Township Committee Meeting April 22, 2024

we're going to call this meeting to
order this is the bunavista township uh
amended regular meeting April 22nd 2024
we'll start with a roll call Mr krenzer
here Mr Renard here Mrs Testa here Mr
Williams here mayor reri here on January
9th 2024 notice of this meeting was
mailed to the Daily Journal the press
and duly posted in the main lobby of the
municipal complex all requirements of
the open public meetings act have been
met in compliance with the Sunshine Law
like to ask everyone to stand and salute
the
flag our dignitaries lead
us to the flag United States of America
and to the Republic for which it stands
one nation under God indivisible with
liberty and justice for
all always going to defer that honor to
a man in uniform
uh number four approval of minutes uh
mayor I'd like to request for them to be
moved to the next meeting um we don't
need a motion they're just not ready yet
okay uh announcements presentations and
discussions uh we have a presentation by
the mayor on behalf of Township
committee uh certificate of achievement
presented to retired Deputy fire chief
Herbert Herbert L Sykes senior this is
just a talk
um I'm going to go over some notes real
quick because I don't want to miss
anything and then we're going to stand
up and give you the floor briefly get
some pictures uh make sure uh we give
you your just do for three decades of
service to this community all righty on
behalf of myself Township committee and
our community as a whole I'd like to
thank you for over three years of
sacrifice and commitment and and service
to this community um for the one or two
people in this town that might not know
this is a deputy chief Herby SES with
the Newtonville Fire Company who served
what was the the exact number I'm going
to say three decades but it was a little
a little bit more 33 33 33 years of
service to this Township um nights
weekends holidays you remain ready to go
at a moment's notice when anyone in this
community was in need I want to stand up
give you the floor uh I thank you thank
you immensely for your service uh we've
got a very nice keep sake that I want to
give you I want to get some pictures
because I'm proud to stand next to you
whenever I have the opportunity so come
on down
get on my good side
get like I said on behalf of myself in
Township 33 years 33 years feel like
yesterday it all started blinking blink
of an eye oh yeah you're jumping up so
uh I I want to say I I think that the
unique thing about what you guys do uh
and I think every time you hear that
that noise in the background and you
guys are are thrust into action um it's
it's never it it's never bright sunny
days it's always the middle of the night
freezing cold burning hot holidays uh it
seems like the calls never are you know
at 1:00 on a Tuesday afternoon it's
always you know three three :30 a.m. on
a Sunday y through there what uh what
was the secret to to sticking with it
all that time I enjoying I have been
been enjoying being assistant chief for
33 years and I like to help my community
take care my community and I U just I
follow my brother he started out first
as Chief and then I came as assistant
came behind but he was in the ball
before hour work well I'm going to say
I'm going to say this that that men like
you were cut from different cloth and
and and tomorrow night I'm going to
watch the rebroadcast of this with my
boys and I hope that they take a little
snippet from from you and your career
what you did as a whole and hopefully
that's something that sticks with them
oh yeah oh yeah and I w't forget about
my what's call my mut C slake and all
other fire companies you know we we've
been together for years and years and
years and I open and pray that keep
continue on who take my place you know
serve them that we serve you know be me
if I would done okay well you got a big
Bank of knowledge up there so hopefully
you stay involved because there's a lot
to pull from from these guys that are
going to come behind you oh yeah I I'm
I'm stepping down I'm reti okay but long
B if they need me I'm amen I appreciate
it thank you thank you as always all
right this is you thank you sir
thank you sir than thank
you you know our our fire departments
are so so crucial to our community and
so important to our community and you
know everybody's so busy with kids with
work with just all kinds of different
things going on and it's just incredible
that that you know you can be in in
giving your yourself every day for 33
years so I I thank you very much so yep
congratulations on a on a long long road
there and uh and a good retirement now
you can go to the beach
[Laughter]
now there you go there you go thank you
for all your dedication and years of
service Community I would like to make
a make a statement uh I didn't never
worked with Herby but I worked with his
brother brother and uh matter of fact he
was my boss for quite a few years and I
would just like to say that the Sykes
family is a is a asset to this community
yeah absolutely this town is better
because of you guys thank you y thank
absolutely thank
you uh right on to Mayer's report all
righty uh a few things before we get to
that I just also want want to personally
thank uh her he's for uh 33 years of
dedication and service to our community
and um I want him to know that we all
appreciate him thank you
absolutely all right uh a few quick
events that we want to plug um before
our next TV night uh two more Saturdays
of Earth month please take advantage of
our uh opportunity to drop off this
