have. But I
[3:19:04] don't I don't believe that the residents
who are coming here by by and large, I
[3:19:08] think the vast majority are here because
they care. They want their voices to be
[3:19:11] heard. And I've said this before, I
actually appreciate the fact that I mean
[3:19:15] I wouldn't mind a 9:30 end, but I I
appreciate the fact that the residents
[3:19:19] do come and are bringing up and I think
it makes for a better government and
[3:19:23] whoever wins in an upcoming election. I
think this should continue because I
[3:19:26] think it's an important um avenue. Now,
a resident also brought up about hearing
[3:19:31] from the Republicans for the fight for
Jackson, the you know, for all the other
[3:19:35] terms, um, the independent Republicans,
and I got two emails from residents also
[3:19:39] asking, um, council meetings are not
supposed to be, there's not supposed to
[3:19:43] be politics in council meetings.
Obviously, what people say is what
[3:19:45] people say. I've gone out of my way um
to try to limit what I do up here from
[3:19:50] the political end. Um, if residents want
to meet any candidates, I'm sure those
[3:19:54] candidates will have various venues to
meet and hear hear their platforms and I
[3:19:58] welcome everyone to go to their go to
those uh go to those events and to hear
[3:20:02] from those residents.
Um, fine. So, with regard to the um to
[3:20:08] to the to the resolution for sanctuary
cities, so um there was a draft
[3:20:12] resolution that we did circulate
internally. Um I decided to pull it um
[3:20:16] because I didn't think it was the time
yet for it. Um, I didn't think 10 days
[3:20:20] after the tragedy was the time to speak
about it tonight. Um, tonight I only um
[3:20:25] talked about my comments about the young
child who unfortunately perished in that
[3:20:29] terrible incident. Um, I do believe that
there is a time and a place to um to
[3:20:36] raise our voices. As you know,
Councilman Pollock says, you know,
[3:20:39] sometimes bringing attention to matters
shines light. You never know, maybe
[3:20:42] eventually the state will change its
policies and maybe if we continue as
[3:20:46] citizens in New Jersey raising our
voices loud and clear, maybe the
[3:20:49] politicians out there will say, "Hey, it
is time for us to revisit it." So, I do
[3:20:53] I personally think the resolution is a
good thing. I do think the current
[3:20:58] governor has um pushed it even further.
So, I think there is a place for a
[3:21:02] future resolution and letting the state
know that Jackson doesn't tolerate it.
[3:21:06] Yes, they come up every election year.
Um, but I do think this something that
[3:21:09] most people on this days will agree to
the concept of a resolution and um to
[3:21:14] answer Carlos, it it will be brought up.
I mean, I plan on introducing it by a
[3:21:18] future meeting. I just didn't think
tonight was the time for it. Um, I
[3:21:21] wanted to focus on the tragedy. Now, I I
do think as a couple residents mentioned
[3:21:26] and as my colleagues mentioned,
unfortunately, tragedy brings us
[3:21:29] together. We put out a joint statement
from council. Um, Councilman Paul Mary
[3:21:32] came over me, he came over to me on
Shabas and mentioned that I think Chris
[3:21:35] reached out. we want what can we do for
the family right now the family wants I
[3:21:38] think a little bit of privacy and
obviously there's a lot of community
[3:21:41] support that's there holding their hands
and trying to help them um I pass the
[3:21:46] message that Township of Jackson
supports them and anything that we can
[3:21:48] possibly do for them and I think they
we're very appreciative um right now
[3:21:52] just have have I think have those
prayers in your mind and think about and
[3:21:56] and you know and have the family in mind
I think is is important and if anything
[3:21:59] else comes up we obviously will share it
with the public um now with regard to Um
[3:22:06] the um someone brought up a park in
Brookwood with the with the with the
[3:22:10] with the toilet and I'm just going to
say first and I'll let council vice
[3:22:13] president um I actually was when I first
saw it I said hey um I don't think it
[3:22:18] was necessary it's a neighborhood park
um I was told by DPW this goes on in
[3:22:21] every neighborhood park. It's my
understanding the township is actually
[3:22:24] exempt from we had this with the board
of ed and DPW with some some of the
[3:22:27] other events um um that they are exempt
from from that. That being said, I duly
[3:22:33] noted I personally don't think it's
necessary in a neighborhood park to have
[3:22:36] a porta potty there. Um it's there's not
supposed to be driving to the park. It's
[3:22:40] more of a walking park within the
neighborhood. That's why we banned
[3:22:42] parking in that area and residents, you
know, if take your children before and
[3:22:47] take your children after. Um but we'll
have that conversation with DPW. I think
[3:22:51] they just want it to be fair. But duly
noted and and and we definitely accept
[3:22:55] the the criticism. Council vice
president, anything you want to say on
[3:22:57] that before I continue? I was just going
to talk about the park the no parking
[3:23:01] that was brought up by the former
Rosenau which is now a private school
[3:23:04] that had camp. Oh
>> I live literally a couple blocks away
[3:23:09] and I know that between 9 and 10 in the
morning and 3 and 4 there's a line of
[3:23:15] cars that go from former Rosenau all the
way to like Brookwood Parkway and you
[3:23:19] can't get out of your driveway and if
you're out you can't get in your
[3:23:23] driveway. It happened to me and my wife.
