e you can't hear us can't hear us okay will you all please rise okay we do have a special Proclamation this evening um designating June National Gun Violence awareness month so I'll read it from here and then I'll ask you folks to step forward and say a few words if you wouldn't mind Proclamation Township of Berkeley Heights whereas every day more than 120 Americans are killed by gun violence on an average there near nearly 177,000 gun homicides every year and whereas Americans are 26 times more likely to be killed with guns and people in other developed countries and whereas support for the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens goes hand in hand with keeping guns away from people with dangerous histories and whereas gun violence prevention is more important than ever as we see an increase in firearm homicides and non-fatal shootings across the country increased calls to domest domestic violence hotlines and an increase in City gun violence and whereas we renew our commitment to reduce gun violence and pledge to do all we can to keep Firearms out of the wrong hands and encourage responsible gun ownership to help keep our families and communities safe now therefore be it resolved that mayor Dean and the township Council the township of brookley heights declares June 2024 to be National Gun Violence awareness month we encourage all citizens to support their local community's efforts to prevent the tragic effects of gun violence and to honor and value human lives approved this 25th day of June 2024 know that you guys work so hard for you and you be to say a few words thank you so much uh mayor deini and Berkeley Heights Town Council it is really my honor to um help support the town and all of the towns in Union County that have uh declared uh June National Gun Violence awareness day um you know statistics only get us so far and one of the things that we do in our volunteer work is we work with survivors of gun violence and really understand the human toll that it takes and one of the things that um sort of upsets me most about it is that it's a man-made tragedy that we have it's not um an act of God it's something that we can um prevent in not maybe not in all cases but in the majority of cases by ensuring that um there is responsible gun ownership safe storage uh there are laws to ensure that those who um mean to do harm to themselves or others with a firearm you know don't have as easy access and I thank you for supporting this Proclamation as well as measures that help that um I'd also like to invite everyone in the Berkeley Heights uh Community to uh end gun violence rally where orange rally that um was supposed to occur on June 7th but because of circumstances now rescheduled to tomorrow uh June 26 at 5:30 in Westfield at mind whiskin park at the Gazebo there and um Moms Demand Action along with several other gun violence prevention organization ceasefire New Jersey students Demand Action March for our Lives Brady and other organizations are supporting so if anybody wants any information on that here's a FL I live it with our Deputy clerk so we can be sure that we can get that information out to the public I will and thank you so much to Berkeley Heights resident arene vza for making this arene yay if this gets out it's got to be quick this is more at 5:30 okay well we'll to do our best to get out say one thing that um the room is people in the audience may not necessarily hear I have um one line uh because I think everything else was read Firearms are the leading cause of death for children and teens in America that's only in America so um you know and access to Firearms um a child who has an A has access to a Firearms is more likely to kill thems by Suicide than any other way so this is really important most people I think most people get afraid and want to join our organization after there's like a school shooting you know like Sandy Hook which you think that would have done it um and they think but those are not where the numbers come from the numbers come from every day gun violence every day and but the you know being a mother and a grandmother the uh the statistic that only in America more kids and are killed by guns than any place else number one so I think this is um very significant and thank you for doing this tonight and I hope um people join us um in Westfield tomorrow it should be a lot of fun thank for all your hard work harling we appreciate you okay um moving into regular the regular agenda I think the council president you're yeah yeah you please yeah okay this is a bond ordinance providing for various Capital Improvements in and by the township of Berkeley Heights in the county of Union New Jersey appropriating 3, 86,500 therefore in authorizing the issuance of 27258 in bonds or notes of the township to finance part of the cost thereof um I move to uh open the public hearing on the orance by second um okay I this is final adoption this introduction or final adoption adoption okay um so I got second from Manny any discussion roll call sorry your timeo here TR to confuse you purposefully Mr Donnelly yes Mr Foster yes Mr zis yes Mr Machado yes Mrs po yes and Mayor de I don't V unless there's a tie yeah exactly okay hearing is now open on the ordinance the ordinance is read by the clerk seeing no one I uh move the close the public hearing on the ordinances Road by the clerk second any discussion roll call Mr Kudo yes Mr donelly yes Mr Foster yes Mrs illis Mr Machado yes Mrs po yes move that thein Clerk and hearing on be adopted in a final passage declared be directed to advertise the same and the cour your news second discussion roll call Mr K yes Mr donelly yes Mr Foster yes Mrs Isis Mr Machado yes Mrs pop yes okay okay it's me by open hearing on agenda item on I'll second any discussion roll call Mr Kudo yes Mr Donnelly yes Mr Foster yes Mrs Isis yes Mr Machado yes Mrs po yes comments are welcomed during the public comment period during this meeting on any agenda item however if an ordinance is listed for its own public hearing on the agenda please hold your comments for that particular public hearing to make your comment the speaker must come forward to the microphone and state his or her name and address for the record each speaker is limited to 3 minutes the mayor council president will keep time please promptly yield on the floor when time is called and return to your seat your cooperation in adherence to these Rules of Order will ensure an orderly and respectful meeting so the agenda the hearing on the agenda items only is now open so that's one through 10 seeing no one I hear I make a motion to close the public hearing and agenda item so I'll second any discussion roll call Mr Kudo yes Mr donelly yes Mr Foster yes Mrs Isis Mr Machado yes Mrs po yes okay Paul you're up next so move on resolution one approving Bill list dated June 25th 2024 in the amount of 1,134 2884 second half any discussion roll call Mr Kudo yes Mr Donnelly yes Mr Foster yes Mrs illis Mr Machado yes Mrs I'm gonna abstain I did not get a chance to look at the bill list this week I'm on vacation thank you I move resolution number two authorizing the purchase certain goods and services through the use of the Morris County cooperative purchasing Council cooptive purchasing Council for year 2024 there a lot of cooperation yes there is there is cooperation over second any discussion roll call Mr Kudo indubitably Mr Donnelly yes Mr fer yes Mrs illis yes Mr Machado yes Mrs Bo yes okay I move resolution number three awarding a Professional Services contract to neglia Engineering Associates for surveying engineering permitting and construction management services for paic River anti flooding measures I'll second have any discussion roll call Mr Kudo yes Mr donelly yes Mr Foster yes Mrs Isis yes Mr Machado yes Mrs po yes Margaret you're next sorry um I'm over resolution number four requesting approval for the insertion of a special item of Revenue and appropriation in the budget pursuant to njsa 40 a87 NJ do Mutual aid grant second those was it already included in the budget yes okay yes it's in the bond Orin okay got it we don't need to do got it got it we don't have to add it so sometimes we have to add grants when we get them after the budget adoption in this case we do not okay very good