Saturday and next at our Public Works
Yard on Union Road from 8800 to 12: uh
please dispose of items uh around your
house in your backyard around your
property in an environment
environmentally friendly manner um
please take advantage of this and this
is really kind of the the lead into our
yard sale event that we're going to
touch on in a few uh in a few
bullets uh quick plug for our mentoring
mother's breakfast at the MLK Center May
4th at 10:00 a.m. please RSVP by May 1st
to reserve a seat uh this will be a an
event to appreciate our amazing mothers
throughout BBT as a whole featuring
guest speaker Pastor Leon White of House
of Faith Bible Church the event will
feature a full breakfast and fresh
flower so please put that date in your
calendar um as we had mentioned our
community yard sale May 11th um the
event starts at 9:00 a.m. uh we will be
there obviously earlier setting up um
$10 to reserve your space is there a cut
off Lisa to have a reservation in uh
we'll take it up to the Wednesday of
that same week
okay so please RSVP by Wednesday May 8th
and again this event kind of goes hand
inand with our Earth month so you've got
uh five Saturdays in a row to go through
the the the junk throughout your house
and anything that's left uh that's got a
little bit of value to it please bring
it to this event and and mayor the the
team is cooking breakfast that day
correct yes our menu will be breakfast
sandwiches yes it's breakfast sandwiches
not lunch this year breakfast sandwiches
for the
record and then lastly uh quick plug for
our Memorial Day event this will be May
27th uh out front of the municipal
complex featuring guest speaker uh John
armado retired Air Force the event uh
kicks off at 11:00 a.m. uh as always you
guys will have that uh enormous flag out
in front uh I think that the new I see
your eyes are rolling out I'm hoping
that we we we planned that in
advance thank you but that is that's
always a good event so please join us
for the Memorial Day event May 27th out
front and that's all I have we're uh
getting into our busy season so we're
going to have something just about every
week in the next few weeks so uh please
we have a full calendar uh please come
join us these are all free events we
love to engage with you guys so please
come out and see us and that's all I
have for my report
tonight thank you mayor ordinances for
introduction first reading there are
none ordinances for public hearing
second reading there are none public
comment on current agenda items only in
order for the committee to conduct the
business of the Township in the most
productive manner possible attendees
will be given 2 minutes all inclusive to
comment on any agenda items without
comment or question from the committee
but only on items specified on the
agenda listed for the current meeting
please step up to the microphone at the
appropriate time and state your name and
address for the record 79-20 is
authorizing the payment of bills in the
amount of $679,500
consent agenda includes items of
business which are not controversial and
do not require individual discussion a
motion approving the consent agenda is
moov seconded and voted upon as one item
by the township committee if any
discussion is requested on the consent
agenda item it is removed from the
consent agenda to the regular
agenda 8-24 is authorizing the issuance
of Street opening partments to South
Jersey Gas 81- 24 is award public land
sale on Dodge Street to David and Laura
Schilling 82- 24 is approving a budget
amendment chapter 159 Statewide risk
control Grant 8324 is authorizing change
order number one for the Reconstruction
of Jackson Road Phase 2
84-49
85- 24 is appointing jir Richardson as
full-time Public Works labor 86-24 is
appointing Veronica farcus as part-time
seasonal Public Works labor and 8724 is
authorizing the township administrator
to f file a warranty claim with
certainty for Town Hall Roofing
replacement system from
2013 we need a motion in a second to
open to the public for agenda items only
motion second all in favor
I motion to close motion to close second
all in favor I I I a motion and a second
to adopt resolution 7924 to pay the
bills motion to adopt motion to pay
second pay the bills roll
call krenzer yes Renard yes Tesa yes
Williams yes reri
yes uh motion and a second to adopt
consent agenda resolutions 80 through 87
motion to adopt 80 through
8724 second roll
call krenzer yes Renard yes Testa yes
Williams yes reri
yes item 12 our administrator's
report um just wanted to say thank you
to the whole staff um administrative
staff and workers um
departments uh that continue to do the
you know mean proficiency um Integrity
of work that is performed here in buis
the township so um with that being said
it's it's another great year into the
record books and we're just right on for
another one so um I appreciate again all
the staff and uh I commend them for all
the work that they've done thank you
thank you that's my
report we're going to jump over to item
13
the committee reports we're going to
start with Deputy Mayor Ellen Testa well
I really don't have much to report it's
been uh pretty quiet around here except
for the upcoming uh events that we're
going to be
having and again I want to
congratulate our retiring Chief
here than
you uh we're going to jump over to
committee man Aaron krenzer what do you
have tonight all right got a couple
things here um kind of let everybody
know what's going on uh Public Works is
growing we're excited there's a lot of
uh some some new people coming in and uh
we're excited to have them we're
