Ready? Yep.
good evening. Thank you for coming to out tonight. I'd like to call to order
the reorganization and regular meeting of the medford township council for
january 7th, 2025. Notice of this meeting
has been provided in accordance with the open public meetings act by
posting a copy of the agenda on the bulletin board at the municipal building and on
the township website, filing a copy of the agenda in
the office of the township clerk and the at the municipal building, forwarding
a copy of the agenda to the burlington county times and the central record
reporting written notice to each person who has requested copies of the
regular meeting schedule and all of the above. Posting, filing,
and mailing have taken place on the third day of january, 2025.
please rise for the flag salute.
I pledge allegiance super on the united states of america
and to the republic for persistence on one nation under god,
individual with liberty and justice for all.
take a roll call mr. Watson.
ms. Simons here. Mr. Restock. Here. Mr. Cizik.
here. Ms. Milk here. At
this time I would like to have nomination and election for the mayor for 2025.
we have a nomination. I'd like to nominate eric restock for mayor.
second. Mr.
cizik. Aye. Are there any other nomination?
close nomination? No. Oh, close nomination. Sorry about that. That's okay. Mr.
cizik. Aye. Ms. Milk? Aye. Mr. Simons? Aye. Mr.
restock? Aye. At this
time I'd like to have nomination for the deputy mayor for 2025.
I'd like to nominate for deputy mayor michael cizik for 2025.
I second that. Okay. Are there any other nominations?
hearing none. Ms. Milk? Aye. Mr. Restock? Aye.
ms. Simons? Aye. Mr. Cizik? Aye.
okay. Um, at this time, former assemblyman brandon umba,
um, will be swearing in the new mayor and deputy mayor
should be down.
okay. We all do down? Yes, that's fine.
so, left hand on the bible right hand,
I state your name. I affirm. Do solemnly swear. Do solemnly swear,
I will support the constitution, uh, support the constitution of the united states.
of the united states. And the constitution. And the constitution of the state of new jersey. Of the
state of new jersey. And that I bear true faith and I bear true faith. And allegiance. And
allegiance. To the same. To the same. And to the government's established and to the government's established
in the united states. In the united states and in this state. And in this state. Under the authority
of the people, under the authority of the people. So help me god. Uh, god.
I do further solemnly swear. I do further solemnly swear that I will impartially.
that I will impartially and justly and justly perform all the duties. Perform
all the duties of the office, of the office of mayor protection mayor,
according to the best of my ability, according to the best of my ability.
the bottom right, I state the name, I
do solemnly swear. Do solemnly swear that I'll support the constitution. That I'll
support the constitution of the united states. Of the united states and constitution and
constitution of the state of new jersey, the state of new jersey. And that I will bear true faith and I'll bear
truth and allegiance to the same and allegiance to the same. And to the governments
established. And to the governments established in the united states. In the united states and
in this state. And in the state. Under the authority, under the authority the people.
so god, so be god. I do solemnly swear further solemnly
swear that I will impartial, that I'll impartially, justly,
justly and, and just and justly perform all the duties.
perform all the duties of the office of, of the office of deputy mayor of
event protection, deputy mayor of event, according to the best of my ability, according
to the best of my ability. So help me god. So help me god.
we're gonna take a moment to, uh,
okay.
roll call please. 2025.
ms. Milk. Here. Ms. Simons. Here. Mr. Watson?
here. Deputy mayor cizik. Here. Mayor webstock here.
alright, well, uh, thank you. First and foremost, I would like to thank each of you for the
honor of the role of mayor, and it's certainly a
humbling position to be in. And before I share some things that we're excited about in
2025, I must first share council's depreciation of mayor
watson, uh, who has been the mayor for the last nine years. So without
question, mayor, mayor watson is one of the reasons that medford is where it is to today
because of his dedication into termination.
14 years ago, he was appointed to fill a vacant seat, ran for election the
following term, and for reelection twice. There is no doubt that in the past 14
years, medford has changed, grown and developed into a south jersey
town of a claim from his impact on the main street business
district to healthy growth mindset of affordable housing and his part in growing
a more accessible municipal government via our new town hall. More than anyone
currently on council and in our community, we are where we are because
of him. There are many individuals that are spoken of in the annals
of the history of this great town. Without question, mayor watson's name
will be part of our history as it is handed down to the next generation.
so on behalf of council, we thank you mayor watson. Thank you.
all right, well, looking ahead at this coming year, certainly our most significant change is that of
mayor and there are several types of city government in the us
and medford is the town that falls under what is known as the faulkner act. As such, our
council oversees policy and the township manager who serves as our chief executive
and administrative official council, appoints the mayor and deputy mayor each year.
and this year we are in agreement and moving in unity as we are restarting. The
process of rotating the mayor and deputy mayor roles as we have in the past,
is a collective decision of council that we should return to the rotation of mayor, so
that all members of council can share the expanding roles of governing our community.