It's it's so I think that that for that
[3:23:28] camp and even when they have uh drop off
and pickup, they should take the Rosenau
[3:23:34] model and and and utilize it that way.
They had buses off to the side. They
[3:23:37] have a huge parking lot in the back.
It's not being utilized. It's just being
[3:23:40] utilized in that little front parking
area and it goes right into the street.
[3:23:45] And what we have to take into
consideration was that Rosenour when it
[3:23:48] was a public school, it was like 80%
walkers. So we didn't have the amount of
[3:23:53] buses that you now have there. So I
think that conversation needs to be had
[3:23:58] with the new ownership that you know
it's very discourteous to that that
[3:24:02] neighborhood and what we've seen you
know this needs to be addressed. Maybe
[3:24:06] they aren't aware maybe they are. But I
think even if we can have some traffic
[3:24:10] safety enforcement there during the 9
and 10 a.m. to 3 and 4 just to say hey
[3:24:15] you see it firsthand and maybe address
it with the ownership on the spot
[3:24:18] because it's impossible to get past.
I've dealt with it firsthand. I think we
[3:24:23] need to fix it. And then and then if I
can also um and I I discussed this with
[3:24:29] Mr. Terafeno and I'd like to bring it up
publicly. Um that that fac that school
[3:24:35] is a mess. The exterior in the back is
it not kept well. There's a lot of
[3:24:39] debris. So if you'd be willing uh I'd
like to see code enforcement go take a
[3:24:44] look because there's a lot of stuff that
just needs to be picked up and and some
[3:24:48] housekeeping that um was never that way.
So, I think that it may be a learning
[3:24:53] curve, but I think we need to learn and
and learn much faster. And then with the
[3:24:56] portal potty, um, I called the council
president a few weeks ago when I first
[3:25:00] saw it. I was driving by and I said,
"What is this? Why do we have a portal
[3:25:05] potty in a in a neighborhood park where
if your kids go there, they could just
[3:25:09] walk home?" I didn't want it. And I I
asked that we have removed I understand
[3:25:13] DPW said each park should have it, but I
don't think it's necessary. And I would
[3:25:17] like to see it, and I'm going on the
record. would like to see it removed
[3:25:20] from there because I don't think it
brings nothing but trouble and
[3:25:23] » so and bad hygiene.
>> So I I definitely second that and like I
[3:25:27] said I'm going to ask our business
administrator if I have could tomorrow
[3:25:30] reach out to Mr. Blinkinsky. I brought
this up initially and honestly I just
[3:25:33] forgot about it but we if we can do that
now council vice president had actually
[3:25:37] called me um and by the way I'm just
going to be speaking so feel free to
[3:25:40] stay if you want to listen in your car
feel free. Um but council president
[3:25:44] council vice president had called me
that his wife couldn't get into her
[3:25:46] driveway and over there where he lives.