and Susan you don't have the benefit of seeing the sheet I can do five yes so I move on resolution five authorizing issuance of a tax sale certificate to Phoenix funding Inc I'll second any discussion roll call Mr Kudo yes Mr Donnelly yes Mr Foster yes Mrs illis yes Mr Machado yes Mrs po yes mayor may I interject we actually need to move the change of title resolution before the shared service resolution for number six so that was one of the additions give me the number number 11 on the addendum sheet all right so Manny can you move number 11 under resolutions added before we do I'm up to you actually have to do both okay there you number 11 I hereby move resolution number 11 resolution authorizing change in title text or amount of appropriation pursuant to njs a 48 call4 d85 I'll second any discussion uh what is that was in the explanation sent to council um because this is a shared service agreement it just has to be paid on a different line item in ouring system so this is the official resolution that does that which is why it had to be passed before the actual shared service agreement for CFOs the funding mechanism is there all this is bookkeeping St I'll so okay here we go so agenda Edition number 11 in your packet if anyone is referring to the packet there um it provides the information so this public is looking for it's um appears as agenda addition item number 11 sort of probably towards the back of the packet um okay did I have a second that was John yes all right roll call Mr fudo yes Mr Donell yes Mr foston yes Mrs illis yes Mr Machado yes Mrs pop yes number six please this also I'm mooving resolution number six resolution authorizing the township to enter into a shared service agreement with the township of Springfield new Jersey for certified Municipal financial officer cmfo and qualified purchasing agent qpa Services second any discussion other than cartwheels I so I saw it says 15 hours and that she has to um you know make her time available to Springfield first and foremost but is 15 hours enough I don't know I mean I'm just I I like the lady I'm just asking the question yeah and and I listen we believe that it'll be enough but this is why we decided to do a shared service and it sunsets at the end of the year so if we felt that it wasn't working we can certainly look at something else or ask for additional hours but um based on the fact it's really difficult to get a full-time CFO that's has a qpa to and she happens to be Berkeley Heights resident which is huge bonus um we feel like it'll be it will be enough hours but it could be moving that's a good question any questions I'd just like to say that I'm glad that we're doing a longer term [Music] um top cap for the for the missing CFO um so I think this will help the administration enormously and I'm glad she's a Berkeley Heights resident because she's going to have more invested in our town than the Consultants that we used in the past yeah the CFO that the cont contract CFO from two years ago year and a half ago how how often was Anthony really here was like once a month for a few hours so we're getting somebody for 15 hours a week it's it's definitely going to be more significant one option is what a lot of towns are having to do is because they cannot get a good CFO full-time they're boosting up the rest of their Finance staff to do more of the day-to-day administrative tasks so that when the CFO is giving you their hours they focus on the things that only the person with a license can do so we had that situation with she was doing a ton of administrative uh back office type of work and her her Services could have been better utilized as well so good comments um good question Paul good comment from from Margaret any other questions or comments I just wanted to say one thing I did go to finance class on the state you did yes and one thing they did say there is there's a lack serious lack of C only two people waser got licens this when they told me um for CFOs and uh as we know we first BL CFO how hard it was to get someone so just alleviate some of the burden from our administrator Administration and everyone else upstairs so hopefully this works out well yeah yeah yeah so when will she start July 1 I'm gonna have balloons balloons Anders and all that good stuff all right any other comments or questions all right roll call Mr Kudo yes Mr Donnell yes Mr Foster yes Mrs Isis yes Mr Machado yes Mrs po yes move on resolution seven awarding of Professional Services contract andly engineering associat for engineering and construction management services for improvements Old Farm Road second a discussion have a discussion sure I'm looking at this resolution and in the resolution it also talks about improvements to Deer Path Lane a whole bunch of other stuff that's not part the original a page is it the prop are you Paul are you looking at the proposal are you looking at looking at the resolution awarding Professional Services agenda item number seven okay so so whoever wrot the resolution wrote it incorrectly where exactly you the bottom paragra resolve right above the [Music] c775 oh so there's one spot one spot okay so so yes so that should be instead of dear that is Old Farm Mercier and Orchard okay so is that a substantive let just get cut to the chase is that a substantive change can we just um say that we're voting on this resolution minus dear Path Lane and that's not a substan of change it looks to me like it's it's what I would call a scribers error okay so it that would not be doesn't require an amendment or a verbal just we'll say correct as long as the resolution did you move that okay so let's move it with the correction in place let's do one more time so everybody's clear and then let's v on it okay I'll move our resolution authorizing C Serv I'm sorry boing Professional Services contracts negly Engineering Associates for engineering and construction management services for improvements old for Road Mercier in Orchard Lane and it minus the and $775 99,100 I'll second any discussion any other discussion roll call Mr Kudo yes has amended M Mr Donnelly yes as amended Mr Foster yes as amended Mrs illis yes as amended Mr Machado yes as amended Mrs po yes as amended good C yes yes okay I move resolution number eight directing un County Clerk is submit to the voters of tent B Heights the November 5 2024 general election an nonbinding referendum asserting public statement regarding purchase and or lease of an area known as Lower Columbia from the Berkeley Board of Education and to memorialize and maintenance obligations for the same um can I have a second and then I'll I'll read it second okay um so in the discussion points I just want to say that um anyone who attended the last council meeting saw Debbie's wonderful presentation and the two questions that were proposed and maybe even the published agenda on Friday there has been some discussion about consolidating there might have been some confusion and some clarification so it will be one question in the ballot if it passes the governing body that will read question one quote do you support a long-term lease of Lower Columbia from the Berkeley Heights Board of Education to the township for $1 for the purpose of making improvements to the park creating a more communitybased space and making it more usable for a broader spectrum of teams and residents the interpreted State interpretive statement now reads for more than 50 years the township has maintained and improved the properly the property commonly known as Lower Columbia and a long-term lease of the property by the township with the Berkeley Heights Board of Education would allow the township to apply for additional grant funding not available to the Berkeley Heights Board of Education this Arrangement will also give the township the opportunity to utilize current and future grant funding to pay for the field which otherwise would not be available to the Board of Education a a yes vote for this proposal means you would like the township to pursue a long-term lease of Lower Columbia from the Berkeley Heights Board of Education and to seek grant funding for Park improvements not available to the Board of Education while giving the Berkeley Heights Board of Education priority use of the property be a no vote for this