welcoming them with with open arms and
you know the the entire team over there
is welcoming with open arms also so
you'll see a couple new faces around
please say hello and and introduce
yourself to them and that but they're
excited to to come aboard with us um
Public Works uh this week leaf
collection Park maintenance filling
potholes it seems like the pothole thing
is just ongoing battle that we we battle
each week there and I know the team is
out every day doing that so any
questions or anything please call Public
Works uh report a pothole you can do it
online or you can call into the office
and and do it as well uh waste drop off
I've been there just about every
Saturday it's going very very well the
team is taking turns rotating in and out
and uh they're we got we got some stuff
the dumpsters are full right now so but
we got plenty of room so um you know
thank you very much to the the team for
that
uh and again I always remind everybody
about this each year but the farmers are
out tractors are going back and forth
they have all kinds of implements and
equipment on the road just be careful
when you're going in and out and
especially with the sun rising and
setting you know we can all uh we can
all you know see and not see things in
the road so just be a little more
mindset there uh we had our zoning
meeting last week a few uh new people on
the board which we appreciate and we're
very busy with
applications uh the audit I mean you
guys continue to set the bar each year
so it's uh pretty incredible what our
team does behind doors and and that so
thank you very much for that and uh
mayor just uh an update on Union Road
four-way stop did we hear anything from
bertino or anything new going on there
nope so okay so we'll uh we'll keep
monitoring that situation um that and
just for everybody here that doesn't
know the four-way stop at uh Landis and
Union so um right by seavo and and that
so we continue to have some uh some
accidents there that we're investigating
and looking at because it's a state road
we're we're dealing with or County Road
we're dealing with the county sorry but
uh that's all I have so thank you mayor
thanks committee man
rard okay uh I would just uh like to say
once again congratulations and you will
be missed thank you okay and uh the only
good thing I have to say is that they've
actually started to partially fix the
roads in Cranberry run yay oh congratul
so it's not like you're driving through
bayroot anymore what are what are they
doing in there right now they're they're
picking and choosing the worst spots and
and I guess repaving sections I guess
the park was too much to repave the
whole park but there're they're they
assess the the worst spots and
they're digging I guess the surface up
to the to the Bedrock or something and
then they're just Paving but uh the with
the part they've done so far is nice oh
that's good you
know
got okay and that and I'm looking
forward to the Mother's Day breakfast at
Martin Luther King uh I'll be serving
but I'll also be
eating uh anybody that was thinking
about going should go if you're a mother
because
it's Quenton Cooks you you you'll be
full when you get that breakfast no one
leaves hungry yes no one leaves hungry
right that's about it thanks Kurt
committeeman Williams yes I just want to
mention again that we uh approved the
budget on uh April 8th it was a penny
and a half increase and um we were uh
everybody was involved in that and uh it
was a good budget um also the uh I
attended the uh League of municipalities
meeting on uh
419 and I prior to that during the month
we uh attended the Atlanta County
Association of Township officials Kurt
and I attended that one uh and also I
wanted to mention the uh Mother's Day
mentoring breakfast also on May 4th and
we're the uh environmental commission I
believe is doing the uh plant swap okay
I think yeah so I just wanted to mention
that and then uh as you mentioned before
the community arill on May 11th and I
was pleased to re there was no recommend
ation or comments on the audit for 2023
like last year thank you that's all I
have squeaky clean thank you squeaky
clean and congratulations again to
her thanks
John item 14 public
comment the committee welcomes
participation of interested
organizations and individuals during
regular caucus workshop and special
meetings however in order to conduct a
business of the Township in the most
productive manner possible attendees
will be given four it's all inclusive
including all dialogue questions and
responses from both the speaker and the
committee for the designated public
portion of the meeting there may be no
transference of a speaker time to other
attendees so please step up to the
microphone at the appropriate time and
state your name and address for the
record we need a motion and a second to
open to the public motion to open to the
public second all in favor I
I if you don't mind just turn that
microphone right around please
perfect good evening everyone my name is
Darth
Manera and I'm here on behalf of my mom
Rita schaer who lives at 7:37 Main
Avenue um and as you are all familiar
because I've been here several times
over the past few months um the
individual that purchased a piece of
property next to my mom Deana D is still
living on the property he is fortifying
it I believe that um Julie erses just
shared an article hearded on the news of
an individual in egg Harvard Township by
the name of Prince block who was had to
be forcefully removed from a location in
Egg Harbor that situation is very
similar to this situation that's going