Um I did reach out to at that point in
[3:25:51] the summer. It took a couple phone calls
to get find the right person to those
[3:25:54] who are using the building in the
summer. Um and like council vice
[3:25:57] president said um the building was
definitely not designed with some of
[3:26:01] that traffic that occurred and um I
thought it was taken care of because I
[3:26:05] didn't hear from him again. Um but what
I told him is that going forward we
[3:26:08] we're going to have a conversation. I
think the township is going to reach out
[3:26:11] to obviously to the property owners um
making sure that a proper traffic plan
[3:26:16] hopefully will be implemented in future
summers because I think that seems to be
[3:26:18] the bigger issue um going forward and
hopefully traffic safety could be in
[3:26:23] touch with them also about making sure
that we we um we take it take that
[3:26:27] seriously. um with regard to the amount
for the farm that the resident brought
[3:26:30] up and I apologize that I missed the
first few minutes legal um attorney
[3:26:35] Mockin um could you just you know I know
you've been in touch with the farm's
[3:26:39] attorneys so that was where that came
from
[3:26:41] » Sure it's a little bit complicated
because it's a municipal court case the
[3:26:44] judges ordered restitution that
restitution would be paid directly to
[3:26:48] the insanity farms um their attorney
reached out and said we don't know if
[3:26:53] this person's going to pay restitution
but the town should pay us the $5,000
[3:26:57] and some odd
itself. We agreed and there was an
[3:27:00] agreement between myself and their
attorney that we would pay it subject to
[3:27:03] council approval. We would pay them that
$5,000 some odd dollars, but if the
[3:27:07] court reimbures her that she would
reimburse the township. We got an email
[3:27:12] today saying because she had been in
contact with the municipal court and the
[3:27:16] municipal court uh total fine is over is
another $2,000 some odd dollars and she
[3:27:23] asked us to amend the agreement to make
that in the agreement. and I said, "We
[3:27:27] can't do that. It's too late to change
the resolution. However, we can agree
[3:27:31] that if you get that $2,000 from the uh
defendant, you don't have to pay us back
[3:27:37] because we didn't pay you." So, it's
going to finalize itself, but as of this
[3:27:43] morning, um there was an agreement this
afternoon. They wanted to change it and
[3:27:47] I think we've accommodated that, but I
won't be able to talk to her attorney
[3:27:50] till tomorrow.
>> Okay. So, I guess I would ask if you can
[3:27:53] follow up with their attorney and then
loop back with the obviously the
[3:27:55] administration and council on that.
>> Yeah, I'm just [clears throat] I have a
[3:27:59] couple things I don't want people to um
data centers. So, um people brought up
[3:28:02] data centers. I think Judge Hurley
brought it up. Mr. Martin brought it up.
[3:28:05] I know Councilman uh Belli had sent me a
draft and we and I had forwarded it to
[3:28:09] our attorneys um to make some
modifications to it. I think it's
[3:28:12] something I think at that point we felt
it was important to get something on the
[3:28:15] books. Um, but we are going to continue
to look into it and see if there's an
[3:28:19] area that we could revisit some of the
language to make it even uh cleaner and
[3:28:23] and more protective of for the town. Um,
with regard to garbage out out very
[3:28:29] long, it's my understanding we have an
ordinance. You have to only put it out
[3:28:32] the night before. Um and um I think our
code enforcement tries to do a good job
[3:28:38] um you know giving those violations but
it's complicated because everyone has
[3:28:42] different companies and every company
has a different schedule and
[3:28:45] [clears throat] sometimes um those
companies miss it. It's a holiday
[3:28:47] weekend and but I do know our code
enforcement I think generally does issue
[3:28:52] um violations or notices or warnings
when when they find that. With regards
[3:28:56] to some of the dead trees in town
obviously Mr. Terafenko if we can reach
[3:28:59] out to our I guess our forester I mean
some of them were I think were here
[3:29:02] tonight. um about cutting some of that
tree so we don't have trees falling into
[3:29:06] some of our wires and um creating some
of the issues that we've seen in the
[3:29:09] past in storms. I know a resident has
reached out to me count countless times
[3:29:13] about a tree on Hope Chapel which is a
county road. I've reached out to the
[3:29:16] county four times about it already. I
will reach out to them again. Um
[3:29:20] unfortunately trees do die sometimes and
uh we just got to keep our you know keep
[3:29:25] that pressure on making sure it takes
takes care of. with regard to unhitched
[3:29:29] trailers um that a resident brought up.
Um I think the the ordinance I think is
[3:29:34] I think a great ordinance. Um but I I
heard the example that he said about
[3:29:39] township for, you know, flashing lights.
I didn't think about that before. I'm
[3:29:44] going to ask our legal team to look into
that. Um I'm not sure if that was intent
[3:29:47] or part of the ordinance or not. Um
Greg,
[3:29:51] » it was not, but we will take a look.