proposal means that you would not like the township to pursue pursue a long-term lease of Lower Columbia from the Barkley Heights Board of Education um there's some legal jargon before and after but I just wanted to clarify that that's now what the question says and that's how the interpreted statement will be published on the on on the ballot not the agenda okay roll call Mr Kudo yes Mr Donell excuse me just one second on the resolution if you go to the second page there appears to be a date that is incorrect and that would be in paragraph two it has a November to have the these questions and interpretive statements placed on the November 6th 2018 general election ballot I think if we can all agree to change to the correct date just as we did with the prior resolution again it's a scribner's error it's not Material obviously 2018 has passed reintroduce um I don't know that you need to reintroduce you could just we'll we'll take the vote and if everyone would just okay so let's just do the recall just so we're clear okay do the roll call again Mr Kudo yes as amended Mr Donnelly yes amended Mr Foster yes as amended Mrs illis yes as amended Mr Machado yes as amended yes pop yes as amended okay thank you for clarifying that okay I'm of resolution number nine amending the contract amount of the Professional Services contract awarded to neglia Engineering Associates for improvements to Crest Drive second that any discussion is this resolution good did you look at this one crazy on that one all right yeah all right roll call Mr yes Mr Donnelly yes Mr Foster yes Mrs illis yes Mr Machado yes Mrs Co yes okay um Susan you wouldn't know this but you're moving the cons consent agenda well there's another resolution we haven't done yet should I do that one first 12 11 did 11 we did 11 but there's 12 on that that one resolution amending contract that was confusing so should I read it yes please move on resolution 12 amending resolution 289 d223 approving a lease agreement between Township 1 and new Singular Wireless PCS LLC p&t for inst installation of the communication equipment and Annas on the existing tower on Locust Avenue property known as block 2201 Lot 19 in the county of union state of New Jersey second that any discussion roll call Mr Kudo yes Mr donelly yes Mr Foster yes Mrs zis Mr Machado yes Mrs yes I move the agenda a through C second any discussion I just want to comment again thank you for these um volunteers to our fire department we appreciate you um roll call okay Mr Kudo yes Mr donelly yes Mr Foster yes Mrs illis yes Mr Machado yes Mrs pop yes okay Township Council reports Manny your first stop before I start I want to ask was Mr scrier he's appeared twice haven't seen him yet um a lot of Errors so nice guy though yeah very nice guy just want to sayate today's Council report the summer is upon us and as a biker I'd like to remind parents and children to please please please wear a helmet and follow the rules of the road please remember that scooters are also vehicles and must follow the same rules that drivers follows as the safety and courtesy the road helmets lights and be aware of those around you I have I'm seeing a lot of kids l they're all wearing helmets unluckily some are driving without the helmets buckled it's important helmet stays buckled uh today June 25th is a birthday of Anthony Bourdain the chef bestselling author and TV commentator passed away due to Suicide June's men's mental health awareness month and men's health month with the stigma threading men's mental health issues this month is key for visibility for spreading awareness know your family history eat a healthy diet be active with smoking women consumption and manage stress get a regular checkup and please reach out to your friends if you have a problem you do not have to do this alone I I can speak for all us on the days would like to see you around uh town and look forward to coming in to watch you vote in November GE that's an interesting Segway isn't it and with that remind all that Berkeley ha's business and Civic has the taste of Berkeley heads on October 14th 6 to 8 600 to 9:00 p.m. and more information be found Berle busin ci.com and DBC due to popular demand from the restaurant and food service Community is again running restaurant month during September business participating may offer special meals discounts and promotions so please remember to shop locally more information can be found on experience vh.com last item six more months to Christmas for those that celebrate and even less for the winwalk and Berkeley Heights you bring that up keep cool my friends I'm just going to say I really loved your message about men's mental health awareness month and the way that you um presented it but I don't like the whole Christmases and so like summer just summer just got rolling it's gonna happen no matter what you do so that's true all right thank you Manny Paul sorry I can't match that Manny but in your fairs didn't meet as far as I know um and I have no other update so sorry okay John man going Toe to Toe with our C rep the gloves are coming off yeah John went looked up two more pages want us start with the historic preservation committee uh we're supposed to be on July 4th but since that's a holiday we're going to move it to July 11th um and we're still working on the Fall Festival which is going to be October 19th 12: to 4 at the hotel Lord house so come on out it's going to be a great day already ordered special weather so we're going to have sunshine and if it rains I'm really going to be in trouble because I said that um exactly um hey John rain can be special too yeah we lost a lot of cars last time in the rain so cars in the yeah the mud too yeah the rain was a bonus um as part of the mayor's Wellness committee uh I also want to point out some things every month is mayor's Wellness month and every year is may as well this year so um I found this National PTSD Awareness Day fail celebrated annually on June 27th it aims to raise awareness to post-traumatic stress disorder the mental health problem that may develop you have person as beenos to one or more traumatic events so I just want to put that out there um because that's what we're part of we're part of making sure that uh people are well in both their mental and their physical being um now this is this is for Manny July 1st you can laugh your lungs out loud because it's International joke day okay this wonderful occasion spreads laughter and joy across the globe as dedicated to the art of humor making people laugh and lightening up the atmosphere when things are tough I also want to point out that July 4th is the 4th of July those already celebrates Independence Day the commemorates the adoption of the declaration independence signed by 13 colonies and it marks the beginning of America's Independence and British rule 2024 marks 248 years and we have been independent from the British uh July 7th 2024 uh begins mam I hope I'm saying this correctly uh this is for diverse Community out there it marks the start of the Islamic calendar all by Muslims all over the world or the Islamic New Year celebration will continue for 10 days and ends on July 17th or ashur the word mam means forbidden or sinful this is because violence and bloodshed is forbidden during this period uh July 10th bill this one's for you July 10 is celebrate his National kitten day to celebrate the cute and furry cuddly little bowls of energy and love and and I was looking this up I just WR a picture I was just like it actually brought a tear to my eye I was like I was this really cool um however there is an issue of cat overpopulation and many cats never finding loving homes end up in shelters or on the streets National kitten day raises awareness about the benefits of having kittens and encourages people to adopt them uh last thing I want to point out is July 12th right out here at the flag Paul yeah I do I burn props myself um there our flag raising for Mount Carmel um Mount carel the 12th to the 16th is going to be the festival at M Caro the 16th being the fireworks this is going to be the 103rd year 103rd running of uh the feast so come out Jo is 3:00 at the flag Paul on the 12 flag reason and we'll see you then celebrating some Italian Heritage right exactly all right thank you