on on Main Avenue um just to kind of
update you um I had sent an email to
Lisa and others including D Department
of Health um Pinelands I think the
health department was on there and
Animal Control just for a general upate
about what I see um on the property but
that was on April 10th since that time
he has stockpiled additional tires on
the property um He is
building inside of the buses he has two
very large commercial buses parked on
the property basically make like a wall
in front of his um camper he's built
additional livestock pens he now has
about 20 ducks there are dead ticken
chickens stre about behind his um camper
he now has a washing machine behind his
camper that is electric but it's an old
style round like upright one where he is
washing clothes and discharge is going
on the ground and I contacted the health
department about that um I'm also
concerned about the children um there
are pigs theft chickens a dog um guinea
hens four four or five sheep they are
all within an enclosure just a little
bit bigger than this area here and
they're defecating in the area the kids
are in the area they're walking in and
out of the camper there are also about
seven cats in the area um it's it's
there's trash piled up by the door I'm
not even sure that they put trash at the
street uh he just received a huge pile
of wood chips that they have begun
spreading around the property where he
had Vehicles stuck and so he's filling
in holes with the wood CH chips and
continues to access the property by way
of the power lines he doesn't have a
driveway back to his um his
location he um has also had individuals
there at night which I think I mentioned
the last time and the very odd thing is
that he only operates at night I I
rarely see him my mom rarely sees him
outside and then again you know I'm
planning on going to Hamilton and filing
some complaints this week because the
vehicles on the property are abandoned I
don't know if that's of any concern to
the township but I do believe that there
are various Township ordinances here
that continue to be violated and I'm
really pleading for your help in trying
to address the
situation and I know that you had all
asked me to speak to the sheriff and the
state police I have a meeting tomorrow
with State Police um again he's a
sovereign citizen he does not have a
driver's license he's got um child um
welfare charges against him he is a
convicted
felon um his wife also had child
endangerment charges against her I found
this out recently um from Pennsylvania I
also spoke to Millan school and they the
children are registered under the lot
and block they are not even utilizing an
address because they don't have one now
I understand you know the children are
definitely of a concern for me too and
you know they're not involved in this
equation as far as I'm concerned other
than their there but the fact that this
individual is residing in our Township
with no address and he just continues to
make a compound in my opinion um I
really believe that this needs to be
addressed and more than just me trying
to go to each individual agency and I'm
pleading for you all to come up with
some type of collaborative effort in a
meeting so that everyone can get on the
same page about this so we don't have an
incident that occurred like occurred har
Township
Matt well we can continue to coordinate
with all those groups and there's been
the the township has taken the
enforcement action that falls within our
jurisdiction um and as you're aware
probably aware uh this person as you
described doesn't doesn't subject
themselves to the jurisdiction which
which is is um problematic um there are
ultimately enforcement mechanisms
through the court system that that'll
have to take place that that we don't
directly control but
um th those things are are underway and
I understand uh your frustration with
the with the pace at which some of these
things happen with with regard to the
wall you talked that that was being
built is that's a structural wall what
no I'm I'm saying that he uses the buses
the buses in a corner of the property
and that's an obstruction yes okay um I
know for a fact that inside of one of
the buses even though it's a little bit
older there is a reloading station
within that okay bus all right I I know
the the concerns the safety concerns of
officers are known to the state police
uh and the just the
Tactical uh disadvantage that that
creates and uh you know we were they are
aware of that um what the next step is
is like you said we're involved
some are all of the the the agencies
you've laid out what response if any did
you have you gotten a response regarding
the discharge of of the gray water oned
to the property the health department
went out um this is going back while
they're going to go out again and
they've been very responsive and I
advise them of the washing machine so
they're going to go out again and
they're like I said they're also dead
chickens there I just you know if this
was next door to any one of your houses
this is my mom okay she's 80 something
years old and this individual she
watches this out her kitchen window and
I really have been holding off and
trying to go and file complaints or
pushing it further with him because I'm
concerned about her safety I did not
want him taking any retaliatory measures
towards my mom or my brother who live on
the
property you know this this is at the
Forefront of our communication between
us all and all the jurisdictions that
you have discussed and and you know just
recently I think Lisa you can kind of