>> Okay. Um resident brought up some of the
[3:29:55] water um the orange glaze and some of
the other things I think is in 60 acres.
[3:29:59] Um I I I'm going to you know I don't
want to be passing the buck here but I
[3:30:03] think it's important for residents to
reach out to MUA if if it's MUA water to
[3:30:07] have that conversation making sure the
water I think we have generally we have
[3:30:10] good rates and we have we generally do
have clean water in town. Um and I know
[3:30:14] recently there was an issue for on a
Friday a couple weeks ago where some you
[3:30:18] know mis messaging got out. Um please
reach out to MUA. They are generally
[3:30:22] very very responsive. We've we've had
great a great response from them with
[3:30:26] some of the things that have come up.
One more thing before I forget, I just
[3:30:29] want to address because I did receive a
message. Um I don't know how the process
[3:30:33] of inviting some of the first responders
was taken care of tonight. I was not
[3:30:37] part of that process, but there
obviously were were some first
[3:30:40] responders who did not get, I guess,
invited or anything else. There was one
[3:30:45] that I just want to um I do want to
recognize publicly, and that's Ray
[3:30:49] Tremor, the dad. Um, I know he spent
months and months down there um
[3:30:53] volunteering his his time and and his
energy and uh kudos to him and kudos to
[3:30:57] anyone else. When you mention thank
yous, you sometimes leave people out.
[3:31:00] Um, that was not an intention um from
from up here and we obviously respect
[3:31:05] and appreciate everyone who put all
their times in. Um, a resident brought
[3:31:09] up um um about an ordinance about final
and preliminary approvals. Mr. Breie,
[3:31:14] could you address that, please?
>> First, I want to just concur with you.
[3:31:18] 60 acres of service by the MUA. So, if
she's having a problem with the water, I
[3:31:21] don't know if Christina is still here,
she should be going to the MUA and
[3:31:24] they'll get on that right away if that's
the case. [clears throat] The subject
[3:31:28] was brought about preliminary and final
site inspections, approvals. Number one,
[3:31:33] if you do a preliminary and a final
separately, you give the applicant 10
[3:31:37] years protection.
If you do it together, they get five
[3:31:41] years protection.
Moreover, boards turn over. if you do
[3:31:46] preliminary only and I don't know if we
can do that. The MUL municipal land use
[3:31:51] law allows them to do that. I don't know
if we can override that or not. That
[3:31:54] would be up to the attorney. But the uh
when you bifocate it and just do the
[3:31:58] preliminary alone, you're not seeing the
whole application.
[3:32:03] You're seeing this part of it and you're
only addressing those issues. When you
[3:32:08] look at the preliminary and final,
you're looking at the whole picture. So
[3:32:12] you get a good picture of what you want
changed and how it can be changed, what
[3:32:15] you can move where. The other thing when
you do just a preliminary and you
[3:32:19] approve a preliminary,
it's very hard to turn down the final.
[3:32:25] If there's not a change in the footprint
and stuff, you're not going to be able
[3:32:28] to turn down a final where they don't
win it in court. I'm not saying afraid
[3:32:31] to go to court, but they'll win it. And
the other thing is when you do
[3:32:35] preliminaries and they come back for
finals, a lot of time board members
[3:32:38] change. So now you have new board
members that weren't there for the
[3:32:42] preliminaries.
Therefore, they got to either read the
[3:32:45] depositions or minutes, was ever there,
and try to piece it together. So there's
[3:32:50] a big advantage to getting a better look
at all the environmental issues, the
[3:32:53] parking issues, everything when you have
the entire preliminary and final
[3:32:58] together. There's nothing saying you
have to approve it in one night. Many of
[3:33:02] them have to come back a second and
third night, but you don't have to
[3:33:06] approve it, but you get a full picture
of everything and not peace meal. And as
[3:33:10] far as the parking, every application
when we get our reports from our
[3:33:14] professionals, one of the first lines in
there is if they meet the parking
[3:33:18] requirements or not. And that's one of
the first things that looked at. I can't
[3:33:22] answer for applications that weren't in
front of the planning board or approved
[3:33:26] years ago, but parking is one of the
first things addressed. And as far as
[3:33:30] the environmental issue, uh, I've made
it a habit over the years that if the
[3:33:35] environmental commission didn't get to
the application yet and submit a letter
[3:33:39] of their concerns, I have the applicant
stipulate that they have to get a letter
[3:33:44] of no concern from the environmental
commission when they have to come back
[3:33:48] in front of us. I never cut out the
environmental commission. I've done that
[3:33:51] at every planning board meeting for
many, many years. So, it's it's
[3:33:55] different. It's not just preliminary and
come back. is a whole big different
[3:33:59] thing especially when you're trying to
look at an application this big and only
[3:34:02] looking at this part of it. Very
difficult. I know you don't agree,
[3:34:06] Holly. I had enough boards. I've done
preliminary and final separate and it
[3:34:10] gets very very very hairy especially
when you approve a preliminary and then
[3:34:15] try to unapprove a final but but we'll
see what they councilman. We will
[3:34:18] definitely look into it and uh Miss
Reynolds, I think we have a scheduled
[3:34:21] phone call later in the week. We can
definitely discuss that further also. Um
[3:34:25] now, um sorry, I'm just trying to Okay.