right very robust report I usual Mr council president good job John um good evening I usually don't give prepared statements as my report but I am this evening before La the last council meeting the township held a pride flag raising it what it is important to me that all residents are welcomed and supported in our community when I was elected to the council I did not stop being a taxpayer nor did I stop caring about our residents including the students in our schools I have lived here for 30 years and have been an active member of the community regularly attending Council and Board of Education meetings this isn't a new thing nor is it something I do for political reasons many people encourage me to run because I was always willing to stand up and speak out as an elected official I need to consider my statements carefully as this was not something I considered before I chose to run for office the welfare of our residents including students is something I care deeply about speaking out into support of our lgbtqia students isn't just political opportunism as was declared in a social media post this week it is the right thing to do as a parent of four children I understand the many struggles our students sorry the many struggles our students face and their families I have seen firsthand the problems children's face when they aren't accepted for who they are or are excluded from social interactions I pledge myself to work in any way I can to Foster inclusion and acceptance in our town I encourage all residents to speak up for each other Provide support to their neighbors and make this the best community it can be thank you thank you for speaking about that Margaret um I don't normally prepare anything either but I did week um as many of you know I'm a State Certified Animal control officer and although I officially work for planfield as their ACO I helped many of our residents here in Berkeley Heights with their animal related emergencies lately I've been very busy dealing with injured and orphaned animals this past week alone I helped rescue two baby possums seven baby skunks six baby bunnies three fledglings and help a box turtle cross the road sadly also had to deal with many dead animals as well I'm telling you this because I believe many of these animals are suffering from the latest Heat Wave we are currently experiencing and I like to explain how they are being affected and what we can do to help dehydration and overheating just like us animals can suffer from dehydration and overheating this can lead to them being lethargic disoriented or even dying you might see normally nocturnal animals out during the day seeking shade or water reduced food sources heat waves can dry up plants and reduce insect populations making it harder for animals to find food this can be a problem for herbivores like rabbits and deers as well as insectivores like bats and birds stress and lower reproduction extreme can be stressful for wildlife making more susceptible to disease and reducing their ability to reproduce habitat changes heat waves can also contribute to long-term habitat changes such as increased wildfires or earlier Leaf Drop in trees this can disrupt the delicate balance of ecosystems making it harder for some species to survive here are some things that you and I can do to help Wildlife during the Heatwave put out shallow dishes of fresh water for birds and small man animals make sure bird baths are full and clean provide shaded areas in your yard for animals to cool down in and avoid using pesticides which can harm insects that are a food source for many animals by taking these steps we can help our local Wildlife survive the Heatwave and thrive in the future thank you that's wonderful thank you Bill thank you for sharing that that's important information you lose sight of that during a heat weave right that we have to take care of our animals too um Susan uh yes hi um I'm gonna piggyback on a few people I just wanted to piggyback on Manny first and we do have a mantra with the mayor's wellness it's okay not to be okay so I hope everyone in town really um listens to those words because we're never all okay at every every moment I'm going to piggy back on Margaret for a minute Margaret you are an upstander you know we talk about mental health and this is one of our goals an exclusion of any kind of group of children can lead to mental health issues so I appreciate you you speaking up tonight and then thank you Bill I will tell you my yard at all those old ashtrays that we used to make in school remember those they're in my yard for animals so they can you know have fresh water so I I appreciate all of you um I want to say that the mayor's book club I think we doubled in size our last meeting so that was awesome and I hope that in September we even get more people for our next book and I know I got it from the library the word Happy's in it but may or maybe you remember the ex the new Happy the new happy yes by Stephanie haris yes so feel free to read it over the summer take a few notes and be ready for our September meeting it's really a great conversation uh the other thing I'm going to go back to the library I got my library passport card so kids adults you go in you read your books you get prizes um you can attend uh Library events so it's really an engaging way to meet people and educate yourself in the library and I think that's all I have for tonight thank you so much mayor all right thank you Susan I appreciate that Administration reports uh many of my committees are not meeting over the summer but I wanted to share some really positive news um with the community uh I happen to be sitting at my desk doing my masters of Happiness studies and I got a phone call from the Senate President picked up the phone and he said I just want you to know I just wrote um Berkeley Heights into the state budget for $250,000 for the Lower Columbia project so it is incredibly important every all the efforts that debie and the rec commission and everyone has done it's now snowballing and we've got momentum and we have to get this done for the community it's so important from Seniors to toddlers we've said this over and over again this is a legacy project so we need to get this done um to piggy back on what Margaret says and I'm still going to get that letter out um we have worked really hard to make sure that everyone in this community feels welcome and included no matter who you are and to do what happened to Children is heartbreaking to me as a mother um so thank you for standing up Susan thank you for standing up um and with that I was on vacation last week I don't think I have a much more to report at this point so elza your report thank you mayor uh we're finalizing our 2024 Road program I don't think this is on um details will be on our website in our newsletter on social media and everywhere um our initial Paving list will be Orion Court Hamilton Avenue from Roosevelt to Snider Timber Drive from Mountain to Locust Green Drive Old Cannon Road Hill Crest AB Arden court and Hamilton AB the dead end leading to Columbia the Columbia Park path more will be announced soon um surveyors from the negli engineering will be in the area of Riverbend and choser this week and Monday July 1st for pic River anti- flooding measures they need to do some Wetland surveys and other survey work um if your house backs up against the river they're probably going to be in the area of your yard please keep dogs inside while surveyors are on the property and they will be wearing identification and neglia wear um we're currently getting engineering and design quotes for a SN AB side Sidewalk project so we can start that this year uh we're just about done with plans for peppertown Park and Sherman Avenue to submit 100% plans to the state for approval um thank you to the DBC we're working with our streetscape firm our tyal on making sure everything that we do on this project um provides continuity um with plans for the downtown in terms of uh uniformity of look and feel uh the township and Department right at the last uh week of school launched a slow down and move over ER Rider safety campaign is someone whose son has been actually hit by a car on his uh electric bike um and almost hit a second time um as a parent I I really try to