I happen to have the honor of being the first in this process. And along with council,
we will work diligently to continue our pursuit of excellence here in medford.
and as council, we remain focused on medford. And in 2025 we look
forward to stepping with greater intention toward the residents. As we face
challenges together. It is our desire to pursue healthy development in our many
business districts, including taking on the challenging challenges of marrying
a su a successful business model on main street with the needs and
concerns of the residents who call the same area home.
we're taking a balanced approach to spur development while preserving the charm of farms
and community here. As we focus on the future generations
of medford, we're excited to continue our relationships with medford public schools. And
the myaa local funding is continually being cut at the state
level. However, we support the schools and mia's pursuit
of excellence in education, extracurriculars and protection of our
students and children as the residents have realized budgeting is a challenge in
this inflationary economy. And we're still reeling from the pandemic and we're
trying to navigate this as we receive less and less money from trenton.
as a standing example, last year's waste solid waste contract for trash
nearly doubled from the year before. So along with our new township manager,
daniel harle, we will work tentatively as we collectively pursue our
goal to keep medford as a great place to live, work, shop, and
play. And so personally I'd like to thank counsel again for this vote of confidence in
me as we commence this new rotation. And we would be remiss
to not thank the terrific staff here in medford. They never receive
much credit as they quietly work with excellence. So finally, we thank
the police, fire and ems for keeping a safe day and night. Medford is where it is today
because of our residents, staff and businesses. And we're excited for
terrific new year. Thank you. Alright,
we'll now open it up for public comment. If you'd like to speak, please raise your hand.
I'll let you, uh, be called to the microphone and please state your name, your address,
and please note the comment comments will be limited to five minutes per speaker.
sir
wolf 25, bear head road. Mike
and bethany, the last time I saw the two of you was at the meeting that you held for
the taunting lake pine traffic issues
and you acknowledged my presence and I learned that after the fact
that you accused me of being there to spy on your meeting. Is that correct?
is that correct? You, like you're asking me if I said you
were spying at the meeting, did you make that accusation? I asked why you were there.
did you make that accusation? I asked why you were there and when
you confronted mayor watson about that, and he said no, that that was not the case.
did you tell him that he was lying? We had a conversation and
I took his answer. You're not gonna give me a straight answer.
someone who accuses someone of doing something as despicable as that
is likely to do it themselves and someone who accuses someone else of
lying is likely to do it themselves. As far as I'm
concerned, this is a hostile takeover of this counsel. And
as far as I'm concerned, you have no integrity whatsoever.
and once you lose your integrity, you're not gonna get it back. I'm
very displeased at what you're doing and the way you've gone about it. And for
you, eric, I always thought as a person of religion had
some higher ethics and standards for yourself. But in fact,
you're best described, and I'm not a biblical scholar in genesis
three that talks about you. I
I will continue to support medford, but my wife and I
have been two of the biggest supporters of this council. And going forward, as long as any
one of the three of you are on this council, you will not have our support in, in any way
shape. Thank you.
anyone else, sir?
I think I think, oh, I'm sorry. Sorry, mr. She had sign up. First
you go back to your seat.
hey, wait a minute. We need to decorum here. We need to decorum
here. Certainly wrong about, we need to,
I've never met you roberto. I've never done anything mr. Mr. Carne there, mr. Carne. Alright,
I will address you. Thank you. Okay. But this is the problem. Nobody has divided this community
as much as this guy chuck watson has. He's pinned so many people against
each other. It's insane. And mr. Wolf comes up here to talk
and is asking you these questions. At least you answered 'em back. We never got one
reply from you and the things that he just said. It's like you're talking to ashley, chuck,
not mike, but once again, the people that have come out around you,
the a alberto ws, the other guy, pauly, I've never met them. I've
never done anything to them. Our farm was getting hammered because of you.
okay? We stood up and we spoke up against our local government. And
this is where we got, we got people saying awful stuff about, well, if your
mom dies, you guys are gonna sell the farm. And it's just been endless, endless. I I birds of a feather flock
together is what I would say. You haven't had one normal person come up here and support
you, okay? Out of this community that's not tied into you in some kind
of personal friendly way. Um, and whatever he just said, he, you
guys don't have his support, you have our support. You three, you really do
100%. And I hope at the end of this year, chuck and donna,
you guys don't run because these guys are making changes and, and medford is heading
in the right direction finally. But you guys have heard a lot of people, you have no idea
what it's like to be on this side, to not have the connections to pick up the phone and
make this stop. We couldn't do that. It just kept going and going and going.
finally though, it's called elections. Okay? Right? This is when you're
gonna be held accountable for everything you've done. And you're either gonna get voted in or voted
out. And I'm really happy, at least the last year you're up here, you're just a council
member, you're not a leader. You're title mayor should have never been near you.
that's all guys. We support you. We really think we love what you're doing with,
uh, the town hall and trying to actually talk to the community, the people.
I have friends on cherry street, branch street, old marton pike. You
never thought about that. I like everything on main street, the businesses. I had a cheese state,
I don't even know what the name of the place is. It went up so fast. Things are getting dumped up there.
I'm not gonna take that back from you guys, but at the same time, there's a lot of people that have been
impacted and you just don't seem to care at all. None of this stuff would've
happened in your development, right? You guys are shooting down the zoning board, shooting down the,
uh, red cross thing where they donate stuff, right? And I thought about it right off the bat.