Um data centers. Um okay, so a resident
[3:34:33] one second, I apologize. Um brought up
the parking in with some of the I'll
[3:34:39] call it the shoulder some of the other
buildings that have been built. Um it's
[3:34:42] my understanding that every single
application has come in from the
[3:34:45] planning board for a house of worship um
has been a um conforming application. I
[3:34:51] I've yet to see one that may maybe I'm
wrong, but I've yet to see one in front
[3:34:54] of the planning board that has not. So,
if most of those things were by the
[3:34:57] planning board and they did not have any
of those variances, that means they they
[3:35:00] they meet they met the ordinance
standards for parking. Um, and obviously
[3:35:05] we do not want parking on the streets
and we want parking in the parking lots.
[3:35:08] That's the purpose of having a parking
lot. And if that's an issue, um, you
[3:35:11] know, we'll have to, um, I guess look at
it. Uh, I am not aware of a of a Shaw
[3:35:16] being approved on Brewers Bridge that
did not have a a parking lot that was
[3:35:19] approved as part of their site plan. Uh,
not it's not back not back and forth. We
[3:35:24] could have this we could have this
conversation after. Um,
[3:35:27] um,
[3:35:31] okay. Um, data centers we mentioned.
Okay. So, um, I'm going to address um, I
[3:35:36] think it was Mr. Tromba brought up the
affordable housing plan and obviously we
[3:35:39] have concerns that some of the some of
the projects were in the Pinelands. Um
[3:35:44] the town right now is is is in the in
the course of what you call mediation
[3:35:48] slash um conversations with the courts
and right now the courts have not
[3:35:54] required the town to change their plan.
Um we are working with the court and we
[3:35:58] are we are um we um are waiting for a
for for more guidance from the judge. um
[3:36:05] and we will take his guidance into
account and then if we have to pivot and
[3:36:09] develop a new plan that is that does not
develop on the pineelands that obviously
[3:36:15] something that the planning board and
the affordable housing plan will have to
[3:36:19] modify and uh um I think there are
options that do exist I've spent some
[3:36:23] time in in the past couple months that
would ensure that we do not overdevelop
[3:36:28] our pine lens areas and I think many
people in this room would be very
[3:36:31] excited to hear some of those options
but I think let's let the the report
[3:36:35] process play out a little bit longer
before before we get into the specifics
[3:36:38] in that. Um
um
[3:36:43] sorry, more agendas printed. Yes, I
apologize. I'm going to mention that to
[3:36:46] the clerk if we can make sure going
forward we have more agendas printed for
[3:36:50] for the crowd. Um a resident mentioned
11 cars in a house. They called code and
[3:36:54] didn't answer. Um I would recommend
sending an email to code also. Um I
[3:36:59] generally I found code to be pretty
responsive via emails. Um, if you don't
[3:37:03] get a response, obviously reach out to
the business administrator and to look
[3:37:06] into it. Um, now I'm going to also go
back to something that was brought up in
[3:37:11] the beginning. Um, a resident brought up
um, I'm getting to you. Don't worry. A
[3:37:16] resident brought up a um, a use in a in
a neighborhood. Um, and I'm going to say
[3:37:22] something and it I think like I said,
there's some some some things that I I
[3:37:26] say people will like, some things I
think people won't like. Um the town
[3:37:30] like Chris said we went through
obviously a lot of litigation in the
[3:37:32] past. There are certain I'm going to use
the word gray areas. There are areas
[3:37:35] called something called house worship.