talk to my kids about the importance of wearing a helmet putting a light on wearing reflective gear um and the police really run want to enforce they need to follow proper traffic rules so parents please talk to your kids that includes not wearing earphones not being on the phone while they're riding these things around town they have to pay attention especially intersections drivers also please slow down move over we know that hasn't always happened either so if everyone could just help keep an eye out for all of our kids and some adults that would uh be great we want to make sure everybody's safe uh the rec summer concert series begins Wednesday July 3D this tomorrow it is tomorrow okay tomorrow um alternating between Memorial Park and connell's the Grove um thank you to our o and DPW for jumping into action with yesterday's crazy wind storms the power was out there were watermain braks trees were down our emergency responders which includes our DPW and Sewer went out quickly into action to resolve and get the power on and they're continuing to clean up this week uh lastly as acting CFO for the last few months I welcome with open arms our new CFO Diane Sherry uh we've been holding down the fort for a few months with our wonderful staff Auditors professionals and my new besy experienced CFO Ricky as we got through budget Seas with less than 2% tax increase while spending more than usual on infrastructure projects specifically at our sewer plant by creating a new wastewater treatment plant Capital program utilizing revenue from the pilot Redevelopment payments uh the development projects and the increased sewer connection fees we've taken more grants into our budget strategically been planning for future Grant applications and have been submitting grant reimbursements for projects from the latel L historic preservation to Recreation infrastructure and more in the past few months we've closed on two major loans at the New Jersey infrastructure bank for projects a step that is a year in the making for the sand filter raw influent pump and jet truck authorize note sales as we keep a steady eye on our debt and are always strategizing about how to maximize taxpayer money and worked with all departments to get them able to hit the ground running to start their 2024 projects on the budget passed and thank you to those council members who played an integral role in helping shape the budget I'd also like to sincerely thank all of our departments as they PED in and patiently waited on me for anything that was not an immediate priority in any given day as I address things in finance and administration in order of urgency particularly thank you to Margaret and our finance staff Anna our Clerk and Barbara and administration as they often feel the questions for me like can you please look up this account number for me or run this report this financial software we use hates Max and I refuse to use Windows machines so I can't look it up myself I look forward to working with Diane and help her hit the ground running and I will soon be putting in for some vacation time well deserved thank you Liza joh you just have a name there motions second any discussion roll call Mr yes Mr Donell yes Mr fer Mrs illis Mr Machado yes Mrs po yes okay I move uh to open the citizens hearing three minutes per resident uh comments are welcomed during the public comment period during this meeting on any matter over which the township has jurisdiction to make your comment the speaker must come forward to the microphone and state his or her name and address for the record each speaker is limited to 3 minutes the mayor and or councel will keep time please promptly yield the floor when time is called and return to your seat your cooperation and adherence to these rules are of order will ensure an orderly and respectful meeting I'll second and discussion roll call Mr Kudo yes Mr Donnelly Mr Foster yes Mrs illis yes Mr Machado yes Mrs po yes okay and with that the citizens hearing is now open and the room got chilly good evening my name is Patricia leier I live at 222 Snider uh Lot number 1401 and I have a situation I'm coming to you hopefully you can help um I've been a resident at Berkeley Heights for 30 years and I um I I live right next to the park and um SN Park right next to Snider Park and i i i l living in my house it was uh very nice I I love the the the trees I loved everything about it for the longest time so when the developers started to to look at the the the property there condos yeah well first first it was condos then it turned out to be recreational area right okay so the the planners approached me considering how close my land is to um the Park area that they were considering what what they were going to do there so they came and to my you know property you know considering what the um what what they were going to do and they just wanted you know my opinion of you know what they were doing and I I had no problem with the park going there my only concern was that I wanted a barrier when reist has been there I don't know how long you have been in town but Reis hit a beautiful tree line down the whole side and also going perpendicular with um Snider Avenue so I said I didn't you know mind you know them being there as long as there was some type of barrier between my property and what they were going to put up and I said a tree line would be okay with a burm you know burm would has a slight Ridge there and if they would put trees up there that would be fine and if they didn't put a tree up a fence would be okay but my preference was to have a tree line because I was very concerned about the wildlife habitat that would be disturbed with everything so they said okay that they would put trees in I had no no problem with that so they did put a blind of trees up and eventually it took a long time for those trees to grow and if you've been in and out of of the SN Park you could see how beautiful that the the trees were so one day I came home from work it was Friday May 31st so I I went into my turned in and I saw that the trees had been trimmed the trees were trimmed from the bottom up there's probably about 10 trees in fact I can can show you pictures if you'd like to see I got them enlarged so you you can see how why they trim the trees from 6 feet up to eight I'll try to be quick I know minutes okay so start some of these are the same there was a Friday the first day I got home so I couldn't do anything so on Monday the first thing I did was reach out to I I I I did didn't know where to begin in calling someone so I finally got a hold of Tom Bako Tom is in charge of the right okay I said Tom who took the trees down the trees are all down who took them down he goes oh we didn't do it Berkeley Heights didn't do it now they was on Monday because I couldn't call Friday they was on Monday he goes I'll I'll get back to you but we did not do it finally he got back to me and he said Berkeley Heights did it and I said that wasn't part of the agreement now when the going way back when the the planners came the builders came it was an agreement that they would give me some type of barrier there unfortunately it wasn't in writing I I don't have a signed contract that they were going to give my give me my privacy see anyway Tom said the reason that they did it was that the cars were coming in and out on that on the the yeah and the cars because the branches you can see on those pictures the branches were coming onto their Drive their driveway and the cars were getting hit by those branches and that's why they did what they did can I ask you a question real quick is this looking from your property in to the park yeah and you can see so are the ones that are cut down only on the on the side of the Park yeah they cut they were at the bottom the branches on the bottoms of the trees were cut right bottom bottom but these here that are those are mine because I also put in my own trees on my side so they didn't get to those just don't want I put those white pines in because I wanted more privacy because they only put one row of trees in so I purchased trees from I um trale and I put my own tree line in so there'd be a Double Tree Line so those are my own trees the ones that are closest to the dve we did we did when we figured out what when we