I'm like, well, that's near you. You don't want the word traffic. You guys are actually doing stuff
with the zoning in your area and thinking about it. But over here and on the other side of town,
it's who cares. You can laugh, man. But I gotta tell you, you're the most hated person
in medford. Almost. Maybe you're right behind it. I know you're laughing. Okay?
for real. You guys should be really embarrassed and you should support and get on
the right side and at least end your terms up here in a good way.
okay? The best thing you guys can do for this community is let new fresh people
come in with perspective. These guys have been outside the box. They've been looking at what's
going on here, and they have ways of fixing these problems.
and or at least to engage 'em with the community. What's that sk saying?
s thank you rev stock. You know what
the chief, you're so lucky to have a gentleman who wants to
curse and call a woman a skk. His mother must to taught him that.
thank you. Okay? But I'm here to tell you that there was a name and address, please.
the most hated woman in medford, alberta wolf. Okay? Now
you know who I am. I am very disappointed. Very.
this wasn't done right? This was not done right?
not at all. And I didn't come there to spy on you, okay?
I came there because, and you're going to hear from my neighbors. We have a
speeding problem. And since you are mr. Traffic cop along with medford,
mike, you can fix our speeding problem now.
that's why I was there. Not for him. Not for
him. I'm not a sneak. I got something to say. You're going to hear it out
of my mouth. Okay? And talking about the faulkner act,
I've been doing some research. I would, I am looking into
someone to help turn the faulkner act out
and bring, we have to get a petition. We have to get signed and make it a mayor
elected town where we get to pick the mayor.
the people that put you up there get to go. I didn't 'cause I didn't vote for either one of you
because I had a gut feeling where you came from.
okay? And you came from someone outside
of here. And what are we going to get at and what are we going to get? What
are we gonna get now? A new tree ordinance. Is that what
did it the tree ordinance. Because, because we don't want
a person who violates an ordinance. Is that what
did it? Is that why chuck and donna took all this abuse over a tree ordinance?
is that what it's, you guys were handed a community
flush with cash. I'm going to stand here and see how
long it takes you to destroy it. And you
better recuse yourself from nyaa
anytime a vote comes up here. Okay? That's
what you better do. And my husband and I,
we're republicans, we're going independent. We wanna have nothing to do with
it because you guys have destroyed this town. This is
terrible. What happened here tonight. You would have
nothing if it weren't for mr. Watson and his team. And
you could smirk all you want. I was not a smirk, ma'am. Okay? And you could
smirk all you want, but I think it's
a disgrace. You never show up to anything because you are always busy with
your kids. You never show up to anything because you're always at church. Time.
the time. How much time do we have? I got two minutes. Chick. How much time
is that? Don't speak about my children. You got it? No, but you're
always there. Yaai said the
ya for children, alberto. I said the mi meant to say the myaa.
I'm sorry you for everybody's children. Whatever, sorry. Whatever,
whatever. But you're still not showing up. You're never anywhere.
okay? Never see your face. It didn't have to be like this. Just so you know. I have
nothing to do with nothing, even though you're gonna tell me I do nothing. Nothing. Okay.
okay. You can call me a liar again if you want. Thank you. And people that blame other people.
thank you. Hello paul. She, excuse
me. Go ahead. Go ahead. Um, I don't live
in town, but I did for many years. Excuse me, please.
going way, way back to 1966. Um,
from then until now, I've seen the good of medford.
I've seen the bad of medford. I've seen the ugly of medford.
in 1917, I did a, uh, short video of main street.
main street at the time had 17 open businesses vacant
recently I spoke with the business owner and this person was telling me there's
a waiting list now of people wanting to open businesses.
many years ago, chuck counsel made some
difficult decision, made some major cuts that frankly
forgive my choice words. I, for one, was p****d off 'cause it
actually affected a member of my family and I hounded him and
hoed him on social media. What I think counsel did at that time
was wrong. However, over the years,
that man has proven me wrong. And I've told him privately,
but I want to say it publicly, I apologize. You were right
for what you and counsel did. I wish everybody here the best
of luck. But I hope you don't allow yourself
to be influenced by outside sources. That's
what happened years ago. Trust me. I know. Don't
let it happen. And I wish you guys and gals the best
of luck. I have some for chuck. If you allow chuck to come down please.
and it's just a gesture from me. I'm sure many of the people,
um, thank you. Thank you
service. Thank you for
chuck. Would you like to take some photos with that? I'm sorry? Would you like to take some photos with
that? No, I'm okay right now. Thank you. Okay. Was there maybe
after we, okay.
my name is kristen sinclair, 89 christopher mel road, metro, new jersey.
I'm a member of the school board. I'm here individually as a private citizen voter.
my comments tonight are only on behalf of myself, um,
really disgusted at the behavior of adults who came to speak
to our government and put everything emotionally involved
in their personal lives onto all of you. And in this public forum,
that was disgusting. That was truly disgusting. I would never
expect somebody to come to my board meeting and talk about my family and my
motivation. And I think that's complete disrespect for everything that we all believe
about mayor watson. I came here tonight to look him in the face and thank him for his
service. To say that I'm sorry that this is an uncomfortable
time and that I appreciate all of you serving.
it's humiliating that our lawyers are not telling everyone, this
is not how you behave. Our lawyers need to be telling you. You don't
have to answer public comment that way you don't get to be berated
this way just because you're unhappy with today's result. I've
been coming for three years to meetings for the school because
our children's bodies are not safe in the
buildings unless we have officers. I've been asking the schools
and the towns to find the money if c pays half for the
cops at the school building. That's what I've been in this for. So
everyone that knows me knows that's my motivation. I'm not here to get
anyone. I've been asking each one of you to listen and
many of you have. And I appreciate you and I thank you. And our school board
has done the job of rotating leadership so that there isn't
this feeling that there's some vested interest or some special
privilege. And I don't think that that was happening. So I think it's really
embarrassing that those accusations were made by other people. And I
just thank you all and wish you the best in your year this year. And I hope that our lawyers
make sure to counsel you well so that you don't put yourselves in a bad position
of engaging in the public in this type of forum. Have a good evening. Thank you.