There's something called obviously a
[3:37:38] legal shield that has to go in front of
the board for a proper site plan and
[3:37:41] things like that. Um no zoning has
consistently gone down and done their
[3:37:47] done their investigation. There have
been notice of violations issued when um
[3:37:51] things were not following the municipal
land use and obviously um I think there
[3:37:57] was further conversations that we could
have. I don't think listen I'll say it I
[3:38:01] was the third vote on a settlement with
the with the DOJ and AG which allowed
[3:38:05] people to go ahead and build things
correctly with parking lots and I would
[3:38:09] hope that people would actually comply
with those and not use any gray areas um
[3:38:14] when there are black and white areas
that the town provided for them. So, I
[3:38:17] think that's something those are
conversations that we continue we
[3:38:20] continue to need to have. Um, but no one
is telling zoning or um not to do their
[3:38:25] job and I know there have been multiple
NOVs issued and other violations issued
[3:38:30] on on different uses that did not comply
with what the zoning officer's
[3:38:33] determination was on those. Um, with
regard to Oprah, um, again, the two
[3:38:39] points that I want to just respond to is
a just because it's constantly put out
[3:38:43] there, I am not aware of anyone on the
council or in the mayor's office who is
[3:38:47] instructing our clerk not to comply with
Oprah's. And I think I I take offense by
[3:38:51] that. Um, now I didn't say you. I didn't
say you. That being said, I think it's a
[3:38:55] great question and madam clerk, I would
like to have that conversation. What
[3:38:58] words and how the search was forwarded
to it? because a lot of it a lot of it
[3:39:02] boils down to when things are forwarded
to and how the words are put into this
[3:39:06] into the server and to the search and
maybe um mrfank we had this conversation
[3:39:10] a couple weeks ago we have to revisit it
making sure our software is pulling up
[3:39:14] whatever documents when the appropriate
words are being done because I I do
[3:39:17] think that's a a legitimate question
that needs to be looked at is if you did
[3:39:21] an OPRA here and he did an OPRA to the
state why the state say was responsive
[3:39:25] and on a local level but I don't think
that I'm not aware of any anything
[3:39:28] nefarious and I think the clerk um is
doing a fantastic job with the level of
[3:39:33] Opras that which some of them are
multiple pages long with multiple
[3:39:37] questions linked to those Opas. Now, one
of the residents brought up Jackson Day
[3:39:41] um um and I spent some time before the
meeting because we had a conversation on
[3:39:45] the phone yesterday about it um better
understanding some of the expenses of
[3:39:49] Jackson Day because there was a
statement put out that Jackson Day was
[3:39:52] fully covered by um sponsors and
vendors. Um so I'll just tell you the
[3:39:56] numbers that I have and um and Mr.
feel free to to to follow up with me
[3:40:01] after. Um the sponsors brought in
$69,850,
[3:40:06] approximately $70,000. The vendors
brought in a little over $10,000, about
[3:40:11] $105,000.
Um the Jackson Day total cost was
[3:40:16] $93,000.
Um again, I'm just telling you the
[3:40:19] numbers that I received and we we could
hash that after. Um there was $29,000 of
[3:40:25] expenses that were paid through grants
from Clean Communities. Um the remaining
[3:40:28] Jackson Day expenditures which covered
you know some of the tents, some of the
[3:40:32] the zipline, some of the other fun
things for children um were a total of
[3:40:37] $64,375.