figured out what had happened um yes like there was like Joe gra no even though there wasn't anything in writing like yes like he said that there is agreement so we're going to put a we're going to work with you to put a fence or more trees up there and the first thing I thought was was there wait that's not our property that's we have to work with the county yeah and arborous the first thing you want to do when trees is an arborous why would they even trim it all the way around all the way down from the bottom up if anything leave some of those branches on my side they took it all the way unbelievable and I prefer the trees because you know the the the deer go back and forth there's there there's bunnies you know there there were there were nests up in the trees there was so much wildlife and everything that's why I chose to go for the trees and the burm and I I I I was just just outraged outrage I didn't know where to begin and coming to the planning board is opposed to the public works the rec department I I I don't know who to go to I'm just devastated that what they did can you leave your contact information with Bridget um your email address and your cell phone number it sounds like you had some idea and let us work through it it's County property so we're going to have to work with the county as well um but do we we have a plan for replanting we we have we have money to plant trees we have to figure out the location but I don't but to take away the ones that were already there I mean some of those branches are going to come back again to take down figure plan we're not talking about taking those down per se like taking those down but we can we can figure yes we need to fix it in other words so we'll because these people coming in is you come around the curve to at night those headlights are coming right in and I had taken where you see my deck there was a big tree there and it cost me thousand dollars to take a tree down because it it was unsafe and so I took a tree down and next you know I mean you have to maintain the land you know to to some degree and I gave you the lot number because it's a big lot that I have and the the back of it is all Wildlife I mean I I have a fox family living in the back you know I was and I I like living there and what what they did was just tragic and I can't imagine what it was like to hear all those saws going and cutting down you know I don't know how many trees are there it's just trees weren't just to be clear the trees weren't cut the trees were not cut yes but T than I I just want to add it appears that they cut around the entire tree yes so I mean I think they should have probably left the branches that are facing your house alone if it was just you know where the the cars are being brushed against some of those branches that's on the driveway side of Snider Park but on your side I mean they should have just left them be but it looks like they did the entire circumference you got it and there wasn't there was not an arborous there it was just someone that hit a chainsaw so all right so we will get back to you um with a plan um to help buffer it again and certainly if it would definitely was Township who cut them down make it clear that that's not the way we're going to trim anything in the future so you came to the right spot app we'll take care of you right thank you thank you so much information back information appware of it sorry yeah thank you thank you thank you thank you for coming tonight and letting us know thank you anybody else want yeah no not an agenda we're on citizen okay we can see so I apologize for being late to the meeting Stephen yell and S Finch Court in that case first of all quick question what was the motion on resolution 8 or rather what was the outcome of resolution 8 the osed referenda it passed unanimously thank you very much I want to thank the governing body then for having voted in favor of resolution 8 I think it is definitely a great thing for the people of Berkeley Heights and I hope they will support it in November I certain on Town Council some years ago uh I was interested in the prospect of us purchasing or acquiring property from the Board of Education in that area precisely because of the opportunities that are there I'm very glad to see the township uh potentially exploring that hopefully getting it done this November um I would particularly urge that atten should be paid to the uh Pathways directly around the borders of that property uh my family uh we walk our son you know we try to walk our son in that part of the park and they've done we've done play dates there and unfortunately because of the nature of how it's all set up you basically can't do a full circuit the way that you might have been able to do in the past you effectively have to do a U-turn and go around because of how things have have uh develop there over the years so in the event that the resol the referendum is successful I hope that the township will also look to improve the overall layout of that part of Lower Columbia to make it as accessible as possible for people with carriages or other physical activities I'm not sure that you were here for the announcement that um the Senate President wrote Into the budget uh for Berkeley height $250,000 additional to what Debby has already been able to raise so she was actually the first person her and Liza that I texted so we were that our minds went to oh wow there are other things that we can do and you know we kind of see this as a I keep calling it a legacy project because you can there's people of all different ages that that can you know utilize and really enjoy the prop so we know I know they've been working on the paths recommission has been working on the paths for quite some time so we're aware and we're on it great well I want to thank the Senate President then for his support for the town on this and the rec commission for their work today on it and I appreciate the unanimous vote in favor of it thank you st hi everyone good evening Debbie Terrero Lena pain um I have a question for everybody because I see a lot of conversation going on the question is has the Town Council and the rec department had interaction or exchange of the information with the Board of Education committees regarding the Lower Columbia field and if so what is that I've just heard a lot of concern from within the community and I wanted to give you guys an opportunity to answer that question so we Debbie and I had a zoom meeting with the facilities Comm committee um the Board of Education facilities committee so that was as recently as last week there has been some kind of conversation because there's a draft lease agreement that's been circulating around for at least approximately a year and then I would just tell you historically I probably have spanned at this point my my tenure three different Board of Education presidents Doug ryein Mike Dilla and gaale now Bradford um and I've discussed it with each of them maybe not in a formalized kind of way but certainly in an informal kind of way I know that Debbie ver has been working at this prior to um me coming to office so it's not it wasn't something new it's been something that she's been working on she might be able to speak to that but that's been my um communication with the board of education so hopefully that helps yeah so it sounds like it's been you have spoken with the Committees within the Board of Ed and now the ball is in their Court I think the presentation was a presentation was made to the for thee exactly the same one she gave us so yeah actually you you presented to the Board of Education prior to doing the Public Presentation so it was June or July of 2023 that um I gave a pres a formal presentation to the finance committee um this project actually dates back to I think 2016 2017 this isn't a new project um the original plans that were drawn up have the date I I think it's it's either the 16th or the 17th so it's at least 7 to8 years old this project that it has been talked about um it started when um Doug reinstein and actually um Tom Barton uh mayor Woodruff at the time that's when it all started about um the actual Turf project down at Lower Columbia the original designs like I said date back to this either 2016 or 2017 when I came on to the