thank you. Thank you. We put your mic up.
there was a press to raise the volume of the microphone. Is that possible? Uh,
you have to speak right in right into what? I know you have to. We'll just make sure you guys do. You
gotta speak right into it.
okay. Good evening,
phillip justice. 100 jackson road. Um, I'm actually here about a, a different
matter than what's been discussed most of this evening. Um, so lemme begin. Um, my name's
phillip justice. My wife tara and I, uh, have an ownership stake in 100 jackson road in
medford. 100 jackson road is a 31 acre plot of largely undeveloped
land located in medford's growth district. Uh, we purchased this property
in january of 2024 with the intention of making medford our per uh, permanent residence.
moving forward, our goal is to raise our children here. I'm an air force veteran who's
looking to transition my skillset into emerging cannabis market,
specifically that of indoor cultivation. Uh, it's important to note that I'm not some big
corporation who's coming to medford to try to adjust this ordinance. And for anyone who doesn't
know the ordinance prohibits, uh, commercial cannabis in the township of medford.
uh, I truly believe that I can be a, a value add to this community, uh, by starting
a local business. And hopefully, uh, as some have mentioned this evening, I can
provide a potential solution to, uh, some of the revenue issues
that may or may not exist. I, I'm not sure, um, the reason I'm here. Uh, we are looking
to work with the township to amend township code chapter 54, cannabis created through
ordinance 2021 dash nine, which was written into law on june 1st, 2021.
um, prepared in front of you is a fact sheet will that, that will support this discussion this evening.
please turn your attention to page two. Uh, there you'll find on november 3rd, 2020,
public referendum passed at 67% of the voters approving public
question, one signaling strong support for public support of the legalization of
commercial cannabis in burlington county. Those results were, yes, 179,000,
no, 72,000. Specifically going down to the data for medford, which is
listed on page 12, you'll see that there was 20,000 registered voters,
uh, in medford township. 16,000 of those were actually voting in
that referendum. 10,000 voted yes, about 5,000, voted
no. And that accounted for roughly 64%, 64.4%
of the vote, which to me signals a pretty strong interest in the commercial cannabis market.
um, at that time. So we don't have to wonder if our residents believe in commercial
cannabis, they've already voted on it. And that supported the statewide, um, mandate
to legalize commercial cannabis and decriminalize up to six ounces of cannabis.
moving on in august of 2021. Um,
municipalities were given, given a 180, uh, municipalities were given 180
days after the law was signed to decide whether to allow or ban commercial cannabis.
if a municipality did not act, it was automatically opted in. Municipalities that
opted out can revise their decision at any time to allow cannabis based on this information
and the information that was available at the time. And with that august, 2021 opt
in out deadline approaching quickly, I do believe that metrics, medford township's
legal counsel have, uh, as well as the ranking members of this council came
to the correct, uh, correct conclusion to prohibit commercial cannabis and medford township based
on the lack of legislation available. Again, at that time. However, it's been three
and a half years since this ordinance was originally approved. Legislation licensing
and taxation of commercial cannabis are at this point, very well defined. Moving
on of the 32 township in townships, in just burlington county alone,
14 of them, nearly half have legalized some form of commercial cannabis. Of those
14 townships, three of those are directly adjacent to medford. So at this point, we don't
have to wonder if commercial cannabis is right for medford township. We can turn to our left and we can turn to
our right and simply look at the data produced by our neighboring townships to see what has worked well
or what has worked poorly. Moving on, I want to discuss some of the license types that we couldn't enact
to allow commercial cannabis, that which has cultivation, growing cannabis manufacturing,
cannabis products, wholesaling products, or retail products. Moving on to the taxation
portion, and I think this is where it gets juicy. From a dollars and cents perspective, municipalities
can impose a local transfer tax of up to 2% of the receipts of cultivators manufacturers
and retailers, and 1% of that of wholesalers, municipalities can also en
impose a user tax for any business who can hold those concurrent licenses and wants
to vertically integrate that into their business structure. Now, I wanna make an analogy
for you to make a comparison to alcohol. Um, when we've referenced the 2024 medford
budget, alcohol licensure came in at about $25,000. Those for the revenues we collected.
keep that in mind. Uh, with, uh, what cannabis allows, uh, what cannabis
allows that alcohol does not is, let's say I own a brewery and I want to grow hops for my
beer. You can tax that at 2%. Let's say I took those hops and make a beer, I manufacture,
you can tax that at 2%. Let's say I take that beer and I wholesale it to a beer store, a
township over, you can tax that at 1%. Let's say I then take that beer and I sell it to a patient
who's gonna drink it in my brewery? Well, you can tax that sale again at 2%
and you can concurrently do that all the way down the line, which is a gigantic revenue generation
for this township. That data, I I, I put in opra request to lumberton
as well as evesham. And that data is represented through pages 13 through 16.