Um and there are still two I think it's
[3:40:42] two sponsors who had made pledges have
not come through yet and um I think
[3:40:46] they're still working on that. So I I'm
again I'm not sure what what you got
[3:40:51] back from Oprah. I'd love to to have
that conversation because the list that
[3:40:54] I have does have it covering the the
expenditures that were that were put
[3:40:59] into Jackson Day. And like I said, I I
think the Jackson Day committee did a
[3:41:03] fantastic job. Um but we can we can
disagree on that. That's fine. Um
[3:41:09] now, um Miss Okay, a resident brought up
about, you know, and I think I addressed
[3:41:16] this before about why one resident was
allowed to speak tonight, why another
[3:41:19] resident equal equal treatment. And like
I can say, I've been doing my best. I
[3:41:22] can only speak for myself to make sure
there's equal treatment up here that any
[3:41:26] anyone can say whatever they want. It's
hurtful and it's painful sometimes as it
[3:41:29] is. And I do my best to try to be um I I
can't answer that question why code
[3:41:33] enforcement came to your house. I guess
someone complained. Um, with regard to
[3:41:37] the other resident who complained about
the dogs, um, there was an email because
[3:41:40] I was copying an email where a resident
did complain about the dogs and, um, it
[3:41:44] was, you know, code enforcement followed
up, um, you know, and I welcome that
[3:41:49] resident to do an Oprah on that email,
but um, I don't believe anyone from
[3:41:53] administration is instructing code
enforcement and, um, to intentionally
[3:41:57] target specific residents. Um, and I
apologize that you that maybe some
[3:42:03] people feel like that. That's definitely
not not okay. Um, but I I I don't think
[3:42:07] that, you know, uh, that is going on at
all. Um, Resan brought up about taxes
[3:42:13] and open space. I think everyone wants
more open space. I think everyone wants
[3:42:16] their taxes stay low. I think you
mentioned it went up from $6,000 a year
[3:42:19] to 6 thou, sorry, $6,000
approximately a quarter. Um, it's not a
[3:42:25] secret that, like I said, the board of
ed taxes by a substantial amount this
[3:42:28] year and taxes have gone up tremendously
in the past couple years. Um, and I
[3:42:34] think we all wish it didn't go up. And
um, I don't have a great answer to that.
[3:42:38] I don't have a great answer to why
McDonald's allegedly is closing. Um, I'm
[3:42:42] not sure if it's supply and demand. I'm
not sure if it really is closing or not.
[3:42:45] I saw it reported also. Um, what? It's
up for sale. Okay. So, the the the piece
[3:42:51] of real estate is up for sale over
there. So, I guess I guess unless
[3:42:55] McDonald's buys it, it would close. But
um um I think supply and demand
[3:42:59] generally drives a business model um in
our um capitalist. Now I'm just looking
[3:43:04] for a second. Oh, one more thing I do
want to address and I I I do feel bad
[3:43:08] that she left, but I do um I do want to
address it for a second. Um no one
[3:43:13] should ever feel like a victim in their
home. No one should ever feel um that
[3:43:16] anyone is breaking into their home for
political reasons. But I do want I do
[3:43:19] have to address something that was
brought up at the last council meeting.
[3:43:22] I'm continuously referred to the
political machine. Um, I mean it's it's
[3:43:27] a great terminology and I get it for for
politics, but by the last meeting a
[3:43:31] resident brought up how two of her cars
were on fire. And the next day, the way
[3:43:35] the the way it was being portrayed on
social media, I'm not sure if the
[3:43:38] resident meant it that way or not, the
way it was being portrayed is that in
[3:43:41] the political machine, aka myself and
whoever my political machine allies are,
[3:43:46] um, you know, intentionally, you know,
caused it. That fire based on the
[3:43:50] research I did happened in 2018. 2018 I
was sitting on that side down there. I
[3:43:55] was definitely not part of the political
machine at all. I didn't really get
[3:43:58] along with the governing body at that at
that point at all. And I mean, Mr.
[3:44:03] Brassie was up there, so maybe he was
part of the political machine at that
[3:44:05] point. But, um, I definitely did not get
along with most of most of the members
[3:44:09] of the governing body at that point. And
I take offense because I literally had
[3:44:12] people writing online that, you know,
oh, you know, Morty, you know, you you
[3:44:15] you caused this accident to happen. It
happened six years. I'm sorry, eight
[3:44:18] years ago. Um, I did not envision eight
years ago that I'd be sitting up here.
[3:44:23] Um, not sure why I am sometimes, but um,
but definitely the political machine did
[3:44:28] not um, if we are the political machine
had absolutely nothing to do with a fire
[3:44:32] in a residential home. And based on the
on the police report I saw, it was
[3:44:36] actually deemed by police and the fire
department to be nonsuspicious. Um, and
[3:44:40] I just have to put that out there to
clear my name because I'm not going to
[3:44:42] allow my name to be attacked like like
that at all. Um, anything else that I
[3:44:48] missed? Council,
[3:44:51] » council vice president.
>> Motion to adjurnn.
[3:44:58] » Madam clerk. Oh, it's not working again.
I guess after 10 o'clock. [laughter]
[3:45:02] » All in favor.
>> I
[3:45:03] » thank you everyone for coming.