wreck commission I think that was in 2018 um I found out that you know they had looked into it and I was like well oh my God we need that we need it so I had um the first thing that I had started back in 2018 was the friends of the Recreation Commission um which was the fundraising arm of the Recreation Commission so that we can start to to raise funds in oh my gosh I'm really going back now I think it was either 2018 or 2019 the rec commission actually set up a table at Winter Walk and we had blown up the original design of um the turf field and we had information for four people and we actually had postcards made on how you can um donate we also the friends of um applied we got our 501c3 so we're a nonprofit organization um I worked with Doug reinstein a lot um then we did the the recreation master plan after the recreation master or I think during the recreation master plan um Doug reinstein and I had gone to conell and we had presented this entire project again using the original um designs from 2017 and we approached conell to ask for their support uh and it was right before covid you probably remember like literally the day before the world shut down from covid that Shane had reached out Shane Connell had reached out to us to say that conell was going to donate $250,000 towards the turf project but we can only use the money towards the turf project because they're they're very into health and and fitness and that's what where they want the the money to to go to um I know that Doug reinstein because part of the fundraising initiatives that we're doing um I had like a whole sponsorship level um documents identified and if you if we got a a donor to donate $500,000 they had naming rights to that um Park area or the the field and I know that Doug reinstein worked with the Board of Ed Attorneys at the time to make sure that that was something legally that we can do um so he had the attorneys review the whole sponsorship um levels and agreements and stuff that um that I had put together um then we did the Recreation master plan we were fundraising fundraising fundraising we had a couple uh soccer tournaments the uh home run deres go to to Field improvements we had ferve come into town ferve donated $50,000 uh towards the project um we actually applied for a grant for the path that Stephen was talking about we do have that money set aside but when we got the conell and when we got the f serve and we were like this is really going to happen like we're we're really going to do this we were like we're not going to pave that path because where are the trucks going to come in you know if if this ends up happening so we we did not do the path and then um Mike we talked to Mike taquilla Mike taquilla was the council president we met with him at lower Colombia and we were talking about cleaning up the property lines at that time because they're like puzzle pieces and we our initial thought was you know let's clean up the property lines we maintain this stuff already you know just sign it over to the township but there was push back on that so we were like okay forget it and then after Mike toquilla was Angela and then right right oh yeah yeah we're up to four so then we were talking to Angela and then um Angela's like you know this is a whole new board let's you know why don't you guys talk to the finance committee so it was thought that my first step would be to the finance committee so that's where I had presented to the finance committee last year and then as the rec commission I had to am I going on too much so just to clarify you are the rec commission chairperson so just so so then as as the rec commission we had to to we had to request from the mayor and the Town Council to enter into this lease agreement with the Board of Ed which is what we found out um last year okay and that's when our the rec commission's formal request went to the Town Council and said hey can you please enter into a lease agreement with um with the board of education so the township attorney drafted up a lease agreement it went over to the Board of Ed and to their attorney yeah right and then things happened in the beginning of the year and then Gail became the president and now we just recently uh presented in front of the Athletics committee my frustration with all this if anybody cares is the fact that it's not all board ofed property I think people have it in their head that we're looking to like take over or change all of bad property it is not all board ofed property the the lease agreement is to formalize what has been in place for over 50 years 50 years the Board of Ed does not mow the grass down there they didn't install the fences they they didn't install $120,000 worth of Lights two days ago on the tennis cours that they partially own we've been doing it all we have made all of the improvements down there we have made that Park so beautiful we have made that Park so beautiful and Stephen with that we relocated that that uh path that you're talking about it used to go into the wetlands and you couldn't you couldn't get anywhere near it we relocated that path we made so many improvements and all we want to do is keep on moving and making those improvements for the betterment of the community we're not looking we're not looking to put up Condominiums we're not looking we're not looking to do anything except continue to do what we have been doing but just give us the opportunity to apply for more grants we missed out on a $500,000 Grant a couple of months ago because there is no lease agreement in place and the state doesn't want to hear oh but we maintain that they don't want to hear that they want formal documents just as clarification the word cannot apply for those grants they can only we can as the town Town that's correct that's correct there are a lot of grants that are out there for in regards to Recreation that are not available to board of educations so Debbie after the meeting with the facilities committee how was it left with the board of aded and from your understanding what The Next Step regarding moving this forward with the Board of Ed so I had asked for um for feedback um from the Board of Ed members that were uh in attendance there were three Board of Ed members that were in attendance that's not there was not that's not an I can talk about this right that was no yeah okay well was making sure it mean don't provide any information that you don't feel no there were an attorneys there same presentation that she gave yeah it's like Vision it's like revision 12 yes and then there were questions some of them were can I say outlandish I'm G say it anyway some of them were sort of outlandish and some of them were I can understand why you're asking that question but nonetheless I feel like there was a lot of good information given correct information given hopefully an education as to like you said the puzzle piece in the middle all the improvements has has been a 50-year informal agreement so I felt like it was a good discussion and she was very um she was very transparent she said is this am I wasting my time how we ended the meeting I listen I'm a volunteer I'm not a paid employee and I love volunteering and I love what I do for for wreck and for the community but you know this this is I'm going on almost eight years with this I mean and it again it's just it's very frustrating to me because we're not looking to change anything we're just looking for what is currently in place to just be formalized so we can move forward but as the parent of a former P football player who would come home coated in mud from head to toe one time we actually host him off before he was permitted in the house um yes need to be addressed and the field is not very useful as it is so is in the town's best interest so um two uh two of the three um Board of Ed members that that were in that um the Athletics committee meeting were um expressed their support of the project um one didn't not middle yeah kind of in the middle and was just concerned about the amount of land that was at stake but I again pointed out that a lot of the area like in the back area is Woods it's Woods you're you're not really talking What lands it's going to have to be buffered right um with this um New Found money as I like to call it um with the with