um, and, and you can review that date, I don't have enough time to represent it to you, but it represents
gigantic funds. These townships were able to collect just by allowing local businesses to
operate within those municipalities. In lumberton. I believe the numbers were, uh, in
one particular case, $1,300 specifically collected through a transfer tax just in
november, prorated for 12 months. That's $15,000 from just that one business.
and evesham, through all of their dispensaries, they collected about $138,000
in 2024. Those are revenues that we could be collecting, um, that
is otherwise going to the local municipality surroundings. Um, so additionally,
end of note, by prohibiting cannabis, we are essentially sending what could otherwise be our tax dollars
used locally to those other townships. It's already legal to smoke cannabis, to buy
cannabis, to use cannabis. And anyone who wants to is just gonna go to one of those other townships that has,
uh, a retail location. Buy it, smoke it, use it, and the tax revenue's not
gonna go to us, but it could otherwise go to us if we even legalized it. So I wanna make a closing statement
here. And I know I'm probably at time, excuse me, because I've shuffled
through paperwork. You're a little over, but you're okay. You can finish up. Yeah, my
apologies everybody. Um, I wanna further stress the point that ordinance 2021
dash nine was not signed into law because we determined that commercial cannabis was bad for effort.
that didn't happen. It was based on a lack of legislation. We didn't do this based on some kind of moral,
uh, or religious belief. We didn't do this based on some kind of notion about crime.
we just did this again based on lack of legislation. And I'm simply asking the counsel to
look at the data that I've presented to you. Then we could work together to collect and make an
informed decision again based on that data to see can this actually benefit our local
township? Yes or no? So thank you very much. That's all I have for you today. Appreciate
it. Thank you. Very thorough. Thank you mayor wendy, public
comment section is over. I can briefly address the cannabis.
I just wanna give, make sure the public understands the background and what the council wants to do going
forward. Alright, thank you. Thank you else,
sir. Good evening.
um, pete moody, 22 mill street. You may remember me from last month. It'll be a
lot brief for this time. Um, two things. First, I'd like to thank mr. Horal.
he did, um, exactly what he said he would do. Um, something that
I think is very rare that somebody asks for their property to be condemned. But I,
um, actually went over to, uh, the construction office and rich had already stopped
by there that morning. And paperwork is done. Now
I don't have to worry about some of the other bureaucratic paperwork that I thought was gonna have
to do for this incorrect zoning thing that's going on. Uh, daniel, you
mentioned something about you were working on fixing that internally.
um, there was something mentioned about
multiple meetings. It has to be brought up for ordinance and stuff like that. So what,
what are the next steps? There is an ordinance. There's an ordinance
on for tonight. Okay. For, for what they call introduction, first reading. Okay. In new jersey,
any ordinance has to have a first reading where we read the ordinance by title.
it's then published in the newspaper. It's then scheduled for a second
reading and a public hearing at the next available meeting. So
this will be the, the assuming the council adopts the ordinance
tonight introduces it, it will be on january 22nd for public
hearing, consideration and adoption. So I come back to that again. You certainly
can. It's a public hearing. Fine. And, and, and just so just so you're
aware, we limit, we corrected the zoning on the residential properties that were incorrectly
zoned. Okay. Including yours. Um, and that's what the ordinance does is even, you'll
hear me explain that when we get to the ordinance, but yes. And then I'll be, I have to
also send it to the planning board. The council has to send it to the planning board because they have to
review it. But that's in between, well, that's the ones that are the roadblock in the
beginning. Well, that's okay. By law, I, we have to send it to the p board
to make sure it's consistent with the master plan. And we also have to send it to the pinelands
commission 'cause they have overall authority on any zoning ordinance in
our part of the town that's in the pine land. So it's gonna take a little bureaucracy, but we're
gonna, we're working on it. We, I mean, thanks to daniel. We it's, it's
gone as quickly as you can go. As quickly as you can. Yep. Okay.
okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you.
um, arina, cizik 69 to road. Um, dad, I'm really excited that your deputy
mayor, I love you. God's on your side. You got this. I
love you baby.
any other comments? Woman? Defense.
good evening, mayor . Pretty cool title. Thank you. Congratulations.
thank you. How many years you've been out here? This is my be the beginning of my eighth year. Eighth
year? Yeah. But, uh, nate, you'd be happy. Na name and address though, please. It. Uh, david rns
nine atkinson court. Thank you. I I can't believe how miserable we look joe,
right now. You're so smile like this guy here's been here
for eight years. He's gonna be a mayor for the first year. It's a big deal.
you guys should all be happy for him. Love the new faces. Good things are
happening. Wins of change. Losers.
any other comments?
seeing none. Can I have a motion to close? Public comment? So moved. Second.
opposed? Public comment is closed.
we have the resolutions for the reorganization portion of our meeting. Resolution
1 20 25. Approval of the 2025 temporary
budget resolution 2 20 25 designating official newspapers
resolution 3 20 25 authorizing execution of checks
resolution 4 20 25 establishing interest rate and delinquent taxes.
resolution 5 20 25 authorizing refunds for duplicate tax or utility
payments of overpayments resolution 6 20 25
adopting the year 2025. Cash management plan of the township of
medford. Resolution 7 20 25 authorizing to
reestablish custodians of petty cash funds resolution 8 20 25
appointing contact person for the employment practices liability helpline.
burlington county municipal joint insurance fund resolution 9 20 25.
