Resident asks council to clarify ‘Goosegate’ testing and alleged AI email blocks during public comment

During the meeting’s public comment period, Sayreville resident Jim Robinson pressed the mayor and council for clarity on two issues he said residents had raised: whether dead geese found in Kennedy Park had been tested for avian influenza, and whether the mayor’s office used artificial intelligence to block constituent emails.

Robinson said a public notice stating “none of the dead geese discovered in Kennedy Park tested positive for avian flu” was misleading if no tests had been performed. “The truth is that none of the birds were tested, so none could have tested positive,” Robinson said. He asked the borough to say plainly whether any geese had been tested and to provide a current count of dead birds.

Robinson also said he had been told the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection did not direct the borough to issue the statement and that borough employees used personal protective equipment when handling birds, which he said suggested a health concern. He asked the council to correct any misleading statements and to explain who approved them.

Separately, Robinson said he had been told his emails to the mayor were blocked by an AI filter and asked the council whether AI had been used to reject constituent emails. “AI does not block things on its own,” he told the council, asking whether the mayor’s office had applied parameters or flags that caused his messages to be rejected. Robinson said the administration had purchased new aides and AI tools intended to help answer resident emails and asked whether others had been blocked.

The mayor responded with remarks about his staff and volunteers’ backgrounds and, speaking personally, said he had blocked Robinson from his personal cell phone and email. The mayor characterized staff and customer service as a priority for borough operations but did not provide an administrative response on whether borough-managed email systems used AI to block messages. The council did not adopt any policy or take formal action on either question during the meeting.

The transcript shows Robinson requested a clear answer about testing and messaging; the council directed staff to follow up but did not announce a formal timeline for producing test results or an administrative account of email-handling procedures during the meeting.