fill in on exactly what had happened um
recently with your involvement um I sat
again in court for over two hours today
in which he did not appear and that was
for his um failure to appear um at this
point I'm waiting for direction from the
court to their next step um it's up to
the judge whether the judge issues a
warrant um but again that's only going
to go so far because even if there's a
warrant issued and they go in and and he
bonds he's going to be back out um that
doesn't cure the violation uh the
violation will still continue those
summonses will still continue in court
um we have no mechanism to physically go
on the property ourselves and do
anything and that's been the issue is
that we're just literally paperwork and
Court appearanc in this guy to death
which means nothing and IID asked that
question to Matt earlier I mean this is
really ultimately you know probably a
dozen or two or three non- appearances
to to becoming anything actionable and
at that point I still don't know as far
as actually physically curing any of
this whether it's us the health
department uh D pin
lands I don't and that's been the
openend question yeah we're coordinating
with all them I know Lisa has spoken to
several of the agencies as have I um and
you know we as you aware sometimes we
get up to the the brink of um potential
enforcement and there's an issue or
whatnot but but uh we'll continue to to
bring these concerns as they change or
grow so to speak to to everybody's
attention uh again particularly the
number one
being everybody's safety you know people
in in the neighborhood but also the
responding officers who who do end up on
the property right absolutely you know
we we welcome anybody to move to univisa
Township within reason with the right
policy procedures and that and this
individual does not have that so we
we've taken the stance of of doing
everything in our power between
committee and And discussing with the
appropriate agencies in that uh
accordingly I mean you know you're
absolutely right it's disgusting and
it's terrible we've lived here since
remember I grew up here and on Main
Avenue at that house where my mom lives
now and my mom is a hard working L my
parents they were bluecollar workers
they poured everything into that
property and now this trash literally
trash is living next door not even in a
house not even legally paying a minimal
amount of taxes yet getting education
for his children and it's ridiculous I
mean that really just burns me up when
someone like my mom has worked her whole
life to have a a property and so I'm
just really like I said I'm pleading
with you guys because her property value
is also going
down and you know I just I don't know
what you know what the remedies are here
other than legally but the fact that he
doesn't have a driver's license and he
is a convicted felon and has child
welfare charges that were um recently
they're even as recent as March of 2023
because there's so much trash on the
property and it's blowing around so I
can find out as business by simply going
out the door picking up trash off the
ground Lisa are you in contact with her
as far as any updates that we get yes um
I'm in uh contact with Dorothy and
you're a brother as well he comes in and
my brother has a lot of pictures and and
my other purpose in just coming to the
meetings is to just get it on the record
every month just for updates so I
appreciate your time I mean this
definitely sets a record in terms of
just infractions and agencies that this
spans uh this is kind of definitely a
unicorn scenario this is in one way
shape or form um I I mean broken about
just
every law code uh that you can possibly
do a as a land owner from the you know
the the the animal portion of this to
the the D the EPA the pine lands Child
Services Animal Control the municipality
and it's just like I can't even imagine
how I've been on the phone with the
station Commander about this for for you
know two hours collectively over the
last month and a half and we're just not
to a point where there's enough in their
eye severity you know to do anything
more than than literally talk to him or
if and when it does get to a point you
know probably detain and he's back home
in an hour I mean and to your point I
look at this the longer that this
continues to go on if and when you know
he finally does go somewhere else you
know it's going to be you know a
year-long process and and probably 50
dumpsters for for us or whoever comes
behind him to clean this property up and
try to restore it back to what it was
after the fact I can tell you he I know
he has no intention of leing that
property he's if he leaves that property
one he's going to be in custody or he's
going to be dead and that's what's going
to happen I'm sorry to say it but that
is exactly what I see going on there so
Dorothy you have a meeting with the
state police tomorrow you said so will
you update Lisa on how that meeting went
yes for us please okay please thank you
all y Dorthy we're this is our this is
very important to us so we're we're on
it okay
thank Imagine This
all right anybody
else I'll ask for a motion to close I a
want to see come on up come on up come
on up come
on my name is
Je I
think we're literally ready to bang the
gabble we're good to go thank you sir
always a pleasure thank you thank you
[Laughter]
uh I need a motion in a second to close
to the public motion to close to the
public
second all in favor I item 15 there's no
executive session so we can adjourn a
motion and a second to adjourn motion to
adjourn
second all in favor I I thank you guys