20. Municipal joint insurance fund commissioner, alternate fund commissioner
claims coordinator and safety coordinator. Resolution 10 20 25
authorizing the tax collector to co to cancel 2024 and 2025.
tax and sewer water balances, credits and or debits in
amounts of less than $10. Resolution 11 20 25
authorizing installments? Not yet. Due for special assessments not to be placed in
tax sale resolution. 12 20 25 authorizing $25
fee for mailing of tax sale notices and electric electronic tax
sale. Does anyone have any questions on any of the resolutions? I have a question
on resolution six dash 2025. Um,
on item four of the resolution, it talks about different
banks that are designated and one of them no longer exists.
is it, is it okay to leave it on here and just not utilize them or
should it not be on here as a designated, is it no longer this because it's merged with another bank?
well, it's republic and it was bought out by fulton. Right. So
we probably should correct it. Whoever the current yeah, that's what I thought. Leave it on and we we
will correct it to whoever murdered with them. If it's fulton, we'll make it fulton instead
of republic. Okay. Alright. Thank you. Thank you. Any other comments?
can I have a motion to approve the resolution? So moved. Second.
all in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? I thank you.
the resolutions are approved and now we move on to the regular
meeting. Alright, so we have no special presentations scheduled for today.
does anyone have any communications?
all right. Seeing none. January 21st, 2025 is the next
scheduled township meeting in the public safety building. And again, please note
the newly scheduled time of six 30 moving forward. And then moving
on to approval of minutes. We have december 17th, 2024. Council meeting minutes.
does anyone have any questions, comments, or corrections to the minutes? No.
alright. Hearing none. Can I have a motion to approve the minutes? I'm gonna recuse myself. I wasn't at
that meeting. Okay, so moved. Second. Second. Alright.
all in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? The meetings
are approved. We have no discussion items for today.
um, we can open it up to a second public comment section because you don't have to repeat
anything you already said . It really should be only one public comment section,
but that's okay. The order had to, so right. If anybody has anything new, they're
welcome. Any, any new comments from, from anyone or else we,
we will move on. Alright sir.
good evening. Mike 26 bear head road.
um, just wanna make a comment about excessive speeding
on bear head. Uh, I've lived there now since 2013
and I, I walk my ball down that road. A lot of times what I've noticed over the
last couple years, it just seems to be increasing. Now
I don't have a, a radar gun, but I got a fairly good eye and
the people will come down, especially coming down mcken in
towards 5 32. They'll come around that turn and come up
that little hill and they're flying. I've almost been hit a couple times. I
know a lot of people on the road have complained. I've had a number
of deer in the last six months killed on the road. If you're doing a speed
limit, 12:00 pm and I think most of us around here knows a lot of deer, but if you're
doing a speed limit, which is 30 on that road, normally you're gonna stop
because you'll see the deer and you'll be able to stop. A lot of these accidents are
happening, I believe, because of high speeding. The other thing is, um,
I noticed school buses just flying down that road.
and to me that's extremely dangerous. We do have small children in the
buses and students in the buses, but we also have some small
children, um, you know, in the neighborhood. So I, I
don't know where this goes from here. Do I need to get in touch with the police department
or what are your recommendations and what can you do about it?
chief is here. Sure. Okay. So I'll talk to the chief. So the
police chief is here. He's certainly noted, noted these items and okay, he'll step into
that space. So it's on record. Yes. Um, we'll see what happens. Alright.
thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
anyone else sir?
chad muck and fus 1 0 5 down road. Um, I just wanted to add, and I wasn't
planning on speaking tonight to the gentleman that proposed the cannabis as a third generation
medford resident and farmer here. Um, one of the larger landholders in
the, in the, in the township. Um, I'd like to back him up on
that, at least from a grow side of things that I think is necessary, we reevaluate that
situation and look at the ability for us farmers in town to potentially
grow cannabis, um, and leverage that here. Not necessarily retail
as storefronts. I know that was a concern in the original situation of why that was passed
originally, but at least from a grow standpoint, the state has very strict regulations
on that from security and, and everything else. Um, and that's definitely
been developed over the last three and a half years since that ordinance has passed internally here.
so again, for the consideration of the town council, I'd like to bring that in second,
uh, this gentleman's recommendation. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
anyone else from the public? Alright, seeing none, can I have a motion
to close public comments? So moved. Second. All in
favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? Alright, public comment is
closed. Uh, manager's report. Mr. Harper. Thank you mayor. Uh, tonight
we have, uh, four new volunteer members for council's
consideration. Two new firefighter volunteers including brian, michael
chisik and, uh, gabriel, steven bosch, as well as two, uh,
junior members, one junior firefighter eric bain mcdermott
and one new junior ems volunteer. Brandon piccolo.
so we ask council's consideration for them. Thank you. Thank
you. We always appreciate the volunteers and deputy mayor's son, brian is
here, so thank you. We certainly thank you for that. And
well don and we, we extend our appreciation to the other volunteers who are stepping into that, that
space. Does anyone have any questions about the applications?
all right. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Alright,
thank you. I have no clerks, uh, report this evening, but we do have four bill
lists for approval. December 18th, 2024.
december 19th, 2024. December 30, 20, 24. December 31st, 2024.
I have a motion to accept the bill list. So moved second. Alright,
all in favor? Aye. Opposed? Alright, the bill list is
accepted. We have no ordinance for second reading this evening. We do have
one ordinance for first reading. Would someone like to make a motion?