the additional 250,000 there's a very strong possibility that we could Turf the baseball fields that's down there in addition to the multi-purpose field so um which is even more exciting and it's been difficult um in terms of Maintenance and some of the logistics that have gone on now that the county you know they're all headquartered in Scotch plans and Elizabeth right and so sometimes when we have urgent needs on Snyder we don't really get them met or it's very bureaucratic getting through the process so this now starts to shape up to be our own SN Avenue that's Township owned where you can accommodate every sport and again young couples can walk their children you know seniors can walk the PA people can even kids to the playground and even talking about you know Governor Livingston and there were many times in the past when we used to handle well 100% the the scheduling and um the field usage of of Snyder that if it rained and G got um you know if it was too wet to play like we used to rearrange things call people can you move GL has yeah GL has a game we can't do that anymore right we can't do that anymore because it's not our field you know it could be somebody that we don't know we don't have access to the schedule so we don't know who's even playing on that field if it's reserved if it's not reserved I'm sure that because the people over at the county that do the scheduling are wonderful but it's just it's not easy anymore whereas now if we are blessed enough to be able to Turf the baseball field also we can move that stuff we can even move if there's a JV game soccer game up at GL and it gets rained out I mean that can be moved down to um to Snider in addition to having lights that GL doesn't have right right because there are existing lights that are down at Lower Columbia I a question yeah the non-committal what what what are they I mean if you can't get into it I understand but what are they hanging their hat on I don't know what's their why how could you not be committed to this this is the comment was that it's it's a lot of land I don't know I don't know I this this is again what is I I it's not like it's not like it's a piece of property that they have managed and they have taken care of for the past 50 plus years they haven't they haven't invested a dime in that in that property it's we have done it we've maintained it we've policed it we've great that's I'm trying so I'm trying to wrap my head actually can say we yeah I kind of don't really know what I want to do with that but literally when we had security issues it was our Police Department it was the rec commission that installed the C every time there's a problem or situation how DPW well the bathroom it's it's all of our resources yeah I'm just trying to my have an effect so me get well and something that I brought some because when I presented when Angie and I presented to the finance committee I changed my presentation again um and I listed out just within the last five to seven years some of the things that we have done down at that property on some of their property on our property and one of the that Upper Playground you would think that the township owns it we don't own it that's the Board of Ed that's the board ofed but yet the rec commission spends $112,000 a year for the wood carpeting in that playground and we got the grants to make it a uh level the playing field Grant we put the fencing in around that playground and a couple of years ago when it was vandalized we spent $8,000 to repair all the damage well I want to I want to just say right here I commend you for staying on the ship for as long as you have and piloting it it's just like you know and and you're not going now without a fight and I can tell you your presentation was excellent to us I mean I thought it was excellent it was spoton it was it was it was no like no question should have been asked it should have just been where do we son Let's Go I mean that's how I feel because again this is something that has been in place and you can talk to Joe Graziano who was the DPW director years ago he's the DPW director Now call Anthony Amano talk to Rick who's the facilities manager now they all know they all know that they have never maintained that area I do think that they now plow because for years we always plowed down in that area and I do think that they might plow the parking lot down there now so then if I can just ask so for for people who might be listening are here that don't normally come to meeting so then this is the impetus for put the resolution on the agenda to put a question on the ballot in November that all voters can come and when they vote they click yes or no and that's their way of expressing their opinion on this question as to whether or not they want the township to officially take over what we've been doing for for 50 years while still giving the Board of Ed and schools priority over the field space but memorializing it because we have all this money sitting here yes that why would we put it into this field right not the district's athletic director who supports this project I mean and you know nobody works harder than an Clifton so we got and we have also to to your point about getting letting them see how the community supports it we didn't just pull this out of our out and say oh hey let's put Turf here one day the recreation master plan took four to six months months to to do it's a very extensive document that every single sports program and athletic director and maintenance person and and anybody who had anything to do with grooming a field or a coach or anything they were involved in putting together that um document okay we also sent out multiple surveys over the years and questions on the surveys were do we need more athletic fields do we need more walking pths do we need a turf field the community wants this you know we're we're not big brother saying everybody has to have it we've done our due diligence over the last how many years seven eight years we've done all of our due diligence so it's also frustrating when you see the social media comments this is coming out a left field where is this coming from this has been my life for seven years like we got to get this done I'll just say it again we'll wrap it up by saying we got to get this done I mean this is for the community everyone of every age group this is for the community this isn't any kind of Nefarious purpose this is Recreation for goodness sakes it should be simple it should be easy and it should have been done a long time ago do I answer your questions start started think everybody the I've said this like just got cold in here all of a sudden anybody else wishing to speak mark on 58 Ry meat Road I'm on the rec commission I wasn't going to speak but I just want to say the only reason I'm on the rec commission was because of DB and she told me am I going in my fourth year maybe now I'm going to get it turfed I said you think and I was skeptical and then when you interviewed me you said you sure want to do this I said let's do it but everything that she said wholeheartedly I help her with the scheduling of Snider it's not easy anymore the woman who was here who just left I would ask her how many times is the light on 10:00 when we controlled it the light was off when we were done now I think the light's on till 10:00 regardless of what's going on there just funny because I think lighting bill was one of the cheap reasons why exactly what it was and you know we submit the schedule we're done at 8 I'll drive by it's 10 o00 the lights on both Fields so wholeheartedly it'll be so much easier and if the county at that point still wants to keep Snyder good for them so I'll just leave it at that but I I came down just to make sure it was passed but I texted Dev on leaving and she said don't leave yet so but Dad thank you thank you Mark anybody else any other takers all right on that note it's closing up make a motion to close the citizens hearing Bill make a motion to close the citizens hearing second any discussion roll call Mr P Mr Donell Mr Foster yes Mrs illis yes Mr Machado yes Mrs Po and there is no executive session this evening so may I have a motion to adjourn adjourn all in favor I couldn't resist good [Music] evening yeah oh that's interesting how that goes