I move that. Counsel introduce on first reading ordinance 2025
dash one amending the medford township zoning map as adopted in 3 0 3
of the medford township code to correct the zoning district designation of certain
parcels in the township. Thank you. Do we have second? Second,
yes. I, as we, uh, in response to one of the public comments, this ordinance,
uh, amends the zoning map and to the extent required, uh, amends the zoning
code to correct, um, the zoning of, uh, actually six
lots. Um, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 lots,
uh, in the township. Apparently the last time the zoning map was revised,
the areas, uh, on mill street and two of the lots on branch street
are very small, small scale and there were drafting errors apparently and
lots were mis designated, uh, as ppe, which is the park
public, uh, education zoning as against, as opposed to
the, to the historic village residential zoning or the, uh, residential
home occupation zoning. So this ordinance, which is
required by law, uh, corrects the zoning map and corrects to the extent required the zoning
of those parcels. Um, if the public hearing, we will, we will read
the, the actual lots involved so everybody can file it. Uh, and as
I indicated earlier, it has to be referred to the planning board by law and it also has
to be, uh, ultimately approved by the, uh, pines commission and we'll take
care of that administratively as assuming the township, uh, council adopts the ordinance.
thank you. Thank you. The public hearing for that will be on january 21st.
does anyone have any comments on the ordinance? Alright,
roll call for approval. Ms. Milk. Aye. Ms. Simons?
aye. Mr. Watson? Aye. Deputy aye. Mayor
aye. Thank you. Uh, regarding consent, agenda
resolutions, we have resolution. I'm sorry
if I could, um, I would ask counsel maybe to pull resolutions
20 to 24. I think we need to have some further discussion
on those based on some recommendations I have previously made to counsel
and the feedback that I've received from, from council members.
so if you could maybe, uh, if you could, I'd ask just to do consent resolutions
from 13 to 19. Okay.
thank you. Uh, we have resolution 13 20 25
adoption of the township of medford cafeteria. Plan resolution 14 20 25
awarding a contract to r-l-l-l-c for technology consultant
services for calendar year 2025 in an amount up to
$58,638 and 89 cents.
resolution 15 20 25 authorizing a contract for dislodging creek
obstructions with capella construction incorporated in the amount up to $28,250
for the department of public works and utilities resolution 16 20 25
authorizing execution of the amendment, ex uh, extending the stage
coach parking lot, lease block 1602 lot 20 on the tax
map of medford township resolution 17 20 25
resolution authorizing contracts to good farms incorporated and
clearview fields llc for use of the calpoint and stokes square
parcels respectively. Resolution 18 20 25 authorizing
cancellation and refund of 2024. Property taxes on property
owned by a qualifying totally disabled exempt veteran
resolution 19 20 25 authorizing refund of erroneous 2025
tax overpayments. Does anyone have any questions or comments?
alright, hearing none, can I have a motion to, to approve the consent
agenda resolutions? So moved. Second. All in favor?
a a mayor? Mayor, that should be done by roll call. Oh, okay. I I should have told you that with the last,
the resolution I'd like to have adopted by, by roll call if I could, uh, roll call for
approval plan please. Ms. No. Aye ms. Simons aye.
mr. Watson aye. Deputy mayor's visit. Aye mayor aye.
we now have our executive session resolution es
0 1 0 7 20 25 matters relating to attorney client
privilege. Someone like to make a motion to approve resolution.
second. Alright, all in favor? Aye. Opposed? Alright,
the motion is approved. We're going to go into our executive session. We anticipate
that some action will be taken. You're welcome to remain if you'd like. It will be approximately
how long do you think? Um, 15, 20 minutes I think. Okay. Just so the public's clear,
uh, the township is allowed on the oakland public meetings act
when the executive session to discuss personnel matters, attorney-client privilege matters.
uh, ordinarily, uh, no action is taken, although
the law allows the council to come back out of executive session,
reconvene the meeting, take action, and then adjourn. So I expect that's what will happen
this evening. So if you're interested in that, you can wait around and then when we
come back out, the meeting will be opened up again to the public. Thank you. Thank you.
yep. Are we already approved for the executive session? I, I know you wanted to speak
to the cannabis. Yes. Yeah, if, if I could, mayor, before we go into executive, um,
just to, so it's clear, I think two of the members, uh, uh,
of, of, uh, council were not on the council when we did the
cannabis resolution back in 2021. I sent to counsel an email today, so
I'll just summarize it quickly. But in 2021, when the state passed the
legislation, they provided a, uh, 180 day opt-out
period that if unless a town affirmatively adopted an ordinance
opting out of permitting cannabis uses, the uses would be permitted
any place in the town that the zoning permitted either retail or agriculture
at, at the time. Um, the discussion was that
we didn't know, uh, really anything about the,
the results of the legislation. Um, how many licenses
should be allowed if there were to be any, uh, where they would be located.
um, how, how much the tax revenue would be, how many adjacent
towns would approve these uses impacting whatever
impact on the township. So the township elected and, and most importantly,
the law provided that if you didn't opt out, you
couldn't opt out for five years. So as a prudent
matter, I thought the council, uh, uh, uh, adopted a ordinance
opting out with the right to reconsider at any time. The law allows you to opt
back in anytime you want to. Uh, so if the
council is interested in revisiting the issue,
I would suggest that we schedule an executive session, review the law, I'll review the
law with you to determine what kind of uses. Um, there
are five different kind of licenses. So, uh, retail and agricultural, you know, growing
are two of them. What kind you may want to consider, really want to
proceed with any action. The next step would be to consider it further if you want to do that. So,
um, that's my recommendation. Uh, it's a strictly a policy decision by the,
by the town council. The, the fact sheet indicated it was based
on the attorney's recommendation. I don't recommend, but we, we, we
let you know what the law is and then you establish the policy. Okay, great. Thanks. Thank you. Thank you.
yeah. Alright, we'll move into executive
session.
okay. We reconvened the open mor, um, open meeting portion of the meeting and
we did take some action. And so moving forward on resolution 2025,
I'm sorry, 20 2025 appointments to the planning board, eric rep stop
will be class one manager, mayor, a one year term set to expire
december 31st, 2025. Ronald fowler, class two municipal
official or environmental advisory commission, one year term set to expire.
december 31st, 2025. Michael cizik, class three governing body one
year term to december 31st, 2025. Angela is z gr
alternate one year term to expire. December 31st, 2025. Vittorio
and aed alternate to one year term set to expire.
december 31st, 2025. Be further resolve that the balance of the membership
at the said board previously appointed is as follows. Chad muckin fuss.
class four four year term to expire. December 31st, 2025.
jason bratz, class four, four year term to expire. December 31st, 2025.
thomas giuliano. Class four, four year term to expire.
december 31st, 2025 clark perks. Class four, four year
term to expire. December 31st, 2026.
I have a motion to approve. A motion to motion approve the
resolution. Thank you. So moved. Second. Second. Thank
you. Roll call for ms mill. Aye ms. Simon
aye. Mr. Watson? Aye. Deputy mayor ley aye. Mayor
aye. Alright, we have resolution 21 20 25
appoints to the zoning board of adjustment martin hamilton. Member
four year term to expire. December 31st, 2028 brandon morrison,
four year term to expire. December 31st, 2028.
michelle vorhees member four year term to expire. December 31st, 2028
they further resolved that the balance of the said board previously appointed is as follows. Dana
umba for your term, for your unexpired term to expire december 31st, 2025.
joseph wolf for your unexpired term to expire december 31st, 2025
richard rickards jr. Four year unexpired term to expire
december 31st, 2027. So
motion to approve resolution. Second. Move. Second.
a roll call please. Ms. Mill. Aye. Ms. Simons?
aye. Mr. Watson? Aye. Deputy
mayor aye. Mayor outside aye.
on resolution 22 20 25 appoints to the economic development commission
michael pta one year term to expire december 31st, 2025
luke gentilly one year term to expire. December 31st, 2025 sarah cooper
one year term to expire. December 31st, 2025. Michelle borhes one
year term to expire. December 31st, 2025. Darren gould one year term
to expire. December 31st, 2025. Angela is s one year term to
expire. December 31st, 2025. Angela
sforza, township manager's office. Exofficio.
and are we determining if we forgot, um, avril. Dickenson
skipped over. Oh I did. I'm sorry. Uh, avril dickinson won year term to expire.
december 31st. 2025. That's good. And then, alright,
uh, do we have a motion to approve resolution? I second.
thank you. Roll call. Roll call please. Ms. Mill. Aye. Ms. Simons? Aye.
mr. Watson? Aye. Deputy mayor aye. Mayor rustock
aye. Our resolution 23. 2025 appointments
to the environmental affairs advisory committee, alice levis
one year term to expire december 31st, 2025 brian polone
one year term to expire. December 31st, 2025 sandra krueger
one year term to expire. December 31st, 2025 edward tentoff
one year term to expire. December 31st, 2025 deborah evans
one year term to expire. December 31st, 2025. Apollonia
galley. One year. Term to expire. December 31st. 2025
we have a motion to approve a resolution. So moved. Second
roll call please for approval. Ms. Mill. Aye. Ms. So
aye mr. Watson? Aye. Deputy mayor so aye. Mayor resto?
aye. Alright. Resolution 24. 2025
appointments to the green team advisory committee. We have alice
vis one year term to expire. December 31st, 2025. Sandra kruger
one year term to expire. December 31st, 2025 debra evans one year term
to expire. December 31st, 2025. Abalone galley. One year. Term
to expire. December 31st, 2025. Brian
polone one year term to expire. December 31st, 2025. Edward tentoff one
year term to expire. December 31st, 2025 eileen wright. One
year term to expire. December 31st, 2025 we have a motion
to approve the resolution. I'll
second . Thank you. Roll call please. Ms. Aye.
ms. Aye. Mr. Watson? Aye. A mayor su aye.
mayor rep? Aye. Alright, that completes
our resolutions. We did also want to establish, uh, the continuation
of some subcommittees and won new subcommittees for 2025. The redevelopment
subcommittee will continue the taunton boulevard traffic,
um, and the traffic
medford village. Yeah, no ton boulevard traffic will continue. And then we do
have a new medford village parking subcommittee that will
be starting as well. So you can say the member, you can say who the members are.
uh, yes. Okay. Redevelopment will be deputy mayor cizik and
mayor restock. Village parking will be deputy mayor cizik
and bethany milk and taunton boulevard. Traffic will be
deputy mayor cizik and bethany be okay. Okay. Yep.
good. Alright. Motion to adjourn.
second.